In her recent weekly book chats airing on Seattle’s NPR affiliate KUOW librarian Nancy Pearl talks Mystery and Fantasy.

Last week she discussed Tabula Rasa (Bloomsbury USA; Tantor audio; OverDrive Sample) by Ruth Downie, the newest in Downie’s Ruso mysteries set in Roman Britain. Just released in paperback, the sixth in the series takes place while the Romans are building Hadrian’s Wall and involves the case of a missing British boy.

Nancy says that Downie “give such a picture of the time and the place” that she feels she is taking a wonderful Roman history class as she reads them.

On October 6, Nancy addressed Fantasy with the last book written by the late Mal Peet, The Murdstone Trilogy: A Novel (Candlewick; Candlewick on Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample).

Peet, who passed away in March, might have been best known for his YA novels, but Nancy loved this adult send-up of writing in general and Fantasy in particular.

Calling it “sui generis” she says it’s like nothing she has ever read before.

The story is about a writer urged by his agent to change his focus from YA realistic fiction to Fantasy so he can start to sell books again. Knowing nothing of the genre he makes a deal with a strange creature – the creature will write the novel in exchange for a mysterious amulet.

Nancy says the story “totally charmed” her and is full of word play, satire, and wonderfully humorous set pieces.

It is also an open question as to what the novel actually is, not a trilogy at all as the subtitle makes clear and perhaps not a Fantasy either, making it a challenge for catalogers.

Next week sees the return of several powerhouse women thriller writers:

Depraved Heart, Patricia Cornwell, (HarperCollins/Morrow) — this Scarpetta Novel is being published to the tune of one million copies, and a one-day laydown.

Corrupted, Lisa Scottoline, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press) — also an Indie Next pick (see below).

Playing with Fire, Tess Gerritsen, (PRH/Ballantine) — in this new novel, the author steps away from her best selling Rizzoli & Isles series for a standalone thriller set in Rome and Venice.

The Theory of Death, Faye Kellerman, (HarperCollins/Morrow) — Continues the best selling Decker/Lazarus series.

In nonfiction, Stacy Schiff whose biography of Cleopatra received lavish attention and best seller status when it was published in 2010, turns her attention closer to home with The Witches: Salem, 1692.

In anticipation, an excerpt appeared in the New Yorker last month and the author is profiled in this week’s NYT Book Review.

The titles covered here, 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 Oct. 26, 2015

Media Magnets

Wildflower, Drew Barrymore, (PRH/Dutton; BOT Audio)

With the headline, “I Had the Weirdest Life Ever,” an excerpt from Drew Barrymore’s new memoir is featured on the cover of the new issue of People magazine. This is her second memoir, her previous, written in 1990 when she was just sixteen, was Little Girl Lost. The People story is making headlines because Barrymore admits that she suffered postpartum depression after her second child was born.

My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem, (Random House; BOT Audio, read by Debra Winger)

The hot ticket at this year’s Annual ALA Conference was for Gloria Steinem’s speech. She rewarded the standing room only crowd by telling them, “Librarians saved my life.” In a seeming contradiction with her feminist values, one of the first interviews with Steinem for her new memoir is in Cosmopolitan magazine. Declaring that Cosmo‘s founder, Helen Gurley Brown was not her nemesis and that she “did something very interesting and important, which is she made it OK to be sexual in a women’s magazine,” she also says she was a “great girlfriend. We had each other’s backs.”

Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath, Ted Koppel, (PRH/Crown; BOT Audio)

Former ABC Nightline anchor warns that terrorists could knock out the U.S. power grid. Media coverage is lined up:

Fox News Channel – O’Reilly Factor – interview, 10/27
CBS-TV – CBS Sunday Morning – airdate TBD
PBS-TV – Charlie Rose Show – airdate TBD

The Immortal Nicholas, Glenn  Beck, (S&S/Mercury Ink)

Another weapon in Beck’s war on the “War on Christmas,” this novel for adults attempts to turn “Santa himself back toward Christ.” We wonder if Beck realizes that his publisher calls this a “Holiday novel”?

