People are talking about Chad Harbach’s debut novel, The Art of Fielding, (Little, Brown, 9/7, Hachette Large Print, 9780316204729).

It debuts on this week’s Indie Best Seller list at #15, just behind another strong, but less-hyped literary debut, We The Animals by Justin Torres (HMH; Blackstone Audio).

Here’s the buzz:

• Bloomberg News ran this hilarious headline about it, “Unemployed Harvard Man Auctions Baseball Novel for $650000 …” (Harbach, the co-editor of the literary magazine, n+1, is unpaid), followed by the equally hilarious one today, “Shortstop Genius Hits Ugly Slump in $650000 Novel Optioned by HBO …“

• In a move M.C. Escher would envy, Harbach’s co-editor at n+1, has written an article about the “making of the book” that appears in the October issue of Vanity Fair. It is also being released as an “expanded ebook” (dying to read it, since it’s supposed to be filled with industry gossip, but the article is not available on VF‘s Web site. I am watching my mailbox for my oh-so-19th C print copy of the magazine to arrive).

• It’s the New Yorker‘s September Book Club pick (featuring a live chat with the author at the end of the month). It’s also on nearly every fall book preview.

• Michiko likes it — a lot. In the daily NYT, Kakutani says it ” is not only a wonderful baseball novel — it zooms immediately into the pantheon of classics, alongside The Natural by Bernard Malamud and The Southpaw by Mark Harris — but it’s also a magical, melancholy story about friendship and coming of age that marks the debut of an immensely talented writer.”

• But let’s not trust Kakutani just because she’s so hard to please (and she has a Pulitzer Prize). On GalleyChat, librarians have been enthusiastic about it for months.

• It’s difficult to tell how library users are responding to all the talk; holds are heavy in some libraries, but not at all in others. It’s one to keep your eye on.

In the category of memorable titles, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller’s 2001 memoir of growing up during the civil war in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, has to be on the top ten. The book features Fuller’s equally memorable mother, who objected that the book (“that Awful Book” as she calls it) gives the impression she’s an alchololic and a racist. Fuller responded, “But Mother, you are!” It went on to become a bestseller.

Fuller expands the story in a new memoir with another remarkable title, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgiveness, (Penguin, 8/23; Large Print, Thorndike; Audio, Recorded Books) which debuted at #4 on last week’s Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers list and at #7 on the NYT list. In the NYT BR on Sunday, Dominque Browning (author of the memoir, Slow Love) says that Fuller’s mother who dominates this book, is “hilarious, creative, opinionated, ribald and tragic,” but the story that best captures the book’s appeal appears in The Huffington Post. Fuller was interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition last month.

It is showing heavy holds in many libraries.

Holds are also heavy on Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (Random House Trade Pbk, Audio, Recorded Books; Center Point Large Print, 9781611731125; epub on OverDrive).

Several favorites from Book Expo’s Editor’s Buzz Panel will be released next week with enviable media fanfare, including debuts from Chad Harbich and Justin Torres. Plus there’s Simon Toyne‘s debut thriller, which has been sold in 27 countries, and National Book Award winner Lily Tuck‘s new novel. Usual suspects include Jacqueline Mitchard, Christine Feehan and Clive Cussler. And Thomas Friedman tops our nonfiction list with his look at four unresolved problems holding back the U.S. from supremacy, along with WWII historian Ian Kershaw‘s latest and a new memoir from Lucette Lagnado.

Watch List

Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (Little, Brown; Hachette Large Print) is the tale of a high school shortstop destined for greatness, until he mysteriously starts to choke – a reversal that affects the fates of four others at his school. This title has been on nearly every Fall preview list, helped no doubt by a strong pitch at Book Expo’s Editor’s Buzz Panel. It was also a GalleyChat Pick of ALA – librarians who joined our post-show tweetfest said it’s “phenomenal” and  ”not to be missed.” Entertainment Weekly gives it a B+, saying that although the characters feel “underdrawn,” Harbach has “a talent for atmosphere, drawing you into his portrait of campus angst.” It’s also a Oprah Book to Watch for in September, and a September Indie Next Pick.

We The Animals by Justin Torres (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Blackstone Audio) is a much-praised debut novel about three biracial brothers and a dueling husband and wife who are bound by poverty and love. It was also featured on the Editors Buzz Panel at Book Expo, and was a GalleyChat Pick of ALA. In an early review, the New York Times says, ” a sense of lives doomed to struggle and disappointment pervades the writing without dragging it into lugubrious or melodramatic territory. Scenes that thrum with violence can suddenly turn tender too.”  It’s also a Oprah Book to Watch for in September, and a September Indie Next Pick.

Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber (Norton; author’s backlist on OverDrive) is the story of a damaged family grappling with the implications of the teenage daughter’s decision to run away at age 13. This was another Book Expo Editors Buzz panel book that became a GalleyChat favorite – librarians said it may be Abu-Jaber’s breakout. It’s also a September Indie Next Pick. Early reviews are uniformly positive. PW says, ” Abu-Jaber’s effortless prose, fully fleshed characters, and a setting that reflects the adversity in her protagonists’ lives come together in a satisfying and timely story.”

Sanctus by Simon Toyne (HarperCollins; Blackstone Audio Books; HarperLuxe) is the first in a projected trilogy of thrillers in the Dan Brown tradition, about an ancient sect of monks on a mountain near the fictional Turkish city of Ruin, who have been protecting a secret since before the Christian era. Kirkus says, “One hopes for a more tightly structured narrative next time around, but the right ingredients are all here.” The announced first printing is 100,000 copies.

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (Ace; Blackstone Audio) is a debut horror novel about a college professor-turned-would be author who comes face to face with his past and a violent family secret at his family’s rural Southern estate. Library Journal‘s Barbara Hoffert was strong on this one in her BEA summary, and the LJ review calls it “a creepy, suspenseful, and well-crafted debut.”

I Married You for Happiness  by Lily Tuck (Atlantic Monthly; author’s backlist on OverDrive) is a wife’s reflections on her 42 years of marriage to her mathematician husband, set on the night of his death. It’s Tuck’s first book since she won the National Book Award in 2004 for The News from Paraguay. Kirkus says, “Does the couple’s mutual happiness provide a Hegelian synthesis? Not quite, though Tuck’s crisp writing is a joy.”

Usual Suspects

Second Nature: A Love Story by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Random House; Center Point Large Print; author’s backlist on OverDrive) explores the tumultuous life of a woman whose beauty is lost–then restored–after a fire.

Prey: A Novel by Linda Howard (Ballantine; Random House Audio; Thorndike; author’s backlist on OverDrive) follows rival Montana wilderness guides forced to cooperate against a killer on their trail.

Dark Predator by Christine Feehan (Berkley; Penguin Audiobooks; author’s backlist on OverDrive ) continues the supernatural Carpathian series.

The Race: An Isaac Bell Adventure by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott (Penguin; Penguin Audiobooks; Thorndike; author’s backlist on OverDrive) is a mystery set in the early days of aviation featuring Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency.

Young Adult

Shelter: A Mickey Bolitar Novel by Harlan Coben (Putnam Juvenile; author’s backlist on OverDrive) takes place after Mickey witnesses his father’s death, his mom goes to rehab, and he’s forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. This is Coben’s first YA novel.

Nonfiction

That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) outlines the four major problems the U.S. is not grappling with: globalization, infotech shake-up, out-of-control energy consumption, and lasting deficits.

Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions So They Don’t Control You by Joyce Meyer (FaithWords; Hachette Audio; author’s backlist on OverDrive) is a Biblical take on managing emotions. PW says, “Meyer focuses on learning to think biblically, speak biblically, and then see lives and emotions transformed. Her many fans will not feel disappointed in her latest work.”

The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944-1945 by Ian Kershaw (Penguin Press; author’s backlist on OverDrive) is an examination of the last year of the Third Reich as it struggled to survive the dual challenge of defeating the Soviets coming from the East and the Allies advancing from the West, by one of the foremost experts on WWII, Hitler and Nazism. PW says, “Kershaw’s comprehensive research, measured prose, and commonsense insight combine in a mesmerizing explanation of how and why Nazi Germany chose self-annihilation.”

The Arrogant Years: One Girl’s Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn by Lucette Lagnado (Ecco) is the author’s exploration of her mother’s upbringing in Cairo and her own in Brooklyn, New York. In a starred review, Booklist said, “Lagnado is spellbinding and profoundly elucidating in this vividly detailed and far-reaching family memoir of epic adversity and hard-won selfhood.” This one was also presented at the Editors Buzz Panel at ALA Annual New Orleans. A section about Lagnado’s mother working in the cataloging dept of Brooklyn P.L. is poignant. In the beginning, the work gives her a liberating new sense of self, but a new supervisor removes all the joy from the job.

