The season moves into full gear this week, with dozens of titles vying for attention (so many, that we’ve put together a downloadable spreadsheet that includes the following highlights plus nearly 30 other titles). On our Watch List is a Gatsby-esque debut that has been a hit on GalleyChat, Indiscretion by Charles Dubow. Movie tie-ins remind us that Disney’s Oz, The Great and the Powerful arrives in theaters on March 8.

Watch List

Indiscretion Charles Dubow, (HarperCollins/ Morrow; Blackstone Audio; HarperLuxe)

We fell in love with this debut and asked GalleyChatters to read the ARC. They came back with equal enthusiasm, enjoying the “Gatsby-ness [it’s told from the perspective of an outsider, who suffers years of unrequited love for one of the main characters] and the twist at the end.” It’s on the February Indie Next list and is one of 16 Oprah Must-Reads for February. One library is betting big on it; Cuyahoga bought 210 copies.

LATE ADDITION:
 Schroder, Amity Gaige, (Hachette/Twelve)

A People Pick in the new issue, this in-house favorite is reviewed by Danielle Trussoni (Angelogy) who calls it “a chilling story about an obsessional father who deceives his wife and kidnaps their only child…Gaige’s writing is surprising and original, but the real pull of this magnetic novel is the moral ambiguity the reader feels.”

The City of Devi, Manil Suri, (W. W. Norton)

The Washington Post‘s reliable Ron Charles says, “Even amid the wondrous variety of contemporary Indian fiction, Suri’s work stands apart, mingling comedy and death, eroticism and politics, godhood and Bollywood like no one else.” It is scheduled for coverage on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

Review Magnet 

See Now Then, Jamaica Kincaid,  (Macmillan/FSG ; Macmillan Audio)

Kincaid’s first novel in ten years is sure to draw many reviews. Entertainment Weekly kicks it off with a middling B grade, saying that the story of a divorce is heavily reminiscent of Kincaid’s own, and that she “captures the stuck rhythms of marriage as she repeatedly cycles back to the same fights…As a literary device, it’s affecting, but actually reading the words, again and again, can get tiring.”

Usual Suspects

Deadly Stakes, J.A. Jance, (S&S/Touchstone; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The eighth in the series, Booklist gives it kudos for, “Fast pacing, multiple plotlines, a fascinating look at online research, and sympathetic characters … [all tied into a] suspenseful story,” but PW demurs that it exhibits “…awkwardly contrived linkages and a lack of narrative drive, [making] this a lesser effort.” Nevertheless, it is showing the most holds in libraries of all the titles coming out this week.
Touch & Go, Lisa Gardner, (Penguin/Dutton; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

People reviews this stand-alone about kidnapped couple Justin and Libby Denbe, saying “The suspense crackles as the Denbes grapple with their captors’ bewildering brutality. But what gives the story heart is Libby’s dawning realization that her family may have been broken long before their kidnappers appeared.”

Media Magnets

From Mama’s Table to Mine, Bobby Deen & Melissa Clark, (RH/Ballantine paperback original)

Paula Deen’s kids know how to make diet lemonade out of lemons. Their mother, who has made millions from comfort food, suddenly admits she’s had diabetes for years and the entire family goes on a diet. Rather than becoming Weight Watchers spokepeesons, son Bobby publishes a book and the entire family appears on cover of People Magazine (2/4 issue) . The book will be featured on several shows in the upcoming week; NBC’s Today Show; FOX-TV’s Fox and Friends; ABC’s The Dr. Oz Show; ABC’s The Chew and The Rachael Ray Show.
Lucky Me: My Life With–and Without–My Mom, Shirley MacLaine, Sachi Parker, Penguin/Gotham

Shirley MacLaine, of course, is back in the spotlight because of her scene-stealing turns on Downton Abbey. She gets less flattering attention in her daughter’s memoir, which with will be featured on ABC’s 20/20 show tonight, on a segment titled, Stars, Scars and Showbiz Kids (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET).  The show’s press release states, “Parker says MacLaine neglected her while instead focusing on her own career and life.”
Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, Gavin Newsom and Lisa Dickey, (Penguin Press)

Clearly, there are high hopes for this book, which is embargoed with a one-day laydown on Tuesday. California Lieutenant Governor Newsom writes about using technology to improve local government (it is billed as an attempt to create “Angry Birds for Democracy”).

