Bookreporter.com Blog Posts

No Place Like Home

tom — Thu, 08 May 2025 13:53:57 +0000

Contributors

We wrap up this year’s Mother’s Day Author Blog series with Sharon Kurtzman, whose debut novel, THE LOST BAKER OF VIENNA, releases on August 19th and is inspired by the experiences of her own family after the Holocaust. Starting at the age of eight, when she moved to a new town, Sharon has such fond memories of going to the library with her parents and older brother. She is forever grateful to her mother for introducing her to the joys of reading and reminding her that, no matter where you are, the library always will be your home away from home.

When I was eight, my family moved to a new town in the middle of the school year. The timing was right for my parents, but not so great for me. Three distinct memories remain with me from that time. I had a hard time making friends; a few months after moving, I fell off my bike and broke my arm; and our new town’s public library became my home away from home.

I owe that last memory to my mother.

Mom must have noticed my loneliness, because one Saturday she suggested a family trip to our local library. Off we went: my parents, my older brother and me to New Jersey’s Springfield Public Library. Our visit was no quick dash in and out. Instead, Mom guided me to the children’s section and let me roam the aisles at my leisure, while she wandered over to join my dad in the adult section. Of course, she popped back over several times to check on me. Mom was notoriously overprotective, and I’d bet now that she checked on me way more than I realized. That day, I took my time, feeling free, yet also pleasantly grounded as I slipped stories from shelves, flipped through pages, read some, and if a book didn’t appeal to me, I replaced it and selected another. I recall happily sitting on a lumpy pillow set on no-nonsense carpeting with a stack of books to pour over, and the soothing scent of paper in the air.

After a few hours, we left with our arms full of books, waddling together to the car like a family of contented ducks.

During the months that followed, Mom made sure we went to the library every few weeks to return the books that were due and to check out more. This ritual helped ease my transition to our new town. As I grew older and made friends, my friends and I would ride our bicycles to the library, and we would return home with books loaded into the flower-adorned baskets attached to our bikes’ high-rise handlebars.

Throughout my teens, I could walk into our kitchen at any point and find my mother at the table reading, a memory that now stirs up questions I wish I’d thought to ask before she passed away. Mom was a Holocaust survivor, and I’ve spent the past five years working on a historical novel (THE LOST BAKER OF VIENNA, releasing in August 2025) inspired by her experiences during World War II. My research revealed that when the Nazis invaded Vilna, her city in Poland, they quickly formed a Jewish ghetto and destroyed the library. Yet somehow, people saved and smuggled books into an underground library. I’m left to wonder if my mother, a teenager, had access to those hidden books. I also wish I’d asked her how it felt when she received her first American library card years later.

My strong connection to libraries stayed with me into adulthood and motherhood. Years ago, as a new stay-at-home mom, my family relocated from New Jersey to North Carolina. Once again, I was friendless in a new place. This time, and with my one-year-old daughter in tow, I quickly picked up a new library card. During our first months in North Carolina, I often took my daughter there to read to her, check out books, and attend story time for babies and toddlers. A few years later, after my son arrived, the three of us would go to the library. As my children grew, the library remained an important place in our lives. We went there for books and school research projects, and we used it as a central meeting place with tutors. I’ve also used their quiet rooms for a place to write.

My mother gave me and my children an extraordinary gift when she organized those early family outings to the library. Mom fostered not only my love of reading but also my view that no matter where you’re located, a library always feels like home.

A Two-Generation Reading Tradition

tom — Wed, 07 May 2025 14:02:25 +0000

Contributors

Colleen Cambridge

The newly released A FASHIONABLY FRENCH MURDER is the third installment in Colleen Cambridge’s An American in Paris Mystery series. American expat Tabitha Knight has found a new life in postwar Paris, along with a delightful friend in aspiring chef Julia Child. Yet there are perils in peacetime too, as a killer infiltrates one of the city’s most famous fashion houses. Colleen was a voracious reader at a very young age, and that’s because her mother instilled in her the same love of books that she had. This helped pave the way for Colleen to develop a special bookish bond with her own children.

