Next week, a new window opens on the Julia Child legend, with As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, edited by Joan Reardon, a collection of Child’s correspondence with her close friend and unofficial literary agent. The two women first encountered each other in 1952, when DeVoto responded to Child’s fan letter to her husband after reading an article he wrote about knives, and became soul mates as Childs was writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking (DeVoto is portrayed in the film Julie & Julia by Deborah Rush).

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B”: “While their conversations can drag a bit — weather, health, and politics get too much space — the book is an absorbing portrait of an unexpected friendship.”

So far, library holds are in line with modest orders at libraries we checked – but that may change as more media arrives.

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – (2010-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 0547417713 / 9780547417714

Usual Suspects On Sale Next Week

Rescue: A Novel by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown) follows a paramedic worried that his daughter is becoming an alcoholic, like his troubled ex-wife. Library Journal says, “a solid read, though not the author’s most compelling or dazzling work. Excellent fodder for book clubs; there is plenty to discuss in the protagonists’ motivations, decisions, and characterization.”

Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice (Knopf) is the second entry in the supernatural Songs of the Seraphim series, involving a divine vigilante dispensing justice in Renaissance Italy. Kirkus says, “The plot’s intense; equally so are Rice’s meditations, while never breaking the seamlessness of the story line, on the nature of love and evil. A bullet of a book—and an absolute bull’s eye.”

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam) is the 18th novel with detective Kay Scarpetta.

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore (Twelve) finds a literary investigator caught up in a murder case. Library Journal says, “constant switching of narrators can be jarring, but Moore does an excellent job of making his characters and settings feel real, using his thorough knowledge of the Holmes stories to good effect.”

Clouds Without Rain by P. L. Gaus (Plume) is an Indie Next Pick for December that won bookseller praise for its slowly unravelling mystery set in Amish country, “with a good many surprises along the way. Another excellent entry in this series.”

As part of his extensive media tour for his book, Decoded, Jay Z talks to Terry Gross about his music and growing up in a housing project in Brooklyn. He will appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. Earlier this week, he appeared at the New York Public Library.

Decoded Jay-Z Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400068924 / 9781400068920

If, like Nora Ephron, you no longer know anyone in People magazine, this Daily Beast article’s for you; A Baby Boomer’s Guide to Jay-Z.

Jay Z’s autobiography releases tomorrow. It’s also reviewed in the B&N Review.

Decoded Jay-Z Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400068924 / 9781400068920

Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, about a WWII hero who survived being shot down and drifting on a life raft in the open ocean, only to endure two years in a brutal Japanese POW camp, is poised to be next week’s biggest nonfiction release. As we wrote earlier, it’s a People Pick, was featured on the cover of USA Today‘s “Life” section, and is excerpted in the December issue of Vanity Fair. Hillenbrand’s appearances next week include the Today Show and NPR.

It also made PW and the Amazon Editors Top Ten lists for 2010. Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles the subject of the book, Louis Zamperini, and quotes a buyer for B&N, “We’re positioning it as the big book for the holidays.”

The one naysayer so far is Entertainment Weekly which gives the book a “B”:

Hillenbrand is a better writer than a lot of historians and biographers. At times her prose even veers toward the poetic. But… she gives this story a chronological structure that frankly gets a little plodding…. Also, as inspiring as Zamperini’s tale is, his ordeal isn’t exactly a joy to experience on the page.

Nevertheless, the book is rising on Amazon, reaching #11 this morning (making it the fifth highest nonfiction title on the list). We’ll see how it fares with word of mouth after its release.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400064163 / 9781400064168

RH Large Print; 9780375435010
RH Audio; 9780739319697

Other Notable Nonfiction on Sale Next Week

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda (HarperCollins) is a biography by the veteran publisher. PW says “Korda perhaps exaggerates the novelty and significance of Lawrence’s military exploits and makes an unconvincing stab at framing him in Joseph Campbell-inspired heroic archetypes. Still, Korda’s vivid portrait of Lawrence and his warring impulses captures the brilliance and charisma of this fascinating figure.”

