ANNOUNCING

February LibraryReads Picks

Number One Pick

A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD
Anne Tyler, (RH/Knopf)

A TOUCH OF STARDUST
Kate Alcott

RH/Doubleday

MY SUNSHINE AWAY
M.O. Walsh

Penguin/Putnam

THE SECRETS OF SIR RICHARD KENWORTHY
Julia Quinn

HarperCollins/Avon

HALF THE WORLD
Joe Abercrombie

RH/Ballantine/Del Rey

FINDING JAKE
Bryan Reardon

HarperCollins/Morrow

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC
V. E. Schwab

Macmillan/Tor Books

A MURDER OF MAGPIES
Judith Flanders

Macmillan/Minotaur

THE SIEGE WINTER
Ariana Franklin, Samantha Norman

HarperCollins/Morrow

DREAMING SPIES: Laurie R. King

RH/Bantam

Topping the February LibraryReads list of the month’s top 10 titles, chosen by library staff from across the country, is Anne Tyler’s latest novel,  A Spool of Blue Thread, (Knopf; RH Audio; 2/10).

Also on the list is GalleyChat favorite, A Touch of Stardust by Kate Alcott (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio; 2/17), a novel that features real-life screwball comedian, Carole Lombard, and My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh, (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio; 2/10), also a much-discussed title on GalleyChat, (join us for a chat with the author on Jan. 21).

Check Edelweiss and NetGalley for digital ARC’s. They are generally available until publication day.

And don’t forget to nominate your favorite upcoming titles, with publication dates of March or later (how-to specifics here).

LibraryReads also provides FREE downloadable marketing materials so you can easily:

• Post online banner ads on your library’s website

• Include LibraryReads-recommended titles in your library’s newsletter

• Print copies of the monthly flyer to post on your community bulletin board and have available as handouts

• Print copies of the horizontal banner for patrons to use as bookmarks

More attention is on the way for America’s Bitter Pill, (Random House; OverDrive Sample), Steven Brill’s investigation into the health care system, the high cost of drugs, and the corruption systemic in the business of staying well. Featured on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Time’s Book Review, the author is scheduled for an appearance on this week’s CBS 60 Minutes.

After Brill’s appearance on Monday’s Daily Show, the book broke into Amazon’s top 100.

Holds are high in libraries that have bought modest quantities and many have yet to place orders. Fair warning: this is a book on the rise, and it may be destined to become a core title on health care for some years to come. As the Times puts it in their fairly glowing review, Brill “has pulled off something extraordinary — a thriller about market structure, government organization and billing practices, by turns optimistic and pessimistic, by turns superficial and insightful, but always interesting, and deadly important.”

The novel that is shaping up to be the debut of the season The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, (Penguin/Riverhead, Jan. 13; BOT Audio Clip; OverDrive Sample) continues to rack up holds after Janet Maslin’s NYT review on Monday.

Holds are likely to continue. The novel is on Entertainment Weekly‘s “Must List” for the week at #9 (“a gripping down-the-rabbit-hole thriller”) and is a People pick (Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller … ends with a twist that no one … will see coming.”)

Expect to see The Girl on the Train on best seller lists in a couple of weeks.

However, the book is not the top pick for either magazine. Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar RH/Ballantine; RH Large Print; RH Audio; OverDrive Sample; audio clip) is #3  on Entertainment Weekly‘s Must List. “Fiction and history merge seamlessly in this dazzling novel about an incredible circle of bohemian artists in early-20th-century London — particularly the rivalry between two famous sisters, writer Virginia Woolf and painter Vanessa Bell.” This coming Sunday’s New York Times Book Review, says “Parmar’s portrait brings Vanessa out of the shadows, into fully realized, shining visibility.” Both a LibraryReads and an IndieNext pick, it is showing holds, probably based on the author’s interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

People‘s Book of the Week is the weight-loss memoir by food blogger Andie Mitchell, It Was Me All Along, (RH/Clarkson Potter; BOT Audio Clip; OverDrive Sample; ). It is also covered by the New York Post and the Washington Post).

If anyone can make you want to read an unconventional literary novel, Dwight Garner can. His review of Rachel Cusk’s Outline,(Macmillan/FSG; Ebook; Blackstone Audio;1/13/15) in today’s New York Times makes you ready to throw caution aside and dive into a “a poised and cerebral novel that has little in the way of straightforward plot.”

