Fairy Tale Interrupted, a memoir by RoseMarie Terenzio (S&S/Gallery; Audio, Tantor), JFK Jr’s former assistant, hits the shelves next week, but it’s already making headlines and rising on Amazon’s sales rankings (now at #64). It was featured yesterday on The Today Show and is excerpted in the new issue of People. Tonight, it will be on ABC’s 20/20. Next week brings appearances on The View, Good Morning America and  Piers Morgan Tonight, among others.

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Jodi Kantor’s book, The Obamas,(Hachette/Little Brown; Thorndike large print) has received unrelenting press attention for its portrayal of Michelle Obama.

Kantor’s most recent appearance was on Daily Show Monday night. The book however, did not receive the expected “Stewart bump” on Amazon sales rankings (it actually went down after the show, from #48 to #66; it’s now at #82).

Stewart said that press attention, like the “lady on CNN yelling at you” (referring to Soledad O’Brien interview with her on “Starting Point,” which followed her earlier criticism of the book on a “Get Real” segment) got him interested, but that he was surprised at how little controversy the book actually contains. Instead, he said, it portrays the First Lady as “a complex yet human individual struggling with this unbelievable situation, yet remaining the moral compass and center of an administration trying to find its footing.”

Guess that doesn’t play as well as an “angry black woman” who doesn’t enjoy her position.

To watch next week, a young adult title set during the Haitian earthquake has strong crossover appeal. Stewart O’Nan delivers a love story and Orson Scott Card returns with another title in the Ender series. In nonfiction, the fascination with SEAL’s continues with an autobiography by the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history.

Young Adult Watch List

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury) is set in Haiti, where a teenage boy is trapped among ruins, surrounded by bodies, with death seeming imminent. But then he becomes aware of Touissant L’Overture reaching out to him across 200 years of history. The Wall St. Journal covered it a roundup of YA titles for Black History Month, saying “elegant, restrained prose and distinct characters will reward adults and older teenagers able to brave a story with strong language, harrowing scenes of brutality and an almost painful stab of joy at the end.”

Notable Literary Titles

The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O’Nan (Viking; Center Point Large Print) is set on Valentine’s weekend, as Art and Marion Fowler – both jobless and facing foreclosure – flee to the site of their honeymoon in Niagara Falls decades earlier, book a bridal suite, and risk everything at the roulette wheel. Library Journal says that O’Nan “sensitively makes the everyday hurts of everyday people real and important. This book will resonate profoundly in today’s strapped environment; great for book clubs.”

Usual Suspects

Raylan by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow; Blackstone Audio) is the third crime novel starring U.S. marshal Raylan Givens (now the star of the FX television series Justified), a former Kentucky coal miner, against three very different female crooks. Library Journal says, “Leonard lovers will find the fascinatingly twisted personalities common to his fiction here, along with memorable trademark Leonard moments of humor, grit, and greed. Raylan will play well with his current popularity and won’t disappoint fans of the books and the show.”

Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6) by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the sixth (but not final) installment of  Cornwell’s saga of England, in whichAlfred the Great lays dying, while the fate of the Angles, Saxons and Vikings hang in the balance. PW says, “Ninth-century combat lacks the grandeur of large armies, but Uhtred’s cunning, courage, and a few acts of calculated cruelty make for a compelling read.”

Shadows in Flight (Ender’s Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books) finds Bean having fled to the stars with three of his children, who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. Library Journal says, “Card deals with the repercussions of bioengineering for the human species. [His]graceful storytelling gives this narrative the feel of a parable or a futuristic myth; it is bound to please the author’s fan base and readers who enjoyed the first book.” But Kirkus cautions, “Do not attempt to appreciate this book without at least some familiarity with Card’s child-warrior Ender series.”

Young Adult

Hallowed (Unearthly Series #2) by Cynthia Hand (HarperTeen) is the second novel to feature part-angel Clara Gardner, who is torn between her love for her boyfriend Tucker and her complicated feelings about the role she seems destined to play. Kirkus says, “readers who enjoyed the steadfast characters, plotting and romance of Unearthly (2010) can expect more of the same in this equally satisfying sequel.”

Nonfiction

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle (William Morrow; HarperLuxe Large Print) is the autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, whose record 255 confirmed kills make him the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history. Booklist says, “The book reads like a a first-person thriller narrated by a sniper. The book follows his career from 1999 to 2009, and, like Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead (2003), it portrays a sniper’s life as a mixture of terror and mind-numbing boredom… A first-rate military memoir.”

