Costco’s book buyer, Pennie Clark Ianniciello, recommends Spencer Quinn’s first book in his series featuring the canine detective Chet, Dog on It (S&S/Atria, 2009) in the August  issue of Costco Direct.

In an accompanying interview, Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams) says his wife was the inspiration for the series. After she suggested doing something with dogs, he immediately knew he wanted to write in the voice of a dog. Within
ten minutes had the first page of Dog on It (S&S/Atria, 2009).

That title was quickly followed by Thereby Hangs a Tail (Jan, 2010), To Fetch a Thief  (Sept, 2010) and The Dog Who Kenw Too Much (Sept, 2011).

The newest in the series, A Fistful of Collars is coming in September (it is now available as an egalley on both Edelweiss and NetGalley). S&S is also releasing a Quinn short story, A Cat Was Involved, in August, which tells the story of how Chet met his human companion, Bernie. It is an ebook only and is not available to libraries.

Two of the stars of Disney’s Oz The Great and Powerful, Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis (who play the good and the bad witches respectively) were trotted out at Comic-Con, where the trailer was also introduced and, according to some reports, enjoyed the best buzz of the show. The studio just released several high-res images from the film, to emphasize that, if nothing else, it is visually arresting. In addition to Williams and Kunis, the film stars James Franco and Rachel Weisz. It’s scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 8, 2013.

Disney Book Group, of course, will be publishing several tie-ins, including a junior novelization, an early reader, a storybook and a behind-the-scenes book. They are also republishing the first two titles in L. Frank Baum’s series, The Wonderful World of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz.

More Oz magic is on it’s way. The long-awaited film adaptation of the musical Wicked, based on the book by Gregory Maguire, may finally come to fruition; Deadline reports that Universal is courting Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) to direct. Also on the drawing board is an animated film, Dorothy of Oz. In April, it was reported that Bernadette Peters joined the cast as the voice of Glinda.

The conclusion to Gregory Maguire’s Oz series, which began with Wicked, was published last October (NOTE; We mistakenly said it was coming out this year; that’s the date the paperback edition will be released).

Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years Gregory Maguire Retail Price: $15.99 Paperback: 608 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Morrow – (2012-10-02) ISBN / EAN: 0060859733 / 9780060859732

Little, Brown unveiled the cover for J.K. Rowling’s adult title, The Casual Vacancy, which releases world wide on 9/27. The NYT gives this analysis,

“Following the aesthetics of recent literary titles like The Marriage Plot and The Art of Fielding [ed. note, also published by Little,Brown], Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s first adult novel will sport swoopy script, solid colors, and minimal design. The checkbox on the cover is likely a nod to the political themes of the book, which takes place in a small England town roiled by controversy.”

In a press release, the publisher describes the 512 page novel, as “a big book about a small town” and gives plot details:

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations?

After months of debate about whether he can pull it off, we finally get a glimpse of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in the film version of Lee Child’s ninth novel, One Shot, (Delacorte, 2005). The movie, which has been renamed Jack Reacher, opens Dec. 21.

Not much to go on here. About the only thing we can say is that Cruise didn’t dye his hair.

The movie is planned as the first in a trilogy.

The tie-in arrives in Nov.

The 17th Jack Reacher novel is coming in Sept.

A Wanted Man: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher) Lee Child Retail Price:  $28 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: RH/Delacorte Press – (2012-09-11) ISBN / EAN: 9780385344333

USA Today previews Rhoda Janzen’s Does This Church Make Me Look Fat? A Mennonite Finds Faith, Meets Mr. Right and Solves Her Lady Problems, to be released Oct. 2.

It’s a followup to her equally memorably titled best selling memoir, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.

She also reveals her favorite novel by a Mennonite author.

At the BEA this week, there was buzz about Libba Bray’s The Diviners, the first in a planned four-part YA series, to be published in September. It’s a mystery, featuring a main character with mystical power, set in NYC in the 1920’s (appropriately, Little, Brown threw a speakeasy-themed party for the book during BEA). More buzz– it was just announced that Paramount has picked up the film rights, with Bray writing the screenplay and acting as executive producer.

