Recordpub.com - One for the Books: The New Year

For those of you who made New Year's resolutions to lose weight, here are some books that may help.

From Weight Watchers comes "Start Living, Start Losing: Inspirational Stories That Will Motivate You Now," which features more than 70 first-person accounts of people who have lost weight and kept it off. This is definitely a commercial for Weight Watchers. Almost everyone can find someone here to encourage them -- young women wanting to lose their "baby weight"; men wanting to look and feel better at work; mothers and daughters getting healthier together; people wanting to be able to play with their grandchildren; others trying to overcome grief or loneliness. They are celebrities, brides and just plain folk, and they lose weight alone, with a friend or relative, or even a team of co-workers. Some have lost more than 100 pounds, others just 20 or 30. The book offers suggestions for journaling as well as a practical moral or "take-away" following each article. For example, "If you get in the habit of planning what you're going to eat and drink for today and you do this every day, you'll feel more in control."

Warning: There are a lot of Weight Watchers books available with information on diet and exercise, but this one does not tell you how to follow their program at all and has no recipes or menus.

"F.A.T. Balance Diet: 10 Steps to Weight Loss Freedom" by Kevin Jones of Cleveland uses 10 fictional characters to demonstrate the author's 10 steps, from getting motivated to maintenance, in a story-type format. Jones explains the basics of weight loss, goal setting, commitment to fitness, journaling, using the food pyramid, reading labels, food choice, physical activity, and how to calculate food intake and energy output to achieve weight loss goals. "F.A.T. Balance is about life management," says the author. "The goal is to optimize the 'balance' among frequency, amount, and type (F.A.T.) for each of the essential ingredients, such as diet and exercise." The book includes about 50 recipes and a glossary.

Hot off the presses is "Your Plan for a Balanced Life" by Harvard-trained cardiologist James M. Rippe. Based on a goal of balancing one's nutrition, physical activity and well-being on a daily basis, Rippe's program focuses on total health. The book offers motivation and practical advice on how to be more active, learn to relax and enjoy life, with planning tools, worksheets, charts, checklists, menus and recipes. He asks readers to take the Balanced Life Index assessment and then to set goals and work out their own customized Balanced Life Plan. You can check it out for yourself at www.StartMakingChoices.com.

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OK, so Christmas is over, but two extraordinary books arrived on my desk too late for a pre-holiday recommendation, and you won't want to miss out on them. Besides, you may be able to get them at a discount, read them now and then stow them with your Christmas stuff to enjoy again next year.

Better yet, you could keep this one out all year round. "A Family Christmas" by Caroline Kennedy is an anthology of wonderful poems, stories, essays and songs connected with the holiday. It's a beautiful book of about 350 pages, illustrated in watercolors by award-winning artist Jon J. Muth.

There's heart-warming stuff in here -- poetry from Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, and Clement Clarke Moore; Christmas carols and song lyrics from Run-D.M.C. and John Lennon; inspirational passages from St. Augustine, Martin Luther King and the Bible; stories and essays from O. Henry, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Gwendolyn Brooks, Truman Capote, Pearl S. Buck, David Sedaris, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Groucho Marx; a hilarious legal complaint brought by the "children of the world" alleging that Santa Claus didn't live up to his end of the bargain; instructions to Macy's Santas; an explanation on how NORAD tracks Santa's journey on radar; letters from U.S. servicemen at war; and oh, so much more. Along with familiar holiday fare, such as the Francis P. Church "Yes, Virginia" editorial verifying the existence of Santa, we get to see the holiday from the viewpoint of people from a variety of ethnic heritages.

Kennedy talks about family traditions and throws in a bit of history. Her own family is represented, but barely. There's a reminiscence from Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy; a letter from President John F. Kennedy to a young girl who's afraid the Russians will bomb Santa; a 1962 letter to Santa from little Caroline, asking for something for herself and her little brother, John; and on the cover, an angel painted by her mother.

"Christmas Around the World" by Chuck Fischer is a gorgeous pop-up book with brightly colored, old-fashioned illustrations. This is not for children, but you'll want to share it with them carefully. The surprising amount of text, all in tiny print, features the author's own reminiscences, along with Christmas myths and traditions in several countries. The book has seven main spreads with 65 color illustrations, 60 photos, 11 mini booklets, pop-ups, fold-outs, pull tabs, and a pull-out drawer with a fold-out Santa sleigh you can use as an ornament or candy dish. For example, we see a busy street in Paris decorated with holiday lights, with plenty of detail in the three-dimensional shop windows; the Nativity scene outside St. Peter's in Vatican City; and in Germany, a carousel of animals, a castle atop a mountain and a working 24-day Advent calendar.

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What's Happening: The Pierce-Streetsboro Library's Book Discussion Group will talk about "Love in the Present Tense" by Catherine Ryan Hyde at 6:45 p.m. Monday in the library's meeting room. The book for Feb. 11 will be "My Life" by Bill Clinton. Call (330) 626-4458 for details.

For a list of best-sellers and other book news, go to www.recordpub.com, click on "Lifetimes," and check out "One for the Books" online.

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BOOK NOTES, One for the Books Extra Online Exclusives:
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Speaking of New Year's resolutions, this is the time of year many of us go through our book collections and (try to) eliminate the books we can live without. Here's a link to a marvelous little article from "The Hindu" about downsizing one's collection. "It isn't really a cliche that the moment you let go of a book, you miss it immediately," says the writer.

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2008/01/06/stories/2008010650290600.htm

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The cultural ministry of Iran has been banning more and more books -- never a good sign. From The Guardian, here's a first-hand account from a journalist in Iran:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,2235903,00.html

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The American Library Association will provide a free live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults -- including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards -- on Jan. 14 at 7:45 a.m. ET. Online visitors will be able to view the live Webcast the morning of the announcements by going to

http://www.unikron.com/clients/ala-webcast-2008

This link will be active only DURING the broadcast, but it may be bookmarked ahead of time. Otherwise, go to http://www.ala.org/bookmediaawards for complete results.

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According to Publishers Weekly, Tom Wolfe has agreed to have Little, Brown publish his new novel, set for publication in 2009. Titled "Back to Blood," it's his first work of fiction since 2004's "I Am Charlotte Simmons." It will be set in Miami and deal with some of Wolfe's recurring themes, such as class and race.
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST-SELLERS
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
2. "The Shooters" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam)
3. "Double Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company)
4. "T is for Trespass" by Sue Grafton (Putnam)
5. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton)
6. "Shadow Music" by Julie Garwood (Ballantine)
7. "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz (Bantam)
8. "Blood Dreams" by Kay Hooper (Bantam)
9. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult)
10. "The Venetian Betrayal" by Steve Berry (Ballantine Books)
11. "Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane)" by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey)
12. "Stone Cold" by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)
13. "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)
14. "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham (Doubleday)
15. "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom (Hyperion)
NONFICTION/GENERAL
1. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)
2. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
3. "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central Publishing)
4. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words) 1/4
5. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press)
6. "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins)
7. "The 12 Second Sequence: Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks" by Jorge Cruise (Crown)
8. "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan, Miriam Peskowitz (Collins)
9. "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden (Collins)
10. "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)" by James J. Cramer, Cliff Mason (Simon & Schuster)
11. "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin (Scribner)
12. "Living Well: 21 Days to Transform Your Life, Supercharge Your Health, and Feel Spectacular" by Montel Williams, William Doyle (NAL Hardcover)
13. "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems" by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)
14. "Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today" by Tom Brokaw (Random House)
15. "How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better" by Charla Krupp (Springboard Press)
MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. "Iron Kissed" by Patricia Briggs (Ace)
2. "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham, (Dell)
3. "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson (Tor)
4. "Blood Brothers: Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1" by Nora Roberts (Jove)
5. "The Shape Shifter" by Tony Hillerman (Harper)
6. "Morning Light" by Catherine Anderson (Signet)
7. "The Overlook" by Michael Connelly (Vision)
8. "Shadow Dance" by Julie Garwood (Ballantine)
9. "Next" by Michael Chrichton (Harper)
10. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
11. "The Manning Sisters" by Debbie Macomber (Mira)
12. "The Suspect" by John Lescroart (Signet)
13. "Cross" by James Patterson (Grand Central Publishing)
14. "Stalemate" by Iris Johansen (Bantam)
15. "The Accidental Vampire" by Lynsay Sands (Avon)
TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin)
2. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor)
3. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
4. "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin)
5. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade)
6. "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Vintage)
7. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin)
8. "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer (Anchor)
9. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press)
10. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley)
11. "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson (Tor)
12. "90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life" by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey (Revell)
13. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (Penguin)
14. "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage)
15. "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham, (Dell)
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USA TODAY BEST-SELLERS
Key: F-Fiction; NF-Nonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback
1. "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) (NF-P)
2. "Atonement" by Ian McEwan (Anchor) (F-H)
3. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (NAL Trade) (F-P)
4. "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) (F-P)
5. "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson (Tor) (F-P)
6. "Skinny B----" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (Running Press) (NF-P)
7. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover) (F-H)
8. "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town" by John Grisham, (Dell) (NF-P)
9. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press) (NF-H)
10. "Three Cups Of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P)
11. "The Shooters" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam) (F-H)
12. "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Vintage) (F-P)
13. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words) (NF-H)
14. "Iron Kissed" by Patricia Briggs (Ace) (F-P)
15. "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen (Algonquin) (F-P)
16. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers) (F-H)
17. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-P)
18. "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman (Yearling) (F-P)
19. "Double Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company) (F-H)
20. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) (F-P)
21. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-H)
22. "Shadow Dance" by Julie Garwood (Ballantine Books) (F-P
23. "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer (Anchor) (NF-P)
24. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton) (F-H)
25. "The Manning Sisters" by Debbie Macomber (Mira) (F-P)
26. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press) (NF-H)
27. "Shadow Music" by Julie Garwood (Ballantine) (F-H)
28. "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central Publishing) (NF-H)
29. "The Sweet Far Thing" by Libba Bray (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) (NF-H)
30. "The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter 2008" by Allan Borushek (Family Health Publications) (NF-P)
31. "The Overlook" by Michael Connelly (Vision) (F-P)
32. "T is for Trespass" by Sue Grafton (Putnam) (F-H)
33. "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman (Yearling) (F-P)
34. "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman (Knopf Books for Young Readers) (F-P)
35. "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins) (NF-H)
36. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin) (NF-H)
37. "Morning Light" by Catherine Anderson (Signet) (F-P)
38. "P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern (Hyperion) (F-P)
39. "Blood Brothers: Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1" by Nora Roberts (Jove) (F-P)
40. "Blood Dreams" by Kay Hooper (Bantam) (F-H)
41. "Warriors: Power of Three 2: Dark River" by Erin Hunter, (HarperCollins) (F-P)
42. "Stalemate" by Iris Johansen (Bantam) (F-P)
43. "The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3)" by Philip Pullman (Yearling) (F-P)
44. "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz (Bantam) (F-H)
45. "The 12 Second Sequence: Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks" by Jorge Cruise (Crown) (NF-H)
46. "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards (Penguin) (F-P)
47. "90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life" by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey (Revell) (NF-P)
48. "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan, Miriam Peskowitz, (Collins)(NF-H)
49. "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden (Collins) (NF-H)
50. "Eat This Not That!" by David Zinczenko, Matt Goulding (Rodale) (NF-H)
Reporting stores include: Amazon.com, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Books-A-Million and Bookland, Booksamillion.com, Borders Books & Music, Bookstar, Bookstop, Brentano's, Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, Tenn., Doubleday Book Shops, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Cleveland), Powell's Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers (Madison, Conn.), Schuler.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS
FICTION
1. "The Shooters" by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam) (F-H)
2. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)
3. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers)
4. "Double Cross" by James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company)
5. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)
6. "The Sweet Far Thing" by Libba Bray (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
7. "T is for Trespass" by Sue Grafton (Putnam)
8. "Shadow Music" by Julie Garwood (Ballantine)
9. "World Without End" by Ken Follett (Dutton)
10. "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz (Bantam)
11. "Blood Dreams" by Kay Hooper (Bantam)
12. "Stone Cold" by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)
13. "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult)
14. "Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane)" by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey)
15. "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing) "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Adult)
NONFICTION
1. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)
2. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words)
3. "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan (Penguin)
4. "I Am America (And So Can You!)" by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central Publishing)
5. "The 12 Second Sequence: Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks" by Jorge Cruise (Crown)
6. "Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day" by Joel Osteen (Free Press)
7. "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld (HarperCollins)
8. "How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better" by Charla Krupp (Springboard Press)
9. "The Daring Book for Girls" by Andrea J. Buchanan, Miriam Peskowitz (Collins)
10. "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden (Collins)
11. "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)" by James J. Cramer, Cliff Mason (Simon & Schuster)
12. "You: On a Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management" by Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)
13. "Living Well: 21 Days to Transform Your Life, Supercharge Your Health, and Feel Spectacular" by Montel Williams, William Doyle (NAL Hardcover)
14. "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin (Scribner)
15. "StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
The Wall Street Journal's list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano's, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
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Book sections come, and book sections go ...

