Did you think that Sunday’s NYT BR might second Time magazine’s cover pick, Jonthan Franzen’s Freedom?

No, The Tenth Parallel gets that spot; “A fascinating journey along the latitude line in Africa and Asia where Christianity and Islam often meet and clash,” which was a librarians BEA Shout & Share Pick.

However, the online edition of the Book Review includes a “preview” of Freedom in the 8/29 edition, reviewed by Book Review editor, Sam Tanenhaus. He calls it a masterpiece; expect to see it on the cover next week.

Julie Meyerson (The Lost Child) nails the appeal of Gail Caldwell’s book about the death of her best friend, Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by saying her “…greatest achievement is to rise above all that [the death of her friend, followed by the death of her beloved dog] to describe both the very best that women can be together and the precious things they can, if they wish, give back to one another: power, humor, love and self-respect.” The book also lands at #19 on the Nonfiction expanded list.

And, hurrah!, a review of a grammar book that “endorses breaking rules that make no sense,” The Glamour of Grammar.

On the best seller lists, our favorite picture book for adults, (NOT because it uses the term “jackass;” but because adults are more likely to respond to the book’s concept), Lane Smiths’ It’s a Book! arrives at #7 on the Picture Book list. If you haven’t seen the trailer, (and even if you have), give yourself a Friday treat and watch it (but know that the book IS better than the trailer):

The Murder Room, which was featured twice on NPR in the past week, debuts at #11 on the Nonfiction list.

On the Hardcover Advice list, after Women Food and God, which has been on for 22 weeks, it’s business books. At #2 and #3 are the provocatively titled, It’s Not Just Who You Know and Bury My Heart at Conference Room B. Then, we return to what really matters with Jennifer Arnold’s dog-training-through-kindness book, featured on GMA this week, Through a Dog’s Eyes, on for the first week at #7.

There’s been a clear trend over the past few weeks on the NYT Graphic Books Best Seller list. Blackest Night, the Green Lantern storyline extravaganza, and Scott Pilgrim, the film arriving to rock your geek movie world, dominate the lists. Siege, a title clearly aimed at reintroducing and reinvigorating the Avengers comics, ranks well, heralding good news for the still years-away Avengers movie (currently scheduled for 2012).

The just-wrapped San Diego Comic-Con was awash in new announcements for films based on comics, demonstrating once again the power of geek fandom as well as the ease with which Hollywood gobbles up potential source material.

All of this leads me to ask a question I’ve long wondered about in this era of Hollywood rehashing comics; how much good does media exposure, via films or TV, do for a comic book series or graphic novel?

It’s clear that interest spikes around a film’s release. Watchmen, the graphic novel, certainly sold more during the build up to the film’s release, but it continues to sit pretty on the Best Seller list, having stayed there for 74 weeks. Watchmen was a consistently popular title before the film, and it continues to be a popular title after. The bump in film popularity may have helped to introduce more people to the book, but how much did it need the help and did that translate into an appreciation of the format beyond Watchmen itself?

Scott Pilgrim, as a comic book series, has long been beloved by its devoted fans. Creator Bryan Lee O’Malley and Oni Press have reaped great rewards from the upcoming film’s buzz (poster at left), as well as the fact that the final volume’s release so nearly coincided with the film’s release this Friday.

Both of the previous titles are no-brainers. The comics were the direct source for the films, so if people walk in off the street wanting the origin of the movie they’ve just seen, you can hand them the books without qualms.

What about Green Lantern, coming out next June? The Blackest Night volumes are racing up the charts and holding steady. The film is highly anticipated, as indicated by Entertainment Weekly’s cover featuring it nearly a year before the movie’s release. It was also promoted at Comic-Con this year, where star Ryan Reynolds charmed everyone by reciting the entire Green Lantern oath for a young fan.

However, those intrigued by the Green Lantern movie are unlikely to be engaged by the continuity-heavy, you-must-buy-every-single-collection tale like Blackest Night. The folks buying Blackest Night?  They are already Green Lantern comics fans. People haven’t been tearing into my library to get the skinny on Green Lantern, at least not yet, and I’m wondering if and how much they will. In chatting with patrons, it’s clear they know Batman, The X-Men, Wolverine, and Spider-Man from the movies and pop culture osmosis. The bulk of them are not interested in reading the comics related to the franchise; they’re happy to wait for the next movie.

