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January 14, 2015

20SomethingReads.com Newsletter January 14, 2015
New Year, Same Old Us
REAL TALK Publishing: Robin Adelson, Executive Director of the CBC and Every Child a Reader
Reviews
Young Adult Reviews
New Year, Same Old Us

Although it seems like decades ago, it would be impolite for us to not wish all of our readers a happy new year! So, Happy New Year. May your resolutions be long-lasting. (Nikki’s holding her breath until the gym crowd thins out in the first week of February). Amen.

It’s old news that the new year is never as eventful as we think it will be, buttttt at least it gets the award season ball (globe?) rolling. At the Golden Globes, which aired this past Sunday night, Tina and Amy set the bar too high --- we can only go downhill from here. But that’s not a bad thing! Adjust your expectations now and you won’t be disappointed --- we learned that in ‘14 (we’re looking at you, The Monuments Men).

Things we’ve learned so far in ‘15, courtesy of the Golden Globes: It’s the year of basic cable wins; of thanking your parents; casual, white dinner gloves; and of the deep v cleavage. 2015 is also the year that George Clooney warmed our cynical hearts and made us believe in love again. Maybe we’re not lifelong bachelors after all! Other notable things: Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal were not listening to Taylor Swift in the car ride over to the awards ceremony, “Who Would You Rather?” is the new Candy Crush and our favorite movie quotes are even better when playfully botched by K. Wigg and B. Hader.

The most important thing that happened at the Golden Globes was Prince. JKjk. It’s that books were represented in a BIG way. First and foremost, our girl Julianne finally snagged some award show booty...and we don’t mean J. Lo. She took home Best Actress in a Drama for Still Alice, adapted from the 2009 Lisa Genova book of the same name. While it’s been in select theaters for the past few weeks, it hits wide this Friday. So clear your iCal, movie lovers. Also nominated in the same category was Reese Witherspoon for her portrayal of trailblazer (literary and literally) Cheryl Strayed --- who she brought as her date! --- in Wild and Rosamund Pike (our pick for best dressed), who played our favorite sociopath Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. Helen Mirren also received a nod for her role in The Hundred-Foot Journey in the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy category. Needless to say, Hollywood women leaned in this year.

All in all, we’re most definitely going to miss T + A hosting boozy award shows. At least we can console ourselves with their new movie Sisters, slated for release December 2015. Maybe by then we’ll have another Kardashian-West baby. Second children are #trending in 2015: In addition to Kim and Yeezy, Kate and Wills are definitely expecting, and expectations are blowing up for B+J.

Two new things we want to bring to your undivided attention.

We have a great list from contributor Elizabeth Eckhart of her top 10 picks for books you’ll want to gift in 2015 (holiday deadlines notwithstanding). You can check that out here.

In honor of the release of Priya Parmar’s super-hyped VANESSA AND HER SISTER, a novel about Virginia Woolf and her sister, Vanessa, we have a staff-curated collection of 20 of the writer’s most famous/beloved works. Whether you want to go short or long (or both, Sienna Miller), we’ve got you covered. You can see the bookshelf, "We're Not Afraid of Virginia Woolf," here.

Speaking of VANESSA AND HER SISTER, we have a review for it up on the site. It's set in London, 1905, and the city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.

While we don't have the review quite yet for Miranda July's debut novel (check the site later this week), we can't hide our excitement. THE FIRST BAD MAN is tender, gripping, slyly hilarious and infused with raging sexual obsession and fierce maternal love. Her first novel confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time. THE FIRST BAD MAN is dazzling, disorienting and unforgettable.

We’re especially excited about Krassi Zourkova’s sensational debut, WILDALONE. When Bulgarian-born Thea Slavin decides to go to Princeton --- away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time --- she struggles to adapt to the unfamiliar American ways of life. To further complicate her freshman year of college, she learns a long-buried family secret about a sister she never knew --- and whose footsteps she may be accidentally following in. Greek mythology, supernatural revelations and a love triangle with two handsome, mysterious brothers make this book a can’t-miss. Emily was so hooked she read it in two nights, and hasn’t stopped raving about it since.

Paula Hawkins’ highly anticipated debut novel, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, hit the shelves yesterday. For lovers of GONE GIRL, this Hitchcockian new release is so hot that the movie rights have already been snatched up by DreamWorks. It’s the story of regular commuter Rachel, who takes the same train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Their life --- as she sees it --- is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. Until she sees something shocking and everything is forever changed.

Cheers to happy endings and new beginnings!

5 Things We’re Obsessed With at This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. The potential GONE GIRL sequel
2. Sia’s “Elastic Heart” video
3. NY Times telling us that you can actually fall in love with anyone
4. Tina’s new show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," streaming on Netflix in March
5. A resolution-less 2015!

Nicole Sherman (Nicole@bookreporter.com) + Emily Hoenig (Emily@bookreporter.com)

 

REAL TALK Publishing: Robin Adelson, Executive Director of the CBC and Every Child a Reader

A lot of book jobs are, understandably, inextricably connected to books themselves: writing them, editing them, designing them, publicizing them, selling them...the list goes on. But some book jobs take a step back, and instead focus on promoting literacy and reading itself.

