October 2, 2020

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Carol welcomed back Suzanne Skyvara and Danny Feekes from Goodreads for their second "Bookreporter Talks To" interview. As they did in June, Suzanne and Danny talk about a number of books that have just come out, or will be out soon, along with titles that are trending with Goodreads members.
Click on the image above for the video and here for the podcast.

On Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET, we will host our fifth "Bookaccino Live" event.
Carol will present a number of books releasing between October 13th and November 3rd,
along with a few titles publishing in December, that she is excited about.
Click on the image above to sign up.

Carol's husband, Tom, has found a new author to love: Robert Pobi. In no time, he read CITY OF WINDOWS and UNDER PRESSURE, the first two books in Pobi's Lucas Page thriller series.

As you can see above, Carol is playing with flower arranging.
The zinnias and hydrangeas are from her garden. The sunflowers are from Trader Joe's.

And Just Like That…It’s October!

October means that there are many leaves in the pool. Yesterday morning, I was outside dragging the leaf catcher along the bottom of the pool pulling up leaves. They kept falling; imagine that. We need a new winter pool cover. The pool is a very unusual shape (I have never seen one like it), which equals a custom cover. Has this been ordered yet? Finally today. Let’s hope that the pool cover-making elves work quickly!

Tom (my husband, as opposed to Tom, our Editorial Director) has discovered a new author to enjoy --- Robert Pobi --- and he has zipped his way through CITY OF WINDOWS and UNDER PRESSURE, the first two books in Pobi's thriller series featuring former FBI agent Lucas Page. Pobi is going to join Nelson DeMille, John Grisham, Clive Cussler (and whoever writes those books now) and Mark Greaney as must reads. There is something wonderful about embracing an author like this.

Here is something to think about now: holiday shopping. I know, I know, it’s not even Halloween, BUT this year I think we need to pay attention to supporting stores that we want to be there for us. I am talking about independent booksellers and small stores that have been hit really hard these past months. Just this week, Vroman’s, a wonderful bookstore in Pasadena, California, noted that their sales are off 40%, and long-term they cannot survive with these numbers. What can you do? Buy gift cards from these stores. Buy gifts now; do not wait until December. Pick a place you love, or a place you have wanted to visit, see if they have an indie store and buy a gift card to give. Small businesses cannot wait this year for December sales. They need the support now. So when making your lists and checking them twice, keep this in mind, and think creatively about how to support the places you love.

On Tuesday, I was so pleased to welcome back Suzanne Skyvara, the Vice President of Marketing & Editorial for Goodreads, and Danny Feekes, their Managing Editor, for their second “Bookreporter Talks To” interview. Just as they did in June, Suzanne and Danny shared recently released and upcoming titles that are resonating with Goodreads members. There is a lot to discover here as they talk about books in eight genres --- Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Women’s Fiction, Romance, and Memoir --- so you will want to stay tuned until the end. Come for the books and stay for the banter; I had such a great time with them. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast.

Also, take note of Danny’s bookshelves. They are color-coordinated. We discussed this off camera. He said that most people oppose this as they read series books, or prefer grouping the same authors together. Instead he can recall the cover of a book to easily find it, which I was impressed by. He can moonlight as a librarian or bookseller as he would know what someone was referring to as “the book about a bird with a red cover.”

This coincides perfectly with our current poll, which continues to ask if you shelve your books by spine color. For the record, I have never organized my books like this --- and based on the results of the poll thus far, most of you haven’t either! If you have not replied yet, please do weigh in. But Danny made me want to maybe give myself a video background that is color-coded. I will have to see about that.

Following a two-year hiatus, Nicholas Sparks is back with a new novel, THE RETURN, which is the story of an injured Navy doctor --- and the two women whose secrets will change the course of his life. Our reviewer Pamela Kramer calls the book “a fall/winter sitting-by-the-fire read” and advises, “Take a trip to rural North Carolina, sit back and enjoy the lush descriptions of the rambling creek and croaking frogs. Beautiful sunsets, meandering boat trips, exotic wildlife, buzzing bees and small-town farmers’ markets abound. Keep Trevor company as he navigates mysteries and spends time recovering from his personal demons.”