The most viable titles for a library to collect are those that have a direct connection to the film or TV series, either as the direct origin or a strong inspiration for the style or voice, not comics that simply feature the same characters.

When Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were carrying away box office millions, it was easy to locate and hand out the inspirations: Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, Grant Morrison’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke, and Brian Azzarello’s Joker. Fans of the campy Batman TV show may have been startled, but the grim view of the Batman movie reboot had been flavoring Batman comics for decades. Similarly, The Walking Dead, the much-buzzed about AMC TV adaptation of the now complete Robert Kirkman series, beginning in October, is already leading folks to the source material.

Librarians need to know which titles are worth our investment. Ed Brubaker’s strong run on Captain America and Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead are both quality and popular, and thus very much worth any library’s dollars. But I have yet to hear of a significant Thor volume I must purchase from either fans or reviews. The 2011 movies Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, as well as 2012’s The Avengers will need clear, continuity-free volumes to have an significant affect on the comics’ popularity with readers.

For lesser known titles, the impact remains to be seen. In previous years, my library patrons requested Mark Millar’s Wanted from the film of the same name, although readers were disappointed that the film had little to do with the comic — the film rights were purchased even before the comic had been finished. The graphic novel Wanted seems to go out now because it’s a Mark Millar title, not because it’s related to the lackluster film.

At Comic-Con, Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren were on hand to trumpet the upcoming film adaptation of Warren Ellis’s little-known Red, coming in October. The casual Bruce Willis or Helen Mirren fan may not realize the film is based on a limited series comic book. I will be waiting to see if sales and requests for the single-volume graphic novel start to rise.

So my question to you, dear reader, is what comics titles are getting demand due to films and TV? Which have proven worth keeping in your collection? I’ll be tracking this year’s upcoming tie-ins, and will report back on how much impact media attention has on graphic novels and comics beyond the first big bump.

Speculation is rampant on who will play The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in the American version of the movies based on the Stieg Larsson trilogy.

In the UK, the tabloids are writing that Emma Watson (who has had some experience with a book series brought to the movies; she played Hermione in the Harry Potter films) has “hacked off” her hair to audition for the role.

The CBS Early Show reported on the “hot buzz” yesterday, mentioning Natalie Portman and Ellen Page (Juno, Inception), but holding out the idea that an unknown would be more interesting.

One of the early front-runners, Cary Mulligan, is no longer a candidate; some speculate that director David Fincher found her too “clean cut.”

Daniel Craig will play the lead, Mikael Blomkvist. Robin Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Erika Berger, Blomkvist’s love interest.

On Friday, ABC’s Nightline interviewed Larsson’s real-life partner, the woman he lived with for 32 years, Eva Gabrielsson.

Meanwhile, critic Maureen Corrigan spoke about other Nordic mysteries on NPR’s Fresh Air last night, propelling titles by the writing team of Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo up the Amazon sales rankings.

If you track best sellers, you know that many of them are not loved by the critics. Take, for instance, the vicious (and often brilliantly funny) reviews of a title that appears on the NYT Graphic Books Best Seller List, Justice League: Cry for Justice. I admit, it can be fun to see a critic tear into an enormously popular title, such as the amusing reviews of Dan Brown’s latest tome.

The comics world, especially when you move outside the standard review journals and into industry and blog reviews, can be wildly entertaining as a forum for criticizing the bizarro turns that comics sometimes take. They can be especially critical when the publishers of the great universes of Marvel and DC come up with oddball moves to rejuvenate a series, a character, or their entire world. All Star Batman and Robin, created by the superstar team of Frank Miller and Jim Lee, was initially met with harsh reviews, accusing both creators of turning into horrible mockeries of their former greatness. The Green Lantern: Blackest Night storyline, which is both incredibly popular and embraced by many fans, also was chastised as an overly complex fantasy that only appeals to compulsive fans (for example, Shaenon Garrity’s commentary: “See, I think that’s an awesome idea for a comic book. For ten-year-olds. It’s the part where it’s being written for adults that worries me.”)

