January 31, 2020
 January 31, 2020Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com Reviews | Features | Bookreporter.com Bets On | Upcoming Bets On  Just as we were getting ready to send this newsletter, we heard that Mary Higgins Clark   On Wednesday night, Carol and her son, Greg, attended a screening of the new Netflix series,  We're doing something different for this week's "Bookreporter Talks To" segment.   While Carol has been down for the count with a cold this week, she has been reading and enjoying  Carol talks about this week's Bookreporter update in our latest promo video. What a Week! Just as we were getting ready to send this newsletter, we heard that Mary Higgins Clark passed away peacefully today at the age of 92. She was a gracious and lovely person, as well as a writer loved by so, so many. My son, Greg, was a huge fan, even as a kid. She had a beach house in the same town as my parents. She told him to drop by if he saw her out gardening. I pictured him hopping on his bike to do that and panicked. She assured me that she would not mind. We will share a tribute to her next Friday. Clearly I came in contact with a cold germ, or two, or three last week, and this week I was down for the count, with sneezing and coughing the only exercise that I managed for most of the week. I literally spent most of the week in bed. Unlike when I was a kid and being home sick meant I would watch television reruns and ring a bell for my mom to bring lunch or a tray of snacks, I was sitting with my laptop and my laptop cooler (the latter to keep my laptop cool while my electric blanket was on heat level 14) answering email and directing projects. I also had eucalyptus aromatherapy in a diffuser and Vicks in the vaporizer. It was like a spa with sneezing and coughing --- and typing. On Tuesday, in between reading and answering emails, I read books, which is a perfect sick-day exercise. When I was at ALA Midwinter, I heard Alli Frank and Asha Youmans speak about a novel that they co-wrote called TINY IMPERFECTIONS, which will be in stores on May 5th. Their description of it made me laugh, and the week of travel had been so busy that I just wanted an escape! Asha handed me the advance reading copy that her mom had read (her mom had made a special book jacket to keep the cover clean), and I started reading in the hallway of the conference center between meetings. Then I started LAST DAY by Luanne Rice, which releases tomorrow. As I am a longtime reader of her books, I am happy to share that she is back writing adult suspense. It’s set on coastal Connecticut. Years ago, two sisters, Beth and Kate Lathrop, were held hostage with their mother during a robbery. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, vowed to watch over the sisters. Years have passed, and now Beth has been found strangled in her home, and the painting, Moonlight, that was part of the first robbery is gone again. Reid suspects Beth’s husband, who appears to have an airtight alibi. So who could have done it? Kate and Reid are determined to solve this. And why is the painting part of the mystery again? I am looking forward to finishing it. On Wednesday night, I roused myself from my blanket shroud, popped a ton of cold meds, and Greg and I headed to a screening of "The Stranger", which was hosted by Harlan Coben. The show, which is based on his 2015 thriller of the same name, premiered on Netflix yesterday. What a really fun evening in a packed movie theater in Ridgewood, NJ! Harlan was so excited to share the series with us. For humor, he had sent a note that said the evening was casual attire. Greg had been working home all day wearing a t-shirt. I insisted he add a plaid shirt, saying there is casual...and then there is casual. We walked in, and Harlan was wearing an Asbury Park Brewery t-shirt. We all had a good laugh about that, and Greg immediately removed his plaid shirt! After the screening, Harlan did a Q&A about the series and his work with Netflix, where 14 of his books are being adapted. This one was shot in the UK in Manchester and Birmingham; the next two are being done in Poland and Spain. He was on set in short bursts, flying over for a night and then back. Filmmaking is tedious, and he has no patience for sitting through endless shots and setup. (I made documentaries for a while, and I so understand.) He has a cameo in episode two, and his daughter wrote episode five as they were looking for someone with experience with teens for the writing on that one. He also shared that when Netflix markets a film to you, they do it according to your past viewing interests. Some of the promos will have his name on them; others will not. You will see a promo that relates to what you have watched in the past. I loved hearing that kind of background! We walked out of the first episode with multiple plot threads hanging, and I will confess that last night I watched episodes two through six. They definitely have the cliffhanger mastered at Netflix. Here’s an interview with Harlan. This week, we do not have a new “Bookreporter Talks To” video in our usual style. Instead, last week when I was at Winter Institute and ALA Midwinter, I asked 13 authors to introduce us to their new books, and I shot some background footage of the event. These shows are a lot about meeting and greeting and quick takes about books. I thought it would be fun for you to see some of the atmosphere at the big author signings where authors sit at tables waiting to meet booksellers, as well as the various pitches that authors gave for their books. Each is short and sweet. And note that the sound and filming was on the fly, often in crowded rooms, so it's not up to our usual standards. I owe a HUGE thank you to our producer, Austin Ruh for his great editing skills. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast. I hope you enjoy it. We will be back with more traditional interviews in the weeks to come. My latest Bookreporter.com Bets On pick is AMERICAN DIRT, which we reviewed last week. This book has brought with it lots of controversy over who is entitled to write a story. Is Jeanine Cummins’ writing of this cultural appropriation? Was the storytelling accurate? Why are not more Latinx voices published and heard? It’s been quite a week or so discussing this! Click here for my commentary and here for the discussion guide on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Back in the fall, we ran a contest on ReadingGroupGuides where 10 groups were awarded copies of the book in exchange for sharing their comments on it by February 28th. We’ve heard from two groups already --- the Boulevard Book Group from Westfield, NJ, and the Briarcliff Book Club from Fort Thomas, KY --- and we bring you their feedback here. My neighborhood book group will be reading it in February. As Jeanine’s book tour has been canceled due to threats of violence, I am sharing this link to an event that she did in Washington, DC at Politics and Prose, so readers can hear from her in her own words, as I did in Baltimore at Winter Institute. I had been looking forward to interviewing her in Tucson. This week’s New Release Spotlight title is WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald, which, according to the publisher, is a “heart-swelling debut for fans of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME.” Those are very apt comparisons. For Zelda, a 21-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert, life is best lived with some basic rules: 1) A smile means “thank you for doing something small that I liked.” 2) Fist bumps and dabs = respect. 3) Strange people are not appreciated in her home. 4) Tomatoes must go in the middle of the sandwich and not get the bread wet. 5) Sometimes the most important things don’t fit on lists. But when Zelda finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable --- and dangerous --- methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. Her mission: to be legendary. Rebecca Munro has our review and calls it "a poignant and heartfelt debut" and goes on to say, "WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS is immediately striking for its language. Zelda is intensely literal, occasionally hysterical and always wiser than she even knows. Her dialogue --- internal and external --- is a sharp staccato, written with no contractions and punctuated by constant definitions of words new to her. MacDonald captures her mind and personality so expertly that I soon found myself falling into Zelda’s way of speaking. Even more captivating is her obsession with Vikings and the way that it informs her life." We have 12 other reviews to share with you this week. Among them are WHEN YOU SEE ME by Lisa Gardner, which finds Detective D. D. Warren, Flora Dane and Kimberly Quincy investigating a mysterious murder from the past --- which points to a dangerous and chilling present-day crime; INTO THE FIRE, the fifth installment in Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X series featuring Evan Smoak, who this time is facing his deadliest job yet (I loved listening to it on audio); and HIGHFIRE, the latest adult novel from Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer, whose main characters are a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon and a 15-year-old troublemaker on the run from a crooked sheriff. WHEN YOU SEE ME and INTO THE FIRE are our current Word of Mouth prizes. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read by Friday, February 7th at noon ET, and you’ll have a chance to win both these highly anticipated thrillers. Also, we have a review of JFK AND MARY MEYER, a fictional diary of Mary Pinchot Meyer, who had an affair with JFK and was murdered for asking too many questions after his assassination. It is written by Jesse Kornbluth, who co-founded Bookreporter with me and is the cultural concierge at HeadButler.com. Our reviewer Joe Hartlaub calls the book “[a] brilliantly conceived and exquisitely executed novel, which comes as close to the truth of its subject matter as you are likely to find anywhere else.” If you missed my interview with Jesse last week, you can watch it here or listen to the podcast here. We had a blast reminiscing about the early days of The Book Report Network! JFK AND MARY MEYER is one of next week’s Winter Reading prizes, along with THE SCENT KEEPER by Erica Bauermeister. This week, we gave away ALL THE WAYS WE SAID GOODBYE: A Novel of the Ritz Paris by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White and the aforementioned WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald. The first contest of the week will be up on Tuesday, February 4th at noon ET. Please keep in mind our 15th annual Valentine’s Day contest, which kicked off last week. We’re giving five readers the opportunity to win five books that we think are perfect for this “season of love”: THE GIRL HE USED TO KNOW by Tracey Garvis Graves (a Bets On pick that is now in paperback), POSTSCRIPT by Cecelia Ahern, and THE WOMEN IN BLACK by Madeleine St John, along with advance copies of GROWN UPS by Emma Jane Unsworth (which releases on May 12th) and THE END OF THE DAY by Bill Clegg (in stores June 2nd). To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, February 13th at noon ET. This month’s Sounding Off on Audio contest will be ending shortly. So be sure to submit your comments about the audiobooks you’ve listened to by Monday, February 3rd at noon ET, and you’ll be in the running to win the audio versions of Liz Moore's LONG BRIGHT RIVER, read by Allyson Ryan, and Joseph Finder's HOUSE ON FIRE, read