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Last Saturday book group members, leaders and avid readers joined editors of the Hachette Book Group and their authors in New York at the Lighthouse International for Hachette’s Annual Book Group Brunch.

This past Saturday, September 27th, readers and writers arrived in downtown Morristown for a beautiful, sunny day of books and author talks at the inaugural Morristown Festival of Books. The downtown location was a particularly great venue because of the easily accessible parking and literally dozens of places to eat during the lunch break.

If there is one series that has crossed multiple generations and genres, it is the Outlander novels. The books, the first of which was published in 1991, have slowly but surely acquired a large base of fans, many of whom who have been reading the series for over 20 years.

One of my favorite parts of my job is conducting interviews for REAL TALK: Publishing. I get to meet people with the most interesting jobs, and, like our readers, get a sneak peek into a side of the book industry that I likely know little about. Preparing for our upcoming REAL TALK interview with audiobook producer/director May Wuthrich was no exception, and actually, it was extra special, because it came with a field trip! May invited me to watch an hour of her recording session with Mozhan Marnò (“House of Cards” fans will recognize her as reporter Ayla Sayyad), who was narrating READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN author Azar Nafisi’s newest book, THE REPUBLIC OF IMAGINATION: America in Three Books. Here are a few of the most interesting things I discovered:

Last Saturday I spent a lovely evening at the East Hampton Authors Night event at Gardiner Farm. I had been to this event last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to seeing author friends and watching readers buying books and conversing with authors.

As frequent readers may recall a few months ago I got a new phone after years with what I called a “dumb phone,” which was only good for calls and texts, and a Blackberry that I only used for email as it was an older model and too slow to do much else. For the first couple of weeks I was frustrated as I was on a  learning curve with my smartphone, but soon I was tapping away on my Samsung Galaxy S5 with ease. I did not even miss the Blackberrry keyboard that I had coveted so much.

Lawrence Goldstone is an award-winning author and writer, whose articles, reviews and opinion pieces have appeared in The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other periodicals. His most recent book, BIRDMEN: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies, is about the rivalry between famed innovators and airmen the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss --- a rivalry so powerful that it shaped aviation in its early years and drove one of the three men to his grave. Here, Lawrence talks about something a bit more amicable: His daughter, Emily, and the love they shared for John le Carré’s TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY. Their enthusiasm fueled many wonderfully obsessive dinner conversations and a sweet surprise that Lawrence never expected.

Heather Gudenkauf is the author of the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novels THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE, THESE THINGS HIDDEN and ONE BREATH AWAY. Her latest book, LITTLE MERCIES, is a searing portrait of the tenuous grasp we have on the things we love the most, and of the ties that unexpectedly bring us together. This Father’s Day, Heather is celebrating her own father’s love --- for his family and also for books. She learned from her dad to enjoy a good mystery, and also to know the importance of being able to put a good book down and spend time with family.

Kicking off this year's Father’s Day Blog series is Lorenzo Carcaterra, a former journalist and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of SLEEPERS, GANGSTER and MIDNIGHT ANGELS. In his latest novel, THE WOLF (out July 29th), organized crime goes to war with international terrorism in the name of one man’s quest for revenge. Carcaterra’s fascination with true crime --- organized and otherwise --- started early, when he and his father indulged in their “ritual of the papers” after a long day of work. His dad preferred tabloid and boxing stories, but Carcaterra couldn’t resist exploring the rest of the newspaper. His dream, he admitted when pressed, was to write stories. A serendipitous appearance by Truman Capote on “The Merv Griffin Show” and his father’s understated, unwavering encouragement inspired Carcaterra to achieve just that.

As you may have guessed, Lynn Cullen --- the award-winning author of numerous books, most recently the fan-favorite MRS. POE --- is all about books. Although she tends to write sweeping historical fiction, here she shares a story from more recent history about reading to her now-grown kids when they were children. She admits that after a long day, she was often exhausted and not entirely thrilled by the prospect of the bedtime story. It was never a choice, though; reading to her kids was as essential as feeding them dinner, and looking back on it now, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Happy Mother's Day!