Since most comics initially appear as serial issues allows for a lot of dissection and brewing commentary before a story line is finished, and roundtable reviews easily facilitated online make for entertaining reading while also airing opinions as each chapter comics to light. Check out Comics Alliance’s roundtable review of the latest Avengers incarnation by Brian Michael Bendis which criticizes the reinvention of a yet another major superhero franchise.

Aside from indulging in a mean-spirited giggle, negative reviews help selectors figure out how long a title might last. Are fans are running out and buying certain titles simply to complete their collections or is it something that will gain some ground and be popular despite initial reactions? Most of the time library selectors ignore snide comments and purchase what our public is clamoring for. But what if there’s no local interest in the latest big wave on the best seller lists? How do we judge epic tales that come out in many volumes before we get the full story (such as Blackest Night or DC’s Final Crisis)?

This is where reviews of individual titles in a series can be helpful, even though libraries generally wait to buy the collected editions in hardcover or paperback. These sites are also the place to find reviews of ongoing volumes in series that library journals choose not to review: library sources may review New Avengers volume one, but they rarely review New Avengers volume four, and fan sites become the only place librarians can check in on the continuing quality of a series.

There are several critical sites that review single issues; Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, Comics Alliance, and Pop Matters are just a few places to start. The comics journal Journalista is a great site for news as well as daily collections of reviews for every type of comic and graphic novel. As with movie reviewers, you’ll learn which comics critics match your community’s tastes and be able to get a preview of the book before you purchase it.

It you’re still wondering about a giant universe-wide event (storylines that cross over into many
different series), like Marvel’s Civil War or any of the many DC’s Crises, ask your fellow librarian fans and selectors. I frequently use the Graphic Novels in Libraries listserv to pick the brains of my fellow librarian fans about which volumes from major event series I must collect to satisfy my patrons. Marvel’s Civil War, which finished with the much-reported death of Captain America, spread over 80 different comic book issues and ultimately was featured in 23 different collected editions I could have purchased for my library. I found no reviews from library journals on any part of this series. On the advice from my fellow GNLIB librarians, I narrowed down my purchases to an essential ten volumes and have never had any complaints. As an online forum for librarians who also have an encyclopedic knowledge of comics, listserv can’t be beat. Many of us don’t have the time or inclination to read the series as they come out, so it’s helpful that many librarians are comics fans and understand both the comics universes and budget restraints.

Libraries are still struggling to fill holds for the summer’s surprise British hit, One Day by David Nicholls.

Random House has just released the audio.

Meanwhile, the Scottish tabloid press reports that Anne Hathaway, on the set of the movie version, currently filming in Edinburgh, is “sporting the bookish look” (i.e., she’s wearing glasses).

One Day David Nicholls Retail Price: $35.00 Audio CD: UNABR Publisher: Random House Audio – (2010-07-29) ISBN / EAN: 0307912957 / 9780307912954

Get out the bleep machine; the twitter-based book, Sh*t My Dad Says, by Justin Halpern (It Books/HarperCollins) is the basis for a series that will appear on CBS this Fall, as we noted earlier.

William Shatner is playing the trash-talking dad. The series is going through changes, however, Shatner told TVGuide. Since creating the pilot, he’s had a chance to read the book and plans to reshoot it, with a new actor playing the role of the son; Ryan Devlin (Cougar Town) is being replaced by Jonathan Sandowski (Friday the 13th). At this point, CBS is calling the series $#*! My Dad Says.

We’re curious how CBS will render Dad’s actual language.

When Stieg Larsson died, he left an uncompleted fourth book in his Millennium series. Larsson’s long-time partner, Eva Gabrielsson, in a legal dispute with Larsson’s father and brother, has refused to make the manuscript available for publication.

The AP looks into what is know about the manuscript (not much) and its chances for being published (unclear).

Can the anti-diet book, Women Food and God reach an even wider audience? It’s already been on the NYT Hardcover Advice best seller list for 16 weeks, largely because Oprah has called it “the miracle we’ve been waiting for.”

Today, Oprah brings the author back to her show for a second session.

Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything Geneen Roth Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 1416543074 / 9781416543077

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442336605; $29.99

That’s what Entertainment Weekly dubs The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Unfortunately, Entertainment Weekly does not post its features, so we’ll have to grab the magazine, on stands tomorrow, to find out more.

An EW teaser blog post, however, says that speculation about who will play the main characters in the English-language movie is just that; speculation. Rumor has it that Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig could play Blomkvist, and some are betting on Kristen Stewart, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, or Carey Mulligan for Lisbeth. Producer Scott Rudin will only say that casting should be complete in a month or two.

Meanwhile, we’re wondering how long it’s been since a book appeared on Entertainment Weekly‘s cover.

It’s no surprise that Stieg Larsson’s third book in the Millennium trilogy lands at #1 on both the USA Today and the upcoming NYT best seller lists (and many others to come, undoubtedly).

In fact, Larsson now holds all three top spots; the first book in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, rises to #2 on USA Today‘s list, and The Girl Who Played With Fire to #3, a peak for both titles.

This makes it clear that new readers are continuing to come to the series; time to buy the paperbacks if you haven’t already.

The Swedish-language movie of the second title opens in U.S. theaters on July 7. Despite its limited release, the first movie has been doing well at the box office.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 608 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2009-06-23) ISBN / EAN: 0307454541 / 9780307454546

Mass Mkt Pbk; Vintage; 9780307473479; $7.99
Random House Audio; Reader, Simon Vance; 9780307577580; $39.95
Books on Tape; 13 CD’s; Reader, Simon Vance; 9781415957783; $50
Audio and eBook from Overdrive
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The Girl Who Played with Fire Stieg Larsson Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 630 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2010-03-23) ISBN / EAN: 030745455X / 9780307454553

Mass Mkt Pbk; Vintage; 9780307476159; $7.99
Random House Audio; Reader, Simon Vance; 9780739384176; $39.95
Books on Tape; 15 CD’s; Reader, Simon Vance; 9781415964361; $50

At the top of the  NYT Graphic Books Paperback Best Seller list this week is one of the few comics series that I buy as it comes out: Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan. Mitchell Hundred was just a civil engineer who, through the time-honored tradition of being too near alien technology when it exploded, discovered he has the ability to command any machine or mechanical device. At first that may not seem so useful — so he can turn on his TV by talking to it, big whoop — but as a crime-fighter, he can tell guns not to fire, wipe out communications, and tell a bomb timer not to go off. He used his powers for good, not always with grace but well intentioned, and managed to become a superhero known as The Great Machine. When on 9/11 The Great Machine was able to stop one plane from hitting the Twin Towers but not two, Hundred decides he’d do more good as a politician than a superhero, and runs to become the Mayor of New York City.

Ex Machina has a lot going for it as a series: it’s a superhero tale, yes, but it’s also a sharp political drama and promises ultimately to be a critical portrait of a man’s struggle to be a hero in political terms rather than as a super powered vigilante. Writer Brian K. Vaughan has foreshadowed from the beginning that Mitchell Hundred’s tale is a tragic one, but one that is full of humor, surprises, and pathos. Starting in 2001, the series is a period piece looking at a slightly alternate history of the country and NYC as Mayor Hundred struggles with a number of issues: freedom of speech, gay marriage, anti-war demonstrations, possible terrorist attacks, and public speculation about his own sexuality. At the same time, because he was once a superhero, his past frequently rears up to complicate his current position, from repercussions of his less than spectacular days as a superhero to his own staff being in danger from old enemies. Tony Harris, a strong artist known for creating much of his work from friends and family in reference photos, does a stellar job capturing the rapid pace of the day-to-day job and the contemplative moments alike. Ex Machina is finishing in the next collection, volume ten, and if libraries don’t already own the series, now is a good time to pick it up in paperback trades or in hardcover deluxe editions. In my library, this remains one of our top-circulating titles.

