If you’ve ever tried to talk someone into reading short stories, here’s some tips from George Saunders, author of The Tenth of December, (Random House; BOT), from his appearance on The Colbert Report last night. It seems to have worked; the book is on the rise again on Amazon’s Sales Rankings, moving from #25 to #7.

If you doubt Colbert’s claim that Sunders appeared on the show five years ago, here’s proof, an appearance to promote his collection of his nonfiction pieces, The Brain-Dead Megaphone, (Penguin/Riverhead, 2007):

Yesterday, Al Gore visited the Today Show to promote his just-released book, entitled, grandly, The Future, (Random House; RH Audio; BOT). Lauer took him to task for selling his Current TV channel to al Jazeera, which some regard as hypocritical in light of the accusation in his book that “Virtually every news and political commentary program on television is sponsored in part by oil, coal, and gas companies … with messages designed to soothe and reassure the audience that everything is fine, the global environment is not threatened.”

Unsuprisingly, it appears this will be a common theme on talk shows; it also came up during MSNBC’s Morning Joe interview today. We’ll see if Jon Stewart addresses it when Gore appears on The Daily Show tonight.

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In the midst of a media blitz for his book, Hitmaker, (Hachette/Grand Central), music mogul Tommy Mottola appeared on the Today Show with Matt Lauer yesterday. Gossip columnists (and Lauer) are fascinated with the section of the book in which he apologizes to ex-wife Mariah Carey, but his career is as legendary as his personal life (check the Huffington Post interview and the New York Observer story).

The book is rising on Amazon Sales Rankings (currently at #143), but libraries are not showing holds.

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Maurice Sendak’s final completed book, My Brother’s Book, (HarperCollins) arrives this coming Tuesday. The Vanity Fair Web Site heralds it with a slide show of five non-consecutive spreads, with this annotation:

The author’s beautifully illustrated narrative tells the story of his brother’s journey to the end of life, a deeply personal tale inspired by his brother Jack’s death, in 1995. Written in verse that echoes Shakespeare and William Blake, Sendak’s longing to be reunited with his deceased sibling serves as a suiting good-bye from the beloved Where the Wild Things Are author. As longtime friend Tony Kushner notes in the book’s jacket, “We’ll miss him forever.”

Pre-pub reviews are ecstatic, with Horn Book noting, “As the ultimate not-for-little-children Sendak, this profoundly personal book about loss and healing should find its audience among thoughtful adults (and perhaps some teenagers).”

We’re a bit late with the Radar this week; ALA MidWinter got in the way.

Watch List

Fresh Off the Boat, Eddie Huang, (RH/Spiegel & Grau; RH Audio; BOT)

The founder of the popular East Village food shop Baohaus got an early push for his “brash, leading-edge, and unapologetically hip” memoir (Publishers Weekly), with a profle last week in the NYT‘s “Fashion & Style” section, followed by a review in the “Books” section by Dwight Garner, who clearly enjoyed the ride, concluding, “It’s a rowdy and, in its way, vital counterpoint to the many dignified and more self-consciously literary memoirs we have about immigration and assimilation. It’s a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all.”

The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won’t Tell You About What They’ve Seen, Done or Failed to Do in War, Kevin Sites, (Harper Perennial; Blackstone Audio)

Pre-pub reviews have been strong on this original trade paperback, which profiles 11 soldiers. The author is an award-winning journalist and former soldier. PW calls it a “riveting and emotionally raw debut.”

Returning Favorites

Here I Go Again, Jen Lancaster, (Penguin/NAL)

The author of six memoirs and this, returns with her second novel, (more on her earlier books, here), Lancaster has endeared herself to fans with her humorous takes on her own shortcomings (check her blog post on joining a gym). The novel, about going back to high school to right wrongs, sounds like an exercise in wish fulfillment. The trailer, below, gives the idea:

Lancaster performs another kind of exercise in her upcoming, The Tao of Martha (as in, Stewart). Subtitled, My Year of LIVING; Or, Why I’m Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog, it is about her efforts to live like the domestic goddess and is the basis for a possible TV series of the same name, exec. produced by Martha (as in, Stewart).

News from Heaven: The Bakerton Stories, Jennifer Haigh, (Harper; Dreamscape Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Richard Russo compares librarian favorite Haigh’s new book to Sherwood Anderson’s classic:

The characters … are so vividly drawn, the inner lives revealed so deftly, with such intelligence and sympathy, that fictional Bakerton, Pennsylvania, takes on the additional weight of, say, Winesburg, Ohio.”

