The upcoming book about the killing of Osama bin Laden, No Easy Day, is not the first on the subject nor will it be the last, it just has the major advantage of being an unauthorized account by an eyewitness (it is currently being reviewed by the Pentagon; the CIA has also stated that they have a copy).

Coming this fall is another book on the raid, this one by Black Hawk Down author, Mark Bowden, notes Publishers Weekly. Called The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden (Atlantic Monthly; Brilliance Audio), it’s scheduled for release on Oct. 16, a month after the 9/11 pub. date for No Easy Day. The book has been embargoed pending an agreement with a “major media outlet” to break the news in the book.

Grove Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin tells PW that the two books are complementary. “Mark will be able to put this in a bigger context… [he’s] been covering the special forces for 15 years. He’s probably the pre-eminent reporter on special forces” and that No Easy Day will whet appetites for more analysis. A first-copy printing of 125,000 is planned.

Last week’s news that No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden (Penguin/Dutton; Penguin Audio) will be published on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 came as a surprise to many, including the Pentagon.

Soon after it was revealed that the pseudonymous author “Mark Owen” is actually the 36-year-old, recently retired Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, he was threatened with prosecution by Adm. Bill McRaven if he reveals classified secrets and al Qaeda posted his photo on their site, with the caption, “the dog who murdered the martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden.”

Meanwhile, Bissonnette has been in meetings with Steven Spielberg, among others, about  a film adaptation, according to the New York Post. The author is scheduled for a media blitz the week the book is published that includes 60 Minutes and the Today Show (it hasn’t been announced whether he will still appear in disguise as originally planned) and publisher Penguin/Dutton has increased the print run from 300,000 to 400,000. Due to the heavy embargo, many libraries have not yet ordered the book.

Other Navy SEAL movies are in the works. Bradley Cooper is set to produce and possibly star in a film based on the best selling  American Sniper a memoir by former SEAL Chris Kyle (HarperCollins/Morrow). Two films about the hunt for bin Laden will hit theaters this fall. Ironically, Code Name Geronimo is likely to arrive in theaters before Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, which was moved from an earlier date to Dec. 19, after criticism that it would bring renewed attention to Obama’s authorization of the risky raid and possibly affect the election. The producers have not revealed the sources for the movie.

An author to watch this week is  Jonathan Evison, whose emotional presentation at the AAP’s Librarians Lunch during BEA won over the audience. In adult fiction, usual suspects include Mitch Albom, Tess Gerritson, Louise Penny, Anne Perry and Richard Kadrey. The big news, however, is in books for younger readers. David Levithan is back with a much-anticipated YA title expected to have strong crossover appeal. In children’s books, there are new titles from Dav Pilkey, James Dashner, and Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain. 

Watch List

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison (Workman/Algonquin; Highbridge Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the story of road trip taken by a teen with muscular dystrophy and his caregiver, a divorced dad whose own life has fallen apart. Kirkus says, “A lively narrative with a poignant core and quirky, lonely characters.” Check out Nancy Pearl’s interview with Evison for his previous novel, West of Here.

Kept in the Dark  by Penny Hancock (Penguin/Plume pbk original; Blackstone Audiobooks) is a suspense novel about a middle aged woman who kidnaps her best friend’s 15 year-old nephew, after he awakens her memories of an intense teenage affair. Librarian Robin Beerbower, who has an eye for scary titles (she’s championed author Chelsea Cain, and was an early proponent of Before I Go To Sleep as well as Gone Girl) made it one of her BEA Shout ‘n’ Share picks. Booklist says, “This invites comparison to John Fowles’ The Collector, but Hancock gives her narrator, Sonia, a more complex motive, crafting a narrative that grows darker as its level of tension builds. An accomplished first novel that lingers in memory.” PW calls it a “stunning debut” and praises the gothic atmosphere. But Kirkus, throws cold water on the party, “unfortunately the secret at the novel’s core is one the first-person narrator could have revealed all along, but doesn’t, making the ending seem contrived.”

Usual Suspects

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom (Hyperion; Thorndike Large Print) marks a return to fiction by the author of Tuesdays With Morrie and Five People You Meet in Heaven. This fable is about Father Time, who returns to Earth to liberate us by teaching the true meaning of time, with the help of a teenage girl and an old business man.

Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (RH/Ballantine; Brilliance Audio)is the 10th thriller featuring Det. Jane Rizzoli of the Boston PD and her friend, pathologist Maura Isles. This time, they’re on the trail of a man who murders the families, but allows their foster children to survive. LJ notes, “this book will appear just as the third season of TNT’s successful Rizzoli & Isles TV series is ending, so fans will be primed.”

The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny (Macmillan/Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the eighth novel featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Quebec Surete. This time, he investigates the murder of a choirmaster in a monastery that has produced a hit CD of Gregorian Chants. PW says, “a captivating whodunit plot, a clever fair-play clue concealed in plain view, and the deft use of humor to lighten the story’s dark patches.”

A Sunless Sea: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry (RH/Ballantine; Thorndike Large Print) is the 18th Victorian historical about the Commander of the Thames River Police. Here, he investigates murders linked to the controversial opium trade. Kirkus calls it, “lumbering, repetitive and preachy. But the final surprise packs a punch.”

Devil Said Bang: by Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager) is the fourth installment in the series that’s popular with librarians, about a man who breaks out of Hell – only this time he’s taking over Lucifer’s job. PW says this “action-packed and bombshell-laden blend of dark fantasy, crime fiction, and Hellish sitcom is utterly readable.”

Young Adult

Every Day by David Levithan (RH/ Knopf Books for Young Readers; Listening Library) is heavily anticipated by librarians on both our YA and adult GalleyChats. It’s about A, who wakes every morning in a new body – sometimes male, sometimes female, gay, straight, ill or well. The only constant is being 16 years old. Booklist calls it “a study in style, an exercise in imagination, and an opportunity for readers themselves to occupy another life, that of A himself.”

Childrens

Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic/Blue Sky Press) the ninth novela in this major series is proof positive that author Pilkey isn’t running dry, according to PW and Kirkus, which says this “overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.” 1,000,000 copies.

Infinity Ring #1: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner (Scholastic; Scholastic Audio) is a multi-media thriller series modeled on The 39 Clues, that begins when three teens time-travel back to 1492, to help fix a broken moment in history. Booklist says, “the standard first-volume hazards (slow start, no resolution) bedevil the text and are exacerbated by underdeveloped characters. Still, the yet-to-be-revealed interactive-package experience seems certain to buoy the ship.” 300,000 copies. The Salt Lake City Public Library will host the 8/29  launch party.

Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain (HarperCollins) resurrects the famous duo’s second manuscript, which was left in a drawer when their first book about the Berenstain Bears took off. Kirkus says, “while the concept is clever, the unwieldy, often awkward verse ensures that this effort will place a distant second to the many tales featuring those Bears.” 100,000 copies.

Nonfiction

Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, and Championed Pit Bulls–One Flying Disc at a Time by Jim Gorant (Penguin/Gotham; Blackstone Audio) is the story of an unruly pit bull who is transformed by a loving couple who train him to catch frisbees. PW says, “Gorant never lets the narrative slip into the saccharine, and Wallace’s story will charm even readers who never knew they were interested in pit bulls or ‘disc dogs’.”

Up All Night: My Life and Times in Rock Radio by Carol Miller (HarperCollins/Ecco) is a memoir by one of New York’s best known female DJs at the height of the rock scene, the includes reminiscences of dating Stephen Tyler and introducing Bruce Springsteen to New York audiences, as well as the author’s struggles with divorce, uterine and breast cancer. It was a favorite at this year’s BEA Shout ‘n’ Share. Kirkus says, “Miller’s voice remains upbeat and energetic, despite the shadow of her family’s mysterious health issues.”

Sales of Joe Posnanski‘s biography of disgraced Penn State Coach, Paterno (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print) are off to a slow start at the Penn State bookstore, claims USA Today, noting that a shelf of the books appears untouched. However, the manager says they’ve sold 30 to 40 copies, a respectable number for a single location, even though USA Today calls it “lukewarm.”  The book is currently at #11 on Amazon’s sales rankings, its highest point to date.

The NYT review makes it sound less than revelatory, saying it’s “breezy and largely sympathetic. It doesn’t contain (reverse spoiler alert) any especially startling revelations about what Paterno knew and when he knew it. It adds grain and texture to the historical record, though, while mostly skimming the surface of its subject’s life,” but says, “The book’s best chapter, and the one many people will turn to first, is titled simply ‘Sandusky.’ ”

Libraries are showing modest holds.