Brian K. Vaughan is a writer that every library collecting graphic novels should know. He’s the kind of author, like Stephen King, who always brings entertaining and thoughtful speculative visions to his work. He has a smart sense of both dialogue and over-arching plot. His series benefit from a strong structure and a set plot, and his mixture of humor with dramatic challenges make his titles appealing to a wide range of readers of both genders, from comics fans to literary buffs. He writes for teens (Runaways) or adults (Y the Last Man, Ex Machina) and everyone in between (Pride of Baghdad), and has even jumped to other formats (as a writer for ABC’s Lost) and his titles are deservedly popular. He has not announced any new projects as of yet, promising that nothing new will start until Ex Machina is finished, but his name is a strong indication that a series outside the established universes of DC or Marvel will be a hit.

Ex Machina, Book 1 (Deluxe Edition) Brian Vaughan Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: WildStorm – (2008-07-15) ISBN / EAN: 1401218148 / 9781401218140

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Runaways, Vol. 1 Brian K. Vaughan Retail Price: $34.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Marvel Comics – (2006-01-18) ISBN / EAN: 0785118764 / 9780785118763

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Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 (Deluxe Edition) Brian K. Vaughan Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Vertigo – (2008-10-28) ISBN / EAN: 1401219217 / 9781401219215

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Pride of Baghdad Brian K. Vaughan Retail Price: $12.99 Paperback: 136 pages Publisher: Vertigo – (2008-01-02) ISBN / EAN: 1401203159 / 9781401203153

Arriving at #1 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list is the fifth volume in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, Spirit Bound, besting Lee Child’s 61 Hours, which debuts at #2.

This is Mead’s first time at #1; volume 4, Blood Promise, hit at #5 when it came out  at the end of August last year. It also hits the NYT Childrens Series Best Seller List at #1.

Meanwhile, Stephenie Meyer’s name is much further down the list, with Eclipse at #22. That will change when The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner releases next Saturday.

Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, Book 5) Richelle Mead Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Razorbill – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 1595142509 / 9781595142504

Penguin Audio; UNABR; 9780143145271; $39.95

Adobe EPUB eBook, MP3 and WMA Audiobook from OverDrive

Women, Food and God hit number 1 on several major best seller lists after Oprah’s endorsements, beginning in O, The Oprah Magazine and continuing with a full hour show last week. Now, it adds another one as it hits #1 on the USA Today list (which, unlike lists in other newspapers, is not divided by category).

It will get a further boost on July 12th, when Oprah again features the author, as USA Today‘s “Book Buzz” column notes.

Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything Geneen Roth Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 1416543074 / 9781416543077

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442336605; $29.99

What’s that about the words you can’t say on television?

Sh*t My Dad Says, which debuted at #8 on the 5/23 NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers list (where it’s slyly presented as “-— My Dad Says” ), is headed to TV. This Fall, CBS will air a series based on the book, starring William Shatner as the opinionated dad in the title and Ryan Devlin (Cougar Town) as his son. According to the New York Times, it’s tentatively titled Bleep My Dad Says.

The book originated as a Twitter page, which is based on exactly what the title indicates, the musings of the author’s 74-year-old father. It’s just hard to imagine how the actual sh*t dad says can be said on TV.

Sh*t My Dad Says Justin Halpern Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: It Books – (2010-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061992704 / 9780061992704

Adobe EPUB eBook and Unabridged WMA Audiobook available from OverDrive.

Chris Buckley’s over-the-top NYT BR cover review (and several others that followed) propelled Tom Rachman’s debut novel, The Imperfectionists up the Amazon best seller lists and now it’s hit the 5/23 NYT Hardcover Fiction list at #13, tied with Anna Quindlin’s Every Last One at #12. Libraries are adding more copies as hold lists are lengthening.

As we wrote earlier, the book got buzz in the Fall of ’08, when Dial’s Susan Kamil, who also edited The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, won it in a spirited auction.

Recorded Books is releasing it on CD in September.

The Imperfectionists Tom Rachman Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: The Dial Press – (2010-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 0385343663 / 9780385343664

Adobe EPUB eBook available from OverDrive
Recorded Books:

• UNABR CD; 8 CDs; 9781449825621; $92.75; Anticipated Release: Sep 07, 2010
• UNABR Cassette; 8 Cassettes;.9781449825614; $67.75; Anticipated Release: Nov 15, 2010