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions; S&S Audio) finds the bestselling author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto exploring the philosophical basis of America’s foundations and the crisis that the government faces today.

The fledgling CBS This Morning show scored a major “get” today. First Lady Michelle Obama, who rarely gives interviews, sat down with Gayle King. The interview had been arranged before Christmas, but the timing was uncanny as it gave Obama an opportunity to address some of the issues raised in NYT reporter Jodi Kantor’s book, The Obamas.

While many news sources are simply reporting the book’s “juicy bits,” others, like Time magazine, have expressed skepticism. A list of the book’s alleged errors is supposedly making the rounds. The site Buzz Feed has gone to the extreme of fact-checking that fact-checking.

Despite all the attention, the book is at #26 and falling on Amazon, after reaching a high of #19 yesterday. Where ordering was light, libraries are showing heavy holds.

The Obamas Jodi Kantor Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0316098752 / 9780316098755

Thorndike Large Print

According to several news sources, including CBS News, Washington is buzzing over a new book that portrays Michelle Obama as a powerful behind-the-scenes White House force (yes, that’s Charlie Rose, below, in his new position as the anchor for the CBS Early Show now revamped as CBS This Morning).

Actually, the buzz is coming from an excerpt published in the NYT (the author is by the Times Washington correspondent); the book releases tomorrow.

The Obamas Jodi Kantor Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0316098752 / 9780316098755

Thorndike Large Print

Asian politics animate two key titles this week, one by American author Adam Johnson about North Korea, and the other a translation of a novel by Chan Koonchung about China in the near-future that has been banned in that country. Usual suspects include Elizabeth George, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and John Burdett – plus young adult authors John Green and Beth Revis. In nonfiction, there are biographies of the Obamas by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor and of Queen Elizabeth by Sally Bedell Smith.

Watch List

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Random House; RH Audio) follows a young man’s journey from a North Korean orphanage into a life of spying, kidnapping, and torture, followed by a new identity as the husband of the Dear Leader’s favorite actress. Library Journal says, “evidently a blend of personal story and political revelation, with thriller overtones thrown in for fun, this work is being positioned as a breakout for Johnson. The first two serials go to Granta in August 2011 and Playboy in January 2012, which certainly suggests broad appeal.”

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung (Nan A. Talese) was an underground sensation in China before being banned. Set in Beijing in the near future, it’s about a group of friends who decide to find out more about the “lost month” during the country’s political transition that has been erased from the nation’s memory.  PW says, “this first English translation… feels flat, a quality exacerbated by the novel’s uneven pace and lengthy digressions into historical and political minutiae. However, Koonchung (founder of Hong Kong’s City Magazine) reveals the moral and political perils of contemporary Chinese life.”

Usual Suspects

Believing the Lie (Inspector Lynley Series #16) by Elizabeth George (Dutton; Penguin Audiobooks; Thorndike Large Print) finds Scotland Yard policeman Thomas Lynley to delving into the accidental death of the gay nephew of a wealthy industrialist. Kirkus says, “pared-down George, weighing in at a svelte 600 pages, but still strewn with subplots, melodrama, melancholy, a wretchedly unhappy Havers and the impossibly heroic, impossibly nice Thomas Lynley.”

Gideon’s Corpse by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central Publishing; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Print) finds Gideon Crew in his second outing, tracking a terrorist cell ten days before a planned attack on a major American city. PW says, the “lead could be cut-and-pasted into any number of books by less gifted genre writers.”

Vulture Peak: A Bangkok Novel by John Burdett (Knopf) is the latest to feature Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who is in charge of the highest-profile case in Thailand — an attempt to bring an end to trafficking in human organs. Kirkus says, “Burdett’s strengths are tilted toward characterization rather than plotting, for Buddhist Sonchai remains a fascinating cross between Buddhist monk and hard-boiled detective.”

Lothaire by Kresley Cole (Gallery Books; S&S Audio) continues the Immortals After Dark series, with the story of how Lothaire the Enemy of Old rose to power a millenia ago, becoming the most feared and evil vampire in the immortal world.

