Last month, I blogged about a book entitled, Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Wenchis the story of three female slave mistresses and the friendship they built despite living in a period of oppression. Check out my article.
We have gotten such a great response for this book…and the praise keeps coming! USA Today just gave Wench an awesome review. Read it right here!
If you haven't read Wench yet, please add this to your reading list. You will NOT be disappointed!
Roughly 8,000 librarians attended the American Library Association’s Midwinter conference in Boston.
HarperCollins had a great show: 11 authors including one unforgettable performance by Adriana Trigiani who won the ALA’s Reading List Awards in the Women’s Fiction category for Very Valentine (now out in paperback!). Watch this:
This video went out everywhere. By the next day it was on every major library site including Library Journal’s and the American Library Association’s.
For you non-librarians, the Midwinter conference is where committees meet to determine winners of various book awards. Harper snagged quite a few this time around.
The Reading List awards outstanding genre fiction in 8 categories. We had winners in 3 of those categories as well as a few runner ups:
Historical Fiction – Winner Agincourtby Bernard Cornwell
The Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selection list suggests books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read. We picked up four of these:
The American Library Association’s Midwinter conference was held last weekend in Boston. The HarperCollins Library Marketing Department gave a presentation of select titles that are coming out in the Spring/Summer seasons.
We joined forces with the fabulous team at Earlyword.com who is hosting our presentation on their site.
I have been talking about this book since I read it in manuscript form last year. It has never left me. This is the true story – told through the eyes of a father – about the sudden loss of his 38 year old daughter and how he and his wife step in to help their son-in-law care for their 3 young grandchildren.
This is not a maudlin tale. Yes, it’s sad. But it’s also inspiring, hopeful and even humorous at times. If you want to meet a family who will stay with you long after you’ve read the last page of their story, read Making Toast. For more coverage on the book, including a fantastic interview with Roger Rosenblatt, check out yesterday's dedicated issue of Shelf Awareness.
I’ll send a copy to you if you send a review to me at librarylovefest atharpercollins dot com. Really, I’d love to hear what you think.
Last month, I blogged about a book entitled, Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Wench is the story of three female slave mistresses and the friendship they built despite living in a period of oppression. Check out my article.
We received a great review from Jennifer M. Winberry, Principal Librarian, Extension Services, Acquisitions and Programming for the Hunterdon County Library. Here it is:
Set in the decade prior to the American Civil War, Wench tells the story of Lizzie and three other slave women who are brought to Tawawa Resort in Ohio each summer by their masters who have taken these women as their mistresses. Lizzie, from all appearances, and in her own mind, is treated very well, is considered a favored slave on her plantation, and Drayle shows a considerable amount of affection toward her and toward the two children she bore for him. Over the years, Lizzie, Reenie and Sweet have formed a strong summer friendship and are mostly accepting of their roles in life until the summer a fourth woman, Mawu comes into their midst and says the word aloud that until now the others only dared say to themselves: freedom. Dangerous and determined to escape, Mawu sets off a chain of events that brings tragedy to each woman, but that also offers a chance for each woman to change the course of her own destiny, whatever may come. The women will slowly work their way into your mind and heart, especially Lizzie who grows so much over the course of the book, as each searches for her own freedom and the strength to live with her decisions.
-Jennifer M. Winberry Hunterdon County Library
Many thanks to Jennifer and everyone at the Hunterdon County Library! I hope you add Wench to your reading list.
Congratulations are in order for five outstanding authors! Attica Locke, Steve Harvey, Chris Gardner, Nikki Giovanni and David Bergen Brophy have been nominated for NAACP Image Awards. For more information, including a complete list of the nominees, please visit: http://www.naacp.org/news/press/2010-01-06/lit/index.htm
NAACP Image Awards – Nominees
Literary Work – Debut Author Black Water Rising by Attica Locke 9780061735868
Congratulations to Brunonia Barry! Barry’s novel, The Lace Reader, has won the New England Book Festival’s Award in the fiction category. For more information, including a complete list of Winners, please visit: http://newenglandbookfestival.com/winners2009.html
If you will be attending ALA Midwinter this weekend, please stop by our booth (# 1403) and congratulate her in person! Brunonia will be signing at our booth on Sunday, January 17th from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM in the exhibit hall of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
The Learning Channel has produced a documentary, Brace for Impact, in which Captain “Sully” Sullenberger retraces how he skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. The documentary airs this Sunday, January 10th at 9pm. Brace for Impact also follows Sully's personal story leading up to that fateful moment. Captain Sullenberger is the author of Highest Duty: My Search For What Really Matters.
Author Beverly Jenkins does it again with her new novel, A Second Helping. A Second Helping, on sale today follows Bernadine Brown and her mission to save a small town in Kansas called “Henry Adams” from financial ruin. While she’s attending to the task at hand, she discovers additional “projects” that need her help as well…and when her ex-husband comes into town hoping for a second chance, life in Henry Adams is never the same for Bernadine.
I would love to hear what YOU think about A Second Helping. I will send free copies of A Second Helpingto the first 25 lucky people who send us a comment or an email at librarylovefest at harpercollins dot com. If you would be so kind as to send a brief review of the book, I would greatly appreciate it!
Join Our Authors for Complimentary Breakfast and BookTalk! The Association of American Publishers Trade Libraries Committee Cordially Invites You to Breakfast On Sunday, January 17, 2010, 8 am – 9:30 am. Boston Convention Center, Room 151 A/B. American Library Association Midwinter Conference, Boston, MA
"Keeping It Short The Best In Short Story Fiction"
Featuring: George Saunders, author of In Persuasion Nation (Riverhead) David Updike, author of Old Girlfriends (Macmillan) Shannan Rouss, author of Easy For You (Simon & Schuster, Inc.) Simon Van Booy, author of The Secret Lives of People In Love(HarperCollins) Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy And the Blue Eyed Stranger (Algonquin) Ha Jin, author of A Good Fall: Stories (Random House)
Book Signing to Follow Program. Seating is Limited. Please RSVP To Marlene Scheuermann at
Happy New Year! We may not be doing too much dancing today, but we are pretty excited about this blogger's review of Katherine Hall Page's The Body in the Sleigh. Check out the review below, as well as the book blog, Pudgy Penguin Perusals!
When the Reverend Thomas Fairchild needed a quiet place to recover from surgery, he and his wife Faith and their two children left their home north of Boston and went to their seasonal home in Sanpere Island off the coast of Maine. Normally a laid back, quiet kind of place even in the tourist season, Sanpere has a few surprises in store for the Fairchild family, especially Faith.
Although Faith is the owner of her own catering business, she has gotten the reputation of being an amateur sleuth. So when she took her children to see the Christmas display at the Historical Society, she found a body in a sleigh; a very troubled young woman by the name of Norah whose drug addictions were well known. At first, it appears to have been a routine overdose but Faith is not too sure about that assumption. She takes it on herself to do a little prying into the tragic death.
Meanwhile on another part of the Island, on Christmas eve, Mary Bethany finds a new born baby boy in her goat shed. He appears to be well cared for and tucked in a basket with him is a large bag of cash and a note to take good care of him. Mary, local spinster who raises goats and runs a B&B in the tourist season, is stumped as to who would abandon such a beautiful baby and why. Naturally, she turns to Faith to help her solve the puzzle. Now Faith is faced with two mysteries: one of birth and one of death. As in any good cozy, justice will prevail. The enjoyment of the story is the journey to the end.
Last month, I blogged about a book entitled, Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Wench is the story of three female slave mistresses and the friendship they built despite living in a period of oppression. Check out my article.