Usual Suspects

Until the End of Time, Danielle Steel, (RH/Delacorte; Brilliance Audio; RH Large Print);  Steel with a spiritual twist; two intertwined love stories, the second (between an Amish woman writer and her publisher), a possible reincarnation of the first.

Speaking from Among the Bones, Alan Bradley, (RH/Delacorte; RH Audio; BOT; Thorndike); in the fifth Flavia de Luce novel, the main character remains eternally eleven-years-old (as she will in the next five titles in the series). Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty and Revolutionary Road) has optioned the books for a possible TV series.

Insane City, Dave Barry, (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio; Wheeler Large Print); An IndieNext selection for February, Barry’s first adult novel in ten years is about a destination wedding that goes off the rails (you may entertain thoughts of The Hangover).

Keep your eye out for these titles for kids and young adults, arriving this week.

Younger Children

Lick!, Matthew Van Fleet, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Libraries participating in Every Child Ready to Read programs will want to own multiple copies of this heavy stock interactive title, the second in the new series that began with Sniff!. There are never enough truly engaging interactive books for the just toddling set and this new series is groundbreaking as was Van Fleet’s Tails.

Happy Birthday, Amelia Bedelia!

Amelia Bedelia Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, Peggy Parish illustrated by Fritz Siebel 1/29

Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #1: Amelia Bedelia Means Business, Herman Parish and  Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)

Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #2: Amelia Bedelia Unleashed Herman Parish and  Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)

Amelia Bedelia Hits the Trail; I Can Read, Level 1, Herman Parish and  Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)

It has been five decades since the literally minded housekeeper first arrived on the scene and grabbed pen and paper to “draw the curtains” and get some little clothes to “dress the chicken.” Early readers have loved her for generations and we rejoice that this series continues with Peggy’s nephew, Herman Parish who has carried on the misadventures of Amelia Bedelia with a new leveled reader and two chapter books.

Older Kids

Fans of Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic, 2010) will go nuts for Peanut (RH/Schwartz & Wade; paper original; ages 11 to 14) a graphic novel by Ayun Halliday, illustrated by Paul Hoppe. It’s the story of Sadie, who decides to try to win friends via a deception. Of course, she ends up weaving a tangled web.

Public and school libraries won’t want to miss Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, Americas First Black Paratroopers, by Sibert Winner Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick; ages 10 and up), out just in time for Black History Month.

Cathy Marie Buchanan’s The Painted Girls, (Penguin/Riverhead; coming in large print from Wheeler), reminded many of  Susan Vreeland’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, (Penguin/Viking, 2007). Both books are based on a work by an artist involved in the Impressionist circle (Renoir’s painting in Vreeland’s book, Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen in Buchanan’s).

The Washington Post makes the connection, too, assigning the review of Painted Girls to … Susan Vreeland. She heaps praise on Buchanan’s book, saying she  “paints the girls who spring from the page as vibrantly as a dancer’s leap across a stage.” As fascinating as Paris during th Belle Epoque Paris is, says Vreeland, it’s the characters, three poor sisters trying to make it in the ballet, that hold the story together, “Through their bad decisions, lying, thieving and prostitution of one sort or another, one reads on, compelled by love for these girls whom Buchanan describes so compassionately.”

Holds continue to build in libraries. People magazine designated it one of their picks last week, it is also an Indie Next Jan pick and the author was interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday (causing the Canadian Globe and Mail to headline their interview with Buchanan, “How to make your publicist swoon.”)

Departing from his series characters, Joe Pike and Elvis Cole, Robert Crais’s new book, Suspect, (Penguin/Putnam; Brilliance Audio; Wheeler Large Print; Brilliance Audio), features a character of the canine persuasion; a military dog named Maggie, who is traumatized after losing her handler in an explosion.

Crais tells USA Today that Maggie is inspired by his own close relationship with a dog. He wants the book to bring attention to an often overlooked group, but says,

First and foremost I am a commercial writer and I hope to entertain people. But having said that, I’m in love with the relationship between humans and dogs, and the more I learned about what our military working dogs are doing, I wanted to at least share with people what an important role these animals have in all our lives.

The book may not remain a standalone for long. Says Crais, ” I have this horrible weakness. I fall in love with my characters. Suspect started as a one-shot, but I just love Maggie so much, and I love Maggie and Scott and what they have going.”.”