Up until the very end of 2014, Robin Adelson was the Executive Director of the children's book trade association Children's Book Council (CBC) and the nonprofit Every Child a Reader. At the CBC, she acted as the face of the children's book publishing industry and made sure that she addressed publishing professionals' needs and interests. At Every Child a Reader, she worked every day to fulfill the organization's mission to "instill a lifelong love of reading in children." After heading up the CBC and Every Child a Reader for eight years, it is guaranteed that she will surely be missed.

In PART 1, Robin talks about what it was like to enter the publishing world from a completely different industry, her day-to-day responsibilities and how she took Children's Book Week from a poster program to a nationally celebrated extravaganza. In PART 2, she talks about some of the biggest CBC and Every Child a Reader initiatives --- including the Children's Choice Book Awards, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and the CBC Diversity Committee --- and what's to come in 2015! Lastly, in PART 3, Robin talks about her favorite books growing up, the author she couldn't wait to meet and how her daughters have influenced her work.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

A Little Bit More About the REAL TALK Publishing Feature...

In REAL TALK Publishing, we sit down with book editors, librarians, booksellers, children's literature professors, book cover designers, publicists, professional reviewers and more to give you insight about the work that goes on behind the books. Through interviews, guest posts and sometimes sneak peeks inside their offices, you'll get to learn more about the book industry and all the work that goes into creating some of the world's best written word.

 

Reviews

DESCENT by Tim Johnston (Literary Thriller)
DESCENT is the story of a family undone by the disappearance of a daughter who went out for a morning run and didn’t come back. The girl’s vanishing is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths, until all that continues to bind them to each other are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point does a girl stop fighting for her life? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

DIE AGAIN: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment. Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down. Rizzoli ultimately uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari in Botswana four years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who --- or what --- is behind these gruesome deaths. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

THE DOLL'S HOUSE by Tania Carver (Psychological Thriller)
From the outside, the house was unremarkable. But inside was a different matter. In all his years on the force, Detective Inspector Phil Brennan of the Major Incident Squad has never encountered a scene like it. As he investigates the murder of an adult woman, he uncovers more bizarre revelations and knows that he must act fast. The next murder has already been planned, and the victim is closer to home than he realizes. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

ENTER PALE DEATH: A Joe Sandilands Investigation by Barbara Cleverly (Historical Mystery)
Scotland Yard Detective Joe Sandilands suspects foul play in the violent death of Lady Truelove. He enlists old friend and former constable Lily Wentworth to trail the now-widower Sir James Truelove, and finds an ally in a fellow police officer familiar with the Truelove estate. But as the investigation yields surprising secrets about one of England’s most powerful families, Joe discovers how little he knows about the gilded lives of the moneyed. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FIFTY MICE by Daniel Pyne (Thriller)
One weekday afternoon, Jay Johnson is abducted on a Los Angeles Metro train, tranquilized, interrogated, and his paper trail obliterated. What did he see, what terrible crime --- or criminal --- is he keeping secret? Furious and helpless, and convinced that the government has made a colossal mistake, Jay is involuntarily relocated to a community on Catalina Island, where the only way out is through the twisted maze of lies and unreliable memories swirling through his own mind. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

FIVE by Ursula Archer (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
A woman’s corpse is discovered in a meadow, and a strange combination of letters and numbers has been tattooed on the soles of her feet. Detective inspector Beatrice Kaspary from the local murder squad quickly identifies the digits as map coordinates. These lead to a series of gruesome discoveries as she and her colleague, Florin Wenninger, embark on a bloody trail --- a modern-day scavenger hunt using GPS navigation devices to locate hidden caches. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

HOW TO BE BOTH by Ali Smith (Fiction)
HOW TO BE BOTH is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real --- and all of life’s givens are given a second chance. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

HUSH by Karen Robards (Romantic Suspense)
When Riley Cowan finds her estranged husband, Jeff, dead in his palatial home, she’s sure it’s no coincidence. The police rule it a suicide, but Riley thinks someone’s out for blood. Finn Bradley, a Philly-based FBI agent and Riley’s love interest from way back when, agrees to help Riley, and the two reignite sparks they both thought were extinguished long ago. But can they discover the killer’s identity in time before he resurfaces --- and strikes again? Reviewed by Renee Yeager.

IRENE written by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Camille Verhoeven has reached an unusually content (for him) place in life. He is respected by his colleagues, and he and his lovely wife, Irene, are expecting their first child. But when a new murder case hits his desk --- a double torture-homicide so extreme that even the most seasoned officers are horrified --- Verhoeven is overcome with a sense of foreboding. As links emerge between the bloody set-piece and at least one past unsolved murder, it becomes clear that a calculating serial killer is at work. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

THE KING’S DERYNI: A Novel of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz (Historical Fantasy)
New York Times bestselling author Katherine Kurtz’s novels of the Deryni have been hailed by Anne McCaffrey as “an incredible historical tapestry of a world that never was and of immensely vital people who ought to be.” Now Kurtz weaves a thrilling conclusion to the epic Childe Morgan trilogy, in which bonds of both magic and loyalty will be put to the ultimate test. Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard.

