Just a reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday January 31st we'll be having our live chat with Conor Grennan, discussing his book Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. During the show at 7pm ET, you'll be able to send your questions in via the chat session, or by calling in and talking to Conor directly! The call-in number is 347-945-6149. Be sure to register on the site before 7pm ET Tuesday night so that you can participate in the chat session from the beginning of the show. Check out the reading group guide to Little Princes in advance for question ideas. Can't wait to speak with Conor and all of you!
I'm so pleased to have this guest post from Charles Todd, author of two mystery series set in and after World War I in England - the Inspector Ian Rutledge series - the newest of which, The Confession, is just out in bookstores as well as the Bess Crawford series. It seems especially timely to post it tonight, having just finished watching the first episode of season 2 of Downton Abbey, with WWI very fresh in my mind. Here, the mother-daughter writing team of Charles Todd reflect on another fictionalization of that war: War Horse and why this time period is so rich for storytelling.
If you’ve seen the previews of War Horse, the movie, or been fortunate enough to see the splendid stage version in New York or London, or read the book from which both were taken, you have glimpsed the world that Bess Crawford and Ian Rutledge knew intimately. A Pale Horse, one of the Rutledge series, touched briefly on the plight of horses during the war, but we’ve never really gone into the issue of taking horses from English families to pull the caissons and wagons, and to be ridden in cavalry charges, and be gassed with the soldiers at the Front. For one thing, it was covered so well in the book by Michael Morpurgo that we felt it would be redundant to tell the story again. And for another, we were focused on people, on Rutledge—a survivor of four years in the trenches, scarred by what he had to do and had to witness, trying to resume a career interrupted by the fighting even as he struggles with his memories—and Bess, who tends the wounded men brought to aid stations and hospitals and sometimes convoying them to England for further care, is never far from death either in France or in London. It’s an interesting period in history, and there are so many stories yet to be told about it. It has been a fascinating time in which to set murder mysteries, exciting and remarkable in its own way. The courage Bess shows dealing with horribly wounded men carries over into finding a murderer. She doesn’t look for cases to solve—they come to her as she goes about her duties. And Rutledge, at Scotland Yard, must face his own demons while bringing all his intuition and skill to bear on bringing in a killer. Compassionate, vulnerable, intelligent and intriguing, he’s been a wonderful character to work with. If you haven’t come across him before, you’re sure to enjoy his latest—The Confession—and if you’re already a fan, you’ll find this Rutledge one of the best yet. Hardcover or e-book, Rutledge fills the page with suspense.
I think what we’ve learned writing these two series is that “our war”, 1914-1918, isn’t all that much different from what soldiers are facing today. Yes, the enemy is wears a different uniform and the weapons of war have made enormous progress from the rifles and the canvas covered planes of WWI, but the fear and the courage and the grief is unchanged. The wounded are still struggling to recover, those in combat too long are still experiencing PTSD, and those waiting at home are still waiting for dreadful news. People still suffer. And yet as a time to set murder mysteries, it has all the drama and excitement and color one could wish as an author—or as a reader.
Read an excerpt from the latest Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, The Confession. I have a copy of The Confession as well as the pictorial tie-in book to War Horse, the film, to give away. I'll pick one random commenter from all those received by midnight Wednesday, January 11th to receive both books. And keep an eye out for our upcoming readalong of Charles Todd's Bess Crawford mysteries, that starts with the first book in that series, A Duty to the Dead, this March!
I'm thrilled to announce that Robert Barclay, author of If Wishes Were Horses, will join me to discuss his new novel, More than Words Can Say, on Book Club Girl on Air on Tuesday, February 7th at 7 pm ET!
From the author of If Wishes Were Horses comes a novel of long-buried secrets and self-discovery, showing us that sometimes what goes unsaid is more powerful than words. . . .
Chelsea Enright never expected to inherit her grandmother's lakeside cottage deep in the Adirondacks—a serene getaway that had been mysteriously closed up decades ago. This is no simple bequest, however, because when Chelsea finds her grandmother's WWII diaries, she's stunned to discover that they hold secrets she never suspected . . . and they have the power to turn her own life upside down.
Even more surprising is the compelling presence of local doctor Brandon "Yale, and Chelsea soon finds her "short stay" has stretched into the entire summer. She cannot put this cottage and her family's past behind her easily—and the more she learns about the woman her grandmother truly was, the more Chelsea's own life begins to change . . . and nothing will ever be the same again.
I have 10 copies of More than Words Can Say to give away to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Tuesday, February 7th at 7 pm ET. Browse inside More than Words Can Say, set your reminder for the show and friend Robert on Facebook.