I grew up with a mother who read and who instilled in me that same love of books. In fact, when my parents built the house I grew up in, my mother insisted that there be an entire wall of bookshelves, floor to ceiling, in our family room. She filled those shelves with every sort of book --- from novels to encyclopedias to gardening books and home improvement guides. It was like having my own personal library, and I would select volumes from the Childcraft series to read, cover to cover, during the summer.

My mom also would take me to the library at least once a week during the summer. She’d help me pick out books (always the maximum I was allowed to borrow), and she never complained when I wanted to go back three days later for more (because I’d read them all). Later, as I was getting to the end of middle school and heading into high school, my mom introduced me to the American Bicentennial series by John Jakes and the sexy romance novels of Bertrice Small and Kathleen Woodiwiss of the 1970s. Actually, I can’t say she really introduced me; I found them on her bookshelves and read them without ever asking permission. The fact that she never censored my reading --- even when I was reading THE BASTARD at age 14 --- is a special gift all on its own. She trusted me to learn from what I read and allowed me to broaden my horizons in many ways.

Because of this strong foundation of reading and love of books, the very first winter after my husband and I moved into our house, I asked him to build me a wall of bookshelves in my office --- just like the one my mother had in our family room. I designed it to look exactly the same as hers had. As with hers, mine is always chock-full of books. And even though I have to purge some of them on a yearly basis, I never seem to have enough room for all the ones I want to keep.

When my children got old enough to read (even when the youngest could only look at picture books), I instituted a weekly Family Reading Night. Instead of watching TV or the children being in their rooms by themselves playing or reading, each of the three of them, plus myself and my husband, would find a comfortable seat in the living room. I’d make popcorn (drenched with real butter and salt), which, along with Coke, was a treat reserved for Family Reading Night. We would snack while reading for at least an hour on those cozy evenings. Most of the time, the children would want to read longer than the hour minimum, and this habit helped to form them into becoming lifelong readers (and popcorn addicts!).

During the summer, I also encouraged my children to read on a daily basis. On the last day of school, I’d buy each of them a large posterboard. The three posterboards would be hung in the kitchen so everyone could see their progress. Each would be used for the kids to list the books they read over the summer. At the end of the summer, I happily gave them a monetary reward for each book read. That was money I consider well-spent to this day.

Even so, I can tell you that they didn’t really read for the reward; they read because they love books the same way I do, the same way my mother did. Sadly, my mom is at the stage in her life where she finds it difficult to concentrate and focus on reading, and I know she misses those opportunities to dive into an escape --- especially those books I write. She’s been my first and longest champion in my writing career, and although she can no longer enjoy my books, she is still cheerleading for me. Despite this loss for both my mom and myself, I am content with knowing that my mom created a strong, solid reading tradition in two generations --- a tradition that I know will continue as my children start their own families.

Quiet Words

tom — Tue, 06 May 2025 13:58:08 +0000

Contributors

Anna Snoekstra

Internationally bestselling author Anna Snoekstra is back with her latest novel, THE ONES WE LOVE, which is now available. This gripping domestic thriller follows the newly transplanted Jansen family, who moved from Australia to Los Angeles for a fresh start. When their reality soon turns into a living nightmare, they each must ask themselves how far they will go to protect the ones they love. Anna’s mother certainly knows a thing or two about protecting her daughter. Read on as Anna explains how a trip to the library when she was seven years old became one of the most important days of her life.

Sometimes the most important days are quiet ones. I was seven years old, and I didn’t want to go to school. This wasn’t uncommon. What was unusual was that my mother took a day off from her job as a government speechwriter and let me stay home. She told me later that she knew how unhappy I was and had a plan on how to help.

I was a very shy kid --- partly naturally, but mostly for reasons more physical. I had gone through years of painful ear infections as a toddler, which muffled my hearing. I let my sister speak for me, and I sunk inside myself, to the characters and languages I created in my mind. Once I began to hear clearly, it was a huge adjustment. The world was too loud.