If today’s date isn’t enough of a hint, USA Today’s fall books preview makes it clear that publishing’s biggest season is around the corner.

Below are links to the various features in the section (also check our  links on the right side of the page, for fall books previews from other sources):

Fall Books Calendar — jackets of the “season’s notable books,” by pub date (flash cards for readers advisors!)

Buzz Books — USA Today‘s editors’ picks, by category (but, don’t believe them that Gregory Maguire’s Out of Oz, Morrow, 11/1 one-day laydown, is “Kid’s Stuff”).

Plus stories about specific titles:

Wondrous world of Wonderstruck — It’s a big fall for Brian Selznick, with his new book, Wonderstruck (Scholastic, 9/13) and the release of Martin Scorsese’s first family film, Hugo, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It arrives in theaters on 11/23. VIDEO: 5 questions with Brian Selznick

From orchids to Rin Tin Tin — What a combination; Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and the world’s most beloved dog. We’ve said it before, Rin Tin Tin (S&S, 9/27) will be THE narrative nonfiction title of the fall. An excerpt appears in the 8/25 issue of The New Yorker.  VIDEO: Susan Orlean chats about her work

Reaching back in new thriller — Oy; that headline is SUCH a terrible pun. Lee Child talks about his next Jack Reacher title, The Affair, (Delacorte/RH, 9/27) which explores the character’s backstory. He again defends the choice of  Tom Cruise as Reacher in the movie of One Shot (we’re guessing that Cruise is hating the new attention this is bringing to his height). We have a while to see how that pans out; the movie is scheduled for 2/8/2013. More on that issue on Child’s web site.

He’s in the zombie Zone — Colson Whitehead does zombies? USA Today says his Zone One (Doubleday, 10/18) is a “a subtle meditation on loss and love in a post-apocalyptic Manhattan.” VIDEO: 5 questions with Colson Whitehead.

The promotion for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s memoir In My Time (Threshold/S&S, 8/30) continues this morning with excerpts in USA Today, focusing on his “unflattering” portrayals of many he worked with during his time in office (including the President).

The one who bears the brunt of the Cheney treatment, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, has gone on the record, calling Cheney’s comments “cheap shots.” (Cheney also has some words for Powell’s successor, Condoleezza Rice. No word from her yet; she may be saving it for her own memoir, coming from Crown in Nov., No Higher Honor).

In My Time went to #1 on Amazon sales rankings late yesterday, where it continues today.

News emerged over the weekend about a book by the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony murder trial. At that point, the book had not yet appeared on American retail or wholesaler sites.

Shortly after it did appear, the book went to #46 on Amazon’s sales rankings. It did even better on B&N.com rankings, where it is now at #1. No cover is available yet.

As we noted in the previous story, another book on the case has also been scheduled for November, Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony by Keith Ablow (St. Martin’s, 11/22).

In our New Title Radar for this week, we called George Pelecanos a “Usual Suspect,” since the release of a new title by him is a regular event, but we could have also characterized him as a “Media Darling.”

Reviews for his new book, The Cut, (Reagan Arthur/ Little, Brown; Audio, Hachette Audio and AudioGo) releasing today, appeared in a remarkable number of major newspapers in the last few days. All but one are enthusiastic about the beginning of this new series, featuring 29-year-old ex-Marine, Spero Lucas:

New York Times, by Janet Maslin (August 29, 2011); The Cut, “does a fine job of establishing Spero as a durable and highly appealing hero. And it sets up a back story and modus operandi that will work well for him in the future.”

Los Angeles Times, by Carolyn Kellogg (August 28, 2011); “For all the winningness of Spero Lucas — his modesty, postwar impatience, love for his family, devoted reading, easy banter, good taste in restaurants, gestures of kindness — it’s [the book’s] forward drive that makes him interesting, that makes him an excellent candidate for a mystery series.”

Washington Post, by Jonathan Yardley (August 28, 2011); “A book that entertains can also enrich, instruct and even enlighten. George Pelecanos’s books do all of that, which is plenty good enough for me.”

Portland Oregonian, by Steve Duin (August 27, 2011); the one reviewer who says Pelecanos is not at the top of his game with this one, still admits, “The Cut is not a total loss. Even when Pelecanos is misfiring, his writing has a fine rhythm, particularly when the novelist is taking readers on guided tours inside the Beltway.”

