November 13, 2020
 November 13, 2020Quick Links to Features on Bookreporter.com Reviews | Features | Bookreporter.com Bets On | Upcoming Bets On  Latest Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign Thank you to those of you who have donated to our GoFundMe campaign. So far, with online and snail mail donations, we have raised $36,655 of our $50,000 goal. In addition to these contributions, we are loving your comments about how you enjoy Bookreporter.com. Here is a message we received recently: Bridget: "I’m happy to help Carol continue to expand her very creative efforts connecting readers and writers!" You can read about our plans and donate here. If you would prefer donating via check, please send to: Thank you again for your consideration and your donation.  We mourn the loss of Alex Trebek, who passed away Sunday from pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.  This week, during an early morning walk through one of their local parks,  That same park has a storybook trail that gives children the opportunity to learn more about  Carol's Christmas cactus is already blooming! As she tried to figure out what was going on, she discovered that there are Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter cacti. Click on the cactus to learn more.  The Miami Book Fair is kicking off on Sunday with a stellar virtual lineup featuring 300 authors. Pimento Cheese in November! The Masters is being played this weekend at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, so I will be making pimento cheese sandwiches, which is my ode to watching golf. It’s very odd to be doing this in November instead of April...but hey, it’s all part of 2020, the year that feels like a decade! If they play again in April, will we feel like we are moving at warp speed? But then again, will anything be happening the way it was “in before times” in April? Once I sit down at my desk in the morning, it’s pretty much flat out work for the day. Sure, last week I enjoyed a couple of midday walks, but usually once I hit the chair I rarely move. This week, Greg and I decided to try some walks first thing in the morning --- and instead of walking around the neighborhood, we hit a couple of parks near the house and tried their walking trails. One of them had the very amusing “No Skating” sign that you see above. As we were walking, I chirped “Good Morning” to people as we passed them. Now I was not exactly noting everyone who I passed, so it was quite funny to chirp my greeting to one woman, who was walking with her friend, and have her huff, “Good morning, AGAIN!” It was drizzling yesterday, so instead of walking, I hit the exercise bike in my office for half an hour and read. Then the day started, and the only thing that exercised were my fingers. If reading and typing were sports, I would be in great shape. By the way, the park with the "No Skating" sign also had a storybook trail to entice young children to discover more about the book on their walk. The chosen title was THE GRUFFALO. It’s been a very busy week. On Wednesday, we held our last “Bookaccino Live” afternoon event of 2020, where I talked about books releasing from November 10th to January 5th, along with four from February, that I wanted to get on your radar. For those of you who missed the presentation, it will be available on our YouTube channel next week. In the meantime, you can see a list of all the titles that I presented here. Our next event will be on Wednesday, January 13th at 2pm ET. The focus will be on books releasing from January 12th to February 2nd, with a peek ahead to March. We will alert you when signup for that is opened. Today we hosted our Book Group Speed Dating event for booksellers, librarians and book group leaders. We will have the video and leavebehinds for that available in the next couple of weeks. I can share that there are some terrific books coming in 2021! Please keep in mind that next Thursday, November 19th at 8pm ET, we will host our first “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event via Zoom. Our special guest will be Jeanine Cummins, who will discuss her bestselling novel, AMERICAN DIRT. Some guests who have read the book will join Jeanine and me "on stage" at one point to be part of the conversation. Other readers will watch the event and will be able to pose a question during the last 10 minutes of the program. If you would like to attend the event as a participant or as an audience member, be sure to sign up here by Monday, November 16th at 10am ET. Please note that our Zoom room only accommodates 500, and from what we see, it WILL “sell out” that night. We will be taping this event to air at a future date in case you do not make it in. Now to this week’s update... Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller must defend himself against murder charges in Michael Connelly’s new heart-stopping thriller, THE LAW OF INNOCENCE. Our reviewer Joe Hartlaub calls the book “a continuation of a return to form for Connelly, which was initiated earlier this year in FAIR WARNING. Harry Bosch fans who have been disappointed with that character’s slow fade into the background of his own series will find much to love here as there are a number of appearances by Haller’s older, more straight-arrow half-brother.” THE LAW OF INNOCENCE is one of our current Word of Mouth prizes; the other is PIECE OF MY HEART by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, which we plan to review next week. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read, and you’ll be in the running to win both these highly anticipated thrillers. Please do so by Friday, November 20th at noon ET. Two brothers. One small town. A lifetime of dark secrets. That is the premise of Jo Nesbø’s tense and atmospheric stand-alone thriller, THE KINGDOM. Joe Hartlaub raves about the book in his review: “I thought that I had the ending figured out on multiple occasions and was wrong every time. Whatever disappointment I initially experienced upon learning that this was not a Harry Hole novel evaporated within the first few pages and never reappeared. No one who reads THE KINGDOM will ever forget it or its author, who deserves a place at the summit of the must-read list of anyone who enjoys dark quality literature.” WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE is a true-crime memoir that has been getting a lot of buzz leading up to its release this week. 1969 was the year that universities would seek to curb the unruly spectacle of student protest; the winter that Harvard University would begin the tumultuous process of merging with Radcliffe, its all-female sister school; and the year that Jane Britton, an ambitious 23-year-old graduate student in Harvard's Anthropology Department and daughter of Radcliffe Vice President J. Boyd Britton, would be found bludgeoned to death. Forty years later, a curious undergrad named Becky Cooper will hear the first whispers of the story --- a tale of gender inequality in academia, a “cowboy culture” among empowered male elites, the silencing effect of institutions, and our compulsion to rewrite the stories of female victims. According to our reviewer Sarah Rachel Egelman, “Cooper’s writing is solid and her pacing adept throughout. This is a tragic yet engaging book, by turns insightful and frustrating.... Many of the characters here, including Cooper herself, are quite aware of how truths get stretched and the human tendency to mythologize. Though the case had been cold for so very long, page by page it feels like she is racing against the clock as central figures age and DNA evidence slips away.” We have a discussion guide for the book on ReadingGroupGuides.com, which you can take a look at here. I really want to read this one. I found a terrific interview with Becky here where she is in conversation with Ron Chernow, courtesy of Politics and Prose Bookstore. I love the story of how they met! After 16 novels, Jacqueline Winspear has decided to shift writing gears with her first memoir, THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE’LL BE LAUGHING (I hope we will be!). Her story tackles the difficult, poignant and fascinating family accounts of her paternal grandfather’s shellshock; her mother’s evacuation from London during the Blitz; her soft-spoken animal-loving father’s torturous assignment to an explosives team during WWII; her parents’ years living with Romany Gypsies; and Winspear’s own childhood picking hops and fruit on farms in rural Kent, capturing her ties to the land and her dream of being a writer at its very inception. Our reviewer Barbara Bamberger Scott points out that “[m]any stories in Winspear’s lively memoir will remind her fans of episodes from the Maisie Dobbs series…. Walking with her through this complex thicket of rumination and reminiscence offers readers a chance to understand more about the writing process, while revealing details of a family heritage well worth recording.” THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE’LL BE LAUGHING will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick; you can read my commentary in next week’s newsletter. My interview with Jackie will premiere at the Miami Book Fair next weekend. You can add the event to your Miami Book Fair “watchlist” here. This week’s New Release Spotlight title is LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent, whose previous novels are UNRAVELING OLIVER (a Bets On title) and LYING IN WAIT. Her latest psychological thriller follows three brothers, bound by blood but split by fate, and delves into the many ways families can wreak emotional havoc across generations. William, Brian and Luke, born a year apart, are trained from birth by their mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do…yet even after they escape into the world beyond their windows, those games --- those little cruelties --- grow more sinister, merciless and dangerous. And only two of them will survive. We have our review this week from Ray Palen, who says, “The brothers' 'little cruelties' to each other rip such a schism between them that it is just a matter of time before one of them loses his life. The trick is to figure out who is in that coffin and why he had to die. LITTLE CRUELTIES is an intriguing read that will engulf you in their saga and surround you with their lives until you find yourself finally coming up for air prior to the startling final portion of the novel.” This also will be a Bets On selection; find out why in next week’s newsletter. I am looking forward to talking to Liz next week for a “Bookreporter Talks To” interview. Other books we’re reviewing this week include MARAUDER by the late Clive Cussler and his co-author Boyd Morrison, which finds Juan Cabrillo and the crew of his ship, the Oregon, on a mission to stop a terrorist plot to release a deadly chemical weapon across the globe; MISS BENSON’S BEETLE, Rachel Joyce’s new novel about two women on a life-changing adventure, where they must risk everything, break all the rules and discover their best selves --- together (we currently are giving away 12 copies of the book to three groups in our “What’s Your Book Group Reading This Month?” contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com); and COBBLE HILL, in which Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar chronicles a year in the life of four families in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood as they seek purpose, community and meaningful relationships --- until one unforgettable night at a raucous neighborhood party knocks them to their senses. As we inch ever so closer to Thanksgiving, we are excited to bring back our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. The giveaways kick off at noon ET on select days in November and December, and run for just 24 hours, so you will have to check the site to see what is being featured. As always, we will be sending our special Holiday Cheer newsletter on the days when there are contests. Click here to sign up for these email alerts. Our preview email with all the books to be featured will go out on Monday, November 16th to those who have opted into the Holiday Cheer newsletter, and our first contest will go live the following day at noon ET. Week one’s prize books will be KEEPING CHRISTMAS: 25 Advent Reflections on A Christmas Carol by Allison Pittman, THE SPIDERLING by Marcia Preston, and the aforementioned LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent. Our poll continues to ask about signed books. Do you purchase them from time to time, actively seek them out and collect them for yourself, give them as gifts…or do you not have any interest in them? Let us know by clicking here. The semifinal round is now open for the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards, the only major book awards decided by readers. Be sure to cast your votes in 20 different categories by this Sunday, November 15th. The final round will take place from November 17th through November 30th, and the winners will be announced on December 8th. We are very excited to share that the Miami Book Fair will be kicking off on Sunday with a totally virtual lineup. They have created the most sophisticated book festival format that we have seen. There will be 300 authors participating, and what is wonderful about it is that you will be able to note your genres of interest to build the schedule of programming that you want to see --- and a "watchlist." My watching begins on Sunday night with a fundraiser event where Ann Patchett and Emma Straub will be in conversation. Five of our “Bookreporter Talks To” interviews have been shared with the Fair --- Robert Kolker, Lisa See (this link is still to come), Alex George, Alice Feeney and Finola Austin --- as well as two original interviews with Sue Miller and the aforementioned Jacqueline Winspear. There is something for everyone at this event! News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Louise wrote, “I received THE GUEST LIST a few weeks ago and just finished it. Thank you very much for the book. I enjoyed most of the story, and it kept me guessing right until the end. It definitely captured the manners and attitudes of the “posh” UK boarding school set of people, especially the shallowness and cruelty. I lived in both England and Ireland and felt like I had met some of these characters in person. My disappointment with the story was the lack of real Irish voices from any of the Irish people, such as Aoife and her husband. But I was really intrigued by the discovery of the psychology of each character and how entwined everyone was. The ending was a shocker and well done. Today was my first time joining the Bookaccino event. I appreciate the suggestions and the hard work that goes into producing these events.” Janet Evanovich and Lisa Scottoline: What a great matchup for an interview. You can watch it here; it originally was taped for Live Talks Los Angeles. "The Crown": It’s back on Netflix starting on Sunday night with season four. It’s one of the few shows that my husband will watch with me. He is not “a series kind of guy.” "This Is Us": The final scene had a framed photo that had us all wondering who it was. You can get some insight into that here. Alex Trebek: It was so sad to learn of his passing earlier this week. It was one of those moments that gives one pause. A legend. An icon. A really wonderful guy. For those who loved "Jeopardy!" his memoir, THE ANSWER IS..., is one you may want to get your hands on. I also read a really fun story about how he used crayons on the set. Knitting and the Pandemic: Melanie, who edits Word of Mouth, shared this terrific piece from the New York Times with me about knitting during the pandemic. It’s written by Perri Klass, MD, whose writing I love and who I have been lucky enough to meet more than once. I