Young Adult

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton; Brilliance Audio). The uber-popular author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns, applies his trade-marked humor to a serious subject. A young girl facing terminal illness encounters an unexpected friend who turns her life around.  Every time Green mentions the book on his popular vlog, it rises on Amazon, as we’ve been noting for several months, so it’s no surprise that the announced first printing is 150,000 copies. Entertaiment Weekly is giving it a push, with an author interview, an “exclusive” (but rather unrevealing) trailer and a strong review.

A Million Suns: An Across the Universe Novel by Beth Revis (Razorbill) is the second installment in the Across the Universe trilogy about the 2,763 people trapped aboard a spaceship. Kirkus says, “Revis’ shining brilliance is the fierce tension about survival (is Godspeed deteriorating? can people survive terrorism inside an enclosed spaceship?) and the desperate core question of whether any generation will ever reach a planet. Setting and plot are the heart and soul of this ripping space thriller, and they’re unforgettable.”

Nonfiction

The Obamas by Jodi Kantor (Little, Brown; Thorndike Large Print) peers inside the White House as the Obamas try to grapple with their new roles, change the country, raise children, maintain friendships, and figure out what it means to be the first black President and First Lady. Kantor is the Washington correspondent for the New York Times, as well as its “Arts & Leisure” editor.

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith (Random House; Random House Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is “comparable to Ben Pimlott’s excellent The Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth II (1998),” says Library Journal. “But with information on nearly 15 more years, this will appeal to readers of biographies, British history, and all followers of the British royal family. The Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee should increase demand.”

We’ve missed Jon Stewart’s attention to books while his show has been on hiatus. But he came back last night, interviewing Elizabeth Dowling Taylor about her book, A Slave in the White House, (Macmillan/Palgrave). As a result, the book rose on Amazon sales rankings, to #220 (from #29,478).

Tonight, Stewart features Craig Shirley, author of the forthcoming authorized bio of Newt Gingrich. UPDATE: the book that Stewart and Shirley discussed was the  author’s earlier title, December, 1941. The following title appears to have been delayed.

Citizen Newt: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Speaker Gingrich Craig Shirley Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson – (2012-01-31) ISBN / EAN: 9781595554482/1595554483

Season two of the BBC series, Downton Abbey, debuts on PBS this Sunday. In addition to the companion book, The World of Downton Abbey, by Jessica Fellowes, (Macmillan/ St. Martin’s,12/06; more on it here), fans can read about Highclere Castle, the setting for the series in Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (more about it in the Daily Beast).

Take a tour of the castle, below (if this whets your appetite, more videos are available on YouTube).

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle The Countess of Carnarvon Retail Price: $15.99 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Broadway – (2011-12-27) ISBN / EAN: 0770435629 / 9780770435622

For a look at how the other half lived, there’s a reissue of Below Stairs by Margaret Powell. James Fellows, the creator of Downton Abbey blurbs the new edition, saying,

Margaret Powell was the first person outside my family to introduce me to that world, so near and yet seemingly so far away, where servants and their employers would live their vividly different lives under one roof.  Her memories, funny and poignant, angry and charming, haunted me until, many years later, I made my own attempts to capture those people for the camera.  I certainly owe her a great debt.

Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir That Inspired “Upstairs, Downstairs” and “Downton Abbey” Margaret Powell Retail Price: $22.99 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Macmillan/St. Martin’s – (2012-01) ISBN / EAN: 1250005442 / 9781250005441

A rush of new titles start landing with the new year. Watch for BBC writer David Snodin‘s historical featuring Shakespeare’s Iago and Thrity Umrigar‘s novel of Indian college friends reunited years later in the U.S.. Usual suspects include Janet Evanovich, James Patterson with coauthor Maxine Paetro, Matthew Reilly and Val McDermid. Plus the latest from YA author Sara Shepard, a handful of movie tie-ins, and a memoir of caretaking and grief by the late Patrick Swayze’s wife, Lisa Niemi. 

Watch List

Iago by David Snodin (Macmillan/Henry Holt) is a historical novel that begins where Shakespeare’s Othello leaves off, and focuses on the complex villian and his powerful accuser. LJ calls it a ” vivid though long novel, which is filled with all the drama, intrigue, and violence of Renaissance Italy–and even a little romance on the side.” On the other hand, Kirkus says, “Iago’s character never really deepens: We learn plenty about his capacity for viciousness, but the climactic revelations about his past history feel underwhelming. A likable page-turner about love, war and conspiracy in the early 16th century. Just don’t expect Shakespeare.”