Peer Picks

A Banquet of Consequences: A Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George (PRH/Viking; Penguin Audio and BOT; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads, Oct:

“Still reeling from a previous fall from grace, police detective Barbara Havers has a chance to redeem her standing–if she can unravel the very twisted threads that led to the murder of a prominent English feminist. Meanwhile, her superior officer Thomas Lynley pursues a love interest even as he keeps a sharp lookout for any slip-ups by Havers. This is the strongest addition to the series in years.” — Starr Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Slade House by David Mitchell (Random House; Random House Audio and BOT; OverDrive Sample)

Both an Indie Next and a LibraryReads pick for Oct:

“Every nine years, Slade House appears in a little alley in London, and every nine years, someone disappears into it, never to be seen again. Fans of The Bone Clocks will inhale this compact, six-part work that draws on Mitchell’s established mythology and reintroduces a familiar character or two. New readers, however, won’t be lost. Literary fiction, fantasy, and a dose of horror combine here to make a deeply satisfying book.” — Jenny Arch, Robbins Library, Arlington, MA

Corrupted: A Rosato & DiNunzio Novel by Lisa Scottoline (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample)

Indie Next:

“At 12, Jason is chubby, buck-toothed, and bullied every day by Ritchie. Philadelphia trial attorney Bennie Rosato tries to help Jason when he gets in trouble for fighting back. Thirteen years later, that same bully is dead, Jason appears to be the killer, and once again Bennie is called to help. As always, Scottoline’s dialogue is excellent, legal terms are made easy to understand, characters are richly drawn, trial scenes are vivid, and there are huge, well-hidden surprises. I enjoyed it immensely!” -—Susan Wasson, Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein (Penguin/Riverhead Books; Penguin Audio and BOT)
The Portlandia star and Sleater-Kinney guitarist, Carrie Brownstein is universally recognized as cool, even by Brwonstein herself. Interviewed in this week’s New York Times Magazine, her memoir is excerpted in the New Yorker, and she has organized a posse of celebrity friends for her book tour (which, naturally, kicks off in the cool capital of the world, Brooklyn).

Indie Next
“Before Portlandia, before Sleater-Kinney, there was a girl living in the Pacific Northwest with big ambitions, desperately yearning for an identity all her own. In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Brownstein strays from the normal parameters of memoir to give readers an insightful, raw look into the moments that shaped her into the person who would later co-found one of the world’s most influential rock bands. Navigating a past fraught with family turmoil, rejection from the music industry, and an unwavering determination to succeed, Brownstein shares the power of rock and roll, both as her catalyst to success and as a cultural barometer of our times.” —Zack Ruskin, Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA

After Alice, Gregory Maguire (HarperCollins/Morrow)

Indie Next: “Maguire, the fairy tale spin doctor, here takes on Wonderland. The heroine is not Alice, but rather her playmate Ada, a sheltered and lonely girl with a twisted spine. Ada inadvertently follows Alice into Wonderland, and her perceptions and experiences are marvelous and fresh, with her dry wit, pragmatism, and imagination enlivening and dominating the scene. Back at home, Alice’s sister Lydia offers readers a glimpse into Victorian times as Maguire’s prose gives a mystical glow to landscapes, personalities, and everyday life.” —Coleen Colwell, BookSmart, Morgan Hill, CA

Tie-ins

Below are the tie-ins scheduled for publication next week. For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV spreadsheet and link to our listing of tie-ins.

Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church: The Findings of the Investigation That Inspired the Major Motion Picture “Spotlight” (Hachette/Back Bay; originally pubbed in 2002)

Spotlight tells the story of the investigation by Boston Globe reporters into accusations of child molestation and its cover-up by the local Catholic church, winning them a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci, it opens 11/6/15.

