National Book Festival Online Author Chats Begin

The Washington Post, has begun to schedule online chats with National Book Festival authors. See details.

The first three have been scheduled, and are as follows:

Bob Schieffer (CBS newsman and author), Monday, 9/15 at 2 p.m. EDT

Arthur and Pauline Frommer (noted travel writers), Tuesday, 9/16 at 10 a.m. EDT

And Alexander McCall Smith, (prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction), Friday, 9/19 at 11 a.m. EDT

Oh no. . . where did the summer go?

We hope your vacation was all that you wanted it to be and if it included reading let us know. What books did you read, what books are you still reading or what books do you still want to read?

One of my favorite reads of the summer was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, author of the Kite Runner. Hosseini's second novel is another great work of fiction set against the very real history of Afghanistan's struggle for independence. This volatile time period is beautifully related to the reader through the eyes and emotions of two powerful and courageous Afghan women. While often troubling due to human suffering, I also found it to be very moving and inspiring.

Please jump in on the conversation and leave your comments about what you have read over the summer . . .the more the merrier!!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

This is the story of the formation a book club during WW II is told through letters while the British island of Guernsey was under German occupation.

Co-Author Annie Barrows Talks About "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" in an Amazon video. Click to view the video promotion of this book. I think the addition of video to the Amazon website is a brilliant marketing tool. Unfortunately, the videos do not have embedding scripts like Google video or YouTube. I think this marketing trend will continue to grow.

Read a review from Bookreporter.com and/or read an excerpt from NPR.

Sunrise Over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers

Myers’ latest novel, Sunrise Over Fallujah, takes on the Iraq War in its early days; we meet Robin “Birdy” Perry, nephew of protagonist Richie Perry in Myers’ earlier acclaimed Vietnam War story, Fallen Angels. With letters and emails home to his mother and Uncle Richie, and, mainly, the day-to-day narration of his soldier’s story, Birdy takes us into his Civilian Affairs unit—a co-ed, diverse squad of soldiers with the mission of interacting with the Iraqi people, building trust, and helping to save lives on both sides. “Sides” is an interesting concept, as all too early Birdy perceives the deep layers of complexity regarding who is fighting whom. “The coalition forces had won the hot war and the newscasts kept telling us that we were in the stabilizing and rebuilding phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the situation was getting hairy. I couldn’t understand what the Iraqis were about or what they really wanted . It was Jonesy who had the question we all wanted to ask. ‘If all the Racks are so happy with what we doing over here, who the hell is shooting at us and laying out all the IEDs?’” In a war story that conveys a young American combatant’s chill of fear and a sense of confusion and the innocent hope mixed with cynicism in its soldiers, Myers has done a great service in rendering an important work of fiction about today’s war. Is it perfect? It’s very strong and a must read in that the subject is so timely and tragic--I’m not aware of any other prominent YA novel on the war, but speak up if there is one or more. The plot and insights are great. I did not find the characters, including Birdy, overly compelling in the way that great characters manage to live in readers’ minds and just kind of inhabit our psyches. But that’s just one opinion. Read it and weigh in!

Presidential Reading. . .

Recently the New York Times Book Review editors asked a few prominent authors what books they would suggest for each of the major candidates. Here is the list, both entertaining and enlightening, which was published in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

What would be on your recommended reading list?

If You Think You are Well Read, Think Again

William Grimes of the New York Times recently reviewed 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. He says that there are two factors making it compelling: guilt and time. Peter Boxall, professor of English at University of Sussex, plays on the readers' sense of inadequacy. The 1,001 list is quirky because not only does it have an English language bias, but it also favors post World War II titles. Because the novels are from the latter half of 20th Century and 21st Century the list is definitely skewed. Boxall muses about why Don DeLillo is noteworthy for seven novels and Thackery gets only one--Vanity Fair.