I’m so excited to welcome Conor Grennan to Book Club Girl on Air on Tuesday, January 31st at 7pm ET to discuss his memoir, Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal.
One Person Can Make a Difference
In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal.
Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war—for a huge fee—by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life’s work.
Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.
I have 10 copies of Little Princes to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Tuesday, January 31 at 7pm ET. Set your reminder for the show, browse inside Little Princes and check out the reading group guide. To learn more about Conor, become a fan on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, and visit his website and the Next Generation Nepal website.
Just a reminder that our Book Club Girl on Air show with Chandra Hoffman, during which we'll discuss her new novel, Chosen, is tonight, Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm ET!
Set your reminder for the show here and return to that same link live this evening to participate. During the show you'll be able to ask questions of Chandra by sending in questions via the chat session (you can also chat with other listeners in the chat session). Or you can call in and ask Chandra questions directly by dialing 347-945-6149.
Be sure to register on the site before the show so you can participate in the chat from the beginning of the show.
Check out the reading group guide before the show - we can't wait to talk to all of you and Chandra!
Here's something that participants in this past summer's Agatha Christie Readalong as well as mystery fans everywhere will be interested to learn about - Clues to Christie: The Definitive Guide to Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Tommy & Tuppence and All of Agatha Christie's Mysteries is a new FREE e-book guide to Agatha Christie that also includes 3 free short stories!
Dying to read Agatha Christie for the first time or to re-read one of her classic mysteries but don't know where to start? This fully authorized and comprehensive guide to the Queen of Mystery includes an introduction by award-winning Agatha Christie expert John Curran with features on each of her classic detectives including Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Tommy & Tuppence; guides to reading each of her series and her stand-alone novels; and an A to Z of Agatha Christie. Interspersed throughout are quotes from Christie, a list of the Christie novels that were her personal favorites and three of her classic short stories: The Affair at the Victory Ball, Greenshaw's Folly and A Fairy in the Flat. Clues to Christie Table of Contents: "Agatha Christie: An Introduction" by John Curran; The Hercule Poirot Mysteries; "The Affair at the Victory Ball"; The Miss Marple Mysteries; "Greenshaw's Folly"; The Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries; "A Fairy in the Flat"; Agatha Christie's Stand-Alone Mysteries and Short-Story Collections; The Queen of Mystery's Personal Favorites; Ten Other Ways to Read Agatha Christie; "On Agatha Christie and Poisons"; The A to Z of Agatha Christie.
Clues to Christie is available to download to any e-reader and is free for a limited time. Download to your e-reader now or add it to one you're giving for a gift this holiday season! Here are links for Kindle, Nook, and iPad.
Just a reminder that our Book Club Girl On Air show with Anna David, during which we'll discuss her new memoir Falling for Me is tonight, November 21st at 7pm ET!
Set your reminder for the show here and return to that same link tonight to participate. During the show you'll be able to ask questions of Anna by sending in questions via the chat session (you can also talk with other listeners in the chat session). Or you can call in and ask Anna questions directly by dialing 347-945-6149.
Be sure to register on the site before tonight so you can participate in the chat from the beginning of the show.
Browse inside Falling for Me and check out the reading group guide. We can't wait to talk to Anna and all of you tonight!
I’m so excited to welcome Chandra Hoffman to Book Club Girl on Air on Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm ET to discuss her novel, Chosen!
It all begins with a fantasy: the caseworker in her “signing paperwork” charcoal suit, paired with the beaming parents cradling their adopted newborn, against a fluorescent-lit delivery room backdrop. It’s this blissful picture that keeps Chloe Pinter, director of The Chosen Child’s domestic adoption program, happy juggling the high demands of her boss and the incessant needs of both adoptive and biological parents.
But the job that offers her refuge from her turbulent personal life and Portland’s winter rains soon becomes a battleground itself involving three very different couples: the Novas, college sweethearts who suffered fertility problems but are now expecting their own baby; the McAdoos, a wealthy husband and desperate wife for whom adoption is a last chance; and Jason and Penny, an impoverished couple who have nothing—except the baby everyone wants. But when a child is kidnapped, dreams dissolve into nightmares, and everyone is forced to examine what went wrong…
I have 10 copies of Chosen to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm ET. Set your reminder for the show, read the first chapter of Chosen, and check out the reading group guide. For more with Chandra, become a fan on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, and visit her website!
Just a reminder that our Book Club Girl on Air show with Sara Shepard, author of the bestselling Pretty Little Liars and Lying Game series, during which we'll discuss her new novel, Everything We Ever Wanted, is tonight, November 16th at 7pm ET!
Set your reminder for the show here and return to that same link tonight to participate. During the show you'll be able to ask questions of Sara by sending in questions via the chat session (you can also talk with other listeners in the chat session). Or you can call in and ask Sara questions directly by dialing 347-945-6149.
Be sure to register on the site before tonight so you can participate in the chat from the beginning of the show.
Browse inside Everything We Ever Wanted and check out the reading group guide. We can't wait to talk to Sara and all of you on Wednesday night!
Just a reminder that our Book Club Girl on Air show with Greg Olear, during which we'll discuss his new novel, Fathermucker, is this this Wednesday, November 9th at 7pm ET!
Set your reminder for the show here and return to that same link live on Wednesday evening to participate. During the show you'll be able to ask questions of Greg by sending in questions via the chat session (you can also talk with other listeners in the chat session). Or you can call in and ask Greg questions directly by dialing 347-945-6149.
Be sure to register on the site before Wednesday evening so you can participate in the chat from the beginning of the show.
I got a chance to see Greg read from and discuss Fathermucker at my local indie, Words in Maplewood, NJ, and I can assure you that this conversation is going to be a fun one. Browse inside Fathermucker and check out the reading group guide. Can't wait to talk to Greg and all of you on Wednesday night!
Fall is officially upon us (and in some parts of the country, winter has already reared its head). And what that's meant to me has been more knitting. I just finished a poncho for my 2 year old and am nearly done with a cowl for myself. Leg warmers for my teenager and scarves and hats for my son and husband are swirling in my head. With knitting so much on my mind, I've really been in the mood to read Rachael Herron's Cyrpress Hollow series - and the newest, Wishes and Stitches, is just out! Today Rachael reports on the National Reading Group Month that she participated in this past month at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, CA.
There isn't anything like a book to draw people together. You can be sharing a train car with a person who looks nothing like you (she might wear a different kind of clothing, and do her hair differently; she might be a different race or age) but if she is reading your favorite book, she is a friend. There's that lovely moment of recognition when a beloved book comes up in conversation: "Oh, you love that, too? Yes, I knew I liked you."
Reading groups celebrate books, and even more, they celebrate the communal aspect of reading. We read books at the same time and then get together to talk about them. It isn't important whether we loved or hated the book in question; the important thing is that we come together.
Last Sunday, a collection of people joined together at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park, California, to celebrate National Reading Group Month (sponsored by the Women's National Book Association). I was lucky enough to get to read and sign my books along with fellow author Thad Nodine.
And the great thing? At first glance, you wouldn't think Thad and I had much in common. His novel is about a blind man making a journey across the country. My novels and nonfiction have knitting as the background music.
But as we read aloud, it became apparent that he and I write about the same thing: human connection. And while we were doing it, we were connecting to the listeners in the chairs arranged before us. At one point, I swear Thad was climbing over the chain link fence he was describing in his passage and at another point, the whole room was roaring as I described evading airport security while clutching my spinning wheel.
We were all together in one room, thinking about and listening to the written word. People had come to hear him, or they'd come to hear me, but they left having made a connection with both of us, and it was a lovely, gorgeous thing. It was an afternoon I am proud to have been part of, and it further affirmed my respect for the reading group as a useful tool of our community.
Browse inside Wishes and Stitches and check out the reading group guide. Visit Rachael Herron's website to learn more about her Cypress Hollow Yarn series, and follow and friend her on Twitter and Facebook.
Just a reminder that our Book Club Girl on Air show with Adriana Trigiani, on which we'll discuss her newest book in paperback, Don't Sing at the Table, is tomorrow night, Tuesday, November 1st at 7pm ET! Set your reminder for the show here and tune into that same link to listen and participate live tomorrow night at 7. During the show you'll be able to send questions in via the chat function, or call in and ask Adriana a question directly by dialing 347-945-6149. Be sure to register on the site before the show so that you can participate from the beginning and check out the reading group guide to Don't Sing at the Table. Can't wait to talk to you all tomorrow night!
Throughout the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
In a Perfect World by Laura Kasischke
This is the way the world ends...
It was a fairy tale come true when Mark Dorn—handsome pilot, widower, tragic father of three—chose Jiselle to be his wife. The other flight attendants were jealous: She could quit now, leaving behind the million daily irritations of the job. (Since the outbreak of the Phoenix flu, passengers had become even more difficult and nervous, and a life of constant travel had grown harder.) She could move into Mark Dorn's precious log cabin and help him raise his three beautiful children.
