Books They're Talking About: Kindle Books in the Media (28 Oct 2010)

Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.

ON CSPAN'S BOOK TV (24 OCT 2010):
Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator, by Gary Noesner. Random House, 2010. Print Length: 240 p. Kindle edition $14.30 (Hardcover: $17.16). Text-to-Speech: Diabled.
"An enraged man abducts his estranged wife and child, holes up in a secluded mountain cabin, threatening to kill them both. A right wing survivalist amasses a cache of weapons and resists calls to surrender. A drug trafficker barricades himself and his family in a railroad car, and begins shooting. A cult leader in Waco, Texas faces the FBI in an armed stand-off that leaves many dead in a fiery blaze. A sniper, claiming to be God, terrorizes the DC metropolitan area. For most of us, these are events we hear about on the news. For Gary Noesner, head of the FBI’s groundbreaking Crisis Negotiation Unit, it was just another day on the job. In Stalling for Time, Noesner takes readers on a heart-pounding tour through many of the most famous hostage crises of the past thirty years." - Amazon.
Gary Noesner retired from the FBI in 2003 following a thirty-year career as an investigator, instructor, and negotiator. An FBI hostage negotiator for twenty-three years of his career, he spent ten years as the bureau's Chief Negotiator.

ON CBS'S SUNDAY MORNING (24 OCT 2010):
Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969, by David Eisenhower, with Julie Nixon Eisenhower. Simon and Schuster, 2010. Print Length: 352 p. Kindle edition $14.99 (Hardcover: $18.48). Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In this engaging and fascinating memoir, David Eisenhower - whose previous book about his grandfather, Eisenhower: At War 1943-1945, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - provides a uniquely intimate account of the final years of the former president and general, one of the giants of the twentieth century. As the tumultuous 1960s dawned, with assassinations, riots, and the deeply divisive war in Vietnam, plus a Republican nominee for president in 1964 whom Eisenhower considered unqualified, the former president tried to chart the correct course for himself, his party, and the country. Meanwhile, the past continued to pull on him as he wrote his memoirs, and publishers and broadcasters asked him to reminisce about his wartime experiences. With a grandson’s love and devotion but with a historian’s candor and insight, David Eisenhower has written a remarkable book about the final years of a great American whose stature continues to grow." - Amazon.

ON PBS'S CHARLIE ROSE SHOW (25 OCT 2010)
My Thoughts Be Bloody, by Nora Titone. Free Press, 2010. Print Length: 496 p. Kindle edition $14.99 (Hardcover: $19.80). Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"...Titone, a historical researcher, says almost nothing about John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Abraham Lincoln, focusing instead on his backstory and (speculative) psychological motivation. The tale has vibrant leads, including Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, a famous tragedian and raging alcoholic, and his domineering brother Edwin, the biggest stage star of the Civil War era. Then there's John Wilkes himself, a narcissist and hilariously bad actor - Titone regales readers with scathing reviews - whose good looks and hammy onstage swordplay drew crowds. The author's sketchy theory of Lincoln's assassination puts it at the confluence of John's self-dramatizing vanity, romantic identification with the underdog South, and sibling rivalry; she presents the murder as a coup de théâtre that finally lets John upstage Edwin. Although overstuffed with digressions, Titone's account paints a colorful panorama of 19th-century theatrical life, with its endless drunken touring through frontier backwaters and showbiz pratfalls. Neither deep nor tragic, her John Wilkes is oddly convincing: the first of the grandiose hollow men in America's cast of assassins." - Publisher's Weekly.

ON NBC'S THE TODAY SHOW (25 OCT 2010):
The Elephant to Hollywood, by Michael Caine. Hodder, 2010. Print Length: 416 p. Kindle edition $14.99 (Hardcover $18.48). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood. With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all. Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven..." - Amazon.

ON ABC'S GOOD MORNING AMERICA (26 OCT 2010):
The Twisted Sisterhood: Unraveling the Dark Legacy of Female Friendships, by Kelly Valen. Ballantine Books, 2010. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $9.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"In The Twisted Sisterhood, Kelly Valen picks up where her arresting New York Times essay about a painful sorority encounter left off. She pulls back the curtain on female relationships, revealing the troubling findings from her unique survey of more than three thousand women from all walks of life. Demonstrating the paradox of how we both support and sabotage one another, Valen’s research shows that although the vast majority of women report having at least one girl-friendship they wouldn’t want to live without, well over half approach female camaraderie with wariness or flat-out distrust and admit that they are unable - or unwilling - to extend themselves to certain types of women. An overwhelming majority say they have endured serious, life-altering knocks from other females, and a solid 97 percent of those polled believe it is crucial that we improve the female culture in this country... Capturing the true attitudes of modern women, Valen gives voice to the lingering memories, ambivalence, and struggles so many of us are quietly experiencing and considers the net effect of our darker habits: an increasingly inhospitable and dysfunctional society of women. Valen also looks to the future, offering hope and practical ideas for how girls and their mothers, women, and 'sisters' can come together and improve their profoundly needed female connections." - from the hardcover edition.

ON ABC'S JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE (26 OCT 2010):
Sleepwalk with Me, And Other Painfully True Stories, by Mike Birbiglia. Simon and Schuster, 2010. Print Length: 256 p. Kindle edition $10.99. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.

"This is my first book. It’s difficult to describe. It’s a comedic memoir, but I’m only 32 years old so I’d hate for you to think I’m 'wrapping it up,' so to speak. But I tell some personal stories. Some REALLY personal stories. Stories that I considered not publishing time and time again, especially when my father said, “Michael, you might want to stay away from the per­sonal stuff.” I said, “Dad, just read the dedication.” (Which I’m telling you to do too.) Some of the stories are about my childhood, some are about girls I made out with when I was thirteen, some are about my parents, and some are, of course, about my bouts with sleepwalking. Bring this book to bed. And sleepwalk with me." - Mike Birbiglia.

ON NPR'S THE DIANE REHM SHOW (27 OCT 2010):
Outside Looking In: Adventures of an Observer, by Gary Wills. Viking, 2010. Print Length: 208 p. Kindle edition $12.99 (Hardcover: $17.13). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"For partisans of the Left and the Right, Wills, a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and journalist (and currently professor emeritus of history at Northwestern University), has always been an elusive, even frustrating, figure, and this thoroughly enjoyable and informative memoir shows why. In his public career and personal relationships, he has consistently refused to be held hostage by political ideologies or even 'sacred' causes. Predictably, he has often been accused of betrayal by those who assumed he was one of them. But his insistence on remaining an outsider has allowed him to maintain contacts and friendships across the ideological spectrum. Wills writes frankly and often emotionally about deeply personal issues, including his devotion to his wife, his troubled relationship with his father, and his strong Catholic faith. The most absorbing portions of this book are his descriptions and impressions of presidents and other important political figures he has dealt with over five decades..." - Jay Freeman for Booklist.