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July 1, 2005

Bookreporter.com Newsletter

July 1, 2005

This Week on Bookreporter.com

Kindred Bookish Spirits

Bookreporter.com Talks to John Ramsey Miller, Author of UPSIDE DOWN

Beach Bag Of Books: Spotlight on ENDLESS CHAIN by Emilie Richards and Weekly Beach Bag Giveaway

Bookreporter.com Talks To Laurie R. King, Author of LOCKED ROOMS

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova: The Book Everyone's Talking About

Mystery Mayhem: Jacqueline Winspear, Author of PARDONABLE LIES

Mystery Mayhem: Mary Jane Clark, Author of DANCING IN THE DARK

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author of CASE OF LIES

THE HALO EFFECT by M.J. Rose is Now in Stores in Mass Market Paperback

Special Summer Contest: Win a Beach Bag from Kristin Hannah to Celebrate THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE --- Now in Paperback

This Week's Reviews and Features

Bookreporter.com Blog

Poll: What Are You Reading?
Question of the Week: Summer Reading
Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes!
Quick Links to Features On The Book Report Network
 
Bookreporter.com
Past Reviews
Can't See the Graphics? Read This Newsletter Online

Past Poll: Which of the following books are you most looking forward to reading, or are you

Past Question of the Week: What do you think makes a book a beach read?
Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Promotion
Debut Suspense/Thriller One to Watch Promotion
Mystery Mayhem Promotion

Fantasy Author Spotlight Promotion

One to Watch Promotion
Chick Lit Promotion
Summer Beach Bag Promotion

Kindred Bookish Spirits

I spent last weekend in Chicago at the American Library Association Convention. I love Chicago even with over 100 degree temperatures, which was what I found there all weekend. This was my first time at this conference and I enjoyed it immensely. The librarians I met were enthusiastic about their readers and I felt I was talking to kindred spirits when we met in the aisles and on the busses. While some were aware of our websites, many were not. May I ask you to print a copy of this newsletter and share it with your local librarians?
 
Sunday I had the pleasure of hearing Nancy Pearl talk about her new book MORE BOOK LUST, which yes, is a follow up to her first book, BOOK LUST. Once again she talks about more than 120 reading lists of books, by category. She was like a cheerleader for readers and books. I wish I remembered one-tenth of the books I read as well as she does those she was quoting from. I found myself scribbling notes about what she said making a new reading list. I called for a copy of her book as soon as I got back to the office and I look forward to interviewing her about it. I love passion and enthusiasm, and Pearl has both!
 
During this trip, I read SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See. A friend at the publisher sent it to me and said, "You have to read this!" I am so glad I did. It's a novel of the friendship between two women in 19th-Century China that reads absolutely beautifully. I learned so much about this period, which I will confess I was not that interested in before I started reading. See's writing drew me in and kept me excited from the first page. One of my real regrets from last weekend is that I did not get a chance to hear See speak at the Convention as she was doing her talk on Monday while I left on Sunday. I encourage you to read this book, and may I also suggest it as a great book club title. One challenge here: I dare you to not google "foot binding" after you are done. Once you read about this, I am betting you will be as drawn to see photos as I was. It's truly scary how torturous this treatment was for young girls.
 
On a lighter note, Monday night I went to a book party for a former magazine colleague of mine, Stephanie Lessing, whose debut novel, SHE'S GOT ISSUES, just hit stores. Stephanie worked in the promotion department that I ran at Mademoiselle. She was an extremely clever copywriter, who always nailed her copy on the first try. She also was very very funny. I hear her voice and I start laughing, even today. SHE'S GOT ISSUES is a rompish look at what goes on when one very naive woman joins a promotion department at a magazine. She loves shoes and fashion and clearly is miscast in her new role. Stephanie swears I do not appear in the book as the evil boss, and we both agree we did not know anyone quite like Chloe. It's fun light summer reading.
 
This week we have advance reader comments on UPSIDE DOWN by John Ramsey Miller. We have a new beach bag contest that boasts a fabulous prize --- the quilt seen on the cover of ENDLESS CHAIN. We also have a contest that Kristin Hannah is running on her website. So....for the holiday weekend, we are giving you lots of great reading.
 
For those of you who are wondering, yes, I did get to do some fun things in Chicago last weekend. I took one of the architecture river tours and got to the Oak Street Beach. No biking since it was sooooo hot. Thursday I am going to Denver for eight days and will be heading up the mountains for part of this trip. I am looking forward to seeing purple skies.
 
Have a firecracker Fourth.
 
Carol Fitzgerald (
Carol@bookreporter.com)

Read more about SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN here.


 

Bookreporter.com Talks to John Ramsey Miller, Author of UPSIDE DOWN

Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek interviewed John Ramsey Miller about his impressive feat of releasing three books --- INSIDE OUT, UPSIDE DOWN and SIDE BY SIDE --- in the span of just four months. Miller also shares tales of his less-than-smooth journey to having his work published, explains the personal attachments he has to his novels' settings, and discusses future possibilities for main protagonist Winter Massey and company.

UPSIDE DOWN by John Ramsey Miller (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Winter Massey is an ex-U.S. marshal whose career pitted him against some of the world's most ruthless criminals. Now a horrifying cycle of murder, and the plea of one terrified young girl, has grabbed his attention. But awaiting Massey is a chilling surprise --- and an assassin with a secret mission, a secret motive, and the perfect plan.

Click here to read our Advance Readers' Comments on UPSIDE DOWN.

Click here to read our interview with John Ramsey Miller and a review of UPSIDE DOWN.


 
See our  Summer Beach Bag of Books feature here.

Beach Bag Of Books: Spotlight on ENDLESS CHAIN by Emilie Richards and Weekly Beach Bag Giveaway

Whether your "beach" is on sand, your backyard deck or a grassy meadow in the country, the summer months mean it's time for "beach reading." Bookreporter.com is celebrating the lazy days of summer reading with a special feature, Bookreporter.com Beach Bag of Books.

Every week from May 20th through August 19th a different title will be featured with a review and author interview, as well as a contest prize --- a beach bag stocked with that book, plus summertime essentials that tie in to its theme. Five FABULOUS beach bags will be given away each week, as well as five copies of the book to additional winners.

Our seventh spotlighted title is ENDLESS CHAIN by Emilie Richards, an exploration of the intricate patterns of family and community, and the threads that bind them together, in a Shenandoah Valley town. For this contest we have one special Grand Prize Beach Bag, which features the quilt highlighted on the cover of the book, sewn in the distinctive "endless chain" pattern. The quilt comes in a colorful blue-striped beach bag along with hardcover copies of ENDLESS CHAIN and THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF QUILTING.

Four other winners will receive beach bags with a copy of ENDLESS CHAIN and THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF QUILTING, a sewing kit, an issue of Quilters World Magazine, a sweet little journal with a butterfly on it and as an ode to summer, an oversized beach towel. Five runners-up each will receive one copy of ENDLESS CHAIN. Click here to enter.

Enjoying our summer beach bag contests and want to make sure you don't miss out on the next one? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter and we'll alert you when the weekly Beach Bag contest has been updated.

 

Click here to read more about Bookreporter.com's Beach Bag of Books feature.


 

Bookreporter.com Talks To Laurie R. King, Author of LOCKED ROOMS

Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald and contributing writer Shannon McKenna interviewed Laurie R. King, author of LOCKED ROOMS. King discusses the personality traits of the characters who populate this latest installment in her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery series, as well as the varied settings of her novels. She also shares details of her writing process, her background as a storyteller, and juicy tidbits about her next book, which is "sort of halfway between a Kate Martinelli and a Mary Russell." 

LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King (Mystery)
Reviewed by Shannon McKenna
In this new adventure featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, the investigative duo's case takes a personal turn when they visit San Francisco and delve into Russell's past. It seems that someone will go to deadly lengths to keep a disturbing secret from coming to light.

Click here to read more about LOCKED ROOMS.
Click here to read our Advance Readers' Comments on LOCKED ROOMS.

Click here to read our interview with Laurie R. King and a review of LOCKED ROOMS.
 

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova: The Book Everyone's Talking About



 ( http://www.bookreporter.com/features/0411-NIP.asp )

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova (Fiction)
Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
In this complex and elegant story by debut novelist Elizabeth Kostova, three people relay spooky tales in which curiosity, revenge, and hope compel them onward despite horrible and nearly certain peril. Their experiences intersect as they explain why they must hunt down the most famous vampire in history.

Click here to read a review of THE HISTORIAN.
Click here to read an excerpt of THE HISTORIAN.

For more information about Elizabeth Koztova and THE HISTORIAN, click here.


 

Mystery Mayhem: Jacqueline Winspear, Author of PARDONABLE LIES

Jacqueline Winspear, author of PARDONABLE LIES, is our newest featured Mystery Mayhem author. PARDONABLE LIES is on sale August 10th. If you like historical fiction and mysteries this is a series you will want to get caught up on.

