Indicating anticipation for two of the titles arriving next week, Megan Abbott‘s sixth crime novel, Dare Me and M.L. Stedman‘s debut The Light Between Oceans, have already received strong mainstream reviews. New novels by Margaret Dilloway, Fiona Neill and Jennie Fields also have solid trade reviews behind them. Usual suspects include Dean Koontz, Kay Hooper, Susan Wiggs and YA author Sara Shepard. In nonfiction, Gretchen Rubin is back with a followup to the Happiness Project, historian Ben McIntyre takes a fresh look at D-Day, crime writer Stuart Woods republishes his 1977 sailing memoir, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame weighs in with a celebration of the game for its 50th Anniversary.

Watch List

Dare Me by Megan Abbott (Hachette/Little,Brown/Reagan Arthur; Hachette Audio) is the story of a varsity cheer leading squad whose pecking order is overturned by a new coach, who then becomes a suspect in a murder investigation. It’s a summer reading pick by Entertainment Weekly (“It feels groundbreaking when Abbott takes noir conventions — loss of innocence, paranoia, the manipulative sexuality of newly independent women — and suggests that they’re rooted in high school, deep in the hearts of all-American girls.” Grade: A-). The new issue of People says, “If cheerleaders scared you in high school, you’ll finish the haunting Dare Me convinced you were right.” Holds, while not yet heavy, are building in many libraries. Her sixth novel, this one may be Abbott’s breakout.

The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns by Margaret Dilloway (Putnam Adult) is the author’s second novel, in which a solitary, prickly woman who grows roses competitively must unexpectedly make room in her life for her wayward niece. It was a BEA Librarians’s Shout ‘n’ Share title. LJ says, “engaging, enlightening, thoughtful, this is a winner.”

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio) is set in 1926 Australia, where a childless couple in a lighthouse claim a baby they find in a boat, with ensuing complications. This one gets an early review in the New York Times, which warns that it “does occasionally dip into the melodrama pot; Isabel at one point screams, ‘Don’t take my baby away!’ It’s a moving tale, regardless. Prepare to weep.” This week’s People magazine declares, “Stedman’s debut signals a career certain to deliver future treasures.” We’ve already issued a holds alert for this one.

What the Nanny Saw by Fiona Neill (Penguin/Riverhead; Tantor Media) is the tale of a London investment banker’s unraveling during the 2008 financial crisis, told by the nanny, who holds his family together but has secrets of her own. It’s the second novel by British newspaper columnist Neill. LJ says, “this biting drama is filled with tension and remarkably flawed characters. Neill’s engrossing tale makes for an addictive read, and one can only keep turning the pages to get to the inescapable conclusion.”

The Age of Desire by Jennie Fields (Penguin/Viking/Pamela Dorman) imagines a middle-aged Edith Wharton in her first physically passionate affair, with a younger American journalist. LJ says the author’s fourth novel should “appeal to those who enjoyed Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife or other stories focusing on the stormy romantic lives of creative people from past eras.”

Usual Suspects

Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz (RH/Bantam; RH Large Print; Brilliance Audio) is the fifth Odd Thomas novel about a short-order cook who can see dead people, and helps them when he can. LJ says, “Odd’s fanbase with fantasy-horror devotees is certain to grow, while previous admirers of his quirky charms will not be disappointed. Odd’s screen debut, starring Anton Yelchin and Willem Dafoe, later this fall is certain to attract new readers.”

Haven by Kay Hooper (Penguin/Berkley; Brilliance Audio) is the 13th thriller featuring the Special Crimes Unit, this time sending a paranormal investigator to a small North Carolina mountain town. PW says, “the juxtaposition of the idyllic town and the sadistic sociopath makes the horrors of the crimes stand out, but the basic investigative errors made by just about all of the characters seem to come straight from a schlock horror film with the audience yelling, ‘Don’t go in there!'”

Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs (Harlequin/Mira; Brilliance Audio) the next in the Lakeshore Chronicles is the story of a woman whose near-perfect life is derailed when her mother unexpectedly gets pregnant.

