October 18, 2019

Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com

Carol moderated three panels at the Morristown Festival of Books, each featuring two authors.
First, she interviewed Whitney Scharer (left), author of THE AGE OF LIGHT,
and Marie Benedict (middle), author of THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM.
As you can see, they are holding each other's books!

Next, Carol interviewed Beatriz Williams (left), author of THE GOLDEN HOUR,
and Marjan Kamali (right), author of THE STATIONERY SHOP.

Carol's last interview was with Jennifer Robson (left), author of THE GOWN,
and Pam Jenoff (right), author of THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS.

Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview and podcast is with Karen White, whose new novel,
THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET, releases on Tuesday, October 22nd.
Click on the photo above for the video and here for the podcast.

In August, we featured Carol's video interview with the aforementioned Marjan Kamali. We now
have added a podcast of their discussion, which you can listen to by clicking on the image above.

Carol spent the last day of her long weekend reading and enjoying
WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott, which releases on April 7, 2020.

Carol and Tom Donadio attended the launch party for GOODNIGHT BUBBALA, a picture book written
by Sheryl Haft and illustrated by Jill Weber, which took place in Ina and Jeffrey Garten's apartment.
Ina's recipe for latkes, which were served at the event, is included in the book.

Strolling Down Author Memory Lane

The Morristown Festival of Books was terrific! There were great crowds of enthusiastic readers (much larger than last year) at every event. All three of the panels that I moderated were such fun; each author did a wonderful job of sharing her work. Though I had interviewed most of them before, I still learned a lot as we headed in some new directions. You can see photos above.

My only regret was all the other authors I did not get to see, but ah, that is the nature of book festivals. I was able to see Jerry Craft talk about his brilliant middle-grade graphic novel, NEW KID, which is about a young African American boy who is sent to an elite private school where he definitely is in the minority. It mirrors his own experience at Fieldston in New York City. The book has been getting raves and garnering awards, with good reason. It's so well done. Our own Austin Ruh moderated a fantasy author panel with Katherine Arden and S.A. Chakraborty, and he was great!

Annmarie Puleio, one of our longtime readers, was at the Festival and was kind enough to share her experiences with us in this blog post. She attended the Book Club Girl luncheon that was held at the Festival and gives great feedback about that event.

Last Sunday, in an effort to unwind, Tom and I took a hike at Jockey Hollow and then walked around the Cross Gardens, where there still were some flowers peeking through. After a muggy wet summer, I have been thoroughly enjoying fall, and early fall just may be overtaking summer as my favorite season. Then we went to see Downton Abbey in a near-empty theater (which I love). It was terrific; it brought back great memories of watching the show.

On Monday, I sat by the pool reading a brilliant novel, WHAT'S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott, which is coming out next year, on April 7th. It's set in Japan and revolves around the “wakaresaseya,” where one person is hired by another to seduce a spouse and break up a marriage, with a goal that this will bring a better settlement in a divorce. In it, a young woman is searching for the truth about her mother’s murder, and it’s really well done. It may have been one of the last "good days" to be outside, so I savored it...and tried to ignore the leaves dropping into the pool.

On Tuesday night, Tom Donadio and I went to an event to celebrate the launch for GOODNIGHT BUBBULA by Sheryl Haft, a really delightful picture book that is a “joyful parody” of GOODNIGHT MOON. It was held at the apartment of Ina Garten and her husband, Jeffrey, which was definitely fun for the foodie/home cook in me. Many of us were taking photos of Ina’s kitchen; one comment was that her pans were a lot shinier than ours. The book includes Ina's recipe for latkes, which were served there. Amusingly, at one point during the writing process, there was a comment from Sheryl that she felt they needed more potatoes in the recipe. Ina put the kibosh on that, saying, “We tested it 14 times.” The book is filled with lots of Yiddish expressions, and there is a glossary of them in the back.

Tom and I spent some time talking to the book's illustrator, Jill Weber, and it was so interesting to hear about her technique: acrylic wash. She shared the challenge of getting so much onto the page --- the layout with lots of characters, as well as tucking in little bits of whimsy throughout. Those of us who can recite GOODNIGHT MOON from heart will love the way this book works so well. And it will be a great holiday gift!

Oh, and on the way into her apartment, I mentioned to Ina (I know…my new first-name friend, Ina) that we made her Shrimp Scampi recipe last Sunday. When we were in the theater, Tom was convinced that we had shrimp at home. We did not. And as he made a run to the store to get it, he called to see if we needed anything else. I tried to call him to tell him we needed panko, but both our phones were silenced from our time at the movie, so we never connected. Breadcrumbs were substituted! Ina, they worked, but panko would be better.

Our latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with Karen White is now available on video and as a podcast. I loved talking to her about THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET, which is the latest in her Tradd Street series and is in stores on Tuesday. I thoroughly enjoyed the way she brought Charleston to life, and if I am spiking oranges with cloves this holiday season, you know where I got the inspiration from. While this is the sixth book in the series, and I have not read the others, I felt right up to speed; she writes backstory that well. Karen has admonished me to start at the beginning for the rest of the series as the progression of her character, Melanie Trenholm, is something that makes the books more fun. I saw a lot of parallels between this character and Karen. Just saying. And I hear I am not alone in this. I have never been to Charleston, but she made me want to book a trip. And while I typically do not gravitate to supernatural stories, her spirits that appeared at critical moments totally amused me. My life is complicated enough with live characters. We also talked about her writing with Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. Their next book together is ALL THE WAYS WE SAID GOODBYE, and it will be out on January 14th.

Also, we are sharing a podcast of our “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with Marjan Kamali, the author of THE STATIONERY SHOP. We had brought you the video earlier. We still are playing a bit of catch-up! Marjan was terrific in Morristown, so we wanted to be sure to get this to you now!

By the way, if you give our podcast a listen, or watch a video, we would love you to rate us and comment. Here are a couple of comments that we got recently on iTunes: “Love this podcast. I love interviews with authors, and this podcast does just that. The interviews are in-depth and interesting!!” and “Engaging. Thrilled that these interviews are now on podcasts! Such in-depth and interesting questions. Looking forward to many more episodes!” Ratings and comments help us both on iTunes and on YouTube.

This week’s update is special as there are two authors in it who played a part in Bookreporter’s history. First up is John Grisham. Back in 1996, when we started the company, I vowed that we would not meet with publishers until we had been live for a few months. I wanted to show them, not tell them, what we were going to do. Jesse Kornbluth and I started making the rounds in early 1997, and when we met with Grisham’s publisher, they were intrigued as our website was something new and they wanted to do something special with us. A couple of weeks later, they called and offered us the first online interview with Grisham for THE PARTNER, as well as the first online excerpt. It helped to put us on the map, and we remain ever grateful to him for that.

The second author is Tim O’Brien. When we made our first presentation to AOL (yes, we started on AOL), we brought along 10 signed copies of THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, which Tim had been kind enough to sign for us. It made a huge impression on the folks there. We loved that book and told them that we wanted to bring readers the opportunity to get to know authors like him, and to discuss similar books that we felt there should be conversation about. Remember, this was 1996; our plan to interview authors and do book reviews online was cutting edge.

Both are great memories…and thus I am delighted to share these authors’ latest work with you this week. By the way, this week’s promo video featured me talking about them.

THE GUARDIANS is John Grisham’s latest legal thriller. In it, a man who was convicted of murdering his lawyer but maintains his innocence turns to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients forgotten by the system. Stuart Shiffman has our review and says, "Because this is a thriller and not real life, Grisham gives readers an interesting twist often not present in actual exoneration cases.... As always in a Grisham novel, that effort is a page-turning thriller."

Meanwhile, Tim O’Brien has written his first book in 17 years, following 2002's JULY, JULY. In DAD'S MAYBE BOOK, Tim shares wisdom from a life in letters, lessons learned in wartime, and the challenges, humor and rewards of raising two sons. Harvey Freedenberg raves about the book in his review: "There are smiles and tears awaiting the reader on every page of this often emotionally charged book, and enough wisdom in it about what it means to be a parent, and a decent human being, to fuel many hours of personal recollection and reflection."

Other books we're reviewing this week include OLIVE, AGAIN, the long-awaited sequel to Elizabeth Strout’s 2008 novel, OLIVE KITTERIDGE; GRAND UNION, Zadie Smith’s first collection of short stories, which has been longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal; high-profile memoirs from Julie Andrews (HOME WORK), in which she shares reflections on her legendary career, and Augusten Burroughs (TOIL & TROUBLE), a chronicle of his journey to understand himself that, according to the publisher, is “tender, touching...and just a little spooky”; and Susan Isaacs' new novel, TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE, which introduces readers to a former FBI agent who is convinced that the man she sees at her weekly lunches is not who he claims to be. (Fun fact: Susan and I share the same birthday! December 7th.)

Our Fall Preview contests wrapped up this week with our final three giveaways: BEFORE AND AFTER: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, THE GREAT BLUE HILLS OF GOD: A Story of Facing Loss, Finding Peace, and Learning the True Meaning of Home by Kreis Beall, and IF ONLY I COULD TELL YOU by Hannah Beckerman. Congratulations to the winners of our 21 contests, and many thanks to all who entered!

Our next series of 24-hour giveaways will be our Holiday Cheer contests, and they kick off on Tuesday, November 12th. If you would like to receive a special newsletter announcing each day’s Holiday Cheer title, all you have to do is sign up here.

We have a new Word of Mouth contest to tell you about. Let us know by Friday, November 1st at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win BLUE MOON: A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child and THE DESERTER by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille. We’ll be reviewing both novels over the next couple of weeks, and the latter will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick.

For our latest poll, we've listed 25 fiction titles releasing in October and we’re asking you which, if any, you’re planning to read. Click here to let us know.

Our previous poll asked if you attend, or would like to attend, author events, including book festivals. Here are the results:

47% I have been to some author events and would like to go to more, but the timing of them or the distance to get to them is tough for me.
20% I have been to some author events, and that works for me.
19% Author events do not happen near my home, so I cannot participate.
14% I go to many author events.
9% I do not attend author events, but I would if I knew about them.
7% I am not interested in attending author events.

There’s still plenty of time to enter this month’s Sounding Off on Audio contest, where we’re giving away the audio versions of Jojo Moyes' THE GIVER OF STARS, read by Julia Whelan, and Elizabeth Strout’s aforementioned OLIVE, AGAIN, read by Kimberly Farr. Submit your comments about the audiobooks you’ve listened to, and you’ll be in the running to win both these audio titles. Be sure to fill out the entry form by Friday, November 1st at noon ET.

This week, we received the surprising news that two authors were awarded this year’s Man Booker Prize for Fiction: Margaret Atwood for THE TESTAMENTS and Bernardine Evaristo for GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER. The Booker Prize has been jointly awarded only twice before, to Nadine Gordimer and Stanley Middleton in 1974 and to Michael Ondaatje and Barry Unsworth in 1992. In 1993, the rules were changed so that only one author could win the prize. This is the first time since then that two authors have been announced as joint winners. Click here to read more about Atwood, Evaristo and their prize-winning books.

News & Pop Culture

Reader Mail: Karylee wrote that she is “delighted” about winning a copy of Julia Kelly's THE LIGHT OVER LONDON in a Fall Preview contest. We are glad that she won!

"Succession": Terrific season finale. I would love to be on that yacht. And here is a great perspective on the finale, but read only if you already have watched.

"Ballers": Loved the way the season and the show wrapped. Lots there about football and the toll we now know the game takes on the players.

"The Affair": Last Sunday’s episode was terrific and pulled together a lot of pieces of Noah’s life. It was very well-paced, and let’s just say that Noah’s past gets very complicated in the age of #MeToo. The episode the week before was something along the order of bizarre --- the part where Alison’s daughter tries to figure out her death. I would have edited a whole lot of that. It started well and then plummeted.This week's episode really will spin you around from Helen's point of view and then Whitney's. The final lines are great.

On Sunday, I am headed up to White Plains for a presentation at their library. I hear there are still tickets available if you would like to attend; click here to fill out the registration form.

I think I want to try another hike on Saturday. We live in an area where there are a number of great trails that are not that far away. We have to get the cover on the pool, aka the leaf catcher. And I guess I should really think more closely about winterizing the garden. The stunning days of fall will wane quickly! I have a butternut squash and a delicata squash sitting on the counter, just begging for the right recipe. I also have a couple of knitting projects going: one in a circle for a skirt and one that they swear is a pattern perfect to do while watching TV. I already have an issue for which I need to unwind six rows. Let’s blame it on the show that I was watching; I mean, seriously, could it really be me?

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: THE GUARDIANS by John Grisham

THE GUARDIANS by John Grisham (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Michael Beck
In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young black man who was once a client of Russo’s. Quincy was tried, convicted and sent to prison for life. For 22 years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence. But no one was listening. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith, and they do not want Quincy exonerated. They killed one lawyer 22 years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.

- Click here to read more about the book.
- Click here to read an excerpt.