We have 20 advanced reading copies of PARDONABLE LIES to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. A description can be found below. If you are interested, please send your name and mailing address to mystery@bookreporter.com by Friday, July 8th, 2005.

More about PARDONABLE LIES (on sale August 10th):
In the third installment of this best-selling, award-winning series, London investigator/psychologist Maisie Dobbs faces grave danger as she returns to the site of her most painful memories from the Great War to resolve the mystery surrounding a pilot's death.

Click here to read more about Jacqueline Winspear and PARDONABLE LIES.


 

Mystery Mayhem: Mary Jane Clark, Author of DANCING IN THE DARK

Mary Jane Clark, author of DANCING IN THE DARK, is one of our featured Mystery Mayhem authors. DANCING IN THE DARK is on sale July 26th.

-See our Advance Copy Winners here.
-Read Critical Praise for Mary Jane Clark and DANCING IN THE DARK here.
-Read Fast Facts about Mary Jane Clark.

-Read Mary Jane Clark's Backlist here.

More about DANCING IN THE DARK (On Sale July 26th):
New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark turns up the heat with a drop-dead frightening novel about a town where teenage girls are disappearing, where an idyllic beach community is terrorized, and where one reporter must get to the truth to protect her family....

Click here to read more about Mary Jane Clark and DANCING IN THE DARK.


 

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author of CASE OF LIES

 

 

 

 

 

Readers love Perri O'Shaughnessy, a New York Times bestselling duo who have created a series of novels centered around lawyer and single mother Nina Reilly. The new Reilly novel is CASE OF LIES, which went on-sale on June 28th.

-Read our Advanced Readers' Comments of CASE OF LIES here.
-Read an excerpt from CASE OF LIES here.
-Read Fast Facts about Perri O'Shaughnessy here.
-See a list of our Advance Winners here.

More About CASE OF LIES:
For Nina Reilly, the mountain town of Lake Tahoe is home. It's where she forged a successful career as a tough, resourceful attorney -- and raised her teenage son, Bob, alone. Back from a stint in Monterey, where her love life took a tumble, Nina has returned to her Tahoe law office with her old friends Sandy Whitefeather and Sandy's son, Wish. It isn't long before she has a new client. As Nina tries to unravel the mystery of one violent Tahoe night, a harrowing journey begins -- one that takes her from the dark underworld of Tahoe's casinos to the halls of a prestigious East Coast university to Europe and an emotional reunion with Kurt.

 

 

Read more about Perri O'Shaughnessy and CASE OF LIES here.


 

THE HALO EFFECT by M.J. Rose is Now in Stores in Mass Market Paperback

In her newest page-turner, THE HALO EFFECTM. J. Rose takes us inside the mind of the Butterfield Institute's Dr. Morgan Snow, one of New York's top sex therapists, who sees everything from the abused to the depraved, from couples grappling with sexual boredom to twisted sociopaths with dark, erotic fetishes. Cleo Thane is one of those special patients Morgan connects with immediately. A high-priced prostitute, Cleo is desperate to reconcile her successful professional life with her neglected personal one. So when Cleo goes missing, Dr. Snow begins her own investigation into Cleo's disappearance. And she realizes too late that she's ventured into dangerous-even deadly-territory.
 
"Dr. Morgan Snow is terrific. THE HALO EFFECT will have you on the edge of your seat from page one."
-Katherine Neville, New York Times bestselling author of THE EIGHT

 
Click here to find out more about M.J. Rose and THE HALO EFFECT.
 

Special Summer Contest: Win a Beach Bag from Kristin Hannah to Celebrate THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE --- Now in Paperback

To celebrate the paperback release of THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVEKristin Hannah, author of BETWEEN SISTERS, ON MYSTIC LAKE and DISTANT SHORES is sponsoring a special Beach Bag Giveaway Contest on her website, www.KristinHannah.com. One very lucky reader will win a beach bag filled with prizes that, to me, embody both the spirit of summer and THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE.

Along with a signed copy of THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE, the winner will receive a pair of spicy red oven mitts, an authentic Italian cookbook, an oak and ivory picture frame, a CD of Frank Sinatra's greatest hits, a can for drizzling olive oil, and a darling celestial night-light. The contest runs from Tuesday, June 28th thru Wednesday, August 31st at 11:59PM.

See the complete list of rules and read more about the Kristin Hannah Beach Bag Contest here. 
 

This Week's Reviews and Features

THE TRAVELER by John Twelve Hawks (Fiction)
Reviewed by Alexis Burling
Gabriel and Michael Corrigan are two of the last known Travelers in existence. They have the ability to pass through various levels of reality in order to obtain enlightenment and use this knowledge to help others do the same. Maya, a Harlequin, is summoned by her ailing father to protect the Corrigan brothers from being captured by the Tabula, ruthless mercenaries who have hunted Travelers for generations.

