March 6, 2020
 March 6, 2020Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com Reviews | Features | Bookreporter.com Bets On | Upcoming Bets On   Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Amanda Eyre Ward, whose new novel,   On Monday night, Carol attended the Audie Awards ceremony for the first time.  THE ONLY PLANE IN THE SKY: An Oral History of 9/11 was named the 2020 Audiobook of the Year.   Carol loved reading IN FIVE YEARS by Rebecca Serle, which releases on March 10th. Carol also is enjoying SEPARATION ANXIETY by Laura Zigman, which is now in stores.  Carol talks about this week's Bookreporter update in our latest promo video. One Less Hour This Weekend; Read Faster! Today I bring you my annual idea that Daylight Saving Time should kick off on a Monday, not on a weekend day. I do not need an hour less of the weekend; I think we should lobby for this to happen on a Monday! It was a super busy and book-filled week. On Monday night, I attended the 25th anniversary of the Audie Awards, which was hosted by Mo Rocca, the “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent, author and host of the “Mobituaries” podcast. I have not been to this ceremony before and am so glad I went. It was terrific in that it gave me some more intel about the audio business --- and it was brisk, with wonderful presenters and very few speeches. Stephen King was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his accomplishments in the audiobook industry. His son, bestselling author Joe Hill, said in his introduction: “Stephen King is the best damn ambassador for audiobooks that anyone could ever wish or hope for. His love for the form goes back decades. I know. I was there.” And he shared stories of listening to audiobooks back when he was a child. In his acceptance speech, King noted: “I listen to my own books --- the reason why is because you can hear everything you did right and everything you did wrong. This is the most honorable form of storytelling there is.” With audiobooks becoming so popular, I have been asking authors if they read their own books aloud after they finish them, so they can hear cadence and repetition. Some do! The Audiobook of the Year went to THE ONLY PLANE IN THE SKY: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff, a book that I have on my shelf and have been wanting to read. I now want to listen to it on audio, as it has a 45-person cast with Holter Graham narrating and Graff contributing, and the recording of which clearly was a huge undertaking. Its mission is to share the experience of 9/11 by portraying the events of the day with an audio history. Other notable category winners include Michelle Obama’s BECOMING, narrated by Michelle herself (Autobiography/Memoir); Douglas Brinkley’s AMERICAN MOONSHOT: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, narrated by Stephen Graybill (History/Biography); and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ THE WATER DANCER, narrated by Joe Morton (Literary Fiction & Classics). Click here for the full list of winners. Want to see what the ceremony was like? C-SPAN will be airing it shortly, though a date and time haven't been nailed down yet. We will let you know as soon as that info becomes available. Also honored that evening was Beth Anderson, who just retired from Audible as their executive vice president and publisher. I met Beth in the late ’90s at Audible’s first office in Wayne, NJ. She was so passionate about the format, infectiously so, and gave me my first education on audiobooks. Years later, Greg and I went to the Audible offices in Newark, NJ, and saw the tremendous growth that they had made, including a suite of recording studios. She is one of the loveliest people in publishing. I had no idea she was retiring; I am going to track her down to let her know that all her enthusiasm has inspired me and bubbled up here at Bookreporter. We have added links to audiobooks on all of our book content, and we have our Sounding Off on Audio feature where you can share what you have listened to. For those of you who enjoy audio, what else would you like to see from us in this category? Please drop me an email with the subject line "Audiobook Coverage" and let me know! And speaking of audio, I just finished listening to BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN by Diane Chamberlain, which is narrated by Susan Bennett. Both the story and the performance are excellent; it will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. I completely missed one connection in the book that I am not going to give away. I am wondering if I would have caught it in print, or if my ears let me down. Trust that it did not impact my enjoyment of the book. In fact, when the realization of what was going on popped into my head as I was driving at some point on the New Jersey Turnpike, it was rather amusing. I wondered, "HOW did I miss that so far?" Last