January 15, 2021
 January 15, 2021Quick 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 $38,459 of our $50,000 goal. In addition to these contributions, we are loving your comments about how you enjoy the sites in The Book Report Network. Here is a message we received recently: Monica: "I have enjoyed reading the newsletter for years. I look forward to reading the various newsletters every week. It is one of my favorite sites to find new books to read. The Bets On selections are always fantastic books. Thanks so much for all of the information! Keep up the great work!" 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 have two new "Bookreporter Talks To" interviews for you this week.  Carol had a wonderful conversation with Liese O'Halloran Schwarz about her new novel,  The Morristown Festival of Books @Home live virtual author event series will be held on Saturday, February 20th and Sunday, February 21st. Featured guests will be bestselling authors Kristin Hannah, V.E. Schwab and David Michaelis, and debut memoirist Nadia Owusu. Each session during this two-day event will feature an engaging dialogue between the author and moderator, and questions from the audience will be taken during the last portion of the interview. Click on the image above for more about the event and to register to attend each of the sessions that you are interested in. Read on below for information about the ones that Carol will be moderating.   Carol baked bread with many seeds on Monday night, and then sliced that up to   Two more amaryllis plants have bloomed. Carol has been staking plants madly! Tsundoku And just like that, we are halfway through the month of January! We watched Alex Trebek’s final episode of "Jeopardy!" last Friday night, and it got me thinking about tsundoku, which was one of the clues/answers. Its definition is “acquiring reading materials, but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them.” It also refers to books for reading later when they are on a bookshelf. Alex mentioned that he was guilty of this, made all the more sad as he passed away shortly after taping this final episode. I found kinship with him. While I am a very quick reader, there are hundreds of books here at the house that I still want to read. Last night, I did recycle a huge pile of newspapers that I finally admitted I will never get to. While I do not read books online, I do read newspapers online. My husband reads them in print. I also get no magazines here at the house. I know I will not read them. I also read them online, because no, even for $5 a year, I do not want to get Vanity Fair here. It's been such a busy two weeks since we have been back! This week, we heard from Marilyn, the Grand Prize Winner in our End-of-the-Year Contest. She wrote, “You can’t imagine my surprise on Saturday morning. I was reading Bookreporter when I saw that I won the Grand Prize in the End-of-the-Year Contest. Thank you, thank you so much. I have been a fan of Bookreporter for many years, and I base most of my reading on the reviews that I read there. Well, I know what I’m going to be doing the rest of the winter while I’m stuck inside reading those wonderful books. Many thanks again." The prize books are going out early next week. This was a super hectic week, but I am looking forward to boxing up these prizes (the boxes arrived today) and slipping some notes inside. I need the shelf space for this year's selections! On Wednesday, we held our first “Bookaccino Live” event of 2021, and more than 200 of you joined us. Wow! I talked about books releasing between January 12th and February 2nd, along with seven from March, 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 “Bookaccino Live” afternoon event will be on Wednesday, February 10th at 2pm ET. The focus will be on books coming out between February 9th and March 2nd, in addition to a few April titles. You can sign up here. You will get the sign-on link for this event as soon as you register on Zoom, so please keep that handy. Also, be sure you add the correct email address --- spelling errors will be an issue when it comes to getting into the event, as you are registered using your email address. As always, an hour before the event, we will send a list of the books that will be discussed, along with a reminder about the link. We send these emails in bulk, which means they may go to your spam box, so be sure to check for it there if it is not in your inbox. And once again, we will have a contest where three people attending the live event will be eligible to win prizes. We have two “Bookreporter Talks To” interviews to share with you this week. First up is Melanie Benjamin, whose new historical novel, THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD, is a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a punishing cold spell. It was warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota Territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats --- leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard blew in without warning. Schoolteachers as young as 16 were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: Keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn’t get lost in the storm. In the interview, Melanie and I talked about her research, the level of realism at play in the novel, and the deeply personal stories she was able to explore that are so often lost in history books. She also shared how the characters here relate to her own life and the sources of inspiration that led her to write the book. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast. Also, don’t miss my Bets On commentary; we’re planning to feature our review in the January 29th newsletter. My second interview is with Liese O'Halloran Schwarz, whose latest novel, WHAT COULD BE SAVED, will be a Bets On pick. The book takes place during two time periods. In 2019, we meet Laura Preston, an artist who struggles with her sister about family matters and whose mother is dealing with dementia. When a stranger contacts Laura claiming to be her brother, Philip, who disappeared 40 years earlier, she is determined to find out if this is true. The book then pivots to 1972, and the story is told from the perspectives of Laura's parents and the household staff as the children grow up. We see the family living happily, and then Philip disappears before they return to the United States. Liese, who worked for decades as an emergency room doctor, talked with me about how writing was always a part of her life --- even as she was practicing medicine. Her relationship with her sister, fellow author Carla Buckley, was much different from Laura and Bea's but has found its way into her books. She also spoke at length about her writing process, but especially about the elements that make her fiction both engrossing and powerful. Click here to watch the video and here to listen to the podcast. We have our review of WHAT COULD BE SAVED from Jana Siciliano, who says, "The drama of the ex-pat family, the torturous building of the realities that caused their ruin, and the still-desperate need to try to find some way to bring the family back together makes WHAT COULD BE SAVED a page-turner of the highest literary quality.... This book couldn’t have come out at a better time. Its taut dialogue, multi-dimensional characters and emotional plot lines make it highly recommended for anyone who needs a good distraction from the daily grind of 2021 America or the pandemic in general." Find out why I'm betting you'll love this book in next week's newsletter. Other books we're reviewing this week include THE SCORPION’S TAIL by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, which finds archaeologist Nora Kelly and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson working together to solve a twisted crime that reaches far beyond any of their worst fears; A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN, a literary master class on what makes great stories work and what they can tell us about ourselves --- and our world today --- from George Saunders, the Booker Prize–winning author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO and TENTH OF DECEMBER; this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club pick, Julia Claiborne Johnson’s BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, a novel about divorce, marriage and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition and opportunity); and AFTERSHOCKS, Whiting Award winner Nadia Owusu's memoir about the push and pull of belonging, the seismic emotional toll of family secrets, and the heart it takes to pull through. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME was one of the prizes in our Winter Reading Contests, which kicked off this week; the others were THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS by Paraic O’Donnell (which we also review this week) and THE LAST GARDEN IN ENGLAND by Julia Kelly. These contests will resume the week of February 1st when we will give away HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE by Cherie Jones, THE KINDEST LIE by Nancy Johnson, THE SURVIVORS by Jane Harper, and THIS CLOSE TO OKAY by Leesa Cross-Smith. Last week, we reviewed THE PUSH, January’s “Good Morning America” Book Club pick, and featured my “Bookreporter Talks To” interview with the author, debut novelist Ashley Audrain. This week, I am pleased to share my Bets On commentary about the book. Returning for a 16th year is our Valentine’s Day contest! Five of you will win seven recently published or soon-to-be-released titles for yourself or that special someone in your life: MEET ME IN BOMBAY by Jenny Ashcroft, THE POWER COUPLE by Alex Berenson, THE RETURN by Nicholas Sparks, SHIPPED by Angie Hockman, THE SOULMATE EQUATION by Christina Lauren, TOKYO EVER AFTER by Emiko Jean, and WHEN HARRY MET MINNIE: A True Story of Love and Friendship by Martha Teichner. All you have to do is enter here by Friday, February 12th at noon ET for your chance to win these irresistible love-themed books. Please note that advance reading copies of THE SOULMATE EQUATION and TOKYO EVER AFTER will be given away; both release in May, so finished copies will not be available when the contest ends. We’re giving away BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Gardner (which we will review next week) and the aforementioned THE CHILDREN’S BLIZZARD by Melanie Benjamin in our current Word of Mouth contest. Submit your comments about the books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win both these novels. Be sure to enter by Friday, January 22nd at noon ET. I look forward to interviewing Lisa next week! Our poll continues to ask about your reading goals for 2021. How many print books and e-books are you planning to read this year? And how many audiobooks do you think you will listen to? Let us know by clicking here. On Thursday night, we are doing our next Bookaccino Live Book Group event with our guest, William Kent Krueger, and we will be discussing THIS TENDER LAND. The event is “sold out” at this time. The only way you can join now is if you have a question for Kent that you would not mind asking on camera during the event. If you are interested in doing this, send me your question with the subject line “Kent.” I am very happy to share that I will be moderating two events for the Morristown Festival of Books @Home live virtual author event series, which will be held on Saturday, February 20th and Sunday, February 21st. Featured guests will be bestselling authors Kristin Hannah, V.E. Schwab and David Michaelis, and debut memoirist Nadia Owusu. Each session during this two-day event will feature an engaging dialogue between the author and moderator, and questions from the audience will be taken during the last portion of the interview. I will be moderating the sessions with Kristin and Nadia. As mentioned earlier, we are reviewing Nadia's memoir, AFTERSHOCKS, this week! Here is more info about the event and how to register to attend each of the sessions that you are interested in. News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Linda wrote, “I hadn't heard until this morning about THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD. I will definitely buy it because I loved the David Laskin book about the same horrific blizzard, THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD. I highly recommend that anyone who reads this new one also read Laskin's. Something about his that I'm guessing is different from Benjamin's is the layperson descriptions of how weather works and how weather forecasting worked then as compared to now. I want to reread it partly because of that weather aspect (to grow my brain a little more). It's a great read! Looking forward to the new book." Then Debby wrote, “I am VERY excited for your interview with Melanie Benjamin! The nonfiction telling of THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD will go down in our book club as the worst book that we've ever read. I had hoped that this new fictionalized book would be available before Christmas so I could give a copy to each of our club members (we're small, only six!), but it was too late. (I even contacted Melanie Benjamin to see if she had any pre-release copies that she could spare.) For every book that we read now, if someone doesn't like it, one of us undoubtedly says, 'Well, at least it wasn't THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD!' I have high hopes for this new one. Can't wait to read it! We enjoyed 'Bridgerton,' but having not read the books, I was NOT ready for the steamy scenes that come later in the series! HAHA!" Well, those are two very different views of the same book! Shirley wrote, “Carol, I love, love your newsletter but especially the links you provide to help us learn so much and keep us updated. Thanks for all you do. I don’t think you know how much you are appreciated!” Thanks, Shirley. I was thinking of this note as I pulled links all week for this newsletter! Lola wrote about the book she won in the Holiday Cheer contest, THE ARRANGEMENT, saying, “Thank you again for my book. I enjoyed this book; it was well written, had lots of twists and turns, and a wonderful surprise ending. I read your newsletter weekly and appreciate all your input into all the wonderful books that are available today.” Lorraine wrote this about our Winter Reading feature: “Thanks for doing this, Bookreporter team. Best wishes in the new literary year.” Betsy wrote this about my struggles to keep the stems of my amaryllis plants from bending: “Try using the smaller green stakes used for tomato plants and tie with green twist ties. This has always worked for me, and they are almost invisible, including the ties.” Cindy shared a photo about my amaryllis issue that showed her using a glass knitting needle as a stake: “Here’s an idea! Mine are glass. I use them in floral arrangements as well. As a fellow knitter, I’m guessing you have a few spares!” Great idea, as right now I am using shish kebab skewers. But now I also want glass knitting needles. "Pretend It’s a City" on Netflix: Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese are quite a duo. I found the first episode a bit slow, but from then on, I really loved it. There are so many quotable lines. It's a fun view of the city that I have not seen for a while --- and sophisticated humor. A great combo. Also, during the pandemic, I had forgotten about name dropping and