In JACK, Marilynne Robinson returns to the world of Gilead --- the setting for her novels GILEAD, HOME and LILA. Here, she tells the story of John Ames Boughton, the prodigal son of Gilead’s Presbyterian minister, and his interracial romance with Della Miles, a high school teacher who is also the child of a preacher. Our reviewer Harvey Freedenberg points out that “JACK is not some facile morality play. Robinson is too serious a writer and thinker, as she has revealed in her other Gilead novels and in her nonfiction essays, to offer anything less than wisdom of the most hard-won variety, all of which is well worth pondering.”

Bill Clegg follows up his debut work of fiction, DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY, with his second novel, THE END OF THE DAY. In it, three seemingly disconnected lives come together as half-century-old secrets begin to surface. According to our reviewer Rebecca Munro, "THE END OF THE DAY is an intricately plotted and difficult-to-describe novel, but as he did in DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY, [Clegg] succeeds in weaving together characters, storylines and histories for something far greater than the sum of its parts. Clegg writes with the fluidity of a far more experienced writer, and his ability to evoke time and place and accurately capture the social and economic rulings of any era is nearly unmatched." You can check out the discussion guide here on ReadingGroupGuides.com.

THE END OF THE DAY is one of our current Word of Mouth prizes; the other is CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 by Lisa Unger, which we will review next week and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read, and you’ll be in the running to win both these novels. Be sure to enter by Friday, October 9th at noon ET. I look forward to interviewing Lisa soon for a “Bookreporter Talks To” segment.

Other books we’re reviewing this week include JUST LIKE YOU, a 21st-century love story from Nick Hornby about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected; EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME, Jenna Bush Hager’s memoir about her beloved grandparents, George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and the wisdom they passed on that has shaped her life; Matt Haig’s THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY, a thought-provoking novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived (it is this month’s “Good Morning America” Book Club pick); and THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL by Emily Gray Tedrowe, which the publisher describes as “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN meets Patricia Highsmith in this electrifying page-turner of greed and obsession, survival and self-invention that is a piercing character study of one unforgettable female con artist.”

In this week’s Fall Preview contest, we gave away ONE CHARMED CHRISTMAS by Sheila Roberts. Next week’s prizes will be DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann, THE DEVIL AND THE DARK WATER by Stuart Turton, and THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN by Sarah McCraw Crow. The first contest of the week will go live on Monday, October 5th at noon ET.

Our Books on Screen feature has been updated for October. This month’s roundup includes the series premieres of "The Undoing" on HBO, "The Good Lord Bird" on Showtime, and "The Right Stuff" on Disney+; the Netflix release of Rebecca and the HBO Max documentary The Soul of America; the season two premiere of "The Spanish Princess" on Starz; the series finales of FX's "A Wilderness of Error" and HBO's "Lovecraft Country"; and the DVD release of The Secret Garden.

Along with THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY being the “GMA” selection, here are some of this month’s other recently announced book club picks:

Pennie’s Pick for Costco: THE STATIONERY SHOP by Marjan Kamali, which was a Bets On pick when it released last year. If you missed my "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Marjan, you can watch it here and listen to the podcast here.
Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club: HIS ONLY WIFE by Peace Adzo Medie, which we reviewed last month. Reese says, “Culture, heroism and the search for independence are just a few of the wonderful themes in this vibrant book.”
Simon & Schuster’s Book Club Favorites: WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS by Andrew David MacDonald, which is now in paperback. On Tuesday, October 27th at 2pm ET, Andrew will join members of the Simon & Schuster team to discuss the book. Click here to RSVP for the event. If you missed last month’s discussion with Alice Hoffman, you can watch it here.

WHEN WE WERE VIKINGS is our current “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” prize book on ReadingGroupGuides. If you are in a book club and would like to win 12 copies of the book for you and your group members, please enter here by Wednesday, October 7th at noon ET.