night, I was at the Baldwin Public Library presenting books to look forward to in March through June. Prepping for this presentation gave me an opportunity to make my own reading list for the months ahead…and to read some current books a bit faster. Last weekend, I picked up IN FIVE YEARS by Rebecca Serle, this month's "Good Morning America" Book Club pick, and loved it. Dannie is a young woman who has her life completely thought through. She will make partner at her law firm, marry her boyfriend and live in Gramercy Park. But then one night she has a dream, and in it there is not the apartment she knows, and she is in bed with a guy she has never seen before. When she looks, she sees it's also five years in the future. None of it makes sense. Flash forward a few months, and her best friend introduces her to the boy she is dating --- and it's the guy from the dream. How does this all fit together? It works with clever plotting and writing from Rebecca. This will be a Bets On selection, as was her last book, THE DINNER LIST. I look forward to interviewing her on Tuesday. I am currently enjoying SEPARATION ANXIETY by Laura Zigman. In it, Judy is having a tough time. Her career is stagnant, and so is her marriage. Her teenage son mostly ignores her. One day while cleaning, she finds the carrier she used when her son was a baby, which brings back memories of much happier days. Soon she is carrying her dog in the sling, which is definitely giving her comfort. I cannot wait to see where this story goes. My latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with Amanda Eyre Ward is now live. Her latest novel, THE JETSETTERS, is this month’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, our New Release Spotlight title for this week, and an upcoming Bets On selection. When an aging mother wins a cruise ship contest, she invites her children to join her on the vacation of their lives. Those 10 days are filled with conflicting family personalities and life-changing reveals. I had a great time chatting with Amanda about siblings, success and the baggage that families carry with them. You can watch the interview here and listen to the podcast here. According to our reviewer Rebecca Munro, Amanda "is like a set designer who knows and uses every corner of her stage, never once pushing past the point of believability, while still managing to shock her readers and upend their expectations on nearly every page." We will have my Bets On commentary soon; in the meantime, click here for the discussion guide on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US and AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, return with a brand new novel of psychological suspense. Here’s the publisher’s brief but intriguing summary of YOU ARE NOT ALONE: “Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely. Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better. Shay would die for them to like her. She may have to.” Our reviewer Norah Piehl calls YOU ARE NOT ALONE “possibly their most intense novel to date” and goes on to say, “As Cassandra and Jane tighten their stranglehold around Shay, readers will be cheering for Shay to see through their illusions and champion the facts she values so much.” I am listening to this on audio, and the narrators, Barrie Kreinik and Dylan Moore, are terrific. On my drive out and back to Long Island last night, I listened to three discs. When I got to the garage, I sat there for a while listening to a scene wrap up. Lily King is back with her first book since the breakout success of her award-winning novel, EUPHORIA, six years ago. In WRITERS & LOVERS, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 on the heels of her mother’s sudden death and a recent love affair. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Norah Piehl has our review and raves, "WRITERS & LOVERS is full of moments of keen observation, of wry remarks about the challenges of writing and the awkwardness of early love. It’s also, at times, remarkably funny, filled with subtle and sometimes surprising one-liners that balance out what could have been a fairly bleak plot..." On the first anniversary of her “Read with Jenna” Today Show Book Club, Jenna Bush Hager has selected WRITERS & LOVERS as her March pick. Also, Elisabeth Egan from the New York Times wrote about the novel in her Group Text column, which notes it as a great book group read. We agree with Elisabeth, which is why we’re featuring the discussion guide for the book on ReadingGroupGuides.com. I look forward to interviewing Lily in Tucson at the Tucson Festival of Books, along with Lisa See, next Saturday. Other books we’re reviewing this week include LONG RANGE, the 20th installment in C.J. Box’s series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, who this time must investigate an attempted murder --- a crime committed from a confoundingly long distance; Peter Swanson’s