A couple of readers recently commented (thanks!) on my review of the new memoir, I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. Since this book has sparked conversation and contemplation, I thought I’d share this recent op-ed piece in The New York Times  by Pulitzer-Prize winner Nicholas D. Kristof whose book, Half the Sky, is a Random House, Inc. bestseller.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think! I’d love to discuss.

-Marie

The New York Times Book Review has announced their Top 10 Books of 2009 and three wonderful Random House, Inc. titles have made the list!

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

A Gate at the Stairs by Laurie Moore

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

Be sure these titles are available as your patrons will surely be asking for them! View the full list here.

I read a lot of movie reviews, and one of my favorite critics is A.O. Scott of the New York Times. One of his lesser reviews, I thought, was 2007’s annihilation of The Da Vinci Code. I noticed that the normally even-handed Scott had devoted an entire paragraph to bashing Dan Brown’s sentence structure:

 It seems you can’t open a movie these days without provoking some kind of culture war skirmish, at least in the conflict-hungry media. Recent history — “The Passion of the Christ,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” — suggests that such controversy, especially if religion is involved, can be very good business. “The Da Vinci Code,” Ron Howard’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-selling primer on how not to write an English sentence, arrives trailing more than its share of theological and historical disputation…

…To their credit the director and his screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman (who collaborated with Mr. Howard on “Cinderella Man” and “A Beautiful Mind”), have streamlined Mr. Brown’s story and refrained from trying to capture his, um, prose style. “Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino with long white hair.” Such language — note the exquisite “almost” and the fastidious tucking of the “which” after the preposition — can live only on the page.

Wow, I thought. This guy is jealous. This is elementary-playground-type bashing. He’s reviewing a movie, and he took time out to criticize the prose of the book? Grow up.

I’ve always thought of “envy” as a feeling of wanting what someone else has, be it fame, success, a promotion, or a romantic interest. “Jealousy” comes in when you want and feel like you deserve what someone else has, and therefore develop a certain malice toward him or her. Scott obviously feels he is a better writer than Dan Brown and was, at the time, probably shaking his head at how Dan Brown had become perhaps the most famous contemporary author in the country.  

I’m not saying A.O. is wrong. I think he’s a better writer too. But, really, YOU’RE REVIEWING A MOVIE, NOT A BOOK. I was disappointed. I was watching Superman throw a tantrum on his mother’s kitchen floor.

We come, now, to yesterday, when the NYT review for “Angels & Demons” came out. A.O. Scott again took the assignment, and once again, could not focus on what he was reviewing.

Since “Angels & Demons” takes place mainly in the Vatican, and is festooned with the rites and ornaments of Roman Catholicism, I might as well begin with a confession. I have not read the novel by Dan Brown on which this film (directed, like its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code,” by Ron Howard) is based. I have come to believe that to do so would be a sin against my faith, not in the Church of Rome but in the English language, a noble and beleaguered institution against which Mr. Brown practices vile and unspeakable blasphemy. 

The blast this year is slightly more applicable to the review; it is appropriate to mention that he’s reviewing the movie independent of reading the book. But he still insists, in the film review, on disparaging the novel’s language, which is kind of  like writing a book review and criticizing the font or writing an art-exhibit review and criticizing the cab ride there.

I would love to weigh in at the NYT website, but they don’t have a real “comments” section. So I’ve taken it out on you librarians. Hope you don’t mind.

-David

Like so many other national tragedies, most of us will remember where we were when we learned about the deadly shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech University almost two years ago. Available 3/31 from Crown books, No Right to Remain Silent is an inside story of one woman’s experience. Lucinda Roy, who is the former chair of the university’s English department, watched the story unfold on TV from her home when she made a startling discovery: the gunman was a student she had previously tried to help. Interviewed shortly after the tragedy occurred, Roy told the Today Show’s Matt Lauer how she tried to coax him into counseling and brought her concerns to the university’s attention. Her new book is a warning for students, parents and people everywhere.

Watch Lucinda Roy on the Today show here.

