I literally squealed when I saw the page in the catalog. It’s called Death of a Murderer and is due sometime in August 2007. Here’s what the catalog page says:

Rupert Thomson—a “true master,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle—now gives us his most powerful work yet, the story of a woman who, even after her death, inflames an entire nation, and the man who comes under her spell.

Having spent decades in prison for crimes gruesomely familiar to everyone in England, this murderer has finally died of natural causes but is no less notorious in death than she was in life. Bully Tyler, a career policeman, is assigned the task of guarding her body, which brings him, over the strident objections of his wife, to the hospital morgue, to make sure, he’s told, that nothing happens. What does happen, though, is a thorough recounting of his life, his complicated thoughts about violence in himself and society, the unease that distances him from marital disappointment and a damaged daughter, and of how, in his long night of the soul, this child-killer seems to speak out to him directly, and to know him more fully than anyone else. The questions that emerge, finally, should haunt us all: Whom do we love, and why? How do we protect our children? And what separates us from those we call monsters?

A gripping revelation of crime, of punishment—and of what we seek to hide, above all, from ourselves.

Here is the Times’s list and also Time’s list.

The San Francisco Chronicle posted their list of the best books of the year this weekend. Their top pick is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. “His tale of survival and the miracle of goodness only adds to McCarthy’s stature as a living master. It’s gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful. It might very well be the best book of the year, period.” That Oscar Villalon has some good taste.

Posting will be sporadic this week due to the madness that is the holiday shopping season. I’m leaving you with some links that I would like to read myself, if I didn’t have too much to do.

• As you’ve no doubt heard, Judith Regan has been fired from HarperCollins. The New York Times says that Rupert Murdoch personally ordered this to be done after he heard reports of allegedly anti-Semitic comments made by her. The LA Times reports that she wasn’t let go because of the OJ Simpson imbroglio nor the forthcoming book that reimagines Mickey Mantle’s life that includes some steamy segments. Some say it’s Ron Hogan’s fault. Judith Regan has hired litigator Bert Fields to fight back. What happens to her imprint? Editorial Director Cal Morgan will take the helm for now.
• Max over at The Millions has been running a great Year in Reading series for the past week.
• Dan Wickett posts about the books he’s most looking forward to reading in 2007. It’s quite a list. I’ll add that I’m looking forward to reading Clare Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy, due sometime next month. Plus a million other books.
• Lizzie Skurnick, aka The Old Hag, writes about Mommy Lit, the natural offshoot of Chick Lit, in the New York Times. Some object to the term and others embrace books that write about their experiences. I’m not going to fight about this one. I’ve said what I have to say about chick lit for now.
• Book World lists the 12 books she wishes she had put down in 2006.
• The LA Times reports the opening of a new independent bookstore called Metropolis in downtown LA. It’s the first non-specialty, non-chain store to open since the Fowler Brothers closed in 1994.
• Scott at Conversational Reading lists his favorite books of the year.
• Venerable interviewer Robert Birnbaum speaks with Donald Hall.
• Check out this brand new literary magazine Ward 6 Review.
• Finn Harvor, a writer in South Korea, has put together Conversations in the Book Trade, a series of interviews with folks involved with publishing. The most current interview is with Richard Nash of Soft Skull (one of my favorites).
• This week on Five Chapters, we follow “one story of complicated and intersecting relationships with another, Panio Gianopoulos’ biting and brutally honest “Luxury.”

• Publisher NYRB Classics joins the blogosphere with their blog A Different Stripe. I like their use of color. Their responsible for one of my favorite books of the year, Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang.
• Other bloggers have already commented on Genevieve Tucker’s article on litblogs in The Australian. While I’m glad they recognize the genius of Metaxucafe, I found some sloppy reporting and broad generalizations and that’s all I have to say about it.
• Freelance journalist and critic Steve Weinberg says he will be commenting on various book review pages starting sometime this week. I’m curious what his reaction will be: as a critic will he be satisfied with what he finds or will the lack of variety in books and space devoted to books disappoint?
• Boldtype’s December issue is available. Surprisingly, it’s the Year End issue.
• Also, the winter edition of the Quarterly Conversation is online. I’m particularly interested in reading the article about being John Updike’s neighbor.
• This article in The Independent on the best World Fiction of the year starts off with a rather odd introduction:
  

  Any honest observer of the book business in Britain will spend much of any year sunk in head-shaking gloom about its condescension to readers, its timid addiction to every passing fad, and its urge to throw good money after feather-light ephemera. Come Christmas, and the chain-store displays wear these marks of shame as badges of pride. Yet plenty of exciting and enduring books do break through the barrier of hype.

