News is leaking from a book by former John Edwards’ aide, Andrew Young. On the Today Show this morning, a reporter called the book,

…salacious, full of tawdry details, betrayal and countless lies. And as brutal as it is about John Edwards, it’s also tough on Elizabeth, who, the book says, became intoxicated by power, and sometimes looked the other way.

Tomorrow night, Young appears on 20/20.

The release date, originally scheduled for next week, has been moved up to Saturday, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down Andrew Young Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2010-30-01) ISBN / EAN: 031264065X / 9780312640651

Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:

Publisher: Tantor, 2/22/10
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

We’ve got a good feeling about the debut novel Wench (see earlier posts). Prepub reviews were great; the story brings to light a little-known, but fascinating piece of history, based on real events and the author is engaging (as proved by her interview on NPR last week; listen to it here).

Now, USA Today adds the icing to the cake by writing,

Readers entranced by Kathryn Stockett’s The Help…will be equally riveted by Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Wench, a brutally told fictional account of slave women forced to be the “mistresses” of their white masters in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Like The Help, Wench immerses readers in its characters’ complex emotional lives.

Most libraries bought small quantities (fewer than 1 copy per branch) and are showing holds of 10:1.

We first heard about Wench at a HarperCollins library buzz session. Check out the buzz on their Summer 2010 titles by clicking here (and enter for a chance to win a set of five Advance Readers Editions).

Wench Dolen Perkins Valdez Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Amistad – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 006170654X / 9780061706547 Unabridged Audio: Books on Tape Audio and eBook downloadable from OverDrive

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander is a talented (and heavily tattooed) computer hacker who uses her skills to investigate crimes.

In real life, there are hackers (with or without tattoos) who work to track down international high-tech criminals. The stories of two of these investigators are told a new book, Fatal Error, by the Financial Times‘ cyber-security reporter Joseph Menn. In an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle this weekend, he said hopes his book will wake up Americans to the dangers of cybercrime.

Stieg Larsson fan Vicky Raab writes on the New Yorker‘s “Book Bench” blog that Fatal Error corroborates much of what Larsson wrote about in his books; “how inept and/or corrupt law-enforcement, corporations, news agencies, and governments can be, and what the skinny really is on cybercrime.” As she points out, that should come as no surprise, since Larsson was a journalist himself. Further, she says the book kept her “riveted to the couch all weekend.”

The book, which was also featured on NPR’s Fresh Air last night (listen here) was embargoed until yesterday, so it was not reviewed prepub. It is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings, and is now at #62.

Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet Joseph Menn Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs – (2010-01-26) ISBN / EAN: 1586487485 / 9781586487485

eBook downloadable from OverDrive.

A debut novel that imagines the life of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, was reviewed last night by Maureen Corrigan on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Corrigan says Alice I Have Been, “…occasionally stumbles into melodrama, [but] most of the time it’s a nuanced, moody envisioning of the life of Alice Liddell” (listen to the full review here).

The book explores Lewis Carroll’s relationship with his seven-year-old muse, a relationship Alice’s parents mysteriously and suddenly cut short. It’s presented as less lurid than our modern imaginations might expect but still creepy in a peculiarly Victorian manner; Corrigan says Carroll  is portrayed as “… a gentle ancestor of Lolita‘s Humbert Humbert.”

The book was also reviewed in the Washington Post last week.

Alice I Have Been Melanie Benjamin Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2010-01-12) ISBN / EAN: 0385344139 / 9780385344135

Audio; UNABR; Books on Tape; 9780307713469; $90
Audio and eBook available from OverDrive.

The movie Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford is about a real-life father, Jonathan Crowley, played by Brendan Fraser, who will do anything to save his two children from a life-threatening disease, even quitting his job to form a biotech company.

The true story first caught Harrison Ford’s eye when Geeta Anand wrote about it in the Wall Street Journal. She went on to write the book The Cure, which is now the trade paperback tie-in to the movie.

The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million–and Bucked the Medical Establishment–in a Quest to Save His Children Geeta Anand Retail Price: $15.99 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 006073440X / 9780060734404

Crowley has written his own book, Chasing Miracles. He appeared on the CBS Early Show this morning.

Watch CBS News Videos Online
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Chasing Miracles: The Crowley Family Journey of Strength, Hope, and Joy John F. Crowley, Ken Kurson Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Newmarket Press – (2010-02-02) ISBN / EAN: 1557049106 / 9781557049100

There’s one business that’s on the rise; the Burpee Seed Company saw a 30% increase in sales of vegetable seeds last year. Combine the desire to save money with the desire to eat fresh food and the result is a lot of new gardeners.

In their annual gardening issue, Publishers Weekly talks to gardening editors about the books they’re publishing this Spring (there’s even a book called Eat Your Yard!, and another called Grow Your Own Drugs).