But fairy tales aren't like marriage. Or motherhood. With Mark almost always gone, Jiselle finds herself alone, and lonely. She suspects that Mark's daughters hate her. And the Phoenix flu, which Jiselle had thought of as a passing hysteria (when she had thought of it at all), well . . . it turns out that the Phoenix flu will change everything for Jiselle, for her new family, and for the life she thought she had chosen.
From critically acclaimed author Laura Kasischke comes a novel of married life, motherhood, and the choices we must make when we have no choices left.
You can listen to our conversation with Laura about In a Perfect World below, share it with your book club and check out the reading group guide.
Throughout the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
Respected professor Jack Owens brought his son, Danny, to Gilbert, Indiana, to escape a betrayal too painful to endure anywhere but in this quiet Midwestern college town. After ten years, Jack believed they were safe. But on a seemingly ordinary day, the world Jack thought he knew and the future he anticipated abruptly comes apart at the seams, leaving him haunted by the questions why and what next. Redemption, however, could come with the arrival of an unexpected friend whose prescient understanding slowly helps Jack cope with the unacceptable. But with healing comes clarity -- and secrets best left unrevealed by the stark, glaring light of day.
You can listen to our conversation with Jamie about Light of Day below, and share it with your book club.
Just a reminder that on Wednesday, October 26th at 7pm ET, we'll welcome three bestselling authors of Amish fiction to Book Club Girl on Air! Shelley Shepard Gray, Vannetta Chapman and Amy Clipston will all be guests on the Amish Christmas Celebration show, which is also part of their book tour together this fall! Set your reminder for the show and return to that same link to listen and participate live on Wednesday at 7pm ET. Be sure to register on the site before the show to be sure you can participate in the chat session. During the show, you'll be able to send questions in via the chat session, or you can call in to ask any of the authors a question by dialing 347-945-6149. Can't wait for Wednesday's show!
Throughout the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel
Loyalty, loss, and the ties that bind: These are the ingredients of The Recipe Club, a "novel cookbook" that combines an authentic story of friendship with more than eighty delicious recipes.
Lifelong friends Lilly and Val are united as much by their differences as by their similarities. In childhood, "LillyPad" and "ValPal" form an exclusive two-person club, writing intimate letters in which they share hopes, fears, deepest secrets . . . and recipes—from Lilly's "Lovelorn Lasagna" to Valerie's "Forgiveness Tapenade." The Recipe Club sustains Lilly and Val's bond across the decades: through the challenges of independence, the joys and heartbreaks of first love, and the emotional complexities of family relationships, identity, mortality, and goals deferred—until the fateful day when an act of kindness becomes an unforgivable betrayal.
“A look at the difficulties of sustaining childhood bonds, it’s also a satisfying meditation on how nourishment for the body can replenish the soul.”—People
You can listen to our conversation with Andrea and Nancy about The Recipe Club below, share it with your book club and check out the reading group guide.
I'm so excited to announce that on Monday, November 21st at 7pm ET Anna David will be joining us on Book Club Girl On Air to discuss her new memoir, Falling for Me!Like most women, whether they’ve chosen the Fortune 500 career path or have had five kids by 35, Anna David wondered if she’d made the right choices. Then she came upon the book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan’s fearless leader from the mid-sixties to the late nineties. Immediately connecting with Gurley Brown’s unique message of self-empowerment combined with femininity, Anna vowed to use Sex as a lesson plan, venturing out of her comfort zone in the hope of overcoming the fears and insecurities that had haunted her for years. Embarking on a journey both intensely personal and undeniably universal, she becomes adventurous and spontaneous—reviving her wardrobe and apartment, taking French lessons, dashing off to Seville, and whiling nights away with men she never would have considered before. In the process, she ends up meeting the person really worth changing for: herself.
“Funny, smart, and compulsively likeable, Anna David is this decade’s answer to Carrie Bradshaw. There won’t be a single second you won’t root for her as she bravely tries to answer the resonating question: how can I be my best self?” says Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of The Department of Lost and Found
I have 10 copies of Falling for Me to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Monday, November 21st at 7pm ET. Set your reminder for the show, read the first chapter of Falling for Me, and check out the reading group guide. Make sure to become a fan of Anna on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, and visit her website.
I love this post from Heather Newton, author of Under the Mercy Trees, about Bibliofeast 2011, the National Reading Group Month event in Charlotte, NC last week. Read on to see why she enjoyed it so much and which other authors were featured at the event.