The author appeared on the Today Show yesterday.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Anxiety can be a healthy reaction to stress, but Daniel Smith suffered anxiety attacks so severe that he was unable to leave his house.

He writes about his experience in Monkey Mind, a memoir that has been called a classic in the making by the Psychiatric Times, and named a People pick. It’s been moving up best seller lists (currently at #6 on the Indie Hardcover Non-fiction list. Curiously, Los Angeles seems to be a more anxious place than New York; it reached #5 on the  L.A. Times’ list, but only #21 on the N.Y. Times‘).

Smith appeared on The Today Show yesterday.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Libraries in areas of high anxiety (you know who you are, Hennepin!) are showing heavy holds.

Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety Daniel Smith Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2012-07-03) ISBN / EAN: 1439177309/9781439177303

Blackstone Audio

Among the books arriving next week is one that ran into some unexpected challenges. The bio of Joe Paterno was recently called by the NYT “perhaps one of the most unfortunately timed books of 2012.” Our “Watch List” looks at some titles that librarians have been buzzing about. Among the usual suspects in Kathy Reichs‘ latest and, in nonfiction, the novelist Paul Auster reflects on aging.

Watch List

The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo (HarperCollins/Morrow; Harperluxe)

A BEA librarian’s Shout ‘n’ Share pick, described as “Set in olive groves in California, five generations of women clash as they try to protect their secrets. Think Falcon Crest–plenty of soap opera and melodrama, but in a really good page turning, ‘I love that character!!’ kind of way. Customers are going to love this one.”

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (Harper; Thorndike Large Print)

Can it be? The second debut in one week set in an orchard? This was also a BEA Librarians Shout ‘n’ Share pick and has been picked for B&N Discover Great New Writers program and is a Flavorwire “Must Read,” for August with this description; “William Talmadge is a reclusive orchardist, living peacefully in a lush valley in the Pacific Northwest — until two sisters appear on his land, wild, pregnant escapees from a brothel. Talmadge takes them in, but someone is looking for them. Coplin’s eloquent first novel is a harrowing triumph, a sparkling, utterly unsentimental ode to the capacities of the human heart.”

Stranger in the Room by Amanda Kyle Williams (RH/Bantam)

The author’s second book is the second in a series, following The Stranger You Seek, which features wise cracking private investigator Keye Street. Librarians on GalleyChat say she is a great protagonist; also a Shout ‘n’ Share pick.

Usual Suspects

Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs (S&s/Scribner; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

There’s a one-day laydown for this next title in the Bones series. Reichs, who bases the series about a forensic anthropologist on her own career (she commented on the search for a missing woman in Winnipeg this week) is also the producer for the Bones series on Fox TV. It was just signed for an eighth season.

Trickster’s Point by William Krueger (S&S/Atria; Thorndike Large Print)

The twelfth in the author’s series about Minnesota private eye Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor.

You Are the Love of My Life by Susan Richards Shreve (Norton; Center Point Large Print)

Gets the lead review in People magazine this week and is designated a “People Pick, ” saying “Don’t be put off by the sappy titles. This finely crafted novel about a woman haunted by family secrets packs a smart punch.”

Lionel Asbo: The State of England by Martin Amis (RH/Knopf)

Amis again satirizes his home country in this tale of a dysfunctional family (one of the characters feels uncomfortable about having sex with his Granny; he’s fifteen, she’s thirty nine). It is scheduled for a cover review in the New York Times Book Review this weekend as well as a feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. Amis will submit himself to the Colbert treatment on Comedy Central in early September.

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (Penguin/Dutton; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Entertainment Weekly give this one an A-, saying, “Like Tropper’s exceptional last novel, This Is Where I Leave You, it’s a heartfelt look at irreparable mistakes and damaged masculinity that balances its bleak circumstances with dark humor.” The previous title is being adapted for a movie starring Jason Bateman, Zac Efron, Goldie Hawn, and Leslie Mann and rights have been acquired by Paramount for the new title.

Nonfiction

Paterno by Joe Posnanski (Simon & Schuster; S&S audio; Thorndike Large Print)

As Posnanski was completing his book on the famous Penn State coach, his subject suddenly came under a cloud. Because of remarks the author made as the news broke, some have speculated that the book will be a whitewash. Posnanski addresses those questions himself  in USA Today. S&S decided to hold off on the author’s book tour (including 9/6 event at the Free Library of Philadelphia) but he is scheduled for appearances on The Today Show and  NPR’s All Things Considered, on Aug. 30.

Winter Journal by Paul Auster (Macmillan/Holt; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Novelist Paul Auster’s first book was a memoir, The Invention of Solitude, published in 1985 when he was 35 and his father had just died. Now 65, Auster begins this second memoir on the subject of aging with the words “You think … you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen.” People magazine gives it  3.5 of 4 stars, calling it “intensely moving.”

Young Adult

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (aka, James Frey and Jobie Hughes)

Book three in The Book of Four series is getting promo on the Entertainment Weekly “Shelf Life” blog.

Over You by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

The book tour kicks off at Nordstrom’s for this, the second YA novel by the authors of The Nanny Diaries. An excerpt appears in the September issue of Teen Vogue.

Now officially a best seller, Dearie, Bob Sptiz’s bio of Julia Child debuts on the Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list at #5, during the week that marks the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child  Bob Spitz Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 576 pages Publisher: RH/Knopf – (2012-08-07) ISBN / EAN: 0307272222 / 9780307272225

Random House Audio; BOT Audio (strong review from AudioFile).

Child’s landmark book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, also receives a boost this week, rising to #40 on Amazon sales rankings. Few would have anticipated this continued success fifty years ago, certainly not the publishers, Alfred A. and Blanche Knopf, who prided themselves on publishing “important” books. Cookbooks were not considered important and those they did publish could be out of step with the times. Spitz writes that the recipes in an earlier Knopf French cookbook served a surprisingly large quantity of people. When asked why, the author responded that one had to feed the help.

But Child’s book came along at the perfect time. As Spitz points out, American women were being exhorted to use convenience foods, turning the kitchen into a factory assembly line. Julia appealed to women’s desire to reach for something more.

A first edition of the book that was published so reluctantly is currently offered for sale on AbeBooks.com for $6,500. Mastering the Art of French Cooking , as well as Child’s other titles, have become staples on the Knopf list.

Sawyer interviewed Woodward for his 2010 book, “Obama’s Wars”

As is typical for celebrity journalist Bob Woodward, his next book has had no title or description until now, less than a month before publication, ensuring focused media attention.

The Price of Politics will be published on Sept. 11. It is described by ABC News, which has the first interview with Woodard about the book, as

…a sweeping you-are-there account of how President Obama and the highest profile Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Congress attempted to restore the American economy and improve the federal government’s fiscal condition.”

The network will air Diane Sawyer’s “exclusive first interview”  the evening before publication, followed closely the next morning by Woodward’s sit-down with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.

The race is now on to see which news source will manage to break the embargo first. The New York Times claimed that honor for Woodward’s most recent book, Obama’s Wars.

Julia Child would have been 100 on Wednesday. Celebrations of her legacy abound, including the just-released biography, Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz (RH/Knopf;Random House Audio).

In addition to uncovering dozens of fascinating anecdotes to add the Child canon, Spitz reveals how hard she worked to make her performances look natural and the lengths she would go to ensure that recipes would work for Americans, even contacting the US Department of Fisheries to find out what the equivalents were of those she was cooking in France.

You’ll find yourself reading sections aloud to anyone who will listen and running to the computer to find videos of Child in action. Luckily, WGBH has put together a Child mashup video (great for posting on the library Web page) as well as some longer segments on their “Celebrating Julia” page.

Watch Julia Child’s 100th birthday on PBS. See more from WGBH Specials.

Her keen sense of humor and fine timing is exhibited in this David Letterman segment (also available online is the Dan Akryod SNL skit. Don’t worry; it’s not irreverent to watch it during the Centenary. Spitz says Child loved it),

It’s probably no surprise that, of the titles arriving next week, the one with the heaviest holds is Rick Riordan’s next middle-grade title, The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries. It may be surprising that the number two title is actually an older book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the tie-in to the movie which arrives in theaters next month starring Emma Watson in her first post-Harry Potter role. Our Watch List includes a title librarians have buzzed as well as several that have received advance media attention.

