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July 22, 2022, 401 voters

July 22, 2022 - August 5, 2022

Here are reading recommendations with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for the contest period of July 22 - August 5.

Interview: Ron Shelton, author of The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham

Jul 21, 2022

Ron Shelton, the award-winning screenwriter and director of the cult classic Bull Durham, has penned THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL, an entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, as well as an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Shelton talks about the surprising popularity of Bull Durham, how the miraculous casting of Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy came about, a few of his favorite baseball movies, and which film he would like to see get the CHURCH OF BASEBALL treatment.

July 19, 2022

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 18th and July 25th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our True Crime Author Spotlight featuring HELLTOWN: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod. In his new book, Casey Sherman transports us back to the turbulent late 1960s, revealing the secrets of notorious serial killer Tony Costa --- the most dangerous man on Cape Cod --- and unspooling the threads connecting Costa, Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer in the seaside city that played host to horrors unlike any ever seen before.

July 15, 2022

It has been a super busy week as we are juggling a number of projects, as well as noodling some new plans. I met with my book group, and we had a terrific conversation about A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith, the first classic title that we have read as a group. I loved it, and even though I only got halfway through it before the meeting, I am looking forward to finishing it, even if it means that I read just a chapter a night.

Lisa Taddeo, author of Ghost Lover: Stories

Behind anonymous screens, an army of cool and beautiful girls manage the dating service Ghost Lover, a forwarding system for text messages that promises to spare you the anguish of trying to stay composed while communicating with your crush. At a star-studded political fundraiser in a Los Angeles mansion, a trio of women compete to win the heart of the slick guest of honor. In a tense hospital waiting room, an inseparable pair of hard-partying friends crash into life’s responsibilities, but the magic of their glory days comes alive again at the moment they least expect it. In these nine riveting stories, Lisa Taddeo brings to life the fever of obsession, the blindness of love and the mania of grief.

Sarah Vaughan, author of Reputation

As a politician, Emma has sacrificed a great deal for her career --- including her marriage and her relationship with her daughter, Flora. A former teacher, the glare of the spotlight is unnerving for Emma, particularly when it leads to countless insults, threats and trolling as she tries to work in the public eye. Fourteen-year-old Flora is encountering heartless bullying. When another teenager takes her own life, Emma lobbies for a new law to protect women and girls from the effects of online abuse. Now, Emma and Flora find their personal lives uncomfortably intersected…but then the unthinkable happens. A man is found dead in Emma’s home. A man she had every reason to be afraid of and to want gone.

Margarita Montimore, author of Acts of Violet

Nearly a decade ago, iconic magician Violet Volk performed her greatest trick yet: vanishing mid-act. Though she hasn’t been seen since, her hold on the public hasn’t wavered. Her sister, Sasha, took over their mother’s salon and built a quiet life for her daughter, Quinn. But Sasha can never seem to escape her sister’s orbit or her memories of their unresolved, tumultuous relationship. Then there’s Cameron Frank, determined to finally get his big break hosting a podcast devoted to all things Violet --- though keeping his job hinges on an exclusive interview with Sasha, the last person who wants to talk to him. Meanwhile, Sasha begins to experience an unsettling series of sleepwalking episodes and coincidences, which all lead back to Violet.

Ruth Ware, author of The It Girl

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends --- Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily --- during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent.

David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city's most prestigious investment firm. Then one morning, Devine's tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead. Sara Ewes, Devine's coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building, prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn't enough, before the day is out, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm.