Books on the Nightstand Blog and Books Podcast

BOTNS Books Podcast #51: It's All the Rage

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:00:55 PST

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 51 (22:49)

In this episode, we take a look at "literary fads" -- you know, like when every new book in the bookstore seems to be about the same thing, or uses the same type of jacket image. The current "fad" seems to be books inspired by Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Not all "fads" are deliberate, however, and coincidence plays a large part.

In segment two, we bring one of these literary fads back to life by discussing it to death. (Sorry, but how else do you introduce a segment about zombies?). Yes, Zombies. As evidenced by books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, these undead creatures are taking the bookstores by storm. Michael talks about several zombie books including Star Wars Death Trooper by Joe Schrieber and three books by Max Brooks: World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide, and Zombie Survival Guide Recorded Attacks, a graphic novel that looks at zombie attacks throughout history. And Michael wants to read The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, a comic series that has been collected in book form and is being turned into a TV series.

Ann has, somewhat accidentally, read and enjoyed a young adult novel called The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, which also features zombies, but this time the zombies are in a dystopic landscape.

In segment 3, Ann discusses Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon. Based on the Twilight series, this is a satire in the very best way, and will appeal to anyone who has read Twilight but doesn't really believe themselves to be in love with a sparkly vampire. It's funny and right on target, further enhancing Ann's reading of Twilight for her mother-daughter book club.

Michael prepares for his reading of The Art Student's War by telling us about one of author Brad Leithauser's older books. The Art Student's War iis a novel is set in 1943 Detroit, and is about one art student's experience with World War II when she is asked to sketch wounded soldiers who have returned from the war. Michael loved Leithauser's earlier book, A Few Corrections. That book leads off with one man's obituary, which you soon learn is riddled with errors. In each chapter, the obituary is slightly corrected, a unique way to tell the story of one man's life.

(You can listen by using the player above. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Megan Tingley Books trade paperback
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Quirk Books trade paperback
Star Wars Death Trooper by Joe Schrieber, Lucas Books hardcover
World War Z by Max Brooks, Three Rivers Press trade paperback
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, Three Rivers Press trade paperback
The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks, Three Rivers Press
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Image Comics
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, Delacorte Press hardcover
Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon, Vintage trade paperback
The Art Student's War by Brad Leithauser, Knopf hardcover
A Few Corrections by Brad Leithauser, Vintage trade paperback

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #50: FIFTY!

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:05:00 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 50 (18:13)

Here we are, our 50th episode! It's been amazing and we're looking forward to what the future brings for Books on the Nightstand. We couldn't have come this far (or had such a great time!) if it weren't for all of you, our loyal readers and listeners.

Thank you so much to Denise, Ashley and Shona who wrote in, and to Heather, Melissa, Suzanne and Tanya who called our voice mail line. They all shared books they loved, that they heard about here. All of the books mentioned are listed below and the titles link back to the original post or podcast where we first talked about the book. If you've been thinking about reading any of these, they now have even more enthusiasm behind them!

As Ann mentioned, Tanya's story about Waiting for Columbus originally appeared in a guest post she wrote for us. If you haven't read her post yet, you must. Once you do, you'll want to listen to the audio or read the book for yourself!

Once again, thank you all for your continued support of Books on the Nightstand!

(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

photo (page 50 of Any Human Heart) taken by Marny Kindness
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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles from this episode link to the orginal post or podcast where the book was first discussed. Here are the books from this post:
anything by Chris Bohjalian
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Vintage trade paperback

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, Random House trade paperback
The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Vintage trade paperback
Identical Strangers by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein, Random House trade paperback
The Giver by Lois Lowry, Laurel-Leaf paperback
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins hardcover and audio
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Delacorte hardcover
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, Knopf hardcover
The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman, Ballantine hardcover
Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd, HarperPerennial trade paperback
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, Algonquin trade paperback
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Penguin trade paperback
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, Dial Press trade paperback
The Alienist by Caleb Carr, Random House trade paperback
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, Knopf Books for Young Readers
The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper, Delta trade paperback
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, Spiegel and Grau trade paperback
Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker, Three Rivers Press trade paperback
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, Knopf hardcover
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, Other Press trade paperback
Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk, Doubleday hardcover
Something Missing by Matthew Dicks, Broadway trade paperback
Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan, Three Rivers Press trade paperback

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Spotlight on: Arts and Culture Book Club

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:53:42 PDT

Today's Book Group Spotlight intrigues me because it's a group that not only revolves around a particular theme, but it is also an offshoot of the programming at a cultural institution. The Arts and Culture Book Club meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month (September through June) in the upstairs art gallery of the Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Beth Stout, who works for the Arts Center, wrote in to tell us about the group:

We got started because the Arts Center offers a free event every Tuesday of the month. On First Tuesday we celebrate our art gallery opening. On Second Tuesday we have Open Poetry Night and on Third Tuesday we have our Spoken Word Lecture Series. In looking for something related to our mission, an Arts & Culture Book Club seemed like a good fit. So I spread the word via e-mail, web and news releases and we attracted 12 people to get the club started.

We read books – mostly non-fiction but one or two novels – related to the arts. Our 2009 book list included a biography of Diego Rivera; a history of the Faberge’ Eggs; a biography of Louis Armstrong and the novel, Luncheon of the Boating Party. We also read Jonathan Lopez’, The Man Who Made Vermeers. That, along with Faberge’s Eggs by Toby Faber probably drew the most discussion.

Our book list for 2010 is already selected. We have most of the same group returning after the summer. Two participants reluctantly dropped out due to time conflicts – we meet from 6-7:30pm. But we gained 3 new members over the summer, so our group will be a little bit bigger. Our group is largely women, but we do have two men. It’s an enthusiastic group and our discussions are lively and reflect a depth of knowledge about background material because many of our members are artists themselves – which is fun.

I think the idea of a book group within a museum or arts organization is an idea that should be more widespread. If you know of any others, please tell us in the comments. And if you work with an arts organization in your area, please consider hosting a book group of your own. I know that if there were such a group near me, I'd be sure to join!

Thanks so much, Beth, for telling us about your group and for sharing your group's photos -- and for hopefully inspiring others to start something similar!

An Update on Another Food Book that I Love

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:13:46 PDT

Ann mentioned in the comments section of today's podcast show notes that she just started listening to the audio of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and the she is really enjoying it. I too loved that book. Another book on the same topic (and one that Kingsolver references in her book) is Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. Like Kingsolver and her family, Alisa and J.B. vow to eat a "100-mile-diet" for one year, but they do it without the relative luxury of living on a farm and growing their own food. I originally spoke about the book in episode 8 of the podcast, so check that out if you'd like to hear more.

In a nice bit of serendipity, I just found out yesterday that Alisa and J.B. created a show for Canadian television and it has just started airing on Planet Green here in the U.S. The show, called The 100-Mile Challenge, started last week, so I've already missed an episode, but I've got the rest set to tape on my DVR and can't wait to watch!