My Brother’s Book, Maurice Sendak, HarperCollins

As we noted earlier, Sendak’s final completed book is previewed on the Vanity Fair Web Site. Expect more coverage as the book arrives next week.

Movie Tie-ins

Disney’s Oz, The Great and the Powerful arrives in theaters on March 8. Disney is investing considerable bucks to promote this prequel via a spot during the SuperBowl on Sunday (ten-second preview below — to see longer trailers go to  the Official Web Site).

Publishing is also pulling out all the stops with re-releases of the original book:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, Disney Press — This re-release features “beautifully repainted Denslow artwork, original Stromberg imagery, and an introduction by one of the stars of Oz The Great and Powerful, James Franco.”

Audio: Dreamscape is releasing new recordings of the first two Oz books (also on OverDrive):
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, read by Tara Sands (Jan 22)

The Marvelous Land of Oz read by Tara Sands (Feb 19)

Disney Press is releasing several tie-ins :

Oz The Great and Powerful, Elizabeth Rudnick — the junior novel adaptation

The Art of Oz The Great and Powerful by Grant Curtis — behind-the-scenes book

Oz The Great and Powerful: The Movie Storybook by Scott Peterson — movie stills

Oz The Great and Powerful: Witches of Oz, Scott Peterson, Disney Press– picture book

Oz The Great and Powerful: Land of Oz Disney Press — Level 2 World of Reading title.

USA Today devotes several column inches to a book that explores the “Baltimore Plot” to kill president-elect Lincoln and describes “how detective Allan Pinkerton and America’s first female private eye, a 23-year-old widow named Kate Warne, saved Lincoln from assassination in 1861.”

The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War by Daniel Stashower (Macmillan/Minotaur; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) was released on Tuesday.

Yesterday, Al Gore visited the Today Show to promote his just-released book, entitled, grandly, The Future, (Random House; RH Audio; BOT). Lauer took him to task for selling his Current TV channel to al Jazeera, which some regard as hypocritical in light of the accusation in his book that “Virtually every news and political commentary program on television is sponsored in part by oil, coal, and gas companies … with messages designed to soothe and reassure the audience that everything is fine, the global environment is not threatened.”

Unsuprisingly, it appears this will be a common theme on talk shows; it also came up during MSNBC’s Morning Joe interview today. We’ll see if Jon Stewart addresses it when Gore appears on The Daily Show tonight.

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In the midst of a media blitz for his book, Hitmaker, (Hachette/Grand Central), music mogul Tommy Mottola appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer yesterday. Gossip columnists (and Lauer) are fascinated with the section of the book in which he apologizes to ex-wife Mariah Carey, but his career is as legendary as his personal life (check the Huffington Post interview and the New York Observer story).

The book is rising on Amazon Sales Rankings (currently at #143), but libraries are not showing holds.

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Getting a large boost from the latest of Tina Brown’s “Must Reads” segments on NPR’s Morning Edition is Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds by Ping Fu and MeiMei Fox (Penguin/Portfolio, 12/21/12). Now at #33, it is moving up Amazon’s Sales Rankings and shows increased holds in libraries on modest ordering.

At eight years old, Ping Fu was taken from her parents during China’s Cultural Revolution and placed in a re-education camp, where she ate dung and dirt and endured gang rape. She survived, wrote a thesis about infanticide in China and, as a result, was forced out of the country. She came to the U.S. with next to nothing and went on to become a tech entrepreneur.

She was interviewed about her business on the Daily Beast yesterday:

 
Brown says of the book,”Her philosophical thoughts … her stoic ability to understand the patient lessons that she learned and apply them to her thoughts about survival and love … it’s very, very moving, indeed.”

Sonia Sotomayor had a lot going on these last two days. She conducted the official swearing in of the Vice President yesterday, followed by the ceremonial swearing in today. In between, she had to get to New York to speak at a Manhattan Barnes and Noble about her book, My Beloved World (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; BOT). In fact, according to Reuters, she had to leave Sunday’s event early to catch her train.

The book has received admiring reviews for Sotomayor’s candor about challenges she has faced and made a swift rise to #7 on Amazon’s Sales Rankings. The Spanish-language edition, Mi mundo adorado (Vintage Espanol) is also rising and is currently at #288.