The review alone is worth reading, if only for the quote from W. H. Auden, “Thank God for books as an alternative to conversation,” which is apt for a book that is described by the publisher as “a novel in ten conversations.”

If Garner’s review doesn’t convince you, consider the three starred prepub reviews (Kirkus is the holdout, but the review reads like someone just forgot to add the star).

George Pelecanos spoke for nearly 40 minutes on NPR’s Fresh Air yesterday (listen here), about his new short story collection, The Martini Shot (Hachette/Little, Brown; OverDrive Sample). He begins by reading a gripping section of one of the stories, “String Music,” and goes on to discuss everything from his experiences writing for The Wire, adoption, and the day the cops called him and said “”Would you like to come in or would you like us to come arrest you?” after he pulled a crazy stupid stunt in a car.

Pelecanos’s website includes a story from the collection, “Miss Mary’s Room,” which first appeared in Playboy. In addition to it and “String Music,” The Martini Shot includes five other stories and a novella, two of which are new.

Holds are currently within reason, but Pelecanos’s name and rising media attention makes this a book to watch.

In the Washington Post, Patrick Anderson gives high praise to Tim Johnston’s Descent, (Workman/Algonquin; OverDrive Sample; Jan 6), saying it is the most powerful thriller he’s read that uses the popular theme of a missing girl — more powerful than Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, or Laura Lippman’s What the Dead Know. He adds, “The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly, but the glory of Descent lies not in its plot but in the quality of the writing.”

On NPR’s web site, Alan Cheuse uses a different comparison, saying, “Tim Johnston has written a book that makes Gone Girl seem gimmicky and forced.”

Check your catalogs; several libraries have not yet ordered it. Those that have are showing holds, heavy in some areas.

Looking ahead to the new year, we want to know what the Washington Post‘s insightful critic, Ron Charles is anticipating.

He obliges us with a list of his top ten most anticipated novels, acknowledging that the book that eventually become his favorite of the year may not be on this list (for 2014, it was one he didn’t see coming, the debut, Fourth of July Creek, by Smith Henderson. These anticipatory lists, of necessity, focus on authors with already established reputations).

He’s has us salivating for Amitav Ghosh’s Flood of Fire, (Macmillan/FSG, 8/4/15), the final book in the Ibis trilogy about the opium trade in 19th-century India. He gives the series high praise, “The earlier books, Sea of Poppies (2008) and River of Smoke (2011), are among the most thrilling historical novels I’ve ever read.”

He also mentions two books coming in the fall but not yet listed on catalogs, Jonathan Franzen’s Purity, and John Irving’s Avenue of Mysteries.

The Millions has also just released a list of the titles that are ringing their bells for the new year. We have combined  the two newest lists with Entertainment Weekly’s “20 Books We’ll Read in 2015” and The Barnes &  Noble Review‘s selections of “the most enticing new books slated to arrive in the first half of 2015″ into an Edelweiss collection, a list of over 100 titles you can check for eGalleys, so you can be the first in your library to spot a winner.

When the NYT‘s Janet Maslin reviews a debut ahead of publication, it signals that she sees a hit coming. In the case of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, (Penguin/Riverhead, Jan. 13), which Maslin reviews today, her expectation is further backed up by heavy holds in libraries, averaging 10:1.

A January LibraryReads pick, this debut began drawing attention from librarians on GalleyChat back in August. It is one of three titles Entertainment Weekly considers a possible successor to Gone Girl, along with the “buzzy” The Kind Worth Killing, Peter Swanson, (HarperCollins/Morrow, Feb. 3) and “the most understated an plausible of the three,” The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor, (Workman/Algonquin, May 5).

Maslin credits The Girl on the Train with having “more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl,” (which she also reviewed ahead of publication) and though she doesn’t find it as “clever or swift,” she expects it to also draw a “large, bedazzled readership.”

Fair warning to increase those orders.

Two years ago when Edith Perlman’s Binocular Vision, (Lookout Books, 2011)  won the National Book Critics Circle Award after being a finalist for the National Book Award, The Millions explored why readers might view the author as an “overnight sensation,”even though she had published over 250 works of short fiction and four collections.

Even today, Pearlman remains an author many people might compare to George Saunders, in the sense that they are about to wonder why they had not heard of her before.

Pearlman’s newest book, Honeydew, (Hachette/Little Brown, Jan. 2015; OverDrive Sample), has made the jump to a major publishing house and is dominating book coverage this week, days in advance of the book’s release date.