TO THE POWER OF THREE by Laura Lippman (Mystery)
Reviewed by Andi Shechter
In Laura Lippman's latest stand-alone novel (following 2003's EVERY SECRET THING), the lives of three girls who have been best friends for years --- and the affluent community in which they reside --- are forever changed when one of them brings a gun to school to resolve a mysterious feud. 

SPECIMEN DAYS by Michael Cunningham (Fiction)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
In each section of Michael Cunningham's daring, highly original and poignant novel --- his first since THE HOURS --- we encounter the same group of characters: a young boy, an older man, and a young woman. This haunting and genre-bending work spans an American era from the 19th-century dawn of the industrial revolution, through post-9/11 to 150 years into the future.

CROSS BONES by Kathy Reichs (Thriller)
Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
In this gripping and explosive new thriller from internationally acclaimed forensic anthropologist and New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs, Temperance Brennan and Detective Andrew Ryan are on the trail of a modern murder and an ancient biblical mystery.

KILLING TIME by Linda Howard (Romantic Suspense)
Reviewed by Amie Taylor
When chief county investigator Knox Davis witnesses the placement of a time capsule in his small Kentucky town in 1985, he never dreams that twenty years later the capsule will lead him to murder, mayhem and a mysterious woman who challenges him on every level.

MISSION ROAD by Rick Riordan (Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
When an old friend appears at his door spattered with blood and wanted for attempted homicide, Tres Navarre doesn't have to think twice about where his loyalty lies --- or the consequences. In Rick Riordan's latest Navarre novel, the San Antonio private investigator must revisit the sins of the past to catch a killer about to get away with murder...again.

THE WATER ROOM by Christopher Fowler (Mystery)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Arthur Bryant and John May, two cranky detectives whose professional partnership dates back half a century, return in a case of multiple murder that twists through a subterranean course of the secrets, lies, and extreme passions that drive even ordinary men and women to the most shocking crimes.

SOMETHING BLUE by Emily Giffin (Chick Lit)
Reviewed by Norah Piehl
With this compelling follow-up to her successful debut, SOMETHING BORROWED, Emily Giffin takes an unusual approach and offers another charming Chick Lit novel that will win her even more fans.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE LAW by Kermit Roosevelt (Fiction)
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
Recommended especially for those who favor the style of legal fiction followed by such authors as Scott Turow, this complex and ambitious novel takes readers behind the scenes of a fictional powerhouse Washington D.C. law firm and introduces a group of lawyers struggling to make their way in the firm.

LIE BY MOONLIGHT by Amanda Quick (Romance)
Reviewed by Hillary Wagy
New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick's new novel delivers passion, lust, adventure, and a suspenseful murder mystery along with a thoroughly modern perspective on one Victorian lady's view of the relationship between the sexes.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND ME: In My Anecdotage by Eli Wallach (Memoir)
Reviewed by H.V. Cordry
In Eli Wallach's anecdotal, witty and insightful memoir, the prolific yet humble star of film and theater --- whose career in show business spans over five decades --- tells the extraordinary story of his many years dedicated to his craft.

GHOSTING: A Double Life by Jennie Erdal (Memoir)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
In the early 1980s, Jennie Erdal was hired by a flamboyant British publisher she calls "Tiger" to be his specialist editor for Russian books. But she ended up becoming his ghostwriter for a huge nonfiction book on women, two glossy novels, and hundreds of newspaper columns --- all published under his own name. In this remarkable memoir Erdal relates how she became seduced into this peculiar job.

Click here to read this week's reviews and features.


 

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Poll: What Are You Reading?
Do you read different kinds of books over the summer than you do the rest of the year?
Yes, I want more escapist fiction.
Yes, I tackle longer reads.
No, I don't change my reading habits.
I am not sure what I do.
 
What kind of books top your summer reading list? Select only one.
Mysteries/thrillers
Literary fiction
Women's fiction
Historical fiction
Biographies/memoirs
Current events
Narrative nonfiction
Other (write in what you read!)
Answer the Poll here.

 
Question of the Week: Summer Reading

What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer?

Please note: Our question of the week will update July 15th

Answer the Question of the Week here.


 
Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes!

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of OVER HER DEAD BODY by Kate White and UNTIL I FIND YOU by John Irving. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on July 15th. 
 
 

Need more details about Word of Mouth? Click here.

 

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--- Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

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