Authors on the Air: Joey Kramer; Jane Stanton Hitchcock; Julie and Julia
Compiled by Diane Patrick -- Publishers Weekly, 6/30/2009 3:10:00 PM
Today, Good Morning America heard from Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer, whose memoir Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top (HarperOne, 978-0061566608, $26.99) pubs today. PW wrote: “This is not an autobiography of the band. It's a sideman taking front and center. If sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll is what you want, it's what you'll get in these photo-laden pages. Although the tale is a predictable one, Kramer's style is honest, straightforward and pulls no punches.”
This morning’s Today show hosted bestseller Jane Stanton Hitchcock, whose Mortal Friends: A Novel (Harper, 978-0061173707, $25.99) also pubs today. PW called it a “whirling and suspenseful comedy of manners. Among the backbiting, Hitchcock manages to stew a convincing homicide plot, peppered with enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing, and guessing again, to the novel's neat finish.”
(On yesterday’s Today show: Claire Cook with The Wildwater Walking Club (Voice, 978-1401340896, $24.99), which PW deemed a “straightforward novel. With her easygoing style, Cook engages readers, drawing them into the daily lives of these new friends... most will be satisfied with this breezy beach read.”)
Today, The View chatted with Lenore Skenazy about Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry (Jossey-Bass, 978-0470471944, $24.95).
Authors on today’s Leonard Lopate Show :
- Julie Powell, whose Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (Little, Brown, 978-0316042512, $7.99; Hachette Audio abridged CD, $16.98) comes out today in a paperback movie tie-in to the August 7 movie release.
- Researcher and librarian Kathleen Collins, author of Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows (Continuum, 978-0826429308, $24.95). PW’s review had this to say: “In this robust roundup, Collins scours the archives to show how cooking programs throughout the decades reflect America's changing cultural mores. Collins's engaging, somewhat scholarly study finds cooking shows the great leveler in gender, class and lifestyles and with a strong future.”
- Colum McCann with his latest novel Let the Great World Spin (Random House, 978-1400063734, $25), which hinges on Philippe Petit's illicit 1974 high-wire walk between the twin towers. PW wrote “McCann's dogged, DeLillo-like ambition to show American magic and dread sometimes comes unfocused—but he succeeds in giving us a high-wire performance of style and heart.”
- CNN executive producer Suzanne Simons with Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War (Harper, 978-0061651359, $27.99), which PW found an “often glowing, mildly critical portrait.”
This evening’s Daily Show hosts former missionary Mike Kim, author of Escaping North Korea: Defiance and Hope in the World's Most Repressive Country (Rowman & Littlefield, 978-0742556201, $24.95). From PW’s review: “Kim chronicles his effort to lead North Korean refugees through the 6,000-mile underground railway through China in this exposé of the astonishing day-to-day realities of famine, religious oppression, torture and sexual abuse in the most secretive and impoverished member of the axis of evil.”
The Colbert Report meets with Ohio University historian Kevin Mattson, whose book is 'What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?' Jimmy Carter, America's 'Malaise,' and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country (Bloomsbury, 978-1596915213, $25). PW explained: “The 1979 national malaise speech that defined Jimmy Carter's presidency—though he never used the word malaise—gets its due in this contrarian homage. Mattson makes Carter's maligned speech a touchstone for a rich retrospective and backhanded appreciation of the soul-searching '70s.”
Tonight on Chelsea Lately: Lauren Conrad, star of MTV's The Hills, serves up L.A. Candy (HarperCollins, 978-0061767586, $17.99).
Due to the nature of live programming, scheduling is subject to change.
Booksellers can order these titles through Ingram at ipage (https://ipage.ingrambook.com/ipage/servlet/pw_link?date=063009)
Authors on the Air is compiled by Diane Patrick. To be included in this compilation, email author appearance information to DPatrickPW@aol.com (at least TWO days in advance, please).