The New York Times Book Review features Pearlman as their cover story. Not to be outdone, the daily NYT runs a glowing portrait titled, “For Writer, Talent Finally Succeeds Where Chance Failed.” In it, her editor offers perhaps the best praise possible for a writer of character-centered fiction, “When I finish reading one of her stories, I always feel understood and somehow forgiven for being human.”

In addition, The LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Boston Globe all have posted reviews, following stars from Booklist, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. Checking orders and holds around the country reveals that some libraries have not yet ordered it and others have ordered too lightly, with holds ratios over 5:1.

It is difficult for short story collections to gain traction, but Pearlman might have finally joined the ranks of George Saunders, Karen Russell, Margaret Atwood, and Alice Munro.

This is our favorite season of the year, as new contenders emerge for potential breakout success. Last year, while many were looking for the next Gone Girl, a totally different book became an unexpected long-running best seller, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (S&S/Scribner).

In the first week of the new year, the contenders are Pierce Brown’s second in his Red Rising trilogy and a debut novel that is already a surprise favorite in-house, The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton (Hachette/ Grand Central).

All the titles covered here, and several more notable titles arriving next week, are listed, with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of Jan. 5, 2015

Holds Leaders

Insatiable Appetites, Stuart Woods, (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio); OverDrive Sample

Trust No One, Jayne Ann Krentz, (Penguin/Putnam; Recorded Books; Thorndike); OverDrive Sample

Other well-known names also return this week —  Charles Todd, Bernard Cornwell, George Pelecanos (a novella and short stories), Sophie Hannah, and, teaming up for the third time, Marcia Muller with Bill Pronzini — as well as the next in the Flavia de Luce series, the #1 Library Reads pick for January:

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust: A Flavia de Luce Novel, Alan Bradley, (RH/Delacorte; RH Audio; Thorndike); OverDrive Sample; go behind the scenes of the audio recording here

LibraryReads recommendation:

“After the unexpected recovery of her mother’s body brings the de Luce’s family secrets to light, Flavia’s life is turned upside down. Now on her way to a Canadian boarding school, she must survive her first term–and more importantly, uncover the mystery of a corpse found in her dorm room chimney the night she arrives. A delightful installment in the series!” — Lizzie Gall, Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, MI

Breakout Contenders

Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising Trilogy, Pierce Brown, (RH/Del Rey; Recorded Books); OverDrive Sample

Brown’s debut, the first in the Red Rising trilogy, was a hit with librarians who made it the #1 LibraryRead pick last February. The second book, also a LibraryRead pick, is #3 on Entertainment Weekly‘s “Must List” of things to do this week. The only book reviewed in that issue, it is called the “gripping follow-up to last year’s should-have-been-huge debut” It gets an A, of course.

LibraryReads recommendation:

“After reading Red Rising, I was looking forward to seeing more of the politics of this world. Darrow has infiltrated the Golds and works to bring them down from the inside, end their tyranny, and free his people. There’s so much political drama and action. Brown does a wonderful job describing it all through Darrow’s eyes. It’s exhausting, thrilling, and heart wrenching!”– Nita Gill, Brookings Public Library, Brookings, SD

The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, Christopher Scotton, (Hachette/Grand Central; Blackstone Aurio); OverDrive Sample

This debut started small, but generated such support from Hachette’s sales staff, as outlined in a Publisher Weekly story, that it got the big title treatment, with advance readers copies promoted at ABA back in May, plus appearances by the author at regional bookseller shows. It’e worked, the book is the #1 Jan. IndieNext Pick:

“Struggling to recover from the trauma of his baby brother’s tragic death, Kevin and his broken mother relocate to Medger, Kentucky, for the summer. Their return to the Appalachian coal town in which their family is deeply rooted is intended to heal them both. While Kevin’s grandfather is just the person and the wild hollows surrounding their little town just the place to help him mend, Kevin finds that Medger and its citizens are in need of healing as well. Poverty, a mountaintop removal operation, and desperation are tearing their town and the land around it apart. Scotton’s finely wrought characters, perfectly paced plot, and keen sense of place make The Secret Wisdom of the Earth resonate with the reader long after the book has been finished.” —Catherine Weller, Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City, UT 