The Diviners Libba Bray Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 031612611X / 9780316126113

Book Expo offers opportunities to hear from favorite authors such as Barbara Kingsolver, Junot Diaz, Michael Chabon and the chance to get a peek at the sure-fire best sellers of the fall (J.K. Rowling’s title for adults, Casual Vacancy, is one of the leaders in that category, but is still under wraps). But the real fun is trying to divine which titles will be the next The Art of Fielding or The Night Circus or Rules of Civility.

New York magazine’s “Vulture” blog gives its pick of the Ten Hottest Book Prospects, Shelf Awareness rounded up bookseller picks in fiction and nonfiction in advance of the show, Publishers Weekly did so after, and seven librarians picked their favorites (nearly 90 titles; even with a few brief minutes, librarians can really pack in the titles) at the fourth annual “Shout ‘n’ Share” panel (titles listed here, with information on which are available as egalleys, so you can play along at home).

Of the many titles mentioned in the above, a few echo some previous BEA hits:

The Next ART OF FIELDING

(title passionately promoted at the Editors Buzz panel)

The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers, Hachette/Little, Brown, September 11 — eGalley from NetGalley

Last year, Hachette/Little, Brown’s publisher, Michael Pietsch talked up The Art of Fielding, described by some as an unlikely combination of J.D. Salinger and baseball. This year, he was equally passionate about The Yellow Birds, a novel about the Iraq war by one of its veterans.

Runners Up:

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan, S&S/Free Press, 11/13/12

There was also strong reaction to S&S/Free Press editor Millicent Bennett’s presentation of New York Post writer Callahan’s book that recounts her struggle to find out what was causing her  convulsions and to deal with doctors’ prognosis that she would have to be institutionalized.

In the Shadow of the Banyan, Vaddey Ratner, S&S, 7/31/12  — eGalley from NetGalley 

A novel based on debut author Ratner’s own experience  coming of age of during the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. It also connected with librarians on GalleyChat.

The Next PAT CONROY

(author whose personal story wins over the crowd)

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, Workman/Algonquin, 8/28/12 —  eGalley from NetGalley

Back when BEA was ABA, the Book and Author programs mixed big name authors with emerging authors, who often became the buzz of the show. That magic happened for that Conroy and his first novel, The Prince of Tides. Now that BEA’s main author events focus on headliners (some of them only tangentially authors, like Kirstie Alley and Stephen Colbert), discoveries come from other events. This year, when Jonathan Evison described the background to his second novel, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, at the AAP/EarlyWord Author Lunch, it was clear his emotions are still raw. Like Conroy’s novel, it is based on the author’s own family and the loss of his sister. The audience came away from the session a bit shaken, but talking about the book, which was chosen by several of the Shout ‘n’ Share panelists.

The Next TIGER’S WIFE

(debut by an impossibly young writer)

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, by Shani Boianjiu (RH/Hogarth, September 11) —  eGalley from NetGalley

Tea Obreht, at 25, was the youngest writer in the New Yorker ‘s picks of  best 20 writers under 40. Her book Tiger’s Wife went on to gather multiple awards and land on best seller lists. Sounding eerily familiar, Boianjiu  was the youngest writer ever chosen for the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” program. At the Editor’s buzz Panel, S&S editor Alexis Washam described the book, about three girls in the Israeli army as  “The Things They Carried meets Mean Girls.”

The Next JUST KIDS

(Musician’s autobiography)

Waging Heavy Peace, Neal Young, Penguin/Blue Rider, 10/2/12

Patti Smith anointed Neil Young as her successor when she interviewed him about his memoir  (read an account of  their conversation on the New Yorker‘s book blog).

Libraries will soon have an alternative to the five-volume, $625 James Beard Cookbook of the Year, Modernist Cuisine. Yesterday, author Myhrvold announced that the team will release a new book this fall titled Modernist Cuisine at Home (The Cooking Lab, $140, 10/8/12; like the first book, it comes with a separate “kitchen manual,” printed on washable, water-proof paper). The announcement describes the book as providing “less complex recipes that require less expensive equipment.” 400 of them are new to this edition.

On the news, the book entered Amazon’s sales rankings at #126.

