We’re on the cusp of the new season next week; one of the final titles touted at BEA arrives along with the first of the winter titles. On the Watch List, Jojo Moyes is poised for a breakout after ten titles and two Romance Novel of the Year awards. Usual suspects include Linda Howard, W.E.B. Griffin and Alexander McCall Smith. In nonfiction, a new bio of General Petraeus focuses on how he changed the military.

Watch List

Me Before You, Jojo Moyes, (Penguin/Pamela Dorman Books, Thorndike Large Print)

This novel has received kudos on GalleyChat, with one librarian calling it one of her favorite ARC’s of the year. Prolific romance novelist Jojo Moyes is a household name in Great Britain and her U.S. publisher is working to spread that magic here (the cover, which abandons the traditional trappings of a contemporary romance, signals a change in marketing). Independent booksellers picked it as an Indie Next title for January — “If you are looking for a romantic love story that will leave you in happy tears, this is the book for you! Suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in the life of Louisa Clark, who takes a job as a caretaker for a young, wealthy, disabled man. After a rocky start, Lou and Will become close, and Will urges her to expand her horizons and escape from their stifling small town.” It is reviewed in a NYT roundup of new titles this week — “Ms. Moyes’s novel boldly combines a sappy love story with the right-to-die debate.”

The Death of Bees, Lisa O’Donnell, (Harper)

The debut author is profiled in USA Today this week. Her novel is considered notable because, “After rave reviews in Britain, it’s a Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers pick and an Indie Next Great Reads selection.” That Indie Next annotation reads, “Beginning with two children who bury their parents in their garden, The Death of Bees had me hooked from page one. Streetwise teen Marnie and her younger, socially awkward, violin prodigy sister find their parents dead and attempt to cover up their deaths to avoid foster care, with both help and hindrance from some surprising sources. Told from the point of view of multiple characters, this lively, suspenseful, and darkly hilarious tale transfixed me from gruesome start to wonderfully satisfying finish. Brilliant, delightful, and thought provoking!”

Ratlines Stuart Neville, (RH/Soho Crime)

This the last to be released of the titles recommended at this year’s BEA librarians Shout ‘n’ Share panel. Cuyahoga’s Wendy Bartlett says Neville is “really a great writer and one that a lot of people haven’t heard about or read yet. He’s also very articulate, and would be great for an author event.” In this, the author’s fourth novel, Dublin detective Ryan faces a case that tests his love of country. As John F. Kennedy prepares to visit, a series of murders reveals that former Nazis have been living in Ireland, having eluded the Allies via “ratline” escape routes, and been given sanctuary by the Irish government.

Usual Suspects

Shadow Woman, Linda Howard, (RH/Ballantine; RH Audio; BOT; Thorndike Large Print)

The popular contemporary romantic suspense authors here employs a popular plot device; a woman wakes up and has no idea who she is. The publisher is touting the author’s new branding with “stunning and provocative new covers.”

Empire and Honor, W.E.B. Griffin and William E..Butterworth, (Penguin/Putnam;  Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The seventh title in the Honor Bound series, featuring USMC Maj. Cletus Frade, co-written with Griffin’s son, William E. Butterworth. Says Kirkus, of this post-WWII espionage novel, “Although heavily reliant on exposition, the book provides sufficient back story and works as a stand-alone read. Nothing beats a cinder-block–sized adventure novel on a winter weekend.”

The Wrath of Angels, John Connolly, (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)

The next in the popular Irish author’s series about a private eye with one foot in the standard mystery genre and the other in the supernatural. A plane wreck in the Maine woods yields no bodies, but does contain a list of people who have sold their souls to the devil, unleashing, well, the wrath of angels.

