EarlyWord is the home of GalleyChat, monthly online discussions where library staff share excitement about upcoming books. More information here.
Summaries of chats and announcements are posted to the right. Use them to add to your own TBR piles and for collection development.
Links on the far right of the site offer information useful to readers advisors.
Hope to see you during our next chat,
GalleyChatters
Knopf announced late yesterday that a new book about Barack Obama, written by New Yorker editor David Remnick and titled The Bridge, will be published on Apri 6th.
Remnick has already written about the president for the New Yorker including a long essay in Nov., 2008. According to Publishers Weekly the first printing will be 200,000 copies.
Remnick won a Pulitzer in 1994 for his book, Lenin’s Tomb.
 |
|
Marilyn Johnson, author of This Books is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, appeared on the NPR program On the Media this weekend (listen here — warning; as you may guess from the title of the piece, Librarians Gone Wild, show producers couldn’t resist a few librarian stereotypes).
Johnson gave a pitch for the importance of libraries right now,
More & more people are not only using the library, they need the services of the librarian to help them weave their way around the bureaucracy …it’s a tragedy that the economic stimulus package doesn’t put more money into libraries…librarians are really economical, they’re not expensive resources and they’re helping put this country back to work.
In addition, Salon interviewed Johnson yesterday (mentioning the “debaucherous goings-on at the American Library Association’s conference;” luckily, they’re referring to the book-cart drills).
More publicity is in the works:
NYT BR, 3/7 (plus, a possible review in the daily NYT)
USA Today interview
 |
|
Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
In today’s New York Times, Janet Maslin gives this ringing endorsement to first novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,
…read just [the first] page, and you may find you’ve fallen head over heels for Ms. Simonson’s funny, barbed, delightfully winsome storytelling. Don’t say you weren’t warned … As with the polished work of Alexander McCall Smith, there is never a dull moment but never a discordant note either. Still, this book feels fresh despite its conventional blueprint. Its main characters are especially well drawn, and Ms. Simonson makes them as admirable as they are entertaining.
 |
|
Random House Audio; UNABR; 9780307712844; $40
Audio downloadable from OverDrive
Amy Greene’s debut novel, Bloodroot, was published in January to strong reviews.
An interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday is bringing it sales; it rose to #146 on Amazon. Libraries are showing heavy holds where ordering is light (one library has 152 holds on 9 copies).
As interviewer Jacki Lyden describes the book, it “tells the story of a family in Appalachia that’s been living under a curse for generations … Through [Greene’s] pages, the culture that comes to life is as haunted and as mesmerizing as a fairy tale or a dream; as evil and as vile as a curse and as beautiful as that ephemeral blood root flower.” The plant of the title has blood-red sap that can either cure or poison.
Listen to the interview here.
 |
|
UNABR Simultaneous Audio: Random Audio; 9780307713230; $40
eBook and audio available from OverDrive
Like his book needed more attention — Andrew Young, author of The Politican, at #2 on the 2/28 NYT best seller list after three weeks, is scheduled for a full hour on Oprah on Wednesday.
Oprah’s sympathetic interview with Elizabeth Edwards last summer helped make her book Resilience a best seller. It will be interesting to see how Oprah treats Young.
 |
|
Unabridged audio now available from Tantor:
Trade: 9781400116508; 10 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146505; 10 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166503; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
The essential question when deciding whether to buy more copies of a suddenly-successful book is, “How long will the interest last?”
In the case of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, all signs indicate that interest is not going to fade soon.
The book tells the sad and fascinating story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, some of her cancer cells were removed and are still living in medical laboratories where they have played a part in major medical breakthroughs, including the discovery of the polio vaccine. The fact that her descendents are unable to afford medical care is just one of the many moral issues that the book raises.
The book’s story as well as the story of the author who became obsessed with it, have generated a great deal of media coverage, as we noted earlier, but beyond that, the reviews indicate the book is as strong as the story it tells.
Entertainment Weekly‘s review editor, Tina Jordan, who has read a LOT of books, calls it “The best book I’ve read in quite a while,” on the magazine’s blog Shelf Life. She even included this personal information in the review that appears in the magazine’s current issue,
Honestly, I shouldn’t even have been reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I had the flu and was so feverish that sweat was dripping off my nose and spattering the pages. But I could not put the book down — or even stop for a glass of ice water. Lacks’ story was that compelling.
The many consumer reviews to date have been strong, with several attesting to the book’s readability.