Demonstrating that it is aimed at the home cook, the cover shows a hamburger (referred to as “The 30-hour cheeseburger” by the New York Times).

The new book will feature many of the amazing cutaway photos from the first book. Last year, Myhrvold spoke  at the TED conference about how those were made  (they’re not Photoshopped, they’re machine shopped).

The following video has had over 16 million hits since its launch in December:

The two sequels have had over 8 million and 4 million hits each (face it, they’re just not up to the original).

Harlequin has just signed creators Kyle Humphrey and Graydon Sheppard for a book based on the series, to be released in October, as reported by several news sources (The L.A. Times, Publishers Weekly, and The Huffington Post). At this point, it is not listed on wholesaler, retailer, or the publisher’s web sites.

Entertainment Weekly’s Shelf Life column offers an “exclusive;” the first two chapters of Maggie Stiefvater’s next YA title, The Raven Boys (it’s actually available to anyone via Scribed), coming from Scholastic on September 18. It’s the first in a planned series of 4 titles.

Based on the excerpt, EW says, “It seems to be an old-school young adult novel, full of mystery on an epic scale.”

Official Site: The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 0545424925 / 9780545424929

Following up on her February announcement that her next book will be for adults, J.K. Rowling revealed the title today, The Casual Vacancy, and the release date, Sept. 27.

It’s described by the publisher, Hachette/Little, Brown, as “darkly comic.”
 

The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling
Hachette/Little,Brown; 480 pages (approx)
Hardcover, 9780316228534, $35
Hachette Large print, 9780316228541, $39
Hachette Audio,9781619695009, $49.98

Publisher annotation:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

John Grisham takes a break from legal thrillers with his new novel, Calico Joe,(RH/Doubleday), but sticks to the tradition of appearing on The Today Show on the day of the book’s publication (excerpt here). The Washington Post reviewed the book on Friday, calling it, ” a sweet, simple story, a fable really.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grisham returns to the legal thriller in the fall, with The Racketeer, about the murder of a federal judge (note; the cover below is not final).

The Racketeer John Grisham Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: ? pages Publisher: RH/Doubleday – (2012-10-23) ISBN / EAN: 0385535147 / 9780385535144

The Time magazine Web site offers a long excerpt (the first three chapters) of Under Wildwood (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) coming September 25, the follow-up to Wildwood which was on the NYT children’s best seller list for two weeks last fall. It was also on the IndieBound top five for 18 weeks, three of them at #2.

Time also interviews the author, who is the singer/songwriter  for Portland folk band, The Decemberists, and the illustrator, Carson Ellis.

Featuring appropriately bright colors (the book is set in Miami), the cover of Tom Wolfe’s next, Back to Blood, was unveiled this week. With this title, Wolfe leaves  his long-time publisher, FSG to move to Little, Brown. He returns, however to editor Pat Strachan, who worked with Wolfe at FSG on several books, including Bonfire of the Vanities and The Right Stuff and is now at Little, Brown.

Below is the publisher’s description of the book scheduled for release is October.

As a police launch speeds across Miami’s Biscayne Bay-with officer Nestor Camacho on board-Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night-until lately, the love of Nestor’s life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin’ little brother; a billionaire porn addict, crack dealers in the ‘hoods, “de-skilled” conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair, “spectators” at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night’s orgy, yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an “Active Adult” condo, and a nest of shady Russians. Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe’s previous bestselling novels, Back to Blood is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.

Back to Blood: A Novel Tom Wolfe Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-10-23) ISBN / EAN: 0316036315 / 9780316036313

Hachette Audio

Yesterday, Penguin announced that Junot Diaz’s next book, a collection of short stories, This Is How You Lose Her, will be published by the Riverhead imprint in Sept. The story was picked up by several news sources, including the NYT and Entertainment Weekly

This will be the authors first book since his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Entertainment Weekly notes that it “was a literary sensation upon its release in 2007, topping several year-end best lists and racking up major prizes, including the Pulitzer.” It is his second short story collection (Drown was released in 1996 and was an ALA Notable Book).

It will also be released in audio.

This Is How You Lose Her Junot Diaz Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2012-09-11) ISBN / EAN: 1594487367 / 9781594487361