Skip to main content

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

March 2011

It's 1941, and Lina is just like any other 15-year-old Lithuanian girl. That is, until Soviet officers barge into her home. Separated from her father, Lina, her mother and her brother travel north on a crowded train to a camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here, under Stalin's orders, they are forced to dig for beets --- and fight for their lives --- under the cruelest conditions.

If you wrote a book, to whom would you dedicate it?

March 18, 2011

Do you read the dedications in books? Do you read the acknowledgements in books?

March 18, 2011, 845 voters

March 18, 2011

Spring arrives Sunday, and I cannot wait; we are having a tease of it today, and everyone seems a lot more upbeat than usual as a result. I peeked ahead at next week’s weather forecast and saw S _ _ W (I cannot bear to write the word) showers predicted for next Thursday. I think this is only happening because we bought new patio furniture last weekend that I am dying to set up. Right now it’s neatly stacked in the garage as I have been advised by other powers at our house that it WILL snow again. Of course, we all know the best work of fiction one can read is the weather report, so I remain optimistic for robins and crocuses.

Read More

Interview: Sarita Mandanna, author of Tiger Hills

Mar 18, 2011

A former investment banker and a first-time novelist, Sarita Mandanna is the author of TIGER HILLS, a tale of two childhood friends who grow up together in southern India, until their lives are interrupted by an unexpected romance --- and an unfo

Author Talk: Stewart O'Nan, author of Emily, Alone

Mar 18, 2011

Award-winning author Stewart O'Nan's latest book, EMILY, ALONE, picks up where WISH YOU WERE HERE left off --- with the story of Emily Maxwell, an elderly widow who is met with an unforeseen epiphany when her sister-in-law faints at a bre

PEN/Faulkner Awards 2011

Established by National Book Award winner Mary Lee Settle, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation has been recognizing titles that embody literary excellence since 1981.  Previous winners include the likes of Philip Roth, John Updike, Ann Patchett, Sherman Alexie and Joseph O'Neill. For more information about the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the PEN/Faulkner Award, please visit http://www.penfaulkner.org/.


2011 Winner

 

March 11, 2011

I am all for Daylight Saving Time, but I am not sure who thinks this is a great idea for the second week in March! DST used to fall somewhere around the end of April, then crept up to the beginning of April, and now it’s mid-March. I am going to have to buck up to the concept of one less hour of shuteye, reading time, etc. over this weekend and at least a few weeks where it’s so dark in the morning I feel like Cory needs a flashlight and reflective clothing to head to the bus stop at 7AM.

Read More

The National Book Critics Circle Awards 2010

Founded in 1974, the NBCC is a nonprofit organization of book reviewers and critics that honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism, and literature, in part through annual awards for the year’s outstanding books. Books are directly nominated and chosen by leading book critics. The NBCC thus offers the unique opportunity for professional critics to recognize and reward literary excellence.

Sarita Mandanna, author of Tiger Hills

As the first girl to be born into the Nachimanda family in over thirty-five years, the beautiful Devi is the object of adoration of her entire family. Spirited and strong-willed, she befriends the shy Devanna, a young boy whose mother has died in tragic circumstances.