other social cues like that. I confess I have not missed them. "Sex and the City" Reboot: I just am not as into the idea of a reboot of this series as others might be. Thus finding this very amusing piece about the idea of Fran Lebowitz replacing the Samantha character proved terrific to me. Also, Magnolia Bakery shared their Carrie Cupcake recipe. "Bridgerton" on Netflix: I am on the third episode, and I see why everyone was raving about this over the holidays. I heard they are now planning EIGHT seasons of it. And I read a piece in the Los Angeles Times where hardcovers of the books that the series is based on are fetching over $800 online. Seriously. Read about it here. Then wait for them to be back in stores. Locked Down on HBO Max: I am planning to watch this movie starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor this weekend. I challenge you to say the latter name three times fast. The Loud Family: Who remembers watching the show about the Louds back in 1971, "An American Family," on PBS? I confess to being obsessed with it and cannot believe it was only 12 episodes. It was the original reality television show. Maybe my early adoption of it is why I never watch reality shows now. Why am I bringing them up? Patricia Loud, the family matriarch, passed away last weekend. I baked bread with many seeds on Monday night...and then used it to make lunch the other day. You can see photos above. Making bread still makes me feel like I am in an episode of "Little House on the Prairie." It rises; I am amazed! I know, I am easily amused. See what a pandemic does? Speaking of the pandemic, when the age for getting the vaccine was lowered to 65, many friends told me that they wished they were 65. Me? I am still 27, and not even a pandemic will change my mind about that! Weekend plans include an online yoga class and putting away holiday decorations. Our friend, Cathy, is coming to dinner one night; she is moving to Charleston in a few weeks, and we are trying to smash in as much hang time as we can before she leaves. For more than a decade now, we have done many spontaneous dinners, which we call “spont” dinners, including Friday night pizza, Saturday night feasts and Sundays at poolside. And we are going to miss those calls to set something up at the last minute. There is something very special about a friend who can do that with you. I also want to research something that converts my desk that I love into a standing desk. I find myself wanting to stand up so many times during the day, and I think this would be a great way to be able to do that and keep working. Cory has a wonderful standing desk that his company supplied, but I love the look of my desk, which actually was designed to be a dining table. And it’s oversized, which works well for me. I need to figure this out! Anyone with suggestions, I am all ears. I have been scouting them online. I am interviewing Cassandra King Conroy on Sunday as part of the 2021 International Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club Convention Girlfriend Weekend Zoomathon Slumber Party (say that three times fast). I am supposed to wear pajamas and a tiara. Cassandra and I already have our sweatshirts picked out, as, yes, we are going with sweatshirts; I need to find a tiara. We are going to be talking about her memoir, TELL ME A STORY, which is about her life with Pat Conroy. I am looking forward to this! I have had zero time to knit, but that did not stop me from buying the Lotus Flower Beanie pattern. I wanted to see how they created the flowers. Now, do not ask when the last time I wore a hat was! Maybe if I knit a new hat, I will leave my desk and walk more. Hey, a girl can dream! Meanwhile, I am up to color three on the scarf that I am making; there are 10. People watching "Bookaccino Live" on Wednesday actually thought that the scarf I was wearing was the one I am working on. It may be done for a fall “Bookaccino Live” if I am lucky! Read on, and have a great week. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)    Featured Review: THE SCORPION’S TAIL  THE SCORPION'S TAIL by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. Featured Review:  A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders (Literary Criticism/Essays) Click here to read our review. Announcing Bookreporter.com's  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 six love-themed books in our 16th annual Valentine's Day contest. Be sure to enter between now and Friday, February 12th 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've 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 Valentine’s Day prize titles are:
Click here to enter the contest.  Bookreporter.com Bets On:   THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD by Melanie Benjamin (Historical Fiction) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read more of Carol's commentary THE PUSH by Ashley Audrain (Psychological Thriller) Blythe is determined to be the perfect mother for her own daughter, but she feels there is something wrong with baby Violet as she sees actions in her that are frightening. Is she making this up? Fox sees none of these behaviors, so she begins to question herself. And then Blythe has a son, and with him she has the warm, mothering relationship she expected to have with her daughter. But then something happens to shatter their world. Click here to read more of Carol's commentary on THE PUSH. Featured Review: BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME  BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME by Julia Claiborne Johnson (Historical Fiction) Click here to read our review. Featured Review: WHAT COULD BE SAVED  WHAT COULD BE SAVED by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz (Fiction) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review. WHAT COULD BE SAVED will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Featured Review: AFTERSHOCKS by Nadia Owusu  AFTERSHOCKS: A Memoir by Nadia Owusu (Memoir) - Click here to read more about the book. Click here to read our review.  Bookreporter.com's Seventh Annual At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2021 with our seventh annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature. On select days in January and February, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers the 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 Monday, February 1st at noon ET. This year's contest titles are:
Click here to read all the contest details    From left to right: Lisa Gardner, Nadia Owusu, Robert Jones, Jr. 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. Tuesdays at 7:30pm ET: "Talking ETERNAL with Lisa Scottoline": Join Lisa Scottoline every Tuesday night at 7:30pm ET on Facebook as she premieres a new episode from her video series, "Behind the Book: Talking ETERNAL," which reveals behind-the-scenes looks at the inspirations of her upcoming historical fiction book, ETERNAL, releasing on March 23rd. And stay tuned because immediately following each video premiere, Lisa hosts a Facebook Live to talk about the video. Tuesday, January 19th at 6pm ET: American Ancestors Virtual Event: American Ancestors and GBH Forum Network present a virtual event with debut author and Whiting Award winner Nadia Owusu, who will discuss her memoir, AFTERSHOCKS. Tuesday, January 19th at 7pm ET: Watermark Books & Café Virtual Event: Watermark Books & Café invites you to attend a virtual event with bestselling historical fiction authors Melanie Benjamin and Kate Quinn. During the event, Melanie will be discussing her new novel, THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD, and Kate will be talking about her forthcoming novel, THE ROSE CODE. Tuesday, January 19th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Virtual Event: Lisa Gardner will discuss her new thriller, BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, with special guest host and fellow New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager. Wednesday, January 20th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry and Mary Alice Monroe --- will talk about books, writing and life in general. Wednesday, January 20th at 7pm ET: Warwick's Virtual Event: Warwick's will host Melanie Benjamin as she discusses her new book, THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD, in conversation with fellow bestselling author Elizabeth Letts. Thursday, January 21st at 7pm ET: Books & Books Virtual Event: Join Robert Jones, Jr. and Deesha Philyaw as they discuss Jones' debut novel, THE PROPHETS. Thursday, January 21st at 7pm ET: Cuyahoga County Public Library Virtual Event: Lisa Gardner will discuss her new thriller, BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, with fellow New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. Thursday, January 21st at 7pm ET: Darien Library Virtual Event: Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore are delighted to welcome authors Marie Benedict (THE MYSTERY OF MRS. CHRISTIE), Melanie Benjamin (THE CHILDREN'S BLIZZARD) and Greer Macallister (THE ARCTIC FURY) for a historical fiction panel. Friday, January 22nd at 7pm ET: Quail Ridge Books Virtual Event: Quail Ridge Books presents a virtual event with debut author and Whiting Award winner Nadia Owusu, who will discuss her memoir, AFTERSHOCKS, with author Angela Belcher Epps.   "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 are our latest interviews:
Other authors we've interviewed include:
Upcoming interviews include:
Click here for a complete list of our    More Reviews This WeekTHE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. (Historical Fiction) THE BREAKER: A Peter Ash Novel by Nick Petrie (Thriller) NICK by Michael Farris Smith (Historical Fiction) THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS by Paraic O'Donnell (Historical Mystery) SUMMERWATER by Sarah Moss (Fiction) BRYANT & MAY: ORANGES AND LEMONS by Christopher Fowler (Mystery) A STRANGER AT THE DOOR by Jason Pinter (Mystery/Thriller) DEAR MISS KOPP: A Kopp Sisters Novel by Amy Stewart (Historical Fiction) A CROOKED TREE by Una Mannion (Fiction) BEFORE THE RUINS by Victoria Gosling (Literary Thriller/Mystery) CROSSHAIRS by Catherine Hernandez (Dystopian Fiction)   
Next Week's Notables:
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