Read Lucinda Roy’s New York Times Op-Ed piece here.

It is also worth mentioning that Ms. Roy is using proceeds from this book to help families in Sierra Leone.

-Marie

My most recent staff pick was North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter by Sakie Yokota.  Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently met with Sakie Yokota while meeting with families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, as reported by The New York Times.

This summer, CNN’s Anderson Cooper ran a story that was both shocking in its immediacy and haunting with its heart-wrenching tale. Four years ago, North Korea admitted to a program of abducting Japanese citizens in the hopes of training them as spies during the Cold War. Sakie Yokota lost her thirteen-year-old daughter, Megumi, in 1977 to this insidious scheme. This is the story of one woman’s personal struggle to find the daughter who was so cruelly taken from her and her transformation from happy housewife to political activist and crusader.

In August 2006, Sakie met with President Bush to further talks about demanding sanctions on North Korea. The documentary, Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story is available and also a quick search on YouTube will allow you to explore more coverage of this astonishing emotional and political quagmire. This riveting true story of every parent’s worst nightmare will captivate and horrify you.

-Erica

An instant best-seller, the New York Times has called David Sanger’s THE INHERITANCE: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power: “Dazzling and mordantly hilarious….The product of extraordinarily diligent reporting….A Woodwardian trove of inside dope….Devastatingly effective.”

I’m not sure how much better it can get when your book is deemed a “Woodwardian trove of inside dope” but if you don’t want to take their word for it, check out the author video below.

Also, John Stewart fans rejoice. You can watch his appearance on the Daily Show.

-Marie

One great thing about the New York Times Books section is the First Chapters page. Check out the beginnings of a few of Random House’s latest. Also, click on the cover images above for full information about each book.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese – If Dave’s or my previous posts haven’t convinced you, the first chapter just might. Read this book!

Lima Nights by Marie Arana – This latest novel from the award-winning author of American Chica and Cellophane comes this love story between an upper-class socialite and a tango dancer working at a bar on the “other side of the tracks.”

Spade and Archer by Joe Gores – This prequel to The Maltese Falcon tells the story of Sam Spade, where he comes from, and how he became involved in this great mystery.

The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss -  This new historical thriller is set just after the American Revolution and follows Ethan Saunders and Joan Maycott who are on opposing sides of a daring scheme that will change their country forever.

-Marie

We’re thrilled to announce that The New York Times Book Review has named their “Ten Best Books of 2008” and nine out of the ten titles are published by Random House, Inc!

Our “Best Books” are:

DANGEROUS LAUGHTER by Steven Millhauser (Knopf)
A MERCY by Toni Morrison (Knopf)
NETHERLAND by Joseph O’Neill (Pantheon)
UNACCUSTOMED EARTH by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf)
THE DARK SIDE by Jane Mayer (Doubleday)
THE FOREVER WAR by Dexter Filkins (Knopf)
NOTHING TO BE FRIGHTENED OF by Julian Barnes (Knopf)
THIS REPUBLIC OF SUFFERING by Drew Gilpin Faust (Knopf)
THE WORLD IS WHAT IT IS by Patrick French (Knopf)

The list will appear in the Sunday 12/14 issue of the New York Times Book Review and is bound to inspire demand for these titles. The entire list is posted HERE.

This past Sunday’s NY Times Book Review featured two great reviews of Random House Inc. books, Blue Genes and Hurry Down Sunshine, both memoirs of mental illness with very different angles.

Hurry Down Sunshine you may already know about, from its starred reviews in Booklist and Library Journal, or from our two staff picks in two different Random Revelations newsletters, or from our list presentations at the library conferences we’ve been to or from RH booth ARC giveaways, or from the two previous blog entries about it, or from the excerpt in “O” Magazine, or from the author signing at ALA, etc. But anyway, we wanted to let you know that the Times loved it too!

Blue Genes is another great memoir about a family’s battles with depression and suicide written by the brother of the late award-winning journalist J. Anthony Lukas, who committed suicide in 1997. A book trailer below:

-David