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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #49: Food, Glorious Food!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:05:00 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 49 (22:48)

It's awards season! The National Book Awards finalists were announced this past week, and we are thrilled that two books we've spoken about previously, Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, and Stitches by David Small, were both on the shortlist.

The Man Booker Prize was also recently awarded to Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Ann was rooting for one of the shortlisted titles, The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, which she spoke about in podcast #46.

The full list of the National Books Awards finalists can be found here, and the list of the Man Booker Prize shortlisted titles are here.

In segment 2, Ann marks the end of Farmer's Market season by reading a few books about the importance of eating locally and sustainably. Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food looks at the current obsession with "nutritionism" in the United States. Pollan's manifesto can be boiled down to a simple statement: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much." Next on Ann's reading list is Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Michael recently blogged about Food Matters by Mark Bittman, which is similar in focus to In Defense of Food, but also contains recipes. Kitchen Express is Bittman's newest cookbook, which is organized seasonally and is written in a manner that allows the home cook to experiment and put their own twist on the recipes.

Judith Jones' The Pleasures of Cooking for One is a book that Ann has been savoring for the last few weeks. Judith believes that everyone should treat yourself to a pleasurable meal, even if you eat alone. In her book, she tells you how to shop and plan your meals so that you can take advantage of market offerings but not eat the same dish for an entire week. This book reminds Michael of Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food, which is also one of Ann's favorites.

In segment 3, Michael talks about John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River. This is a novel spanning 50 years, and begins with the accidental shooting of a local constable's girlfriend, who a young boy mistakes for a bear. Danny, the boy, and his father Dominic, go on the run, traveling through America and Canada in vintage John Irving fashion. John Irving has written a short piece about the writing of the novel, and has created a video talking about it, on the official John Irving website.

Ann talks about The Glass Room by Simon Mawer, which is published by Other Press and was shortlisted for The Man Booker prize. Set in 1930s Czechoslovokia, it's the story of a well-to-do couple who hire an architect to build their home. The home becomes the center of the novel, with its massive windows and wall of onyx acting as the mechanism for telling the story of the family and the history of the time. It should be in stores by the time you read this.

(You can listen to the podcast by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Random House hardcover

Stitches by David Small, W.W. Norton hardcover
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Henry Holt hardcover

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, Knopf hardcover

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Philips, Knopf hardcover

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, Penguin trade paperback

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Pengin trade paperback

Food Matters by Mark Bittman, Simon & Schuster hardcover

Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express by Mark Bittman, Simon & Schuster hardcover

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, Knopf hardcover
The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, Random House hardcover
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving, Random House hardcover

The Glass Room by Simon Mower, Other Press trade paperback

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

image credit: NatalieMaynor via Flickr

Spotlight on: Elementary School Book Clubs

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:12:50 PDT

In honor of National Reading Group Month, we asked Books on the Nightstand readers and listeners to tell us a bit about their reading groups. Caroline Rose wrote in to tell us about her group. As the mother of a second-grader and a fifth-grader myself, I immediately wished that I had a Caroline in our life. Thank you, Caroline, for sharing your incredible work with us!

Caroline says:

I'm a former upper-elementary/middle-school social studies teacher in Lousiana, former because I've decided to focus on writing full time. I couldn't walk away completely, though. I feel too strongly about promoting books and I wanted to continue my relationships with my students. Having started a historical fiction book club with my older students last year, my fabulous principal has let me design my own after-school program, extending down to third grade.

I meet with third grade by themselves and have paired fourth with fifth and sixth with seventh. The third graders are moving into chapter books and mid-grade novels for the first time, and I wanted to share things I loved as a girl -- Ramona, The Boxcar Children -- as well as new classics, such as Sarah, Plain and Tall, and The Whipping Boy.

The fourth and fifth grade will focus on historical fiction, old and new, from Pedro's Journal (a story about travels with Columbus) to Karen Cushman's '49er novel, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple.

The sixth and seventh grade will focus on historical fiction, with some ancient world (The Bronze Bow), medieval (Crispin: Cross of Lead), and modern (The Yearling) thrown in.

Kids need to see adults excited about literature! They need someone reading alongside, learning what topics interest them, suggesting titles, thinking through storylines/settings/characters with them. I have come to know my students in a deeper way through this process. Kids are born readers and need the place to experience story with others.

Full lists are on my blog, Carolinebyline.blogspot.com.

Caroline, I couldn't agree more about the importance of adult reading in the life of a child. Thank you so much for telling us about your group. In fact, I'm going to grab a copy of The Bronze Bow for my fifth-grader; she's very interested in the ancient world, and Elizabeth George Speare was a favorite author of mine when I was that age. Thanks for the recommendation!

A Story Too Good to Stay Buried in the Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:00:01 PDT

If you've ever blogged, you know that it can sometimes feel like a lot of work. I confess that there are many times when I'd rather be reading a book then blogging about reading a book. But then, every so often, I am reminded of the incredible community that has sprung up here, and I realize that I get so much from your participation that it could never really be just "work".

I had an experience like that just recently. It happened in the comments of Josh Christie's post Bring on the Tears. Tanya's comments, and subsequent expansion on those comments, were so powerful that I had to pull them out and give them their own space.

In his post, Josh asked, "What book made you cry?". Tanya, who works for an audiobook publisher, answered:

This year I read WAITING FOR COLUMBUS (by Thomas Trofimuk) which had such a powerful denouement that I broke down, as did my husband who narrated it (in fact, you can hear him break down on the recording. He wanted to go back and "fix" it, but it was such an honest reading that when he tried to "pull back" it ended up sounded fake! So, the original reading stands...)

I feel like I've known Tanya for a long time, thanks to her interaction with us here at Books on the Nightstand, but I had no idea that her husband was an audiobook narrator, and had no inkling that he narrated this book that I loved so much. Of course, I needed to know more, so I asked Tanya to tell us the whole story. Here it is:

"Last April you mentioned WAITING FOR COLUMBUS in a blog/podcast. That's all you did, mention it, but for some reason I became obsessed with it. I literally couldn't wait until August to read the book, but I had no way to legitimately, personally, request an Advance Reading Copy from the publisher, so... I asked my boss to look into getting a galley. I was shocked when he came back and told me that our company had acquired the audiobook rights for the book!

The manuscript came to Blackstone and I was so excited, but I was soon thwarted in my attempts to pre-read it! My husband, Grover Gardner, who is the studio director for the company, always vets the galleys in order to make casting choices. He got the first crack at Waiting For Columbus and after reading the first chapter, insisted that he himself was going to narrate! He pre-read the whole of the book and finished right before dinner one night. Fork midway between plate and mouth, he stopped, started crying and left the table. He walked the dog for an hour and a half. All because of Waiting For Columbus. Of all the books he has narrated, this had never happened before. When he came back from his "time-out" I suspiciously queried him as to whether the book was that maudlin. He shook his head and only said "You'll see."