Eventually I did start to talk, but my words were hard for anyone but my family to understand, which prompted more embarrassed silence. The delay in language translated to reading and writing. I reached the end of my first and then second year of primary school with an increasingly heavy sense of humiliation. I was the only one in my class who couldn’t read.

That day when I was allowed to stay home from school even though I wasn’t sick, my mother took me to the library. It was a place I adored, regardless of my problems with reading. I loved the towering Leucaena tree out the front, which dropped long, brown pea pods that I imagined were monkey’s tails. I loved the sudden, magical hush as the automatic doors opened. I loved the huge kids’ section full of squashy bean bag chairs.

Usually, I’d have to dodge loud kids, including my sister. But that day I had the children's section to myself, and my mother had a plan. She realised that the glossy letters on my classroom wall and phonetic sounding-out of words wasn’t helping me and that my quietness meant that I was getting overlooked in the crowded classroom. Instead, she let me go at my own pace to pick a book with a story I really wanted to know the end of. I sorted through books very slowly until I’d found one that interested me most. It was a chapter book about a girl who found an advertisement selling a dragon in the local paper. Before this, I couldn’t even read picture books. I felt such extreme pressure that even the prospect felt overwhelming. But that day, with my mother’s quiet patience, the pressure dropped away. Nestled in that bean bag with her soft warmth, I began to read. I took the book home with me; by the evening, I’d finished it on my own.

After that day, reading and writing became my favourite things. This was shocking to my teachers, but not as shocking as what I was writing. I would create long stories set on an 18th-century island, then I’d dip the pages in coffee to brown them and burn the edges. The stories themselves bordered on the macabre, which was not what people expected from a sweet, chubby, curly-haired girl who still spoke in almost a whisper. I still write scary stories today, but my friends and family have gotten used to it.

I have a daughter myself now. She’s nothing like the girl I used to be. She is loud and boisterous, and is the spitting image of my mother-in-law. But she’s in love with books. It’s miraculous. When she was 18 months old, I’d watch her on her baby monitor as she’d spend silent hours in bed in the morning, leafing through the pages of picture books as if she could read them. She is now almost four, and I sneak into her room each night to remove the book open on her chest as she sleeps.

But my favourite thing is to watch my mother reading to my daughter. I love to watch her curl up into the patient warm space my mother creates, just like I did on the day I learned to read.

Roses on Mother’s Day

tom — Mon, 05 May 2025 13:50:23 +0000

Contributors

Mary Dixie Carter

We welcome back Mary Dixie Carter to our Mother’s Day Author Blog series. This time, she turns her attention to roses and why her mother was so fond of them. As a tribute to her mother, the titular character in Mary Dixie’s upcoming novel, MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE (which releases on May 20th), has a deep love of roses. The book is about the death of a glamorous garden designer, a widower trying to keep his secrets buried, and the beautiful young gardener who finds herself entangled in their lives.

My mother loved roses. She grew them in her backyard. She would go outside and cut the flowers and arrange them herself. She had strong opinions on the subject of how to arrange them: Not too many roses in one vase, she would say, so you can see and appreciate the lines of each flower. And always an odd number. One color, or possibly two that are close in tone. Deep pinks were her favorites, but she also liked white with a pale pink hue and dark red. You have to pay attention to how each flower is bending, she would say. She gravitated towards loosely cupped roses with a shallow shape.

Occasionally my mother would buy roses when they weren't in bloom, but I never saw her buy a floral arrangement for herself. The whole point was arranging the flowers herself. It was a form of self-expression and one of her signatures. She took great pride in creating a home that was a reflection of her. She never stopped rearranging furniture, rearranging the crystal vases and silver objects on her end tables, purchasing a new lamp shade, changing out a photograph, or reupholstering something.

A home is a living, breathing thing, she would say, and it needs constant attention. If you’re away from your home for too long, it will languish. She thought having beautiful flowers inside her house was the best way to make the rooms come alive --- the most tangible sign that she was living in and caring for her home.