Unusual Uses for Olive Oil, Alexander McCall Smith, (Anchor PBK Original)

Smith last novel featuring the philologist, Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, was At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances (2004). Kirkus feels this character deserves his second billing to Smith’s more popular characters; “Gently but invincibly obtuse, von Igelfeld is too much an elephantine cartoon to inspire the love readers have given Precious Ramotswe and Isabel Dalhousie.” The olive oil? Von Igelfeld uses it to remedy the sticky wheels of a one-legged dachshund’s prosthetic device.

Childrens

The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart, Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, (Hachette/LBYR)

The fourth in the series by the ever-popular actress and her daughter. In this one, Gerry throws herself into creating Valentines. Says Kirkus, “Andrews and Hamilton’s text successfully captures the enthusiastic urgency of their impish protagonist. What truly impresses is Davenier’s ink-and–colored-pencil artwork that vividly portrays Gerry’s every emotion, whether she is over-the-top happy or utterly disappointed.”

Nonfiction

The World Until Yesterday, Jared Diamond, (Penguin/Viking; Penguin Audio)

The anthropologist and  author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, writes in this new book about how people in tribal New Guinea deal with universal issues. Diamond has whetted readers’ appetites with an excerpt in Newsweek magazine about how they handle child rearing (yes, it appears the tribal people of New Guinea, like the French and the Chinese, do it better than we do).

The Insurgents Fred Kaplan, (Simon & Schuster)

Just as Patraeus is fading from news headlines, this assessment of his legacy arrives. Reviewing the book in the NYT this week, Janet Maslin says “The title of The Insurgents is a clever reference to the rebellious, Petraeus-led faction within the American military, not to the guerrilla fighters American soldiers fought abroad. And it is a painstaking, step-by-step account of how these insurgents’ ideas bubbled up into the mainstream.” Don’t look for details on his relationship with Paula Broadwell. Maslin says, “Mr. Kaplan has tacked on a one-page coda” about that indicates”Ms. Broadwell is only one of the miscalculations that an admirable but dangerously unrealistic Mr. Petraeus has made.”

Movie Tie-ins

Parker: Movie Tie-in Edition, originally published as Flashfire, Richard Stark, (University Of Chicago Press)

Based on the character featured in 24 novels by Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, the movie Parker, directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, opens Jan. 25

Angelina Jolie lands her second role as director (after Blood and Honey) for the adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s long running best seller, Unbroken (Random House, 2010), reports Deadline.com.

Amazingly, a film about Unbroken‘s subject, Louis Zamperini, who survived 47 days on a life raft in the Pacific during WWII, has been in the works for 55 years, long before Hillenbrand began working on her book. Universal bought Zamperini’s “life rights” in the 1950’s, with plans to star Tony Curtis.

The film is supposed to begin production next year.

Zamperini will be 96 years old in January.

Hillenbrand’s earlier book, Seabiscuit, (Random House, 2001), was made into a successful movie.

Patti Smith announces that she plans to publish a sequel to her best selling memoir and National Book Award winner, Just Kids (Harper/Ecco, 2010).

She tells Billboard that it will cover the same period as the first book, but with a different perspective. Just Kids focused on her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. This one will focus more on her music and her late husband, Fred Smith, the MC 5 guitarist.

No title or release date has been announced.

Cookbooks are the heaviest-circulating category in nonfiction, so we’ve put together an Excel file of the picks of 2012 — Best Cookbooks. We’ve also posted the covers on our Pinterest Board (feel free to copy it for your own virtual cookbook display).

Deb Perelman, author of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, (RH/Knopf), one of two titles with the most picks (tied with the “bible of Latin American cuisine,” Gran Cocina Latina, W.W. Norton), is described by People magazine as “living the food-blogger’s dream.” She was able to quit her day job to focus on her blog and write a book. She’s now living an author’s dream, with features on radio and in newspapers, including NPR’s Morning Edition and the New York Times, a spot in the top five on the NYT Hardcover Advice & Misc. best seller list for the last six weeks and heavy holds in libraries.

