New York Times book critic Dwight Garner is at it again – writing a review that immediately compels you to pick up a book you might not have given a second glance, based on his confident comparisons to similar titles, his sensitivity to good writing, and his own seductive storytelling flair.

This time it is I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay, a look at the roots of the global financial crisis by English novelist John Lancaster (The Debt to Pleasure), who began by researching a novel but found the facts so compelling he chose to write a work of nonfiction. It’s already up to #94 on Amazon.

Forty-six libraries have this book, according to World Cat. Those we checked show reserve ratios of five to one on modest orders.

Here are a few of Garner’s most compelling endorsements of the book:

“Few if any [similar] books will be as pleasurable — and by that I mean as literate or as wickedly funny — as John Lanchester’s.”

“If you don’t know how derivatives or credit default swaps work, or what securitization is, or why futures are riskier than options, this is a book for you.”

“Mr. Lanchester’s history lesson is peppered with dead-on references to everything, including ‘Annie Hall,’ ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘The Wire,’ Hemingway and Jacques Derrida. He is effortlessly epigrammatical.”

I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay John Lanchester Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1439169845 / 9781439169841

George Lucas appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart  last night. They spent barely a minute talking about the ostensible reason Lucas was on the show, to promote the book, George Lucas’s Blockbusting. Nonetheless, the book is currently the fastest-rising title on Amazon’s sales rankings, going to #116 from #40,609.

Stewart commented that he loves all the “crazy details” in the charts in the book. It reminds him of one of “those great Jane’s sports books that are filled with great statistics and facts.” Who knew that Jane’s had branched out into sports!

A much better description of the book is available at the StarWars site,

…a comprehensive look at 300 of the most financially and/or critically successful motion pictures of all time — many made despite seemingly insurmountable economic, cultural, and political challenges — set against the prevailing production, distribution, exhibition, marketing, and technology trends of each decade in movie business history.

The post also features an interview with one of the editors.

The book was not reviewed prepub and is not owned by most libraries

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George Lucas’s Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success Alex Ben Block, Lucy Autrey Wilson Retail Price: $29.99 Paperback: 976 pages Publisher: It Books – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061778893 / 9780061778896

Michael Pollan appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night. The appearance sent his new book, Food Rules, to #5 on Amazon sales rankings.

Libraries that own the book show heavy holds. Several do not; it was not reviewed prepub.

An original paperback, the book is described by the publisher as a “pocket compendium of food wisdom.” Some of the pieces of wisdom? “Avoid foods you see advertised on television” and “Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.”

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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 downloadable from OverDrive

Tracy Chevalier talks about the true story behind her book Remarkable Creatures on NPR’s All Things Considered.

The book is being released this week.
NOTE: Chevalier will be speaking at MidWinter, as part of the ALA/ERT Author Forum, “From Book to Big Screen” (Fri., Jan. 15, 4–5:15 p.m.)

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Remarkable Creatures Tracy Chevalier Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0525951458 / 9780525951452

Audio from Penguin Audiobooks (01/01/2010)

• Compact Disc: $ 39.95; ISBN 9780143145301

Large Print from Thorndike Press (01/01/2010)

• $33.95; ISBN 9781410422880

The first big memoirs of the year arrive – with bestseller Elizabeth Gilbert at the forefront.

Gilbert‘s much anticipated Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage arrives after some delay. PW found her voice “clear and winning,” but declared that her hybrid of her own travelogue and the history of marriage “doesn’t work.” It’s a big year for Gilbert: in August, the film version of her international bestseller Eat, Pray, Love arrives, directed by Glee creator and producer Ryan Murphy, and starring Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, James Franco and Billy Crudup.

NOTE: Gilbert is the MidWinter Sunrise Speaker on Sat., Jan. 17, 8–9 a.m.

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage Elizabeth Gilbert Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0670021652 / 9780670021659

Audio from Penguin Audiobooks

• CD: $29.95; ISBN 9780143145752

Audio also available from OverDrive

• OverDrive WMA Audiobook

Large Print from Thorndike Press

• $34.95; ISBN: 9781410422767

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Baby, Let’s Play House: Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him by Alanna Nash was reviewed recently by Janet Maslin in the New York Times – who called it “long, repetitive and dirt-digging” and also “embarrassingly tempting.”

Baby, Let’s Play House: Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him Alanna Nash Retail Price: $27.99 Hardcover: 704 pages Publisher: It Books – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061699845 / 9780061699849

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Two memoirs by media-genic authors are also starting to pick up some online buzz. Mika Brzezinski‘s All Things at Once is an account by the co-host on CNBC’s “Morning Joe” about the difficulty of balancing her career and being the mother of two young daughters.

All Things at Once Mika Brzezinski Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Weinstein Books – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1602861110 / 9781602861114

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Andrea Lyon‘s Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer is a lawyer’s story of how she helped 19 clients found guilty of capital murder avoid the death penalty, and also an Indie Next pick for January.

Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer Andrea Lyon Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Kaplan Publishing – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1607144344 / 9781607144342

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Also to be released next week:

• Suze Orman’s Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny (Spiegel & Grau)

In the new year, new fiction awaits.

Tracy Chevalier returns with Remarkable Creatures, based on the lives of two Victorian women who become fossil hunters. Booklist called it a “perfect choice for book clubs and for Austen fans.”  This new title by the author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring is also an Indie Next pick for January, and received a rousing review in the Guardian (UK), though the PW review was much less sanguine.

NOTE: Chevalier will be speaking at MidWinter, as part of the ALA/ERT Author Forum, “From Book to Big Screen” (Fri., Jan. 15, 4–5:15 p.m.)

Remarkable Creatures Tracy Chevalier Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 0525951458 / 9780525951452

Audio from Penguin Audiobooks  (01/01/2010)

• Compact Disc: $ 39.95; ISBN 9780143145301

Large Print from Thorndike Press (01/01/2010)

• $33.95; ISBN 9781410422880

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Jonathan Dee‘s The Privileges, about the gradual dissolution of a hedge fund manager’s family, wins admiration from Salon‘s Laura Miller, who observes that Dee succeeds in maintaining sympathy for the Morey family, whose invulnerability “in time, becomes a flaw.”

The Privileges Jonathan Dee Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-01-05) ISBN / EAN: 1400068673 / 9781400068678

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Leila Meacham‘s debut novel, Roses, is a multi-generational saga about two Texan families with fortunes tied to cotton and timber.  PW calls it an “enthralling stunner, a good old-fashioned read” and compares it to the work of Barbara Taylor Bradford and Colleen McCullough. After a big push at Book Expo last year, it’s getting some buzz on the reader community at Goodreads.

Roses Leila Meacham Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 624 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing – (2010-01-06) ISBN / EAN: 0446550000 / 9780446550000

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Other fiction coming next week:

• Noah’s Compass by Anne Tyler (Knopf): People gave it 3 out of 4 stars, saying that it “isn’t first-rate Tyler…the first chapters sag…[but once the book] comes alive, it’s worth the wait.”
• Impact by Douglas Preston (Forge)
• Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton)
• Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn (Atria): The second in a new mystery series, featuring a charming canine detective and written under a pseudonym by Peter Abrahams. The debut was a bestseller last year. Fans can look forward to even more; the author is under contract for two more titles in the series.

A book described as “the first definitive history” of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal won’t be released until mid-February, but news sources are already leaking tidbits.

According to the New York Times, The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, by Ken Gormley, a law professor at Duquesne University and author of Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation (1997),  “adds new details…Mr. Gormley secured unusual cooperation from nearly all of the main players, including Mr. Clinton, Mr. Starr and Ms. Lewinsky.”

The first news story about the book came from Politico, under the headline “Monica’s back – says Clinton lied.” It details the book’s revelations, including Gormley’s assertion that Clinton had an affair with Susan McDougal, who went to jail rather than testify against him about Whitewater.

The AP also reports on the story, saying they “obtained a copy” of the book. That probably wasn’t difficult, since the publisher sent out galleys; both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus reviewed it.

Kirkus warned that most American might find it too soon to revisit events from ten years ago, but “for those wishing to understand exactly what happened during this confusing, dismal time, Gormley’s informed reporting and evenhanded analysis is the place to start.”

Libraries we checked have not ordered copies yet.

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Ken Gormley Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 800 pages Publisher: Crown – (2010-02-16) ISBN / EAN: 0307409449 / 9780307409447

Before the Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall was published here, many felt that Americans would not be able to follow its story of Tudor palace intrigue.

A bit of help is on its way. Anne Weir’s forthcoming The Lady in the Tower serves as a “useful companion piece,” says Janet Maslin in the NYT, to Mantel’s “delectably arch portrait of Anne [Boleyn].”

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

PW‘s provocative cover image and title for its annual African American feature stirred up plenty of controversy on Twitter and blogs yesterday – and now the book blogs at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are asking their readers to weigh in.

African American novelists Carleen Brice and Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant were among the first to criticize the cover for presenting the work of black authors in the context of a negative stereotype. PW editor Calvin Reid explained that he’d chosen the cover image from the book Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present, edited by Deborah Willis. “While it never occurred to me that anyone would be offended by these images, I was very wrong and I have to acknowledge that,” he wrote. For a full summary of the debate, check out blogger and Examiner.com writer Nordette Adams’s post about it.

