Jacqueline Winspear’s ninth book in the Maisie Dobbs series, Elegy for Eddie, debuts at number one on the 4/5 Indie Bestseller list.

The series has been steadily rising (the most recent title, A Lesson in Secrets, debuted at #4 on the Indie list and at #6 on the NYT list), based on strong support from independent booksellers (eight of the titles, including this one, were chosen by booksellers for the Indie Next list) and librarians.

About a former WW I nurse turned detective in London, the series may also be gaining traction from the Downton Abbey-fueled interest in that period. The full series list is available on the author’s web site.

Unfortunately, Winspear, who is in the middle of her U.S. book tour, has had to cancel upcoming appearances due to a family emergency.

Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel Jacqueline Winspear Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Harper – (2012-03-27) ISBN / EAN: ISBN10: 0062049577/ 9780062049575

AudioGo and HarperAudio; Thorndike large print

This week one more book appeared to add to the shelf of books about how the French dress better, live better and raise their kids better, all while not getting fat. Turns out their kids eat better, too.

French Kids Eat Everything: How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters Karen Le Billon Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Morrow – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0062103296 / 9780062103291

The author was interviewed on Good Morning America yesterday. The book just broke into the Amazon Top 100 (it’s at #98).

It seems the author’s name is real.

The New York Times‘s review of the book du jour appears in the paper tomorrow, the day that Vintage releases trade paperback editions of Fifty Shades of Grey (the two other titles in the trilogy are scheduled for release on 4/17).

Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear Michiko Kakutani’s take on it. Instead, Alessandra Stanley, the newspaper’s television critic reviews it (no surprise, then, that many of the comparisons are to TV’s handling of sex). Stanley manages to come up with a new line about a book that has been talked to death; saying that it  “…is to publishing what Spanx was to the undergarment business: an antiquated product re-imagined as innovation.”

For their edition of the book, Vintage is sticking to what has now become an iconic cover:

Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy E L James Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 528 pages Publisher: Knopf/Vintage – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0345803485 / 9780345803481

On NPR’s Morning Edition today, Anne Tyler gives her first interview in years — “I figure [doing one] every 35 years will do it…”

Listen here.

Her next book comes out on Tuesday.

The Beginner’s Goodbye Anne Tyler Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2012-04-03) ISBN / EAN: 0739378546/9780739378540,

RH Large Print; RH Audio

Next week, another historical novel arrives that’s well-timed for the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic; Charlotte Rogan’s debut, The Lifeboat. Usual suspects include Christopher Moore, Adriana Trigiani, Anne Tyler, Mary Higgins Clark and Lisa Scottoline. And there’s a TV tie-in to the BBC film adaptation of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks that will air on PBS in April. In nonfiction, there’s a warm reminiscence of Yogi Berra‘s friendship with Yankees pitcher Ron Guildry by Harvey Araton, plus new memoirs from Eloisa James on living in Paris and journalist A.J. Jacobs on living healthy.

Watch List 

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan (Hachette/Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur; Hachette Audio) begins on an elegant ocean liner carrying a woman and her new husband across the Atlantic at the start of WWI, when there is a mysterious explosion. Henry secures Grace a place in a lifeboat, which the survivors quickly realize is over capacity. PW calls it “a complex and engrossing psychological drama.” This one was picked by Waterstones as one of 11 debuts expected to win awards and have strong sales in the UK.

Usual Suspects

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art by Christopher Moore (Harper/Morrow; Harperluxe; HarperAudio) mixes humor and mystery in a romp through the 19th century French countryside when Vincent van Gogh famously shot himself in a French wheat field. Library Journal says, “Don’t let Moore’s quirky characters and bawdy language fool you. His writing has depth, and his peculiar take on the Impressionists will reel you in. One part art history (with images of masterpieces interspersed with the narrative), one part paranormal mystery, and one part love story, this is a worthy read.” Moore will be interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani (HarperCollins) begins in the Italian Alps, where two teenagers, Enza and Ciro, share a kiss that will linger across continents and time. Both land in New York City, where Enza makes a name for herself as a seamstress, eventually sewing for the great Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera, while Ciro develops into a skilled shoemaker and rake of Little Italy. Booklist calls it “an irresistible love story.”