new psychological thriller, EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS, the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started to use his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders; and VICTIM 2117, the latest installment in Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series, in which a terrifying international investigation reveals the complex backstory of one of the department's own --- the enigmatic Assad. EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS is one of the first three prize books in this year’s Spring Preview feature, which is now live. As we have done for the last eight years, we are spotlighting a number of new and upcoming releases that we think people will be talking about this spring --- and beyond. We will be hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these books on select days this month and next; five readers will be awarded the book that we are giving away that day. You can sign up here for alerts so you will be notified as soon as these giveaways are up. The contests begin next week with A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD by Therese Anne Fowler (an upcoming Bets On title that releases on Tuesday) and LOST ROSES by Martha Hall Kelly (a Bets On pick that is now in paperback), in addition to EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS. You also will have a chance to win A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD in our current Word of Mouth contest, along with THE BOY FROM THE WOODS by Harlan Coben, which will be in stores on March 17th. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win both these novels. Please do so by Friday, March 20th at noon ET. My latest Bets On pick is LADY CLEMENTINE by Marie Benedict, which focuses on one of the people who had the most influence during World War I and World War II: Clementine Churchill. Click here for my commentary, and be sure to check out our review and the discussion guide. Don’t miss my “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with Marie, which we will post next week! Our New in Paperback roundups for March are now available. We're featuring paperback reprints from such bestselling authors as the aforementioned Lisa See (THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN) and Martha Hall Kelly (LOST ROSES), Preston & Child (OLD BONES), Jeffery Deaver (THE NEVER GAME), and Jacqueline Winspear (THE AMERICAN AGENT); nonfiction titles, including THE UNWINDING OF THE MIRACLE: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams and THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN: A True Story by Cara Robertson; and paperback originals like THE SEA OF LOST GIRLS by Carol Goodman (which we review this week), DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND by Jenny Colgan, and THE PANDA OF DEATH: A Gunn Zoo Mystery by Betty Webb (click here for a Q&A with Betty). We also have updated our Books on Screen feature for this month. March’s roundup includes season one of "Little Fires Everywhere" on Hulu (read more about it below in the “News & Pop Culture” section), the debut of the six-part series "The Plot Against America" and the season two premiere of "My Brilliant Friend" on HBO, and the season finales of NBC's “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector” and USA Network's "Dare Me"; the feature films Bloodshot, The Hunt and Escape from Pretoria; and the DVD releases of Richard Jewell, Jumanji: The Next Level and The Song of Names. March’s Sounding Off on Audio contest kicked off this week. Let us know by Wednesday, April 1st at noon ET what audiobooks you’ve listened to, and you’ll be in the running to win the audio versions of Kate Elizabeth Russell's MY DARK VANESSA, read by Grace Gummer, and THE NIGHT WATCHMAN written and read by Louise Erdrich. We will have reviews of the print editions of both later this month. For our latest poll, we’ve listed 20 fiction titles releasing in March, and we’re asking you which, if any, you’re planning to read. Click here to let us know. Our previous poll asked where you go online to find information about authors. Along with Bookreporter, which received 84% of the vote, readers visit Goodreads (69%), Amazon (67%) and author websites (55%). Click here for all the results, which includes other sources of info not on our list that readers submitted. News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Ann wrote, “Just finished A COLD TRAIL by Robert Dugoni. I get the book as I prefer that to the audiobook, plus I share with my daughters and grandchildren. This is a great series! He is a really good writer. One of my favorites. Highly recommended.” Bobbie wrote, “Hi Carol, just thought I would pass on for your thriller fans that I saw Mark Greaney (Gray Man series) and Joshua Hood, who has written THE TREADSTONE RESURRECTION, at Novel bookstore here in Memphis last night. Both authors