My Passion for Design by Barbra Streisand (Viking) is an illustrated tour of the great star’s homes and art collections – and her first book. Streisand will appear for a full hour on the Oprah Winfrey Show on November 16.

Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama (Knopf Books for Young Readers) explores the characteristics of 13 important figures in American history through a letter to the President’s daughters.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner) chronicles the history of cancer, cancer treatments and new research into the disease. Reviewing the book in the  New York Times, yesterday, Janet Maslin objects that it is “transparently glib” to call the book a “biography,”  but that, “With objectives so vast, and with such a beautiful title, The Emperor of All Maladies is poised to attract a serious and substantial readership.” While the tone of the review is generally negative, it’s clear that Maslin is fascinated by much of it, underscoring her assessment that it will attract readers.

Decoded by Jay-Z (Spiegel & Grau) is part memoir, part tribute to the genre of hip-hop by the superstar. Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-: “The memoir’s chief theme is Jay-Z’s obsession with words…. He situates his work in the English canon, comparing his chosen form to the sonnet and crediting favorite authors (”Shout-out to Alfred, Lord Tennyson”). After reading Decoded, you won’t doubt for a second that he deserves the same level of respect as any of those great scribes.”

Nora Ephron‘s latest collection of humorous essays, I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections is a People Pick in the new issue, and New York magazine has a Q&A with her. Entertainment Weekly rains on the parade a bit, with a B- review (worth reading as an example of saying a great deal in just a few lines) as does Jane Maslin in today’s NYT, at much greater length.

Ephron’s also said to be launching a divorce section on the Huffington Post this week.

We hope she can remember her schedule next week, it’s a crowded one:

NPR/Morning Edition– 11/8
Charlie Rose – 11/9
Today Show – 11/9
The View – 11/10

All that, coming off the heels of her 2006 bestselling collection I Feel Bad About My Neck, is adding up to a 500,000 print run for her latest.

Booklist says: “A master of the jujitsu essay, Ephron leaves us breathless with rueful laughter. As the title suggests, she writes about the weird vagaries of memory as we age, although she is happy to report that the Senior Moment has become the Google Moment. Not that any gadget rescued her when she failed to recognize her own sister.”

I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections Nora Ephron Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2010-11-09) ISBN : 9780307595607

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week

Decision Points by George W. Bush (Crown) gives personal insight into the major events of Bush’s presidency. Though it’s embargoed, there have been lots of leaks, as we’ve already mentioned.

Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser (Thomas Dunne) is historical fiction about the Continental Army during the winter of 1777, following up on the authors’ success with Try Men’s Souls (2009). Booklist says, “The dialogue tends to get a little long-winded, and the authors are unabashed cheerleaders for GW, but, really, who can blame them? American readers can’t get enough of Valley Forge, so expect high demand for this fair-to-middling fictional adaptation.”

Don’t Sing at the Table: Life Lessons From My Grandmothers Adriana Trigiani  (Harper)  was featured at the BEA – AAP  Librarian Lunch. PW says, “Trigiani combines family and American history, reflections on lives well-lived, and sound advice to excellent effect, as a legacy to her daughter and a remembrance of two inimitable women.”

Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman (Twelve) analyzes the composition and decisions of the Supreme Court during the 1940s and 50s. Kirkus calls it “an immensely readable history that goes behind the façade of our most august institution to reveal the flesh-and-blood characters who make our laws.”

Portia de Rossi’s memoir, releasing today, is about her love affair; not with Ellen DeGeneres, but with dieting. She appears on Oprah today to talk about it.

But what about Ellen?

She gets her next; wife and wife sit down to talk on the Ellen show on Thursday.

Prepub reviews were strong.

