Archive for the ‘Nonfiction’ Category

Fresh Air on Virginity

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

NPR’s Fresh Air featured Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller yesterday, sending the book to #110, from 248, on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
Tom Mueller
Retail Price: $25.95
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2011-12-05)
ISBN / EAN: 0393070212 / 9780393070217

Audio: Dreamscape

Lawrence Lessig Coming to The Daily Show

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Lawrence Lessig, best known to librarians for his work on copyright, also founded RootStrikers.org (previously, Fix Congress First!), a web site aimed at reducing the influence of money on politics. His latest book is Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–And a Plan to Stop It(Hachette/Twelve, Oct). He will appear on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday.

On a quite different note, Food Network host, Anne Burrell (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and Worst Cooks in America) and author of Cook Like a Rock Star: 125 Recipes, Lessons and Culinary Secrets (RH/Clarkson Potter, Oct) appears on the show tonight.

On Tuesday, Comedy Central’s Colbert Report features journalist Mark Whitaker, author of My Long Trip Home, (S&S, Oct), a memoir that examines his parent’s lives and marriage. Whitaker describes the marriage as “doubly scandalous;” they were not only an interracial couple in the 1950’s, but the relationship began when Whitaker’s white mother was his African-American father’s professor at Swarthmore. Below, Whitaker describes the book.

New Title Radar – Week of December 12

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Among the few books that land next week, there’s a debut thriller by the creators of the TV show ER, Neal Baer and Jonathan Greene, plus new titles from Jo Nesbo and Tom Clancy, and a memoir by U.S. Marine Mike Dowling about his patrols on the streets of Iraq with his bomb-sniffing dog.

Watch List

Kill Switch by Neal Baer and Jonathan Greene (Kensington; Blackstone Audio) is a debut thriller by the Emmy Award-winning creators of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and ER. The protagonist is New York City forensic psychiatrist Claire Waters, who has always been drawn to “untreatable” patients seemingly without conscience or fear. Kirkus says, “The investigative narrative is workmanlike but tolerable, much like the rerun of a TV serial. It’s toward the end, as Claire confronts the killer who abducted her childhood friend and the primary plot becomes a Fugitive-style medical mystery, that this novel starts to lose its edge.”

Usual Suspects

The Leopard by Jo Nesbø (Knopf; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) finds Inspector Harry Hole deeply traumatized by the Snowman investigation and lost in the squalor of Hong Kong’s opium dens. But when a series of women are murdered in a mountain hostel, he agrees to return to Oslo to investigate. Kirkus says, “Nesbø’s formula includes plenty of participation by Kaja, a very capable woman, and plenty of current geopolitical backdrop, making Nesbø a worthy mysterian-cum-social-critic in the Stieg Larsson tradition… taut, fast-paced thriller with wrenching twists and turns.”

Locked On by Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney (Putnam; Thorndike Press Large Print; Brilliance Audio) brings together Jack Ryan, his son, Jack Jr., John Clark Ding Chavez and the rest of the Campus team as Jack Sr. runs for President of the United States again. But he doesn’t anticipate the treachery of his opponent.

Nonfiction

Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog by Mike Dowling (Atria Books) is the true story of a U.S. Marine and his German Shepherd Rex, a bomb-sniffing dog on the streets of Iraq’s most dangerous city. PW says, “Despite some tense moments and close calls, this deeply affecting tale of courage and devotion in the cauldron of war has a happy ending.”

Felicity Jones to Play Dickens’ Mistress

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Ralph Fiennes’ debut as a director, for the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanusis currently in a one week Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles, (the full run begins on Jan. 20).

It was just announced that Felicity Jones will play Charles Dickens’ alleged mistress in Fiennes’ second directorial effort, The Invisible Woman, based on Claire Tomalin’s The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, (RH/Knopf, 1991). Shooting is planned for sometime in 2012, which happens to be the bicentenary of  Dickens’ birth.

Tomalin’s new book, a full-length biography of Dickens, incorporates material from the earlier one. Other scholars, such as Peter Ackroyd have concluded that Dickens’ relationship with Ternan, whom he met when she was 18 and he was in his mid-forties, was strictly a friendship. Tomalin argues that not only was she his mistress, but they had a child together.