In my new novel, MARGUERITE BY THE LAKE, Marguerite has a deep love of roses. In most respects, Marguerite does not resemble my mother. But that deep love of roses is one trait they share. After Marguerite’s death, her namesake roses take on a life of their own. They are an extension of Marguerite --- inhabited by her. They channel Marguerite’s spirit.

On Mother’s Day, I always miss my mother. If I receive roses on Mother’s Day, hundreds of images of my mother arranging flowers in vases come flooding back. Those memories are perhaps more vivid than any other memories I have of her. In my mind, my mother and roses are forever entwined.

In Praise of Our Mothers and Their Stories

tom — Fri, 02 May 2025 15:00:48 +0000

Contributors

Nita Prose

We are kicking off this year’s Mother’s Day Author Blog series with Nita Prose, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Molly the Maid mysteries. Her latest novel, THE MAID’S SECRET, wraps up the series and reveals long-buried secrets as a daring art heist takes place at the Regency Grand Hotel, threatening Molly’s life. Nita’s mother, Jackie, was known for telling stories that stretched the imagination, though she never admitted to making them up. It wasn’t until Jackie passed away a few years ago that Nita gained more insight into these supposedly tall tales and realized the gift that her mother gave her as a writer.

My debut novel, THE MAID, is dedicated to my mother, Jackie. She was a wildly imaginative storyteller. If you’ve ever seen the movie Big Fish, in a way you’ve met my mother. In that film, Ewan McGregor plays an estranged son whose father (played by Albert Finney) is dying. For his entire life, the father has told his son tall tales about himself --- fantastical, far-fetched stories. All his son wants as his father is dying is an iota of truth about his father’s life --- a cold, hard fact --- but he never gets that from his dad. Instead, he gets fairy tales and allegories, mythologies and legends.

When I first saw that film, I thought, “Oh my god, that father is my mother. And that son is me!” My mother’s penchant for telling totally unbelievable stories she’d pass off as true used to infuriate me, especially when I was a teen.

Mom would make up some story about the backwater Quebec town she grew up in, and how a girl drowned in the river behind her house but came back to life two days later recognizing no one and speaking with a foreign accent. Then there was the story about how she went into the forest when she was a kid, picked up a skunk by the tail, and brought it right into the house. Last but far from least, there was the one about how she used to get tired of trudging to school in the deep winter snow, so she trained a pig, which she used to ride to school every day.

“That’s ridiculous,” I’d say when she’d try to pass off these tall tales as truth. “You can’t possibly think I’d believe that.”

“Why cannot it be true?” she’d reply in her thick French-Canadian accent. “Give me one good reason why it cannot be true.”

“Because it’s far-fetched,” I’d say. “It doesn’t even make sense. Mom, you’re making things up again. Just admit it.”

But my mother would never admit such a thing. Instead, she’d embellish with fantastical details --- how the drowned girl’s hair turned from blond to black when she came back to life; how the skunk winked at her when she let it go; how the pig’s name was Eugette and how it was eventually added to the teacher’s morning roll call.

The angrier I got with my mother’s stories, the funnier she thought it was…until I’d be so raging mad that I’d accuse her of being a liar, and she didn’t like that at all.

Several years ago, my mother died. Once she was gone, I asked my very no-nonsense aunt about her penchant for storytelling, fully expecting my aunt to commiserate with me about my mother’s annoying bad habit. I brought up the ridiculous story about the pig my mother insisted she used to ride to school.

“Oh,” said my aunt. “You mean Eugette.”

I couldn’t believe it. “No,” I said. “That can’t be true. Please tell me Eugette wasn’t real.”

“She was real,” my aunt insisted. “We grew up on a farm, you know. Eugette was a smart animal, easily trained. She was popular with the school children, but not so much with the teachers.”

