New releases may be finally helping to pull some physical book sales and in-store traffic. Following the big Stieg Larsson launch (already covered) and a number of other good openings for new fiction, tomorrow is the release of Stephenie Meyer’s Eclipse “novella,” The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, followed by Tuesday’s release of trade favorite Justin Cronin’s The Passage.
New Releases/Forthcoming
Summer Books to Watch
We always enjoy the Wall Street Journal’s detailed preview of summer books which runs today. Along the same vein, USA Today ran their summer preview package earlier in the week, and the NYT’s Janet Maslin stuffs her beach bag with “fangs and other fluff, completely guilt free,” calling summer “the time to stop lying about what you read for fun.” In a short ebook preview, the Journal notes that the designers of the iPad version of Alice of Wonderland will sell a version of The Wizard of Oz next, while Vook has a two-part thriller series that features 36 chapters […]
Still More Buzz: The Last Batch of PL Reviews
Not wanting to be limited to the “official” buzz books, we also commissioned early reviews from one more curated selection of books featured at the show. Can Jonathan Franzen meet the tremendous expectations with FREEDOM? Veteran reviewer David Kipen says yes, and Nicole Krauss’s anticipated new book also sounds like one that will resonate with her fans. Freedomby Jonathan Franzen“This novel from the author of The Corrections invites sincere comparisons to Richard Yates, St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tolstoy. “Of course, Franzen has something priceless going for him that Tolstoy never had: Page for page, line by line, […]
Book News: Auel Date, Larsson Strong Out the Gate
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards indicates that the third and final book in Stieg Larsson’s bestselling trilogy, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, had estimated first-day unit sales (in print and digital combined) in excess of 250,000 units. Two reprints just ordered will bring them up to 900,000 copies in print, as Bogaards celebrates that “we finally have a book that is driving traffic into stores…. The hope is that Larsson will prompt other sales, especially as the summer lists from publishers across the board look very strong – with standout work coming from Justin Cronin, Bret Easton Ellis, Samantha […]
New Books from Old Authors: Twain, Roth and Fallada
Mark Twain stipulated that some 5,000 pages of unpublished memoirs should not be published until at least 100 years after his death in 1910. On schedule, the University of California, Berkeley is preparing to release in November the first in a three-volume Autobiography of Mark Twain that will comprise 500,000 words in all.IndependentUC Press page The New York Times looks at the latest book to come from the prolifically posthumous publishing enterprise of the archives of the late Henry Roth. Norton will publish AN AMERICAN TYPE on June 7. The paper credits young New Yorker editor Willing Davidson with “quarr[ying] […]
A Wimpy Holiday On the Way
Abrams’ Amulet imprint has announced the fifth volume of Jeff Kinney’s bestselling Wimpy Kid series for a November 9 national laydown. The title won’t be revealed until July, but they have confirmed purple as the color of the new book’s cover. Kinney will sign in the Abrams booth at 11 on Thursday at BEA, and they are giving away wimpy water bottles and bookmarks. Kinney says the new book “is about change and the different ways Greg and his best friend, Rowley, deal with it. To me, this book is the lynchpin in the series, and I’m excited to be […]