The Danish Girl: A Novel (Movie Tie-In) by David Ebershoff (Penguin Books; OverDrive Sample)

Lest you think Caitlyn was the first, this adaptation of David Ebershoff’s novel is the story of one of the earliest transgender surgeries. Eddie Redmayne, who plays the lead is expected to pick up another Oscar for his startling physical transformation, adding to the one he received last year for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. The movie opens Nov. 27. See the trailer here.

Childhood’s End (Syfy TV Tie-in) by Arthur C. Clarke (PRH/Del Rey; Brilliance Audio)

SyFy TV series begins 12/15/15.

The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury (S&S/Howard Books; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample)

Hallmark TV movie debuts 12/6/15.

For 40 years, the host of NPR’s Fresh Air, Terry Gross has connected listeners with the people that fascinate her, many of them authors.

In celebration of that anniversary, The New York Times Magazine turns the tables on  Gross, interviewing the interviewer.

In a story enhanced by several photos (our favorite; Gross as a young woman working an enormous 70’s tape deck), writer Susan Burton offers an ode to NPR’s iconic questioner, reviewing her history and career trajectory, and discussing her acuity as an interviewer.

In particular Burton stresses Gross’s depth of knowledge on the subjects she discuses and her ability to create an intimacy with those she interviews, calling her our “national interviewer” and saying:

… think of it as a symbolic role, like the poet laureate — someone whose job it is to ask the questions, with a degree of art and honor. Barbara Walters was once our national interviewer, in a flashier style defined by a desire for spectacle. Gross is an interviewer defined by a longing for intimacy. In a culture in which we are all talking about ourselves more than ever, Gross is not only listening intently; she’s asking just the right questions … she’s deft on news and subtle on history, sixth-sensey in probing personal biography and expert at examining the intricacies of artistic process.”

This American Life‘s Ira Glass, no slouch as an interviewer himself, tells Burton:

There’ve been times when I’ve relistened [to an interview], just to hear the order of the questions and to figure out what was planned and unplanned. Like a magician sitting in on another guy’s act for two nights so he can figure out the trick, to steal it … [it is] not surprising that she loves jazz artists and stand-up comedians so much. She’s their journalist peer.

Being interviewed by Gross is a frequent fantasy of those who eventually make it onto her show and the process of talking to Gross is “a wish not for recognition but for an experience. It’s a wish for Gross to locate your genius, even if that genius has not yet been expressed. It’s a wish to be seen as in a wish to be understood.”

As an example, Burton highlights Gross’s 2011 interview with Maurice Sendak. The conversation turned to his death and Sendak said to Gross “I’ll go before you go, so I won’t have to miss you.’’

Two bird specialists, each of whom has recently published a book, talked with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday.

Wildlife photographer Gerrit Vyn has been photographing birds and recording their calls for years. After contributing images to many other books, he has now released his own title, The Living Bird: 100 Years of Listening to Nature (Mountaineers Books). It includes over 250 photographs by Vyn as well as essays by noted birders and naturalists.

Scott Weidensaul, who contributed pieces for Vyn’s book, has also published his own book, Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean (HMH). Following the pattern of other Peterson reference guides, it includes an exhaustive catalog with detailed descriptions of the owls, habitat, and behavior.

Both men communicate their fascination with birds, including the “tremendous of diversity of calls that owls make,” with samples that capture the feeling of being near the birds.

Welcome to Night Vale (HarperCollins/Harper Perennial; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample) is having its weird, subversive, addictive moment.

It is currently occupying the #59 spot on Amazon’s sales rankings and holds are growing at several libraries we checked.

As we reported, authors Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor were guests on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week (time mark 36:24).

This week they are the subjects of a Books section feature in The New York Times., which summarizes their “show’s eerie existential themes” as “Don’t panic, but we’re all going to die,” and says “With its uncanny blend of the macabre and the mundane, the news out of Night Vale sounds like what might occur if Stephen King or David Lynch was a guest producer at your local public radio station.”