On October 10th, I had the pleasure of celebrating National Reading Group Month with the Charlotte chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. For “Bibliofeast 2011" the Chapter invited me and eight other writers to a moveable feast. Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant provided the feast (chicken piccata, ravioli, lasagne and chocolate cake--yum!). The authors provided the movable part, rotating among nine tables of participants to chat about books and whatever else came up in conversation. Sally Brewster, owner of Park Road Books (“Charlotte’s Favorite Bookstore”) was on hand to sell books.
Some guests were WNBA members, some came solo looking for a book club to join, some book clubs brought their entire group. The common trait? These people read. I was astonished at how many titles these ladies (and a few men) gulp down in a month. I came away with a great list of recommended reading.
Chapter President and event magician Susan Walker was nice enough to feed the authors before the participants arrived so our stomachs wouldn’t growl during the event. Over the stuffed mushrooms I got to enjoy the company of Ellen Baker (I Gave My Heart to Know This), Ann Hite (Ghost on Black Mountain), Marjorie Hudson (Accidental Birds of the Carolinas), Valerie Nieman (Blood Clay), Michael Parker (The Watery Part of the World), Drew Perry (This Is Just Exactly Like You), John Milliken Thompson (The Reservoir) and Marybeth Whalen (She Makes It Look Easy).
During dinner a woman at my table asked me whether I enjoyed events like this. My answer: “Are you kidding me?” My daily life as a lawyer is adversarial, with clients in crisis and parties mad at each other. It was a real treat to spend an evening with happy people who love books as much as I do. My deep thanks to the Women’s National Book Association for giving us National Reading Group Month!
Heather Newton's Under the Mercy Trees has been named a Great Group Read by the Women's National Book Association. See the complete list of Great Group Reads in honor of National Reading Group Month. Listen to Heather discuss Under the Mercy Trees here and check out the Under the Mercy Trees reading group guide. Visit Heather's website and friend her on Facebook. Look for more National Reading Group Month events throughout October here.
Throughout the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
Husband & Wife by Leah Stewart
Sarah Price has never regretted trading her MFA for a steady job so that her husband, Nathan, could write fiction. But at age thirty-five, her world is turned upside-down by a shocking revelation: Nathan's upcoming novel, Infidelity, is based on fact. Reeling from his betrayal, Sarah is plagued by dark questions. How well does she really know her husband? More important, how well does she know herself?
For answers, Sarah looks back to her artistic twentysomething self to try to understand what exactly has happened to her dreams. And so begins her quest to discover which version of herself is the essential one—the artist, wife, mother, or someone else entirely—an eye-opening journey that leads Sarah hundreds of miles away from her marriage and back to herself.
"Leah Stewart’s brilliantly written novel Husband and Wife is a deeply human book: funny, tender, smart, self-aware. When you read it you will laugh, you will cry, you will recognize others, you will recognize yourself.” — Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Castaways and Barefoot
You can listen to our conversation with Leah about Husband & Wife below, and share it with your book club, and check out the reading group guide.
I'm so excited to announce that on Tuesday, November 15th at 7pm ET, the New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars and Lying Game series, Sara Shepard, will join us on Book Club Girl On Air to discuss her new novel for adults, Everything We Ever Wanted!
A recently widowed mother of two, Sylvie Bates-McAllister finds her life upended by a late-night phone call from the headmaster of the prestigious private school founded by her grandfather where her adopted son Scott teaches. Allegations of Scott's involvement in a hazing scandal cause a ripple effect, throwing the entire family into chaos. For Charles, Sylvie's biological son, it dredges up a ghost from the past who is suddenly painfully present. For his wife Joanna, it forces her to reevaluate everything she's hoped for in the golden Bates-McAllisters. And for Scott, it illuminates harsh truths about a world he has never truly felt himself a part of.
But for all the Bates-McAllisters, the call exposes a tangled web of secrets that ties the family together: the mystery of the school hazing, the event that tore Charles and Scott apart the night of their high school awards ceremony, and the intended recipient of a certain bracelet. The quest to unravel the truth takes the family on individual journeys across state lines, into hospitals, through the Pennsylvania woods, and face-to-face with the long-dormant question: what if the life you always planned for and dreamed of isn't what you want after all?
“Sara Shepard delivers the perfect read….A brilliant storyteller.” says Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Very Valentine and Brava, Valentine. You can read Adriana's interview of Sara here.
Sarah Mlynowski, author of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) said of Everything We Ever Wanted, "This riveting, provocative and well-crafted family drama surprised and delivered at every turn. I could not put it down.”