After the jump, links to the major best 2012 cookbook lists to date: (more…)

The number of big releases slows to a trickle next week. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child bring back their enigmatic hero, Aloysius Xingú Leng Pendergast in a new thriller; James Patterson continues to work the popular middle-school territory and, in Young Adult, Jessica Day George wraps up her Twelve Dancing Princesses trilogy.

Reviewer Favorite

Sebastian Faulks, A Possible Life: A Novel in Five Parts (Macmillan/Holt; Dreamscape Audio and OverDrive)

British reviewers quibbled with the author’s assertion in both the book’s subtitle and trailer, that this is a novel, not a set of long short stories. It appears the question hasn’t been settled; Vanity Fair‘s online interview opens with it. The book received strong reviews in the UK, with the Independent concluding that it is “probably Faulks’s most intriguing fictional offering.” Published in September there, it hit the top ten on the Times of London’s best seller list.

Usual Suspects

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Two Graves
(Hachette/Grand Central: Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print)

This completes a trilogy within the larger series. Referred to as the “Helen Trilogy,” beginning with Fever Dream and continuing last year with Cold Vengeance, it follows the erudite detective Pendergast search for his long-missing wife, Helen. Reviewers warn that reading the previous titles is a requirement.

Michael Palmer, Political Suicide (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press: Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The 18th thriller by Palmer is his second featuring Dr. Lou Welcome, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict (introduced last year in Oath of Office). Prepub reviews are less than admiring, but libraries are showing holds and it gets high marks on GoodReads.

Childrens

James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
I Funny: A Middle School Story (Hachette/Little, Brown YR; Hachette Audio)

This is the third in Patterson’s series aimed at a once overlooked age group, which is clearly called out in the titles, beginning with Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life, and followed by Middle School: Get Me out of Here! This one features Jamie Grimm, a wheelchair bound middle schooler whose goal is to become the world’s greatest standup comedian.

Young Adult

Jessica Day George, Princess of the Silver Woods (Bloomsbury USA)

The final title in the series that reworks classic fairy tales, beginning with Princess of the Midnight Ball, (based on the Grim tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses), and  followed by Princess of Glass (based, of course, on Cinderella). This one is based on the tales of two hoods —  Red Riding and Robin.

Movie Tie-in

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design (Harper Design)

This is the last of the tie-ins leading up to the Dec. 14 debut of the first in the series  of movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (you may have noticed promos nearly, well, everywhere). It is produced by the Weta Workshop, which designed the movie’s special effects and ends with a sneak peek at the second film in the series. Another behind-the-scenes book came out last month, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Official Movie Guide.

The man credited with “changing the nature of television criticism” by Slate, Alan Sepinwall, recently published a new book, The Revolution Was Televised. After Michiko Kakutani’s glowing review in yesterday’s New York Times, it rose to #133 on Amazon Sales Rankings. It has also been covered by Time magazine, The New Yorker, the Hollywood Reporter and USA Today.

But, no libraries own it.

Why?

Sepinwall chose to self-published the book. It appears to be available only through Amazon and hasn’t been reviewed by library publications.

The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever Alan Sepinwall Retail Price: $16.99 Paperback: 306 pages Publisher: What’s Alan Watching? – (2012-11-21) ISBN / EAN: 0615718299 / 9780615718293

When Nancy Pearl talks books, buyers listen. On NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday, she presented four of her “Under the Radar” picks (the full list of seven, along with a link to the audio, are on the NPR site). Two of the titles received dramatic bumps  on Amazon’s sales rankings.

America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation, David Goldfield, (Macmillan/Bloomsbury). Rose to #189 from #102,066)

Nancy says this book that claims the Civil War could have been avoided, made her “look back and reassess my knowledge and beliefs” about the war and its aftermath.
 

Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein, (Hyperion). Rose to #216 from #5,238)

This one is not “below the radar” among YA readers. It’s on both the Publishers Weekly and Amazon’s Best Books lists. However, it may be lesser known to adults, who, as Nancy says, will also enjoy this “story of deep friendship, incredible bravery and the difficult choices that life sometimes forces on us.”

