October 2, 2009

Well, didn't September just zip on by! Whoosh went those 30 days. The other day I was in a store and people were talking about getting ready for the holidays and I felt myself thinking..."noooo, not yet!" I was just beginning to think orange for Halloween.

With all my travel and evenings out for business events, I find that when I am home it's pretty critical that things are organized. Thus these last few weeks have been spent trying to make that happen. Papers are finding their way into folders, and the folders are sliding their way into file cabinets. Yarn is being shelved by color and project. In a moment of absolutely compulsive organization last Sunday afternoon, I put my circular knitting needles into a handy little case and labeled each section by size and length of the needle. In other words, I have been pretty obsessed with getting things cleaned up.

Then there are the books. Books fly into the office in New York and onto my desk at a pretty steady clip. Others find their way to my house. Part of this is because I cannot stop these words from coming out --- "That sounds really good; I would love to take a look at it."

Last spring I bought two bookcases for the bedroom with a plan that those would house the current reading and my all-time favorites like A TRACE OF FOOTPRINTS. Those two bookcases are now filled, and there are four piles of books on the floor. Sure, some of these have been read recently and have not found their way to a) the fiction bookshelves in the family room, b) the nonfiction bookshelves in the living room, c) the ARC bookshelves in the upstairs hallway, d) the graphic novel bookshelves in my home office, e) the cookbook shelf in the kitchen and f) the two collections of coffee table books in the living room and dining room, but others are "to be read."

Later today the plan is to organize the "to be read" by release date, though I have to tell you I am seeing some early copies of books coming next summer that are just calling my name. But there are some that came out this summer that are doing the same thing.

Tomorrow I am headed to Baltimore for the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association's Fall Conference. In addition to getting to see booksellers and talking about books/what's happening/what people are excited about, there is an awards ceremony on Saturday night where three authors whose work I know are being honored: Robert Goolrick (A RELIABLE WIFE), Michael Greenberg (HURRY DOWN SUNSHINE) and Gayle Forman (IF I STAY). Should be a good time.

Wednesday night I went to The Mysterious Bookshop for a standing room only event where Jason Pinter and Reed Farrel Coleman did an appearance together. First, let me comment on this store. Otto Penzler has created a Mystery Lovers paradise here. From the moment you hit the door, you are swept into a very special kind of bookstore. There are tables of signed copies that alert readers how many authors have made stops there. If you are in the city, it's worth a stop to 58 Warren Street. If you do not live here, add this one to the list next time you travel to New York!

We have a review of Jason's latest, THE FURY, here, and Joe Hartlaub was just crazy about it. Reed's latest, TOWER, was written with Ken Bruen, which was an interesting experience since they lived 3,000 miles away from each other as Ken is across "the Pond." Reed wrote the second half, keeping the story consistent but moving forward from Ken's part.

October is National Reading Group Month, and with that in mind we have two lists that you might want to check out. The first, The Fall 2009/Winter 2010 Indie Next List for Reading Groups, has been pulled together by the independent bookseller folks at IndieBound.org, and you will see that many of their favorites are titles that we have featured here. Also, we have a list from Women's National Book Association (WNBA), who are hosting a series of events across the country to celebrate the third annual National Reading Group Month. Click here to read more about this!

The National Reading Group Month signature event is being held at the Nashville Public Library Downtown on Saturday, October 10th, as part of the Southern Festival of Books. Featured authors at the breakfast and book signing are Marie Brenner (APPLES AND ORANGES: My Brother and Me, Lost and Found), Holly Goddard Jones (GIRL TROUBLE: Stories), Perri Klass (THE MERCY RULE), Inman Majors (THE MILLIONAIRES) and Kathryn Stockett (THE HELP). You can read more about all 10 of these events here.

October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month --- and thus there are many things pink all over town. Years ago I heard Kristin Hannah give a talk about how she had started writing back when her mom was ill with breast cancer while Kristin was in her third year of law school. They collaborated on what she called "the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written." After her mom's death, she went on to become a lawyer and did not start writing until years later when she was pregnant with her son and confined to bed rest. She realized that her mom had been right all along; she was destined to be a writer. She walked away from her law career and started writing.

Through the years, when I have spoken with Kristin, she had shared stories about her mom, and it was clear she really missed her. To honor her mom --- and all the other women who have lost their lives to breast cancer --- Kristin has created a tribute wall on her website --- and the Firefly Fund to which you can donate will go towards The Fight against inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). You can see more details further down the page in this newsletter. There's a great backstory as to how The Firefly Fund got its name. Readers really can make a special community.

This week we're launching a new Author Spotlight feature for John Lutz. Our readers really enjoyed his two previous titles. In URGE TO KILL, homicide detective Frank Quinn returns to face a relentless murderer. We have 10 copies to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. If you are interested, please fill out this form by Friday, October 9th.

Speaking of authors our readers enjoy, we received very nice feedback for Beverly Barton's SILENT KILLER and Alan Jacobson's CRUSH. Click on the authors' names to read the comments.

We have lots of reviews, including those for R.J. Ellory's A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, which I loved (and there's a great interview too), DEXTER BY DESIGN by Jeff Lindsay (by the way...I like the TV series, though I think the season opener could have been sharper) and the very smashing SMASH CUT by Sandra Brown, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Okay, I am headed back to organizing. My books are calling. And also to the conversation about making homemade pizza. Cory is rallying his friends, but I have been instructed not to start making the dough until he calls to confirm that pizza is happening here tonight. Have a great week...happy reading.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

 

On FaithfulReader.com we are celebrating the release of A SLOW BURN --- the second title in Mary E. DeMuth’s suspenseful Texas Defiance Trilogy --- with a special contest. In December, three Grand Prize winners will receive a fresh, seasonal bouquet of flowers from the "Flower of the Month Club" as well as a finished copy of the first two books in the Defiance Texas Trilogy, DAISY CHAIN and A SLOW BURN. The winners will also receive a new bouquet in January and February. In addition, 15 runners-up will receive a finished copy of DAISY CHAIN and A SLOW BURN.

A SLOW BURN: Defiance Texas Trilogy, Book 2 by Mary E. DeMuth (Mystery)
Emory Chance needs to find who killed her daughter Daisy and unravel the mystery behind a sickening premonition --- a man with a snake tattoo. The second book in the Defiance Texas Trilogy, A SLOW BURN, is a suspenseful story about courageous love, the power of forgiveness and the bonds that never break.

-Click here to read more about A SLOW BURN.
-Click here to read an excerpt from A SLOW BURN.
-Click here to read Mary E. DeMuth’s bio.
-Click here to read an interview with Mary E. DeMuth.
-Click here to read more about DAISY CHAIN.
 

October’s roundup of New in Paperback titles includes Jamie Ford’s debut novel, HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, a love story about two people who come from totally different worlds and a cultural examination set against the backdrop of Japanese internment during World War II; WHILE MY SISTER SLEEPS by Barbara Delinsky, in which the life of a woman is turned upside down and inside out when her sister suffers a heart attack and ends up in a coma; BURN OUT, Marcia Muller’s 26th Sharon McCone mystery that finds the San Francisco PI drawn into the plight of a troubled, highly secretive Native American lady and her dysfunctional family; BLOOD AND BONE, William Lashner’s first stand-alone thriller and an introduction to a young man whose aloofness is seriously challenged when he’s drawn into a murder investigation; and THE LONGEST TRIP HOME, a coming-of-age memoir from MARLEY & ME author John Grogan about growing up in the 1960s and his struggle to find himself despite his family's conflicting values.