When Lawrence Summers leaves his position as director of the National Economic Council and returns to Cambridge at the beginning of next year, he is expected to start work right away on the first of two books he owes Farrar, Straus. Summers made a deal with Farrar in 2007 for books on education and economics. Originally planning to begin with the education book (following his controversial tenure as president of Harvard), the publisher tells us that he will now write about economics first. Scholastic announced a new version of their 39 Clues franchise, The 39 Clues; Cahills vs. Vespers. The […]
New Releases/Forthcoming
Books In the News: NYT Breaks Woodward, Questions for Betancourt
The NYT “obtained” an embargoed copy of Bob Woodward’s OBAMA’S WARS in advance of next week’s release–and serialization in the Washington Post. The Times leads with the theme that some of President Obama’s national security team has doubted his Afghanistan strategy and “spent much of the last 20 months quarreling with one another over policy, personalities and turf.” The Post followed with their own story, emphasizing even more explicitly than the Times that Obama wanted “to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan” rather than triple troop levels, “repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that […]
Two Off the Beaten Path Stories: Myhrvold Delays, Ali Experiments
Former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold’s lavish self-published six-volume cookbook MODERNIST CUISINE, listing for $625, has been eagerly anticipated by some foodies. In a blog posting earlier this week, Myhrvold explained to customers and fans that publication has been delayed and they will miss this Christmas, now looking for a publication date of March 14. It turns out book publishing is more complicated than it looks. The fundamental work of “proofreading and correction 2,400 pages…has been taking longer than we expected to complete.” They have also had to work out the kinks in shipping 40 pounds worth of book without damage: […]
New DFW Set for Tax Day Release
Little, Brown announced that David Foster Wallace’s posthumous unfinished novel THE PALE KING will be published April 15, 2011. The book is set at an IRS tax-return-processing center in Illinois, and agent Bonnie Nadell observes it “may be the first novel to make accountants and IRS agents into heroes.” The just-released jacket was created by his widow Karen Green, a painter and visual artist. The publisher plans to convene events on the release day and will help bookstores “link up with local writers to lead readings and discussions of The Pale King and to celebrate David Wallace.”
Obama Children’s Book Set for November 16
President Obama has written a children’s book, OF THEE I SING: A Letter to My Daughters, which Knopf Children’s will publish on November 16 with an announced 500,000-copy first printing. Illustrated by Loren Long, the book profiles 13 “groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation–from the artistry of Georgia O’Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington.” The book was both sold (as part of his deal with Crown and Knopf Children’s in 2004) and written before Obama took office in 2009. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to a scholarship […]
Fall Previews: Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirier and Daily Beast Picks
The LAT pairs many of the expected titles with mentions for Janice Shapiro’s debut collection Bummer and Other Stories and the Library of America’s two-volume set of Lynd Ward’s work, Six Novels in Woodcuts.LAT The Philadelphia Inquirer focuses on 20 titles, split between fiction and nonfiction, plus a selection of local authors.Inquirer The Daily Beast goes month-by-month for their list of 20 books “you can’t miss this fall.”Beast