During a recent interview with Maurice Sendak, Stephen Colbert threatened to publish a children’s book, I Am a Pole (And So Can You). According to The Hollywood Reporter, the video of that interview became a “viral sensation.”

So, naturally, Colbert is now making good on his threat; the book is scheduled to be published on May 8th (Hachette/Grand Central; ISBN: 1455523429).

Colbert is releasing another book in October, America Again, Hachette/Grand Central; 0446583979).

Part One of the viral video, below (skip to Part Two to preview I Am a Pole):

Part Two, in which Colbert reveals his brilliant idea (beginning at 3:10) and Sendak gives him a blurb, “The sad thing is, I like it”:

Today is publication day for former Senator Russ Feingold’s book, While America Sleeps. After his appearance on NPR’s Morning Edition today, he is headed to the Daily Show for an interview with Jon Stewart. The New York Times blog, “The Caucus” today says that in the book, Feingold, who was the only one to vote against the Patriot Act, offers an “insider’s viws of the Senate Post-Sept. 11,” one that was “off kilter.”

While America Sleeps: A Wake-up Call for the Post-9/11 Era Russ Feingold Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: RH/Crown – (2012-02-21) ISBN / EAN: 0307952525 / 9780307952523

According to the recent NYT profile, Katherine Boo, author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Random House), a look at life in a Mumbai slum, hates publicity.

She’s had to endure a great deal of it in the last few weeks, from NPR to the Charlie Rose show.

It’s been worth the effort; the book arrived at #9 on Sunday’s NYT Nonfiction Best Seller list, right behind two other books that have received media attention; Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath by Mimi Alford at #7 and Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting  by Pamela Druckerman at #8.

It is also #1 on the Indie Nonfiction Bestseller list.

Foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, died while on assignment in Syria for the NYT, apparently from an acute asthma attack (NYT obituary).

His third book, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family and a Lost Middle East, has been moved up from its original publication date of March 27th to next Tuesday (USA Today).

The book is a memoir of the year Shadid spent in Lebanon, restoring the estate built by his great-grandfather. Reviewing it, Kirkus concluded,

Much of the narrative is a gentle unfolding of observation and insight, as the author reacquaints himself with the Arabic rhythms, “absorbing beauties, and documenting what was no more.” A complicated, elegiac, beautiful attempt to reconcile the physical bayt (home) and the spiritual.

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East Anthony Shadid Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade – (2012-02-28) ISBN / EAN: 0547134665 / 9780547134666

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan appeared on Fox News on Friday after being dropped by MSNBC, where he had been a commentator for the last ten years. He was on suspension from the station for the last 4 months after the release of his latest book, Suicide of a Superpower. Citing the chapters titled “The End of White America” and “The Death of Christian America,” many organizations had called for Buchanan’s ouster. In January, the president of MSNBC signaled his displeasure by saying, “The ideas he put forth [in the book] aren’t really appropriate for national dialogue, much less the dialogue on MSNBC.”

In the Fox interview, Buchanan told Sean Hannity, that he feels he is the victim of a blacklist against “conservative and traditionalist thought.”

Suicide of a Superpower debuted at #4 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction list after its first week on sale. It slid down to #25 after three weeks and is no longer on the list.

Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? Patrick J. Buchanan Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2011-10-18) ISBN / EAN: 0312579977 / 9780312579975

Two notable historical novels arrive next week: Jonathan Odell‘s The Healing, about a 75 year-old woman raised as a slave, and Kate Alcott‘s The Dressmaker, which gives the Titanic disaster a fresh twist. Usual suspects include Alex Berenson, Kim Harrison, J.D. Robb, Matthew Pearl and Thomas Mallon. And in nonfiction, David Brock takes on Fox News and Roger Ailes, plus there’s a lavish guide to the art of the popular gaming series The Mass Universe.

Watch List

The Healing by Jonathan Odell (RH/Knopf/Nan A. Talese; Wheeler Large Print) is the story of a 75 year-old woman who was raised as a slave by the unstable wife of a plantation owner, and revives buried memories to heal a young girl abandoned to her care. Library Journal says, “bound to be compared to Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling The Help, this historical novel relegates its few white characters to distinctly minor status and probes complex issues of freedom and slavery, such as the dangers of an owner’s favor, making it more like Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s acclaimed Wench.” This one has also been mentioned favorably by librarians on our own Galley Chat.

The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott (RH/Doubleday; Center Point Large Print; Random House Audio) follows a young woman hired as a personal maid on the Titanic, who becomes involved in a public scandal after her mistress’s questionable actions are revealed by the shipwreck. Library Journal says it gives the tale of the Titanic “a fresh feel. Tess makes a praiseworthy heroine, [but] one fewer suitor might have been more plausible. Still, an engaging first novel.”

