Category: book Nook
Book buzz: The latest from the book world
One bookseller says Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale reminds readers
of "the kinds of books, such as Jane Eyre, that they read as a child."
By Jacqueline Blais, Jocelyn McClurg, Carol Memmott and Bob Minzesheimer,
USA TODAY
Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale is quite lucky, debuting at No.5 on USA
TODAY's best-seller list, while gay governor John McGreevey scores with his
tell-all,
The Confession.
Lucky '13th':
Bookstores have been deluged with new titles this fall, and at least
one —The Thirteenth Tale by British author Diane Setterfield — is living up
to prepublication
hype. The debut mystery concerns a young antiquarian bookseller and a
mysterious best-selling author. It made its debut last week at No. 5 on USA
TODAY's
Best-Selling Books list and is now No. 6. Kathleen Schmidt of publisher
Atria credits independent and chain stores, which "fell in love with it." As
for
readers, Tale "reminds them of the kinds of books, such as Jane Eyre, that
they read as a child," Schmidt says. Another debut thriller with high hopes
— one starring Sigmund Freud — hasn't been as lucky. The Interpretation of
Murder by Jed Rubenfeld (Henry Holt, $26) landed at No. 94 on Sept. 14,
dropped
to No. 145 on Sept. 21 and is not in the top 150 this week.
The vote's in:
Former New Jersey governor James E. McGreevey ("I am a gay American") has
scored with The Confession at No. 12. McGreevey launched his candid memoir
on
Sept. 19 by telling all to bookseller-in-chief Oprah Winfrey.
Indian 'Godfather':
HarperCollins is hoping for a happy new year with Vikram Chandra's Sacred
Games, a novel about organized crime in India that's due in early January.
The
publisher, which paid a reported $1 million for the 900-page saga, invited
media to a tony New York lunch this week to meet the affable author. Says
publisher
Jonathan Burnham: "It's that rare thing — a great page-turner and a very
powerful literary novel."
Name game:
Bob Woodward's third book on the inside workings of the Bush administration
finally has a title: State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III. Simon &
Schuster
is closely guarding its content and revealed the title only last week. It's
"such a strong indicator," S&S's Victoria Meyer says. "We didn't want to
show
our hand." The 560-page book, to be released Monday, is bound to be a best
seller, like Woodward's previous Bush books. But will it satisfy Woodward's
critics? Frank Rich, in his new book The Greatest Story Ever Sold (making
its debut today at No. 11), accuses Woodward of being "tone-deaf to the
Watergate
echoes" in the Bush White House. The title indicates a more critical
assessment.
Interesting. Thanks Carla.