The feature details the history of the podcast and its move to print books, reporting publisher Harper Perennial has three more books in the works from Fink and Cranor and that the pair found an agent through the assistance of author John Green, who is a big fan of the show.

In a heads-up service to librarians, the paper also discusses other podcasts coming to print, “including The WTF Oral History, based on the comedian Marc Maron’s podcast, and Adnan’s Story, a book by Rabia Chaudry that is based on the murder case that inspired the wildly successful podcast Serial. It will contain new information about the case and will be published by St. Martin’s Press.”

The finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction have been announced.

The three fiction picks are:

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press; OverDrive Sample)

The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard (PRH/Knopf; OverDrive Sample)

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (PRH/Doubleday; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample)

The three nonfiction picks are:

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald (Grove Press; Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample)

Hold Still by Sally Mann (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio and Blackstone Audio; OverDrive Sample)

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf (PRH/Knopf; HighBridge audio; OverDrive Sample)

The titles are selected by a committee consisting of members of the Reference and User Services Association of ALA and staff from Booklist magazine. The winners will be announced during the ALA Midwinter meeting along with the Notable Book List, The Reading List, The Listen List, the Dartmouth Medal, the Sophie Brody Medal, and other RUSA book awards.

One of the leading creators of massively popular and critically praised comics deeply appreciates librarians.

In a feature posted this week in The Daily Beast, writer Emil Lendof introduces Brian K. Vaughan to readers as:

“the golden boy of modern comic book writing… He has the reputation and awards (10 Eisner wins and 10 Eisner nominations) to hold the title, and he’s been compared to comics titans like Frank Miller and Alan Moore. From blockbuster hits like Y: The Last Man, the space opera Saga, and TV writing/producing credits on some of the best seasons of Lost and Under the Dome, Vaughan has become one of the preeminent comics authors.”

The pair sat down for an interview that ranged from Vaughan’s appreciation for the artists he works with to the ways he works out his fears and anxieties in comic form. He also discussed the frequent calls for banning his series Saga and in the process gives a shout-out to librarians:

“The main reason why it hasn’t been banned is because of librarians, who are at the forefront of anti-censorship. They’ve been so great about saying, “It’s fine if you don’t want your children to read Saga, but this is not how libraries work.” It’s frustrating that some people challenge it, but I am so grateful for librarians that let people check out whatever materials they want.”

Librarians who do not yet know his name are likely to be hearing much more about him. The Hollywood Reporter has news that Vaughan’s comic Y: The Last Man, which he created with artist Pia Guerra, has just been bought by FX with plans to make it into a live action series. Nina Jacobson (Hunger Games) and Brad Simpson (World War Z) will produce and Vaughan will co-write. An air date has yet to be set as the project is still in its very early days.

Yesterday was a three-book extravaganza for CBS’s venerable Sunday Morning magazine show.

The Dogist by Elias Weiss Friedman (Workman/Artisan) was featured in a charming and smile-inducing report, sending the book racing up the Amazon sales charts where it is currently occupying the #62 spot.

The book is based on Friedman’s blog and Instagram accounts of the same name, which have done for dogs what Humans of New York and The Sartorialist have done for people and fashion. In the process Friedman has gathered over a million followers.

CBS posted a photo gallery in addition to the video segment.

Also featured were Erica Jong, whose new book Fear of Dying (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample) rose to #148 on the Amazon chart as a result, and singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, for his new memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (PRH/Blue Rider Press; Penguin Audio; OverDrive Sample) who comes to CBS fresh off of his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week.

Robert Durst is the subject of books, films, and documentaries, perhaps most famously HBO’s The Jinx in which he seems to confess to multiple murders, saying to himself while wearing a microphone, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

Add another book to the list. Author Jeanine Pirro, a former district attorney involved in one of the Durst murder cases, featured in The Jinx, is publishing a new title, He Killed Them All: Robert Durst and My Quest for Justice (S&S/Gallery Books; S&S Audio). According to the publisher summary, Pirro reveals “stunning, previously unknown secrets about the crimes.”

