January 3, 2025
 January 3, 2025Never Miss a Contest or a Promotion!     Happy New Year of Books!    Wow, what a great couple of weeks of holiday celebrating! It was lovely seeing family and friends and just kicking it back a BIG notch. I also spent time organizing. I know that does not sound very festive, but the eight boxes that I brought home from our office in 2020 are no longer sitting outside my office here at the house. They have been sorted and filed...and yes, a lot was tossed. Ah, what a great way to kick off 2025. I read over the break, finishing BEAUTIFUL UGLY by Alice Feeney, which is really terrific and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Now I am reading WHAT HAPPENED TO THE McCRAYS? by Tracey Lange in print and listening to GOOD DIRT by Charmaine Wilkerson on audio. I have enjoyed both Tracey and Charmaine’s previous books, and right now I am loving these latest ones even more. What a brilliant start to a new year of reading. We entertained and went out (a lot of each) over the holidays, and it was a nice mix of racing around and hunkering down at home. Two weeks of not chasing deadlines was glorious! Today I hosted a fun lunch here with some publishing colleagues.  Be sure to sign up for our first “Bookaccino Live” book preview event of 2025, which will take place next Wednesday, January 8th at 2pm ET. The focus will be on titles releasing between January 7th and February 4th, in addition to a few from March, that we would like to tell you about. Click here to register. Those attending the live event will be asked to answer a survey about the books from the presentation that they are most interested in reading and will be eligible to win a prize.  This is your last Weekly Update newsletter reminder to enter our End-of-the-Year contest, where one Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 40(!) of my Bets On picks from 2024, while 10 other winners will receive four of these titles. Some of the books you may win include BE READY WHEN THE LUCK HAPPENS: A Memoir by Ina Garten, THE DAYS I LOVED YOU MOST by Amy Neff, FIRST LIE WINS by Ashley Elston, THE FURY by Alex Michaelides, THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN by Marjan Kamali, ONE WRONG WORD by Hank Phillippi Ryan, WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? by Sophie Kinsella, and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? by Shari Lapena. To enter, please fill out this form by Friday, January 10th at noon ET. If you would like to know more about these books, be sure to check out this video and podcast where I talk about each of my picks and why I’m betting you’ll love these titles just as much as I did.  You do not have to be in a book group to enter our End-of-the-Year contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com, where readers are telling us their favorite book that they read with their group and their favorite book that they read outside their group in 2024. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded seven books releasing this year that we think book groups will want to discuss: THE FLOAT TEST by Lynn Steger Strong, A FORTY YEAR KISS by Nickolas Butler, the aforementioned GOOD DIRT by Charmaine Wilkerson, MORE OR LESS MADDY by Lisa Genova, PRESUMED GUILTY by Scott Turow, THE QUEENS OF CRIME by Marie Benedict, and THE STOLEN QUEEN by Fiona Davis. THE STOLEN QUEEN will be a Bets On pick, and we will feature my "Bookreporter Talks To" interview with Fiona soon. To enter, please fill out this form by Wednesday, January 22nd at noon ET. We will share our reader-compiled "Best Of" list with you in the late January Reading Group Guides newsletter. Enter Our New Word of Mouth Contest Vote in Our New Poll --- and Check Out Results from the Last Poll In our previous poll, we were curious about how many books you read in 2024. 18% of you read more than 100 print books; in fact, 43% of you read 51 print books or more. 64% of you read e-books, while 43% listened to audiobooks. Click here for the full results. Our Reviewers’ Favorite Books of 2024 And if you haven’t checked out our special “Bookaccino Live” event, where seven reviewers talked about two of their favorite books of the year, we encourage you to watch or listen to it. We also shared picks from four reviewers who weren’t able to attend. Click here to see a list of all the books that were featured in the program, along with their covers. Books on Screen Offerings for January News & Pop Culture Reader Mail: Michelle wrote, “Just a quick note to thank you for all your hard work this past year! Your pledge of connecting readers to authors, no matter where they are, is one I am grateful for. My move from a New York City commuter town to rural Maine left me longing for the connection I once had with a vibrant library and the proximity to the publishing mecca, and Bookreporter has been a lifeline for me. I thoroughly enjoy the author interviews, but it is the 'Bookaccino Live' presentations that take the top prize. I take my TBR list very seriously (there are too many books to spend time on ones that don’t work for me), and these monthly Zoom calls are a secret weapon for me. I’m already looking forward to a banner 2025 reading year with you!” In response to a request from our reader Betsy, a number of you shared ideas for lighter reading for a book group, or pleasure reading. Here are some of them: Jan wrote, “The two books that immediately come to mind for lighter reads for a book group are THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio and THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach. They are lighter reads, but they have substance and are perfect for book groups.” Cheryle wrote, “I love the writing of Peggy Rowe (Mike Rowe's mother). She is funny and smart, and her books reflect older people and their foibles and antics. They would make terrific reading for a book club and should spark some good conversation. Even if the participants in the book club are not of the same generation, they should enlighten anyone. Thanks to you and your staff for all the work that goes into each week's newsletter and so much more. May you all have a terrific holiday season and the start of a fantastic new year.” Lisa wrote, “I love Mary Kay Andrews. She is funny, and her books have a bit of romance thrown in. A few other fiction favorites are RaeAnne Thayne, Susan Mallery and Susan Wiggs.” Melanie