For more October selections, including the Indie Next and LibraryReads lists, see our “Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks” feature here. Please note that the Barnes & Noble Book Club selection and the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick will be announced shortly.

A reminder that on Tuesday, October 6th at 7pm ET, Yaa Gyasi will discuss her much-talked-about second novel, TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM (Barnes & Noble's September selection), on B&N’s Facebook page.

News & Pop Culture

Reader Mail:

Michelle wrote, “As an adult who recently became visually impaired, I very much appreciated listening to the latest podcast episode with its delightful discussion of upcoming and newly released fall books. As it is difficult for me to read print reviews and lists of upcoming titles, having access to wonderful discussions of new books is of great value to me as an avid audiobook listener. Thank you.” I am so happy you enjoyed this, Michelle!

Happy 20th Anniversary to ReadingGroupGuides.com: Yes, our site for book groups turned 20. We are thinking about some new plans for this site, including a virtual book club event. If you have ideas as to what you would like to see on the site, drop me a note with the subject line "RGG Ideas."

Knitting Frog and Toad: You know those adorable children’s books about Frog and Toad? Well, knitters take heed. You can now knit them and their clothes.

"Challenger: The Final Flight" on Netflix: I remember exactly where I was the day the Challenger blew up. This is a terrific documentary about the events, featuring many interviews with family members of the astronauts and, yes, the teacher Christa McAuliffe. It’s very well done.

American Murder: The Family Next Door on Netflix. I am a true-crime junkie, and this documentary is well done. It's amazing how much of the backstory is told in text messages.

"This Is Us" on NBC: I learned that the fifth season is now debuting on October 27th, two weeks earlier than previously announced, with a two-hour episode.

If you haven't signed up yet for our fifth "Bookaccino Live" event, there's still time for you to do that. On Wednesday, October 14th at 2pm ET, I will be talking about titles releasing between October 13th and November 3rd, along with a few from December, that I would like to get on your radar. Click here to register. Our room holds up to 500 attendees, so feel free to invite friends! If you already signed up for this session, please do not sign up again. This will help us keep an accurate audience count. We also added something new during our last “Bookaccino Live” event. Those attending the “live” event were asked to answer a survey about the books that they were most interested in reading, and three people who responded won prizes!

Well, the dumpster may have left our house, but there is still a lot more organizing to be done here. We definitely are in the phase where everything looks worse before it gets better. To give you an idea of how crazy things are, in the attic I found a box of Christmas cards from 1989. People wrote that they were excited that we had moved to a new house and were having a baby. Yes, you can do the math; that baby is now 30! We have not moved again, hence we have held on to a lot of things. Note to young moms: there is no need to keep every piece of paper that your child wrote on. I am seeing a lot of math and spelling tests and homework, and I am asking myself, “WHY did you keep this?” There are also a lot of hand-painted art projects. Do I hold on to those?

Meanwhile, the zinnias are bursting with color. I am hoping to get one more dahlia to bloom, and I am contemplating when to prune some beautiful limelight hydrangea flowers to dry in the house. Also, I am debating buying one last plant for the year: a cockscomb celosia.

I want to make something new with figs this weekend, but I am not sure what to make! Ideas are welcome. I am relishing the idea of a quiet weekend tripping down memory lane, swimming (aka leaf-collecting), and I have three books that are calling my name. Check back next week to see which cries of the books were answered.

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 RETURN by Nicholas Sparks

THE RETURN by Nicholas Sparks (Romance)
Audiobook available, read by Kyf Brewer
Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. But when a mortar blast sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he'd inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any. Trevor isn't prepared to fall in love with a local. Yet, from their very first encounter, he feels a connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson that he can't ignore. But she remains frustratingly distant, making him wonder what she's hiding. Trevor hopes that Callie, a sullen teenage girl who lives down the road, can shed light on the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather's death. She offers few clues --- until a crisis triggers a race to uncover the true nature of her past. Reviewed by Pamela Kramer.

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