The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar (HarperCollins; HaperLuxe) finds four friends who attended Bombay College in the 70’s reunited when one woman becomes ill, in a tale that straddles India and the U.S. PW says, “though none of the major story elements Umrigar employs are remotely fresh, her characters make this a rewarding novel.”

Usual Suspects

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly (Macmillan/St. Martins; Macmillan audio) is a standalone novel set in a small town microbrewery, featuring out-of-work, just-separated Kate Appleton, and is a collaboration between the bestselling author and the president of the Romance Writers of America. Booklist says, “Evanovich is known for her humor, and she and Kelly skillfully combine comedy with romance and suspense to make a story sure to please readers.”

Private: #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print) is the second novel featuring Morgan, the founder of an L.A. investigative firm, who is framed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. PW calls it “lackluster,” and complains that “unrelated subplots, including a serial killer who leaves his victims in different locations of a hotel chain, serve only to add to the books length. An evil identical twin doesnt help with plausibility.”

Gun Games (Decker/Lazarus Series #20) by Faye Kellerman (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; Thorndike) finds the Deckers investigating the suicide of a high school student, while rescuing 15-year-old Gabe Whitman, a brilliant musical prodigy whose father earns his living as a pimp. PW finds this one “subpar” for the series.

Halo: Primordium: Book Two of the Forerunner Saga by Greg Bear (Macmillan/Tor; Macmillan Audio) is set in the wake of apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, as two humans are washed up on very strange shores.

Scarecrow Returns by Matthew Reilly (S & S) is the action-packed fourth title in the Scarecrow series, by the internationally popular author of Seven Deadly Wonders. Booklist says, “pitting his heroes against polar bears, ranks of crazed berserkers, and colorful henchmen like Bad Willy, Big Jesus, and Typhoon, Reilly ups the ante on swashbucklers like Clive Cussler and Ted Bell by dishing out page after page of truly nonstop, explosive action, from cover to cover. Does he pull it off? Absolutely!”

The Retribution: A Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Novel by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly) is the seventh thriller in the Tony Hill series, which pairs the British clinical psychologist with his long-term work partner and sometimes lover, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan as they pursue Vance, the TV talk show host responsible for murdering 17 teenage girls in 1997’s The Wire in the Blood. PW says, “the emotional wedge that the sadistic Jacko is able to drive between Tony and Carol makes this one of McDermids strongest efforts.”

Young Adult

Pretty Little Secrets by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen) is a “special bonus book” set in the lost period between books four and five of the Pretty Little Liars series, the winter break of the girls’ junior year, as told from the point of view of stalker Ali. The new season of ABC’s Pretty Little Liars begins Jan. 2.

Movie Tie-Ins

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (RH/Vintage) ties in to the movie opening January 6, adapted and directed by Vietnamese filmmaker Anh Hung Tran. It will appear in a limited number of theaters, but fans of Murakami’s 1Q84 are likely to be drawn to this tie-in. Published in Japan in 1987, it was the author’s first major hit in that country, but wasn’t released here until 2000, after the success of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (RH/Vintage; Blackstone Audio) is a classic ghost story about a lawyer who travels to remote English village and finds the ghost of a scorned woman terrorizing the locals – and ties in into the gothic horror movie remake, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Janet McTeer, which opens February 3.

The Firm by John Grisham (RH/Dell) is a reissue of the original 1993 thriller. It’s the basis for an NBC TV series set ten years after the book. The series launches on January 8 and 9, before it moves to its regular Thursday night time slot.

Memoir

Worth Fighting For: Love, Loss, and Moving Forward by Lisa Niemi  (S&S/Atria; Centerpoint Large Print) is a memoir by actor Patrick Swayze’s wife, who co-wrote her husband’s memoir, The Time of My Life, and now reflects on caring for her husband during his final months before he died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. PW says, “Niemi writes movingly of trying to keep a positive outlook, staying organized with drugs, treatments, and foods for her husband, employing relatives as helpers and researchers, and, most of all, using the time she and Swayze had left together to enjoy and appreciate each other. Its a heartfelt account, both brave and honorable.”

