BOOK BUZZ FROM USA TODAY
By Press Release - Jul 29 , 2009
McLEAN, VA – Here’s the latest book buzz from USA TODAY with a highlight of tomorrow’s Best-Selling Books list:
E. Lynn Harris wanted to do a “thank you” tour this fall, meeting with fans in small cities to get back to promoting his novels on a “grassroots level,” says Karen Hunter, whose Pocket Books imprint will publish his novel Mama Dearest in September. Harris died last week at age 54. And now several of his writer friends including Eric Jerome Dickey and Kimberla Lawson Roby will meet with local book clubs in his place. “They want to make his new book successful as a tribute to him,” says Hunter. “I would much prefer E. Lynn to be here. It’s so sad when you know where this man was going.” After 12 books with Doubleday, Harris decided to publish Mama Dearest, a sequel to Not a Day Goes By, with Hunter, who has published books by many African-American writers.
Memoirist Frank McCourt, who died July 19 at 78, is celebrated as a writer, teacher, storyteller, and most of all, a generous friend in The Southampton Review, a literary magazine. Editor Lou Ann Walker says work began before McCourt fell ill. A copy was rushed from the printer to him in a hospice earlier this month. After retiring as a high school teacher and writing Angela’s Ashes, McCourt taught at Southampton/Stony Brook, part of the State University of New York. The Review ($20) can be ordered online at stonybrook.edu/tsr. Angela’s Ashes returns to USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list at No. 84; it was No. 2 in 1997 after winning the Pulitzer.
For all the news from this week’s Best-Selling Books list, see Thursday’s editions of USA TODAY for the top 50 books or log onto www.top150.usatoday.com for the complete list of 150 best-selling books from last week.
Rankings for USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books List are based on retail sales data collected each week that include more than 2.5 million books from about 7,000 independent, chain, discount and online stores. USATODAY’s list ranks titles regardless of genre or format, providing one of the best assessments of which books are most popular among readers and consumers each week. USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list has been published each Thursday in the newspaper’s Life section since October 28, 1993.
USA TODAY was founded in 1982 with a mission to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its flagship newspaper and popular Web site, USA TODAY engages the national conversation and connects readers online through social media applications. USA TODAY, the nation’s top-selling newspaper with a total average daily circulation of more than 2.1 million, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper Web site which launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.8 million readers daily. The USA TODAY news and information brand also includes: USA TODAY Education,USA TODAY LIVE, USA TODAY Mobile, Open Air magazine and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USATODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