Financial Times, by Christopher Fowler (August 26); “This is gold-standard character-driven crime writing that few will ever match.”

Philadelphia Inquirer, by Dan DeLuca, 8/28; “George Pelecanos is rejuvenated in The Cut, the literary crime writer’s 17th novel and the first to feature Spero Lucas.”

USA Today, Interview by Carol Memmot, 8/28 (Pelecanos was also interviewed at the beginning of the month on NPR’s Morning Edition).

Pelecanos is a media darling in another context; he is a writer on two acclaimed HBO series, The Wire and Treme.

While some of us were pre-occupied by Hurricane Irene preparations this weekend, others were buzzing about a mysterious listing for a book on the Casey Anthony murder trial that appeared on Amazon.ca and B&N.com (where it wasn’t listed when we checked).

This morning, the Orlando Sentinal confirms that Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, is releasing a book in late November, titled Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony. Amazon.ca is showing the publisher as Morrow and the date as 11/29, but no information is currently on American retailer or wholesaler sites. UPDATE: Publishing information is now available:

Casey Anthony has been called “The most hated woman in America.” A report by The Los Angeles Examiner, based on anonymous sources, claiming that she signed a deal to write a book with an unnamed publisher, brought strong reactions. Suspicions that S&S might be the unnamed publisher resulted in furious comments on the company’s Facebook page and a denial, “An update to our fans regarding rumors about Simon & Schuster: we are not publishing, and have never intended to publish, any book by Casey Anthony, her family, or any member of her team.”

Anger at Anthony translates into approval for her prosecutor Ashton, who is getting kudos on Facebook for his book and being called “American’s Sweetheart” (even though, as Gawker comments, he “failed to convict a woman who was already convicted by cable television viewers”).

Already in the works is a book by the forensic psychologist who commented on Fox News frequently about the case, Keith Ablow. Also coming in November, it’s titled Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony, (St. Martin’s, 11/22).  Ablow has written several other books, including the similarly-titled Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, (St. Martin’s, 2005)

Casey Anthony’s parents, once rumored to be working on a book deal, have denied those reports and are scheduled for an appearance on the Dr Phil Show on 9/12.

Dick Cheney and Tom Perrotta grab attention for books coming next week, while Simon Garfield‘s book about type fonts gets high praise. Titles to watch include the promising start of a new thriller series by Amanda Kyle William.  Usual suspects include James Patterson and Jude Devereaux. Nonfiction includes veteran Karl Marlantes‘s meditation on what it’s like to go to war, and Patrica Bosworth‘s much praised bio of Jane Fonda.

Media Darlings

In My Time: A Personal and Poltical Memoir by Dick Cheney (Threshold Editions; Simon and Schuster Audio, abridged) is scheduled for a torrent of prime time attention leading into its publication this coming Tuesday, and has already received an embargo-breaking review by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times. The former Vice President’s memoir is unlikely to get high marks for candor, but with a media blitz that his publisher is touting as one of the “largest nonfiction rollouts in publishing history,” he will be hard to miss.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta (St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) explores the lives of suburbanites left behind after the Rapture. Perrotta’s sixth novel has garnered an early New York Times review, in which Michiko Kakutani finds it “cartoony and melodramatic,” yet saved by “Perrotta’s affectionate but astringent understanding of his characters and their imperfections”. It also got an early NPR interview, and is an Oprah Book to Watch for in September. Though it’s Perotta’s darkest novel yet, this one was a favorite among librarians who joined our GalleyChat after ALA , and independent booksellers made it a September Indie Next Pick. It has been signed for an HBO series, says Variety.

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield (Penguin) argues that type fonts carry their own meaning, and explores what we are saying when we choose one. Already a hit in the UK, it got an early review in the New York Times, in which Janet Maslin enthused, “This is a smart, funny, accessible book that does for typography what Lynne Truss’s best-selling Eats, Shoots & Leaves did for punctuation: made it noticeable for people who had no idea they were interested in such things…Mr. Garfield has put together a lot of good stories and questions about font subtleties and font-lovers’ fanaticism.”

Watch List

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury) chronicles the 12 days leading up to Hurricane Katrina from the point of view of a pregnant 14-year-old black girl living with her three brothers and father in poverty on the edge of Bois Sauvage, Miss. Booklist says, “this coming-of-age story tends at times to get lost in its style…[but it is] redeemed by the empathetic family [Ward] has created.” It’s an Oprah Book to Watch for in September, and also an Indie Next Pick for the same month.