I have 10 copies of Everything We Ever Wanted to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Tuesday, November 15th at 7pm ET. And everyone is welcome to participate in the show, even if you're not in the first 10 to receive a free book. Sara just might answer a PLL or LG question as well! Set your reminder for the show, read the first chapter of Everything We Ever Wanted, and check out the reading group guide. Make sure to follow Sara on Twitter and look for her on tour this fall.
Throughout the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle
Is the life you're living all you imagined?
Have you ever asked yourself, "What if??" Here, four women face the decisions of their lifetimes in this stirring and unforgettable novel of love, loss, friendship, and family.
Anna Geneva, a Chicago attorney coping with the death of a cherished friend, returns to her "speck on the map" hometown of Haven to finally come to terms with her mother, the man she left behind, and the road she did not take.
Cami Drayton, Anna's dearest friend from high school, is coming home too, forced by circumstance to move in with her alcoholic father . . . and to confront a dark family secret.
Maeve, Anna's mother, never left Haven, firmly rooted there by her sadness over her abandonment by the husband she desperately loved and the hope that someday he will return to her.
And Amy Rickart—thin, beautiful, and striving for perfection—faces a future with the perfect man . . . but is haunted by the memory of what she used to be.
Kristina Riggle's The Life You've Imagined takes a provocative look at the choices we make—and the courage we must have to change.
“A richly woven story laced with unforgettable characters….A beautiful book.”—Therese Walsh, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy
You can listen to our conversation with Kristina about The Life You've Imagined and share it with your book club here, and check out the reading group guide.
Listen to internet radio with Book Club Girl on Blog Talk Radio
As many of you know, for the month of October, in honor of National Reading Group Month, we're offering 12 e-books by authors we've interviewed together on Book Club Girl on Air for just $2.99 from every place you buy e-books! Which means that you can get a year's worth of books for your book club for less than $36! For those of you who aren't familiar with the 12 books, I wanted to take the opportunity, over the next few weeks, to feature each of the 12 titles and authors to help you decide which book, or books, are right for your book club!
Commuters by Emily Gray Tedrowe
At seventy-eight, Winnie Easton has finally found love again with Jerry Trevis, a wealthy Chicago businessman who has moved to the small, upstate town of Hartfield, New York, to begin his life anew. But their decision to buy one of the town's biggest houses ignites anger and skepticism—as children and grandchildren take drastic actions to secure their own futures and endangered inheritances. With so much riding on Jerry's wealth, a decline in his physical health forces hard decisions on the family, renewing old loyalties while creating surprising alliances.
A powerfully moving novel told from alternating perspectives, Commuters is an intensely human story of lives profoundly changed by the repercussions of one marriage, and by the complex intertwining of love, money, and family.
"Tedrowe explores the reconfigurations of a family and the strange alliances that can occur between young and old, love and work. And she writes brilliantly about money…. A deeply satisfying debut." —Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street
I absolutely loved this book and would love to discuss it in a book group. You can listen to our conversation with Emily and share it with your book club here, and check out the reading group guide.
I’m so excited to welcome Greg Olear to Book Club Girl On Air on Wednesday, November 9th at 7pm ET to discuss his new novel, Fathermucker! Stay-at-home dad Josh Lansky has held everything together—a five-year-old with Aspergers, the most stubborn three-year-old known to man, the mommies, the mice in the walls, and the chance to interview a local rock star for his "Fathermucker" blog—during his wife Stacy’s business trip. But now it’s Friday, and the revelation that Stacy might be having an affair upsets the rickety apple cart that is life. What Josh needs is a break. He’s not going to get one.
A smart, funny, and compelling novel of a day in the life of one family, Fathermucker is a snapshot of modern fatherhood.
I have 10 copies of Fathermucker to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Wednesday, November 9th at 7pm ET. Set your reminder for the show, read the first chapter of Fathermucker, and check out the reading group guide. For more with Greg, become a fan on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, visit his website, and look for him on tour near you this fall!
I'm thrilled to be welcoming back, on Tuesday, November 1st, New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani to Book Club Girl on Air to discuss her newest book in paperback, Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers!
As devoted readers of Adriana Trigiani’s New York Times bestselling novels know, this “seemingly effortless storyteller” (Boston Globe) frequently draws inspiration from her own family history, in particular from the lives of her two remarkable grandmothers, Lucia Spada Bonicelli (Lucy) and Yolanda Perin Trigiani (Viola). In Don’t Sing at the Table, she reveals how her grandmothers’ simple values have shaped her own life, sharing the experiences, humor, and wisdom of her beloved mentors to delight readers of all ages.