That is how I discovered that while I couldn’t verify all of my mother’s outrageous stories, I knew one thing for sure --- that some of them weren’t entirely made up. That left a crucial door open in my mind, one that, in my mother’s honour, I’ve left open ever since. I no longer find the blurred line between fact and fiction as troubling as I once did. I consider this opacity my mother’s greatest gifts to me as a writer.

On this special day, Mother’s Day, let us recognize our mothers for all the lessons they taught us and for keeping stories alive.

On Tour with Fiona Davis in the Big Apple

tom — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 19:57:16 +0000

Contributors

Fiona Davis

Last year, Florida-based travel advisor and book lover Corinne Levine reached out to me with a proposition. She had recently developed a book-centered travel company, called Novel Travels, and asked if I’d be her inaugural author. Intrigued, we met in person when she came into town and immediately hit it off. I’m thrilled to report that the first-ever “Fiona Davis Books On Tour” launched on a warm weekend this past March and was a huge success, even more so than I’d ever imagined.

The attendees were from all around the country --- California to Cape Cod, Michigan to South Carolina --- and consisted of two mother/daughter duos, as well as a pair of sisters-in-law. The first night, we met for cocktails at the Algonquin Hotel, where Corinne had arranged for us to sit at the famed “round table” of Dorothy Parker fame. Not a bad start. Over the next four days, the group hit the prime locations of each of my eight novels, as well as the Tenement Museum, the Strand bookstore, and a Broadway show (The Great Gatsby, of course).

Our fearless tour guide was renowned New York historian Kevin Draper. At each venue, he provided context and background regarding the characters and plots of my books, as well as offering fascinating insights into New York City history. I met the crew to tour Grand Central Terminal and the New York Public Library and joined them at night for dinner (all but one held in a private room). The conversations circled around books we love, books we recommend, book clubs, favorite bookstores --- you get the drift. It was heaven.

Our last night together we were all a little weepy, as we’d truly connected with each other. There’s something about sharing your love of a book, of making yourself vulnerable about what moves you most, that’s like no other bond. I can’t wait to do it again, and I can’t wait to see what other authors and literary-related travel Corinne will be lining up. She’s also working on Fiona Davis day tours for those who are in the area or who prefer a more pared-down itinerary. Stay tuned!

» Click here to see photos from the tour.

An Interview with John Shors about His One-of-a-Kind Travel Company

tom — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 20:47:02 +0000

John Shors Travel was conceptualized and launched as a result of outreach from the readers of John Shors’ bestselling books --- which includes his 2004 debut, BENEATH A MARBLE SKY --- and their desire to visit the settings of his novels. Since 2013, this one-of-a-kind travel company has taken more than a thousand guests on small-group, high-end tours to six continents.

In this interview, John talks about the first literary tour he organized; his partnership with fellow bestselling authors, who travel with their readers to the locations of their books; and the exciting plans ahead for John Shors Travel. Click here to see photos from a few of their excursions.

Question: What gave you the idea to plan and coordinate literary travel?

John Shors: My debut novel, BENEATH A MARBLE SKY, was published in 2004 and went on to become an international bestseller. It is a work of historical fiction and is based on the remarkable love story behind the creation of the Taj Mahal. After my novel became a bestseller, I received hundreds of emails from readers saying that my story had inspired them to travel to India, but that they weren't comfortable with the thought of traveling there alone. After years of receiving these emails, I decided that I should simply start my own tour company, which would allow me to take readers to the settings of my novels, which were all set in Asia. In 2013, I ran my first literary tour. The destination was Cambodia --- the setting for my novel, TEMPLE OF A THOUSAND FACES. That initial tour was such a success that I started running more and more tours, and since then I have taken about a thousand guests on trips to six continents.

Q: Who are some of the authors with whom you have organized travel?