The book is creating its own controversy. The New York Times reports that Pirro’s former collaborator on the project has filed suit against her, accusing Pirro of knowingly stretching the truth and aggrandizing her role in the matter. The lawsuit further claims that her editor at S&S told her not to “allow ‘concerns about facts’ to impede her from turning in drafts of the book.” Pirro’s agent has scoffed at the charges and S&S disputes the claims.

Holds are slight thus far but that will change if media attention continues.

Ten years ago Rick Riordan got kids interested in reading about Greek mythology with the publication of The Lightning Thief. Since then he has also written series based on Roman and Egyptian mythology.

Now he is turning his attention to Norse myths with his newest book Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book One, The Sword of Summer (Disney; Listening Library; OverDrive Sample).

It debuts this week in the #1 spot on USA Today’s Best-Selling Books list, a list that includes all ages and formats as well as in the top spot of The New York Times’ Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover list.

In and interview with Entertainment Weekly Riordan says that Norse myths present a special challenge because are gruesome and he had to figure out how to “present this accurately but also in a way that’s not completely terrifying”

Below is the book trailer.

The biggest book of the fall in terms of holds, even outstripping James Patterson’s Cross Justice coming in early Nov, arrives next week, John Grisham’s Rogue Lawyer, (PRH/Doubleday). It gets an early welcome from Maureen Corrigan in the Washington Post, calling it a “terrific new thriller.”

Also arriving is the latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling), Career Of Evil, (Hachette/Mulholland). The BBC is set to adapt the entire series, with production expected to begin this fall. Broadcast dates have not yet been announced.

Also arriving are Host by Robin Cook, (PRH/Putnam) and Golden Age by Jane Smiley, (PRH/Knopf)

The titles covered here, and several more notable titles arriving next week, are listed with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of Oct. 19, 2015

Media Magnets 

The Explorers Guild: Volume One: A Passage to Shambhala, Kevin Costner, Jon Baird, Rick Ross, (S&S/Atria)

Yes, the co-author is THAT Kevin Costner. When when the project was announced in 2012, the plan was also to turn it in to an animated series and a film. For now at least, the book stand alone. Kirkus sees merit in “its colorful cast, exotic locales, and intertwined fates” and as a result,  “the book slowly addicts. A rousing throwback whose spinning plates never stop, even at the end.” PW was less impressed, calling it a “massive doorstop of a volume is a curious, over-stuffed throwback … What could have been rousing becomes tedious as the authors pile on endless detail, delivered in densely worded prose sections that read like stage directions in a script.”

No surprise, the media is lining up for  Costner:

• ABC Good Morning America, October 20
• Fox-TV Access Hollywood, October 20
• ABC The View, October 20
• ABC Entertainment Tonight, October 20
• NPR Diane Rehm, October 21

Charlie Mike: A True Story of Heroes Who Brought Their Mission Home, Joe Klein, (S&S)

Joe Klein, Time magazine’s political columnist, tells the story of two soldiers who founded The Mission Continues, an organization that helps veterans adjust to life as civilians through community service. The book will be featured on NPR’s Diane Rehm, October 21 and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, October 22.

Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, Sarah Vowell, (PRH/Riverhead)

Vowell got very early coverage for her latest, as one of Jon Stewart’s final guests on the Daily Show. For the audiobook, she is joined by some famous friends, John Slattery (as the Marquis de Lafayette), Nick Offerman (George Washington), Bobby Cannavale (Benjamin Franklin), John Hodgman (John Adams), and Patton Oswalt (Thomas Jefferson).

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family, Amy Ellis Nutt, (PRH/Random House)

Featured on Good Morning America today, this book also profiled in this week’s People magazine in an article titled, “How Identical Twin Boys Became Brother and Sister: One Family’s Courageous Transgender Story” and is scheduled for coverage on NPR’s Fresh Air on Monday.