The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle William (Bantam) features a damaged Asian-American PI who fights her own personal demons while hunting for a serial killer, in the start of a new thriller series following William’s Madison Maguire paperback mysteries of the early 1990s. Booklist calls it “a character-driven, nonstop thriller with flashes of wit and romance that builds to a harrowing climax; fans of the genre will want to get in at the start.”

You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Kolya Maksik (Europa Editions) is a cautionary tale about a brilliant teacher in Paris, and his imperfections. Kirkus says, “Some of the best scenes in the novel involve the reconstruction of the philosophical give-and-take of his classroom, Will’s efforts to get his students to think and to make the literature their own.” It’s a September Indie Next Pick.

Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger (Atria; Brilliance Audio) is the 11th Cork O’Connor mystery, this time set on an Ojibwa reservation in the remote Minnesota-Canadian border region. PW says, “Krueger never writes the same book twice as each installment finds him delving deeper into Cork’s psyche.” It’s another September Indie Next Pick.

Usual Suspects

Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson (Grand Central; Hachette Audio) is about a hard-up art student who finds a bag containing $13 million worth of diamonds during an attack on New York’s Grand Central Station, and makes off with it, only to be trailed by an assassin.

The Cut (Spero Lucas series) by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; AudioGo) is the first in a new series by Pelecanos, who was already interviewed about it on NPR’s Morning Edition last month.

Heartwishes: An Edilean Novel by Jude Deveraux (Atria; S&S Audio) follows the hunt for a magic stone that grants wishes.

A Trick of the Light (Armand Gamache Series #7) by Louise Penny (Minotaur; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the latest mystery featuring Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, this time set in a tiny Quebec village where the art world is gathered. Booklist says in a starred review: “Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her characters are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm.” This one is also a Sept Indie Next Pick.

Young Adult

The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman (Scholastic) is the sixth book in the 39 Clues series, which is accompanied by two secret-filled card packs, and a website. This time, 13-year-old Dan Cahill and his older sister, who thought they belonged to the world’s most powerful family, discover their family members are being kidnapped by a shadowy group known only as the Vespers.

Nonfiction

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes (Atlantic Monthly; Blackstone Audio) chronicles the real Vietnam War experiences of the author of Matterhorn. PW calls it “a riveting, powerfully written account of how, after being taught to kill, he learned to deal with the aftermath. Citing a Navajo tale of two warriors who returned home to find their people feared them until they learned to sing about their experience, Marlantes learns the lesson, concluding, ‘This book is my song.’ ”

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is a biography of the actress, fitness instructor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and activist that’s been 10 years in the making, written by a friend of Fonda’s who is also an accomplished biographer and Vanity Fair journalist. People gives it 4 of 4 stars and make it a People Pick in the 9/5 issue: “it is more than 500 pages and not one is wasted…[Bosworth] has written an astute accounting of a woman of deep contradictions, a depressive plagued by bulimia and self-doubt.” PW says, “With access to Fonda’s FBI files and personal papers, plus extensive interviews with her family and colleagues, Bosworth has succeeded in capturing Fonda’s step-by-step transformation from wide-eyed, apolitical ingénue to the poised personality of recent decades.”

Where You Left Me by Jennifer Gardner Trulson (Gallery Books) is a 9/11 widow’s memoir by the wife of Doug Gardner, an executive broker and father of two, who was one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed in the Twin Towers. Kirkus calls this “uneven, but in its stronger moments, the book provides trenchant insights into one woman’s resilience and makes a respectable entry in the burgeoning field of 9/11 widow memoirs.”

The embargo on Dick Cheney’s memoir, In My Time (Threshold/S&S, 8/30) has already been broken. In a review that appears in print tomorrow, the New York Times‘ Michiko Kakutani follows up on Cheney’s claim that the book will cause heads to “explode all over Washington.”

If it does, she says, it will be because of Cheney’s “dry, truculent prose [which] turns out to be mostly a predictable mix of spin, stonewalling, score settling and highly selective reminiscences.”

Kakutani says the book describes Bush era Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as “naïve and inexperienced in her efforts to reach a nuclear weapons agreement with North Korea.”

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Crown announced today that Condoleezza Rice’s memoir of that period, No Higher Honor, will be released on Nov. 1. The press release claims that her account will be “vivid and forthright.”