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain Portia de Rossi Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Atria – (2010-11-02) ISBN / EAN: 1439177783 / 9781439177785

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9781442336391

Antonia Fraser’s memoir of her 30-year marriage to Nobel Laureate and playwright Harold Pinter, Must You Go?, coming next week, is beginning to draw attention on this side of the pond.

Best known as the biographer of Marie Antoinette and The Wives of Henry VIII, Fraser began her relationship with Pinter when he asked her book’s eponymous question while they were both married to other people.

The New York Times says

Must You Go? is not a proper biography of Pinter, nor a remotely full account of Ms. Fraser’s own life. Instead it’s a book of glowing fragments, moments culled from Ms. Fraser’s diaries. The prose is not overly winsome. “My Diary: it’s not about great writing,” she admits. “It’s my friend, my record, and sometimes my consolation.” But there’s hardly a dull page.

But Entertainment Weekly is more impressed, giving it an “A”:

Fraser’s bold, intimate, madly entertaining memoir of the years with her late husband Harold Pinter. . . . [is] a tender portrait of an exciting marriage, and a deliciously detailed account of living in the thick of creativity and fame.

Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter Antonia Fraser Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-11-02) ISBN / EAN: 0385532504 / 9780385532501

More Notable Nonfiction

Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris (Grand Central) is a farcical guide to crafting hobbies. Booklist says: “The true joy of this book lies in its hilarious and amazingly well-styled photo spreads, many featuring Sedaris in one of her uncanny disguises, including a teenager, an elderly shut-in, and Jesus. She devotes equal time to instruction on making homemade sausage, gift-giving, crafting safety, and lovemaking (aka “fornicrafting”).”

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester (Harper) chronicles the geological and sociopolitical history of the Atlantic Ocean. PW is less than impressed: “Although he does not neglect the chief tragedies of the Atlantic, like the slave trade and the maritime battles, Winchester occasionally flits beelike from scene to scene, and the facts become lost in a blur.”  But the Economist finds it more satisfying balanced.

Me by Ricky Martin (Celebra) is the memoir of a pop music superstar.

Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan (Doubleday) was previewed in USA Today this week, after very positive prepub reviews, including stars from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

They Call Me Baba Booey by Gary Dell’Abate and Chad Millman (Spiegel & Grau) recounts the early life and career of the Howard Stern Show producer.

Cake Boss: The Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia by Buddy Valastro (Free Press) is a memoir by the star of the TLC show. PW says “despite great technical descriptions, including his bakery’s cannoli recipe and photos of his spectacular cakes, Buddy’s tale of immigrant success proves too familiar.” Thousands of show fans may beg to differ.

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese) is an examination of the books and book people that have had an effect on the novelist’s life.  The new issue of Entertainment Weekly gives it a just a B-; “Like a coal worker dutifully marching back down the mine shaft, Pat Conroy returns to the seemingly non-depletable source of most of his output: his own life…It’s hardly new terrain, but some of the chapters are still sweetly moving.”

What is the richest city in the world really like? British writer Jo Tatchell moved to Abu Dhabi with her family in the early ’70’s, when it was just a “disheveled, dusty place.” In her new book, A Diamond in the Desert, she writes about her return to the now very different place, as she describes on NPR’s Morning Edition today.

In reviewing the book, Publishers Weekly called it a “glittering travelogue” and said, “Tatchell’s keen powers of observation and personal connections enable her to convey the hidden reality of this mirage-like city.” Kirkus agreed on that point, but wished she had been more forthcoming about her own family truths.

A Diamond in the Desert: Behind the Scenes in Abu Dhabi, the World’s Richest City Jo Tatchell Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat – (2010-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 080217079X / 9780802170798

Grove Atlantic announced yesterday that they are publishing Roger Sterling’s memoir, cleverly titled, Sterling’s Gold. It is already rising on Amazon’s sales rankings (currently at #72).