Young Adult

Hide and Seek (Lying Game Serious #4) by Sara Shepard (Harper Teen) is told from beyond the grave by an adopted daughter whose long-lost twin sister has taken her place, but faces the same potentially fatal perils.

Nonfiction

Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin (RH/Crown/Archetype; RH Audio) is the sequel to the author’s hit debut The Happiness Project. PW says, “although it lacks the freshness and originality of her earlier book, this perceptive sequel offers elegant musings about the nature of happiness combined with concrete ways to make the place where we sleep, eat, and watch TV truly a home.”

Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre (RH/Crown; RH Large Print Publishing; RH Audio) explains how the D-Day landings became the most well-kept secrets of WWII. PW says that it “effortlessly weaves the agents’ deliciously eccentric personalities with larger wartime events to shape a tale that reads like a top-notch spy thriller.”

Blue Water, Green Skipper by Stuart Woods (Penguin/Putnam) is a republication of the crime author’s memoir of how he single-handedly sailed across the Atlantic in 1973 after quitting his job in advertising, before he finished the first of his 50 novels. PW says, “casual readers will enjoy the adventurous portions of the tale, but sailing aficionados will get the most out of Woods’s journey.”

The Pro Football Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book: Where Greatness Lives editedby John Thorn and Joe Horrigan, (Hachette/Grand Central) features commentaries by every living Hall of Famer, and quotes or bios from those who are gone.

Debuting at #10 on the new Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list is Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith, a book that was called a classic in the making by the Psychiatric Times and named a People pick last week.

Many libraries are showing growing holds on light ordering.

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

Bill Moyers dedicates his most recent show to a book of “graphic journalism,” Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (Nation Books, 6/12/12), a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges and cartoonist Joe Sacco. It covers what the authors call ” sacrifice zones, those areas in America that have been offered up for exploitation in the name of profit, progress, and technological advancement.”

The book is now at #24 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Sam Kean managed to make the periodic table sexy in his book, The Disappearing Spoon. In his new book, The Violinist’s Thumb, (Hachette/Little,Brown), he takes on an already sexy subject, DNA.

After he appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday, Thumb rose from #248 to #43 and Spoon from #886 to #228 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

You would have thought that Gwyneth Paltrow, the face of Australian company Spar Veggie, would have run screaming at the very mention of the words “Blood, Bones and Butter,” but it’s being reported that she is in negotiatons to star in a film based on the best-selling memoir by Gabrielle Hamilton (Blood, Bones and Butter, Random House, 2011).

Like Hamilton, Paltrow wrote a book about food that was published last year, My Father’s Daughter (Hachette/Grand Central, 2011).

As we reported in “New Title Radar,” Bailout; An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street by Neil Barofsky (S&S/Free Press; 7/24) is due for major media attention this week. The New York Times, in yesterday’s Business Section, calls it a “must read.” Below, the author is interviewed on CBS This Morning today. Dozens of other appearances are scheduled on media outlets from NPR to Fox News.

Barofsky was scheduled to appear on Face the Nation yesterday, but that appears to have been bumped by coverage of the Aurora shooting.

Seen a shoe-in to win several Oscars and a strong contender for Best Picture, Stenen Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic has finally been scheduled for a Nov. 9 limited release, expanding to more theaters on Nov. 16. The timing puts it after the Presidential election; Spielberg earlier voiced concerns that, if it was released earlier, it would “become political fodder,” presumably because Obama often compares himself to Lincoln. The film, which focuses on the last four months of Lincoln’s life, is based on portions of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (S&S, 2005), a book that experienced renewed popularity after the last election, when Obama repeatedly referred to it as the blueprint for selecting his cabinet.

So far, the only images from the film are some set photos. It stars and Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln and Sally Field as his wife, Mary and David Strathairn as Secretary of State William H. Seward, who, of his three former rivals for the presidency, became Lincoln’s closest friend.

Below, Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about why there can never be too many books about Lincoln.

Simon and Scuster is publishing tie-ins editions of both the book and the audio.

