Blog
In her holiday blog post, Carolyn McBride shares some family history and a cookbook that inspired her to finish writing her holiday novella, SANTA OVERBOARD, which was published this fall. When Carolyn’s mother passed away in 2019, she became the keeper of the family heirlooms and channeled this transition from daughter to family matriarch into her coming-of-middle-age novel, THE CICADA SPRING. Not surprisingly, some of the treasures she found in her mother’s house guided her in developing her latest tale of a female boat captain restoring her inner compass on a rollicking cruise of second chances.
We kick off this year’s Holiday Author Blog series with Amanda Peters, whose nationally bestselling debut novel, THE BERRY PICKERS, is now available in paperback. This Bookreporter.com Bets On pick won the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. Her first collection of short stories, WAITING FOR THE LONG NIGHT MOON, releases on February 11th. Amanda’s grandfather passed away when she was just a teenager. One Christmas, her grandmother gifted her one of many books that he would read aloud to his family. Amanda has long cherished that book for a very special reason.
Carol Fitzgerald wrote a lovely tribute to the late Nelson DeMille in the September 20th Bookreporter Weekly Update newsletter, and she encouraged readers to share their own thoughts about Nelson and his work. It is clear from the comments we compiled here that this beloved author will be missed, and his numerous books will be cherished for many years to come.
On Tuesday, September 17th, I learned the very sad news that Nelson DeMille passed away. He had been fighting esophageal cancer for about nine months. When I saw a note in my inbox last Tuesday night from his children, Lauren and Alex, I literally yelled “No!’ so loudly that my husband came in from the other room to see what had happened.
Books, algorithms, civics and dragons. Oh my!
The National Book Festival, hosted by the Library of Congress, is one of my favorite days of the year. August 24th marked the festival’s 24th anniversary!
It’s been held on the mall, it’s been held at the convention center, it’s been virtual, and it’s been hybrid.
Question my devotion? Here’s some evidence.
In Linwood Barclay’s new thriller, I WILL RUIN YOU, a teacher’s act of heroism inadvertently makes him the target of a dangerous blackmailer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The teacher, Richard Boyle, runs into trouble when he introduces his students to a novel that is not on the curriculum. This subplot inspired Linwood to share his thoughts on book banning and his experiences with it.
We wrap up this year’s Mother’s Day Author Blog series with Ann Hood, whose books include the novels THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST and THE KNITTING CIRCLE, and the memoir FLY GIRL. In her latest work of fiction, THE STOLEN CHILD (an upcoming Bookreporter.com Bets On pick), an unlikely duo ventures through France and Italy to solve the mystery of a child’s fate. Ann loved reading with her children, Sam and Grace, as they bonded over Babar, Madeline and every Roald Dahl book. But sadly, there was one story that they were never able to finish.
THE WIVES, a recent Bookreporter.com Bets On selection, is a captivating memoir that tells the story of Simone Gorrindo’s experience of joining a community of army wives after leaving her New York City job. Simone has fond memories of her mother reading her bedtime stories each evening. In fact, she loved this part of the day so much that, at the age of six, she came up with an ingenious way of extending the time they spent together right before calling it a night. Simone’s daughter, who is now seven, has adopted this same strategy, and Simone wouldn’t have it any other way.
In her new memoir, BREAKING GLASS: Tales from the Witch of Wall Street, Patricia Walsh Chadwick explains how, after getting kicked out of a cult at the age of 17, she started on the bottom rung of the ladder in the world of business and worked her way to the top --- breaking through the glass ceiling to become a global partner at Invesco. The apple clearly didn’t fall far from the tree, as her mother and grandmother were go-getters whose intelligence, drive and determination to succeed knew no bounds. In her Mother’s Day blog post, Patricia pays loving tribute to these two extraordinary women.
Inspired by her own family story, DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG is Eve J. Chung’s propulsive debut novel about a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China. For the longest time, Eve was under the impression that her mom didn’t like to read, even though she made sure that Eve made frequent trips to the library. It wasn’t until later in life that Eve, a voracious reader, realized she had so much more in common with her mom than she ever thought, which has made their relationship even stronger.