Reviews:

NYT Book Review 

Washington Post

L.A. Times

NPR Morning Edition

Attention is building for Truth in Advertising, a satiric debut novel by a contemporary real life Mad Man, John Kenney. Three memoirs from women journalists vie for attention this week and are likely to get it, since other journalists tend to pay attention to their own. Among the usual suspects is the first title of 2013 by James Patterson (will he beat his 2010 record of 14 titles in a single year?).

Watch List

Truth in Advertising, John Kenney, (S&S/Touchstone)

Check your holds; they are already starting for this debut by New Yorker contributor Kenney, a tongue-in-cheek story about a contemporary Mad Man. It’s starred in 3 of 4 prepub reviews (the only holdout is PW, but the review reads like a star). Booksellers have also anointed it, making it an IndieNext pick for January.

Consumer reviews are arriving early, signaling the expectation of a hit. Entertainment Weekly, gives it an A-;

Kenney, who was a copywriter for 17 years, is on his game when lampooning corporate absurdity and less so when parsing Fin’s rather generic after-hours crises. But while many of Fin’s ad ideas — including a diaper spot featuring Al Gore’s head on babies’ bodies — fail spectacularly, we’re sold on Kenney’s trenchant, quick-witted debut.

The book trailer, a mock focus group, is so accurate, it’s painful (stick with it, it’s worth it). As Kenney writes in the New Yorker‘s “Page-Turner” blog, he knows the territory well.

Out of Warranty, Haywood Smith, St. Martin’s Press

A wry title for a social satire that Robin Nesbitt of Columbus Metropolitan Lib. describes in LJ as about people “dealing with health insurance claims and struggling to find insurance until [they’re] old enough to qualify for Medicare.” By the author of The Red Hat Club and Wife-in-Law.

Memoirs

Saturday Night Widows, Becky Aikman, (RH/Crown; RH Audio; BOT)

This debut memoir is by a former Newsday writer. She enlisted five women who, like her, were widowed early, to form a support group. PW says, “All the women had complicated stories of their husbands’ death, feelings of guilt and insecurity, and more or less healthy libidos. Indeed, dating and finding new partners prove the leitmotif, especially for the author, who had remarried a year before she even organized the group. As a result, the work feels stifled and lacking emotional drive, resulting in a kind of detached, academic tome.”

Drinking with Men, Rosie Schaap, Penguin/Riverhead; Brilliance Audio

A memoir from New York Times Magazine ‘s monthly “Drink” columnist and former librarian, Rosie Schaap, that actually advocates for the pleasures of the barroom (and for women being accepted as regulars in that generally male domain). Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+, saying, “It’s a cozy, intimate pleasure to go belly-to-bar with [Schaap].

Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde, Rebecca Dana, (Penguin/Putnam – Amy Einhorn Books)

It’s such an arresting title that it barely needs underscoring, but what looks like a simple ribbon on the cover is actually a piece of bacon (click on it for a larger version). This debut by a writer for  Newsweek and the Daily Beast gets an A- from Entertainment Weekly, saying Dana’s “… take on being young and smart and emotionally adrift in the city is odd and charming enough to be that elusive thing: a true original.”

Usual Suspects

Private Berlin, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print)

This, the fifth thriller about the international PI firm known as “Private,” is the first book of 2013 with Patterson’s name on it. There was actually a time when that happened just once or twice a year. Patterson reached a high of 14 titles in 2010, but “only” released 12 last year.

Suspect, Robert Crais, (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Audio; Wheeler Large Print Brilliance Audio)

Look closely at the cover; this stand-alone thriller by the author of the popular Elvis Cole series, features a German Shepherd, suffering PTSD after an IED killed her human partner in Afghanistan.

Ever After, Kim Harrison, (Harper Voyager; Blackstone Audio)

The 11th volume in Harrison’s popular ongoing urban-fantasy series (A Perfect Blood, 2012, etc.) continues the adventures of a detective who also happens to be a witch, Rachel Morgan.

Lawrence Wright, the author of an investigative book on Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology, Celebrity, and the Prison of Belief, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio) appeared on The Today Show this morning.

The segment is a promo for a two-part story that begins on NBC’s Rock Center tonight. It opens with a clip of former Scientology member, the director Paul Haggis (Crash).