The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler (RH/Knopf; RH Large Print; RH Audio) explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances — in their house, on the roadway, in the market. PW calls it “an uplifting tale of love and forgiveness. By the end of this wonderful book, you’ve lived the lives and loves of these characters in the best possible way.”

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster; Thorndike Press; S&S Audio) follows Mariah Lyons’s investigation of the brutal murder of her father, a well-respected academic, who comes into the possession of an ancient and highly valuable parchment stolen from the Vatican in the 15th century. Mary and her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, will both appear on the Today Show on Wednesday. Carol’s book Gypped: A Regan Reilly Mystery, also published by S&S, is coming out on the same day.

Come Home by Lisa Scottoline (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Thorndike Press; MacMillan Audio) is the Edgar-winning author’s second character-driven standalone thriller with a family saga at its core. LJ says it “deftly speeds readers through a dizzying labyrinth of intrigue with more hairpin turns and heart-pounding drops than a theme-park ride.”

Sidney Sheldon’s Angel of the Dark, Tilly Bagshawe, (Harper/Morrow; Dreamscape Audio) is the third in the series written by Bagshawe in Sheldon’s style. Says Booklist, “Although clearly aimed at Sheldon’s legion of fans, the book should appeal equally to the broader range of thriller readers.”

TV & Movie Tie-Ins

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (RH/Vintage) ties in to the BBC version starring Eddie Redmayne, Clémence Poésy and Matthew Goode, which will air on PBS on April 22 and April 29, 2012. When it was shown in the UK, the British tabloid, The Daily Star, referred to it as a “raunchy adaptation” and an “X-rated hit.” Critics applauded the first episode, but were divided over the second. Audiences, while strong, was not a large as those for Downton Abbey. Check out the trailer here.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits by Gideon Defoe (RH/Vintage) ties into the animated feature by those wonderful folks who gave us Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, with voiceovers by Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek and Jeremy Piven. The first stop-motion clay animated feature film to be shot in Digital 3D, it’s based the first two books in a series by British author Dafoe (collected in this tie-in edition), which has had a stronger following in the UK than here.  Treat yourself; watch the trailer. The movie opens on April 27th.

Nonfiction

Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest Gift by Harvey Araton (Houghton Mifflin) is the story of a unique friendship between a pitcher and catcher, starting in 1999, when Berra was reunited with the Yankees after a long self-exile after being fired by George Steinbrenner 14 years before. It’s already picking up buzz from the Wall St. Journal, which mentions Houghton’s television ads for the book within the VIP areas of Yankee Stadium, as well as ads during the live game feed, and in the New York Times. The authors will appear on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday as well as on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.

Paris in Love: A Memoir by Eloisa James (Random House; Books on Tape) finds the bestselling author of 24 historical romances (who is actually Mary Bly, daughter of poet Robert Bly and associate professor and head of the creative writing department at Fordham University) living in Paris with her family after she survived both cancer and the death of her mother. LJ says, “Not just for Francophiles or even James’s legion of fans, this delectable confection, which includes recipes, is more than a visit to a glorious city: it is also a tour of a family, a marriage, and a love that has no borders. Tres magnifique!”

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A. J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster; Thorndike Press; Simon & Schuster Audio) is the fourth book in the One Man’s Humble Quest series, and finds the experieintial journalist trying to become the healthiest man in the world by following a web of diet and exercise advice, most which is nonsensical, unproven, and contradictory. LJ says it’s “engrossing and will have readers chuckling.”

Trickle Down Tyranny: Crushing Obama’s Dream of the Socialist States of America by Michael Savage (Harper/Morrow; Thorndike Press Large Press; Brilliance Audio) is a rant against “Barack Lenin” by the host of the No. 3 radio program in the nation, heard by nearly eight million listeners a week and syndicated across the United States in over 300 markets. “Not a book to make everyone happy,” says LJ, “but the 250,000-copy first printing and one-day laydown on April 3 indicates that the audience will be large.”

MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow has been appearing on other shows to promote her first book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power (Crown; BOT Audio; ebook and audio on OverDrive). On The Daily Show last night, she told Jon Stewart that, as much as she hates to write, she needed the long form of a book to lay out her argument that we have become a nation that wages perpetual war.

Janet Maslin reviews the result in the New York Times; Drift by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC Traces American Militarism.

Drift is currently at #8 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Just look at this cover; is it any wonder the book is rising on Amazon sales rankings (currently at #16)?

Soldier Dogs Maria Goodavage Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 293 pages Publisher: Penguin/Dutton – (2012-03-15) ISBN / EAN: 0525952780 / 9780525952787

Blackstone Audio

People magazine gives it 3.5 of 4 stars in the 4/9 issue;

Journalist Goodavage gives in-the-trenches access to the training for both pups and handlers, exploring the dogs’ highly developed sense of smell, the tender devotion between handlers and their charges and the desperate need for dogs of war to be able to retire to loving homes when their work for our country is done.

It also got a little help from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

Jonah Lehrer’s third book, Imagine: How Creativity Works debuts at #1 on both the Indie and the NYT nonfiction best seller lists.

His previous book, How We Decide (HMH, 2009), was on both the NYT hardcover and paperback extended lists.

Media attention, including two interviews on NPR helped raise the book’s profile;

NPR’s All Things Considered, 3/19, Interview

NPR’s Fresh Air, 3/21, Interview

Review in the Washington Post, 3/23

Library holds are very heavy where ordering is light (one large system shows 215 holds on 9 copies).

Imagine: How Creativity Works Jonah Lehrer Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt – (2012-03-19) ISBN / EAN: 0547386079 / 9780547386072

Brilliance Audio

Cheryl Strayed’s grief /hiking memoir, Wild, may not have needed the media attention it’s begun receiving this week. The book debuts at # 7 on the 4/8 NYT Nonfiction best seller. Libraries across the country are showing heavy holds on moderate ordering (one large library has 173 holds on 10 copies).

NYT review, Dwight Garner, 3/27; The Tracks of an Author’s, and a Reader’s, Tears

Wall Street Journal review, Michael J. Ybarra, 3/26;  A Long Walk Unspoiled

People magazine, 3/25 lead review; 4 of a possible 4 stars; “with grace, wild humor and transcendent insights..Strayed’s language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way — and herself — one brave step at a time.”

Reese Witherspoon is probably happy about the news; she recently bought the film rights.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail Cheryl Strayed Retail Price: $12.99 Hardcover: 338 pages Publisher: RH/Knopf – (2012-03-20) ISBN: 9780307592736

Lionel Shriver first tried to get publishers interested in her book, The New Republic, in 1998, but her “lousy sales record” was going against her. The subject matter, terrorism, was also a problem. At that point, it wasn’t much on Americans minds. The events of 9/11 changed that, but The New Republic is darkly humorous and Americans were not ready for terrorism humor (Kurt Anderson famously said 9/11 marked “the death of irony.”)

The book finally releases tomorrow. Both the LA Times and Entertainment Weekly praise the satire, but not so much the plot. As the latter puts it,

The story is baggy and idling, with an ending that thuds.  The dialogue zings, though, and the writing is jazzy…The author can toss off a sharp sketch of a passing character in a phrase, and she’s got a gimlet eye for what’s phony, or affected, or even touchingly vain in human behavior.

By the way, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, tells O magazine that We Need to Talk about Kevin is one of the “books that made a difference” in her life. Her range is broad; she also includes The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory and J.D. Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters.

The New Republic Lionel Shriver Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover 400 pages Publisher: Harper – (2012-03-27) ISBN 9780062103321

Thorndike Large Type; Dreamscape Audio

CBS Sunday Morning‘s profile of Bell Labs, draws on Jon Gertner’s book, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation (Penguin, 3/15). After the show aired, the book rose to #36 on Amazon’s sales rankings (as of this post, it’s moved down a bit to #63). Several libraries are showing heavy holds on light ordering.