I insisted on being the recording engineer for the book. We were in the booth. The first "land mine" hit and I was affected, but okay. The second land mine hit and I could barely hold it together. Grover, even though he had already read the book, fell apart again. It is not maudlin, but beautifully and powerfully written. The book has become a very personal experience for each of us and both of us.

Even now, months after we cut the master, I can quote certain passages and there is one passage in particular which still sends me into a paroxysm of emotion. The book had another impact on me in a much more general way: I now search out books written by poet-novelists. I've come to appreciate Ondaatje's and Margaret Atwater's word crafting in particular, but it was Thomas Trofimuk's words that found their way to my heart first.

Anyway, that's probably way more than you wanted to know, but there it is.
For those who may be interested in the audiobook, you can listen to a sample at the Blackstone Audiobooks page for the title.

Tanya, thank you so very much for sharing your story. It's amazing, and moving, and I can't wait to listen to the audio with your and Grover's experience in mind.

BOTNS Books Podcast #48: October is Spooky Books Month

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:27:47 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 48 (24:31)

I'm back from my short BOTNS family leave (though, since we prerecorded a few episodes, it's like I was never away!). Finn is two weeks old and very cute, but he's seriously cutting into my reading time... these days, I'd rather just stare at him!

A quick reminder to please call our voice mail line with your story of a book you loved that you heard about here on Books on the Nightstand. We'd love to include several of these in our 50th podcast episode. Please call in by Wednesday, October 21st, so we'll have time to put the episode together for 10/28.

Over at our Goodreads group, Stephanie started a discussion thread asking for suggestion for spooky reads for the Fall. We here at Books on the Nightstand have decided to name October Spooky Books Month, since so many of us set our sights on those kinds of books this month anyway! On that discussion, some of the suggestions included Fragment, The Amityville Horror, The Graveyard Book, 'Salem's Lot, The Strain and The Terror. Ann and I reminisce about reading John Saul as teenagers and Ann talks about reading his current book, House of Reckoning, and his storytelling is just as good as she remembers! Ann also talks about Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, which is part of the NEA's Big Read, and is the book that Ann's town is currently reading.

Ending this segment on spooky books, I need your help remembering a supremely creepy short story. In the podcast, I mention thinking that it was written Arthur C. Clarke or Ray Bradbury, but now I'm pretty convinced it was an Isaac Asimov story. I still can't remember the title though! It is a very short story (just under 2 pages or so, I think), that involves a bunch of scientists who see the face of the devil in the footage of a mushroom cloud that they are analyzing. It gives me shivers just thinking about it! [UPDATE: Thanks to Sibylle who solved the mystery! The story is by Asimov and is called Hell-Fire. Sibylle even posted a link to the story online! Go read it and tell me if it freaks you out as it did me!]

This week's book I can't wait for you to read is The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, a non-fiction look at John Charles Gilkey, a man who stole rare books, just so he could add them to his personal library. Also included is the story of Ken Saunders, self-proclaimed "bibliodick," who makes it his mission to catch Gilkey. Ann's choice for this week is Orhan Pamuk's new novel The Museum of Innocence, which is about Kemal, a young man in 1970s Istanbul, who is in love with Füsun, a woman society forbids him from being with. He responds to this denial by creating a museum of everything Füsun touches. Interestingly, Orhan Pamuk has opened a museum to preserve items of everyday Turkish culture. You can read more about the museum here.

(You can listen by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)
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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins hardcover
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, Pocket mass market
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, William Morrow hardcover
The Terror by Dan Simmons, Little, Brown and Company mass market
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, HarperTorch mass market
The Omen by David Seltzer, Signet mass market
anything by John Saul, including House of Reckoning, Ballantine hardcover
Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, Vintage trade paperback
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett, Riverhead hardcover
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk, Knopf hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Spotlight on: Enzo's Book Club

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:31:00 PDT

We love book clubs here at Books on the Nightstand, and when we heard that the National Women's Book Association had dubbed October to be National Reading Group Month, we wanted to mark the occasion in some way. So we put out a call for our readers and listeners to tell us about their book groups. We've gotten a very nice response, and we will run these spotlights occasionally throughout October. There's still time to tell us about your group: details are in our earlier post, Show Us Your Book Group.

Our first spotlight is Enzo's Book Club, which is located on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Kate wrote in to tell us about the group, which meets monthly in a member's home. The club is made up of 9 school employees who all love to read. Kate says:

"One of the members organized the book club last year and we have been going strong since. We take turns hosting and the member who hosts chooses the book to read. We read all genres, mostly fiction. We have great discussions on all books but the The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult were the best discussions.

Our name comes from the first book we read as a group - The Art of Racing in the Rain. We had a great discussion and decided that we would be called Enzo's Girls after the main character in the book."

I just love that the group's name came from a literary character in a book they read together. I've been in many reading groups, but not one of them ever had a name.

This book was also mentioned in Bring On The Tears, a recent Books on the Nightstand guest post by Josh Christie. Josh names this as one of the books that made him cry due to its "heartrending (yet hopeful) last few pages."

I have had this book on my nightstand for quite a long time. I may need to move it up higher.

Thank you, Kate, for telling us about your book group!

One Book, Two Very Happy Inner Geeks

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:45:19 PDT

I got a book in the mail a few days ago and it has lived on my kitchen counter ever since. No, it's not there because it's a cookbook. It's there because I can't stop looking at it and the counter is the easiest, most accessible place to find it. More about the book in a moment, but first a little background.

I'm a LEGO fanatic. Always have been, always will be. I have wonderful memories of putting my LEGO Space sets together on the floor in front of the Christmas tree. (Buying my son his first LEGO set was a very happy day for me!) Also, having grown up in the 70's and 80's, Star Wars was a huge influence on me. I had all the action figures and saw the movies multiple times.

So imagine my thrill when I received LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia as a gift from a friend. LEGO first started releasing Star Wars sets in 1999. 190+ sets later, the line is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and this lavish book has been created to honor the occasion.

The book begins with a timeline of the sets, then goes into an in-depth look at each of them, with close-up photos, descriptions and facts and figures (the Millennium Falcon set has 5,195 pieces and a 311-page instruction manual!)

The book also includes an exclusive collectible LEGO minifigure of Luke Skywalker as he appeared at the end of the first Star Wars movie. Not only do you get an incredible book, but you get a toy too!

If you've got a Star Wars or LEGO fan in your life, you just found their holiday present.
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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #47: DystopYA

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:37 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 47 (27:31)

In segment one of this week's episode, we revisit the idea of "reading challenges," which we originally talked about in BOTNS podcast #4. Challenges are typically posted by a book blogger, who sets some rules and then "challenges" you to read a certain number of books, or books in a particular category, etc.