The AP made news with a headline that Gen. David Petraeus “almost quit over Afghan drawdown.” The story is based on an advance copy of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, by Paula Broadwell, who was embedded with the general in Afghanistan (Penguin, Jan. 23). Both the author and the CIA (where Petraeus is currently the Director) quickly denied the story and new versions indicate that he was merely “urged to quit.” (More details are available in on the NPR web site).

The AP story goes on to say that the book “unapologetically casts Petraeus in the hero’s role” and that it is “peppered with Petraeus quotes that sound like olive branches meant to soothe Obama aides who feared Petraeus would challenge their boss for the White House.”

Library catalogs show light holds on modest orders.

It sounds like a headline from The Onion, but “Richard Nixon Had Gay Affair” comes from The Huffington Post, based on a more detailed story in the Daily Mail, a London tabloid. The allegations come from a book that will be published at the end of January, Nixon’s Darkest Secrets by the former UPI White House correspondent, Don Fulsom.

It was reviewed earlier this month by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. Both say that most of the revelations are based on unreliable sources.

Nixon’s Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America’s Most Troubled President Don Fulsom Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2012-01-31) ISBN / EAN: 0312662963 / 9780312662967

Former Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter’s forthcoming memoir, Life Among the Cannibals is getting attention in his home state. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story about both Specter and the book, which follows his previous memoir, Passion for Truth, (via Publishers Marketplace). The “cannibals” in the title are,

…the political extremists of both parties whose influence [Specter] blames for an overall erosion in public life and the ability of the federal government to function. He counts his successor, Mr. Toomey, as among that group for his efforts, allied with his former organization, the Club for Growth, to purge the GOP of the endangered species of middle-of-the-road, moderate lawmakers.

Most libraries have not ordered it yet.

Life Among the Cannibals: A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It Sen. Arlen Specter, Charles Robbins Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Macmillan/St. Martin’s – (2012-03-27) ISBN / EAN: 1250003687 / 9781250003683

The title of the memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, has been tamed down quite a bit for the film version. It’s called Being Flynn, which refers to both the author, Nick Flynn, and his father and is now scheduled for limited release on March 2nd.

The movie, stars Robert De Niro as a homeless writer. His son, played by Paul Dano, also a writer, works in a homeless shelter, when a familiar figure walks in.

When it was published in 2005, the book received generally strong reviews (although the papers reduced the title to Another Bulls**t Night in Suck City) and appeared on the NYT extended best seller list when it came out in paperback.

San Francisco Chronicle

… the book will probably do very well because the story is true. And that’s actually almost a shame, because that would fail to take into account where the book truly succeeds, which is as a near-perfect work of literature.

NY Times Book Review

Flynn’s talents are considerable—he has a compelling voice and a wry sense of humor, especially about himself. He avoids the pitfalls that come with his subject matter: when writing about his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, he keeps therapy-speak at bay; when describing his work at the shelter, he’s utterly unsanctimonious.

Being Flynn (Movie Tie-in Edition)  Nick Flynn Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN / EAN: 0393341496 / 9780393341492

Shipments of new books will be light next week (just one notable title, listed below), so we are skipping ahead to the week after the holiday, when the final hardcover releases of 2011 arrive, in time for customers cashing in gift certificates and exchanging what they got for what they wanted.  Look for Rod Rees‘s dystopian steampunk debut, a new series from Anne Holt, Norway’s #1 bestselling crime writer, and the much-anticipated followup to Taylor Stevens‘s first Vanessa Michael Monroe thriller. Not all of the usual suspects are turning out their best work, according to the early reviews, but there are new titles from Dean Koontz, W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV, Stuart Woods, Robin Cook, Tamy Hoag and Karen Robards. 

Watch List

Writer and iconoclast, Christopher Hitchens died yesterday at 62. The death was announced by the magazine he has written for since 1992, Vanity Fair, which also put together a fitting video tribute, “The Immortal Rejoinders of Christopher Hitchens.”

Hitchens learned he had esophageal cancer while on tour for his memoir, Hitch-22 (Hachette/Twelve, 2010). Despite his disease, he continued writing, even during his last days. The most recent of his 17 books, a collection of essays, Arguably, (Hachette/Twelve) came out in September.

To those who urged him to embrace religion once he knew he was dying, he retorted,

Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: “Don’t be a mug all your life. Make your last days the best ones.” People might suppose this was in poor taste.

The Guardian rounds up the tributes that have been flowing in this morning, including a tweet by Salman Rushdie, “Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops.”