Janus Turns His Head
What’s on people’s minds for the new year?
In a word: Diets.
Today, Amazon’s Movers and Shakers list of books that have moved up the most in terms of sales rankings in the last 24 hours, is filled with diet books. How much this is self-motived and how much is the result of media attention (such as People‘s new issue featuring those who lost Half Their Size!), is anyone’s guess.
Soon, the media will turn their attention from the best books of 2013 to previews of what’s coming in 2014. Meandwhile, check out our links at the right, under “Coming Soon” for a quick overview of titles coming in the next few weeks. Highlights, below:
New York Magazine picks their favorites of January, recommending:
Rachel Joyce’s Perfect (Random House, Jan 14) by the author of the 2012 librarian favorite, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry),
Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh (RH/Crown, Jan 14;), calling it a “darkly funny first books the the culture editor of The New York Times Magazine)
Gary Shteyngart’s Little Failure (Random House, Jan. 7). This memoir also got attention on NPR’s All Things Considered this week, where it was called an “unambivalent success“).
Costco’s influential book buyer, Pennie Ianiciello, picks the paperback edition of Jennifer Chiaverini’s novel from last year, Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker as the featured book of the month. Chiaverini’s next book, Mrs. Lincoln’s Rival, (Penguin/Dutton, Jan 14) is one of the month’s picks by The Book Reporter.
On the IndieNext list for February is one of our Penguin First Flights titles, Archetype by M.D. Waters, (Penguin/Dutton, Feb. 6) — check out our live online chat with the author here (and please join us tomorrow for our chat with Timothy Lane, author of Rules for Becoming a Legend).
Librarians have been tweeting that they can’t wait for the next in Waters’ series, Prototype (they won’t have to wait long, it’s coming in July). For those attending Midwinter, the author will be featured on the AAP Debut Author Panel, Sat., Jan. 25, 3:00–4:00 pm (RSVP HERE with your interest in attending by Monday, January 13th).
There’e nearly universal acclaim for one debut, The Kept, by James Scott (Harper; Jan 7) — it’s picked for January by LibraryReads, IndieNext the BookReporter, and is an Amazon featured debut. The following is the annotation from LibraryReads:
“Scott has written a haunting novel about two characters who are tormented by regret and guilt and who do all the wrong things to find redemption. Beautiful writing and unforgettable characters mark this first novel that has been compared to the work of Cormac McCarthy and Michael Ondaatje.”
Alison Kastner, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
Digital advanced readers copies are still available from Edelewiss and Netgalley (but hurry, they may no longer be available after next week’s pub. date).