Blog

Melanie Benjamin is the author of the nationally bestselling ALICE I HAVE BEEN and THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MRS. TOM THUMB. Her latest novel, THE AVIATOR’S WIFE (now available in paperback), pulls back the curtain on one of America’s most extraordinary and complicated couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Although Melanie grew up in a family of avid readers, she well knows the perils of giving books as gifts to loved ones. Here, she shares stories of book-gifting gone wrong and some tips for getting it just right.

Preston & Child know a thing or two about co-writing a successful thriller. They’ve written 20 books together, 14 of which feature Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast. The latest in the Pendergast series, WHITE FIRE, is hardly what they would call a “nice, heartwarming Christmas book,” but that doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty of spirit. In this Holiday Author Blog, Preston (Doug) & Child (Linc) use their natural chemistry to their advantage in a conversation in which they discuss everything from the inspiration behind WHITE FIRE to writing about the things that frighten them most.

Shannon McKenna Schmidt is the co-author (with Joni Rendon) of WRITERS BETWEEN THE COVERS: The Scandalous Romantic Lives of Legendary Literary Casanovas, Coquettes, and Cads and NOVEL DESTINATIONS: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West. Here, she recalls the childhood gift that helped inspire her to become a perpetual nomad. She can be found on the web at www.EverywhereOnce.com.

Nancy Thayer is the author of THE HOT FLASH CLUB, among many other bestselling novels. She currently lives in Nantucket, which makes her the perfect authority on the magic of the holiday season on the small Massachussetts island. Her latest book, A NANTUCKET CHRISTMAS, is about Nicole Somerset, newly married and new to Nantucket, who must win over her icy step-daughter in time for Christmas. In her Holiday Blog post, Nancy talks about her family's love of books, and recalls the first Christmas they spent with her daughter's fiancé, Neil, a chemical engineer she worried would not share the family's passion for reading. That Christmas, though, she learned that a good thriller could make a bookworm out of even the most serious scientist.

Ann Hood is the bestselling author of THE KNITTING CIRCLE, THE RED THREAD and THE OBITUARY WRITER, among others, as well as the recipient of mutiple awards, including two Pushcart Prizes. Her latest book, KNITTING YARNS: Writers on Knitting, is a collection of essays by 27 popular authors --- curated and edited by Ann --- about the transformative magic of yarn and a pair of needles. Here, Ann writes about the magic of another seemingly ordinary object: a book. She recalls how her mother dismissed books as "the greatest waste of money around," and how splurging on a hardcover was her first small but significant step toward independence.   

We're kicking off this year's Holiday Author Blogs with Lynn Cullen, the author of numerous award-winning books for both children and adults. Her latest novel, MRS. POE, is about Frances Osgood, the married poet who inspired the love of Edgar Allan Poe and the ire of his vengeful wife. In this inaugural post, Lynn recalls an almost-encounter she had with a young couple who was searching for a children's book for the man's grandfather, whose mind was muddled by Alzheimer's, at the bookstore where Lynn was working. She wistfully admits that it wasn't apathy, but her own "hushed grief and sympathy for the young man's sorrow" that kept her from helping the couple and sharing her own similar experience. 

The past is a foreign country, as L.P. Hartley famously observed in THE GO BETWEEN. But unlike other exotic destinations, it’s one you don’t have to leave home to visit. All you need is the right kind of passport: historical fiction... The ability to transport the reader through time as well as place is one of the reasons the genre has always enthralled me, and now --- being married to historical novelist Tasha Alexander --- I’m doubly fortunate: Not only do I love reading her finished books, but I get to watch them being created. It’s fascinating to see a bygone era being reconstructed before my eyes --- with its delicate tapestry of distinctive clothes, food, technology, vocabulary, class distinctions and social conventions --- but that’s only half the story, because the driving force of any novel is really its protagonist. In Tasha’s case, of course, that’s the wonderful Lady Emily. And that begs the question: Living in the present-past with Tasha-Emily, how much are these two captivating ladies alike?

This year, the 44th Bouchercon --- the world's leading convention for crime fiction readers, writers and others ---  was held in Albany on September 19-22. Wendy Webb, the award-winning mystery author of THE TALE OF HALCYON CRANE (2010, Holt), THE FATE OF MERCY ALBAN (2013, Hyperion) and THE VANISHING (2014, Hyperion), was kind enough to answer a few questions about her experiences as a panelist and an attendee. In this interview with Bookreporter.com, she talks about all the interesting things she did and saw, including the "liars"-themed panel she herself was on, as well as some of the other authors she most enjoyed listening to --- including Louise Penny and Marcia Clark. 

What’s it like to have your city flooded with book people? Not so bad, according to Bookreporter.com reviewer Amy Gwiazdowski of Washington, DC, who was among the thousands in attendance at the National Book Festival on September 21st and 22nd. Luckily, Amy was willing to share her experiences about her day at the festival with all of us who weren’t there. Read on to find out which books she’s most excited about after attending, the interesting literary question the Library of Congress posed to the world at their pavilion, and the best part about getting together with fellow readers.

On September 21st and 22nd, thousands of book lovers gathered in Washington, D.C. for the 2013 Library of Congress National Book Festival. Among those in attendance was Bookreporter.com reader Denise from Rockville, MD, who tries to make it to this national celebration of all things reading every year. Luckily, for those of us who weren’t there for the fun, Denise agreed to chat with us about her experiences. Here, she gives a recap of her favorite panels, shares which authors she was dying to meet most, and chimes in on the Franzen-Weiner Twitter controversy, which, in case you missed it, is the most recent literary spat grabbing headlines. She also reveals what surprised her most and gives advice for folks thinking of saving the date for next year.