Having been established for quite some time now as a New York City (especially Brooklyn) microcelebrity, author Tao Lin may be breaking into the mainstream. Writer Hillel Italie’s enlightening profile of Mr. Lin will be appearing, syndicated from the AP, in hundreds of publications nationwide.

This is in addition to a recent Salon.com profile, a hilarious New York Observer piece, and a pending, heretofore elusive New York Times review. Pretty soon, maybe it will be unnecessary for Tao (or his army?) to put stickers of his new book’s jacket on newspaper dispensers in the West Village, as I personally witnessed last weekend.  

Dennis Johnson of Melville House must be clicking his heels right about now, having recognized early-on the author’s talent, originality, and uncanny ability to self-promote in outrageous ways (e.g. selling “shares” of his book to fans as he was writing). According to the profile, Tao was rejected by some 25 publishers before landing at Melville. (If nothing else, the man is polarizing.)

Normally, with the release of a Tao Lin book, I would advise New York City-area librarians to stock up, but with these national publicity hits coming, I might amend that piece of advice, and tell everyone to stock up.

-David

Reissued last week by New York Review Books, the 1965 J.R. Ackerley memoir MY DOG TULIP, which Truman Capote called “One of the greatest books ever written by anybody in the world,” will soon be released as an animated motion picture! An article in yesterday’s NY Times covers the films unique method of animation, which is paradoxically hand-drawn using special computers. Woah. One could think of it as a sort of “Green Animation.” Very nifty.

“In its own quirky fashion, Ackerley’s wry valentine to his beloved pet is as much a book about the difficult art of living and loving as it is a dog story.”
— Publishers Weekly

Here’s the schedule for the film’s nationwide roll-out:
Film Forum, New York City, September 1
Ritz at the Bourse, Philadelphia, October 1
Kendall Square Cinema, Boston, October 15
Embarcadero Center Cinema, San Francisco, October 15
Shattuck Cinema, Berkeley, October 15
Nuart Theatre, Los Angeles, October 22
Ken Cinema, San Diego November 5
Varsity Theatre, Seattle, November 5
E Street Cinema, Washington DC, November 5
Chez Artiste, Denver, November 12

-David

It may be widely accepted that the movie is never as good as the book but I’m excited for this one!  Author David Ebershoff recently visited the Calgary, Canada set of the forthcoming Lifetime TV original movie based on his novel, The 19th Wife. The book and film center around Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Mormon Church leader Brigham Young. From left to right in the photo are the film’s cast, Matt Czuchry, Chyler Leigh and Jeff Hepner. Mr. Ebershoff is pictured on the far right. We don’t have to wait too long for the movie. It will premeire on Lifetime on September 20th.

If you haven’t yet read The 19th Wife, you’d better get on it. Historical fiction fans will especially love it! Read my review of the book in a past issue of our Random Revelations newsletter here.

-Marie

For anyone who has ever had a best friend, comes Gail Caldwell’s powerful new memoir, Let’s Take the Long Way Home.

I was hooked by the first line: “It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.”  This touching and insightful memoir about friendship and loss is perfect for book groups, there is much to discuss here.

Watch Caldwell’s expanded book video for a taste of this moving portrait of a friendship, ultimately a celebration of life and the joy a true human connection can bring.  And then go hug your best friend.

As everyone knows who has said more than ‘hello’ to me for the last six months – I LOVE Aimee Bender’s THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE. I’ve shared this love with many of you and now you are sharing it back! I am thrilled to report that Aimee debuts on the NYT bestseller list at #15 on the list dated 7/18! WooHoo!

I’m giving credit to librarians for ordering promptly and in nice big quantities. She has also made the PW, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times lists. Her tour was so well-attended that she may hit the road again in the fall.

She was plugged for summer reading on Good Morning America, in USA Today and bounded onto the IndieBound bestseller list. NPR called the book “a virtuoso performance” and O Magazine featured in “Our 26 Favorite Books of the Summer.” Earlyword gave it an early shoutout and People gave it four out of four stars. The Wall Street Journal featured it in its Summer Books “Great Expectations” article. And not to forget the star in Library Journal.