Spielberg’s next movie is also based on a book, Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson  (RH/Doubleday, 2011). Deadline reports that Chris Hemsworth is in talks to star. It is scheduled for release on April 25, 2014.

The NYT notes that George W. Bush, after remaining largely silent on the upcoming presidential campaign, “gingerly enters the fray a little more this week with a new book outlining ways to rebuild the economy.”

Coming on Tuesday is a collection of essays by various economists called The 4% Solution because it offers ideas on how to expand the economy by that amount per year. Bush has written the introduction and will launch the book at an event in Dallas tomorrow. The NYT calls it a “wonky paean to free enterprise.”

The book was embargoed, so several libraries have not ordered it. Those that have are showing few holds.

The 4% Solution: Unleashing the Economic Growth America Needs The Bush Institute Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Crown Business – (2012-07-17) ISBN / EAN: 0307986144 / 9780307986146

Next week will bring several books by celebrities, including Glee star Chris Colfer‘s middle-grade fantasy debut, a memoir from Giant’s receiver Victor Cruz, and Elton John‘s look back on his fight against the AIDS epidemic. Usual suspects include Iris Johansen, Orson Scott Card, Daniel Silva, James Lee Burke, and Chris Bohjalian.

Watch List

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Print, Nov) is a debut novel set on Martha’s Vineyard after WWII, about two women finding marriage and motherhood more complicated than they expected, when a murder throws their lives into further turmoil. The author is Herman Melville’s great-great-great-great-grandaughter. It’s getting glowing advance praise, including from PW: “this carefully crafted soap opera skillfully commingles mystery with melodrama, keeping readers guessing about what really happened until the end . . . Her characters’ duplicitous behavior will elicit strong reactions.”

Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) is a whimsical debut novel about a woman who’s been hiding her baldness to fit into her suburban Virginia community and her astronaut husband, whose lives are redefined by freak accidents. The advance buzz brought an early review from  Janet Maslin in the NYT a week before publication, saying, “it is so full of oddities that no simple summary [presumably, like the one we just did] will do it justice. ” It also had several fans on GalleyChat in June.

Usual Suspects

Close Your Eyes by Iris Johansen (Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press; Brilliance Audio) is the fourth collaboration by this mother-son team, and stars Dr. Kendra Michaels, an FBI consultant and music therapist who was born blind and developed her other senses to an extraordinary degree before her sight was restored at age 20. PW says, “The authors combine idiosyncratic yet fully realized characters with dry wit and well-controlled suspense that builds to a satisfying conclusion.”

Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books; MacMillan Audio) is a science fiction adventure that gives fans of the Ender series a new backstory to the classic Ender’s Game. LJ says, “Card’s gift for strong, memorable characters combined with screenwriter Johnston’s flair for vivid scene-building results in a standout tale… [that] should also please readers of military SF.” Production of the movie of Enders’s Game, starring Harrison Ford and Abigail Breslin has recently wrapped and is scheduled to be released on Nov. 1, 2013.

The Fallen Angel (Gabriel Allon Series #12) by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins; Harperluxe; HarperAudio) stars art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon in Rome, who gets a call from the pope’s personal secretary about the body of a woman in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Creole Belle: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster; Wheeler Large Print; Simon & Schuster Audio) finds southern Louisiana deputy Sheriff Dave Robicheaux recovering from the wounds he received in the last book (The Glass Rainbow), and facing another round of New Orleans-style homicide. Kirkus says, “Burke, in his latest attempt to outdo himself, ties the Gulf oil spill to art fraud, sexual slavery and Nazis. A darkly magnificent treat for Dave’s legion of admirers, though not the best place for newcomers to begin.” One-day laydown.

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian (RH/Doubleday Books; Random House Large Print; Books on Tape) is the story of modern American woman who joins her father on a philanthropic trip to Syria to aid Armenian refugees, and pieces together the lives of her great-grandparents, who met on the eve of the Armenian genocide of 1915-16. It has been featured in many summer reading roundups, and is a GalleyChat favorite. Entertainment Weekly gives is a B+. The reviewer notes that Bohjalian, draws ” for the first time on his own heritage [as] the grandson of Armenian survivors [and] pours passion, pride, and sadness into his tale of ethnic destruction and endurance,” but notes the book’s structure is  “precariously ornate.”