JS: After leading hundreds of my own readers on literary tours to the settings of my novels, I decided to expand my business and to partner with other bestselling novelists to take their readers on literary tours to the locations of their novels. My first author partner was Loung Ung, who wrote a powerful memoir called FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER, which was set in Cambodia. I then ran tours alongside wonderful writers such as Jamie Ford and Kate Quinn. These trips were enormously successful and extraordinary experiences for my author partners, as well as their readers. Since these early trips, my company has grown quite a bit. In the near future, we're offering tours with writers such as Jane Green, Martha Hall Kelly, Lisa Genova, Paula McLain, Christina Baker Kline, Madeline Martin, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and more.

Q: How involved is the author with the itinerary? Are they there for just some events, or the entire trip?

JS: Our author partners typically are present for the entire trip, though everyone understands if they need to skip a certain dinner or excursion to do some writing or editing. But for the most part, the authors travel with the group, having the same experiences as the rest of the guests. Some authors like to do formal talks, which might occur in a local coffee shop or a hotel's event room. Other authors prefer to take a more free-flowing approach and simply answer questions during bus rides or excursions. We encourage authors to have a lot of input with regard to our itineraries, as it's important to us that they feel at ease during the trip. But ultimately, authors spend quite a bit of time with their readers, fostering meaningful and memorable interactions that would be nearly impossible to replicate elsewhere. On our trips, authors and readers begin the tours as strangers, and they end up as friends.

Q: Can you share a few standout experiences that have happened on one of these tours?

JS: These are all high-end, small-group tours to very special places in the world. The interactions between a group of 16 or so guests with their favorite novelist, while traveling, inherently creates once-in-a-lifetime experiences for everyone. One of my most poignant memories with an author involved Loung Ung, who took us to her childhood home in Cambodia. She spoke of her fond memories of growing up there, and then the horror that befell her when the Khmer Rouge came to her home and imprisoned her family. It was a uniquely powerful and profound experience. I don't think that anyone who was on the tour will ever forget it.

Q: As the coordinator of these special experiences, what do you do in advance to ensure that things run smoothly? Do you do an initial site visit to each location?

JS: I've been blessed to travel to about 70 countries on six continents. I've been traveling overseas, nearly nonstop, for the last 30 years. So I understand how to put together an amazing, all-inclusive itinerary for a trip to Cuba, China, Morocco, Paris or Japan. I know the best restaurants, hotels, guides and excursions because I've traveled to all of these destinations many times. My colleagues and I work hard to create really unique itineraries, which also allow guests to choose from a variety of daily, optional experiences. We don't treat our guests the same, but rather as unique individuals who likely will proceed at slightly different paces. And because we have an extremely high guide-to-guest ratio, we're often able to split the group up into two or even three smaller groups, ensuring that everyone, including our author partners, gets to spend the day doing whatever they want.

Q: What have travelers said about the experience of having an author join them? What do they most appreciate about your tours?

JS: Guests love spending quality time with their favorite authors. We recently ran a trip to France with Kate Quinn, and as soon as that trip ended, all of the guests were wondering when we would run another such trip with her. The same thing happened on our tour with Jamie Ford, and our guests were clamoring for us to run a tour with him to China, which we're doing next year. Both of these authors eagerly signed up for another tour, and I think they were both touched by their interactions with readers.

Q: Are there any other authors you would like to feature as part of a literary trip?

JS: We're in discussions with many bestselling novelists about running overseas literary tours based on their novels. It seems like we're announcing another such tour every week or two. It's an exciting time for us, as clearly there is an immense demand from readers for such experiences. Fortunately, we have the knowledge and contacts to transform such brainstorming sessions into once-in-a-lifetime tours. By now, many authors have heard of our program and are reaching out to us with regard to potential partnerships.

Q: What new location(s) would you love to travel to?

JS: I'm always excited to explore new places, and then to create trips to those places for our guests. This year alone, I'll do extensive scouting trips to countries such as Laos, Slovenia and Taiwan. I'm always looking to make new discoveries, which I can later share with my guests. I feel extremely privileged to take such trips, to get to know extraordinary people from around the world. I've partnered with many of the same guides and hotel managers for a decade, and we couldn't do what we do without them. I'm also blessed to work with some really talented and wonderful people who comprise our company, who bring skills to the table that I don't possess. I truly believe that what we're doing is very special, and I'm just grateful to be a part of it all.