Tomalin talks about Dickens (but not about Ternan) in the following video:

Charles Dickens: A Life
Claire Tomalin
Retail Price: $36.00
Hardcover: 576 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2011-10-27)
ISBN / EAN: 1594203091 / 9781594203091

New Title Radar – Week of December 5

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Next week, look out for Lou Beach‘s quirky debut story collection based on Facebook posts, along with a new novel from Anita Desai and the relaunch of an old one by Paul Theroux. Veteran  P.D. James delivers a murder mystery in the form of a sequel to Pride and Prejudice that is already getting attention. In nonfiction, there’s an original title from the Dalai Lama, along with Richard Bonin‘s look at Ahmed Chalabi’s role in shaping contemporary Iraq.

Watch List

420 Characters by Lou Beach (Houghton Mifflin) is a collection of very short stories that originally appeared as Facebook status updates. Library Journal says, “there are some books you like, others that you don’t, and that rare book that you like in spite of yourself. This book fits into the latter category… Like a tasting menu, these stories add up to something wonderful.”

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James (RH/Knopf; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) subjects the characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to a murder mystery. It’s set in 1803, six years after Elizabeth and Darcy began their life together at Pemberley, when their idyll is shattered by Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who announces that her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been murdered. NPR’s Fresh Air featured it on Tuesday, calling it “a glorious plum pudding of a whodunit,” adding  James “ferrets out the alternative noir tales that lurk in the corners of Pride and Prejudice, commonly thought of as Austen’s sunniest novel. Ruinous matches, The Napoleonic Wars, early deaths, socially enforced female vulnerability: Austen keeps these shadows at bay, while James noses deep into them.” We’ve put this on our “Watch List” because it may bring James a whole new audience.

Returning Literary Lions

The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai (Houghton Mifflin) includes three novellas about characters struggling with modernization and Indian culture, by the author thrice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Kirkus says, “reading Desai’s poignant and wry new effort offers a modest pleasure that suits its fragile characters. A deft exploration of the limits people place on themselves by trying to cling to the past.”

Murder in Mount Holly by Paul Theroux (Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious Press) is a caper novel set in the 1960s and first published in the U.K. in 1969, which follows a draftee, his mother and her amateur criminal lover in the small American town of Mount Holly. Booklist says “its a slim twig of a book, but it’s howlingly funny and will stay with readers for a long time,” but PW finds it “subpar” for the writer best known for his travel books.

Usual Suspects

Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell (Penguin/Putnam; Thorndike Press; Penguin Audio) finds Kay Scarpetta’s former deputy chief, Jack Fielding, has been murdered, and she wants to know why. It began rising on Amazon 10/25/11, and is at #78 as of 12/1/11. Publishers Weekly says, “As in other recent work, Cornwell overloads the plot, but Scarpettas tangled emotional state and her top-notch forensic knowledge more than compensate.”

Children’s & Young Adult

Witch & Wizard: The Fire by James Patterson and Jill Dembowski (Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) is the climax of the Witch & Wizard fantasy series, in which sister and brother battle a merciless totalitarian regime.

 

 

Ruthless by Sara Shepard (HarperTeen) is book ten of the Pretty Little Liars series. High school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer are back – and this time must face a ruthless stalker who wants to make them pay for their darkest secret. The new season of the ABC TV Family series based on the books begins on January 2.

Movie Tie-in

Big Miracle (originally, Everybody Loves Whales) by Tom Rose (Macmillan/St. Martin’s/Griffin; Dreamscape Audio) is the story of a reporter and a Greenpeace activist who enlisted the Cold War superpowers to help save a whale trapped under Arctic ice in 1988, written by a conservative talk show host. This edition ties in to the movie adaptation opening February 3, starring John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore. PW says, “the book is most compelling when it focuses on the simple drama of the whales plight and the extraordinary lives the people of Barrow eke from the harsh elements; its less interesting when it strays into antibig government polemics and caricatures of limousine liberal environmentalists.”

Nonfiction

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Alexander Norman (Houghton Mifflin; Brilliance Audio) continues the Dalai Lama’s case for a universal ethics rooted in compassion. PW says, “This wise, humane book, an original work rather than a collection of talks, is an incisive statement of His Holinesss’s thinking on ways to bring peace to a suffering world.”

Arrows of the Night: Ahmad Chalabi’s Long Journey to Triumph in Iraq by Richard Bonin (RH/Doubleday; Random House Audio) examines an Iraqi exile’s ultimately successful attempts to have Saddam overthrown. Kirkus says that “the book occasionally suffers from myopia as all of the events are seen through the lens of Chalabi,” and predicts that “this crisp, clean book won’t be the last word on the perplexing events in Iraq, but for now it’s one of the better ones.”

Inside SEAL Team Six: My Life and Missions with America’s Elite Warriors by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio) chronicles the service of a SEAL team member and instructor.

NYT Notable Cookbooks

Thursday, December 1st, 2011


The world’s priciest cook book, Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold (The Cooking Lab, $625) is one of 19 titles on the New York Times list of the year’s most notable cookbooks. The annotation states, “The recipes are likely to drive home cooks mad, but the photography is both revolutionary and museum-worthy.”

Not everything is out of reach, however; it explains how to create cappuccino art.

It’s in six volumes, so it’s more like an encyclopedia than a single cook book. As we noted earlier, some libraries have decided to buy it precisely because it’s so expensive, and thus out of reach for many of their customers.

The first printing sold out, but it is now back in stock at wholesalers.

New Title Radar – Week of 11/28

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Now that Black Friday is here and the big gift-giving season looms, most titles are already in stores, leaving our radar to pick up only a few late arrivals. Usual suspects include Michael Connelly, Diana Gabaldon and Karen Robards, while Richard Rhodes looks at the unlikely role Hollywood star Hedy Lamar played in the invention of spread-spectrum radio.

Usual Suspects

The Drop (Harry Bosch Series #17) by Michael Connelly (Little Brown; Hachette Audio; AudioGo; Little, Brown Large Print)  finds the LAPD detective three years from retirement and neck deep in cover-ups and corruption. Publishers Weekly says, “all of Connellys considerable strengths are on display: the keen eye for detail and police procedure, lots of local L.A. color, clever plotting, and most important, the vibrant presence of Harry Bosch.”

The Scottish Prisoner: A Lord John Novel by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte/RH) returns to the world Diana Gabaldon created in her Outlander and Lord John series, and is set in 1760 London.

Justice by Karen Robards (Gallery Press/S&S) finds attorney Jessica Ford in a tough spot after witnessing the murder of the first lady.

The Alpine Winter: An Emma Lord Mystery by Mary Daheim (Ballantine/RH; Thorndike Large Print) is the 23rd installment in this cozy series. PW says, “as usual, the detecting tends to take a backseat to Lords love life, in particular her uncertain relationship with local sheriff Milo Dodge,” and predicts that it “will gratify longtime fans emotionally invested in the characters, but isnt likely to attract new ones.”

Young Adult

Legend by Marie Lu (Penguin Young Readers; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print, 9781410446060), the first in a new series, it is receiving a major push and already has been signed for a movie by the producers of the Twilight Saga. Set in the near future U.S., it weaves together science fiction dystopia, police procedural, and coming-of-age, with superhero and wild west touches. PW says it’s a “stunner…she fashions a narrative in which the action is kinetic and the emotional development is beautifully paced.”  It was featured on many of the fall fiction previwes, including  Nancy Pearl’s picks.

Nonfiction

Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes (Doubleday/RH) is the unlikely story of the invention of spread-spectrum radio by Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr, who trained as an engineer, and avant-garde composer George Antheil, by the NBA and Pulitizer Prize winner. Sure to be catnip for the media, Entertainment Weekly gives it an early review, “While Rhodes takes his time to reach the meat of his story, he manages to capture the sheer improbability of these unlikely Edisons.” Newsweek calls it a”beguiling book.”

PEOPLE Best Cookbooks

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

There’s several reasons to pick up the 12/28 special double issue of People magazine. In addition to 2011’s Sexiest Man Alive (Bradley Cooper), dozens of other hunks are featured (click here for “100 Sexy Men in 1 Minute“). Even more mouth-watering are the “Best of the Fall Cookbooks” in the Books section, which confines itself to just six titles:

The Family Meal, Ferran Adrià, Phaidon —  the chef  known for bravura cooking (like the “liquid olive,” which he created and many have copied) here address the more mundane, but not necessarily easy, like how to poach an egg.

The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks, Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs, Morrow/HarperCollins — Hesser started food52.com after she realized from her work on the  NYT Cookbook, that some of the best recipes come from home cooks. The cookbook rounds up the winners from the site’s contests.

Lidia’s Italy in AmericaLidia Matticchio Bastianich, Knopf/RH — the celebrity chef moves from Italian to Italian American cooking.

Martha’s Entertaining, Martha Stewart, Clarkson Potter/RH– her first book, pubbed in 1982 was simply titled Entertaining. It launched an empire.

Momofuku Milk Bar, Christina Tosi with intro by David Chang, Clarkson Potter/RH– desserts from David Chang’s pastry chef.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch — Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods, Jennifer Reese, Free Press/S&S — what a concept. After losing her job, Reese decided it was time to figure out how to save money by doing more herself. She discovered that some things are better to buy than to make and vice versa. Surprisingly, she says that bagels can be easily made at home (and, given the quality of many store bought bagels, that idea is appealing).

The Girl with the Asp Tattoo

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Last year, Angelina Jolie told interviewers that she was planning to play Cleopatra in James Cameron’s 3-D adaptation of Stacy Schiff’s critically acclaimed and best-selling bio, Cleopatra: A Life, (Little, Brown/ Hachette, 2010). Cameron, however, dropped out when he decided to do Avatar 2.

News has been scarce since, but Variety now reports that David Fincher (The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) may direct. Angelina Jolie is still planning to play the Egyptian queen (who, according to Schiff’s biography as well as other historical sources, was ethnically Greek) and has her “heart set” on Fincher. It’s uncertain whether it will be shot in 3-D, as was planned when Cameron was set to direct.

Of course, Fincher could also turn his attention to the next title in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, or any of several other possible projects, including a version of Jules Verne’s 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

 

New Title Radar – Week of November 14

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Photo: Lisa Von Drasek

You don’t need us to tell you that the next title in the Wimpy Kid series is around the corner, arriving on Tuesday, Nov 15 (above, Bank Street Books, one of six bookstores nationwide that was “wrapped” in anticipation of the big day). In this, the sixth in the series, Cabin Fever, (Amulet/Abrams) Greg Heffley finds himself in big trouble after school property is damaged. 

You and your kids can join Jeff Kinney via Webcast at 10 a.m., Eastern, this coming Tuesday, Nov. 15, for his appearance at the Bank Street College of Education (where EarlyWord Kids correspondent is the librarian). Register here (space is limited). The visit is being recorded and will be Webcast from School Library Journal, a few days later.

On the adult side, it seems to be the week of fiction based on reality. The three Kardashian sisters give us a novel about three celebrity sisters, Ann Beattie imagines the life of Pat Nixon, and  there’s even a novel about the Bin Laden raid. The week is rounded out by actual memoirs, including one by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her astronaut husband Mark Kelley, TV host Regis Philbin, basketball giant Shaquille O’Neal and actress/director/photographer Diane Keaton.

Fiction Based on Fact

Mrs. Nixon: A Novelist Imagines a Life by Ann Beattie (Scribner/S&S; Audio, Dreamscape Media) is a fictional portrait of reticent First Lady Pat Nixon. In a starred review, Booklist said, “Beattie has created a resplendent paean to the pleasures of the literary imagination, and a riveting and mischievous, revealing and revitalizing portrait of an overlooked woman of historic resonance.” But Kirkus cautions, “there’s a whiff of condescension about the whole enterprise.” Last week, the New York Times ran an essay by Beattie  about writing the book.

KBL: Kill Bin Laden: A Novel Based on True Events by John Weisman (Morrow/HarperCollins; HarperLuxe Large Print) is a fictionalized account of the hunt for Bin Laden and the raid on his hideout. Kirkus says, “the novel is much better than the typical military fare, but like the inevitable movie, it’s also not as strange or impressive as the truth. A down-and-dirty thriller that feels as rushed as its publication date.”

