Book News
Turning political pages.
If the presidential election gave rise to a spate of political books, the post-election season is no different.
Here are some winners, in terms of book sales and pending deals:
• Doris Kearns Goodwin: With President-elect Barack Obama talking up her “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” the thousand-page book is drawing both media attention and increased sales.
“I think it reflects a great inner strength on Obama’s part that he is seriously considering creating a team of rivals as Lincoln did,” Goodwin said.
• Barack Obama: His election victory boosted sales of his two memoirs, “The Audacity of Hope,” his 2006 book on politics and faith, and “Dreams From My Father.”
• Sarah Palin: While she may not rate a cabinet job, speculation is that she is headed for a mega book deal for a price estimated by various sources at between $6 million and $12 million. For that kind of money, expect to see her on all the talk shows.
• President and Laura Bush: Her memoir is expected first; the Associated Press reports that she wants to write one. A memoir by the president, however, is likely to come later when his approval ratings improve.
sanluisobispo.com
First Lines
Death of a Gunfighter: The Quest for Jack Slade, the West’s Most Elusive Legend, by David Rottenberg
If you cross the Union Pacific tracks and the South Platte River from Julesburg and head west along the River Road, you will soon find yourself alone. No motorist stumbles accidently upon this gravel strip, which extends only some 10 miles and leads nowhere. Nor will you encounter much traffic anywhere else in this remote northeast corner of Colorado: Sedgwick County contains fewer than 2,800 inhabitants, most of them clustered in Julesburg, the county seat. In the congested East, a town as small as Julesburg might not even appear on a state map; but here it is the largest community for 25 miles in any direction.
I have come to this desolate road on a historical detective quest. My quarry has been dead for nearly a century and a half, but even in death he has eluded a long line of distinguished authors and Western devotees, just as in life he eluded his friends and foes alike — everyone, in fact, but his worst enemy: himself. I have pursued his trail for half a century on a mission to sift the truth of my character’s life from his legend. Where Mark Twain, Zane Grey, and the late Montana Chief Justice Llewellyn Link Callaway, have tried and failed, I am determined to succeed.
Best sellers at the independents
Fiction
1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
3. The Gate House, by Nelson DeMille
4. Divine Justice, by David Baldacci
5. The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly
Nonfiction
1. Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron
2. Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, by Ina Garten
3. Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman
4. The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch
5. Goodnight Bush: An Unauthorized Parody, by Erich Origin and Gan Golan indiebound.org