wrote, “Our book group loved HOW TO AGE DISGRACEFULLY by Clare Pooley. I suspect you might enjoy it more if you’re older than 50/60 or so, as we all are. Happy holidays! Your newsletters and Zooms are always so interesting and helpful in finding more good books to read. Now I just need more time to read them!” Barbara wrote, “I couldn't get the link to work for submitting a title to you. In response to Betsy's request for laugh-out-loud novels for 2025, please consider Christine Simon's THE PATRON SAINT OF SECOND CHANCES. This one reminded me of the wacky antics of Lucy and Ethel, where one 'plan' goes off the rails and snowballs! Set in a tiny Italian village that is about to go under, the protagonist's plan to save his beloved townspeople involves numerous harebrained schemes, including a social media influencer. Thank you for listening. I have enjoyed your newsletter for many years.” A Complete Unknown: Wow, I loved this movie. It's the first film that I have seen in a while where, as the credits rolled, I happily would have sat and watched it again. Interesting personal note: My husband Tom has a friend, Jimmy, who plays a number of gigs with an ensemble of people. The last time, he had a brilliant harmonica player named Rob Paparozzi with him. Well, it turns out that Rob taught Timothée Chalamet how to play the harmonica like Bob Dylan. Here’s a terrific article about it from GQ, which explains how they worked together. I love moments like this. The Six Triple Eight on Netflix: I loved this film about a piece of World War II history that is little known. Stay for the ending to see more about the real people behind the story. Conclave on Peacock: I heard raves about this movie, and now I know why. I am a rather lapsed Catholic, but seeing how a pope is selected was so interesting. I always thought there would be conversation in person, but instead there was a lot of manipulating behind the scenes. “Polo” on Netflix: I knew nothing about polo before watching this series set in Wellington, Florida, but now I know a lot more. Yes, there is an air of reality television to each of these sports series from Netflix, but I do love them. “Shrinking” on Apple TV+: A great ending to the latest season. I watched more, but I really need to keep a list as there is so much great programming out there. And there is a lot that I would not recommend. We also watched lots of college football over the break. Interesting observation: None of the four teams in the playoffs that had a bye week ended up moving on to the finals. My husband and I have often said that a week off like that is not always the best idea. Tomorrow we are heading to the New York Botanical Garden to see the Holiday Train Show, which is set against a stunning landscape of New York City buildings that are created from flowers and fauna. It is one of my favorite holiday things to do, and we have not been there in years. I am hoping for a lot of couch time on Sunday, watching football, reading and FINALLY getting a fire burning in the fireplace. I have papers from the eight boxes to burn. On Monday, I am hoping that the predicted snow holds off as friends and I have plans to attend Fiona Davis' event hosted by Thunder Road Books in Spring Lake, NJ. We already have a LOT of January books to share with you next week, along with our first reviews of 2025. It is nice to be back, though this break really was lovely. Read on, and have a great week. Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com) P.S. For those of you who shop online, if you use the store links that appear on our site for shopping, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound. As you read our reviews and features, we would appreciate your considering this as you buy! Special Contest:  Our End-of-the-Year contest, featuring Carol Fitzgerald's Bookreporter.com Bets On picks from 2024, will be wrapping up soon! One Grand Prize winner will be awarded all 40 books, while 10 other readers will receive four of these titles. To enter, all you have to do is fill out this form by Friday, January 10th at noon ET. Please enter only once. All duplicate entries will be deleted. Here are Carol's 2024 Bets On selections:
Our Year-End Video and Podcast! In this video and podcast, Carol talks about all 40 Bets On selections from last year and Click here to enter the contest.  Special Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com:  We have seen so many “Best Books of the Year” lists over the last couple of months. At ReadingGroupGuides.com, we would like you and your book group to help us compile ours by entering our special End-of-the-Year contest! All you have to do is fill out this form, sharing both your favorite book that you discussed with your group and your favorite book that you read outside your group in 2024, by Wednesday, January 22nd at noon ET. One Grand Prize winner will be awarded SEVEN fabulous book group titles releasing in 2025:
Please note: Your favorite book that you discussed with your group CAN be the same as your favorite book that you read outside your group. And they don't need to have been published in 2024. We will share our reader-compiled "Best Of" list with you shortly after the contest ends. We cannot wait to see what you select! Click here to share your favorite books of 2024 and enter the contest.    Bookreporter Reviewers Choose We've asked our reviewers to provide us with a list of their favorite books from 2024. Included is a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles, all published for the first time last year. Here are some of their top selections:
See which of their selections you agree or disagree with --- and which titles you may want to add to your 2025 reading list. Click here to see our reviewer picks for 2024.    January’s Books on Screen Feature Here is a preview of this month's movies, TV shows and DVDs/Blu-rays that are based on books. For a complete list of January's offerings, please click here. Film Releases The Jane Mysteries: A Deadly Prescription Dog Man Series Premieres "Missing You" (5-episode limited series) "Watson"
"Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches" "When Calls the Heart" "Will Trent" "The Night Agent" Season Finales "Outlander" "Silo" Ongoing Series "The Irrational" "Dexter: Original Sin" On DVD/Blu-ray Here The Return   
Next Week's Notables:
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