Here’s a few of the titles that are featured:

Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens Barbara Pleasant Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 180 pages Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC – (2010-03-17) ISBN / EAN: 1603425292 / 9781603425292

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Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces Gayla Trail Retail Price: $19.99 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Clarkson Potter – (2010-02-02) ISBN / EAN: 0307452018 / 9780307452016

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How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers Arden Bucklin-Sporer, Rachel Pringle Retail Price: $24.95 Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Timber Press – (2010-07-15) ISBN / EAN: 1604690003 / 9781604690002

Alison Weir’s bio of Anne Boleyn, The Lady in the Tower is recommended as a companion book for Americans who need historical background to enjoy Hilary Mantel’s Booker-winning novel, Wolf Hall.

Now we come full circle; Hilary Mantel reviews The Lady in the Tower for the NYT Book Review.

The Lady in the Tower rose to #93 (from #283) on Amazon sales rankings after the review and a fascinating story on NPR’s All Things Considered (listen here). Holds are as high as 10:1 in several libraries.

Why are people fascinated with Anne Boleyn? Mantel says,

It is because her character has archetypal force…She is the young fertile beauty who displaces the menopausal wife. She is the mistress whose calculating methods beguile the married man; but in time he sees through her tricks and turns against her.

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn Alison Weir Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0345453212 / 9780345453211

Audio; Recorded Books; Anticipated Release: Feb 13, 2010

• Unabridged CD; $123.75
• Unabridged Cassette; $113.75

eBook available from OverDrive

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Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 560 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2009-10-13) ISBN / EAN: 0805080686 / 9780805080681

UNABR Audio from MacMillan Audio, 9781427210166; $49.99
Audio and eBook available from OverDrive

Food guru Michael Pollan appears on the Oprah show on Wednesday. His most recent book is currently at #1 on the NYT paperback bestseller list.

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual Michael Pollan Retail Price: $11.00 Paperback: 112 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (2009-12-29) ISBN / EAN: 014311638X / 9780143116387

ebook available from OverDrive

Ethan Watters will appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday night.

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche Ethan Watters Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2010-01-12) ISBN / EAN: 141658708X / 9781416587088

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Kitty Kelley, who looks for people who are “lightning rods” as subjects of her biographies has found her next one; Oprah.

Entertainment Weekly‘s blog Shelf Life reports that Crown is planning a 500,000 copy first printing. The publisher is mum on details other than “[the book] will reveal Oprah as she has never been seen before.”

Years ago, Oprah was set to write her autobiography, but backed out.

Oprah: A Biography Kitty Kelley Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: Publisher: – (2010-04-13) ISBN / EAN: 0307394867 / 9780307394866

Random House Audio; 9780307749246; $50
Crown Large Print; Pbk; 9780739377857; $30

In an effort to “get ahead” of a tell-all book being released the week after next by a former aide, John Edwards has admitted that he is the father of Rielle Hunter’s daughter Quinn.

The aide, Andrew Young, had claimed he was the father to protect his boss. His book, The Politician, due on Feb. 2, rose to #117 on Amazon after the news broke.

The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down Andrew Young Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2010-02-02) ISBN / EAN: 031264065X / 9780312640651

Unabridged audio will be available from Tantor:

Publisher: Tantor, 2/22/10
Read by: Kevin Foley
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

Currently at #11 on Amazon sales rankings after 3 days in the top 100, is a book that argues near-death experiences are proof of an afterlife.

Several libraries that own the book are showing heavy holds; 67 on 6 copies in one instance.

The book was featured on the Today Show and in the new issue of Time magazine.

Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences Jeffrey Long, Paul Perry Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: HarperOne – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061452556 / 9780061452550

eBook available from OverDrive

Last season was about big-name authors; this one is about debuts, so we’re keeping our eyes out for titles that may hit (remember; The Help came out on 2/10 last year; we first highlighted it in a post on 2/12; it debuted on the 3/29 NYT Fiction bestseller list)

This week, Entertainment Weekly goes nuts for the debut Bloodroot by Amy Greene,

Some novels are so powerful, so magical in their sweep and voice, that they leave you feeling drugged. Close the pages and the people in them keep right on talking to you. Amy Greene’s debut novel, Bloodroot, set in the bone-poor hollows of the eastern Tennessee mountains, is such a book.

Needless to say, they give it an unqualified A.

The prepub reviews, however, were divided.

Booklist — starred review — “With a style as elegant as southern novelist Lee Smiths and a story as affecting as The Color Purple, this debut offers stirring testimony to the resilience of the human spirit.”

Kirkus — “…bound to be a big hit”

Library Journal — “Fans of Appalachian culture and/or family chronicles may find something to take pleasure in here; casual popular fiction readers should likely pass.”

PW — “Despite a few vivid moments, this uneven debut, a four-generation Appalachian family epic, loses sight of the intriguing mythology it lays out early on.”

Location: Setting is the author’s native Tennessee Smoky Mountains.

It’s an Indie Next pick for January. Bookseller Janel Feierabend from Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA describes it;

The isolated Appalachian setting in Bloodroot is a powerful, realistic, and truly American stage on which basic human traits emerge under the heavy hand of hardship and poverty. This multi-generational story is a must-read for those who wish to expand their horizons, experience a part of our country often ignored, and face challenges head-on through honest and sparse prose. I’m still reeling.

