THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores this week

“Juno” (PG-13): Call it the little movie that could. This modest but witty comedy-drama generated critical buzz, then box-office success, then Academy Awards-season momentum with its winning tale of a wisecracking high school misfit (a deadpan Ellen Page), pregnant by her boyfriend (“Superbad’s” Michael Cera), who finds a seemingly perfect couple (Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner) to adopt the baby.

Despite four Academy Award nominations, including citations for best picture, director (Jason Reitman) and actress (Page), only screenwriter du jour Diablo Cody went home with Oscar. Yet “Juno’s” virtues help keep the film from becoming a victim of its own success.

Also out today: “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (R); “Lars and the Real Girl” (PG-13); “Aliens vs. Predator” (R); “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” (PG-13); “War Dance” (PG-13); “Desert Bayou” (Unrated); “I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With” (Unrated); “The Adams Chronicles” (Unrated); “Melrose Place: The Fourth Season” (Unrated).

CDS

Mariah Carey, “E=MC2”: Yeah, we know, Mariah Carey and physics go together like beer and battery acid, but fret not, for despite its title, the pop tart’s latest disc is not a heavy-breathing meditation on the theory of relativity.

Instead, it’s another highly polished, big-budget production that’s the pop music equivalent of the summer popcorn action flick: You show up for the huge explosions and all the high-tech bells and whistles that money can buy, not the dialogue.

Seriously, you don’t have to be Einstein to discern this gal’s appeal.

Also in stores: Asia, “Phoenix”; Frank Black, “Svn Fngrs”; The Kooks, “Konk”; Lady Antebellum, “Lady Antebellum”; M83, “Saturdays Youth”; Tristan Prettyman, “Hello”; Thrice, “Alchemy Index, Vol. 3 & 4: Air and Earth.”

BOOKS

“The Miracle at Speedy Motors” by Alexander McCall Smith: The best-selling author returns to Botswana and his familiar cast of characters in the ninth installment in “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series.

McCall Smith will be in town discussing and signing his book at 2 p.m. April 27 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. The event is free.

Also hitting shelves: “The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: Stories” by Elizabeth Berg; “Hold Tight” by Harlan Coben; “Peace” by Richard Bausch; “Just Who Will You Be?: Big Question, Little Book, Answer Within” by Maria Shriver; “Breaking Free” by Herschel Walker; “Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism” by Kevin Phillips; and “Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century” by Tony Judt.