San Francisco Chronicle, “[Lack’s descendent], Deborah at times seems as if she walked out of a novel’s pages. She is so vivid, so unforgettable, that it seems as if Skloot must have invented her. On the other hand, maybe no novelist, however skilled, could have imagined a character quite like Deborah.”
The New York Times, “…floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of Erin Brockovich, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and The Andromeda Strain.
Boston Globe, “…a fascinating read and a ringing success. It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America. Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go.”
It’s on the 2/28 NYT Nonfiction list for the second week, and is rising on the USA Today list; libraries are showing heavy holds.
We recommend buying more now; word of mouth could carry this into the summer.
 |
|
Random House Audio; UNABR; 9780307712509; $35
Audio and e-book available from OverDrive.
Libraries are showing demand for Dan Simmons’ historical novel with a supernatural twist, Black Hills, which is also picking up positive early reviews. Holds are averaging 4:1 on this tale of about a Sioux man who communes with the spirit of George Armstrong Custer for 50 years after his death in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Booklist praises Hugo award-winner Simmons as “equally adept at horror, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery.”
Publishers Weekly also lauds “his ability to create complex characters and pair them with suspenseful situations, [which] stands almost unmatched among his contemporaries.”
Entertainment Weekly gives the book a B+, finding that “some passages of Black Hills sink into tourist-pamphlet minutiae, [but] Simmons (Drood) keeps the tale buoyant with his evocative prose and storytelling muscle.”
 |
|
Audio: Hachette Audio; UNABR; 9781600247866; $39.98
BBC Audio; UNABR; 9781607883463; $129.99
Large Print: Little, Brown; pbk; 9780316073998; $25.99
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive
Danielle Steel‘s Big Girl (Delacorte), about an unconventional beauty, has holds of up to 7:1 in libraries we checked.
Kim Harrison‘s Black Magic Sanction (Eos) is the eighth title in her urban fantasy series, Robin Morgan/ Hollows. Holds are in the 4:1 range at many libraries we checked.
J.D. Robb‘s Fantasy in Death (Penguin), the 30th book in the bestelling Death series featuring NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas, has predictably high holds.
Robert Parker‘s Split Image (Putnam) is the latest title in the Spenser series, following the author’s death last month. Holds are high in the libraries we checked. [According to The Age (Australia), there are several more Spenser novels coming.]
Coming next week, Jennifer Mascia’s debut memoir Never Tell Our Business to Strangers promises to be, like Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, the kind of memoir that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. It begins with her father’s arrest by the FBI when she was five – and her odyssey to reconcile her love for her parents with the discovery in her twenties that her father had been a mafia hitman, her mother had covered up for him for years, and she’d unwittingly spent her childhood on the lam. But the story ends well: Mascia now works at the New York Times, writing for the City Room blog.
Only one library we checked has copies on order, with modest holds – probably because there have not been any advance reviews. But if the knock-out essay she wrote for the New York Times “Modern Love” column is any indication, the book should be a winner.
 |
|
My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World by Jeff Garlin (Simon Spotlight) is a memoir by a star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm about his efforts to reduce his waistline and carbon footprint. ABC News will interview him on Friday night, February 19, and in the meantime has posted an excerpt. Three out of four libraries we checked had the book, with modest holds.
Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast by Martha Stewart Living Magazine (Crown) is the latest cookbook based on the popular magazine – but three of the four libraries we checked don’t have it.
Tune in to NPR’s On the Media this weekend as Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue, talks about why librarians are the heroes of the digital age (check for local listings here).
And, more publicity is in the works:
NYT BR, 3/7 (plus, a possible review in the daily NYT)
USA Today interview
|
|
Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99
World War II era debut novel The Postmistress has been racking up some strong reviews and comparisons to other blockbuster debuts, like The Help and Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.
The new issue of People (3/1/10) gives it 3 of 5 stars, saying “…it’s a slam-dunk for book groups and readers who savor shifting through what-ifs.” Why not four stars, then? The reviewer feels there are flaws; “Blake works hard to set up situations involving moral questions and the effort shows.”
What about our prediction that it will appear in the top five on the 2/28 NYT Hardcover Fiction list?
We were wrong, but not by much. Advance word says it lands at #8.
By comparison, The Help first landed on the 3/1/09 NYT list at #29. It was 20 weeks before it rose into the top ten, hitting #9 on the 7/19/10 list. It gradually climbed into the top five, hitting #1 last month.
 |
|
Audio from Blackstone Audiobooks
Audio and e-book available from OverDrive
The media appetite for political scandals, even ten-year-old ones, continues unabated.