Dollhouse by Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian (Morrow/HarperCollins) is a novel about a trio of rich sisters with celebrity problems – not unlike the authors, who are best known for their TV show, the E! Reality Series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. As the New York Times Media Decoder blog noted, “the ending of Kim Kardashian’s unusually brief marriage happened to be beautifully timed with a planned Kardashian book blitz” that includes the recently released Kardashian Konfidential, with pictures of the wedding that occurred 72 days ago.

Literary Favorites

The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories by Don DeLillo (Scribner; S&S Audio) includes stories ranging from the fiction master’s jazz-infused early work to the minimalism of his later stories. Library Journal says, “For readers of literary fiction, this book is a good introduction to DeLillo’s iconic postmodern style, though those new to the genre may find it a somewhat hard pill to swallow.” Indie booksellers see it as having broader appeal; it’s the #1 Indie Next pick for November.

Usual Suspects

Devil’s Gate by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown (Putnam; Wheeler Large Print; Penguin Audio) is the latest adventure featuring the NUMA Special Assignments Team. PW says, “thriller fans who aren’t too picky about credibility will be most rewarded.”

Kill Alex Cross (Alex Cross Series #18) by James Patterson (Little, Brown; Little Brown Large Print; Hachette Audio) finds the President’s teenage children slipping away from the Secret Service and into the hands of a sadist. PW is not impressed, saying that the story line is recycled from Along Came a Spider, and that “Patterson neither sweats the details nor invests his lead with more than two dimensions.”

V Is for Vengeance (Kinsey Millhone Series #22) by Sue Grafton (Marion Wood/Putnam; Thorndike Large Print; Random House Audio) invites speculation about how this venerated series will end, just four installments from now. Still, Kirkus likes this one reasonably well: “Grafton is as original, absorbing and humane as ever. The joints just creak a bit.”

Smokin’ Seventeen (Stephanie Plum Series #17) by Janet Evanovich (Bantam/RH; Random House Large Print; Random House Audio) has been on Amazon’s top 100 sales rankings for a while now. The film One for the Money, based on the 1994 book that launched the Stephanie Plum series, is now set for January 2012.

Memoirs

Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly with Jeffrey Zaslow (Scribner/S&S; Thorndike Press; S&S Audio) is the story of the Democratic congresswoman from Arizona and her astronaut husband, and includes her ongoing recovery from the Tucson shooting, which has left her continuing to struggle with language and with only 50 percent of her vision in both eyes. It is excerpted and on the cover of the new issue of People magazine.

How I Got This Way by Regis Philbin (It Books/HarperCollins; HarperLuxe Large Print; HarperAudio) is the memoir of the television host and entertainer and comes a month before he retires, with an announced 500,000-copy first printing.

Then Again by Diane Keaton (Random House; Random House Audio) is the film star’s memoir of her bond with her mother, Dorothy, who kept eighty-five journals about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, herself, in a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.

Shaq Uncut: My Story (on Library catalogs as Tall Tales and Untold Stories) by Shaqulle O’Neal and Jackie MacMullan (Grand Central; Hachette Audio) is the National Basketball Association giant’s memoir. PW says, “O’Neal has intriguing insights into the fraught group dynamics of a sport where positional roles are uniquely ill-defined… Preening and prickly, Shaq’s reminiscences illuminate the knotty psychology behind the swagger.” This one began rising on Amazon 11/2/11.

Current Events

Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton and Lisa Pulitzer (Morrow/HarperCollins) gives the prosecutor’s account of the murder investigation and trial.

From Yesterday to TODAY: Six Decades of America’s Favorite Morning Show by Stephen Battaglio (Running Press) chronicles the history of NBC’s Today Show.

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll (Norton) uses primary sources, maps and illustrations to explore the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway from both sides.

New Gopnik On the Rise

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

The new book by New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food is marked as “on the rise” on the latest Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Best Seller list. Libraries are showing heavy holds where ordering is light.