Some recent challenges that we like:
Japanese Literature Challenge at Dolce Bellezza
Sci-Fi Reading Challenge at the Stage and Canvas blog

A few places to find reading challenges on the web:
A Novel Challenge
Reading Challenges Blog
Reading Challenge Clearinghouse

In Segment 2, we talk about dystopic young adult fiction. One of the most memorable books that Ann read as a kid was House of Stairs by William Sleator, which was dystopic, though Ann didn't know that term at the time. There are many books in this category that have been published recently, including The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and its sequel, Catching Fire. The Giver by Lois Lowry is a classic dystopic novel that won the Newbery Prize in 1994, and it's an incredibly powerful novel that adults will enjoy. Candor by Pam Bachorz has just been published, and was inspired by Celebration, Florida, the town that Disney built.

Ann also announces the DystopYA Reading Challenge. We'd love for you to participate. You can find full details here.

In segment 3, Michael talks about Peter and Max, a novel based on the bestselling Fables comic book series. It's the story of Peter Piper and his older brother Max, who live in the Black Forest and stumble upon some magic. Ann talks about The Maze Runner by James Dashner, a fantastic dystopic novel that had her wishing for a sequel as soon as she finished the book.

(You can listen by using the player at the top of this post. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)
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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

DystopYA Reading Challenge: October 5 - December 31, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:39:03 PDT

Welcome to DystopYA: the Books on the Nightstand reading challenge for Dystopic Young Adult fiction.

If you've read any of my posts or listened to our podcast lately, you know that I'm going through a 'dystopic fiction' phase. Some of the best books have been published as young adult novels. I find that they can stand side by side with the best adult fiction, and in many cases the stripped down language and precise writing fit the landscape of the book itself.

What is dystopic fiction? Wikipedia defines it as:

The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of a nightmare world, or dystopia. Many novels combine both, often as a metaphor for the different directions humanity can take in its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other speculative fiction genres, and arguably are by definition a type of speculative fiction.

Suggested title list:
Here are some suggested titles in the category of Dystopic YA Fiction. These are books that we have read or that have been recommended to us by trusted booksellers. We talk about several of these books in Episode 47 of the Books on the Nightstand podcast.

Feed by M.T. Anderson
Candor by Pam Bachorz
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (the sequel to The Hunger Games)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Gone by Michael Grant
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
House of Stairs by William Sleator
Uglies by Scott Westerfield

The Rules:

There are always rules in dystopic societies. We will be benevolent despots in the running of this challenge. Your participation is voluntary and we will be deactivating the Reading Challenge Police, so you are on the honor system.

1. You must do as you are told. You are hereby commanded to read 3 works of dystopic fiction that were written or published primarily for young adults. A partial list of titles is above; you may choose other books that are not on this list. Books must be read between October 5, 2009 and December 31, 2009 in order to count for the challenge.

2. Secret activities are forbidden in dystopic societies. You must post your reading list and/or your review(s) of the books that you've read. Reviews can be formal or informal, as you like. You may post them one at a time or all at once, it's up to you. If you have a blog, please post there. If you do not have a blog, there are two options:

A. (Preferred) - use one of the special discussion threads we've set up on Facebook or Goodreads. Note: Facebook membership is required to post there, but anyone can read the messages. Goodreads requires you to be a member to post or read on the discussion board. Membership to both Facebook and Goodreads is free.
B. Post your reading list and/or reviews in the comments on this post.

3. A dystopic society controls the spread of information among its citizens. If you have teens or tweens in your life, tell them about this reading challenge, and consider doing it together.

4. Dystopic governments control your behavior with a system of rewards. So, there will be prizes!We'll do a random drawing from all participants at the end of the challenge.

5. Dystopic governments can track the identities of community members. Post the URL of your list/review in the Simply Linked box below. If you posted at Goodreads or Facebook, include the URL of the discussion post.

If you've chosen to post your list/review in the comments section below, you can still use the Simply Linked feature. Just type your name in the "Link Title" box followed by the word "comments" in parentheses, like this: Ann Kingman (comments) so that readers know that your reviews are at the end of this post. You can put anything in the in the URL box, it just can't be left blank.

This will give everyone an easy way to read your reviews, and will make the random drawing for the contest prize easier.

Need a button for your blog? Grab this one:

Our community begins on October 5, 2009. Will you be one of us?

(note: I just learned of another Dystopian YA Fiction Challenge over at Bart's Bookshelf. That meanst that you can knock off two challenges at the same time, though Bart's starts on October 15th. Go check out his challenge and sign up over there, too!)

BOTNS Books Podcast #46: Books About Extraordinary Parents

noreply@blogger.com (Ann or Michael) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:05:00 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 46 (22:16)

(You can listen by using the player above. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

We recently spoke about accosting strangers in bookstores and sharing book recommendations. We got two wonderful responses. Connie emailed us to say that she gives herself a "talk" before she goes into a bookstore, reminding herself that this is not a friend's party where she can mingle. Sometimes she doesn't heed her own advice and can't help but engage strangers in book talk. Ashley from Denver called in and described herself as occasionally "obnoxious" in her recommendations to strangers, then shared with us her favorite books to recommend, including books by Kate Atkinson, Jane Austen, Raymond Carver and others.

Once again, we're asking you, our loyal fans, to call our voice mail line and tell us: What book, that you heard about on Books on the Nightstand, has become a favorite of yours? We'd love to collect the responses and play them for our 50th episode coming up at the end of October. So please call us by October 21st with your pick for favorite Books on the Nightstand recommendation!

Michael talks about two books written by mothers who stop at nothing to help their children. In The Possibility of Everything, Hope Edleman and her husband, after exhausting "traditional" therapies, bring their daughter to Mayan healers in Belize to help rid her of her imaginary friend. In Saving Sammy, Beth Maloney writes about the difficulty she had accepting her son's sudden onset of OCD. She persisted in her belief that there must be another cause and she saved her son from a life spent institutionalized. Beth and Sammy were on the Today Show recently, and you can find the video here. Ann reminds us about Michael Greenberg's Hurry Down Sunshine, which she originally spoke about in Episode 13.

Michael raves about a book he's currently reading: New World Monkeys, which is the story of Manhattanites Duncan and Lily and the quirky and odd events that befall them after they inherit a house in a small Upstate New York town. Ann tells us about The Children's Book, the new, Booker-nominated novel by A.S. Byatt. The book concerns Olive Wellwood, a children's book author whose son finds a homeless boy living in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
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We encourage you to write down or print out the title information and shop at your local bookstore. Titles link to LibraryThing, a social networking site that allows you to catalog your home library. LibraryThing also links to various online purchasing options. Here are the books from this post:
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, Little Brown trade paperback
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson, Little Brown trade paperback
When Will There be Good News? by Kate Atkinson, Little Brown trade paperback
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, St Martin's Griffin trade paperback
Emma by Jane Austen, Modern Library trade paperback
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, Farrar Straus & Giroux trade paperback
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Scribner trade paperback
Anything by Raymond Carver, Vintage trade paperbacks
The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman, Ballantine hardcover
Saving Sammy by Beth Alison Maloney, Crown hardcover
Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg, Vintage trade paperback
New World Monkeys by Nancy Mauro, Shaye Areheart Books hardcover
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, Knopf hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

A New Young Reader is Born!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:54:01 PDT

Announcing the birth of

Finn Michael Kindness

September 29, 2009, 1:49 pm EST

8 lbs. 3 oz.