Watch List

The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields (Penguin/Pamela Dorman)

Fields’s fourth novel was picked by most of the librarians on BEA’s Shout ‘n’ Share panel. Kansas City’s Kaite Stover book talks it this way,

Every summer there’s a juicy historical novel filled with passion, meticulous research and period detail, layered characters and a you-are-there tone. This year it’s The Age of Desire and unlike recent faves, The Paris Wife or Loving Frank, this novel focuses on the love and friendship of two women, Edith Wharton and her literary secretary Anna Bahlman.

During a few tumultuous years, Edith pens some of her most famous works as her lifeless marriage turns sour and she begins an affair with a younger man. Ann becomes Edith’s husband’s comfort, even as Anna begins to cultivate a relationship with a wealthy German shipping magnate and considers leaving Edith’s employ.

Anyone who recognizes the gilded webs Wharton weaves for society women in her own classics will spot the same in this book of two very real women trying to be independent individuals from society, family, and each other.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Type in Dec.)

The NYT jumped the pub date to get in an early review, indicating that there is buzz (it was on nearly every summer reading list) and causing the book to rise on Amazon’s sales rankings. Entertainment Weekly follows with anther strong review; “a comic, often frustrating, but ultimately engrossing and whip-smart modern epistolary novel.” Will appeal to those who appreciate the cult TV series, Arrested Development, which Semple wrote for.

Motherland by Amy Sohn (Simon & Schuster)

There are those in what is called “Brownstone Brooklyn” who can’t wait to read the salacious details of life among what Sohn has dubbed “The Regressives,” 40-something moms who can’t figure out what to do with their lives, so regress to the bad behavior of their twenties. Entertainment Weekly makes this devastating comment, “If Motherland had a subtitle, it might be The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Bourgeois Brooklynite.” For a taste, read Sohn’s recent essay in The Awl. Unsurprisingly, holds are heaviest in NYC area libraries. Sohn is a media insider (she’s written columns for numerous magazines as well as TV and film), so expect media coverage.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Perseus/Weinstein Books; original trade paperback; Ship Date, 8/14. Pub Date, 9/4)

The Malaysian author’s second title is also his second to be long-listed for the Booker. The Independent said of this book, “Tan’s story here is just as elegantly planted as his Man Booker-long listed debut The Gift of Rain, and even more tantalisingly evocative” and made a swipe at UK publishing by adding, “Tan writes with breath-catching poise and grace. That a novel of this linguistic refinement and searching intelligence should come from a tiny Newcastle imprint tells us a lot about the vulgarity of corporate publishing today.” In the US, it’s on a larger publisher’s list.

Usual Suspects

The Kingmaker’s Daughter by Philippa Gregory (S&S/Touchstone; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The author of The Other Boleyn Girl moves to the court of Edward IV.

The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber (RH/Ballantine; Random House Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Macomber switches publishers for the first book in the Cedar Cove series.

Middle Grade & Young Adult

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea: Book One by Ellis Weiner (Chronicle Books)

This first title in a new series is already a hit with prepub reviewers. Publishers Weekly writes, “The most prominent character is the self-satisfied and aggressively intrusive Narrator, whose banter with readers instantly sets a comedic, sarcastic tone.”  The Horn Book adds that the”Illustrations play up the story’s humor as well as highlighting the twins’ ingenuity.”

The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan (Hyperion Books, Listening Library)

Features four original stories in which the heroes meet.

Michael Vey 2: Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans (Simon Pulse/Mercury Ink, Simon & Schuster Audio/Mercury Ink)

The second in the YA mystery series by the author of many best selling adult titles including The Christmas Box.

Movie Tie-in

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (MTV Books, trade pbk; Recorded Books)

Emma Watson stars in the movie version of the 1999 coming-of-age tale that has been embraced by teens. The original hardcover is also being re-released. The movie opens on 9/21. Official movie site: Perks-of-Being-a-Wallflower.com

Nonfiction

The New New Deal by Michael Grunwald (S&S)

Time magazine’s senior correspondent argues that the Obama stimulus bill is a “New Deal, larger than FDR’s and just as transformative.” It will be getting media attention, including a feature in the Washington Post on Sunday, coverage on NPR’s Marketplace and The Takeaway as well as on several MSNBC talk shows and on CNN.

Obama’s America by Dinesh D’Souza (Regnery)

The author’s followup to the best selling The Roots of Obama’s Rage. He claims a second Obama term will turn the US from the “shining city on a hill” to  “a shantytown in a rather dangerous global village.” No prepub reviews on this one, indicating it’s embargoed.

In My Father’s Country, Saima Wahab’s memoir about growing up in Afghanistan rose to #60 on Amazon’s sales rankings after the author appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. It’s no wonder; Stewart was clearly smitten with her story.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

In My Father’s Country: An Afghan Woman Defies Her Fate SAIMA WAHAB Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: RH/Crown – (2012-04-24) ISBN / EAN: 0307884945 / 9780307884947

Jim Holt’s intriguingly titled new book, Why Does the World Exist? comes with an equally intriguing subtitle, An Existential Detective Story. It’s already received wide attention (Slate, the L. A. Times, the Wall Street Journal, among others), with more to come. The author appeared last night on the Charlie Rose Show, the book is reviewed in today’s NYT by Dwight Garner (who points out that it got a blurb from Christopher Hitchens days before he died) and will be featured on the cover of Sunday’s NYT BR. 

Several libraries are showing heavy holds on modest ordering.

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Norton/Liveright – (2012-07-16) ISBN / EAN: 0871404095 / 9780871404091

Next week’s debuts to watch include Outside magazine contributing editor Peter Heller‘s post-apocalyptic literary debut, and Cambodian refugee Vaddey Ratner‘s autobiographical novel. Usual suspects include Sherrilyn Kenyon, Julie Garwood, Chelsea Cain, Lisa Jackson and W.E.B. Griffin, and Michael Koryta – plus new childrens and YA novels from James Patterson, Amanda Hocking and Rebecca Stead. In nonfiction, there’s a new bio of Julia Child by Bob Spitz.

Watch List

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (Knopf; Random House Audio) is a literary debut about a pilot who survives a flu pandemic that wipes out 99% of the population, and then sets out to find the distant voice he hears on his radio. Booklist‘s starred review calls it a “surprising and irresistible blend of suspense, romance, social insight, and humor… [a novel] of spiky pleasure and signal resonance.” It is an Indie Next pick for August.

City of Women by David R Gillham (Penguin/Putnam/Amy Einhorn; Penguin Audiobooks) is the third in the Penguin Debut Author program. Set in Berlin during World War II, it effectively presents the lives of ordinary Germans living in extraordinary times, forcing readers to wonder what they would have done. It is an Indie Next pick for August. Read our online chat with the author here and our brief audio interview.

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner (Simon & Schuster; Thorndike Large Print) is a debut told through the eyes of a seven-year-old survivor of Cambodia’s genocide under the Khmer Rouge, written by a woman who escaped the country as a refugee in 1981. It was a Book Expo Editor’s Buzz Panel pick, and also a People pick in last week’s issue: “Ratner’s lyrical first novel finds love and surprising humanity in a horrifying setting …Raami, the book’s 7-year-old heroine, is lame from polio (as is the author) yet she remains a tenacious dreamer.” An Indie Next pick for August, it is scheduled for media attention next week on NPR in USA Today, the NYT Book Review and several monthly magazines.

Usual Suspects

Time Untime by Sherrilyn Kenyon (St. Martin’s Press; Macmillan Audio) is the latest installment in the popular Dark Hunter series, in which warrior Ren Waya, must kill Kateri Avani, the one person he has always cherished, to ward off an ancient evil.

Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood (Penguin/Dutton; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is a romantic thriller about an IRS attorney determined to bring down her father’s shady scheme, and the FBI agent who rescues her from an assault. Kirkus says, “The evil characters lack any semblance of humanity, and the good characters, including the Fed-crossed lovers, are perfect and unbecomingly smug about it. A standard melodrama with occasional flashes of originality.”

Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain (Macmillan/Minotaur Books; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) marks the return of Gretchen Lowell, otherwise known as “The Beauty Killer,” who appeared in Cain’s first three novels – along with police detective Archie Sheridan. Kirkus says, “Cain’s abiding determination to outdo the suspense, plot twists and gore of each previous outing is both perverse and awe-inspiring.”

You Don’t Want to Know by Lisa Jackson (Kensington; Brilliance Audio) is a standalone thriller about a woman who loses her grip on reality after her child disappears, and becomes the prime suspect in a string of murders. PW says, “Multiple red herrings and a host of sinister characters help keep the pages turning.”

