Titles to Know and Recommend, Week of December 26, 2016
From The Lose You Belly Diet to Zero Sugar, the war on fat begins next week. Explaining why we continue to make bestsellers of these book, The Secret Life of Fat, explores why the body is so intent on hanging on to what everyone seems to want to lose.
The titles covered in this column, and several other notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar Week of Dec. 26, 2016.
Peer Picks
One peer pick arrivesthis week and it is both a LibraryReads and an Indie Next selection, Books for Living, Will Schwalbe (PRH/Knopf; RH Audio/BOT).
“Every book changes your life. So I like to ask: How is this book changing mine?’ Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club, focuses on a personal collection of books that changed his life. Each book he selects provides a lesson, a reminder as to how to live his life. Readers will remember favorite books, find new books to try, and lessons to think about. Schwalbe’s book is warm, charming, and very personal. It’s a book for all avid readers.” — Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, Evansville, IN
Additional Buzz: Publishers Weekly and Booklist give it starred reviews. Reviewed in this week’s this week’s NYT BR, it is on a number of best of the month lists including those by BookRiot, Bustle, Harper’s Bazaar, and Real Simple. Vanity Fair lists it as one of their “Must-Read Books of the Holiday Season” and Signature writes it is “A delicious indulgence to anyone who loves talking about books and listening to others talk about them.”
Tie-ins
There are tie-ins this week for three films, The LEGO Batman Movie, Live by Night , and the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.
The LEGO film opens February 10, 2017 and stars Will Arnett as Batman as well as Michael Cera (Robin), Zach Galifianakis (The Joker), Rosario Dawson (Batgirl), and Ralph Fiennes (Alfred). The film is a spin-off of the highly successful The LEGO Movie in which Batman almost stole the show.
Tie-ins include:
Junior Novel (The LEGO Batman Movie), Jeanette Lane (Scholastic; OverDrive Sample)
The LEGO® Batman Movie: The Essential Guide, DK (PRH/DK Children)
Batman’s Guide to Being Cool (The LEGO Batman Movie), Howie Dewin (Scholastic; OverDrive Sample)
Three leveled readers are also being released:
DK Readers L1: THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Team Batman, DK, Beth Davies (PRH/DK Children, also in trade pbk.)
DK Readers L2: THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE Rise of the Rogues, DK, Beth Davies (PRH/DK Children, also in trade pbk.)
Robin to the Rescue! (The LEGO Batman Movie: Reader), Tracey West (Scholastic; OverDrive Sample)
Based on the best seller by Dennis Lehane, Live by Night opens on December 25, followed by a national release on January 13, 2017. It is Ben Affleck’s first time in the director’s chair since his award-winning Argo.
Tie-ins have come out through the month of December. The trade paperback came out on Dec. 6. and the mass market comes out this week (both HarperCollins/Morrow).
Variety reports that Affleck told reporters at an early screening that his goal is to blend “a throwback vibe with modern energy. And that’s fitting: In Lehane’s novel, Affleck has found a gangster yarn akin to the ’30s and ’40s genre pictures that inspired him, but one with a fresh face.”
Live by Night follows The Given Day, which was the author’s first departure into historical crime. A third book in the series, World Gone By, was published last year.
Even though Sony has just delayed The Dark Tower, moving it from its expected Feb. 17 release date to July 28, 2017, the three mass market tie-ins arrive this week:
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, Stephen King (S&S/Pocket Books; OverDrive Sample)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, Stephen King (S&S/Pocket Books; OverDrive Sample)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King (S&S/Pocket Books; OverDrive Sample)
Entertainment Weekly says the delay is due to “needing deadline extensions on the visual effects, as well as more lead-up to promote the film.”
Reflecting the delays, there is no trailer as of yet for the film.
For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins.