July 26, 2019

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In our latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview, Carol is in conversation with Mary Beth Keane
about her latest book, ASK AGAIN, YES, a Bets On pick and this year's "Tonight Show" Summer Read. Click on the image above to watch the interview.

Carol is reading and loving THE GIFTED SCHOOL by Bruce Holsinger,
which we reviewed two weeks ago and will be a Bets On pick.

THE TESTAMENTS, the highly anticipated sequel to Margaret Atwood's THE HANDMAID'S TALE (releasing September 10th), is one of the longlisted titles for this year's Man Booker Prize.

Carol talks about next week's Summer Reading contests
and this month's ReadingGroupGuides.com update.

Carol will be ordering the chair that you see above, called the Ostrich Lounge Chaise.
You can put your head and arms through holes, which makes reading on your stomach so easy.

Summertime: I Am Not Sure the Living is Easy

You know that line “Summertime and the living is easy”? I am questioning the easy part. It begins with weeds. This summer they are everywhere. I stop to smell the flowers and am pulling weeds. I feel like we do not have a lawn; we have weeds in a row that are clipped and appear to be a lawn. It’s rained so much that at least it’s all green!

But then there was the wicked heat last weekend, and the flowers and leaves shriveled without lots of tending to them with water. Of course, right after I watered everything last Sunday night, it rained two inches. Then there is clipping dead flowers to encourage new blooms. Then there are bugs that eat the flowers and bugs that bite me. And there were the two nights when deer made their way over the fence, and bit and ate a lot of flowers and plants.

I mean, seriously, all this nature is exhausting!

Yesterday, I worked home and decided to do something really wild. I got in the pool, and floated and read…at 7am. Yes, I floated and read for about an hour. I know, how wild and crazy am I? Of course, the entire time I felt like I should be doing laps, or something exercise-related, so I kicked in my pool chair…a lot. Now all winter, I would sit on the couch and not think once about moving my legs, but in summer, I feel a need to be on the move, even when reading.

Being indoors on a gorgeous night makes me feel like I am doing something wrong. Last night, I went to yoga when it was still light out at 8:15; give it four weeks, and it will be dark by 8. I feel like I should be capitalizing on the daylight with every moment I can spend outdoors. Summer is so fleeting that I feel like I need to charge in and embrace it with great fervor, every delicious moment of it. After all, it’s the end of July already.

Our lounge chairs are in various stages of disrepair. They were fabulous wood loungers (with little trays for a drink or a book and armrests) when we first got them, but there is a reason they were not very expensive; the wood started to rot after season one. Lesson learned! I found this really cool chair this week, called the Ostrich Lounge Chaise, which makes reading on your stomach really easy, as you can put your head and arms through holes. I am going to order one and will report back. I do wish it had arms. But then again, an ostrich has wings, not arms.

Do not get me wrong. I do love summer, but the living ain’t easy. I know, I could skip the plants and flowers, but somehow the bursts of color make me smile...as I am weeding.

Reading brings me pleasure, no matter the season. This morning, I finished reading THE GIFTED SCHOOL by Bruce Holsinger; I grabbed every moment that I could (witness the above pool floating) to enjoy it. A school for gifted kids is opening in the Denver area, and parents are vying to get their kids in. The moms are much like those we saw in BIG LITTLE LIES; they have befriended each other because of the children, but the competition for these slots is pitting them against one another in that oh-so-special way that privileged folks can twist things up. It’s going to be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection! We reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, and just the description piqued my interest.

Last night, Jimmy Fallon announced the "Tonight Show" Summer Reads winner, and it’s ASK AGAIN, YES, which is one of my favorite books of 2019 and a Bets On pick. I screamed at the television last night when she won, yelling, “Yes, Yes, Yes!” like this was the Super Bowl. It’s a bookish version of that. The author, Mary Beth Keane, will appear on "The Tonight Show" on Thursday, August 15th.

Now what makes this even cooler is that we posted my latest video interview this week, and (drum roll here, like what they would play before a guest walks on stage at "The Tonight Show") my guest is Mary Beth Keane! So if you would like to learn more about the book (no spoilers, of course), give this one a watch. I listened to it this week, and it’s also going to be our first podcast. We are still producing that (currently we are on musical interludes, and I got an idea for something I want to include at the end), but we are getting very close to taking it live.

Among this week’s reviews are David Baldacci’s latest thriller, ONE GOOD DEED, which introduces readers to Aloysius Archer, a straight-talking former World War II soldier fresh out of prison for a crime he didn't commit; LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman, in which a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman; THE LAGER QUEEN OF MINNESOTA, J. Ryan Stradal’s novel of family, Midwestern values, hard work, fate and the secrets of making a world-class beer (his debut, KITCHENS OF THE GREAT MIDWEST, was a New York Times bestseller); A STRANGER ON THE BEACH, an edge-of-your seat story of passion and intrigue from Michele Campbell (it’s a brisk read; I read it last Saturday), whose previous books are IT'S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND and SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE; and Cristina Alger’s new thriller, GIRLS LIKE US, which we featured in last week’s newsletter as a Bets On selection.

In this week’s Summer Reading contests, we gave away THE GOLDEN HOUR by Beatriz Williams (an upcoming Bets On pick), OUR KIND OF CRUELTY by Araminta Hall, SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE by Jean Kwok (a recent Bets On pick), and YOU’VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED: A Class Mom Novel by Laurie Gelman (I have this one for weekend reading).

Next week’s Summer Reading prizes will be THE BOOKSHOP ON THE SHORE by Jenny Colgan, THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis (we’ll have our review next Friday, and it will be a Bets On selection), IT'S HOT IN THE HAMPTONS by Holly Peterson, and our current Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight title, NEVER HAVE I EVER by Joshilyn Jackson (we’ll feature our review of the book and interview with the author next week, and it, too, will be a Bets On pick). The first contest of the week will go live on Monday, July 29th at noon ET. You can see me sharing these books in a video here.

As we near the July 31st trade deadline in Major League Baseball, and teams must decide if they will be buyers or sellers (this news came from our Editorial Director, Tom Donadio, who knows all such things), our resident baseball aficionado Ron Kaplan is back with another fabulous roundup of titles all about our national pastime. This time around, he takes a look at memoirs by David Cone and Ron Swoboda, a biography of Ernie Banks, an account of how the Yankees went from being a laughingstock in the late ’80s and early ’90s to a juggernaut in the mid- to late-’90s, and a book that examines shifting attitudes towards MLB’s once-sacred player codes and what it means for the future of the sport.

What do you typically borrow from the library? That’s our latest poll question; let us know by clicking here!

Our previous poll asked which of 20 titles releasing in July you are planning to read. Here are your top five picks: THE CHELSEA GIRLS by Fiona Davis (40%), THE GOLDEN HOUR by Beatriz Williams (34%), LADY IN THE LAKE by Laura Lippman (32%), NEVER HAVE I EVER by Joshilyn Jackson (32%), and THE LAST BOOK PARTY by Karen Dukess (30%). Click here for all the results.

We have a new Word of Mouth contest to tell you about. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read, and you’ll be in the running to win SOMEONE WE KNOW by Shari Lapena, which we’ll review next week, and THE TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware, which we’ll review shortly after its August 6th release date. The deadline for your entries is Friday, August 9th at noon ET.

This is your last newsletter reminder to enter this month’s Sounding Off on Audio contest. Let us know by Thursday, August 1st at noon ET what audiobooks you’ve listened to, and you’ll have a chance to win the audio versions of Riley Sager's LOCK EVERY DOOR, read by Dylan Moore (I am just about finished listening to this on disc; her narration was really strong), and Debbie Macomber's WINDOW ON THE BAY, read by Tavia Gilbert, Erin Bennett and Karissa Vacker (I love ensemble casts).

Digital audio sales are HUGE this year. If you are not listening yet, I highly recommend that you give it a try. Even if you have tried audio before and have not enjoyed it, I encourage you to try again. I think the ease of downloading now, as well as the sophistication of the narrations, make this something you want to consider. If you have a smartphone, you can download an app to listen. Fast reader? You can speed up the audio reading. Seriously! I’m still enjoying Richard Russo’s CHANCES ARE... on digital audio.

The longlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize has been announced, and you can see it here. The most notable title on the list is THE TESTAMENTS, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to THE HANDMAID’S TALE, which publishes on September 10th. The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 3rd, followed by the announcement of the winner on October 14th.

This week, we learned the sad news that George Hodgman --- a magazine and book editor who worked at Simon & Schuster, Vanity Fair and Talk magazine --- passed away at the age of 60. You may remember him as the author of the 2015 memoir BETTYVILLE, in which he talked about returning to his hometown of Paris, Missouri, to take care of his aging mother, Betty.

News & Pop Culture

Reader Mail:

Judy wrote, “The library sent me an email telling me to download THE NEW GIRL by Daniel Silva. I read it in two nights. That's how good it was. I get so excited when I know a Silva, Iles or Dugoni book is coming out."

Linda wrote this about winning a copy of THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER by Patti Callahan Henry in our Summer Reading contest: “Thank you so much! I can't wait to read it!”

Beth wrote, "I just finished reading PRETTY GUILTY WOMEN by Gina LaManna, which I won in a Bookreporter contest and posted about it on Goodreads. Thanks so much for the book!”

"Big Little Lies": I have so much to say about the finale, but I will give you three thoughts, all spoilers, so skip if you did not watch. 1) Did anyone else notice that Jane’s son got super animated and precocious? I felt like Ziggy was impersonating Young Sheldon (another character he plays). 2) Why did Bonnie’s mother have to wake up, if they were going to kill her off? and 3) Did Celeste really not know that video was there? I am keeping it to three, but I will add this: We do not need a Season Three!

"Orange is the New Black": The seventh and final season premieres today. Have you read the book yet?

Laurie Gelman on "GMA": The author of the aforementioned YOU’VE BEEN VOLUNTEERED was on "Good Morning America" the other day, and you can see her appearance here. Laurie is the wife of Michael Gelman, who you may know as the Executive Producer of "Live with Kelly and Ryan." The book brings back every moment of being an elementary and middle school mom, though I never was the class mother!

I saw this baby blanket, and it may be one of the most ambitious knitting projects that I ever have seen. “Seung Lee has created a tangible, very soft representation of his baby’s first year of sleep patterns in the form of a knitted blanket. Lee collected the sleep data by manually logging it with the Baby Connect app, and used JavaScript and Python to convert the data to visualize the knitting pattern. He then built a browser-based HTML/Javascript tool that kept track of the stitch colors and allowed him to reference it wherever he was knitting from. The result is The Sleep Blanket, a beautiful keepsake that tells the story of the baby and parents’ first year together.” Read on for more about it and to see it. It is amazing...every step. I think I would frame it. I would not let the baby carry it around the house!

Next week, we are going to say a very tearful goodbye to Nicole Sherman, who has been on the TBRN staff for almost seven years! She’s leaving to do six months of traveling, taking some time to see the world. Nikki, as we call her around the office, is one of the most efficient and organized people I ever have worked with. She’s completely on top of her game; no ball is ever dropped with her. When she is out of the office, she leaves me such detailed notes that I feel like she is still there!

Through the years, she also has contributed valuable insight into how our programs and promotions are structured --- and has made us so much better at what we do. She is also super well-versed on pop culture, and I am going to miss her takes on what to see, watch and listen to; she writes our 20SomethingReads newsletter (more on that next week). I will be spending from now until Wednesday trying to get everything in her head downloaded somewhere. We’ll celebrate her on Wednesday --- and we all look forward to a postcard or two or three with foreign stamps on them. She will then join a long list of TBRN staffers who will continue to be part of our extended work family. I am very grateful to her, and wish her safe travels and many happy trails.

Speaking of traveling staffers, Shannon McKenna Schmidt worked at TBRN back in the early 2000s. We have kept in touch through the years; you may remember her as the author of NOVEL DESTINATIONS. She and her husband, Brian, have spent most of the last six --- or seven --- years traveling the world. (I know, is this a theme with our staffers?) They spent the first two years in an RV crisscrossing America and then took off for Europe and Asia. On Saturday, they are coming to our house for the day, and I am so looking forward to catching up with them. I still am playing around with a menu. I started pulling up photos from last year, trying to remember what we made last summer. Salmon and key lime pie definitely are on the menu; the rest I still am fiddling with.

Greg is around after three great events following the Liverpool soccer team around the country, as is Quentin, the hedgehog. Quentin is the easiest houseguest --- water in a bowl, and he’s satisfied. Cory says he’s nocturnal; as I write late at night, he is hanging out on his wheel. It’s like having a teen/twentysomething in the house: he sleeps all day and parties all night.

I am off to pull some more weeds and deadhead flowers. At least I am not bored; there is always something to do!

Read on, and have a great week.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

P.S. For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this!

Featured Review: ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci

ONE GOOD DEED by David Baldacci (Historical Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Edoardo Ballerini
When World War II veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole. The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employment --- and a stiff drink --- leads him to a local bar, where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman. Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won't be so easy. When a murder takes place right under Archer's nose, police suspicions rise against the ex-convict, and Archer realizes that the crime could send him right back to prison...if he doesn't use every skill in his arsenal to track down the real killer. Reviewed by Ray Palen.

- Click here to read more about the book.