Last night on NPR’s Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed Ken Gormley, whose book, The Death of American Virtue, recounts the Clinton impeachment (listen here). Gormley also appeared on the Today Show.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The book rose to #52 on Amazon, but library holds are light in most places.
It has also been reviewed widely in newspapers, including the following.
Wall Street Journal — a scrupulously even-handed and exhaustively reported book
New York Times — so exhaustive that some of it raises doubts about the value of Mr. Gormley’s exertions…. But by and large Mr. Gormley has packed his narrative with intense, overdue and definitive testimony about the still-surprising investigation of Mr. Clinton’s activities spearheaded by Kenneth W. Starr.
 |
|
Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, is hailed in the current issue of Time magazine as “as one of America’s finest horror writers,” based on “the strength of two masterly thrillers–2007’s Heart-Shaped Box and his newest, Horns.”
Despite his pedigree, it wasn’t an easy road, says Time, “Hill, 37, spent more than a decade trying his hand at a variety of genres (a thriller in the vein of Cormac McCarthy, a children’s tale, a 900-page fantasy novel) with no bites from publishers.”
Library customers may not have caught on; holds are less than 1:1 on modest ordering in large library sytems (two copies or fewer for the largest branches).
As is clear from the cover, the title refers to the Devil.
 |
|
HarperLuxe – (2010-03-01); 9780061945663; Paperback; $25.99
Audio CD; HarperAudio – (2010-03-01); 9780061768026; $39.99
Do reviews sell books? Not as often as publishers would like, but this week’s NYT BR cover review of The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine moved the the book to #9 on Amazon’s sales rankings.
The NYT BR calls it “sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious and deeply affectiing,” and says that, in the crowded field of Jane Austen wannabes, “Schine’s homage has it all: stinging social satire, mordant wit, delicate charm, lilting language and cosseting materialistic detail.”
Several libraries are showing heavy holds; 103 on 11 copies in one large system.
UPDATE: It’s the little book that could — USA Today and People have reviews scheduled and NPR’s Fresh Air is considering an interview.
 |
|
Unabridged Audio from Blackstone:
8 CD; 1-4417-2515-8; $90.00
Tape; 1-4417-2514-1; $65.95
MP3CD; 1-4417-2518-9; $29.95
Audio downloadable from OverDrive
One nonfiction title going on sale next week has been getting some buzz in the library world: journalist Roger Rosenblatt‘s memoir Making Toast, about helping to raise his grandchildren after his daughter’s sudden death at age 38.
So far, holds are modest at libraries we checked, but this title was highlighted at a buzz panel at ALA and is a favorite of Harper’s library marketing maven Virigina Stanley. It was also excerpted in the New Yorker, and is an Indie Next Pick for March.
PW says: “Rosenblatt draws sharply etched portraits of his grandchildren; his stoic, gentle son-in-law; his wife, who feels slightly guilty that she is living her daughter’s life; and Amy [the daughter] emerges as a smart, prickly, selfless figure whose significance the author never registered until her death.”
UPDATE: Rosenblatt was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered by Melissa Block, who called it an “exquisite, restrained little memoir filled with both hurt and humor.” Listen here. The book rose to #173 on Amazon.
 |
|
Available from Blackstone Audiobooks
3 Tape LIBRARY 1-4417-2133-4 $44.951 Playaway LIBRARY 1-4417-2140-2 $54.991 MP3CD LIBRARY 1-4417-2137-2 $29.95 $3 CD LIBRARY 1-4417-2134-1 $55.00
E-book and audio available from OverDrive
Although February is typically a quiet month for general fiction, some booksellers are talking about Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, a debut novel about a biracial girl whose mother jumped to her death after apparently pushing her children off a rooftop. Libraries are showing holds of 1:1 on modest orders.
Durrow’s novel, which goes on sale next week, won the 2008 Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice. It’s also an Indie Next Pick for Feb, and was touted at the American Bookseller Association’s Midwinter Institute (as reported by Daniel Goldin of Boswell & Books in Milwaukee).
You will be hearing more about the book; on tap is a profile in USA Today, an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered, a review in the NYT BR, the Washington Post and several other consumer magazines.
PW praises The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for its “taut prose, a controversial conclusion and the thoughtful reflection on racism and racial identity.”
 |
|
Audio from Highbridge:
Audio available from OverDrive