The Spymasters: A Men at War Novel by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth, IV (Putnam Adult; Brilliance Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the seventh in this thriller series and the third the author has written with his son. The plot centers on threats to the Manhattan Project during WWII, Kirkus says the authors “are completely at ease mixing fact and fiction, skillfully piecing together pieces of their narrative puzzle. Their writing is straightforward to a fault, sometimes reminding you of a scholastic You Are There novel, but the book never sags, and the characters never lose our interest.”

The Prophet by Michael Koryta (Hachette/Little Brown; Little Brown Large Print) is the author’s ninth novel, about two brothers in a small Midwestern town who were divided as teenagers by the death of their sister, and clash again years later when another local teen dies. PW says, “Koryta has a gift for melding a suspenseful, twisty plot with a probing, unflinching look at his protagonistsa weaknesses.” His So Cold the River and Cypress House are being developed for movies. Adaptation rights were also sold for this new title at the end of May (Deadline).

Childrens & Young Adult

Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure by James Patterson (Hachette/LBYR; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the final installment in the Maximum Ride series.

Wake by Amanda Hocking (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin, Macmillan Audio) is the first installment in the new Watersong series about three contemporary sirens. It follows Hocking’s successful self-published Trylle Trilogy (later republished by St. Martin’s). Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog features an “exclusive” trailer this week  and an interview with Hocking. PW says, “While Hocking’s writing isn’t always polished (the foreshadowing can be painfully heavy), the well-structured story and strong characters carry readers over the rough spots. A cliffhanger ending sets up the next book, Lullaby, due [in] six months.”

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead (RH/Wendy Lamb Books; Listening Library) is the story of two boys who become friends when one moves into the other’s Brooklyn neighborhood. PW says “chock-full of fascinating characters and intelligent questions, this is as close to perfect as middle-grade novels come.” Stead’s When You Reach Me won the 2010 Newbery Medal.

Movie Tie-in

Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; also trade pbk and mass market; Macmillan Audio) is the tie-in to the movie starring Sean Penn, famously rescheduled to next year because of a scene uncomfortably close to reality (a shooting in a movie theater). That scene was created for the movie and is not in the book, which is shipping as originally planned. This will be the book’s first publication (which is the reason it arrives in hardcover, audio, as well as two tie-in editions). Both the book and the movie are based on the LA Times writer Lieberman’s research into the LAPD’s eight-man “Gangster Squad” and their efforts to trap gang leader Mickey Cohen.

Nonfiction

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio) raises the question, do we need another book about Julia Child? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” from librarians at BEA’s Shout ‘n’ Share panel. PW says, “Released to coincide with Child’s centenary [August 13], Spitz’s delightful biography succeeds in being as big as its subject.” Why did Spitz, the author of major works about the Beatles and Bob Dylan turn his attention to a celebrity cook? He answers that question in an interview on the RH Library Marketing blog.

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (Nation Books, 6/12/12), a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges and cartoonist Joe Sacco debuts on the Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list at #4. It was recently featured on Bill Moyers and Company. 

Libraries are showing a wide range of holds, from just a few to over 100.

Kirkus reviewed it, saying that the authors are each known for covering international wars, but “the war they document here is in America, where ‘[c]orporate capitalism will, quite literally, kill us, as it has killed Native Americans, African Americans trapped in our internal colonies in the inner cities, those left behind in the devastated coalfields, and those who live as serfs in our nation’s produce fields.’ Through immersion reportage and graphic narrative, the duo illuminate the human and environmental devastation in those communities, with the warning that no one is immune.”

Jonah Lehrer, the author of the best selling book on creativity, Imagine, has admitted that he made up some of the quotes he attributed to Bob Dylan in the book. Publisher Houghton Mifflin has announced that it is canceling further shipments and has asked accounts to stop selling it.

The errors were brought to light in the article “Jonah Lehrer’s Deceptions” by Michael C. Moynihan published in the online magazine Tablet yesterday. The New York Times reported that, as a result, Lehrer has resigned his job as science writer for the New Yorker and that the book will no longer be shipped.

The story is being picked up by dozens of other news sources, including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, NPR and CBS News. Jayson Blair, the former New York Times reporter who was the subject of a plagiarism case nine years ago, reflects on the story for The Daily Beast.

Imagine has been on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction list for the past 18 weeks. It debuted on the list at #1 and is on the current, 8/5 list at #14. Lehrer published two earlier books, How We Decide (HMH, 2009) and Proust Was a Neuroscientist (HMH, 2007).