Who’s Roger Sterling? The first person to answer correctly and the most completely in the comments section wins an ARC of The Hammersteins by Oscar Andrew Hammerstein (Black Dog & Leventhal, Oct).

Sterling’s Gold: Wit and Wisdom of an Ad Man Roger Sterling Retail Price: $16.95 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Grove Press – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 0802119891 / 9780802119896

For the legions who like memoirs and are still intrigued by the sixties, you can suggest Catherine Gildiner’s new book, After the Falls, coming out tomorrow.

Today’s Wall Street Journal review calls it a worthy follow up to the author’s 1999 best seller, Too Close to the Falls, which was,

…about an exuberant only child raised by eccentric parents in the 1950s, a decade that was anything but sterile or conformist for those in Cathy’s orbit. It was a wise and funny book, populated with memorable characters…Mrs. Gildiner, it was clear, had the rare skill of being able to present a child’s worldview in an adult’s voice, overlaid with an adult’s knowledge and judgment.

The new memoir picks up where the previous one left off, when the author was twelve years old, and continues through her college years during the ’60’s. Gildiner’s “gifts shine again” says the reviewer.

Independent booksellers also select it as a favorite title for November; it’s #6 on the Indie Next list.

After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties Catherine Gildiner Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2010-10-28) ISBN / EAN: 0670022055 / 9780670022052

Legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is setting the tabloid press abuzz over excerpts from his new memoir, Life, in the Times of London, where (big surprise) he says that Mick Jagger has been “unbearable” since the 1980s.

In the New York Times, Janet Maslin calls Richards’ memoir “a big, fierce, game-changing account of the Stones’ nearly half-century-long adventure. . . . some of its most surprisingly revelatory material appears in what Mr. Richards jokingly calls ‘Keef’s Guitar Workshop.’ Here are the secrets of some of the world’s most famous rock riffs and the almost toy-level equipment on which they were recorded.”

Life Keith Richards Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 576 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2010-10-26) ISBN / EAN: 031603438X / 9780316034388

• CD: Hachette Audio; $34.98; ISBN 9781600242403
• Large Print: Little Brown and Co., $31.99; ISBN 9780316120364

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week

The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks (Knopf) explores how people with impaired senses handle, and even excel at, everyday life, drawing on six case studies including his own loss of depth perception due to a tumor.

Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure by Glenn Beck and Kevin Balfe (Threshold) outlines the economic ideas of the Fox News pundit.

Memoirs and Biographies

Cleopatra by Stacy Shiff (Little, Brown). Sure, it’s a bio of a fascinating historical figure by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, but the buzz around this book has focused on its adaptation as a movie, with Scott Rudin producing, James Cameron in talks to direct (in 3-D!), and Angelina Jolie possibly starring.

The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine (Holt) “revisits familiar territory” from his first memoir, according to Kirkus, “including childhood poverty, the deprivations of World War II, faltering first steps in show business before signature roles in The Ipcress File (1965) and Alfie (1966) made him an international film star—but his warm, wry delivery keeps the material interesting, even though many of the anecdotes have a distinctly practiced feel.”

You Had Me at Woof: How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness by Julie Klam (Riverhead) is about a “slightly wacky person who, instead of looking inward for answers [to how to be happy], decided to help others — specifically, Boston terriers,” according to the 11/1 issue of People, where the book is a People Pick and garnered 3.5 of 4 stars.

My Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space: Adventures of an Ordinary Woman by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Scottolini Serritella (St. Martin’s Press) is a collection of true life stories originally written for the Philadelphia Inquirer by the popular suspense writer and her daughter.

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) examines the relationship between FDR and his wife.  PW says “Despite Rowley’s cheerleading that the cousins’ conflicts brought out their courage and radicalism, and that they loved with a generosity of spirit that withstood betrayal, FDR emerges as a narcissist while Eleanor carved a spectacular life.”

First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf) gets praise from PW: “Ellis’s supple prose and keen psychological insight give a vivid sense of the human drama behind history’s upheavals.”