Everyone is doing well, and I'm sure that Michael has already gotten young Finn hooked on graphic novels. Congratulations to the entire Kindness clan.

(image credit: ccyhan via Flickr)

Bring on the tears

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:25:20 PDT

We are thrilled to bring you this guest post from Josh Christie, a longtime friend of Books on the Nightstand.

Josh Christie is a bookseller at Sherman's Books and Stationery in Freeport, Maine. He realized one of his dreams by getting a job at a bookstore during his freshman year at the University of Maine. Along with now selling books full time, Josh blogs about books, beer, and other geekery at his blog Brews and Books.

Books, even more than movies and music, seem to have the ability to drive us to tears. I'm not sure what it is about the medium, exactly. Maybe it's the fact that we become so engrossed in what we are reading, with images in our heads far more vivid than a movie. Maybe it's the speed at which we go through books, and scenes that go on for pages when they would have only lasted seconds in the real world. Whatever it is, it seems there are very few people that haven't cried at one or two books in their lifetime.

Although I'm not typically someone who cries at books, I'll admit that a couple books made my eyes a bit misty. The Art of Racing in the Rain, for example, got me with it's heartrending (yet hopeful) last few pages. As someone who is very close with my dad, books about fathers and sons like Big Fish or Fraction of the Whole always hit me pretty hard. I also just finished Stitches last night, and if anyone doubts that a graphic novel could drive them to tears this book may make them reconsider.

I asked my followers on Twitter what the last book was that made them cry, and was a bit surprised by both the number of responses and the variety of titles. Quite a few people mentioned children's books; Where the Red Fern Grows, The Giving Tree, Tale of Despereaux, Anne of Green Gables and Charlotte's Web all turned on the waterworks. Ann said that she sobbed multiple times in public when reading Cutting for Stone, and Michael and Melissa both shed some tears reading The Book Thief. The split seems pretty even between classic and contemporary titles, with A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Color Purple, The Arrival, Three Day Road, The Actor and the Housewife, Fact of Life #31, and The Road all getting people a bit misty. Katherine at Bunch of Grapes cried like a baby reading If I Stay, and BookDwarf cried like a little girl reading Purple Hibiscus. Another sob-enducing book, according to Rita, is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

What do you think it is about books that inspire readers to cry in public? What books are sure to make you cry, and which of the above books failed to hit you on that level?

'Tis It Really the Season Already?

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:14:15 PDT

I was in a grocery store a few days ago and I was so relieved to see that I can now begin purchasing my Christmas decorations. Yes, that's right. It wasn't even officially Fall yet, but the ornaments and tinsel were on the shelves. Remember when Christmas stuff didn't go up until the week before Thanksgiving? Heck, at this point I'd be happy if they waited until October.

I think the only reason you should be thinking about the holidays already is if you are going to make your gifts. It's never too early to start planning for that. Thankfully there are a few books I'd recommend to give you ideas

How to Make Books - I'm a lover of paper and paper crafts. I've taken many book making classes, so it's not surprise that I love this book. Esther K. Smith has filled this book with projects ranging from the simple (one piece of letter-size paper becomes a book) to intricate (books that unfold in several different directions). But no matter the level of complexity, the clear instructions and funky diagrams make most of these books easily do-able. Gift Ideas: A sketchbook for the artist in your life; a photo album for Mom and Dad.

Photojojo! - Photojojo began life as a website devoted to photo tips and DIY projects with photos. The book puts it all in a lovely (and irreverently funny) portable format. There's a section on taking better pictures, using your computer to "help" the not-so-great ones, and of course, tons of fun things to do with them. Gift Ideas: A magnetic dress up doll for your quirky friends; a photo voodoo doll for your most vindictive friends; photo ornaments for everyone. (I think I'll be making something from this book for my siblings for Christmas, but, since many of them read this blog, I'm not gonna say what it is!)

EcoBeauty - The subtitle to this book says it all: "Scrubs, Rubs, Masks and Bath Bombs for You and Your Friends." Flipping through the book, it seems like most of the concoctions need to be used right away. But there is an extremely customizable bath salts recipe at the back. That can be the gift for your friends, the rest of the book can be the gift for you! Gift Ideas: Bath salts for your child's teacher; a "gift certificate" to your best friend for a homemade spa day.

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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #45: The Art of Science

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:38:20 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 45 (24:23)

(You can listen by using the player above. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

Today, we look at a few ways that the internet is changing reading. Readers are connecting with authors in new ways. Book blogs and podcasts are popping up for every reading interest. I'm sure that at least a few Books on the Nightstand readers and listeners have book blogs or podcasts. If you do, please tell us about it in the comments -- we'd love to share your site with others.

Twitter is another great place for book conversations, including monthly Twitter book clubs. Many of our favorite bookellers are on Twitter, also, sharing their recommendations and talking about the books that they are excited about. If you're on twitter, or want to be, feel free to follow Michael and Ann by clicking the links on our names.

Segment two looks at science books that can be enjoyed by non-scientists, including The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, which will be a PBS special airing in October. You can watch the trailer for the documentary, below:

Ann talks about The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, and The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson.

In "2 Books We Can't Wait for you to Read," Michael talks about The Magicians by Lev Grossman, a book that can be described as Harry Potter meets Narnia for adults. Ann is thrilled to finally be able to talk about The Year of the Flood, the new novel by Margaret Atwood that is set in a future time, where the environment and religion have transfomed the landscape and everyday life in a way that only a master storyteller can imagine.

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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

What do you say when a book haunts you?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:00:00 PDT

Does this ever happen to you?

I'm having one of those experiences for which there is no word in English. I'd love to know if other languages have the perfect term to describe this feeling. I am being haunted by the book that I am reading.

I began a new book the other night, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It's not a constant attention, but periodically throughout my day (when I'm working, or doing something other than reading), I will flash back on the book. I can't seem to get the landscape out of my head. It's not a driving desire to find out what happens next; rather, it's thinking about the scenes I've already taken in, and filling in the pieces that remain unwritten.

Okay, I'll stop teasing

By writing about this now, I am breaking several of my self-imposed rules. First, I haven't finished the book yet. Second, the book will not be published in the United States or United Kingdom for several months. By all rights, I should be holding off on this post. But I will tell you about it, especially since the book is already available in Australia. You will hear much more from me about this book closer to publication, I'm sure.