are from Memphis, have the same editor, Tom Colgan, and are close friends as we saw last night. It was a fun hour of stories and Q&A. Hoping when Jack Carr’s book comes out in April, he will come to Memphis to speak also. I told Mark I was listening to his book, and he said he always has a book going on Audible. Loved that.” Jack Welch: He led GE for years. Back in September 2001, we had built a website for his book, JACK: Straight from the Gut. On the morning of 9/11, I stayed home as my husband was on a sailing trip and I was waiting for the nanny to arrive to take the kids to school. Jack was on the “Today” show at 7:25, and right after that we were going to reveal an excerpt from the book on his website. Then I was going to head into the city for a press conference about the book at the Rainbow Room. Needless to say, that never happened, but these memories flooded back when I heard that he had passed away this week. AMERICAN DIRT on “Oprah's Book Club”: Earlier today, the AMERICAN DIRT episode of “Oprah's Book Club” premiered as a two-part interview on Apple TV+. In the first part of the interview, “Oprah Winfrey and AMERICAN DIRT author Jeanine Cummins will be joined by authors Reyna Grande, Julissa Arce and Esther Cepeda, as well as other members of the Latinx community, to talk about the book and real-life migrant experiences. In the second part, Winfrey will talk to various Latinx people who saw themselves reflected in the book and who will share their insights on the migrant experience.” I do not have Apple TV+, but have found three articles about the show: Associated Press | People.com | OprahMag.com “Little Fires Everywhere”: The aforementioned series adaptation of Celeste Ng’s bestselling novel starts streaming March 18th on Hulu. Here’s a review from USA Today. "I Know This Much Is True": HBO announced an April 27th premiere date for this six-part miniseries, based on Wally Lamb’s bestselling novel and starring Mark Ruffalo. Here's the trailer. Joe Coulombe: The Trader Joe's founder passed away this week. A Trader Joe’s recently opened near our house, and folks head there like they are making a pilgrimage. Daniel Craig: Two news tidbits here just because I am a fan. First, he is hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week, which I will watch clips of at some point. Here’s an amusing promo for it. Also, I share news that No Time to Die, the upcoming Bond film slated for an April release, has been pushed to a November rollout due to the coronavirus’s impact on theatrical demand. Mercury goes out of retrograde on Monday, March 9th at 10:59pm ET for those who want to know when communication snafus end. I am off to Tucson on Thursday for the Tucson Festival of Books. I hope to see some of you there. My schedule is here, and I am hoping to catch the Don Winslow event at 11:30 on Saturday. The rest of my schedule is not yet together. Flying to Tucson takes a huge chunk of a day, as does flying back, so I am packing lots to read! I will share more about this fabulous event next week. Oh, and yes, I will wash my hands…a lot. And if we meet, there will be waves instead of hugs. I would be remiss if March came in without my annual lion or lamb commentary that my sons have been amused by for years. I look for a lamb/lamb March. This year, it came in a bit like a lion with wind last Saturday, so I am crossing my fingers for a lamb end of the month. If you like what you read here and want to share it with friends, hit the forward button at the bottom of this newsletter. Read on, and have a great week…less one hour, but enjoying an extra hour of evening light. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)    Featured Review: YOU ARE NOT ALONE  YOU ARE NOT ALONE by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (Psychological Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.  New Release Spotlight:  THE JETSETTERS by Amanda Eyre Ward (Fiction) When she wins the contest, the family packs their baggage --- both literal and figurative --- and spends 10 days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, forcing the Perkins family to confront the forces that drove them apart and the defining choices of their lives. Can four lost adults find the peace they’ve been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together? In the vein of THE NEST and THE VACATIONERS, THE JETSETTERS is a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood. - Click here to read our review. Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight. THE JETSETTERS will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Featured Review: WRITERS & LOVERS by Lily King  WRITERS & LOVERS by Lily King (Fiction) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review: LONG RANGE by C. J. Box  LONG RANGE: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review: EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS  EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS by Peter Swanson (Psychological Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.  