smiled when I read that she had bought yarn in New Orleans and thought of the time I spent shopping at The Quarter Stitch on more than one business trip. I ducked in there on one trip with booksellers and on a second with librarians. I have been so busy with work during the pandemic that I have not been able to knit as much as I would like. But I have thought about knitting. I have organized my yarn and gazed at it fondly. And that has brought me a lot of peace, as well as lots of great memories of the places I traveled to buy that yarn. Now, let me get back to the baby blanket that has taken me two months to do six inches of, and it's not even a hard pattern. It's all knit knit knit with Baby Blossom yarn that makes lovely flowers as I knit! I need no extra thinking right now. I also wish I was using Chunky instead of DK weight. I need instant gratification! I am not comfortable enough to go to a movie theater yet, but I wish I was since I would love to see Let Him Go, based on the book by Larry Watson. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are a great match. Last week, I shared the cover of Mark Sullivan’s THE LAST GREEN VALLEY, which releases next May. This week, I am happy to share an excerpt from AARP magazine. Now, for the record, this is the only way I would go near this magazine; after all, I am still 27! I got a lot of gardening done last weekend, cutting back, pruning and getting things cleaned up for winter. I plan to make a map of where everything is now, so I can decide what changes I want to make next year. I brought in the dahlia bulbs and will start thinking about where to plant them for next season. The new pool cover arrived on Tuesday, on a day that was unseasonably warm. As the crew was setting it up, I walked outside and said, “Wait, I wanted to take one more swim.” They looked up, I think taking me half-seriously. But the water was down to 50 degrees, so that was not going to happen! It was a funny moment. I should have had on my wetsuit. Hey, humor. We need more of it. The other day, I saw that my Christmas cactus was already blooming, again before Thanksgiving. I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong! And what did I learn? There are Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter cacti. Seriously! I am going to do some serious leaf inspection this weekend. And it’s time to plan the Thanksgiving menu. I am determined to shake it up this year and not make all of the “usual” things. Some of them, not all. Let’s see how that goes over with the guys here. Read on, and have a great week. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)    Featured Review: THE LAW OF INNOCENCE  THE LAW OF INNOCENCE: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly (Legal Thriller) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: THE KINGDOM by Jo Nesbø  THE KINGDOM written by Jo Nesbø, translated by Robert Ferguson (Mystery/Thriller) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE  WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper (True Crime/Memoir) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review:  THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE'LL BE LAUGHING: A Memoir by Jacqueline Winspear (Memoir) Click here to read our review. THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE'LL BE LAUGHING will be a Bookreporter.com  New Release Spotlight: LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent  LITTLE CRUELTIES by Liz Nugent (Psychological Thriller) Crisply written and quickly paced, perfect for fans of breathtaking suspense, LITTLE CRUELTIES gazes unflinchingly into the darkness: the darkness collecting in the corners of childhood homes, hiding beneath marriage beds, clasped in the palms of two brothers shaking hands. And it confirms Liz Nugent --- whose work has invited comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Barbara Vine, and has been celebrated as "captivating" (People) and "highly entertaining" (The Washington Post) --- as one of the most exciting, perceptive voices in contemporary fiction. - Click here to read our review. Click here to read more in our New Release Spotlight. LITTLE CRUELTIES will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Announcing Bookreporter.com's  At Bookreporter.com, we kick off the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. As our gift to you, on select days in November and December, we are spotlighting a book and giving five lucky readers the chance to win it. You have to visit the site each day to see the featured prize book and enter the 24-hour contest. As always, we are sending our special Holiday Cheer newsletter on the days when there are contests. Click here to sign up for these email alerts. Our first prize book will be announced on Tuesday, November 17th at noon ET. This year's contest titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details Featured Review: MARAUDER  MARAUDER: A Novel of the Oregon Files by Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison (Thriller/Adventure) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review: MISS BENSON’S BEETLE  MISS BENSON’S BEETLE by Rachel Joyce (Historical Fiction) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.    