Prepub reviews, however, made it sound less than enthralling, as expressed by Library Journal, “Despite Gopnik’s allusive, witty prose, his supercilious and moralistic discussion will leave readers with a bad taste in the mouth.”

Consumer reviews have been much stronger, with Entertainment Weekly giving it an A-  (“By turns meaty and frothy, this ode to the social experience of eating combines a reporter’s eye for facts with a gourmand’s devotion to food.”) In Slate, Laura Shapiro vividly expresses her enjoyment of the book, even though (or, perhaps especially because) it “may be full of holes,”

I wish this book, The Table Comes First, didn’t have to be a book. I wish it could be a dinner table, instead, with maybe six people sitting around it…And I wish Adam Gopnik were at the table, leaning forward intently as the plates come and go, yakking away happily about food and history and Paris and cookbooks and life, just as he does in these pages. Then the rest of us guests could jump in and interrupt him whenever we want, probably knocking over a wine glass in our enthusiasm…

The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food
Adam Gopnik
Retail Price: $25.95
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Knopf – (2011-10-25)
ISBN / EAN: 0307593452 / 9780307593450

Audio, Recorded Books

Clinton Backs Away from Criticism of Obama

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Bill Clinton’s new book Back to Work is being widely regarded as critical of President Obama, a view Jon Stewart made subtle reference to in the beginning of Clinton’s appearance on the Daily Show last night. Stewart asked whether Obama had been sent a copy, because he might be “very interested” in the book’s specific prescriptions for running the country. Clinton carefully responded that Obama has already advocated several of the ideas in the book and that he gives the administration credit in each instance. Clinton went on to direct his criticisms at the Tea Party.

Click here for Parts Two and Three of the interview.

It’s clear that the White House has read the book. In a separate appearance, Clinton says he received a “clarifying memo” from Obama economic adviser Gene Sperling, which caused him to recant one of the book’s specific criticisms of the administration.

The book is #8 on Amazon sales rankings and rising. Where ordering is light, libraries are showing heavy holds.

Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy
Bill Clinton
Retail Price: $23.95
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Knopf – (2011-11-08)
ISBN / EAN: 0307959759 / 9780307959751

Also available on OverDrive, RHAudio and RH large print.

De Niro To Play Madoff

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

HBO confirmed this week that they are developing a made-for-tv movie about Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff with Robert De Niro as producer and expected to play the lead.

It will be based on two books, the recently-released Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family by Laurie Sandell, based on interviews with Madoff’s family (they appeared on Sixty Minutes last week to help promote the book) and The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques (Times Books/Holt/Macmillan) published earlier this year (the author appeared on the Today Show in April).

Novelist John Burnham Schwartz is writing the screenplay.

Scaling the Heights

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

The inner workings of skyscrapers were revealed on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday during an interview with expert Kate Ascher. Her forthcoming book rose on Amazon’s sales rankings as a result.

The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper
Kate Ascher
Retail Price: $35.00
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2011-11-10)
ISBN / EAN: 1594203032 / 9781594203039

Her previous book, on the inner workings of cities, also received a boost.

The Works: Anatomy of a City
Kate Ascher
Retail Price: $20.00
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (2007-11-27)
ISBN / EAN: 0143112708 / 9780143112709

THE ROCKEFELLER SUIT, The Movie

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Kirkus said of the true crime story, The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Mark Seal (Viking, 6/2/11), “Patricia Highsmith couldn’t have written a more compelling thriller.” Director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) has been in talks to direct a movie based on this unlikely tale of a man who managed to con people into believing he was a member of the Rockefeller family, helping him to land prestigious jobs on Wall Street. He was sentenced to jail after kidnapping his own daughter and is now facing charges that he murdered his former landlord in 1985.

The movie may be on the back burner for a while, however. Cooper’s next project is likely to be the adaptation of the Claire Messud novel, The Emperor’s Children (Knopf, 2006), replacing Noah Baumbach. It’s set to star Keira Knightley, Michelle Williams, Eric Bana and Richard Gere.

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter
Mark Seal
Retail Price: $26.95
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: VIKING ADULT – (2011-06-02)
ISBN / EAN: 0670022748/9780670022748

Thorndike Large Print