Right; particularly if she gets a chance to revise the manuscript after reading Cheney’s book.

The opening segment in what S&S calls “one of the largest media rollouts in nonfiction publishing history,” aired on the Today Show this morning. In a preview of Dick Cheney’s taped NBC interview, airing on Monday night, the day before the publication of the former VP’s memoir In My Time (Threshold/S&S, 8/30), he claims the book will “have heads exploding all over Washington.”

Next Tuesday, Matt Lauer will interview Cheney live on the Today Show. After that, he will be wherever you turn; on Fox, CNN, CNBC, ABC, CBS and even C-Span as well as in print interviews in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

The book was embargoed and few libraries are showing it on their catalogs at this point.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Last week, S&S announced that Walter Isaacson’s bio of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was going to be released on Nov. 21, several months ahead of its original date of March 6, because it was “finished and ready to publish.”

That news set Silicon Valley buzzing. As tech journalist Nicholas Thompson says, “who really finishes a book early, particularly when the subject is someone as irascible and complex as Steve Jobs?”

It turns out that the story was prophetic; yesterday, Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January, stepped down as CEO of Apple.

The New York Post calls this a “gift to Simon & Schuster.” Indeed, the book simply titled Steve Jobs: A Biography rose to #23 on Amazon’s sales rankings, from #1,286. Several libraries have not ordered it; reviews are under embargo.

New York magazine is the first out of the gate with a preview of the fall season in everything from Night Life to Art and Dance.

Sandwiched in between is the Books preview. Typically for NY mag’s book coverage, the focus is high-brow; the main feature is on Hungarian Péter Nádas’s “ornate secular monstrosity that must rank as one of his country’s strangest, most ambitious literary achievements,” Parallel Stories.

Parallel Stories: A Novel Péter Nádas Retail Price: $40.00 Hardcover: 1152 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2011-10-25) ISBN / EAN: 0374229767 / 9780374229764

The second feature, “Big-League Payday,” brings the news that, “Book-publishing revenue is up … and the monster advances are back, too” (haven’t they heard that Borders is closing?) and focuses on Chad Harbach’s debut novel The Art of Fielding, which Little, Brown paid $650,000 for in a hot auction against seven other publishers. It also resonated on GalleyChat in July:

The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach, Little, Brown, 9/7
Hachette Large Print, 9780316204729
GalleyChat Comments — a “masterpiece” and “Baseball and Moby Dick–what a combination! ”

Also featured is the graphic novel, Habibi.

Habibi Craig Thompson Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 672 pages Publisher: Pantheon – (2011-09-20) ISBN / EAN: 0375424148 / 9780375424144

The 18 books NY mag is “also anticipating” leads with The Night Circus, adding to the already over-the-top expectations by calling it a “magical-history tale of star-crossed sorcerer’s-apprentice lovers, the leading contenders to succeed Harry Potter in the pop firmament.”

The rest of the list steers clear of pop.

You can’t help but wonder if the debut novel, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday, 9/13; Audio, RH Audio and Books on Tape; Large Print, Center Point), will be swamped by the weight of its expectations. Last month, USA Today reported that booksellers are expecting it to be bigger than either The Help or The Da Vinci Code. On Friday, Wall Street Journal reported that the fates of  no less than two businesses rest on its success.

The studio behind the planned movie adaptation hopes it will fill the hole left by the Twilight movie franchise, which it also produced. To help ensure that, Summit has promoted the book on the Twilight Facebook page.

Comparisons are also being made to Harry Potter (Summit is in talks with HP producer David Heyman to take it on). There is one definite similarity to Harry Potter; Jim Dale, beloved for his HP readings, narrates the audio version (RH Audio and Books on Tape).

The WSJ also reports that booksellers see the book as no less than a cure for the recession, with some planning publication-day parties featuring magicians, contortionists and Tarot-card readers. For balance, the story adds a few caveats; crossover fantasy is a crowded marketplace, this book was written as a stand-alone rather than a series, and, since it’s published as an adult title, it won’t be displayed in YA.

Library holds are beginning to build, but not yet to levels that indicate a blockbuster.

If you haven’t received a print ARC, digital copies are available through both Edelweiss (click on green “Download Review Copy” on the right) and NetGalley.

USA Today unveils the cover of The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy by Deborah Davis. It will be published on Nov. 15 to the tune of  500,000 copies by  Abrams (remember when they were an art book publisher?)

Most libraries have ordered it.