Announcing Bookreporter.com's Ninth Annual Spring is in the air (or will be very soon)! We’ve already caught the fever --- and it’s being fueled by some wonderful new and upcoming releases. Our ninth annual Spring Preview Contests and Feature spotlights many of these picks, which we know people will be talking about over the next few months. We are hosting a series of 24-hour contests for these titles on select days through April 24th at noon ET. You will need to check the site to see the featured book and enter to win. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce each title, which you can sign up for here. Our first prize book will be announced on Tuesday, March 10th at noon ET. This year's featured titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details  Bookreporter.com Bets On:  LADY CLEMENTINE by Marie Benedict (Historical Fiction) At a time when few women are involved with government, she is right there with him in both formal meetings and informal discussions. Her avant-garde ways ensure that many on Churchill’s staff have to adjust themselves to her. They are not used to a spouse asserting herself. She has to win over Jock Colville, Churchill’s trusted private secretary, and others. The book brings readers from one World War to another. The history of what was happening on the homefront is strong as Clementine works to ensure that those not on the battlefields are tended to. She does realize that her life mirrors many other women who jump in with two feet and then later find that they are marginalized. During World War II, she meets Eleanor Roosevelt; it’s interesting to compare and contrast how they are part of their husbands’ lives. Click here to read more of Carol's commentary.    March’s New in Paperback Roundups March's roundup of New in Paperback fiction titles includes THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN by Lisa See, an evocative tale of two best friends whose bonds are both strengthened and tested over decades by forces beyond their control; LOST ROSES, a sweeping prequel to Martha Hall Kelly's runaway bestseller, LILAC GIRLS, which is set a generation earlier and follows three equally indomitable women from St. Petersburg to Paris under the shadow of World War I; Preston & Child's OLD BONES, which brings the true story of the ill-fated Donner Party to new life in a thrilling novel of archaeology, history, murder and suspense; THE NEVER GAME, which kicks off a brand new series for Jeffery Deaver, whose protagonist is an expert tracker named Colter Shaw; and THE MOTHER-IN-LAW by Sally Hepworth, a twisty, compelling novel about one woman's complicated relationship with her mother-in-law that ends in death. Among our nonfiction highlights are THE UNWINDING OF THE MIRACLE, a powerful, honest and inspirational memoir from Julie Yip-Williams, a young mother who, at the age of 37, was diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer; EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE, a final volume of essays that showcase Oliver Sacks' broad range of interests --- from his passion for ferns, swimming and horsetails, to his final case histories exploring schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer's; INSIDE THE EMPIRE by Bob Klapisch and Paul Solotaroff, a riveting look at what is really said and done behind closed doors with the New York Yankees, the most famous and wealthiest sports franchise in the world; and Cara Robertson's THE TRIAL OF LIZZIE BORDEN, which tells the true story of one of the most sensational murder trials in American history, and is based on 20 years of research and recently unearthed evidence. Find out what's New in Paperback for the weeks of  .gif)  March’s Books on Screen Feature Here is a preview of this month's movies, TV shows and DVDs that are based on books. For a complete list of March's offerings, please click here. In Theaters The Hunt Human Capital
"The Plot Against America" (6-episode miniseries) "Little Fires Everywhere" "My Brilliant Friend" “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector” On DVD Richard Jewell   "Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts In late August 2019, 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 WeekVICTIM 2117: A Department Q Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Mystery/Thriller) THE SEA OF LOST GIRLS by Carol Goodman (Psychological Thriller) THE LAST TAXI DRIVER by Lee Durkee (Fiction/Humor) THE BOATMAN’S DAUGHTER by Andy Davidson (Supernatural Thriller) THE EVIL MEN DO by John McMahon (Thriller) PLEASE SEE US by Caitlin Mullen (Psychological Thriller) A BEGINNING AT THE END by Mike Chen (Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction) THE LEONARDO GULAG by Kevin Doherty (Historical Thriller)   
Next Week’s Notables:
|