Kids/Young Adult

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer (Hachette/LBYR; Hachette Audio) is a middle-grade debut by the Glee star, and finds 12-year-old twins Alex (a girl) and Conner roaming fairy tale land after falling into their grandmother’s book of stories, trying to collect the elements for a wishing spell that will get them home. Booklist says, “Golden Globe winner Colfer writes for an audience that will likely include plenty of teen readers (i.e., fans of Glee), and generally they will not be disappointed by the giddy earnestness of the writing, cut with a hint of melancholy.” Unsurprisingly, the author is getting plenty of media attention. The audio is read by the author.

Spark: A Sky Chasers Novel by Amy Kathleen Ryan (St. Martin’s Griffin, MacMillan Audio) is the sequel to Glow, in which girls and boys struggle with issues of leadership and violence on a spaceship after their parents have been kidnapped.

Nonfiction

Out of the Blue by Victor Cruz (Penguin/Celebra) is a memoir by the 25-year-old salsa victory-dancing Superbowl champion. USA Today says it “will include the highs and lows of his life — his spotty college career and rocky road to professional football (he was undrafted), his father’s suicide and his recent triumphs.” It will also be published in Spanish as Momento de Gloria in September.

Love Is the Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS by Elton John (Hachette/Little, Brown) is the pop singer’s personal account of his life during the AIDS epidemic, including stories of his close friendships with Ryan White, Freddie Mercury, Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, and others, and the story of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The Violinist’s Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean (Hachette/Little, Brown) is the next book by the author who made the periodic table fascinating in The Disappearing Spoon. In this new book, he explores the secrets of DNA. Leading up to the book’s release, Kean has been “Blogging the Human Genome” for Slate.

It’s already been covered in a wide range of publications, from The Jewish Daily Forward to the Psychiatric Times. Now Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith (S&S, July; Blackstone Audio) gets the lead, four-star review in the new issue of People magazine and is named one of 8 People picks of the year. The reviewer calls it an “unforgettable, surprisingly hilarious memoir, [in which] journalist and professor Smith chronicles his head-changing, flop sweating battles with acute anxiety.”

The Psychiatric Times predicts it “will be recognized in the years to come as the preeminent first-person narrative of the anxiously lived life,” adding,”it is wonderful to have a narrative of Generalized Anxiety Disorder that can join the classic narratives already written for our other major diagnoses; William Styron’s Darkness Visible for depression, Redfield Jamison’s Unquiet Mind for bipolar disorder and Elyn Saks’s The Center Cannot Hold for schizophrenia.”

The Today Show took a skeptical look at a new diet book that just arrived in the US after becoming a big success in the UK. Six Weeks to OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends by Vince Fulton (yes, it’s a pseudonym) was covered in two segments, each featuring a bathtub.

The hosts of the segments sounded unconvinced by the author’s recommendations, but a significant number of viewers felt otherwise. The book jumped into the Amazon Top Fifty, rising from #5,012 to #44. Library holds, however, are very light.

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

Brian Castner, who writes about his three tours in Iraq and his difficult re-entry into life at home, in The Long Walk, was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross yesterday. As a result, the book rose to #261 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows Brian Castner Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: RH/Doubleday – (2012-07-10) ISBN / EAN: 9780385536202/ 0385536208

Audio; RH Audio and Books on Tape

Next week brings a comic sci-fi debut from Internet entrepreneur Rob Reid, along with new novels from breakout authors John Boyne and Deborah Harkness. In nonfiction, there’s a harrowing Iraq war memoir by Air Force veteran Brian Castner, and James Carville and Stan Greenberg talk Democratic strategy for November. Returning literary favorites include Carlos Ruoz Zafón, Stephen Carter and Kurt Anderson. And usual suspects include Gigi Levangie Grazer, Susan Elizabeth Phillips,  Catherine Coulter, Linda Fairstein, James Patterson, Andrew Gross and Meg Cabot, plus YA author Eoin Colfer.

