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May 2016

This month’s Cool and New roundup includes EXILE FOR DREAMER by Kathleen Baldwin, the second book of the Stranje House series, in which a girl's gruesome dreams become her darkest reality; QUEEN OF HEARTS, Colleen Oakes's imaginative retelling of Alice's classic fall where a princess is pulled down the rabbit hole of an Wonderland she cannot escape; and INVISIBLE FAULT LINES by Kristen-Paige Madonia, in which a teen girl investigates the mysterious disappearance of her beloved father.

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Ernest Greenwood

Accidents, and particularly street and highway accidents, do not happen --- they are caused.

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Ernest Greenwood

Win 12 Copies of BEACH TOWN by Mary Kay Andrews for Your Group

Each month, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. Note: To be eligible to win, let us know the title of the book that YOUR book group is CURRENTLY reading, NOT the title we are giving away.
 

May 5, 2016

Martha Hall Kelly on a True Friend and a Good Writer

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Martha Hall Kelly’s debut novel, LILAC GIRLS --- the remarkable story of unsung women and their quest for love, freedom and second chances ---was inspired by a real-life World War II heroine. Turns out, it’s not only her writing that was inspired by a strong woman; her reading was, as well. Here, Martha talks about her late mother, who prioritized reading in her own life, and passed on to her children and grandchildren a great love for all books --- although none so much as E. B. White’s classic CHARLOTTE’S WEB.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.

But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met --- a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.

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Interview: Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us

May 5, 2016

Laura Barnett is a writer, journalist and theater critic, whose first novel, THE VERSIONS OF US, is now available in the US. It’s a story of how lives intersect, of possibilities and consequences that ring across the shifting decades, of how even the smallest choices can define the course of our lives. In this interview with Carol Fitzgerald, the president and co-founder of The Book Report Network, Barnett discusses the challenges and delights of writing three versions of the same story and which story she likes best. She also opens up about her own feelings regarding fate and why she may not be as much of a romantic as she’d thought.

Author Talk: Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven

May 5, 2016

EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Cleave’s latest book, is a spellbinding novel about three unforgettable individuals thrown together by war, love and their search for belonging in the ever-changing landscape of WWII London. In this interview, Cleave reveals why he could not have written this book without the illuminating conversations he had with people who lived through the war, the one and only way a love letter can bridge the distance between two people, and why prestigious prizes should be awarded to all the books that remain unpublished.

Tosca Lee, author of The Progeny

Emily Porter is the descendant of a serial killer. Now she’s become the hunted. She’s on a quest that will take her to the secret underground of Europe and the inner circles of three ancient orders --- one determined to kill her, one devoted to keeping her alive, and one she ultimately must save. THE PROGENY is the present-day saga of a 400-year-old war between the uncanny descendants of “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer of all time, and a secret society dedicated to erasing every one of her descendants.

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Interview: Laura Lippman, author of Wilde Lake

May 5, 2016

Since her debut, Laura Lippman has won multiple awards and critical acclaim for her excellent crime novels, set in her hometown of Baltimore. Her latest book, WILDE LAKE, is as provocative and timely as ever; the New York Times bestselling author challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility and justice in this psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family. In this interview, Lippman talks to The Book Report Network's Sarah Rachel Egelman about why she prefers to write about strong women (“write what you know”), what she learned about rape culture while thinking about and researching this novel, and how WILDE LAKE parallels the Harper Lee classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD --- while diverging in one key way.

Immanuel Kant

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

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Immanuel Kant