Cookbook Season
The major gift-giving season will soon be upon us, bringing a raft of new cookbooks.

Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter) focuses on simplifying meals without sacrificing quality. The Food Network guru will appear on the Today Show October 26  and 27.

The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century, Amanda Hesser (W.W. Norton) ; long before the Contessa became barefoot, the NYT was publishing recipes. In what is sure to be THE gift cookbook of the year, Amanda Hesser examined the NYT recipes since the newspaper began running them in the 1850’s, chronicling the effort in the NYT Magazine series Recipe Redux (the latest is about readers’ “most stained” recipes).

Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes, Harold McGee (Penguin Press) was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air last night, shooting the book to #15 on Amazon sales rankings.

Maybe the public is more interested in us than we realized. Earlier this year, This Book is Overdue brought media attention to libraries in the digital age. Before that, Dewey brought small-town libraries to best seller lists.

Now, it’s prison librarians’ turn. In today’s NYT, Dwight Garner reviews Running the Books, saying,

[Steinberg’s] memoir is wriggling and alive — as involving, and as layered, as a good coming-of-age novel.

The author was also interviewed  on NPR’s Talk of the Nation yesterday and Laura Miller gave the book a thoughtful review on Salon on Monday.

The book is now up to #413 on Amazon’s sales rankings, putting it ahead of  most of the National Book Award nominees.

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

In Salon, Laura Miller says that Avi Steinberg’s Running the Books stands out from other stories by people who have worked with prisoners; rather than discovering that the inmates are like us, Steinberg exposes “a darker truth: We’re just like them.”

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

CBS Sunday Morning featured Mark Twain’s autobiography, about to be released 100 years after the author’s death, as stipulated in his will. As a result of the story, the book rose to #1 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

The book is the first of three vols.

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 Mark Twain Retail Price: $34.95 Hardcover: 760 pages Publisher: University of California Press – (2010-11-15) ISBN / EAN: 0520267192 / 9780520267190

A recent Earlyword Galley Chat favorite goes on sale next week: Running the Books, Avi Steinberg‘s memoir of his adventures as a prison librarian and writing instructor in Boston, after graduating from Harvard.  As we’ve mentioned, he published an amusing essay in the New York Times magazine last week, which should help the book get more attention in other media.

PW called the memoir “captivating…. Steinberg writes a stylish prose that blends deadpan wit with an acute moral seriousness. The result is a fine portrait of prison life and the thwarted humanity that courses through it.”

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week

Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook: Crazy Delicious Recipes that Are Good to the Earth and Great for Your Bod by Kim Barnouin (Running Press), more vegan dishes.

Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case by Walter Schneir (Melville House) contends that Ethel Rosenberg was not a Soviet spy and challenges enduring myths surrounding the case. The New York Times Book Review compares it favorably to another recent book on the Rosenberg case by Allen M. Hornblum.

My Thoughts Be Bloody: The Bitter Rivalry Between Edwin and John Wilkes Booth That Led to an American Tragedy by Nora Titone (S&S) hinges on its portrait of the Booth family. Kirkus declares that “though some historical detail seems more tangential than pertinent, the multiple portraits display hidden facets of all the Booths.”

The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer by Jane Smiley is a biography of the brilliant but mostly forgotten physicist who created a protype for the computer. Kirkus raves, “As in her novels, the author displays a talent for keeping a dozen fully realized characters on stage…. Smiley takes science history and injects it with a touch of noir and an exciting clash of vanities.”

Children’s

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson, about a runaway slave who joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78, is the second installment in the author’s American Revolutionary trilogy, following the National Book Award finalist Chains. Kirkus praises its “vivid setting, believable characters both good and despicable and a clear portrayal of the moral ambiguity of the Revolutionary age. Not only can this sequel stand alone, for many readers it will be one of the best novels they have ever read.”