From left to right: Anthony Horowitz, Steve Martin, David Baldacci Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events As so many book and author events are happening online these days, we are highlighting a number of them that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links below for more info and to register. Saturday, November 14th at 12:30pm ET: Rakestraw Books "Live at Home" presents "Morning Coffee with Anthony Horowitz": Join Rakestraw Books alongside bestselling author Anthony Horowitz as he discusses his new novel, MOONFLOWER MURDERS, with bestselling novelist A.J. Finn, author of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW. Sunday, November 15th at 1pm ET: Politics & Prose Virtual Event: Join Jo Nesbø and Michael Connelly as they discuss their new books, THE KINGDOM and THE LAW OF INNOCENCE, with reviewer Oline Cogdill. Sunday, November 15th at 7pm ET: Exclusive Miami Book Fair Online Fundraising Event: An Evening with Ann Patchett & Emma Straub: Celebrate the opening of Miami Book Fair Online with acclaimed novelists Ann Patchett and Emma Straub, hosted by Tony Award-winning actress Julie White. Click here for the full Miami Book Fair schedule. Monday, November 16th at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble Virtual Event: Barnes & Noble welcomes multitalented comedian Steve Martin and New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss, moderated by Henry Winkler, for a live virtual event to discuss their new book, A WEALTH OF PIGEONS: A Cartoon Collection. Tuesday, November 17th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Virtual Event: Poisoned Pen presents a virtual event with David Baldacci, who will discuss his new Atlee Pine thriller, DAYLIGHT. Wednesday, November 18th at 7pm ET: Books Are Magic Virtual Event: Books Are Magic is pleased to present a virtual event with writers Susie Yang and Lucy Tan. Yang will discuss her debut novel, WHITE IVY. Wednesday, November 18th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": Every Wednesday, Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe talk books and writing on their "Friends and Fiction" Facebook group page. Their special guests will be J.T. Ellison and Hank Phillippi Ryan. Wednesday, November 18th at 7pm ET: Midtown Scholar Books Virtual Event: Join #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci for an exclusive live-stream conversation about his new thriller, DAYLIGHT. He will be talking to bestselling author Lisa Gardner, whose forthcoming novel, BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, releases on January 19th. Wednesday, November 18th at 8:30pm ET: Broadway Books Virtual Event: Broadway Books is thrilled to announce a virtual event for the launch of Jacqueline Winspear's memoir, THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE'LL BE LAUGHING. Winspear will be in conversation with New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir. Thursday, November 19th at 7pm ET: Midtown Scholar Books Virtual Event: The Midtown Scholar Bookstore is pleased to welcome authors Becky Cooper and Emma Copley Eisenberg (THE THIRD RAINBOW GIRL) for a live-stream conversation on Cooper’s new work, WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence. Thursday, November 19th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Book Group Event: Jeanine Cummins will discuss AMERICAN DIRT with Carol Fitzgerald and a few guests who have read the book. Other readers will watch the event and will be able to pose a question during the last 10 minutes of the program. Sign up here by Monday, November 16th at 10am ET if you would like to attend the event as a participant or as an audience member. Thursday, November 19th at 8pm ET: Murder By the Book Virtual Event: Join Alafair Burke as she chats with Michael Connelly about THE LAW INNOCENCE, the newest Lincoln Lawyer novel.   "Bookreporter Talks To" Videos & Podcasts “Bookreporter Talks To” is a video and podcast series that delivers a long-form, in-depth author interview every week. For years, Carol has 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 is to bring these author interviews to readers, wherever they may be. Watch on video, or listen as a podcast. (The podcasts include audio excerpts.) Here is our latest interview: Other authors we've interviewed include:
Upcoming interviews include:
Click here for a complete list of our    More Reviews This WeekFIRST PRINCIPLES: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country by Thomas E. Ricks (History) COBBLE HILL by Cecily von Ziegesar (Fiction) THE OFFICE OF HISTORICAL CORRECTIONS: A Novella and Stories by Danielle Evans (Fiction/Short Stories) HEAD WOUNDS: A Kevin Kerney Novel by Michael McGarrity (Mystery) KANT'S LITTLE PRUSSIAN HEAD AND OTHER REASONS WHY I WRITE: An Autobiography in Essays by Claire Messud (Autobiography/Essays) ATTACK SURFACE by Cory Doctorow (Science Fiction/Thriller) A SOLITUDE OF WOLVERINES by Alice Henderson (Thriller) THE WELL OF ICE: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter (Mystery) - Click here to read our interview with Andrea Carter. THE LONG TAIL OF TRAUMA: A Memoir by Elizabeth Wilcox (Memoir) ATOP THE WINDMILL, I COULD SEE FOREVER by María Dolores Gonzales (Memoir)   
Next Week's Notables:
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