Flatscreen by Adam Wilson (Harper Perennial) follows the dangerous friendship and YouTube stardom of Eli Schwartz, who thinks of himself as a loser, and Seymour J. Kahn, a twisted former TV star who has purchased Eli’s old family home. Booklist gives it a starred review, calling it “a standout addition to a new generation of writers.” PW adds, “comedy and pathos abound in Seymours absurdist world…Fans of Jack Pendarvis and Sam Lipsyte will enjoy Wilsons fresh, fantastical perspective.”

Usual Suspects

Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson (Putnam Adult; Wheeler Publishing; Penguin Audiobooks) is this Edgar-winning author’s sixth spy thriller starring ex-CIA operative John Wells. It focuses on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan who engage in drug smuggling while fighting the Taliban. Kirkus says, “the prose is airtight, the pacing is excellent and the phenomenal action sequences more than make up for minor weaknesses in the plot. Berenson’s highly enjoyable series continues with more of the rock-solid same.”

A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison (Harper Voyager; Blackstone Audiobooks) is the 10th installment in the landmark urban fantasy series, and finds Rachel Morgan, a witch-turned-demon, at a crime scene involving a university student. LJ says: “Harrison’s colorful cast of supporting characters keeps the story moving among the fast-paced action scenes. Longtime fans will obviously be standing in line for this one. However, readers with any interest in urban fantasy can easily jump into the story.”

Celebrity in Death by J. D. Robb (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Audio) is the 35th Eve Dallas novel, which finds the Lieutenant at a party celebrating a film based on one of her cases, that suddenly turns into a crime scene. Kirkus says, “readers count on Robb to deliver the goods, and [this] will not disappoint. The plot is cleverly conceived, cinematically riveting, and sexily charming, and Eve is her usual no-nonsense self.”

The Technologists by Matthew Pearl (Random House; Random House Audio) is set at the close of the Civil War, as students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology form a secret society that is determined to find the truth behind a recent string of commercial disasters. LJ says, “Pearl has a special talent for making likable detectives out of historical figures, and for pulling compelling plotlines from biographies. Here, MIT and Harvard are brought to the foreground and so well depicted that they become historical characters in their own right. This thriller won’t disappoint Pearl’s many fans.”

Watergate by Thomas Mallon (RH/Pantheon; Blackstone Audiobooks) retells the story of the Watergate scandal from the perspectives of seven key characters, suggesting answers to some of the incident’s greatest unsolved mysteries. Although it’s not due for publication until Tuesday, it’s already racked up a number of newsstand reviews; The Washington Post (“imaginative political farce“); NYT (a “lively, witty drama“) and the L.A. Times (“It’s [the] human touches that ultimately make Watergate work.”)

Young Adult

Fever (Chemical Garden Series #2) by Lauren DeStefano (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) returns to the dystopian worldbuilding, moral dilemmas and romantic possibilities of Wither but Kirkus says they “never heat up… [the characters’ constant running and hiding overshadow the interesting questions about the ethics of science, relationships, sexuality and power raised in the first book. Readers who want to know more about the causes and effects of the mysterious virus will have to wait for the third installment, purposefully set up by another rushed ending.”

Paperback

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Millennium Trilogy Series #3) by Stieg Larsson (Knopf Publishing Group; Random House Large Print Publishing; Random House Audio) finally arrives in two paperback editions: a trade paperback edition with a 325K first printing, and a mass market edition with a 680K first printing.

Nonfiction

The Fox Effect: How Roger Ailes Turned a Network into a Propaganda Machine by David Brock (RH/Anchor Books) is a catalogue of Fox News president Roger Ailes’ alleged misdeeds as head of the controversial network, written by Brock, the founder and CEO of Media Matters, and Rabin-Havt, the organization’s executive vice president, who say they were the object of personal attacks authorized by Ailes in retaliation for their organization’s critical coverage of Fox. Kirkus says, “worth reading for anyone who suspects Fox News of distorting the truth and is eager to spend hours sifting through the evidence.”

Art of the Mass Effect Universe by Various (Dark Horse Comics) is a companion to The Mass Effect science fiction gaming series, with concept art and commentary by BioWare on the games’ characters, locations, vehicles, weapons, and more.

Jonathan Demme has lined up financing for his long-dreamed-of project, an animated movie based on Dave Eggers’ post-Katrina book, Zeitoun, (McSweeny’s Books, 2009). It is projected for release some time in 2014.