Lawrence Wright, the author of an investigative book on Scientology, Going Clear: Scientology, Celebrity, and the Prison of Belief, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio) appeared on The Today Show this morning.

The segment is a promo for a two-part story that begins on NBC’s Rock Center tonight. It opens with a clip of former Scientology member, the director Paul Haggis (Crash).

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The book is called “enthralling” by Laura Miller on Salon.com. Janet Maslin in the New York Times on Monday called it “hotly compelling,” although “minutiae-packed.”

Holds are rising on The Dude and the Zen Master, (Penguin/Blue Rider). Co-author, and Dude, Jeff Bridges has ready access to the media, of course, and has appeared on dozens of shows to promote the book. Most of the interviews, including the Today Show‘s with Bridges and co-author, Zen Master Bernie Glassman, lend credence to Kirkus‘s comment that the book “borders on self-parody.”

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A review on NPR’s All Things Considered last night, however,  gives the book much more credit, calling it a “delightful, whimsical little text with a very serious intention.”

Holds are rising on Cathy Marie Buchanan’s novel, The Painted Girls, (Penguin/Riverhead; soon to be available as Wheeler Large Print), after she was was interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.

Based on the true story of the three young sisters, one of whom, a rising ballerina, posed for Edgar Degas’ sculpture, “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” in 1881, it challenges romantic images of Belle Epoque Paris, describing the poverty and sexual predations the dancers suffered. Designated a “People Pick” in the current issue, it is called a “deeply moving and inventive historical novel…[that is] ultimately a tribute to the beauty of sisterly love.”

It is also an Indie Next Jan pick; “this novel delivers great atmosphere and fully realized characters who weave through the harsh yet rich tapestry of the times and tell a story of family, romance, degradation, and fulfillment.”

If you hadn’t heard of George Saunders, author of  The Tenth of December, (Random House; BOT), before the NYT Magazine cover story, “George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You’ll Read This Year,” you’re in good company. Neither had NPR’s Fresh Air book critic, Maureen Corrigan (who is also critic-in-residence and lecturer at Georgetown University).

She admits on yesterday’s show that it would have been “satisfying to topple that Olympian Times pronouncement,” but says she has to agree; “Saunders is, indeed, something special.”

Michiko Kakutani, reviewer for the daily NYT, stops just short of agreeing with her colleagues on the Magazine that Saunders’ book is the best you’ll read this year, saying “No one writes more powerfully than George Saunders about the lost, the unlucky, the disenfranchised, those Americans who struggle to pay the bills, make the rent, hold onto a job they might detest…”

Holds in libraries are growing.

MSNBC’s Morning Joe went literary on Friday, interviewing two authors — George Saunders, whose fourth book of short stories, The Tenth of December, (Random House; BOT), was called the best book you’ll read this year by the NYT Magazine and James Grippando, author of ten legal thrillers.

Saunders manages to slip in a quote from Terry Eagleton, “capitalism plunders the sensuality of the body.”

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Grippando talks about the premise of for his new book, Blood Money (Harper; HarperLuxe), which is based on the aftermath of the Casey Anthony murder trial.

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Cats get their due next week with Gwen Cooper’s Love Saves the Day, a novel told from a feline perspective. Fan favorite  Jennifer Chiaverini turns from quilts to another type of sewing with Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker. Among the usual suspects are a couple of Brads, Meltzer and Taylor. Sure bets for media attention are  Lawrence Wright for his expose of Scientology and Sonia Sotomayor, for her memoir.

Watch List

The Aviator’s Wife, Melanie Benjamin, (RH/Delacorte; BOT; Center Point Large Print)

Benamin’s third book (following Alice I Have Been and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb) again explores the lives of historical people through fiction; in this case, Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s. Married to the first man to fly across the Atlantic, she was part of a glamor couple, who, after their young son was kidnapped and murdered, became the focus of a national press obsession. The book is an Indie Next pick for February and on USA Today’s list of ten books to look forward to in 2013. Benjamin is about to begin her book tour, which includes seveal appearances in libraries.

Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman, (RH/Ballantine Books; BOT; Thorndike Large Print)

A debut arriving with buzz from the mystery community (Michlman is a blogger and participates in online mystery forums). Set in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, it is about a young woman who sets out to find out why her seemingly happy husband committed suicide. Comparisons have been made to Gillian Flynn.