by Holter Graham. Our poll continues to ask which of 25 newly released or upcoming fiction titles you have read or are planning to read. Click here to let us know! A reminder that Barnes & Noble will be hosting a free Book Club Night in stores across the country to discuss DEAR EDWARD by Ann Napolitano on Tuesday, February 4th at 7pm local time. If you’d like to attend, all you have to do is sign up here. DEAR EDWARD is also Jenna Bush Hager's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick for this month, and yesterday Ann was on “Today” to talk about the book. Click here to watch the interview. Michelle Obama won a Best Spoken Word Album GRAMMY Award for her narration of her 2018 memoir, BECOMING. Click here for our review and here for the discussion guide on ReadingGroupGuides. Also, the winners of the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals were announced this week at ALA Midwinter. LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE by Valeria Luiselli (which we reviewed when it released last February) won the Fiction medal, while the Nonfiction medal was awarded to MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster, by Adam Higginbotham. News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Kathryn wrote, “I am thoroughly enjoying your podcasts with authors...it’s nice to ‘see’ their personalities a bit behind the book. I just finished reading Paul Theroux’s ON THE PLAIN OF SNAKES, which recounts his travels over and back at many points of the US/Mexican border and all things fraught with those crossings. It’s clear to see why so many immigrants make that treacherous journey to get to the USA. When I was telling my book group about the book, I couldn’t help but get choked up...and had to stop. The room was silent. This would be a powerful parallel read with AMERICAN DIRT --- the nonfiction account to go with her fictional story. The people he encountered, the stories he wrote about, stick with you for a long time. These are powerful books, and we have no idea in our soft lives.” That sounds like a good book. I look forward to hearing our readers share other titles that they think would be good parallel reads with AMERICAN DIRT. Julie wrote, "I am a longtime fan of this fabulous newsletter! I got to meet Liz Moore on Wednesday night at an author event at the Bethlehem Area Public Library in Pennsylvania. My brother is the director there (my dad was while we were growing up!). I loved hearing her talk about LONG BRIGHT RIVER, which I was able to purchase and have signed. Now I can’t put it down and am wishing for long chunks of time to just read it. I am loving it. She seems like a lovely person, and it was so interesting and just cool to hear her talk and get the book signed. I had just listened to THE UNSEEN WORLD and gushed to her about how much I loved that book.” Suzanne wrote, “I have just recently found Bookreporter.com and love it! Thank you for all the information you put out there for us. Maybe you've covered this topic before, but what I'm really interested in are the book covers. I work part-time in our public library and am wondering why so many books show people, mostly women, from behind. With shoulder-length dark hair. In a red coat. It's amazing how many similar covers I see when I'm shelving books. I know you've asked some authors about the book covers, but who designs them? How do they choose the colors? Why so many red coats? Lol. Thank you again.” I confess that I have not noticed a large number of red coats. I know that book covers often show people from behind so you are not envisioning a particular person when you read a book. There are book jacket designers in-house at every publishing company; their job is definitely challenging as they try to convey in a quick eye-catching graphic what a book is about. Two readers named Kathy wrote about receiving a copy of A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA by Isabel Allende in one of our Winter Reading contests. Kathy H. said, “Thank you for my copy of A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA. It arrived yesterday (the same day the email arrived!). I've never read Isabel Allende, so I will look forward to reading it.” And Kathy L. wrote, “Thank you so very much! I have been very anxious to read this book.” Jerry Craft Won the Newbery Award for NEW KID, as well as the Coretta Scott King Author Award --- the First Graphic Novel to Win These Two Prestigious Prizes: I was screaming with joy on Monday morning when Jerry won both of these prizes. I read NEW KID in a very early galley and was so impressed with it, and we built his website, JerryCraft.com. This is a special book that talks about race and culture in a very realistic way; Jerry writes his character from a place of personal experience as he was a kid from Harlem who went to Fieldston, an elite private school. And when he moved to Connecticut years ago, he enrolled his sons in private school as well, where he thought a lot about the challenges they might encounter. He was self-published for years; this is his first traditionally published title. The book is terrific, and we sooooo celebrate him. Here’s a link to a fun interview about his historic wins. Kobe Bryant: So many tributes; such a loss. I did love the way he said goodbye to basketball with a poem. "Shark Tank": I do not watch this show, but I see why people have been talking about the pitch that these kids made on behalf of their dad. We celebrated both boys’ birthdays this week. I have seen enough marble cake and homemade chocolate frosting for the year! It was fun to be with them to blow out the candles! Here's my recipe for the perfect sick week lunch: Open a can of Campbell's 25% reduced sodium chicken noodle soup. Add one cup of Minute Rice. Add one cup of water. Cook in the microwave for 10 minutes on high. It becomes chicken rice. Serve with a glass of water. Ha, you thought I was going to go all Ottolenghi or Ina on you, right? I'm going with simple here. That way, when you cough, you do not spill liquid. Oh, and for when one feels better, here’s a salad dressing that is really interesting: Creamy Almond. I had it at a media lunch at a restaurant called Agern in Grand Central Terminal. Radicchio was dressed with it, and it was garnished with blueberries and SarVecchio cheese (which is aged Parmesan). Also, in recent cooking, we made the beef stew in the new edition of JOY OF COOKING, and it was terrific! I finally have my appetite back. Move over chicken noodle soup; it's time for homemade pizza! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I handed my husband the five books in Nick Petrie’s Peter Ash series. He’s just about done with book four and had clocked a few very late nights reading. A good sign! Super Bowl weekend is upon us, and I am pulling for the Kansas City Chiefs. Most of all, I want a good game. And pigs in a blanket. Read on, and have a great week. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)    Featured Review: WHEN YOU SEE ME by Lisa Gardner  WHEN YOU SEE ME by Lisa Gardner (Mystery/Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review: INTO THE FIRE by Gregg Hurwitz  INTO THE FIRE: An Orphan X Novel by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.  New Release Spotlight: WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS  WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald (Fiction) - Click here to read our review. Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight.  Bookreporter.com Bets On:  AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins (Fiction) When her husband writes an in-depth profile of Javier that results in a horrific crime against her family, Lydia finds herself on the run with Luca towards el norte, the United States. Their journey is fraught with danger and fear, both from what they are running from and what they are running towards. The world they knew has harmed them, but what is before them has its own perils. As I read it, I thought back on the very provocative "60 Minutes" piece about the border that ran on April 28, 2019. "60 Minutes" said that this segment got them letters from people on both sides of the aisle who had their views upended after watching. For readers, like that “60 Minutes” piece, AMERICAN DIRT can spur a 360-degree conversation on the subject of immigration. Jeanine’s writing will draw readers in; the novel is an absolute page-turner. It’s not the definitive book on the border and immigration, but it’s a terrific entry to the conversation. For that reason, book groups should take note. - Click here to read more about the book. Click here for more books we're betting you'll love.  Bookreporter.com's 15th Annual Valentine's Day Contest: Valentine's Day is only a few heartbeats away. We can't think of a better way to celebrate this special day than to cuddle up with your loved one...and a good book, of course! We're giving five readers the chance to win five love-themed books. Be sure to enter between now and Thursday, February 13th at noon ET for your opportunity to be a lucky (and beloved!) winner. If you're feeling frisky, share with us your all-time book character crush. Don't be shy, we all got 'em! We'll post the top 10 literary loves and lusts --- along with the five winners --- shortly after the contest ends. This year's featured Valentine’s Day titles are:
Click here to enter the contest.  Bookreporter.com's Sixth Annual Our Winter Reading Contests and Feature have returned for a sixth year! On select days through mid-February, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter (or a recently published title that we would like to get into your hands now) and giving five lucky readers a chance to win it. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here. Our next prize book will be announced on Tuesday, February 4th at noon ET. This year's featured titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details Featured Review: HIGHFIRE by Eoin Colfer  HIGHFIRE by Eoin Colfer (Fantasy/Humor) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: JFK AND MARY MEYER  JFK AND MARY MEYER: A Love Story by Jesse Kornbluth (Historical Fiction) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.   "Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts In late August, we launched “Bookreporter Talks To,” a video and podcast series where we deliver a long-form, in-depth author interview every week. For years, I have moderated book festivals and author events around the country. But we know that readers often do not live where they can attend an author event. Our goal --- to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.) By the way, this follows a long history of The Book Report Network delivering compelling programming to readers. Back in 1997, the company hosted the first online interview with John Grisham, which started a tradition of ongoing interviews with authors. Authors interviewed to date include:
Upcoming interviews include:
Watch our "Bookreporter Talks To" interviews and listen to our podcasts.    More Reviews This WeekTHE LOOK-ALIKE by Erica Spindler (Psychological Thriller) THE TRUANTS by Kate Weinberg (Literary Thriller) PROCESSED CHEESE by Stephen Wright (Dark Humor/Satire) A BEAUTIFUL CRIME by Christopher Bollen (Literary Thriller) MEG & JO by Virginia Kantra (Fiction) THE RABBIT HUNTER written by Lars Kepler, translated by Neil Smith (Mystery/Thriller) THE EMPTY BED by Nina Sadowsky (Psychological Thriller) WILL: A Memoir by Will Self (Memoir)   
Next Week’s Notables:
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