Bloodroot Amy Greene Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2010-01-12) ISBN / EAN: 0307269868 / 9780307269867

UNABR Simultaneous Audio: Random Audio; 9780307713230; $40
eBook available from OverDrive

Wench by Dolan Perkins-Valdez has “sleeper success” written all over it, with a fascinating story line about an Ohio resort where slave masters brought their slave mistresses and rapturous early reviews, including one in People, calling it a “devastating beautiful account of a cruel past.”

The author appeared on NPR’s Tell Me a Story yesterday and added a third element to the list of pros; an author who can sell her book. She tells how she learned the story about the real resort that is the backdrop for her book, in a biography of W.E.B. Du Bois. Images of the actual resort are available on the author’s Web site.

Click here to listen to the story.

Location information: the real resort was in Xenia, in southwest Ohio near Dayton.The author was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and now splits her time between Washington, DC and Seattle.

Wench Dolen Perkins Valdez Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Amistad – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 006170654X / 9780061706547 Unabridged Audio: Book on Tape Audio and eBook downloadable from OverDrive

Perkins-Valdez learned about the real resort in this bio of W.E.B. Du Bois, which won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography:

W. E. B. Du Bois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race David Levering Lewis Retail Price: $24.00 Paperback: 752 pages Publisher: Holt Paperbacks – (1994-12-15) ISBN / EAN: 0805035680 / 9780805035681

Next week’s most-anticipated nonfiction book is bestselling business guru Seth Godin‘s guide to mastering the new economy, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?  Three of the four libraries we checked had it, with holds of close to 2:1 on orders of 8-15 copies

Though the reserves aren’t huge, they appear to be a positive effect of Godin’s gamble on Internet-only publicity campaign, in which he bypassed the traditional media, giving away books at his own expense to the first 3,000 readers who agreed to make a minium $30 donation to the Acumen Fund.

So far, Godin has a page of positive blog reviews and tweets to show for his efforts, and the Acumen Fund has raised more than $100,000.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Seth Godin Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover – (2010-01-26) ISBN / EAN: 1591843162 / 9781591843160

Audio available from Random House on 2/09/10:

• CD: $15; ISBN 9780307704078

Other Major Titles Going on Sale Next Week:

Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging by Greg Critser (Harmony) is a journalist’s irreverent look at the anti-aging industry. Kirkus found it “a delightful, politically incorrect view of the life-extension movement, accompanied by the disappointing news that aging is reversible but not in the near future.”

I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne (Grand Central) is the legendary rocker and reality show star’s memoir, which Kirkus deemed “as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.”

Why I Stayed: The Choices I Made in My Darkest Hour by Gayle Haggard (Tyndale) is a memoir by the wife of evangelical Christian leader Tim Haggard who had liaisons with a male prostitute.

Tea with Hezbollah: Sitting at the Enemies Table, Our Journey Through the Middle East by Ted Dekker and Middle East expert Carl Medearis  (Doubleday Religion) is an account of the Christian novelist’s effort to love his enemies.

Thriller fans are driving strong library demand for two titles coming next week, from Tom Dorsey and Kay Hooper – and early reviews favor Dorsey.

Gator A-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey is the most-requested title to be released next week, with strong holds of 6:1 or more in libraries we checked. It features homicidal yet discerning anti-hero Serge Storms and his drug-addicted sidekick as they seek rough justice amid the revelry of spring break. Booklist says: “All of Dorsey’s books offer belly laughs, but this one seems a cut above.”

Gator A-Go-Go Tim Dorsey Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061432717 / 9780061432712

Large Print available from HarperLuxe on 02/01/2010

• $24.99; ISBN: 9780061945670

Blood Ties by Kay Hooper has holds of at least 1:1, and as high as 7:1 at one library. Publishers Weekly was not very impressed:

Too many interchangeable doll-like victims and a by-the-numbers plot mar bestseller Hooper’s conclusion to her paranormal thriller trilogy that began with Blood Dreams and Blood Sins.

Blood Ties: A Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Novel Kay Hooper Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2010-01-26) ISBN / EAN: 0553804863 / 9780553804867

Audio available from Brilliance

• CD (9 discs): $87.97; ISBN 9781423333142
• MP3: $39.97; ISBN: 9781423333166

Large Print from Random House

• $26; ISBN 9780739377567

More Major Fiction Releases Next Week:

The Dragon Keeper: Volume One of the Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb (Eos/Harper), the first in a two-volume fantasy “mini-series” by veteran fantasist Hobb that Booklist calls as “good as it is massive.”

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd (Morrow) is the first in a new thriller series by debut author Boyd. Publisher Morrow is backing its high hopes for the book with a 150,000 first printing.

Three Days Before the Shooting . . . by Ralph Ellison; only half the ibraries we checked have ordered this novel that Ellison left unfinished after his death, his second after Invisible Man.