Adjectives, Plugs and Forthcoming Titles

The editors of Kirkus Review, the pre-publication book review journal and blurb-writer's best friend, distributed a 24-page booklet to all invitees at the BookExpo in New York entitled: The 2005 Big Book Preview. With 20 Blockbuster-bound, Eagerly Awaited, Must-see Titles.

This is from the fascinating nudge-nudge, wink-wink opening paragraph:

"Which publisher is spending half a million dollars to make sure that readers pick up a novel about a Civil War eccentric who exhumed the bodies of more than a thousand soldiers? Which superstar memoirist is writing again after six years? (Hint: his mother’s name is Angela.) You’re about to find out....Among this year’s big books is the first “happy novel” from a smart guy who’s stopped trying to prove that he’s smart; a novella from a literary giant whose book may make the faint-hearted blush; and a controversial biography of a certain former president’s, wife in which she’s accused of being a liar. Noteworthy debuts include a memoir from a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, paying tribute to the bar he started frequenting at age seven; a reading-group–ready novel about a male brothel that is making women smile; and a chronicle by an intrepid cook who, over the course of 365 days, tested every recipe in a Julia Child cookbook. There are also children’s books, including one that could spell the end of a much-beloved 50-year-old series. We include ...an exposé of white collar unemployment, from Nickel and Dimed author Barbara Ehrenreich, and the first adult novel in a decade from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial author William Kotzwinkle."

Hmm...that's probably the first time one has heard 'Barbara Ehrenreich' and 'E.T.' mentioned in one sentence. Take a look: adjectives, advertisements and all.