Things We Didn't See Coming is a first collection of stories by Steven Amsterdam, a US-born writer currently living in Australia. The book has received fantastic reviews in Australia, and I expect the same reception when it's published here. I suppose you could call it a post-apocalyptic book, but it somehow seems to surpass that label. The first story is set on the eve of Y2K, and we meet the main character as a young man; his family is packing up the car with supplies and rations that will help them weather the massive systems breakdown that the father believes will happen. The second story features the same young man, now a few years older. The world is very different; something has happened (we aren't told what) and life has changed. And each story progresses forward in time, with massive alterations in the landscape and society, and with the same character at the center of each story. We see how he changes along with the world.

There are moments of light and humor in this book even amidst the bleak, and perhaps that is why I can think about it as I go about my day. I've been rationing my reading: a story a night. I'm savoring it as it haunts me.

So what do we call this experience?

I do wish that I had the perfect term to describe this feeling of living with the book throughout the day. Does this ever happen to you?

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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zyphichore/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Many Thanks and One Warning

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:00:01 PDT

Okay. Wow. Ann and I just found out that we won the Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW) Award for Best Book Club Blog! We are stunned and so very grateful to all of our fans! The other blogs shortlisted for this award are incredible and we did not expect to win. Please check out our fellow nominees; you're sure to love them!

5 Minutes for Books
APOOO Book Club
Book Club Girl
Everyday I Write the Book Blog

One of the cool ideas that the organizers of BBAW came up with was a topic for every day of the week, something that bloggers could all write about. Today's topic is "blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog." I was lucky enough to be a judge for both the KidLit and Spiritual BBAW categories. Because I have a little boy, I took note of many of the picture books discussed on the blogs I reviewed. I requested 20 of those books from the library to see which ones would be hits with the little guy. One of them definitely was.

Now, for that warning I mentioned: Do NOT read Dinotrux to a 4 year-old boy unless you are willing to read it several times a day, every day. This story of prehistoric trucks (Craneosaurus, Dumplodicus, Garbageodon, etc.) and the havoc they caused, was an instant hit and always causes giggles. It's not due back to the library for two weeks, but I bought a copy yesterday because I know it's in my best interest to always have it ready for bedtime. Here's a video trailer author Chris Gall created for the book:

Many thanks to the fine folks at A Fuse #8 Production blog for turning me on to this wild, fun and fantastic picture book!
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(all information is for the U.S. editions).

BOTNS Books Podcast #44: A Preview of Fall Non-Fiction

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:05:00 PDT

Books on the Nightstand, Episode 44 (25:55)

(You can listen by using the player above. If you're using Internet Explorer, click twice to listen. If your browser does not support javascript, you won't see the player; click the link below the player to listen, or right-click to download the episode. If you are receiving this post by email and cannot see the player at the bottom of the message, please visit http://www.booksonthenightstand.com to listen)

Jenn, over at Jenn's Bookshelves, wrote a great post about recommending books to strangers in bookstores. For instance, say you're browsing in your favorite bookstore and two strangers are discussing whether or not to buy a book, and it's a book you loved. Do you share your opinion?Ann and I tell you our thoughts and the disclaimers we share when we're recommending a book that our employer published. Hint: we'll only accost strangers if we're really passionate about the book!

There are so many amazing fiction books coming out this fall. We've talked about some, we'll talk about others in the weeks and months to come, but today, segment two is all about non-fiction.

I talk about Lost to the West (on sale now), an extremely readable history of the twelve greatest rulers of the Byzantine Empire, A Fiery Peace in a Cold War (on sale 9/22), the new history from Pulitzer Prize-winner Neil Sheehan, and Antarctica 2041 (on sale 10/27), a call to arms to protect Antarctica from development, which might be possible after the treaty protecting it comes up for review in 2041.

Ann tells us about The National Parks (on sale now), the beautifully illustrated companion to the PBS miniseries beginning September 27, Crude World (on sale 9/22), a look at the effects of the world's addiction to oil, and The Queen Mother (on sale 10/20), the definitive, authorized biography of the beloved monarch.

Gesine Bullock-Prado left behind her life as a high-powered Hollywood executive and moved with her husband to Vermont to open a bakery. Her new book, Confections of a Closet Master-Baker, chronicles a day in her life as a bakery owner, interspersed with remembrances of her childhood and her time in L.A. Accomplished novelist Kazuo Ishiguro returns to bookshelves with Nocturnes, his first collection of short stories, each featuring music as a central theme.
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Antarctica 2041 by Robert Swan and Gil Reavill, Broadway hardcover

The National Parks by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns, Knopf hardcover

Crude World by Peter Maass, Knopf hardcover
The Queen Mother by William Shawcross, Knopf hardcover
Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, Broadway hardcover
Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro, Knopf hardcover

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

An interview with book blogger Harry Markov, of Temple Library Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:00:05 PDT

Part of the fun of Book Blogger Appreciation Week is getting to know other book bloggers. One of the features of this week's celebration is the "interview swap", where we interview a blogger here at Books on the Nightstand, and he interviews us in turn at his blog.

We'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Harry Markov, of Temple Library Reviews. The tagline of the blog reads: "Reviews on fantasy, sci-fi, horror and the literary fiction. New and Classics. Novels and Movies".

Harry lives in Bulgaria, where he was born and raised. He is currently pursuing a degree in International Economic Relations, and is a writer of science fiction. The pitiful state of the Books on the Nightstand budget precluded us from flying to Bulgaria, so this interview was conducted via email.

Harry, how did you become enamored with the written word and transform into a book worm?

I am a late bloomer, when it comes to becoming a bibliophile. When Cartoon Network was in its infancy and the shows they put weren’t brain dead time fillers, I never felt the need to pick up books. This was around the time I discovered anime on cartoon filled afternoons with German television. Books were long and more often than not had no illustration, plus works I was forced to read at school pretty much gave literature a bad name. My mom sensed that I was not destined for reality so she bought me “Harry Potter”, when I was eleven and reading was suddenly my thing. After learning that there were fun books I ventured out, found out about Pratchett and Tolkien and the rest is history.

What was your first contact with the world of blogging?

Blogging as a form of journal keeping to me sounded like a waste of time, when I was first introduced to it. This was approximately four years ago, when I was a part of Writing.com, a community for writers in the making. They had blogs, but the content output proved to be on a too personal and mundane level. This however changed, when I introduced to the Blogger community, which so far seems to speak on subjects other than grocery lists.

Was there a particular moment when you felt brave enough to start your own blog?

This happened after I found Rachel Vincent’s blog and since I am a writer decided to start a blog on writing called “Writing Chaos That is Me”, which is down on Blogger after changing into a more personal venue. The blog still exists on LiveJournal, but is soon to become private and exclusive only to those that have friended me.

What do you enjoy most about blogging, and what keeps you going back to it?

Immediacy. I love writing in all aspects, hence my dream to be an actively published author. But I am also a sloth, an exceptional one at that, and rarely finish projects as fast as I would enjoy, and revising is even slower as I contemplate on changes. So sharing my work with people is rather sporadic, hence blogging. People reading my reviews and commenting gives a rush that makes me feel good. Blogging also helps me practice my English, which has to feel native in order for me to prosper as a writer and a blogger and hopefully as an editor one day.