I had the pleasure of attending her event here in NYC held at Symphony Space which was packed by a large number of devoted book discussion members. The evening got off to a start with a tremendous ‘dramatic’ reading of the first two chapters by Lillo Way, performance reader and artist, followed by a conversation between Aimee and Heidi Julavits, founding editor of the Believer. The audience got to ask some great questions and then a huge line formed for the signing. This was the first time I met Aimee and I’m so pleased to say that she was just as lovely as I had hoped.

So congratulations to Aimee and congratulations to librarians for embracing this wonderful book which will live on in discussion groups for years to come. I can hardly wait to see what she’ll come up with next! Cake for everyone!

-Marcia Purcell

Actually it’s not sad or true, but it is hilarious. Check out the book trailer for SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY by Gary Schteyngart Schtyngardt Shtyengart Shteyngart.

-David

Nancy Thayer, author of Beachcombers (and resident of Nantucket Island) takes you to visit the Nantucket Atheneum, where part of her novel takes place.  Visit Nancy’s youtube page for more videos of Nantucket locations that appear in her book.  Watching them makes me want to head out on my summer vacation (with a beach bag full of books, of course).  Happy July Fourth everyone!

Calling all Twitterers! Is that what you are called? I must consult my dictionary.

Mediabistro.com’s GalleyCat Reviews is compiling a list of the “Best Library People on Twitter” and is encouraging you to add your library (or yourself!) by visiting their blog post and commenting.

The website’s eBookNewser blog also spotlighted libraries last month by posting the video below made by ImprovEverywhere. The group recently spoofed the Ghostbusters in the New York Public Library to rally support for the struggling library system. I couldn’t resist posting it. Enjoy!

-Marie

Last night, somewhere between the season finale of Glee and the NBA Finals, I saw a trailer I’d been anticipating for quite some time. The movie is called “Charlie St. Cloud,” based on The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood, and concerns a young man so overcome with grief from his younger brother’s death that he takes an evening job in the cemetery just to be near him. Every evening, Charlie plays catch with his brother’s ghost, and they chat. But then Charlie meets a young lady, a beautiful “sailor girl,” and he must make a choice between a promise he made to his brother and a newfound love.

The Movie-Tie-In edition of the book comes out June 22. The movie, starring Zac Efron, is slotted for October 15. Check out the preview below!

Also on the rise in the book world and in the works for an Anne Hathaway film is David Nicholls’s One Day, which was a huge hit in the UK and is getting great in-house buzz here. If you have a book club, I suggest you give it a long look. Here’s some praise it’s garnered so far:

“Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable . . . brilliant on the details of the last couple of decades of British cultural and political life . . . the perfect beach read for people who are normally repelled by the very idea of beach reads.” —Nick Hornby, from his blog

“A wonderful, wonderful book: wise, funny, perceptive, compassionate and often unbearably sad . . . the best British social novel since Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up!. . . . Nicholls’s witty prose has a transparency that brings Nick Hornby to mind: it melts as you read it so that you don’t notice all the hard work that it’s doing.” —The Times (London)

 

Last weekend, the LA Times ran a smart story about DO I KNEEL OR DO I BOW?, a book by English author Akasha Lonsdale, who, from the early age of 4, has developed a love of learning about other cultures.

Often, especially in diverse cities such as New York, where we live and work, we’ll happen into some situation where we don’t know how to interact when invited another culture’s ceremonies, and we can only hope that they are forgiving enough to excuse our blundering. There are so many different traditions–and meanings of small gestures–that our knowledge or ignorance of which can make or break a first impression.

Some examples:

In our multicultural society, a Sikh may invite a Muslim colleague to a family wedding. A Jew may invite a Catholic neighbor to a bar mitzvah. Or a Protestant raised in America may visit an Eastern Orthodox Church while traveling.

The book covers eight different faiths, and has been vetted and approved by the officials of each. So next time your patrons are on an international vacation or are about to “meet the parents” or attend the wedding or funeral of someone of another religion, give them this one so they don’t embarrass themselves and make their in-law situation any worse than it needs to be.

-David