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The book is called “enthralling” by Laura Miller on Salon.com. Janet Maslin in the New York Times on Monday called it “hotly compelling,” although “minutiae-packed.”

Holds are rising on The Dude and the Zen Master, (Penguin/Blue Rider). Co-author, and Dude, Jeff Bridges has ready access to the media, of course, and has appeared on dozens of shows to promote the book. Most of the interviews, including the Today Show‘s with Bridges and co-author, Zen Master Bernie Glassman, lend credence to Kirkus‘s comment that the book “borders on self-parody.”

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A review on NPR’s All Things Considered last night, however,  gives the book much more credit, calling it a “delightful, whimsical little text with a very serious intention.”

In the midst of a media blitz for his book, The Dude and the Zen Master (Penguin/Blue Rider; Jan 8), Jeff Bridges appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.

Stewart, who is known for coming fully prepared to author interviews, freely admitted that he had not read this book, but nevertheless summed it up as a transcript of a “weekend bullshitting with Jeff Bridges.”

Even so, the book, which had already been rising on Amazon sales rankings, jumped to #24 (from #74).

Bridges’s pointy beard? It may be for his role as a Spook on The Seventh Son, the film adaptation of Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, which has been filming recently and is scheduled to open Oct. 18. Bridges has also recently confirmed that, after acquiring the rights 20 years ago,  he plans to make a film of Lois Lowry’s The Giver.

The former commander of the forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, appears on on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight.

His memoir, My Share of the Task, (Penguin/Portfolio), which was released yesterday, is already at #15 and rising on Amazon sales rankings, as a result of media attention, including McChrystal’s appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, coverage in the New York Times and a review in The Wall Street Journal.

He also made news today by supporting gun control on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Laura Schroff’s book about how her simple act of kindness towards an 11-year-old homeless boy changed not only his life, but her own, An Invisible Thread (S&S/Howard Books; Tantor Audio; Thorndike Large Print), came out in 2011. The paperback edition hit the lower rungs of the NYT extended list in September.

The author appeared on the Today Show just before Christmas, bringing Kathie Lee and Hoda to  tears and sending the book to #15 on the Jan. 15  NYT Paperback Nonfiction list.

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The new season comes on strong this week, with new titles by Jayne Ann Krentz, Stuart Woods, Bernard Cornwell, and a collection of Kinsey Malone stories by Sue Grafton. In nonfiction, a new memoir by actress Wendy Lawless mines the rich material of fraught mother/daughter relationships. On our Watch List for the week is a novel aimed at Downton Abbey fans.

Watch List

Ashenden, Elizabeth Wilhide, (Simon & Schuster; Recorded Books; Thorndike Large Print)

A British import touted as perfect for Downton Abbey fans, this debut novel by a prolific writer on interior design, received high praise in the U.K., including this from The Guardian —  “Ashenden is an affecting, intelligent debut which goes way beyond posh country house antics. Framed by chapters set in 2010, when middle-aged Charlie Minton and his sister unexpectedly inherit an estate from their aunt, each significant episode in the house’s history is brought to life.” Booklist, Kirkus and LJ are all enthusiasts, but PW sniffs that it is a “tedious historical exploration of an 18th-century English estate house.” We hear some people don’t get the appeal of Downton Abbey, either.

Chanel Bonfire, Wendy Lawless, (S&S/Gallery Books; Tantor Audio)

This Mommie-Dearest type memoir sports a memorable title (could one own enough Chanel clothes for a bonfire?). Television and Broadway actress Wendy Lawless writes about her painful relationship with her mother who “had the ice queen beauty of a Hitchcock heroine and the cold heart to match.” It’s both an O, The Oprah Magazine and an Indie Next pick for January.

The Bughouse Affair, Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini, (Macmillan/Forge; AudioGo)

Two mystery favorites team up for this first in the  Carpenter and Quincannon series of lighthearted historical mysteries. Prepub reviews call it delightful.

Reviewer Favorites

The Last Runaway, Tracy Chevalier,  (Penguin/Dutton. Penguin Audio)

Chevalier, an American living in London, is known for her historical novels set in Europe and Great Britain. Her background as a graduate of Oberlin College shows here in a novel about runaway slaves in Ohio in the 1860’s. The first book of the new year to be reviewed on NPR, it is on The Atlantic‘s list of “Books to Look Forward to in 2013.” and on O, The Oprah Magazine‘s must-reads for January.