  . It’s true what they’re saying though. Publishers, at least the larger houses, tend to grab onto the latest trend as if they were at lost at sea on a dinky raft. Look at the unfortunate trend of ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ books. I’ve seen at least 4 more either in response or mocking or just trying to catch the coattails of the bestseller. Celebrity memoirs and celebrities writing books for kids are other trends that pop into mind. You know what? I don’t really care what Toni Spelling ‘recollects’. But with the current throw-a-million-books-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach to publishing, I doubt things will change.

Everyone is busy putting together their lists. The Globe has both a fiction and non-fiction list. Why the non-fiction list is twice as long is beyond me, though I like Gail Caldwell’s list. The Washington Post has a Top Ten list, half fiction, half non-fiction. However the Denver Post has a list of 50 Reads to Wrap, top fiction, and a list of top books on Iraq.

Bud posted about Penguin publishing blank covered books so that the reader can create their own cover. Of course, they’re doing this in the UK. No word on if this will be happening here in the US. Check out the cool My Penguin gallery website.

In my opinion, book covers can make or break a book. Often, publishers will retool a cover between hardcover and paperback release if the sale weren’t great. And you might have noticed the trends in book covers. Why do business books always have ugly covers? Why do I need a book with a picture of Jack Welch on it? The same can be said for chick lit (I’m not bringing up the pro or cons here, just the covers)? The pastel martini glass/high-heeled shoe design is so overdone. I wonder what sort of covers we could come up with?

Addendum: Speaking of cool looking books, check out these redesigned Penguin Classics, up for auction on Abebooks. (thanks Condalmo!) I heart that Crime and Punishment.

It’s that time of year again, when everyone creates their lists of best “whatever” of 2006. The New York Times announced theirs last night. Frankly I found their list underwhelming (Absurdistan? Really?). The Christian Science Monitor has both a non-fiction and a fiction list. I’m sure over the next few weeks everyone else will be releasing their lists. I’ll try to keep you informed. Mostly I like looking at them to remind me of books, but I mostly find the exercise silly. How do they matter really? They’re arbitrary and subjective. Perhaps that’s the point. Regardless, the lists will keep on coming.

Who here can say that they spent a chunk of their Monday with former Senator John Edwards? I can! Edwards was here at my store doing a signing for his new book Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives. He’s very charming and personable I must say. Plus he got a lot less of the crazies come out for him than Al Gore.

Also, if you’re in the Cambridge area this Thursday, November 30th, you can come watch me talk about books. It’s the annual Holiday Hints from the Buyers night. There will be free refreshments I’ve been told. I insisted we serve some wine, if only because I need the liquid courage. It’ll be a good time, I promise.*

* Disclaimer: Any promises made here are not promised to be upheld.

First, I’ve received word that Charles Shield, whose biography of Harper Lee Mockingbird appeared earlier this year, is working on a biography of Kurt Vonnegut. He would like to know people’s experiences with Vonnegut, either personally or with his novels. You can email me or leave a comment. Vonnegut’s a writer that influenced me early on when I was a freshman in high school. Slaughterhouse-Five was one of the first books I read that challenged my notion of literature. Up until that point, I had been reading mostly classics like Dickens, Steinbeck, Bronte, and Austen. Vonnegut was an eye-opener.

My second piece of business isn’t really business. I just read this article in the NYT today about the London Review of Book’s personals.

A woman in the current issue, for instance, specifies that she is looking for a man “who doesn’t name his genitals after German chancellors” (not even, the ad says, “Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, however admirable the independence he gave to secretaries of state may have been.”)In an e-mail exchange also conducted on condition that her name not be used, the woman, a 38-year-old local government arts official with an interest in Bismarck, said she been inspired by a disastrous experience with a date who announced over the tiramisu that he called his private parts “Asquith,” after the World War I prime minister.

I’ve been trying to write a personal in my head that would both offend and attract. People, you’re assignment is to write a personal ad in the comments below. With all of our great minds, surely we can come up with some real prizewinners.