The book features Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American who refused to evacuate New Orleans when the storm hit. Using a borrowed canoe, he rescued neighbors and their pets. Suddenly, he was arrested and accused of being a terrorist and held for nearly a month. Eggers, Zeitoun and his wife were interviewed in 2010 about those events.

Unfortunately, the story was recently tarnished when it was learned that Zeitoun plead guilty to domestic abuse charges last year, leading the L.A. Times to speculate on whether the combined pressure of the after-effects of the storm and public attention had adversely affected the man who was considered a hero and a “good husband.”

The book was recently selected as the 2012 Greenwich [CT] Reads title and it was the 2010 San Francisco Reads selection.

On the Colbert Report “TA-night”, the man who has made yoga controversial (and his book a best seller; it’s currently at #41 Amazon’s rankings and has heavy holds in libraries), William J. Broad.

The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards William J Broad Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2012-02-07) ISBN / EAN: 1451641427 / 9781451641424

Coming to the show on Thursday, the woman who brings introverts their due, Susan Cain. Her book, Quiet, debuted is #5 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction best seller list after two weeks.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking Susan Cain Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 266 pages Publisher: RH/Crown – (2012-01-24) ISBN : 9780307352149

RH Audio; ebook and audio on OverDrive

On The Daily Show tonight, Jon Stewart interviews Fawzia Koofi, Afghanistan’s first female deputy speaker of parliament (2005 to 2007) and a candidate for her country’s 2014 presidential elections. Her book, The Favored Daugher, was released early this year.

The Favored Daughter: One Woman’s Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future Fawzia Koofi, Nadene Ghouri Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan – (2012-01-03) ISBN / EAN: 0230120679 / 9780230120679

In the weekend leading up to Valentine’s Day, the top box-office draw was the romantic movie, The Vow, starring Rachel McAdams as a woman who is left with no memory after a car accident. Her husband, played by Channing Tatum has to work to rebuild their marriage.

The movie is based on a true story. A book by the real-life couple is being re-issued as a tie-in by Christian publisher, B&H Publishing Group. The couple appeared on the Today Show this morning.

The book is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings. Holds are growing at several libraries.

The Vow: The True Events that Inspired the Movie Kim Carpenter, Krickitt Carpenter, Dana Wilkerson Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: B&H Books – (2012-02-10) ISBN / EAN: 143367579X / 9781433675799

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The NYT takes a look at the auction for a book by Amanda Knox, who spent four years in an Italian jail for a sexually violent murder. The conviction was overturned on appeal and she was released in October.

Is it worth spending a potential seven figures for the book? It all depends on factors that nobody can safely predict at this point; whether she is appealing to the American public and what she is willing to reveal in the book.

The Times notes that several books have already been published about the case and all have “sold only modestly.”  None of those books, however, are by an author that news shows like 60 Minutes is “drooling over.” UPDATE: HarperCollins won the auction, for a reported $4 million. They plan to release it in early in 2013.

Jeffrey Zaslow co-author with Randy Pausch of The Last Lecture, (Hyperion, 2008) and author of several other best sellers, including The Girls from Ames, (Penguin/Gotham, 2009) died in a car accident on Friday morning while touring for his latest book, The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters, according to a report by Detroit’s local Fox station (via Publishers Marketplace’s Automat). He was 53.

UPDATE: NYT Obituary

The Magic Room: A Story About the Love We Wish for Our Daughters Jeffrey Zaslow Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Penguin/Gotham – (2011-12-27) ISBN / EAN: 1592406610 / 9781592406616

In the book’s trailer, Zaslow describes The Magic Room as a tribute to his three daughters.

Next week, watch for Lauren Fox‘s delicious new chick lit novel, David Rosenfelt‘s clever legal thriller-cum-mystery and Tatiana de Rosnay’s latest historical novel. Usual suspects include Anne Rice, Sophie Kinsella, James Patterson and Michael Palmer. And in nonfiction, there’s a new biography of founding father James Madison.

Watch List

Friends Like Us by Lauren Fox (RH/Knopf; Dreamscape Audio) focuses on two close girlfriends, one of whom falls in love with the other’s oldest (male) friend. Booklist gives it a starred review: “the plot is pure Emily Giffin, but Fox tackles quarter-life angst with the honesty of Ann Packer’s The Dive from Clausen’s Pier (2002). The hard emotional truths go down easily amid the smart, rapid-fire wit. A pure if heartbreaking pleasure.”

Heart of a Killer by David Rosenfelt (Macmillan Minotaur Books; Listen & Live Audio) begins as a legal thriller about an underachieving lawyer assigned a case in which a convicted murder demands to end her life so she can donate her heart to her daughter. Then it becomes a murder mystery and finally a suspense novel. Kirkus calls it “warmhearted, satisfyingly inventive and almost too clever for its own good. Why isn’t Rosenfelt a household name like Michael Connelly and Jeffery Deaver?”