 The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement, Taylor Branch, (Simon & Schuster)

The author’s three-volume history of the Martin Luther King years, the first of which, Parting the Waters, won a Pulitzer Prize, is considered a masterpiece. Here, it’s made more accessible to a wider audience by focusing on the pivotal moments from those three volumes.

Media Spotlight

   
My Share of the Task, General Stanley McChrystal, (Penguin/Portfolio)

The General, who was relieved of command of the forces in Afghanistan in June 2010, after a Rolling Stone magazine profile (he was succeeded by General Patraeus, who has suffered his own negative media attention) is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday to talk about his memoir.

The Universe Within, Neil Shubin, (RH/Pantheon; BOT)

The paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer is scheduled to appear on The Colbert Report on Wednesday.

Young Adult

Just One Day, Gayle Forman, (Penguin/Dutton)

The much-anticipated next book after the author’s popular If I Stay and Where She Went. It’s the first of two; a companion novel follows next year. Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog offers an excerpt.

What We Saw At Night, Jacquelyn Mitchard, (Soho Teen; AudioGo)

Weary of vampires, zombies, suicidal girls and dystopian fights to the death? Soho Teen launches a line of YA mysteries, with this first of a projected trilogy by best selling author Mitchard. A group of  teenaged friends all suffer from a fatal allergy to light and are only able to go out at night. For some reason, they decide to take up the extreme sport of parkour, climbing buildings and leaping off them. During one of their nights out, they witness a murder. Prepub reviews complain that this one ends with a cliffhanger, setting up the next book in the series.

Usual Suspects

Dream Eyes, Jayne Ann Krentz, (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Collateral Damage, Stuart Woods, (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Kinsey and Me, Sue Grafton, (Penguin/Putnam; Thorndike Large Print)

Robert B. Parker’s Ironhorse, Robert Knott, (Penguin/Putnam; RH Audio; BOT Audio; Wheeler Large Print)

1356, Bernard Cornwell, (Harper; HarperAudio; HarperLuxe)

A Memory of Light, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Macmillan/Tor) — The 14th and final book in The Wheel of Time saga which began in 1990, has spent 103 days on the Amazon Top 100. Library holds are relatively light, however.

We know how Janus felt; we had barely caught our breath from the multitude of 2012 best books lists (our selected links at right) when the first of  2013 reared their heads.

Huffington Post, “Best Books Of 2013?: Our Picks For The Year’s Biggest Reads”

The Atlantic, “Books to Look Forward to in 2013”

Flavorwire, “Flavorpill’s 30 Most Anticipated Books of 2013“

The Huffington Post gets it right that the title The World’s Strongest Librarian (Penguin/Gotham, May 2) will “win over bookstores and libraries;” it got our attention. Subtitled A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, it’s by Josh Hanagarne, a librarian at Salt Lake City Public Library who writes a blog about books and weight lifting.

Also on the HuffPo list, as well as Flavorpill’s, is a novelization of a life that is ripe for it, Zelda Fitzgerald’s (but, wait, haven’t dozens of others, including her husband, already done that?);  Z, by Therese Anne Fowler (Macmillan/St. Martin’s, March 26). Notes The Atlantic, “we’ll gladly read a hundred novelizations of her life. Especially if they’re all like this one, which lets us into a 17-year-old Zelda’s head.”

Anticipation is already high for Stephen King’s Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, coming on Sept. 24 (just before the premiere of the new film adaptation of his debut novel, Carrie) as well as  Elizabeth Strout’s The Burgess Boys,(Random House) her next novel after her 2009 Pulitzer  Prize winner, Olive Kitteridge.

An in-depth look at the church of Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology, Celebrity, and the Prison of Belief, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio) will be released in two weeks with an announced print run of 150,000 copies.

In the NYT today, Chip McGrath profiles the book’s author, Lawrence Wright, who won the  Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for  The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

The book is the outgrowth of an article Wright wrote for the  The New Yorker last year, and, as is clear from the book’s subtitle, is deeply critical of Scientology. Wright notes that he has been receiving threatening letters from the church’s lawyers.

The book is embargoed, so there are no pre-pub reviews.