A new book about the “boring” Warren Buffet, Tap Dancing to Work by Carol J. Loomis, (Penguin/Viking/Portfolio), rose to #26 on Amazon’s sales rankings after the author and the subject appeared together on the Today Show yesterday and in a much more in-depth interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.

On NPR’s Morning Edition today, cartoonist Ellen Forney talks about her memoir of her own mental illness in the graphic novel Marbles. Several libraries are showing heavy holds on light ordering.

The book is also on the Washington Post‘s list of the ten best comics of 2012.

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir Ellen Forney Retail Price: $20.00 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Gotham – (2012-11-06) ISBN / EAN: 1592407323 / 9781592407323

Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham’s new book, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, (Random House, RH Audio and BOT, RH Large Print)  is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings, where it is now at #2, and in the number of holds in libraries.

It has been reviewed widely (in both the daily NYT and the Sunday Book Review, as well as the Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly) and debuted on the 12/2 NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list at #2.

The author appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Andrew Solomon wrote the National Book Award Winner and  best seller The Noonday Demon, about his own debilitating depression. His new book, Far From the Tree (S&S/Scribner) examines how parents deal with children who are different from them.

The book is showing heavy holds in libraries where ordering was light. The author was profiled by Chip McGrath in the New York Times in Tuesday’s issue. The NYT also reviewed the 1,000 page book last week.

Solomon appeared two weeks ago on Rock Center with Brian Williams.

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Do More, Spend Less: The New Secrets of Living the Good Life for Less (Wiley) is a title with special appeal in today’s economic climate, so it comes as no surprise that it is rising on Amazon sales rankings. Currently, it is at #38, two months prior to its Jan. 14 publication date.

It is by Brad Wilson, the found of the coupon website, BradsDeals.com, who was profiled by Crain’s Chicago Business in August.

Libraries we checked have not ordered it at this point.

Anne Lamott appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition today, to talk about her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. After the show aired, the book rose to #8 on Amazon sales ranking. Many libraries are showing heaving holds on modest orders.

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers Anne Lamott Retail Price: $17.95 Hardcover: 112 pages Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover – (2012-11-13) ISBN / EAN: 1594631298 / 9781594631290

Thorndike Large Print, Dec.

As we head into the all make-or-break gift-giving season, publishers are focusing on sure-bet hits, so we have only one title on our Watch List, a hotel business expose that reminds us of a certain bad-boy restaurant expose. Among the usual suspects are new novels from David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich and Glenn Beck. In Young Adult, Glee star Chris Colfer releases his second novel, Struck By Lightning, which arrives with the words “Now a Major Motion Picture” already emblazoned on the cover.

Watch List

Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality, Jacob Tomsky, (RH/Doubleday) has gotten quite a bit of advance publicity, including a NYT review by Janet Maslin (who is often the bellwether of books with high expectations). An expose of hotel practices, it’s reminiscent of an expose of restaurant practices, Anthony Bourdain’s Restaurant Confidential. Maslin’s description makes it sound like it lives up to the comparison; “Mr. Tomsky turns out to be an effervescent writer, with enough snark to make his stories sharp-edged but without the self-promoting smugness that sinks so many memoirs.” The NY Daily News adds to the author’s bad boy credentials, “Jacob Tomsky was once a resentful front-desk clerk at a luxury hotel in midtown Manhattan, forced to attend anger management classes.” Is a Travel Channel show in the offing?

Fan Favorites

The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron, (Hachette/Little,Brown; Thorndike Large Print) is the 18th title in the Judge Deborah Knott mystery series. One fan on GalleyChat called it “One of my favorites in the series.” Her paperbacks have been NYT best sellers; we’re hoping this will be her  hardcover breakout.