Reporting on the 2025 Savannah Book Festival

tom — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:31:17 +0000

Contributors

Nancy Bader

The Savannah Book Festival was moved up a week, so it ended up competing with Super Bowl weekend instead of Presidents’ Day weekend. There’s no word yet on what the change might have meant for attendance. Saturday's weather was perfect for walking between the seven speaker venues and grabbing a bite from one of the food trucks.

I did not attend Anna Quindlen's opening address or Sebastian Junger's keynote address, but my friend, Allison Smith, did. Here is her input:

“Anna Quindlen's book, AFTER ANNIE, explores what happens when someone, in this case a young mother named Annie, is suddenly gone, and the different ways that family members and close friends cope. Quindlen spoke eloquently about relationships, along with losing her own mother at age 19 and how it shaped her for the rest of her life.

“Sebastian Junger, author of IN MY TIME OF DYING, shared intimate details of his many brushes with death, the most recent and horrifying being a ruptured aneurysm. It left him an emotional wreck, robbing him of his self-confidence and feeling as though he could die at any time, even as his physical wounds were healing. A self-proclaimed atheist, he shared his near-death experience and visions with the audience, reminding all to choose life every day.

“Both speakers' pay-to-hear presentations were sold out.”

Festival Saturday features 40 or so authors speaking individually or in panels. Every session is free. Venues for popular speakers fill up quickly, as was the case for Scott Turow, who has brought back Rusty Sabich, his lead character from PRESUMED INNOCENT 38 years ago, to star in PRESUMED GUILTY as a --- gulp! --- 77-year-old who comes out of retirement to defend his fiancée's son when he is accused of murdering his girlfriend.

Turow talked about being blessed. When he was only 10, he told anyone who would listen that he was going to be a novelist. He eventually went from being an assistant prosecutor to a bestselling author in just one year. His advice to would-be novelists: “Just do it [write]” (he told Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, that Nike stole his motto) and find a theme that has wide appeal. His first attempt at writing, a nonfiction manuscript about being a first-year law student, bombed, but his realization that “everyone is attracted to crime and the notion that crime doesn't pay” led to PRESUMED INNOCENT and “turned out to be the rocket ship that took me to incredible heights.”

Turow’s inspiration for PRESUMED GUILTY: First, wondering what had happened to Rusty, “the man who changed my life.” Second, the rural setting where Rusty was living, similar to Turow's vacation home in Wisconsin. Third, wondering, after a friend wrote a similar story, what happens to a family whose child is accused of a major crime.

Turow is a champion of audiobooks: “If we're lucky, that's how we first heard books, with our mothers reading to us.”

Another author, Keren Blankfeld, spoke about her nonfiction book, LOVERS IN AUSCHWITZ. Here, she tells the incredible story of two inmates in the notorious Nazi death camp who managed to pursue a romance, go on to lead fully separate lives, and reunite late in life. Blankfeld grew up in Brazil, the granddaughter of four survivors of the Holocaust. One grandmother spent more than 600 days hiding in a cellar with others and, upon being freed, had to learn to walk and speak aloud again. A grandfather in Ukraine saw his mother and sister murdered.

“I was fascinated with the concept of new beginnings. How do you start over when you've lost everything --- your home, your family, your clothes, and even your name?”

Blankfeld, who listened to thousands of hours of survivors' memoirs as part of her research, said she was amazed by their resilience and that they could teach so much about humanity. “There were moments that were unbearable to write about,” she told the audience, “But what came across was the power of connections to save us and bring us hope. Even under horrible circumstances, we don't lose the ability to love.”

“Bookaccino Live” Special Event: Bookreporter Reviewers Share Their Favorite Books of 2024

tom — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:10:07 +0000

On Wednesday, December 11th, we hosted a very special “Bookaccino Live” event where seven Bookreporter reviewers talked about two of their favorite books of 2024.

