Archives - Weekly Update

In my own version of, "what I did on my summer vacation," last weekend I floated and read. I set off on my floating chair armed with FAITHLESS by Karin Slaughter, which to me, is her best book to date. Her characters are stronger than ever, I saw the scenes unfolding and I felt the story. She makes Grant County feel very real --- and I quickly fall into the rhythm of the place when I read her books.  FAITHLESS is in stores on August 30th, so mark your calendars now.

This week J.K. Rowling managed to keep millions of children --- and a fair number of adults --- glued to HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. Around our house my older son said "I finished it" on Sunday, while my younger son uttered the same words on Monday. I think there should be a special award for an author who can get that many people reading, simultaneously. Also, I thought of all the kids who saw midnight for the first time in their lives last Saturday morning, not on New Year's Eve, but in a bookstore! Nice milestone.

Wednesday night I made what I call a bookish pilgrimage. While I was in Denver I went to The Tattered Cover, which is revered by booklovers as one of the best independent bookstores in the country. I had a terrific time looking at their featured selections, browsing through new and old favorites, and seeing so many of the books that we had reviewed on their shelves. I have heard that more than 200 book clubs are run out of this store. I hope to do an interview with the woman who coordinates these soon for ReadingGroupGuides.com.

I am writing this from poolside at my hotel at Beaver Creek, Colorado where I am staring at the mountain that I am going to hike as soon as I am done. Talk about motivation. I have not been here in 11 years. The first time I was at this resort I was riding in a snowcat as the marketing and public relations people from Vail Associates were sharing their vision for the resort. Now, 25 years later I still am amazed at what has sprung up here. I am spending two days seeing old friends and catching up. It's a nice break from New York. Tomorrow I head to Denver for the Christian booksellers conference. One of my favorite authors, Charles Martin, is up for a Christy Award for Christian fiction writing. Looking forward to cheering him on.