Reviewing it in the NYT last week, Michiko Kakutani said,

Mr. Gertner’s portraits of … the cadre of talented scientists who worked at Bell Labs are animated by a journalistic ability to make their discoveries and inventions utterly comprehensible — indeed, thrilling — to the lay reader. And they showcase, too, his novelistic sense of character and intuitive understanding of the odd ways in which clashing or compatible personalities can combine to foster intensely creative collaborations.

On NPR’s Fresh Air, reviewer Maureen Corrigan says she is often asked to recommend a suspense story like Caleb Carr’s The Alienist. Nearly twenty years after that book was a best seller, she has finally discovered “one of the worthiest successors yet,” Lyndsay Faye’s The Gods of Gotham.

The NYT review notes, this is the “riveting first installment of a planned series of crime thrillers.”

It is also available on audio from Dreamscape, which is downloadable from OverDrive.

The Gods of Gotham Lyndsay Faye Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Penguin/Putnam/Amy Einhorn Books – (2012-03-15) ISBN / EAN: 0399158375 / 9780399158377

Washington Post journalist Liza Mundy’s new book, The Richer Sex, asserts that women will soon inherit that title.

PW‘s prediction that the book “is sure to create a stir”  is coming true; it’s received major media attention; the cover of the new issue of Time magazine, a feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and an appearance on CBS This Morning last week.

Holds in libraries are modest, but all copies are circulating.

The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family Liza Mundy Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2012-03-20) ISBN / EAN: 1439197717 / 9781439197714

Tantor Audio

Next week’s notable titles include Noah Hawley‘s The Good Father, a novel of parental remorse and love that’s been an EarlyWord Galley Chat favorite, and Joyce Carol Oates‘ latest masterpiece. There are also two much-anticipated memoirs: Cheryl Strayed‘s Wild, about her journey of self-discovery while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and new grandmother Anne Lamott‘s Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son.

Usual suspects include Harlan Coben, Richard North Patterson and Suzanne Brockman.

Watch List

The Good Father by Noah Hawley (RH/Doubleday; Thorndike Press; Random House Audio; OverDrive) is a favorite on our own Galley Chat, in which the father of a man who assassinates a presidential candidate tries to make sense of his son’s crime. Publishers Weekly says, “Hawley’s complicated protagonist is a fully fathomed and beautifully realized character whose emotional growth never slows a narrative that races toward a satisfying and touching conclusion.”

Literary Favorite

Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates (HarperCollins/Ecco; HarperLuxe; BOT Audio; OverDrive) explores the price of repression in the life of a respected university president struggling against a nervous breakdown as she confronts her brutal past in an area of epic poverty in the shadow of the Adirondacks. In a starred review, Booklist calls it “an extraordinarily intense, racking, and resonant novel, a giant among Oates’ big books, including The Gravedigger’s Daughter (2007).” Oates speaks at PLA today.

Usual Suspects

Stay Close by Harlan Coben (Penguin/Dutton Adult; Thorndike Press; Brilliance Audio) is a stand-alone thriller, where three people are haunted by the disappearance of Stewart Green 17 years earlier in Atlantic City, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect. Booklist gives it a starred review, “Coben excels in descriptions of his characters’ tortured, ruminative inner lives. He also can pull out of their psychological nosedives to deliver some of the most shocking action scenes in current crime fiction… Satisfying on every level.”

Fall from Grace by Richard North Patterson (S&S/Scribner; Simon & Schuster Audio) is a family mystery, in which covert CIA operative Ben Blaine seeks the truth surrounding his father’s violent death, even if it means exposing one of his own family members as the killer. PW says, “readers will enjoy unraveling the tangled mystery right up until the last revelation.”

Force of Nature (A Joe Pickett Novel) by C. J. Box (Penguin/Putnam; Center Point Large Print) is the Edgar-winning author’s 12th Joe Pickett novel, in which Pickett’s friend Nate Romanowski’s hidden past ain a secret Special Forces unit finally catches up with him. Booklist’s starred review calls it “a very different Pickett novel, more a pure thriller and much more violent. Fans who love the books for their thoughtfulness may find this one a bit bloody, but those who love Box’s stunning set pieces will be in heaven.”

Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann (RH/Ballantine; Brilliance Audio) launches a new series featuring former Navy SEAL Shane Laughlin, and involving a highly addictive longevity drug, human trafficking, and torture. PW says, “While a departure from Brockmann’s romantic military suspense novels, this story does contain some of her trademark elements a military hero, a same-sex romance between secondary characters, and sizzling connections to explore in future titles but never feels formulaic or stale, and the drama pulls readers in from page one.”

Young Adult

The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide by Rick Riordan (Disney/Hyperion) is a primer on the people, places, gods, and creatures found in Rick Riordan’s series.

Movie Tie-In

The World of the Hunger Games by Kate Egan (Scholastic) is a full-color guide to all the districts of Panem and all the participants in the Hunger Games, with photographs from the movie, a glossary and new quotes from Suzanne Collins. Releasing on the day the movie opens (making you suspect that it contains spoilers), the cover has already been teased by Entertainment Weekly. It follows The Hunger Games Tribute Guide by Emily Seife  (Scholastic, $7.99.), which continues at #2 on the upcoming NYT Paperback Advice & Miscellaneous list after five weeks, and The Hunger Games, the official illustrated movie companion by Kate Egan (Scholastic, $18.99), at #4 on the same list.

Memoirs

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio; OverDrive) is a memoir of a 26 year-old young woman’s emotional devastation after the death of her mother and the weeks she spent hiking the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 as her family, marriage, and sanity unravel. Kirkus calls it “a candid, inspiring narrative of the author’s brutal physical and psychological journey through a wilderness of despair to a renewed sense of self.” Reese Witherspoon just purchased the film rights and will star as Strayed, who also wrote the novel Torched. It’s People magazine’s lead review this week, with 4 of a possible 4 stars; “with grace, wild humor and transcendent insights..Strayed’s language is so vivid, sharp and compelling that you feel the heat of the desert, the frigid ice of the High Sierra and the breathtaking power of one remarkable woman finding her way — and herself — one brave step at a time.”

Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son by Anne Lamott (Penguin/Riverhead; Thorndike Press; Penguin Audiobooks) is a new memoir, in which the author of the parenting classic Operating Instructions learns that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, and writes a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax’s life. Booklist says, “Funny, frantic, and frustrating, Lamott enthusiastically embraces this new chapter in her life, learning that she is a wiser grandparent than parent who, nevertheless, managed to produce one pretty remarkable son.” It receives 3.5 stars in the new issue of People magazine.

It’s gone from whispered conversations and furtive downloads to best seller lists and mainstream coverage. The erotic novel dubbed “Mommy porn,” Fifty Shades of Grey, hits the upcoming NYT Trade Paperback Fiction Best Seller list at #1 (the ebook version continues at #1 on that list after its debut last week; the other two books in the trilogy are also on the lists in both formats). Entertainment Weekly gives it a surprisingly high B+  (the review is by a woman; it seems that men have more problems with the book  than women– see “It’s All Porn to Me, One Man’s Review of 50 Shades of Grey,” Jesse Kornbluth’s article,  “S&M for Dummies” in the Huffington Post and Dr. Drew repeatedly shaking his head over it — has Rush Limbaugh weighed in yet?).

It’s also featured as a “Buzz Book” in the new issue of People, which notes the author’s “clunky writing,” NPR examines into the book’s origin as Twilight fan fiction, Hollywood is buzzing about a movie rights auction (causing Entertainment Weekly‘s “PopWatch” blog to speculate on casting — Rupert Friend as the billionaire with a bondage fixation who seduces an innocent  young women played by Rooney Mara).

Those libraries that have ordered it are now showing heavy holds. The RH/Vintage print edition is listed as releasing on April 3 and  is currently available in ebook from OverDrive. The original print edition, from the small Australian publisher The Writer’s Coffee Shop is POD, ISBN 9781612130293. It’s been difficult to obtain, raising the question of how the it landed on the NYT list (UPDATE: the NYT list is now posted; Fifty Shades, at  #1, is followed by the second and third titles in the trilogy, at #17 and #18. All are listed as the Vintage print editions, which supposedly are not available yet. Curiouser and curiouser.)