Our guests were Kate Ayers, Harvey Freedenberg, Pamela Kramer, Bronwyn Miller, Rebecca Munro, Ray Palen and Stuart Shiffman. Four reviewers --- Sarah Rachel Egelman, Megan Elliott, Eileen Zimmerman Nicol and Norah Piehl --- were not able to join us, so we presented their top picks and their comments about them in a slideshow.

Their selections cover a wide variety of genres, and there may be a few titles here that you didn’t have on your radar that you will want to check out.

Click here to watch the presentation or here to listen to the podcast. You also can see a list of the featured titles, along with the book covers, here.

The Forever Gift

tom — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 15:14:42 +0000

Contributors

Lisa Unger

We wrap up this year’s Holiday Author Blog series with Lisa Unger, the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of over 20 novels. Her upcoming thriller, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10, releases on February 25th and revolves around an extreme game of hide-and-seek that turns deadly. Lisa has received so many books as Christmas presents that it’s impossible for her to choose just one as her favorite. So here she talks about four classic works that were gifted to her during the holidays and what they have meant to her and her family.

I come from a family of readers, so a book has always been a cherished gift. Even as a kid, when other things were also on my list --- Guess jeans! Or a new game for our state-of-the- art Atari video game system (hi, 1980s)! --- books remained exciting and special. Because physical books are something that we hold and cherish. They occupy a space on our shelves and are a journey we take and remember. And when someone gives us the gift of story, it becomes bigger than the book in our hand.

Ask a writer what her favorite book is, and you’re likely to get an overwhelmed or blank expression. What? I have to choose one? Impossible, of course. The same is true for the books I’ve received as Christmas gifts. But here are a few of my favorites.

LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
My mother, a librarian, is a passionate reader, voraciously reading widely across genre. But it has been well known to me that she has two favorite books: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith and LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott. One Christmas, she gave me a copy of LITTLE WOMEN published by the Illustrated Junior Library. It’s a gorgeous edition with artwork by Louis Jambor, including the jacket illustration of the beloved March sisters singing around the piano. The illustrations brought the story I loved to life in a new way, and I’ve read this edition over and over again.

A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC and WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS by Shel Silverstein
I’m often asked for my early influences as a writer. And somehow Shel Silverstein never makes the list. But maybe he’s every young reader’s first introduction to poetry. I still remember receiving these two books in a set for Christmas with their black-and-white covers, wild illustrations and wacky, funny, smart poems. For some reason, when I was younger I hated dust jackets. I stripped them off to reveal the cloth-bound book underneath, loving the feel of that texture and the elegance of the embossed spines. Many years later, these were the first books I read to my daughter.

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Robert Sabuda
I have a wonderful cousin, Sarah, who lives in Australia. And we’ve been devoted to staying in touch and making time, even though it’s not as much as I think we’d both like. Sending gifts overseas for the holidays is often a feat in our busy lives. So we had defaulted over the years to sending gift cards. But on one of her visits to the US, for Christmas --- which is also my daughter’s birthday --- she gave us a copy of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore. My daughter was just a toddler at the time, so this pop-up edition from Robert Sabuda was especially thrilling. My daughter is 18 now, but to this day, we sit every Christmas Eve and read from this book before she goes to bed. Last year, her boyfriend even joined us.

There’s a reason the gift of a beloved book is so special. These editions, some gifted to me in childhood, have remained, moving with me as I have traveled through life. They have had a place on every shelf, in every home. Now they each sit on a shelf in my daughter’s bedroom. When I read to my daughter for the first time, the day we brought her home from the hospital, it was from the Shel Silverstein book that my mother gave to me. When I shared LITTLE WOMEN with her, it was from the illustrated book that I had loved as a girl. And on Christmas Eve, I’ll read to her (if she still lets me!) from the book Sarah gave us.

These beloved objects are more than physical gifts. When you give someone you love a book you have loved, you are giving them something that they will have forever and hopefully will share with someone they love. That’s the joy of story; it never stops giving.