The Next Book Club Books?

We hit Target today as part of our holiday weekend--the girls had gift cards from Christmas burning holes in their pockets and I needed another one of those so-heavy-you-can-barely-lift-it bottles of detergent.  I managed to spend a fair amount of time in the book area which is always so great. While Target obviously doesn't stock a ton of books, the ones they do are very well chosen, especially in the trade paperback area. I always come upon books I haven't heard of, which is one of the true pleasures of browsing any book store. And they have the big new releases as well, and a nice kids section. To that end, my purchases--and perhaps book club picks on down the line--were:
The Friday Night Knitting Club -- because I love to knit and the cover features gorgeous skeins of yarn
The Romance Readers' Book Club -- because of the quote from Mary Kay Andrews on the front and the one from Michael Lee West on the back -- I'm looking forward to a good southern read here (here's the reading guide)
The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller -- because I love her and any novel that can combine story with my current obsession of politics is the book for me (here's the reading guide)
And lastly: The Snowy Day, Ezra Jack Keats -- because I hope we have one soon and in the meantime I read it to my 22-month old tonight so he can at least begin to understand the concept of snow

Comments

[Jenne]

Kate Jacobs, the author of the Friday Night Knitting Club, is doing a book tour right now. You might be able to catch her if you live close to one of the cities that she will be visiting. Tomorrow night, she will be in Dallas. Here is the snippet that the DMN had in the Sunday edition of the paper -
Kate Jacobs will read and sign Friday Night Knitting Club at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Barnes & Noble, 7700 W. Northwest Highway. More on the tour is on her web site -
http://www.katejacobsbooks.com/

[Julie]

I've read both Friday Night Knitting Club and The Senator's Wife, but not The Romance Readers' Book Club. My library doesn't have it, so please let me know if it's worth buying!!! When I was at Target last week, I thought it looked really good!

[Lisa]

I read Friday Night Knitting Club and really enjoyed it. I am also an avid knitter and loved all the descriptions of yarn and knitting projects.

[Leigh]

I have read "Friday Night Knitting Club" and "The Senator's Wife" These two books are excellent picks for any book group. I was especially drawn to "The Senator's Wife" and it's going to be on my Top Ten Reads list for 2008. Enjoy your new books!

[Jenne]

I saw Kate Jacobs, author of Friday Night Knitting Club, last night. If anyone here gets a chance to hear her speak, you should take it. She is a gifted and charming speaker. One of the guests there asked her why she called the yarn wool. She is ‘Canadian by birth and American by choice’ and she said that she still has trouble getting out all the Canadianism’s from her writing. She didn’t realize that American’s call yarn ‘yarn’ and in Canada, it is all called ‘wool’ even if it isn’t wool and it is actually cotton or some other material until the audience members told her last night. She also said that when the book was being retooled for a British audience, they decided that the characters would all remain Americans so they would have less changing to do but they had to go in and change certain expressions and sayings that do not translate well into the British culture. She said that she isn’t opposed to having a sequel to this book but that she has so many other books in her mind that she just has to get out first that she isn’t making promises but she loves the idea none the less. I asked if her friends and family were on their guard and thinking that they might become a character in one of her books and she said that is one of the highest compliments a writer could get – that her characters were so true to life that others see themselves in them. She also said that in the beginning of the book, her characters were all slightly unlikeable which she doesn’t recommend for first time writers but she and her agent agreed that it worked for this book. I was just so impressed with hearing her speak and I’m surprised that she isn’t booked a lot on chat shows. I would have thought that one of our local news stations would have thought themselves blessed to get her on but it wasn’t to be. She is also coming out with a second book called Comfort Food. It is about an older tv chef who is having trouble with her 20 something daughters while a younger tv chef is trying to take over her show.

[Book Club Girl]

Thanks Jenne, for the report -- this just moved to the top of my pile! Everyone else -- be sure to check out the link to Kate Jacobs' website that Jenne sent above to see if she's coming near you!

[Jenne]

Fresh Air on NPR featured Sue Miller and her new book last night. Here is the link in case anyone missed it - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18338059

The link says that they have authors on once a week but I was not able to find a schedule when I glanced around the site.