Young Adult

Struck by Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal, Chris Colfer, (Hachette/Little, Brown YR; Hachette Audio). Is this a novel that’s been adapted as a movie, or is it a novelization of a movie? The movie Struck by Lightning, starring Glee‘s Chris Colfer and written by Chris Colfer is scheduled for release on January 11. The novel, the second by Glee‘s Chris Colfer, arrives this week, with the words “Now a Major Motion Picture” on the cover. Kirkus comments, “This sophomoric sophomore effort reads like a rough draft for a screenplay.” But as the book’s cover notes, Colfer is a “#1 New York Times Bestselling Author.”

Usual Suspects

The Forgotten by David Baldacci, (Hachette/ Grand Central; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print) is the second in the author’s new series of thrillers featuring Army Special Agent John Puller which began last year with Zero Day.

Notorious Nineteen, by Janet Evanovich, (Random House’ RH Audio; RH Large Print). Anyone want to guess which number this one is in the Stephanie Plum series?

Agenda 21, by Glenn Beck, with Harriet Parke, (S&S/Threshold; S&S Audio) is Beck’s fictional take on where America is headed, “There is no president. No congress. No Supreme Court.” But, hold on, doesn’t Beck want smaller government?  In this vision, the U.S. is now run by an even larger government, “the Authorities” who have been imposed by a UN-lead program called Agenda 21 and “Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life.” Beck’s fans have made it #2 on Amazon’s sales rankings. Libraries are showing 1:1 holds.

Nonfiction

Encyclopedia Paranoiaca by Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf, (S&S) is described by Kirkus as ““A whimsical collection of the sometimes-scary, sometimes-silly things that threaten our modern-day lives.”  With the name Christopher Cerf attached, who can resist?

Grace: A Memoir, Grace Coddington, (Random House; RH Audio; BOT Audio).  We jumped the gun by listing this memoir by the creative director of Vogue in last week’s “Radar.” It actually arrives next week. The new issue of Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-, noting that many more people now know who Coddington is because of the 2009 documentary, The September Issue, in which, “the Welsh-born Coddington delightfully stole the show” and says “she’s the bohemian big-haired yang to her boss’ [Anna Wintour’s] impeccably tailored bangs-and-bob yin.”

Tie-ins

Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America: A Companion Book for Young Readers to the Steven Spielberg Film by Harold Holzer, (HarperCollins/Newmarket for It Books) is the official young readers tie-in to the movie by a Lincoln scholar and includes photos from the film.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, (Penguin Classics Hardcover) is a new translation by Christine Donougher and Denny, Norman released for the 150th anniversary of classic. The Broadway musical adaptation is coming to movie theaters on Christmas in a new version starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Eddie Redmayne. Penguin is also publishing the official tie-in, translated by Norman Denny.

Lay the Favorite by Beth Raymer (RH/Spiegel & Grau) is the tie-in to the adaptation of the 2010 gambling memoir which arrives in theaters on Dec. 7 but is now available on demand. Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen, High Fidelity), it stars Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Zeta-Jones, which makes it sound promising, but it gets just a 26% positive rating from critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, (RH/Modern Library) is the first hardcover edition of the book that was published as an original trade paperback in the U.S. The movie, which released Oct. 26, is considered a major flop, but it’s brought renewed attention to the book, returning it to best seller lists.

Susannah Cahalan was a rising young NY Post reporter when she began to exhibit signs of schizophrenia. She was admitted to a hospital where a doctor finally diagnosed her as suffering from a rare brain disease that would have killed her if left untreated.

She talked about her experience two years ago on the Today Show, saying she hoped her story would help others. Indeed it did; the family of another young woman with similar symptoms was watching.

Susannah Cahalan published a memoir this week, Brain on Fire  (S&S/Free Press; Highbridge Audio), and appeared on the Today Show again this morning, this time with the young woman whose life was saved by her earlier appearance.

Additional interviews are scheduled this week for NPR’s Fresh Air and ABC’s Katie. The book is reviewed on the NPR web site.

Holds are heavy on light ordering in most libraries.

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