How many books have you read at one time and what is your reading schedule like usually?

I think I have ADD, because sometimes it feels hard even to keep up with one novel, but I have made attempts at multitasking/reading, which resulted into a reading triangle with two novels and one anthology. Very uncomfortable.

What are the stories you most like reading about?

Big stories. Magic, violence, sex, love, scandals, joy and happy endings. All of these things I like to read in supersize version with a bang, bright procession, confetti and dazzling lights. I think that this is a long term effect of too much Japanese anime and manga.
(note from Ann: Harry, do take a look at A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE by Steve Toltz - based on your answer to this question, I think you'd enjoy it!)

What are your personal pet peeves, when it comes to published novels?

Failing at dialogue and world building. I can forgive a lot in a novel, but when dialogue reads forced and clichéd or a world is insanely inconsistent or unoriginal I m ready to tar feather an author. I am more civilized than this answer in my reviews, but the sentiment is the same.

I see from your 'About Me" page that you live in Bulgaria. Can you tell us a bit about the book scene in Bulgaria? Who is the best-known Bulgarian author, and is there someone that the rest of the world should know about?

The book scene here is at least in the speculative fiction genres atrocious. Since we are a seven million nation with numbers melting like wax, few are the people that would enjoy books enough and even fewer are the people would write and even fewer are those that would overlook the newest bestseller from the West to read a native author. Books pop up from minor celebrities that shouldn’t be celebrities at all and their work is complete waste of paper in my opinion. To be honest Bulgarian is a very challenging language to write in and to me it seems that the early XX century had the best novels.

What is the best thing that has happened directly as a result of your blog?

Connecting with people sharing my interests. Did I mention I lived in a small country? As a direct result from this I am a social outcast for loving zombies and super heroes, which are acceptable, if these tropes are used in a blockbuster movie. Otherwise you feel like the nerdy kid everybody teases at school, but around three times worse, because you don’t have a clique at all, because you were the only one. I was around ten years in this black hole, before the Internet became available to me. Blogging has helped me feel normal in the sense that my tastes are not an underground anomaly.

We're really curious about the name of your blog. Can you tell us the origin of "Temple Library Reviews"?

Oh, this is a very profound question to which I have a very stupid answer. When I thought about starting a review blog I wanted to have it as fast as possible and just feverishly brain stormed and slapped the first words I came up with. I am always fond of libraries and at the time I was writing a small short story, where the protagonist had a father, who designed temples as an architect. One random impulse led to another and a name for a blog I had. In retrospect I wished I had named it “Forest Library Reviews”, but I love the name I have picked.

Thanks, Harry! We look forward to reading more of your writing at Temple Library Reviews!

Thank you! We're honored and humbled.

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:24:14 PDT

Books on the Nightstand has been named Best General Review Blog! Though there are still many Book Blogger Appreciation Week awards to be given out, we're too excited to keep it to ourselves. We were also awarded Most Eclectic Taste (I think Michael's recent "bathroom book" post put us over the edge there.)

We're still a bit stunned and speechless, but we wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the Books on the Nightstand readers and listeners for your support, and for your votes. We wouldn't keep doing this if we didn't have such a great community to share with. We've added as many books to our nightstands from your comments and notes as we've put on your stacks. We really feel that these awards belong to all of you as well.

We'd like to take a moment to recognize the shortlisted blogs that competed in our categories. They are all excellent, and have become part of our regular RSS feeds. I do hope that you will check them out as well. After all, you can never have too many books or too many book blogs to read.

The shortlist for Best General Review Blog:

100 Scope Notes

She is Too Fond of Books

Rebecca Reads

The Zen Leaf

The shortlist for Most Eclectic Taste:

A bookstore blog is a book blog, too

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:02:45 PDT

Today marks the start of Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Some of you may know it as the impetus behind the BBAW Awards, but the awards are just a small part of BBAW. The main purpose is to celebrate and recognize all of the book blogs out there, and to take a few days to showcase the important online communities that involve around books and reading.

Many book blogs are started by readers who have no professional ties to the publishing industry. Indeed, I think they paved the way to show the rest of us that readers are indeed interested in engaging with authors, hearing other reader's opinions, and learning more about the books that are being published. So to all of you "civilian" book bloggers, out there, thank you. You have had a huge impact on the book world and the continuing evolution of publishing and bookselling.

As an illustration of this evolution, I have been thrilled to see many blogs started by wonderful bookstores. I'm gratified that the hard work and dedication put forth by the staff at these bookstores is now out in the open for all to see. Below, I've highlighted just a few of the many bookstore blogs that are in my RSS reader. These are the blogs that I know the best, mostly because I also know the stores and/or people personally and I can see how the blogs do an excellent job of carrying through the passion from the brick and mortar store to the online world.

Bunch of Grapes Bookstore - This is the blog that has most often made me cry. Really. Some of you may remember that this Martha's Vineyard bookstore burned in a terrible fire during the summer of 2008. As the store went through the rebuilding process, manager Katherine started a blog to keep the store alive in the minds of the community. She's done a fantastic job, and the blog is a great mix of book recommendations, personal thoughts on bookselling, and issues relevant to the larger publishing and bookselling community as a whole.

Greenlight Bookstore - If you've ever wondered what it's like to start and run a bookstore, add this one to your RSS feed reader of choice. Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY is expected to open its doors any day. So far the blog has focused on the incredible processes involved in getting the store funded and the doors open. I have a new respect for all of my store owner friends after following along with Greenlight.

The Inkwell Bookstore Blog Fun, snarky, and often irreverent, this independent bookstore blog tells it like it is. Sometimes not safe for work, but always entertaining.

Just The Bookstore - This small independent bookstore in Illinois is a friend of Books on the Nightstand. They took our Beowulf on the Beach Reading Challenge a step further and hosted a real-life party, complete with Anna Karenitinis and a visit by Jack Murnaghan himself. Their blog is a hoot -- be sure to check out "The Great Lobster Mystery".

The Northshire Bookstore - Vermont's famed independent bookstore has a new blog, and it's fantastic! Written by the owner and members of the staff, the blog is as eclectic as the store itself. Northshire has some of the best booksellers in the country, and when they recommend a book, I always pay attention.

RJ Julia Booksellers - This new blog is headed up by Karen Corvello, the Head Buyer at one of the most high-profile bookstores in the country. Karen and the bookstore staff have managed to translate to the web the bookstore's sense of both fun and seriousness when it comes to literature.

Vroman's - This may be the "grand-daddy" of bookstore blogs, with the first entry dating all the way back to July, 2006. Though I've never visited the great Pasadena, CA bookstore, I feel that I know the store just from reading the blog. Book recommendations, author interviews, movie reviews, riffs on music, and musings on the publishing industry -- it's all here. I love their new feature, "Meet the Bookseller," and can't wait to hear from more of the Vroman's staff.