The Arab of the Future: A Graphic Memoir, Riad Sattouf (Macmillan/Metropolitan Books)

Reviewed in the New Yorker and the upcoming
NY Times Sunday Book Review.

Peer Picks

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (HarperCollins/Harper Perennial; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads, Oct — “This is classic Night Vale in written form. It’s an absolute must for Night Vale fans, and will possibly provide an introduction for those who haven’t found this snarky little podcast yet.” Debra Franklin, York County Public Library, Rock Hill, SC

Indie Next – “Welcome to Night Vale meshes the uncanny with the mundane in a way that doesn’t so much elevate the mundane as it illuminates life’s strangeness. For all its weirdness, Fink and Cranor’s work rings true. Like the best metaphors, the novel makes its reader think ‘Wait, what?’ and ‘Oh. Yes!’ in quick succession. New visitors to Night Vale will be as entertained and absorbed by the story and characters as longtime listeners of the duo’s popular podcast. Simply delightful!” —Amber Reed, Copperfield’s Books, Petaluma, CA

Last night, Stephen Colbert featured the founders of the podcast on the Late Show, forcing him to face the challenge featuring an audio medium on a visual one. When he mentioned the guests in the opening monologue, the crowd cheered and Colbert congratulated them for being a “hip audience”

Home Is Burning: A Memoir by Dan Marshall (Macmillan/Flatiron Books; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample)

Indie Next –“Emotionally devastating and also somehow incredibly funny, this memoir left me feeling grateful for the bonds of family. Marshall’s mother has been fighting cancer — and winning! — since he was a kid, but when his father is diagnosed with ALS, Marshall moves home to help battle this new medical challenge. It might have gone better if Marshall was at all the responsible, mature, and resourceful person the situation called for. Instead he flails and fails and acts wildly inappropriately — because what else can you do as your dad wastes away? Sometimes there’s nothing more important than looking mortality in the face, admitting we’re scared, and making a fart joke.” — Nichole McCown, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

A film adaptation is in the works, with Miles Teller as the star, directed by Jonathan Levine for New Line Cinema.

The Lake House by Kate Morton (S&S/Atria Books; Bolinda Audio)

Indie Next – “The Lake House explores an unsolved kidnapping that occurred between the World Wars at an isolated country house in England. Morton here continues to do all the things she does so well: weaving together a multi-generational family story from numerous perspectives; showcasing different facets of the same events; and bringing a wonderfully complex plot together in a kaleidoscopic web of uncovered secrets, past and present. With delightful characters, fascinating settings, and a captivating mystery, Morton draws us into a world we’re sorry to leave. Highly recommended!” —Carol Schneck Varner, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI

We Were Brothers: A Memoir by Barry Moser (Workman/Algonquin Books)

LibraryReads, Oct –  “Moser’s deeply personal memoir of his volatile relationship with his brother in the segregated south is thoughtful and beautifully written. Strong differences of opinions divided the brothers. Late in life, reconciliation came, but only after years of heartache. There is much to ponder from this work, which is timely given current racial tensions.” PJ Gardiner, Wake County Public Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Tie-ins

It’s a big week at the multiplex for movies based on books (tie-ins for these have been released and our listed in our catalog of movie tie-ins).

Goosebumps — based on characters from R.L, Stine’s books for kids, it expected to do well at the box office. In addition to the movie tie-ins, several of the original books have been reissued as Classic Goosebumps (with the line “Now a Major Motion Picture” on the covers).

Room — #1 pick of the week by People, “Of all the important, buzzy films his season, this is the one you won’t be able to shake,” it is  based on the novel by Emma Donoghue.

Beasts of No Nation — #5  People pick of the week — Based on the novel by Uzodinma Iweala, this will be released simultaneously on Netflix and in the Landmark Theatres chain, so it can qualify for the Oscars.

