It’s been a busy week for books and authors making news. Honestly we were surprised that our exclusive report on the bestselling author of Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese moving to Scribner for his second novel THE MARAMON 
CONVENTION (at a multi-million dollar auction) didn’t get more play in other media. Once upon a time, similar moves by Charles Frazier or Audrey Niffenegger were the stuff of considerable newsprint. In further deal news, author of the current bestseller The Dinner Herman Koch re-signed with Hogarth for SUMMERHOUSE WITH SWIMMING POOL, for 2014, and author most recently of Rin Tin Tin Susan Orlean signed again with S&S for THE LIBRARY BOOK.
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In continues to garner reviews and controversy, though it does not release until March 11. Simon & Schuster’s print-only editions of Hugh Howey’s Wool publishes March 12, which gives the WSJ a chance to recap the book’s million-selling success as a self-published ebook, and Howey’s long holdout for a traditional publishing deal that allowed him to keep ebook rights.
In current releases, George Bush 41 made news for the revised version of All the Best, George Bush that seems to be available only as an ebook for now, as son Jeb Bush was trying to explain why the position in his new book on Immigration Wars is actually his position from last year when he wrote it and has already changed.
For color, 96-year-old LA blogger Barbara Cooper found her Fall In Love for Life making online bestseller lists after some publicity, and a promotional campaign for the Catching Fire movie started with magazine-style portraits of leading characters.
On the Bookateria home page, Google celebrates the first anniversary of Play with 20 recent ebooks for $5 each (price-matched elsewhere, of course); Rory Carroll’s Comandante: Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela had uncanny timing, publishing Thursday; and Amanda Coplin’s The Orchardist (part of our Buzz Books 2012 last year) won BN’s Discover Award for fiction.
In other “picks,” the April Indie Next list is topped by Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (one of our current Buzz Books 2013 sampled books), sharing that nod with Jill McCorkle’s book of the same name. Costco’s “Pennies Picks” is highlighting Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers for March, while Amazon and Barnes & Noble‘s lists of March picks both recommend Sonali Deraniyagala’s 
memoir Wave and Elizabeth Strout’s The Burgess Boys (and BN’s tips another Buzz Books 2013 featured book, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being.
Not enough book recommendations from the news? Our curated list of new releases this week also includes the enthusiastically reviewed How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, along with Christa Parravani’s Her: A Memoir, Marisa Silver’s Mary Coin, Emily Rapp’s The Still Point of the Turning World, Andrew Pyper’s The Demonologist, Sam Lipsyte’s The Fun Parts–and more.
