December 11, 2020
 December 11, 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 $37,915 of our $50,000 goal. 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.  Carol's latest "Bookreporter Talks To" interview is with Sue Miller,   Last weekend, Carol read YOU BELONG HERE NOW by Dianna Rostad (on sale April 6th)  Carol, who many of you know LOVES turquoise, received the perfect book gift for her birthday   Carol's friend, who is a Grateful Dead fan, gave her chocolate truffles from Vosges Haut Chocolat.  Carol was gifted these stunning Star of Bethlehem stems. Soooo Much News This Week! There are times when I feel like I live in a sitcom, and this week was one of them! I celebrated my birthday on Monday, and Tom made my favorite stuffed tenderloin and fingerling potatoes. As he was making it, we had a discussion on what to have with it. I voted for his amazing Brussels sprouts, but I also wanted a spinach salad. So the plan was that we would have both, with me making a small salad. So we sit down to dinner and I ask, "Where are the Brussels sprouts? You guessed it. He forgot to make them, so we had a small salad, which left more room for cake. All good. The boys also realized that Mom spelled upside down is Wow. So I was presented with my cards upside down. Furthering my sitcom theory! Oh, and there was a perfect book gift: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF TURQUOISE. Last weekend, I kicked it back a huge notch and read. First up was a debut novel, YOU BELONG HERE NOW by Dianna Rostad, which will be in stores on April 6th. It’s set in Montana in 1925. Three orphans have traveled westward from New York City, looking for new homes. Together they all end up at a ranch in Wyoming with a family that has been scarred by loss. Their stories seem suspicious to these old school ranchers, but they find their way into the hearts of this family. Set against the spectacular backdrop of Montana, it made me want to go there. With travel not happening these days, I was so happy to be transported there with this book. Dianna is a debut author to keep your eye on; this will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. On Sunday, I spent the day reading FIND YOU FIRST by Linwood Barclay, which will be out on May 4th. In it, Miles Cookson is a tech millionaire who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And there’s a 50% chance that his children will have the disease. Miles has not had any children of his own, but when he was young he was a sperm donor --- leading to the possibility that nine children are out there who may have the gene. His goal is to find them so he can warn them, and also leave them his fortune. But as quickly as he tries to track them down; they are disappearing, or being found dead. What is happening? Miles and one of his possible children do connect, and from there they are bonded together in a race to figure out what is going on. I always enjoy Linwood’s books, but this one definitely is the tightest and twistiest for me. Those familiar with Linwood’s work know that he always has been a twist master. And yes, this, too, will be a Bets On pick. 2021 is shaping up to be a wonderful year for reading. Last month, we hosted our “9 1/2 Annual” Book Group Speed Dating event for booksellers, librarians and book club leaders. It’s an event that we typically host in May, but with everyone so far-flung, we decided to do a second one in November. Eighteen publishers joined us and presented more than 70 books that they think will be of interest to book groups for Winter/Spring 2021. You can watch the event in its entirety here. If you would like to know more about the books, here’s a link to the PowerPoint presentation of the featured titles, as well as an Excel spreadsheet that lists the books both by publisher and alphabetically by title. On that page we also have broken out the presentations by publisher and included links to their individual videos. There is LOTS of great reading here, folks! My last “Bookreporter Talks To” interview of 2020 is with Sue Miller, whose latest book, MONOGAMY, is a Bets On pick. Set in a New England town, this is the story of Graham, a gregarious bookseller, and Annie, a shy photographer, who have been married for nearly 30 years. By all appearances, they are a golden couple. But when Graham suddenly dies, Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him? Then, while she is still mourning Graham intensely, she discovers a ruinous secret, one that will spiral her into darkness and force her to question if she ever truly knew the man who loved her. In the interview, Sue talked about her path to writing the novel, which took six years, and how photography became a part of it, as well as her narration of the audiobook. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast. MONOGAMY is just one of the 42(!) books we’re awarding to the Grand Prize winner of our End-of-the-Year Contest, featuring all of my Bets On picks from this year. Fourteen additional winners will receive a selection of three of these titles. Among the other books you can win are ALL ADULTS HERE by Emma Straub, CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 by Lisa Unger, THE EXILES by Christina Baker Kline, THE HEIRLOOM GARDEN by Viola Shipman, LADY CLEMENTINE by Marie Benedict, ONE BY ONE by Ruth Ware, and TINY IMPERFECTIONS by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, January 4th at noon ET. Tuesday marked 40 years since the death of John Lennon, who was killed outside the Dakota, his apartment in Manhattan, by deranged fan Mark David Chapman. James Patterson (with the assistance of Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge) recounts this crime that shocked the world in his newly released THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON, which is enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon’s friends and associates, including Paul McCartney. Ray Palen has our review and says that the book "will provide a welcome walk down memory lane coupled with tears of regret as we watch how someone so evil could deprive the world of someone who did, and would have continued to do, so much good." We’re awarding THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON to the winners of our Word of Mouth contest, along with A WEALTH OF PIGEONS: A Cartoon Collection by Harry Bliss and Steve Martin. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read by Friday, December 18th at noon ET, and you’ll be in the running to win both these titles. THE ARRANGEMENT by Robyn Harding is the latest book we’re featuring in our Paperback Spotlight. Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend suggests she go online and find a sugar daddy. Though more than 30 years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate. Within a month, they are madly in love. At least Nat is. Gabe already has a family and has no intention of leaving them. So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him. But Gabe is not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession and, when a body is found near Gabe’s apartment, murder. We reviewed the book when it released in hardcover last summer; click here for Joe Hartlaub’s take on it. Other books we’re reviewing this week include SAVING FREEDOM, in which Joe Scarborough recounts the historic forces that moved Harry Truman toward his country’s long twilight struggle against Soviet communism, and how this untested president acted decisively to build a lasting coalition that would influence America’s foreign policy for generations to come; THE ARCTIC FURY, Greer Macallister’s latest novel, in which a dozen women join a secret 1850s Arctic expedition --- and a sensational murder trial unfolds when some of them don't come back; KJ Dell’Antonia’s first novel, THE CHICKEN SISTERS, which is December’s Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick; and Sophie Cousens’ THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, another debut and this month’s “Good Morning America” Book Club pick. Our Holiday Author Blogs are back for a 13th year! Once again, authors are sharing their favorite bookish holiday memories with us. So far, we’ve heard from Patricia Engel (INFINITE COUNTRY) and Janet Skeslien Charles (THE PARIS LIBRARY). Next week, be on the lookout for contributions from John Hart (THE UNWILLING), Deborah Goodrich Royce (FINDING MRS. FORD), Liese O'Halloran Schwarz (WHAT COULD BE SAVED), and Sharon Virts (MASQUE OF HONOR: A Historical Novel of the American South). Many thanks to these authors for their thoughtful and heartwarming pieces! Our Holiday Cheer contests wrapped up this week with our final two giveaways: LITTLE SISTER: A Memoir by Patricia Walsh Chadwick, which was recently featured on “CBS This Morning,” and the aforementioned THE ARRANGEMENT by Robyn Harding. Thank you to all who participated in these contests, and congratulations to the winners! Note that our next series of 24-hour contests will be our Winter Reading feature, which kicks off on Friday, January 8th. A Special Preview newsletter will be sent on Monday, January 11th, and our first contest is scheduled to go up the following day. You can sign up for the Winter Reading newsletter here. Our poll continues to ask if you’re planning to give books as gifts this holiday season. Click here to let us know! On Tuesday, the winners of the 12th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards were announced in 20 categories. Among them are THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig (Fiction); THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley (Mystery & Thriller); THE VANISHING HALF by Brit Bennett (Historical Fiction); MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Horror); A PROMISED LAND by Barack Obama (Memoir & Autobiography); CASTE: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (History & Biography); MODERN COMFORT FOOD: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten (Food & Cookbooks); and SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid (Debut Novel). Click here for all the winners. It is worth noting that THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY won by just five votes in the Fiction category (72,828); ANXIOUS PEOPLE by Fredrik Backman came in second, followed by one of my favorite books of the year, AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins, with 67,226 votes. And here are