Watch List

Year Zero by Rob Reid (RH/Del Rey; RH digital-only audio on OverDrive) is a satire about the movie industry, by someone who knows the business intimately (he’s the founder of the online music company, Listen.com).

It’s recommended by Entertainment Weekly for those who love The Hitchhiker”s Guide to the Galaxy. They also offer an exclusive interview with the author by John Hodgman, who reads the audio, a digital-only release (on OverDrive).

That interview isn’t revealing, but the trailer gives a good sense of the book’s tone.

The Absolutist by John Boyne (Other Press) is an novel about a WWI veteran’s reflections over 60 years on his brief, forbidden love affair in the trenches with a fellow soldier who died, by the Irish author of the YA hit The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. PW calls it “a relentlessly tragic yet beautifully crafted novel.” It got several shouts from librarians at the BEA Shout ‘n’ Share program, with Barbara Genco noting that the WWI setting makes it a good bet for fans of Downton Abbey. The publisher has a different take, comparing it to Atonement and Brokeback Mountain.

Hot Sequel

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (Penguin/Viking; Thorndike Large Print; Penguin Audiobooks) is the highly anticipated sequel to the hit debut A Discovery of Witches. This time, the action is set in Elizabethan England, where vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont and witch historian Diana Bishop search for an enchanted manuscript. Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+, a mixed grade because the story takes a while to gain momentum, but when it does, “it enchants.” People magazine concurs, giving it 3 of a possible 4 stars, saying there are “too many story lines, too many shifting time periods and a confusing slew of new characters.” Even so, it “delivers enough romance and excitement to keep the pages turning. Readers will devout it, chaos and all.”

Literary Favorites

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Harper; HarperAudio; HarperLuxe) brings together characters from The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game, who must face a mysterious stranger who visits the Sempere bookshop, and threatens to reveal a secret.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Carter (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio) is a work of alternate history by the Yale Law professor and bestselling author of The Emperor of Ocean Park that explores what would have happened if President Abraham Lincoln had not been assassinated. (Hint: Lincoln is accused of violating the Constitution in his conduct of the Civil War and faces impeachment.) PW says, “this is Lincoln by way of Dan Brown, complete with ciphers and conspiracies and breathless escapes, only not so breathless, since Carter lacks Brown’s talent for narrative momentum.”

True Believers by Kurt Anderson (Random House; Random House Audio) is a cultural study of a judge who opts out of consideration for a Supreme Court seat because of events in her youth, giving the novelist and host of the award-winning Studio 360 public radio show ample ground for exploring the cultural contradictions of the last 50 years. LJ says, “a good read both for those who remember the [60s] era and for those who wish to better understand that time and its social and political connections to today.”

Usual Suspects

The After Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer (RH/Ballantine; Center Point Large Print; Random House Audio) is the story of a recently widowed woman who discovers she can talk to the dead. It got a hearty endorsement on the Librarians’ Shout ‘n’ Share panel at BEA this year  from Wendy Bartlett, head of collection development at Cuyahoga County PL. As we noted earlier, Wendy found The After Wife so hilarious that she ordered extra copies.

The Great Escape by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (HarperCollins/Morrow; Thorndike Large Print; HarperAudio) recounts the further adventures of Lucy Jorik, daughter of the former U.S. President, who left her perfect fiance at the altar to explore her alter ego, a biker chick named Viper. LJ says, “with brilliant dialog, sassy humor, and laserlike insight into what makes people tick, Phillips gifts readers with an engrossing, beautifully written romance that satisfies on all levels.”

Backfire (FBI Series #16) by Catherine Coulter (Penguin/Putnam; Thorndike Large Print; Brilliance Audio) finds husband-and-wife FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock pursuing a killer who shoots a San Francisco judge. PW says, “Coulter mixes romance, strong family ties, narrow misses, and narrower escapes as well as some twists that strain credulity to the breaking point. Series fans will applaud the strong female leads and the nifty teamwork of Savich and Sherlock.”