I do hope you will check out these bookstore blogs. If your favorite bookstore has a blog, please let us know in the comments. If you are a bookstore with a blog, be sure to tell us that as well.

Books for the ahem "Throne Room"

michael@booksonthenightstand.com (Michael Kindness) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:19:14 PDT

Before I get into the topic of this post, I just wanted to remind you that voting for Book Blogger Appreciation Week is only open through this Saturday, September 12. So, if you'd still like to vote for Books on the Nightstand in our three categories (Best General Blog, Best Book Group Blog and Most Eclectic Taste), do it soon!

And now, speaking of "eclectic taste..." In the world of book sales and publishing, there are many shorthand phrases used to describe books: "readable" is usually used to describe a non-fiction book that has a good narrative flow and isn't too dense; "reminiscent of the author's earlier work" means the new book is better than the author's last book. And then there's "bathroom book." Of course, you can tell that this is a book meant to be read when you've got a few extra minutes of "down time." Short sections, often humorous, you know the type of book I'm talking about. Well, I've got two new books for you to put next to the "best seat in the house!"

The World According to Twitter by David Pogue - Pogue began this experiment by posting a question on Twitter, every night around 11pm. 95 questions and 25,000 answers later, we have the best of the best in this book. For instance "Take a common abbreviation and tell us what it really stands for" (@jakemates came up with "AIG - Arrogance Incompetence and Greed") or "Write a brilliantly gripping first line of a new novel" (@rkarolius says "You'd never think buying a goldfish could trigger the Apocalypse, but I guess you really do learn something new every day." By far, the most ridiculous and hilarious one I've come across so far is by @pumpkinshirt. He submitted 462 answers across all questions. They were so good, David Pogue, his assistant and his editors were only able to winnow that number down to 155 answers which made it into the final book. Pogue asked " Make up a new Internet abbreviation." @pumpkinshirt answered "YWKHSLIC: You wouldn't know her, she lives in Canada." Hilarious!

You are One-Third Daffodil compiled by Tom Nuttall - This is one of those "quirky-facts-you-didn't-know-you-needed-to-know" kinds of books. Some of the facts of funny, some are horrifying, most are just plain unbelievable. A sampling:

Until the late 1960s, men with long hair were not allowed to enter Disneyland.
Isaac Newton invented the cat door.
In 1976, the United States had 30 percent of the world's college students. By 2006, that had dropped to 14 percent.
For every insurgent killed in Iraq, 250,000 bullets have been fired.

Every fact listed, includes the source, but no further information. I firmly believe that this book will lead to increased Googling on the part of everyone who picks it up. But be warned: this is one of those books that will have you saying "I'll just read a few more..."
___________________

(all information is for the U.S. editions).

Books for Kids, Tweens and Teens featured on Books on the Nightstand

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Kingman) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:08:36 PDT

Though we read mostly adult books, we here at Books on the Nightstand are fans of kids books, too. Below is a running list of children's and young adult books that we've talked about. Click on the title to go to the blog post or podcast episode where the book was featured. This list will stay "live" and you can always reach it by clicking the "Kids/YA Books" tab at the top of the blog.

We've done a rough sort into age category to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for, but please know that we are not reading specialists and that your definition of "middle grade reader" and "young adult" may vary significantly from ours.


Picture Books/Beginning Readers

Duck in the Truck	Alborough, Jez
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree	Barry, Robert
The Curious Garden	Brown, Peter
Snowmen at Christmas	Buehner, Caralyn
Snowmen at Night	Buehner, Caralyn
Dinotrux	Gall, Chris
Bats at the Library	Lies, Brian
The Red Lemon	Staake, Bob
The Donut Chef	Staake, Bob
Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct	Willems, Mo
Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale	Willems, Mo
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity	Willems, Mo


Middle Grade Readers

Sounder	Armstrong, William
The Penderwicks (audiobook)	Birdsall, Jeanne
Are You There God? It's Me Margaret	Blume, Judy
The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys, Book 1)	Dixon, Franklin W.
The Secret of Skull Mountain (Hardy Boys, Book 27)	Dixon, Franklin W.
The City of Ember	DuPrau, JeAnne
The Thief Lord (audiobook)	Funke, Cornelia
The Graveyard Book (audiobook)	Gaiman, Neil
Old Yeller	Gipson, Fred
Pandora Gets Jealous	Hennesy, Carolyn
Tales from the Odyssey #1: One-Eyed Giant, The	Osborne, Mary Pope
The 39 Clues (The Maze of Bones, Book 1)	Riordan, Rick
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: (audiobook)	Riordan, Rick
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)	Riordan, Rick
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Audiobook)	Rowling, J.K.
Holes	Sachar, Louis
The 13 Clocks	Thurber, James

Young Adult

Feed	Anderson, M.T.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian	Alexie, Sherman
Candor	Bachorz, Pam
The Hunger Games	Collins, Suzanne
Catching Fire	Collins, Suzanne
The Chocolate War	Cormier, Robert
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths	d'Aulaire, Ingrid
The Maze Runner	Dashner, James
Gone	Grant, Michael
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time	Haddon, Mark
Genghis: Birth of an Empire	Iggulden, Conn
The Giver	Lowry, Lois
Youth in Revolt	Payne, C.D.
The Burn Journals	Runyon, Brent
The Forest of Hands and Teeth	Ryan, Carrie
House of Stairs	Sleator, William
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus)	Spiegelman, Art
When You Reach Me	Stead, Rebecca
Uglies	Westerfield, Scott
The Book Thief	Zusak, Markus

image credit: Valerie Everett via Flickr

Books on the Nightstand Blog and Books Podcast

BOTNS Books Podcast #51: It's All the Rage

BOTNS Books Podcast #50: FIFTY!

Spotlight on: Arts and Culture Book Club

An Update on Another Food Book that I Love

BOTNS Books Podcast #49: Food, Glorious Food!

Spotlight on: Elementary School Book Clubs

A Story Too Good to Stay Buried in the Comments

BOTNS Books Podcast #48: October is Spooky Books Month

Spotlight on: Enzo's Book Club

One Book, Two Very Happy Inner Geeks

BOTNS Books Podcast #47: DystopYA

DystopYA Reading Challenge: October 5 - December 31, 2009

BOTNS Books Podcast #46: Books About Extraordinary Parents

A New Young Reader is Born!

Bring on the tears

'Tis It Really the Season Already?

BOTNS Books Podcast #45: The Art of Science

What do you say when a book haunts you?

Many Thanks and One Warning

BOTNS Books Podcast #44: A Preview of Fall Non-Fiction

An interview with book blogger Harry Markov, of Temple Library Reviews

Thank you! We're honored and humbled.

A bookstore blog is a book blog, too

Books for the *ahem* "Throne Room"

Books for Kids, Tweens and Teens featured on Books on the Nightstand

Books for the ahem "Throne Room"