Habits of the House, Fay Weldon, (Macmillan/ St. Martin’s Press; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

It seems good timing for the woman who wrote the fist episode of the beloved Upstairs, Downstairs, precursor to Downton Abbey, to publish a book about a family trying to maintain a country home at the turn of the last century, while beset by financial troubles (the Earl has managed to lose most of his money in a risky investment). Prepub reviewers agreed with the publisher that this will appeal to fans of Downton. This is the first of a planned trilogy.

Love Saves the Day, Gwen Cooper, (Bantam; Tantor Audo; Thorndike Large Print)

Cooper’s debut was Homer’s Odyssey, a memoir about learning life lessons from caring for  her blind cat. In this, her first novel, Cooper takes on the task of writing from a rescued cat’s point of view; readers on GalleyChat say she pulls it off admirably (even for those resistant to books from a pet’s POV).

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, Jennifer Chiaverini, (Penguin/Dutton; Thorndike Large Print)

Chiaverini breaks from her Elm Creek Quilts series to write a novel based on a true story; Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker, Elizabeth Keckley, a freed slave, became close friends with the First Lady. This week, a story in the NYT gives background on Mrs. Keckley who is also featured in a scene in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. Keckley’s own memoir, Behind the Scenes (still in print from UNC Press), created a rift between her and the Lincoln family. Chiaverini explains in an interview in BookPage that she became interested in Mrs. Keckley’s story while researching The Union Quilters.

Media Spotlight

Going Clear, Lawrence Wright, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio)

The author of this embargoed title has already been profiled in the NYT and excerpts have been published in The Hollywood Reporter.

My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor, (RH/Knopf; Vintage Espanol; RH Audio; BOT)

Much attention is in the works for the Supreme Court Justice’s memoir, including a feature in People, as well as appearances on 60 Minutes this Sunday and the Today Show on Monday. This is also available in Spanish, as Mi mundo adorado.

Ten Years Later, Hoda Kotb, (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio)

Hoda, co-host with Kathie Lee Gifford of the Today Show‘s fourth hour, releases a book about six people who took a big step to change their lives and how they are doing ten years later. She and Kathie Lee are making their own big change; they’ve given up drinking wine on the show, for a whole month.

Usual Suspects

Enemy of Mine, Brad Taylor,  (Penguin/Dutton; Thorndike Large Print)

Taylor’s third Pike Logan thriller is called “a good one” by Kirkus and “action-packed” by Publishers Weekly.

The Third Bullet, Stephen Hunter, (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio; Brilliance Audio; Center Point Large Print)

In this eighth Bob Lee Swagger thriller, the retired military sniper gets bitten by the JFK conspiracy bug. Says Publishers Weekly, “Hunter develops some new angles on the JFK assassination, and as usual keeps the details about ballistics and weaponry accessible.”

The Fifth Assassin, Brad Meltzer, (Hachette Grand Central; Hachette Audio)

Is this assassination conspiracy week? Meltzer links FOUR previous assasinations. Kirkus warns, “Although equipped with adequate back story to allow The Fifth Assassin to be enjoyed alone, smart readers will first dip into the series opener, The Inner Circle.”  Publishers Weekly, however, found it “convoluted.”  25 28 

Childrens

Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers, Dav Pilkey, (Scholastic)

Can you believe it? The TENTH epic adventure.

Movie Tie-in

Admission, Jean Hanff Korelitz, (Hachette/ Grand Central)

Tina Fey and Paul Rudd team up for the first time in this adaptation of a debut that won strong reviews for taking a serious look at the pitfalls of the college admissions process. The teaser makes us suspect some of that is lost in the movie, coming to theaters on March 22.

Self-Help

Do More, Spend Less, Brad Wilson, (Wiley)

Do people want to save money these day? Yes; this book has appeared in the Amazon top 100, rising as high as #17 months before publication. The author is the founder of the coupon website, BradsDeals.com, and was profiled by Crain’s Chicago Business in August.

In the midst of a media blitz for his book, The Dude and the Zen Master (Penguin/Blue Rider; Jan 8), Jeff Bridges appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night.

Stewart, who is known for coming fully prepared to author interviews, freely admitted that he had not read this book, but nevertheless summed it up as a transcript of a “weekend bullshitting with Jeff Bridges.”

Even so, the book, which had already been rising on Amazon sales rankings, jumped to #24 (from #74).

Bridges’s pointy beard? It may be for his role as a Spook on The Seventh Son, the film adaptation of Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney, which has been filming recently and is scheduled to open Oct. 18. Bridges has also recently confirmed that, after acquiring the rights 20 years ago,  he plans to make a film of Lois Lowry’s The Giver.