The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Wheeler Large Print; Macmillan Audio) is set in Paris in the 1860s, as a woman fights the destruction of her home as hundreds of houses are being razed – and is written by the author of the popular book and film Sarah’s Key. PW says “though this epistolary narrative is slow to build, its fraught with drama… In Rose, one gets the clear sense of a woman losing her place in a changing world, but this isnt enough to make up for a weak narrative hung entirely on the eventual reveal of a long-buried secret.”

Usual Suspects

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice (RH/Knopf; RH Large Print; RH Audio) marks Rice’s return to the dark side – this time it’s werewolves – after her recent fictional flights with the angels. Kirkus says, “despite some of the creakiness of the machinery, Rice finds new permutations in an old tale.”

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press; Thorndike Large Print; RH Audio) is about Poppy, who’s on the verge of marrying her ideal man, until she loses her engagement ring and her phone, finds another phone in a trash can, and begins an unpredictable exchange with the phone’s owner, Sam. Booklist gives it a starred review: “Readers will know that Poppy and Sam are destined to be together, but getting there is a delightful and exciting ride. One of Kinsella’s best.”

Private Games by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) is set in the world’s most renowned investigation firm, Private, which has been commissioned to provide security for the 2012 Olympic Games in London – and suddenly must track the killer of a high-ranking member of the games’ organizing committee.

Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Command by Paul Garrison (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio) finds Paul Janson rescuing a doctor abducted in international waters by African pirates, as the situation goes haywire. Kirkus says “there’s sufficient knife work, sniper shots, RPGs, private jets, helicopters, betrayals and corporate machinations to satisfy every armchair covert agent. Formulaic yet entertaining.”

Oath of Office by Michael Palmer (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) begins as respected doctor John Meacham goes on a shooting spree. The blame falls on Dr. Lou Welcome the counselor who worked with Meacham years before. Looking into the story, he discovers Meacham’s connection to a conspiracy that may lead to the White House. Kirkus says, “this thriller raises compelling issues and features a likable hero, but the plot is dragged out and undercooked and the White House scenes ring false.”

Movie Tie-in

Being Flynn by Nick Flynn (Norton) was originally published as Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and is the story of how Nick Flynn met his father, a con man and self-proclaimed poet, while Nick was working as a caseworker in a homeless shelter in Boston. This retitled edition ties in to the movie starring Robert De Niro and Paul Dano, set for release March 2.

Nonfiction:

James Madison and the Making of America by Kevin R. C. Gutzman (Macmillan/St. Martin’s) is a portrait of this influential Founding Father and the sometimes contradictory ways in which he influenced the spirit of today’s United States. Kirkus deems it “a well-considered and -written biography of this gifted Founding Father’s many contributions to the early republic.”

Pamela Druckerman’s Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting (Penguin, Feb.7). continues to get attention. It was featured on the Today Show yesterday and on NPR’s All Things Considered.

It’s the lead book review in new issue of People (Feb 20), which gives it 3.5 of a possible 4 stars, and calls it an “engaging memoir-cum-sociological study.”

The NYT is not buying it. Reviewing it yesterday, Susannah Meadows, says “Much of the so-called French child rearing wisdom compiled here is obvious.” She also notes that the amount of support French mothers receive from the government (national paid maternity leave, free pre-school, subsidized nannies) would make anyone more relaxed about parenting.

Entertainment Weekly finds it a “fun read,” but gives it only a “B” because “Druckerman seems to draw all her anecdotal evidence from a mere handful of upper-middle-class Parisians.”

Several reviewers are comparing this book to last years’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Both were excerpted in the Wall Street Journal. The L.A. Times notes,

Chua’s excerpt, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” almost instantly went viral, whereas Druckerman’s “Why French Parents Are Superior” is trending a little slower. Druckerman’s a bit more circumspect than Chua, a technique that tends not to attract as many eyeballs…while Bringing Up Bébé may wind up a hit, it’s unlikely to be a sensation of Tiger Mom proportions.

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William J. Broad’s article, “How Yoga Can Wreck your Body,” published in the New York Times on Jan. 5 brought protests from the yoga community .

Broad appeared on Fresh Air yesterday to talk about his less sensationally-titled new book, The Science of Yoga, which looks at both the risks and rewards of the practice.

Libraries are showing heavy holds on modest orders.

The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards William J Broad Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2012-02-07) ISBN / EAN: 1451641427 / 9781451641424

Broad emphasizes the advantages of yoga in the book’s trailer: