Thursday, March 12, 2009

Week's selection...Films and Books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly...

FICTION...
DEBUT:

Robin Oliveira's MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, set in the mid-19th century, following the aspirations and difficulties of a brilliant, somewhat odd, yet remarkable young midwife from Albany, New York whose lofty hope of becoming a surgeon far exceeds what her family, physicians, and medical schools of her time are willing to accept, and she travels to Washington, DC to work in the Civil War hospitals, only to find the challenges formidable and the pull of home unavoidable, to Kathryn Court at Viking Penguin, in a pre-empt, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

Maile Chapman's YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUESTED AT SUVANTO, the story of an isolated American nurse working at a remote convalescent women's hospital in 1920s Finland and the mounting menace that takes hold of the place, to Ethan Nosowsky at Graywolf, for publication in April 2010, by Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic (World English).

GENERAL/OTHER:

Liane Moriarty's WHAT ALICE FORGOT, the story of a 29-year-old woman who is madly in love with her husband and pregnant with their first child -- who wakes up at the gym and discovers she's actually 39 years old, has three children and is in the middle of a very nasty divorce, a fall has erased the last ten years of her memory, but it turns out that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that's ever happened to Alice, to Amy Einhorn at Amy Einhorn Books, at auction, by Faye Bender at Faye Bender Literary Agency, on behalf of Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown Australia (NA).

Author of STANDING STILL, Kelly Simmons's THE BIRDHOUSE, told from the perspective of two sets of diary entries written 40 years apart, about a woman whose innocent family history project with her granddaughter takes a dark turn as long-held secrets that could tear the family apart begin to resurface through the haze of her early Alzheimer's symptoms, to Sarah Walsh at Atria, by Dorian Karchmar at the William Morris Agency.

FILM:

Feature film rights to Ann Pearlman's forthcoming THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CLUB, to CBS Films, with Academy Award winner Wendy Finerman (P.S. I Love You, The Devil Wears Prada,Forrest Gump") at Wendy Finerman Productions producing, and agent Peter Miller at PMA executive producing.

David Kinney's forthcoming THE BIG ONE: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish, (now at Grove/Atlantic for April 2009), the story of Martha Vineyard's annual fishing derby, a month-long affair which pits neighbor against neighbor, islander against mainlander, and turns the island upside down in the all-consuming quest for the biggest fish, to Dreamworks co-president Holly Bario, with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci producing, in a pre-empt, by Sarah Self at The Gersh Agency, on behalf of Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary.

NON-FICTION....
BIOGRAPHY:

Michael Hemmingson's RAYMOND CARVER: A Critical Biography, an interpretative approach to Raymond Carver's life, placing the writer's biography within the context of American history, politics, economics, and the literary landscape of the time, examining the content of the short stories in relation to what was happening in Carver's life, how much was autobiography and how much fiction, and how alcohol affected the common themes of Carver's work, to Gary Mitchem at McFarland, in a nice deal, for publication in 2011 (NA).

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

Barry Ritholtz's BAILOUT NATION: How Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy, cancelled by McGraw-Hill (the book is critical of McGraw's Standard & Poor's rating service, but the publisher claimed it cancelled for other reasons), to Kevin Commins at Wiley, at auction, for publication in May 2009, by Lloyd Jassin.

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Annie Jacobsen's THE WIZARDS OF GROOM LAKE: The Uncensored History of Area 51, an investigation into the military's storied secret Nevada base -- frequent subject of alien conspiracy theories, urban legends, and other fantastic rumors -- based on the first interviews ever conducted with the commanders, technicians and test pilots who worked there, to John Parsley at Little, Brown, by Jim Hornfischer at Hornfischer Literary Management (world).

URANIUM: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World author Tom Zoellner's TRAIN: The Idea that Created the Modern World, exploring the past and future of this 190-year-old idea, and structured around a series of trips the author will make along eight of the world's great railway lines, each one illustrating a particular sociological feature of railroads and trains that have affected the lives of millions, to Kathryn Court at Viking Penguin, by Brettne Bloom at Kneerim & Williams (World).

Military historian Barry Strauss's CAPTAINS: ALEXANDER, HANNIBAL AND CAESAR, to Bob Bender at Simon & Schuster, by Cathy Hemming Literary Agency, in association with McCormick & Williams (world).

NYT bestselling author and Jeopardy! record-holder Ken Jennings's MAPHEAD, exploring the world of map nuts and geography obsessives, from the days of "Here be dragons" to the spinning globes of grade school to the revolution that is Google Maps, to Brant Rumble at Scribner, by Jud Laghi at LJK Literary Management (NA).

MEMOIR:

Conor Grennan's story of volunteering at an orphanage in Nepal after college and later opening his own orphanage in Katmandu, and his efforts to reunite lost children with their families, to Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow, at auction, by Trena Keating at Endeavor.

Daughter of John Gotti, Victoria Gotti's GOTTI CONFIDENTIAL, in which she promises to "set the record straight -- warts and all," including "first-hand accounts and contributions from the entire family," adding that "this was not a project I ever intended to do; however, after years and years of rumors and innuendos, this book was born out of necessity," to Louise Burke at Pocket, for publication on September 29, 2009, by Frank Weimann of The Literary Group (world).

Wrap....

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