some more insights into the Goodreads Choice Awards from Suzanne Skyvara, their Vice President of Marketing & Editorial: "This year we had more than 5,600,000 votes for the best books of the year across 20 categories. THE VANISHING HALF, in the Historical Fiction category, got the most votes of any book, with 102,626 votes. Silvia Moreno-Garcia with MEXICAN GOTHIC beat out the reigning champion of Horror, Stephen King. King, who has won nine Goodreads Choice Awards, came in second this year. (Silvia had 85,626 votes vs. 2nd place King at 47,552). Horror was noticeably more popular in 2020 (go figure) with interest popping over the summer. This increased interest carried through to the Goodreads Choice Awards with votes in this category up by 43.7% compared to last year." And those of you who watched our interview in June with Suzanne and her colleague, Danny Feekes, will remember that they saw huge interest for MEXICAN GOTHIC way before it came out. She went on to say, "The surge in interest in books about anti-racism mid-year translated into wins for CASTE: The Origins of Our Discontents; STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You; and ANTIRACIST BABY. Ibram X. Kendi was a double winner, winning in the Nonfiction category (with co-author Jason Reynolds) and in Picture Books. And fresh off her 2019 Best Fiction win, Margaret Atwood won the Best Poetry category with her new collection DEARLY." News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Loretta wrote this about our Holiday Author Blogs: “I’ve been waiting for these to start. Thank you.” We agree…enjoy! Deby wrote, "Happy 27th Birthday! I've started celebrating my 27th birthday every year as well. It's such a nice sounding number, isn't it? :) Have a great day filled with everyone and everything you love. Thanks for giving all of us incredible information about books so we can keep reading together!" Pantone's 2021 Colors of the Year: Pantone's swatches for its latest Colors of the Year: Illuminating, a vibrant light yellow, and Ultimate Gray, the first neutral shade to ever be selected. "Let Them All Talk" on HBO Max: Ummmmm…let me see how I can describe this. I will let my son Greg’s words play through here. It was filmed on the Queen Mary, one of his favorite ships, and it has to do with writers and the book business in which he works. That would bode well for him to like it, but instead it’s a train wreck. There's lots of high-priced talent, but I hear they improvised the dialogue. I think it was the Wall Street Journal that said they needed writers. And they did! "The Undoing": There's a good interview in Oprah magazine with Jean Hanff Korelitz, who wrote the book YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, on which the HBO series is based. You can read that here. She has a new book called THE PLOT coming in May, which I am looking forward to! And here's an article from Harper's Bazaar about the coats in "The Undoing." The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart on HBO: This documentary chronicles the triumphs and hurdles of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, otherwise known as the Bee Gees. It premieres Saturday night at 8pm ET. Vosges Haut Chocolat: A friend gave me chocolate truffles from this chocolate maker for the second year in a row. These were so amusing as she is a Grateful Dead fan, and they definitely had psychedelic packaging. Such fun! Last year, she sent me astrology-themed chocolates. UrbanStems: I love flowers --- and unique ones are special. I was gifted some stunning Star of Bethlehem stems, which you can see above, and they are spectacular. I highly recommend them! I am trying to remember what cookies I made for the holidays last year. My husband and sons will be happy with multiple batches of Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. But I like to make others as well. I am trying to find the list of what I made last year, as there were some very good ones there. The goal for 2021 is to organize recipes better. And I really need to tackle holiday shopping; I was told on umpteen occasions that December 10th was the cutoff to ensure that gifts arrive on time. Well, there’s always New Year’s Day! Happy Hanukkah to our readers who are celebrating. Weather permitting, our neighborhood is doing its annual “light up” event on Saturday night where we all light candles in bags. It’s just stunning. The weather may not cooperate, in which case we will be doing this next Saturday night. Fingers crossed! Read on, and have a great week. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)    Featured Review:  THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON by James Patterson, with Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge (True Crime) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: SAVING FREEDOM by Joe Scarborough  SAVING FREEDOM: Truman, the Cold War, and the Fight for Western Civilization by Joe Scarborough (History) Click here to read our review. Special Contest:  We are thrilled to announce our End-of-the-Year Contest featuring Carol Fitzgerald’s Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2020. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 42 books, while 14 other readers will receive a selection of three of these titles. To enter, please fill out this form by Monday, January 4th at noon ET. Here are this year's Bookreporter.com Bets On titles:
Click here to enter the contest.  New Paperback Spotlight:  THE ARRANGEMENT by Robyn Harding (Psychological Thriller) Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy --- a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favors are optional. Though more than 30 years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate. Within a month, they are madly in love. At least Nat is. Gabe already has a family and has no intention of leaving them. So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him: watching him at work, spying on his wife, even befriending his daughter, who is not much younger than she is. But Gabe is not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder. Emotionally powerful and packed with page-turning suspense, THE ARRANGEMENT is a “nightmarish deep dive into the underbelly of a secret world” (Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author). - Click here to read our review. Click here to read more in our Paperback Spotlight. ReadingGroupGuides.com’s "9 1/2 Annual"  On November 13th, we hosted our “9 1/2 Annual” Book Group Speed Dating event for booksellers, librarians and book club leaders. More than 70 books that would make great book group selections for Winter/Spring 2021 were presented by 18 publishers. You can take a look at the entire video of the presentation here, or watch individual publisher presentations by clicking on the links below. Bloomsbury • Grove Atlantic • Harlequin • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt If you would like to know more about these books, here’s a link to the PowerPoint presentation of the featured titles, as well as an Excel spreadsheet that lists the books both by publisher and alphabetically by title. Click here to watch our "9 1/2 Annual" Book Group Speed Dating event. Featured Review: THE ARCTIC FURY by Greer Macallister  THE ARCTIC FURY by Greer Macallister (Historical Mystery/Thriller) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: THE CHICKEN SISTERS  THE CHICKEN SISTERS by KJ Dell'Antonia (Fiction) Click here to read our review. Featured Review:  THIS TIME NEXT YEAR by Sophie Cousens (Romantic Comedy) Click here to read our review. Bookreporter.com's Holiday Author Blogs:  This week marks the return of our Holiday Author Blogs, which we’ve brought back for a 13th consecutive year. From now through December 17th, we will feature a new blog post from an author each weekday talking about the books that he or she has given and/or received during the holidays. So far, we have heard from Patricia Engel (INFINITE COUNTRY) and Janet Skeslien Charles (THE PARIS LIBRARY). Still to come are contributions from John Hart (THE UNWILLING), Deborah Goodrich Royce (FINDING MRS. FORD), Liese O'Halloran Schwarz (WHAT COULD BE SAVED), and Sharon Virts (MASQUE OF HONOR: A Historical Novel of the American South). Click here to read Bookreporter.com's 2020 Holiday Author Blogs. Bookreporter.com's Holiday Cheer Feature:  At Bookreporter.com, we've been celebrating the holiday season in style with our Holiday Cheer Contests and Feature. As our gift to you, we've been spotlighting a book and giving five lucky readers the chance to win it. Although the contests have ended, we encourage you to take a look at this year's featured titles. These are books you'll want to read during the holidays --- and throughout the new year as well!
- Click here to see the winners of this year's Holiday Cheer contests. Click here to see our Holiday Cheer feature.    From left to right: Lisa See, H. W. Brands, Lori Nelson Spielman 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.   "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:
Click here for a complete list of our    More Reviews This WeekLOVE, KURT: The Vonnegut Love Letters, 1941-1945 written by Kurt Vonnegut, edited by Edith Vonnegut (Literary Collection/Letters) SNOWDRIFT: An Embla Nyström Investigation written by Helene Tursten, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Mystery) LAZARUS written by Lars Kepler, translated by Neil Smith (Psychological Thriller/Mystery) MIDWINTER MURDER: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery by Agatha Christie (Mystery/Short Stories) THE PARTICULARS OF PETER: Dance Lessons, DNA Tests, and Other Excuses to Hang Out with My Perfect Dog by Kelly Conaboy (Memoir/Humor) DANCING IN THE MOSQUE: An Afghan Mother's Letter to Her Son written by Homeira Qaderi, translated by Zaman S. Stanizai (Memoir) BLOOD RUNS COAL: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley (True Crime/History) TAKE IT BACK by Kia Abdullah (Legal Thriller) THE DEAD SEASON: A Shana Merchant Novel by Tessa Wegert (Mystery/Thriller) THE BLADE BETWEEN by Sam J. Miller (Supernatural Thriller/Horror) SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE BEAST OF THE STAPLETONS by James Lovegrove (Historical Mystery) 101 ARABIAN TALES: How We All Persevered in Peace Corps Libya by Randolph W. Hobler (Memoir)   
Next Week's Notables:
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