Night Watch by Linda Fairstein (Penguin/Dutton; Thorndike Large Print; Penguin Audio) has Manhattan Sex Crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper probing the underside of New York’s fanciest restaurants, based on evidence in a rape case involving director of the World Economic Bureau and a hotel maid. Kirkus says, “not surprisingly, the case ripped from the headlines is much more absorbing than the tale of restaurant malfeasance and [Cooper’s] imperiled love. Alex’s 14th is distinctly below average for this bestselling series.”

I, Michael Bennett by James Patterson (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Large Print; Hachette Audio)  is the fifth installment in the series featuring Detective Michael Bennett,  this time featuring South American crime lord who brings new violence to Manhattan.

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross (HarperCollins/Morrow; Harperluxe) is a stand-alone thriller that explores an accidental shooting that leaves an innocent participant as the target of a huge police manhunt. Booklist says “Gross, who has collaborated with James Patterson on five best-sellers, turns out a page-turning, roller-coaster of a novel with a likable if sometimes foolish protagonist.”

 Size 12 and Ready to Rock: A Heather Wells Mystery by Meg Cabot (HarperCollins/Morrow; Audio, Dreamscape Media) is latest installment in this ongoing paperback original series.  Here, New York College Resident Dorm Director Heather Wells investigates a case with her fiance that involves her ex’s new wife. PW says, “Readers of Cabot’s blog will recognize Heather, with her hilarious pop culture references and dry humor. A good read, though fans might find the plot disappointing in the context of the big picture.”

Children

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer (Disney/Hyperion; Audio, RH/Listening Library) is the eighth and final installment in the popular series, in which the evil pixie Opal Koboi infuses Artemis’s brothers with the spirits of dead warriors, making them more annoying than ever.

Nonfiction

The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows by Brian Castner (RH/Doubleday; Center Point Large Print; Random House Audio) recounts the author’s years as an air force officer in Saudi Arabia in 2001, and Iraq in 2005 and 2006, where he earned a Bronze Star and performed the “long walk” to dismantle bombs by hand and in short order, when robots failed. Kirkus calls it, “scarifying stuff, without any mawkishness or dumb machismo–not quite on the level of Jarhead, but absolutely worth reading.”

It’s The Middle Class, Stupid! by James Carville and Stan Greenberg (Penguin/Blue Rider Press; Penguin Audio) brings together liberal talking head Carville and pollster Greenberg to discuss why Democrats must focus on the middle class to win in November. Kirkus says, “they are refreshingly specific in some of their policy recommendations in areas such as energy investment and campaign finance reform. For Democratic political junkies who enjoy straight-talk policy discussion.” 125,000 copy first printing.

Good news, Glee fans. Coming in October is Pitch Perfect, a movie about an a capella female collegiate group that is being described as “Glee meets Bridesmaids.” The trailer, which just arrived is below.

It’s based loosely (very loosely, it seems) on the 2008 nonfiction book of the same title by GQ editor, Mickey Rapkin, an examination of the evolution of the style, capped by a look at three groups and their competition for the 2005 championship.

Rapkin also wrote Theater Geek (S&S/Free Press; 2010), about Stagedoor Manor, a summer theater camp that counts Natalie Portman and Robert Downey, Jr. as former campers.

Official Movie site: PitchperfectMovie.com

Tie-in:

Candice Millard’s The Destiny of the Republic broke into the Amazon Top 100, moving to # 67 (from #1,216) as a result of yesterday’s feature on CBS Sunday Morning.

For most libraries, copies are still not available on the shelves; this is a good opportunity to make use of the Great Nonfiction Read-Alikes list from the program of the same name at ALA — Alene Moroni, King County, provided an extensive list of historical true crime titles, including Millard’s book. As Alene points out, you can spot these book by their subtitles, which often include the words “madness,” “mayhem” or “murder.”

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President Candice Millard Retail Price: $28.95 Hardcover: 354 pages Publisher: Anchor – (2011-09-20) ISBN: 9780767929714

BOT Audio