Scotton spoke at an AAP breakfast at ALA and the book is GalleyChat pick, with Kansas City’s Kaite Stover saying it reminds her of Stephen King’s The Body (adapted as the movie Stand By Me), with the “same strong male relationships and heart-wrenching coming of age elements.“

Entertainment Weekly is not so enthusiastic, however, giving it a B in a review that opens on a downer,”It took Christopher Scotton, who is the CEO of a software company by day, 15 years to write Secret, and it shows. It often feels as if he’s trying to fit every known genre … into his stuffed turducken of a plot,” but goes on to acknowledge, “… it’s not hard to see why the book has earned early praise and an impressive first-run print order of 100,000 copies … it strives to tell the type of story that many contemporary novelists find too old-fashioned, or too sincere … it’s flawed and sprawling and a little bit unmoored, but its aim is true.”

Descent, Tim Johnston, (Workman/Algonquin); OverDrive Sample

On GalleyChat this was compared to Jacqueline Mitchard’s Deep End of the Ocean. Kaite Stover found it, “moving, absorbing, and lyrical in telling the story of a family’s anguish at the disappearance of a child.” It is also and IndieNext pick:

“Descent is a gripping, utterly engrossing account of a girl’s disappearance in the Rocky Mountains. The aftermath of this tragedy is told in alternating voices: the injured brother at the scene of the accident when she left with a stranger to get help; the mother who has been hospitalized and stunned into breathtaking grief; the father who has been unable to leave the small town where the family was vacationing when his daughter disappeared — and most stunning of all, through the words of the victim herself. A real page-turner with a brilliantly conceived climax!” —Kelly Estep, Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY 

People Picks

Her, Harriet Lane, (Hachette/Little, Brown); OverDrive Sample

People Pick of the Week — “Chilling, suspenseful and shrewd about friendship’s mix of love and envy, HER captivates right up to it’s shocking denouement.”

Before I Go, Colleen Oakley (S&S/Gallery; )

People Pick — ‘In this spirited and original debut, 27-year-old control freak Daisy Richmond learns she has just months to live — and becomes obsessed with finding her husband a new wife. Author Oakley has set herself a tricky balancing act here, blending a comic sensibility with the depth and poignancy her subject requires. She pulls it off.’

This is also an IndieNext Pick:

“After just a few years in remission, Daisy’s breast cancer returns with a vengeance and she is given mere months to live. The love shared by Daisy and Jack, her husband, is unbounded and immense. While undergoing experimental cancer treatments, Daisy decides to look for her replacement, a new wife for Jack. She visits dog parks, bookstores, and finally lands upon the ideal woman through an online match service. No spoilers here, but suffice it to say that things do not go as planned. This book about cancer and death is filled with love and a grand sense of humor, is never maudlin or sappy, and serves as a necessary reality check for all of us.” —Nancy Simpson-Brice, Book Vault, Oskaloosa, IA

Media Attention

America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System, Steven Brill, (Random House)

This is an expansion of Brill’s award-winning story, which Time magazine devoted an entire issue to. Brill had open heart surgery while completing the book, giving him added insight. He is scheduled for appearances next week on CBS This Morning,  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and on  NPR’s Fresh Air.

Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film, Patton Oswalt, (S&S/Scribner; S&S Audio)

Author/comedian Oswald is profiled in this week’s NYT BR “By the Book”column. He is scheduled to appear on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, on CBS This Morning, as well as Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Movie Tie-ins

Fifty Shades of Grey (Movie Tie-in Edition): Book One of the Fifty Shades Trilogy, E L James, (RH/Vintage; RH audio)

The World Made Straight, Ron Rash, (Macmillan/Picador) — Trailer

Movie arrives next week, Jan. 9, before the more talked about Rash adaptation, Serena, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, which arrives on VOD in Feb. and in theaters in March. The tie-in for it will be released on Jan. 20.

Need some titles for the tip of your tongue when people ask what to look for in the new year? Take a look at The Barnes & Noble Review‘s selections of “the most enticing new books slated to arrive in the first half of 2015″ and Entertainment Weekly’s “20 Books We’ll Read in 2015” (caution: as we noted earlier, some of the titles on the latter list won’t be out until the fall).

There’s not much agreement between the lists, with just three titles appearing on both lists.

Two overlaps are unsurprising, based on sheer name recognition — Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio, May 5) and Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child,(RH/Knopf; RH Audio, April 21).