Trigiani visits the past to seek answers to the essential questions that define the challenges women face today at work and at home. Don’t Sing at the Table is a primer, grandmother to granddaughter, filled with everyday wisdom and life lessons handed down with care and built to last.
I have 10 copies of Don't Sing at the Table to give out to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on Tuesday, November 1st at 7pm ET. Set your reminder for the show, browse inside Don't Sing at the Table, friend Adriana on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and look for her on tour near you this fall!
Thrillers are most often populated, and propeled, by strong male heroes. But in Simon Toyne's new thriller, Sanctus, a woman takes center stage. Read Simon's guest post to learn why he had no other choice...
A strong woman in a wicked world
The first time you meet a stranger who has read your book, it’s a very odd moment. In my case it took place at a literary agency in London after one of the agents had read my manuscript and invited me in for a meeting. The moment I walked into her office, she did a double take and said ‘But you’re a man!’ I knew right then I was in very good hands.
To be fair she did later explain this was meant as a compliment. She said the protagonist of my story, a woman, was so convincing that she had just assumed I was female. I had also signed my letter of introduction ‘S. Toyne’ rather than ‘Simon’ thereby introducing an element of ambiguity. Anyway, long story short, she signed me up and sold my book all around the world, so quite frankly she can call me ‘Susan’ if she wants to and I will just smile.
My book is a bit male in style and genre if not in theme. In ‘marketing speak’ it’s a contemporary, high-concept, conspiracy thriller and these are, for the most part, populated by alpha males with a strong moral code. These men tend to have combat skills, picked up through a colorful backstory in the military, the police, or on the mean streets of somewhere or other. Think Jack Reacher, or Joe Pike, or Nick Heller or any number of others. I’d like to say that in writing Sanctus I was deliberately being counter-intuitive, spotting the gap in the market and bucking the trend by placing a woman at the center of the action, but in fact it was all just a happy accident. As soon as I had the idea for the book (and when you read it you will understand) it was obvious that a woman had to play the central role. And this has made all the difference (as Robert Frost might have said when embarking on his own high-concept thriller, never published as far as I’m aware) –because the right protagonist (or the right hero or heroine?), is everything.
Let me explain.
The main job of a thriller writer is to create a sympathetic character and then cause unspeakably bad and exciting things to happen to them. If for example, your hero meets the love of his life in chapter 1, she has to disappear in chapter 2; if he’s already married and deeply in love on page one, you must kidnap or kill his wife by page twenty. Basically whatever your main character’s deepest fears are, you have to rain them down upon him or her like some kind of twisted god, and then show them squirming.
So when I suddenly found myself, a man, putting a female character through this kind of ordeal, I had to take a good long look at myself in the mirror and wonder whether I needed some kind of therapy. In my defense all I can say is don’t blame me, blame the story. At the center of Sanctus lies a deeply traditional, patriarchal religious cult with a big guilty secret to keep: so who better, or more unlikely, to get to the heart of it than a modern woman? And the second job of the thriller writer is to never make things easy for your hero. You want them to struggle against insurmountable odds – so a woman trying to crash the oldest men’s club in the world and bring it down was far more exciting than a man trying to do it.
Having made this decision I started thinking about prominent female heroines and realised that most of them, for me at least, came from James Cameron movies: Ripley in Aliens; Sarah Connor in the Terminator films; even Avatar has, roughly speaking, Mother Nature as a protagonist. Maybe that’s the secret of his success; he empowers women in his stories. But though I’d dearly love to reach an audience as large as his, I didn’t want to create a sort of proto-male action hero. I wanted my heroine to succeed as a woman. So in the end, I turned to what I consider to be, the best female action lead in the past thirty years. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Clarice Starling from ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. This also meant I was using Jodie Foster as a model, for I defy anyone to read that book and not see her as Clarice. She owns that part; she is Clarice.
Of course I drew on other people to flesh out my character, but there’s a lot of Clarice in the heroine of Sanctus, Liv Adamsen. Liv ultimately succeeds because she embraces what makes her a woman and utilises her nature rather than fights against it. She’s smart, resourceful, vulnerable, pretty – but not defined by it – and above all she’s brave. No matter what she faces, and whatever danger she finds herself in, she never backs down and she never looks away. And this, I think, taps into a truth: because despite all the bravado and physical posturing, it’s the men who often walk away in real life and the women who stare down difficulty and stay.
So please look past the fact that Sanctus is driven by a heroine, yet written by a man. Just take the story as it comes. You can even call me Susan if you like. I answer to anything.
Browse inside Simon Toyne's Sanctus and friend Sanctus on Facebook.