Truth — Based on the memoir by 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes, Truth And Duty: The Press, The President, And The Privilege Of Power, with Robert Redford playing Dan Rather in a scary wig, this one has not been playing well with the critics.

(For our full list of upcoming adaptations, download our Books to Movies and TV and link to our listing of tie-ins).

Anticipation is building for Leah Remini’s upcoming tell-all about her experiences with the Church of Scientology, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology (RH/Ballantine). Best known for her role as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS show King of Queens, and currently the star of TLC’s reality show, It’s All Relative, Remini left the Church after being a member for 30 years.

Lawrence Wright wrote a best selling account of the Church in 2013, Going Clear, the basis for this year’s award-winning HBO documentary of the same name, but Remini, who Vanity Fair describing her as “a well-connected Hollywood player” predicts she will have juicer stories, “until either Katie Holmes or Nicole Kidman [both women were married to Tom Cruise, who is deeply involved in the church] put pen to paper, this sounds like the closest we’ll get to exploring the Hollywood side of Scientology.”

People and Redbook have reported on the upcoming book, as have the tabloids. ABC’s 20/20 will do an hour-long interview with Remini on October 30, before the book’s release the following Tuesday. She will also be featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, as well as dozens of other shows. Even Rachel Ray and Dr. Oz will get in on the action.

Holds are starting to grow at libraries we checked.

After the success of The Girl in the Spider’s Web, David Lagercrantz is on tap to write two more titles for the Millennium series.

Entertainment Weekly reports that his Swedish publisher has to release a fifth in 2017, followed by a sixth in 2019. Following the precedent of the previous, we can expect those books to be released simultaneously in the U.S.

According to a publisher statement, Lagercrantz found The Girl in the Spider’s Web “so much fun to write and such a breathtaking adventure” that he “just can’t resist” writing more.

In an earlier interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lagercrantz said he found plenty of subject material for the series, sharing that he kept notes while reading the first three books by Stieg Larsson and found “lots of threads that I’m sure he would have developed.”

After hitting the NYT Best Seller list at #1 on Sept. 20, The Girl in the Spider’s Web has remained in the top three, moving back to #2 this week.

President Barack Obama turns his hand to book discussion, conducting an interview with Marilynne Robinson for a piece published in the 11/5 issue of The New York Review of Books.

The President reveals that he read Robinson’s second novel, Gilead when he was on the 2004 campaign. In it, he discovered one of his  “favorite characters in fiction,” the pastor John Ames, whom he describes as “gracious and courtly and a little bit confused about how to reconcile his faith with all the various travails that his family goes through.”

The two go on to discuss faith, religion, creativity, small town values, American optimism and pessimism, and the “us versus them” tendency of politics.

In a brief segment the President asks Robinson how she developed such a wide perspective growing up in a small rural location.

… how do you think you ended up thinking about democracy, writing, faith the way you do? How did that experience of growing up in a pretty small place in Idaho, which might have led you in an entirely different direction—how did you end up here, Marilynne? What happened? Was it libraries?

Robinson’s immediately answers, “It was libraries.”

The conversation takes place in two parts. The first is available now and the second will be posted in the next issue. A free audio recording of the interview is available via iTunes.

Last month, NPR’s Morning Edition Book Club announced their third pick, Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies (Penguin/Riverhead), helping to propel it on to best seller lists. In two weeks the NPR show will host a conversation with the author.

In a short tee up to the discussion, the hosts of Morning Edition say the novel as a “story of a marriage in two parts” as both the wife and the husband have their due.

Groff quickly pushes back against that summary, saying “It’s not a book about marriage.”

Rather, she explains, marriage is how she talks about larger ideas concerning creativity, sex, time, and rage. She says marriage becomes a vehicle to dig into some of the things she resisted about the institution, and did not know she resisted, until she spent five years working on the novel.

Readers are invited to submit a smartphone voice memo. Groff will answer some of the queries on Morning Edition.

Fates and Furies is on the National Book Awards longst for fiction; the shortlist will be announced tomorrow.