The third is less obvious, James Hannaham’s Delicious Foods, (Hachette/Little,Brown; Hachette Audio, March 17). Entertainment Weekly warns, “Don’t let the appealing title fool you. This searing novel tackles death and big food corporations. Also, it’s partly narrated by crack cocaine. Yep,” Adds B&N, “James Hannaham kicks off his new novel (following his debut God Says No) with a teenager’s desperate escape from a twenty-first century slave plantation to which drug addicts are seduced to become captive labor.”

Check both lists. You’ll find at least one answer to the question, “Anything interesting coming out?”

The 2015 publishing year begins next week as new books head to stores, ready for customers brandishing gift cards.

All the titles covered here, and several more notable titles arriving next week, are listed, with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of 12/29/14

Holds Leader

Die Again: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel,
Tess Gerritsen (RH/Ballantine); OverDrive Sample

Among the titles by familiar names (Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, Brad Taylor, Sherryl Woods, Jane Green) the leader in holds is Tess Gerritsen’s eleventh in her series featuring Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. The fifth season of the TNT TV series based on the characters returns beginning Feb. 17 and a sixth is in the works, to debut in the summer. In an interview with PW, Gerritsen says the book draws on her own experiences while on Safari in South Africa.

LibraryReads Picks

Vanessa and Her Sister, Priya Parmar, (RH/Ballantine; RH Large Print; RH Audio); OverDrive Sample
Audio clip:

The first buzzy debut of the season, this title is featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, is People‘s Book of the Week, as well as both a LibraryReads and an IndieNext pick.

LibraryReads annotation:

“Told uniquely as part diary, part epistolary novel, Parmar focuses on the relationship of Vanessa (later Bell) and Virginia (later Woolf) Stephens, one filled with unspoken jealousy and a fierceness of love that will ultimately destroy their kinship. This well-researched novel with gorgeous prose brings the characters to life with a unique perspective.” — Jennifer Winberry, Hunterdon County Library, Flemington, NJ

Slate uses it as a jumping off point for a piece that offers a jaundiced view of the “biographical fan fiction” trend, beginning with Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank.

The Rosie Effect, Graeme Simsion, (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio); OverDrive Sample

The followup to Simsion’s The Rosie Project, a book that won an Australian prize for unpublished manuscripts and went on to sell more than a million copies worldwide.

Fans Bill and Melinda Gates recorded a video with the author:

LibraryReads annotation:

“Don Tillman and Rosie are back again, and they’ve relocated to New York. Rosie is continuing her studies, while Don is teaching and even adding to his small circle of friends. But when Rosie announces that she is pregnant, Don is once again out of his depth. What follows are crazy situations that could only happen when Don is involved. Funny and heartwarming.” — Catherine Coyne, Mansfield Public Library, Mansfield, MA — It is also an IndieNext pick.

The Dress Shop of Dreams, Menna van Praag, (RH/Ballantine; Thorndike; Recorded Books); OverDrive Sample

LibraryReads annotation:

“Tidy, romantic, and fine escapism. All the characters here have interesting back stories: Cora is believable as a no-nonsense gal trying to rebuff sweet Walt’s advances, and Etta is someone I’d like to meet in real life. Reminiscent of Love Actually and P.S. I Love You, this cute little book is recommended to readers who want to be charmed by the possibilities of love.” — Andrienne Cruz, Azusa City Library, Azusa, CA

The Bishop’s Wife, Mette Ivie Harrison, (Soho Crime; Blackstone Audio); OverDrive Sample

Y.A. author Harrison’s mystery debut got an early review by the New York Times‘ Janet Maslin, indicating she thinks it may take off and, indeed, she notes that it “has good reason to draw a large readership” because of its focus on domestic abuse among extremists in some religious communities and because it “incorporates details about Mormon daily life that should fascinate readers who know little about them.” Maslin also notes that it appears to be the beginning of a series.

It is both an IndieNext and LibraryReads pick.

