Tonight on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart discusses the history of prohibition with Dan Okrent, author of The Last Call. Libraries are still showing holds on the book, in some cases over 10:1.

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition Daniel Okrent Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 468 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2010-05-11) ISBN / EAN: 0743277023 / 9780743277020

S&S Audio; 9780743599214, CD, $39.99

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Tomorrow night, Stewart moves on to an even weightier topic, religion and how it relates to science, with author Marilynne Robinson. Best known for her novels, including the Pulitzer Prize winner, Gilead, in her new book, Robinson takes issue with many current thinkers, including Richard Dawkins. The book has been  reviewed in both the L.A. Times and The Washington Post.

Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self (Terry Lectures) Marilynne Robinson Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Yale University Press – (2010-05-25) ISBN / EAN: 0300145187 / 9780300145182

Glenn Beck raised another book at the top of the Amazon best seller list. On his show yesterday, he featured M. Stanton Evans, author of Blacklisted by History, a book that defends Sen. Joseph McCarthy (view the segment on YouTube here).

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies M. Stanton Evans Retail Price: $18.00 Paperback: 672 pages Publisher: Three Rivers Press – (2009-11-24) ISBN / EAN: 1400081068 / 9781400081066

Also getting a boost are two books about Soviet esponiage in the U.S. during the McCarthy era.

The Venona Secrets rose to #125, from #139,845 yesterday.

The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors Herbert Romerstein, Eric Breindel Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 608 pages Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. – (2001-10) ISBN / EAN: 0895262258 / 9780895262257

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And, Venona, rose to #289 from # 277,924 yesterday. It was highly recommended by Library Journal in 1999.

Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America (Yale Nota Bene) John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr Retail Price: $22.50 Paperback: 504 pages Publisher: Yale University Press – (2000-08-11) ISBN / EAN: 0300084625 / 9780300084627

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Hannah Montana and Last Song star Miley Cyrus has been signed to star in the film of best-selling YA paranormal thriller, Wake by Lisa McMann, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

No director has been announced.

The Wake is the first in a trilogy about a girl who is cursed with the ability to inhabit other people’s dreams. Rights to the entire series have been acquired by Paramount and MTV Films, with the plan to create a franchise.

Wake Lisa McMann Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse – (2008-03-04) ISBN / EAN: 1416953574 / 9781416953579

Brilliance Audio; UNABR

• 4 CD’s; 9781441819901; $44.97
• MP3-CD;  978144181992-5; $39.97

Also on PlayAway

eBook available from OverDrive

Rizzoli and Isles, a new TNT crime-solving female buddy series, based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen, begins on Monday, July 12th.

Official Web Site: RizzoliandIsles

The pilot episode is based on the second book in the series. The new mass market pbk. cover features Angie Harmon as Detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as medical examiner Maura Isles. Also in the cast is Lorraine Bracco as Jane’s mother.

The Apprentice (Jane Rizzoli, Book 2) Tess Gerritsen Retail Price: $7.99 Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2003-07-29) ISBN / EAN: 0345447867 / 9780345447869

OverDrive, downloadable audio and ebook
Books on Tape; UNABR; 8CD’s; 9780736687638: $80

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The latest in the series, Ice Cold, comes out next week and features the TNT logo, as do the new mass market paperbacks of the series.

Ice Cold: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel Tess Gerritsen Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-06-29) ISBN / EAN: 034551548X / 9780345515483

Brilliance Audio

• UNABR; 9 CD’s; Read by Tanya Eby; 9781423392064;  $97.97
• UNABR; MP3-CD; 978-1-4233-9208-8; $39.97

OverDrive WMA Audiobook

The movie of Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone opened in a limited number of theaters on Friday, after making a splash at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year. Critics are enthralled, from the NYT to the LA Times and David Edelstein on CBS Sunday Morning.

The movie tie-in rose to #55 on Amazon over the weekend.

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Tie-in:

Winter’s Bone: A Novel Daniel Woodrell Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Back Bay Books – (2010-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 031613161X / 9780316131612

It’s not directly book related, but Gloria Steinman will be on the Colbert Report on Tuesday.

Monday

The Colbert Report

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates Wes Moore Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau – (2010-04-27) ISBN / EAN: 0385528191 / 9780385528191

Random House Audio; UNABR; 9780307877130; $35
Adobe EPUB eBook and WMA Audiobook from OverDrive
The author appeared on Oprah in April.

Wednesday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The White House Doctor: My Patients Were Presidents – A Memoir Connie Mariano Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2010-06-22) ISBN / EAN: 0312534833 / 9780312534837

Thursday

The Colbert Report

Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives Michael Specter Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2009-10-29) ISBN / EAN: 1594202303 / 9781594202308

Spector appeared on The Daily Show last December. In the Fall, he was featured on several news stories about  the safety of flu vaccine.

Jon Stewart was obviously taken with James Tabor, author of Blind Descent, last night. He called the book “stunningly fascinating.”