Marisa de los Santos' first two books, Love Walked In and Belong to Me, were both bestselling book club favorites. Today her third novel, Falling Together, goes on sale and it's sure to follow those previous two titles into book clubs across the country. I'm thrilled to have this guest post from Marisa today about the work of writing. Read on to hear how Marisa writes, works and reacts when inspiration hits. And don't forget to join us tomorrow night, Wednesday, October 5th at 7pm ET to discuss Falling Together with Marisa on Book Club Girl on Air. Set a reminder for the show here, and return to that same link to listen and participate live. You can send in questions via the chat session, or call in and ask them of Marisa directly by dialing 347-945-6149. Be sure to register on the site before 7 o'clock on Wednesday so you can participate in the chat from the beginning of the show.
Writing is work. I know a lot of writers who really want you to know this. Full disclosure: I’m one of them. Fuller disclosure: on occasion, I can even get a little high-pitched and plaintive about it. I love my job; I am honored to do it. But it’s a job; it really, really is! (See? Plaintive). Yes, full-time writers create their own schedules. Yes, we write at home, often dressed in clothes that are just enough this side of pajamas so that we’re not completely humiliated when the UPS guy knocks on the door. Showering is, let’s face it, optional. But writing is work. It’s not work like working in a coal mine is work. No way. Nor is it work like putting on a terrible faux-corduroy uniform, complete with visor, and flame-broiling burgers at a fast food restaurant is work (I’ve done this job, visor and all).
But it’s work because it is deliberate and difficult and requires a combination of experience, dedication, and talent. And hours, many, many hours. Usually, at least in my experience, writing feels like work, the way I would imagine building anything from scratch feels like work. I put one word down and then another. The words don’t come tripping off my fingertips. I’m not channeling voices. I’m not visited by a pretty muse. Nothing falls into my lap or happens by magic.
Except, and here’s the catch, sometimes it does. Sometimes, writing is so mysterious and magical that it makes me breathless. Sometimes, suddenly, a skylight opens in the daily ordinariness of writing and through it flies inspiration like a silver bird. I’m not kidding. That’s what it’s like.
Take my character Pen. Before I began to write, to put actual words on the actual page (or, more accurately, screen), I lived with Pen for months, getting to know her, learning the tiny, telling details of her history and personality: she likes cheese pizza; she is afraid of flying; she loves teaching children to read; she has an older brother; she adores her nerdy, bike-riding father. Technically, I might have been creating her, but it felt like I was learning her, like she existed and I needed to discover her. And one of the things I discovered early on, maybe the second thing I knew about her, was that, at the time the story opens, she is sad. Not a little sad but sad in her bones.
As the story developed, I thought I knew why Pen was sad. Her beloved friends had walked out on her six years earlier; her relationship with her daughter’s father had fallen apart; she was living with her older brother. The life she had was not the life she had planned to have. All of this was clear to me.
The problem was that all of these reasons did not add up to enough. They did not account for the depth of Pen’s sadness. Here I was, writing my novel and trying to tell the story, and all the while, there was Pen, bearing her unaccountable weight of sadness, dragging it through my book. Thud, thud. I would have little conversations with her that went something like:
Marisa: “You’re too sad. What happened to you should have made you sad, but not this sad. Stop being so sad.”
Pen: “No.”
Marisa: “But you’re too sad! And I can’t explain it.”
Pen: “That’s not really my problem. Now, is it?”
I persevered, day after day, working hard, but the story wasn’t flowing in a natural way. I stalled out, bewildered. Then one day, as I often do when I get frustrated during a writing day, I went to the gym. I got on the elliptical trainer, the one with the moveable arm-pumping handles, and I went at it hard, arms pumping, legs pumping, a book in front of me I’d been dying to read, Pen the very last thing on my very tired mind.
And then, out of nowhere: Pen’s father died very suddenly two years ago.
Whoosh: skylight opening, radiance, silver bird. I knew how much Pen loved her father. I stood on the elliptical trainer and felt sadness wash over me, wave after wave, Pen’s sadness, which was just the right size and which made perfect, heartbreaking sense.
This doesn’t happen very often. But when it happens, you don’t question it or analyze it or try to take any credit for it. You stand on the elliptical trainer under the white lights of the YMCA, breathless, hands holding on hard, and let your pounding heart beat out this: thank you, thank you, thank you.
And then you go home and work.
Falling Together is on sale today, October 4th, browse inside it now, check out the reading group guide, look for Marisa on tour near you this fall, friend Marisa de los Santos on Facebook, and join us as we discuss Falling Togeher with her tomorrow, Wednesday, October 5th at 7pm ET.