Many are arguing that the cover controversy distracts from the PW feature itself, which reviews the impact of the recession on the African American book market. It includes the disturbing news that there appears to be less serious fiction by black authors entering the marketplace, according to Jabari Asim, editor-in-chief of the Crisis and a former editor at the Washington Post Book World. In the article, book editors confirm that they are increasingly cautious about acquiring books by black authors at a time when chain bookstores are cutting back their orders, black bookstores have difficulty competing on price, consumers are extremely price-sensitive, and the popularity of street lit category is slowing.

Also included in the feature is a list of notable African-American titles slated for Fall 2009 and Winter 2010. Here are a few of the key fiction picks on the list:

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow is a “much-touted debut novel” about the biracial daughter of a black G.I and a Danish mother. In some libraries, there are already holds on this book, which is coming in February 2010.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky Heidi W. Durrow Retail Price: $22.95 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2010-02-16) ISBN / EAN: 1565126807 / 9781565126800

Audio also available from Highbridge on February 1, 2010

• CD: $26.95; ISBN 9781598879230

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Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is set before the Civil War at a free-territory resort in Ohio that attracts four white female friends, as well as slaveholding men and their enslaved mistresses. Most libraries we checked had 10 or fewer copies on order, and a few holds.

Wench Dolen Perkins-valdez Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Amistad – (2010-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 006170654X / 9780061706547

Audio also available from Books on Tape in January 2010

• Unabridged CD (7 discs): $70; ISBN 9780307713704

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Best African American Fiction 2010, edited by Gerald Early is the second volume in an annual short fiction series. Libraries we checked have 10 or fewer copies.

Best African American Fiction 2010 Gerald Early Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: One World/Ballantine – (2009-12-29) ISBN / EAN: 0553806904 / 9780553806908

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Gloryland by Shelton Johnson is the story of a black man born on emancipation day in 1863 who joins the U.S. Cavalry and is posted to the newly created Yosemite National Park in 1903 – and it’s written by a modern day Yosemite Park ranger. World Cat says 179 libraries have it. Those we checked had modest holds on modest numbers of copies.

Gloryland Shelton Johnson Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Sierra Club/Counterpoint – (2009-09-08) ISBN / EAN: 1578051444 / 9781578051441

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And here is the book that is the source of the controversial cover image:

Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present Deborah Willis Retail Price: $49.95 Hardcover: 244 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2009-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 0393066967 / 9780393066968

Yann Martel’s new novel, Beatrice and Virgil, is set for publication in April 13, 2010, Random House announced today on its library marketing blog. (It’s a drop-in, meaning that it’s not listed in Random House’s Spring 2010 catalog).

And yes, Martel’s first book since The Life of Pi, his huge international bestseller which won the Man Booker Prize, has at least two animals in it. Here’s how Amazon describes it:

A famous author receives a mysterious letter from a man who is a struggling writer but also turns out to be a taxidermist, an eccentric and fascinating character who does not kill animals but preserves them as they lived, with skill and dedication — among them a howler monkey named Virgil and a donkey named Beatrice….

Galleys may be available at ALA Midwinter or PLA in Portland – so check the Random House booth if you’re there. There’s no jacket available yet, but here are the rest of the details:

Entertainment Weekly announces “exclusively” on their blog “Shelf Life” that those crazy folks at Quirk have come up with a new title for their Jane Austen/monster mashup series — a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, to be published in March.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (Quirk Classics) Quirk Books Retail Price: $12.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Quirk Books – (2010-03-24) ISBN / EAN: 1594744548 / 9781594744549

Having trouble keeping up? Quirk feels your pain and has created a “fancy new web site” (their description), quirkclassics.com, with all the latest on their monster mashups.

Or, just keep reading EarlyWord; we wrote earlier, thanks to Jeffrey Gegner at Hennepin P.L., that two new Quirk Classics were in the works. Dawn of the Dreadfuls is one of those titles, we’re still waiting for information on another one:

The U.N.’s top climate official declared today that “time is running out” for a global warming treaty and urged that it be finalized at the Copenhagen conference in December. One of the stumbling blocks is the U.S. Senate which is seen as “unlikely” to agree to the treaty’s provisions by the time of the conference.

Meanwhile, rising on Amazon, is The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker, available in the UK now, but not coming out in this country until January, after the conference winds up. It is currently at #64 on Amazon’s U.S. sales rankings.

Booker, a long-time columnist for the UK’s Sunday Telegraph has drawn attacks for years for claiming that asbestos and second-hand smoke are not harmful, and that mad cow disease does not affect humans. Unsurprisingly, he also claims that global warming is a hoax, foisted on us by a small group of “global warming zealots” armed with faulty research.

As we mentioned earlier, a new book examines the issues behind the debates, Why We Disagree About Climate Change.

The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is the Obsession with “Climate Change” Turning Out to Be the Most Costly Scientific Blunder in History? Christopher Booker Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Continuum – (2010-01-15) ISBN / EAN: 1441110526 / 9781441110527