IndieNext:

“Linda Wallheim is the local bishop’s wife and the mother of five sons, all but one out of the house and on their own. As a Mormon, Linda has been increasingly frustrated with some of the Church’s doctrine. While her life is busy fulfilling her duties with many community services and being the hostess for the ward at all hours, she chafes under the patriarchal beliefs and practices. When she is called to care for a five-year-old girl whose mother has mysteriously disappeared, Linda begins to question the circumstances of the young wife’s absence. This is a beautifully written story about a woman who supports her husband as the bishop while recognizing that her inner convictions might go against his will. A compelling read!” — Patricia Worth, River Reader, Lexington, MO 

LibraryReads:

“As a practicing Mormon, I felt Harrison did a great job of detailing Mormon culture and doctrine without evangelizing. I appreciated that the bishop is a good man, and the bishop’s wife is a woman who has been through her own struggles. The bishop’s wife sometimes can barely keep up with all the drama and mysteries around her. But she does, and does it quite well under the circumstances. This is a rather brave book.” — Amanda Monson, Bartow County Library System, Cartersville, GA

For those people whose New Year’s resolutions are work-related, the Washington Post’s leadership columnist offers a dozen books to watch for next year, admitting that business self-help books tend to be “an overcrowded, underwhelming genre if there ever was one.”

One of the standouts is a book that offers lessons from The Second City Improv group (hey, if a bunch of fishmongers can become business gurus, the field is wide open), Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses “No, But” Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration, Kelly Leonard, Tom Yorton, (HarperBusiness, 2/3/15).

After dozens of best books lists (the New York Times daily reviewers posted theirs today), Janus turns his head with the first preview of the new year, from Entertainment Weekly.

As much fun as the book section is, it will frustrate many librarians because it includes several fall titles that are not yet available for ordering. So, for now, you may have to go with blind catalog entries.

Purity, Jonathan Franzen, (Macmillan; FSG, Sept) — Says Entertainment Weekly, “Franzen’s novels never fail to elicit equal parts hype and hate. Purity promises to be a departure from his previous works The Corrections and Freedom.” So, does that mean it won’t inspire hype and hate? According to a NYT story last month, it’s due in September from Macmillan/FSG.

City on Fire, Garth Risk Hallberg, (RH/Knopf, Sept) — According to a 2013 story in New York magazine’s Vulture blog, this 900-page first novel sold to Knopf for almost $2 million and movie rights went to Scott Rudin. Way back then, they also offered a list of “28 things you can surmise about Garth Hallberg’s City on Fire by reading Garth Hallberg.”

M Train, Patti Smith, (RH/Knopf, Fall)  — Smith mentioned she’s working on this follow-up memoir to Just Kids in a Rolling Stone interview in October, saying it was due on Friday. Giving that timing, we assume it will be released in the fall. She described it as not about the past, but “sort of in present tense. I wanted to write a contemporary book or just write whatever I felt like writing about, and it’s things going from literature to coffee to memories of Fred in Michigan.”

The Witches, Stacy Schiff, (Hachette/ Little, Brown; Nov, 2015) — According to Schiff’s Web site, this is about the Salem Witch trials. The publisher told EarlyWord that it is currently scheduled for Nov., 2015 list.

A couple of the titles have already shown up on librarian radars. You can catch up by reading them over the holidays, digital ARC’s are still available:

The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins, (Penguin/Riverhead, Jan. 13)

This debut began drawing attention back in August and is a LibraryReads pick for January. This is one of three titles Entertainment Weekly considers a possible successor to Gone Girl, along with the “buzzy” The Kind Worth Killing, Peter Swanson, (HarperCollins/Morrow, Feb. 3) and “the most understated an plausible of the three,” The Daylight Marriage, Heidi Pitlor, (Workman/Algonquin, May).

My Sunshine Away, M.O. Walsh, (Penguin/Putnam. Feb. 10)

Entertainment Weekly says this debut is “sure to be a breakout.” Librarians who have read it in galley concur, calling it, “a roller coaster of a read that doesn’t let up until the very end of the ride.” Join us for a chat with the author on January 21, as part of Penguin’s First Flight program.

For a listing of the other titles, go to our Edelweiss Collection.

Saying, “It feels amazing to be one of the prize’s least-known winners,” author Piers Torday won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize this week for his middle grade novel, The Dark Wild, (Penguin/Viking Juvenile), to be published here on January 22.

Begun in 1967, The Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize is awarded by a jury of children’s authors. The longlist for this year’s Prize included Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo as well as We Were Liars by E. Lockhart,

The book is the second in a trilogy, following The Last Wild, (Penguin/Viking Juvenile), a title  featured in our Penguin Young Readers program, which gives librarians the opportunity to read galleys and chat with rising star children’s authors. View the chat with Torday here.

Join us for our next author chat, this Wednesday, with Kim Bradley, author of The War That Saved My Life, (Penguin/Dial), this Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 5 to 6 p.m., EST.