THE MARTINI SHOT: A Novella and Stories by George Pelecanos (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

SAVING GRACE by Jane Green (Fiction)
As Ted and Grace Chapman’s picture-perfect life begins to crumble, they are rescued by Beth, an assistant promising to calm Ted’s rages and lend Grace emotional support. But Grace harbors dark secrets in her past, and Beth’s persona might be too good to be true. It soon appears that this new interloper might be the biggest threat of all, one that could cost Grace her marriage, her reputation and even her sanity. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (Fiction)
The town of Medgar, Kentucky, is beset by a massive Mountaintop Removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Fourteen-year-old Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the “company” and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Kevin’s friend, Buzzy, witnesses the brutal murder of the opposition leader, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THIEF: A Robin Monarch Novel by Mark Sullivan (Thriller)
Robin Monarch is a man with a complicated past and dangerous present, but first and foremost, he is a thief of the highest order. Orphaned at 12, Monarch originally stole for survival, then he stole for his friends and cohorts, now he steals to give back to the woman who saved his life many years ago. Monarch finds a lead on what might be his most audacious exploit ever. A previously undiscovered tribe in South America may well have the secret to the most sought-after knowledge in history --- that of eternal life. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer. Reviewed by Roz Shea.

VANISHED: The Profiler, Book 2 by Elizabeth Heiter (Psychological Thriller)
Eighteen years ago, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine's best friend, Cassie Byers, disappeared, the third in a series of unsolved abductions. Only a macabre nursery rhyme claiming that Evelyn was also an intended victim was left at the scene. Now, after all these years of silence, another girl has gone missing in South Carolina, and the Nursery Rhyme Killer is taking credit. But is Cassie's abductor really back, or is there a copycat at work? Reviewed by Christine M. Irvin.

THE VOICES by F. R. Tallis (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
In the scorching summer of 1976, Christopher Norton, his wife Laura and their young daughter Faye settle into their new home in north London. The faded glory of the Victorian house is the perfect place for Norton, a composer of film soundtracks, to build a recording studio of his own. But soon, in the long, oppressively hot nights, Laura begins to hear something through the crackle of the baby monitor. First, a knocking sound. Then come the voices. Reviewed by Renee Yeager.

WILDALONE by Krassi Zourkova (Supernatural Fantasy/Romance)
Arriving at Princeton for her freshman year, Thea Slavin finds herself alone. Away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time, she struggles to adapt to unfamiliar American ways and the challenges of college life --- including an enigmatic young man whose brooding good looks and murky past intrigue her. Drawn to the elusive Rhys and his equally handsome and mysterious brother, Jake, she ventures into a sensual mythic underworld as irresistible as it is dangerous. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

WINTER AT THE DOOR by Sarah Graves (Mystery/Thriller)
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Snow was first introduced in the final book of Sarah Graves’ previous series, in which she helped Jake Tiptree investigate the murder of a girl whose body was found in a church steeple. Now, Lizzie has taken over as Eastport’s police chief, and is quickly finding the job --- and her life --- more complicated than she expected. Then she learns that a perilous piece of her past has followed her from Boston back to Maine, a mysterious stalker whose chilling intentions drive her to the edge. Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum.

THE YEAR OF READING DANGEROUSLY: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life by Andy Miller (Memoir/Literary Criticism)
Nearing his 40th birthday, author and critic Andy Miller realized he's not nearly as well read as he'd like to be. A devout book lover who somehow fell out of the habit of reading, he began to ponder the power of books to change an individual life --- including his own --- and to define the sort of person he would like to be. Beginning with a copy of Bulgakov's MASTER AND MARGARITA that he happens to find one day in a bookstore, Miller embarks on a literary odyssey of mindful reading and wry introspection. Reviewed by Pauline Finch.

 

Young Adult Reviews

VIVIAN APPLE AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Katie Coyle (Young Adult, Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple never believed in the evangelical Church of America, unlike her recently devout parents. But when Vivian returns home the night after the supposed "Rapture," all that’s left of her parents are two holes in the roof. With her best friend Harp and a mysterious ally, Peter, Vivian embarks on a cross-country roadtrip through a paranoid and panic-stricken America to find answers. Because at the end of the world, Vivan Apple isn't looking for a savior. She's looking for the truth. Reviewed by Cheyenne C., Teenreads.com Teen Board Member.

THE WALLED CITY by Ryan Graudin (Young Adult, Thriller)
There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run.

Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai all live in the Walled City, a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs. Teens there traffic drugs or work in brothels --- or, like Jin, hide under the radar. But when Dai offers Jin a chance to find her lost sister, Mei Yee, she begins a breathtaking race against the clock to escape the Walled City itself. Reviewed by Thien-Kim H., Teenreads.com Teen Board Member.

 

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