The book rose to #64, from #2,058, on Amazon sales rankings.

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Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth James M. Tabor Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 1400067677 / 9781400067671

RH Audio; 9780307736789; $40

It’s not coming until next Spring, at the earliest, but “fans are already in lust” with the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the first book in The Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin, says the L.A. Times.

Feeding that lust is this 22 second-long video, which was aired on Sunday during the debut of season 3 of True Blood.

The fourth volume in the planned seven volume series was published in 2005. Fans are impatiently awaiting volume five, A Dance with Dragons, so much so that  Martin issued a statement last year, asking fans to give him a break,

Some of you are angry that I watch football during the fall. Some of you don’t want me attending conventions, teaching workshops, touring and doing promo … After all, as some of you like to point out in your emails, I am 60 years old and fat, and you don’t want me to ‘pull a Robert Jordan’ on you and deny you your book. OK, I’ve got the message. You don’t want me doing anything except A Song of Ice and Fire. Ever. (Well, maybe it’s OK if I take a leak once in a while?)

Monday

The Colbert Report

God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World–and Why Their Differences Matter Stephen Prothero Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: HarperOne – (2010-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 006157127X / 9780061571275

The author used social media to promote his book, helping it to rise on Amazon earlier this Spring. Several libraries are showing heavy holds on light ordering.

Tuesday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth James M. Tabor Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 1400067677 / 9781400067671

RH Audio; 9780307736789; $40

Random House expects this book will do as well as their 2004 best seller, Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson. Several libraries we checked have not ordered it yet.

Thursday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Teaching the Pig to Dance: A Memoir of Growing Up and Second Chances Fred Thompson Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Crown Forum – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 0307460282 / 9780307460288

The Colbert Report

Theatre David Mamet Retail Price: $22.00 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Faber & Faber – (2010-04-13) ISBN / EAN: 0865479283 / 9780865479289

Glenn Beck praised Austrian libertarian Friedrich A. Hayek’s 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom on his show yesterday, causing it to climb to #1 on Amazon sales rankings, rising above the new Stephenie Meyer book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.

Beck says, “Hayek clearly and logically explained how any form of central government planning usually leads to serfdom or servitude, slavery…[his book] was like Mike Tyson in his prime; a right hook to socialism in Western Europe and in the United States” and that Ronald Reagan loved the book.

John Stossel also praised the book on his Fox show in February,

The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents–The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek) F. A. Hayek Retail Price: $17.00 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press – (2007-03-30) ISBN / EAN: 0226320553 / 9780226320557

Monday

The Colbert Report

The Promise: President Obama, Year One Jonathan Alter Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 1439101191 / 9781439101193

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442334458; $49.99

OverDrive WMA Audiobook

Tuesday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Hitch-22: A Memoir Christopher Hitchens Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Twelve – (2010-06-02) ISBN / EAN: 0446540331 / 9780446540339

Hachette Large Print; 9780446566988; Hdbk; $28.99

Hachette Audio; 9781607882329 $34.98

OverDrive Adobe EPUB eBook

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The Colbert Report

Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover – (2010-05-27) ISBN / EAN: 1591843324 / 9781591843320

Tantor Audio;

On Sale Date: 06/07/2010
Trade; 9781400117819; 7 Audio CDs; $29.99
Library; 9781400147816; 7 Audio CDs; $71.99
MP3; 9781400167814; 1 MP3-CD; $19.99

Wednesday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization Spencer Wells Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-06-08) ISBN / EAN: 1400062152 / 9781400062157

Tuesday

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future Arthur C. Brooks Retail Price: $23.95 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Basic Books – (2010-05-25) ISBN / EAN: 0465019382 / 9780465019380

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The Colbert Report

Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations Ayaan Hirsi Ali Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 277 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 1439157316 / 9781439157312

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9780743599122; $39.99
WMA Audiobook from OverDrive

Wednesday

The Colbert Report

Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife Lisa Miller Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 0060554754 / 9780060554750

New Jersey Real Housewife Danielle Staub has a new book out today (the new season launches this week). It was not reviewed prepub.

The news is that she did NOT appear with the other Housewives on the Today Show:

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The Naked Truth: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewife of New Jersey–In Her Own Words Danielle Staub Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Gallery/ S&S – (2010-05-25) ISBN / EAN: 1439182892 / 9781439182895

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.

Jonathan Alter’s book evaluating Obama’s first year in office lands next week. Alter, who writes for Newsweek and is a contributor to NBC News, has a strong media lineup, beginning with The Today Show this morning, The Nightly News with Brian Williams tonight and Meet the Press on Sunday. He’s even going to be on Mad Money with Jim Cramer.

The book has already been reviewed in the NYT. The Wall Street Journal‘s “Washington Wire” blog offers a “handy guide” to the book. According to Time magazine’s political blog, “Swampland,” members of Congress are upset by Alter’s take on how they handled health care legislation.

The Promise: President Obama, Year One Jonathan Alter Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 1439101191 / 9781439101193

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442334458; $49.99