From the Times-Picayune, Dec. 30, 2007:

Beginning Jan. 11, The Times-Picayune will debut "The Reading Life," which will feature expanded coverage of books and the New Orleans literary scene.

http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1198995798155080.xml&coll=1

but

from the Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 23, 2007:

As Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Books section in its current form will cease to exist after today.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/709688,CST-BOOKS-budasi23.article
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from the Associated Press:
Jan. 1
Robert Frost Home Vandalized in Vermont
RIPTON, Vt. (AP) " A former home of poet Robert Frost has been vandalized, with intruders destroying dozens of items and setting fire to furniture in what police say was an underage-drinking party. Homer Noble Farm was ransacked late Friday night during a party attended by as many as 50 people, Sgt. Lee Hodsden said Monday.

The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building " a furnished residence open in the summer " before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures, and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned, apparently to provide heat in the unheated building, he said.

Empty beer bottles and cans, plastic cups, and cellophane apparently used to hold marijuana were also found, according to Hodsden. The vandals vomited in the living room and discharged two fire extinguishers inside the building, on a dead-end road off Route 125. A cabin on the property where Frost is said to have done some of his writing was untouched. No arrests have been made, Hodsden said, adding that they've tracked down some partygoers and believe they are minors.

The damage was discovered Saturday by a hiker who notified police at Middlebury College, which maintains the site. The property's caretaker was last there at 10 a.m. Friday, police said.

Frost, a celebrated New England poet known for such verse as "The Road Not Taken" and "The Gift Outright," died in 1963. He summered at the home from 1939 to 1963.
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Here's an interesting update on travel guidebooks from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/business/media/03guides.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

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From The Guardian comes a New Year's resolution to go on "The Audiobook Diet" --

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/01/the_audiobook_diet.html

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Here's USA TODAY's winter preview of books, with an animated interactive snowman and everything! --

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-01-02-winter-books_N.htm

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You can check out the 2007 favorites of the staff and reviewers for Book Reporter.com, featuring some familiar titles and some I'd never heard of before ("Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant"?) --

http://bookreporter.com/

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from Publishers Weekly --

Jon Scieszka, author of such bestselling picture books as The Stinky Cheese Man and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, has been named the country's first national ambassador for children's books.

Modeled on the highly successful Children's Laureate position in the U.K., the two-year appointment is a joint effort of the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council.

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From Shelf Awareness:

In the fifth annual Readers' Bowl, Minneapolis, Minn., reclaimed the title America's Most Literate City for 2007 while Seattle, Wash., fell to the number two spot, according to USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-26-literate-cities_N.htm

The top 10 overall, as compiled by "researcher Jack Miller, who for five years has been ranking the nation's largest cities based on their support for and commitment to reading":
1 Minneapolis
2 Seattle
3 St. Paul
4 Denver
5 Washington, D.C.
6 St. Louis
7 San Francisco
8 Atlanta
9 Pittsburgh
10 Boston

The top 10 cities in the bookseller category, which ranks for every 10,000 people the number of retail bookstores, number of rare and used bookstores and number of ABA members, are:
1 Seattle
2 San Francisco
3 Minneapolis
4 Cincinnati
5 St. Louis
6 Portland, Ore.
7 Pittsburgh
8 St. Paul
9 Cleveland
10 Washington, D.C.

A complete list of the rankings is available at America's Most Literate Cities:

http://www.ccsu.edu/amlc07/Overall_Rankings/Top10.htm

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from Shelf Awareness:
Al Roker has chosen the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley as the next pick of the Today Show Book Club for Kids. The first book in the series is The Fairy-Tale Detectives. For more, check out the Today Show Web site.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18179145/

By the way, there are five books in this series suggested for ages 9 to 12, with book six due out in March. Books one through four are now available in paperback.
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According to The Daily Mail, J.K. Rowling may write another book in the Harry Potter series, but says that Harry probably won't be the central character, because she's already finished his story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=505148&in_page_id=1773
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from Shelf Awareness -- new books out Jan. 1:

Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper.
The Shooters by W.E.B. Griffin.
Bleeding Kansas by Sara Paretsky.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again by David Frum.
The 12 Second Sequence: Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks! by Jorge Cruise.
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan.
The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit by Jill Conner Browne.

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Publishers Weekly Religion Best-Sellers for December 2007:

Hardcover
Quiet Strength - Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker
3:16: The Numbers of Hope - Max Lucado
Between Sundays - Karen Kingsbury
Get Out That Pit - Beth Moore
Home to Holly Springs - Jan Karon
Breaking Free Day by Day - Beth Moore
Become a Better You - Joel Osteen
Jesus - Beth Moore
Facing Your Giants - Max Lucado
Love and Respect - Emerson Eggerichs

Paperback
90 Minutes in Heaven - Don Piper with Cecil Murphey
The Parting - Beverly Lewis
23 Minutes in Hell - Bill Wiese
Breaking Free - Beth Moore
The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman
The 3:16 Promise - Max Lucado
In Defense of Israel - John Hagee
Just Beyond the Clouds - Karen Kingsbury
Cassidy - Lori Wick
The Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren
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From Shelf Awareness:
The top winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards:
Younger Readers: Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner, author and illustrator of The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book (EKS Publishing)
Older Readers: Sid Fleischman, author of The Entertainer and the Dybbuk (HarperCollins Children's Books)
Teen Readers: Sonia Levitin, author of Strange Relations (Knopf)

Sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries, the award recognizes "new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience." The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Cleveland, Ohio, this June at a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the award.

For a full list of honor and notable books, visit the organization's Web site:

http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/awards/st_books.htm
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from Shelf Awareness:

The winners of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association's 2008 Book Awards:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison (Grove Press)
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson (FSG)
Dancing With Rose: Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer's by Lauren Kessler (Viking)
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle (Scribner)
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (HarperCollins)

A committee of independent booksellers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska made the selection from nearly 200 nominees, all of which were written by Northwest authors and published in 2007. The association will celebrate the authors at a reception for members at the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, March 29.
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from Shelf Awareness -- New books out in January:

Hunter's Run by George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham.
Gas City by Loren D. Estleman.
Blasphemy by Douglas Preston.
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich.
My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership by Madeleine Albright.
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan.
The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg.
Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works by Newt Gingrich.
Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton.
Capitol Conspiracy: A Novel by William Bernhardt.

Now out in paperback:

The 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Carl Bernstein
What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America by Tavis Smiley
Ralph Ellison: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad
The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
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An interesting -- albeit lengthy -- article from The Guardian discusses "the reading cure": "The idea that literature can make us emotionally and physically stronger goes back to Plato. But now book groups are proving that Shakespeare can be as beneficial as self-help guides."

Says one book group participant: "Reading pushes the pain away into a place where it no longer seems important. No matter how ill you are, there's a world inside books which you can enter and explore, and where you focus on something other than your own problems. You get to talk about things that people usually skate over, like ageing or death, and that kind of conversation -- with everyone chipping in, so you feel part of something -- can be enormously helpful."

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,2235409,00.html

The article goes on to say: "Medical staff tell stories of the remarkable successes they've seen: the neurological patient who sat in a group saying nothing for months, then after a reading of George Herbert's poem "The Flower" ("Who would have thought my shrivelled heart/Could have recovered greenness?") launched into a 10-minute monologue at the end of which he announced "I feel great"; the brain-damaged young man whose vocabulary significantly increased after he joined a book group; the husband caring for his disabled wife whose exposure to poetry has proved not just a respite but a liberation. To outsiders, the outcomes might seem small, but to the staff and patients concerned they're huge breakthroughs."
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from the Associated Press come suggestions for travel books to read:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-shortnewbooks_0106tra.ART.State.Edition1.37d0529.html#

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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has launched 2008 as the National Year of Reading. According to The Telegraph, he said: "It's not just the joy of reading, father-to-son or in the classroom. It's also the benefits of reading. It's probably one of the best anti-poverty, anti-deprivation, anti-crime, anti-vandalism policies you can think of."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/01/09/nbrown109.xml

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From Publishers Weekly:
-- Eric Hill, creator of the Spot series of books, has received an Order of the British Empire, to honor his services to children's literature. "I am absolutely thrilled and delighted to have received an OBE," Hill said. "Spot has been a huge part of my life for over 25 years and I still very much enjoy the creative process. To be honored for something that has given me so much pleasure is quite overwhelming." Hill will receive the OBE from Queen Elizabeth in a February ceremony. Titles in the Spot series have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide and are available in 60 languages.

-- Christopher Paul Curtis has won the 2008 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Press). The annual award comes with a $5,000 prize. Curtis has received the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award for previous books.

-- Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner (The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book, EKS Publishing), Sid Fleischman (The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, Greenwillow), and Sonia Levitin (Strange Relations, Knopf) have won the 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Award. The awards will be presented at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Cleveland this June. Additionally, six honor books were selected: The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller, illus. by Boris Kulikov (S&S); Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale by Sarah Marwil Lamstein, illus. by Neil Waldman (Boyds Mills); Light by Jane Breskin Zalben (Dutton); Holocaust: The Events and Their Impact on Real People by Angela Gluck Wood (DK); The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story by Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola (Kar-Ben); and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler, trans. by Erik J. Macki (Front Street). Further information about the award, as well as a list of 23 notable books for 2008, are available at:

http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/awards/st_books.htm

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