• Tabitha King, The Trap and Pearl
• Laura Bell, Claiming Ground
• Alexandra Fuller, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant
• Imogen Robertson, Instruments of Darkness and Anatomy of Murder
• Bailey White, Mama Makes Up Her Mind
• Michael Lee West, She Flew the Coop
• Judy Budnitz, If I Told You Once
• Mary Doria Russell, Doc
• Sonja Livingston, Ghostbread

and, in a bonus topic, I just had to include a call from Shannon, who called to tell us that she does re-read, but “not that much.” Of course, she then goes on to list ten books she re-reads every few years: The Harry Potter series, The Mists of Avalon, The Daughter of Time, and The Stand.

But really, she doesn’t re-read that much…!

How we’re finding Faulkner

A little update on our Faulkner project. Both Michael and I are attempting to read (or re-read) a William Faulkner novel in anticipation of Booktopia:Oxford. But since 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the death of Faulkner, we’re going to enlist you all in our Faulkner project.

I started  listening to the audiobook of The Sound and the Fury, read by Grover Gardner. I loved the poetry in the language, and loved Grover’s reading. But then I discovered (from Oprah’s How to Read Faulkner) that the text uses italics to indicate shifts in time. I could not hear italics in the audiobook. So now my new plan is to listen to the audio as I read along.

Michael started As I Lay Dying and is loving it.

Please join us in our Faulkner read-along on the Books on the Nightstand Goodreads group. If our happiness isn’t enough of an incentive, you should know that July 6th is Faulkner Remembrance Day at Square Books, marking the 50th anniversary of his death. The next day is the 39th annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference. So even if you can’t make it to Oxford for Booktopia,  you may want to make one of these special events.

What makes a novel historical?

The Guardian has created a list of The 10 Best Historical Novels, as chosen by William Skidelsky. As you can imagine, this has created a bit of controversy. As we looked through it, we were struck by some of the books that they considered “historical.” Michael and I both immediately thought of Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth (which did not make the list), which is more epic in scope than some of the books on the Guardian list. Some of those books deal with a small period of time in history. The Walter Scott Prize defines a historical novel as being set at least 60 years prior to its publication.

There are many comments on the Guardian post that added a significant number of books to my reading list, and some of the comments are just entertaining in themselves. My favorite comment is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/16102805.

So we want to hear from you: How do you define a historical novel? And what are some of your favorites?

Two books we can’t wait for you to read:

Michael tells us about a cookbook, which he hasn’t yet cooked from. He did, however, read The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila.  The focus is on making food at home instead of buying the processed versions at the store. There are recipes for yogurt, pickles, cheeses, even homemade Pop-Tarts, and each recipe is accompanied by an essay about that particular product. Michael also announces the relaunch of Cookbooks on the Nightstand as a Tumblr site. Michael hopes to blog there at least twice a week, and may include some guest posts.

I use this segment to rectify an oversight: despite the fact that I love The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, I’ve never actually fully talked about it on the podcast, but since it is coming out in paperback on May 29th, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to tell you about it today. It’s one of the only books I’ve re-read, and it may become on of my top ten books ever. The first part of the novel reads like a coming of age story, with Tony as a young man navigating friendships and romantic relationships. The second half is Tony as a middle-aged man, amicably divorced and looking back on his past as he tries to understand a mysterious letter that he’s received. But the real beauty of this book to me is Julian Barnes’ philosophical insights and musings. Several Books on the Nightstand listeners have read this, and there is a discussion thread on the Goodreads group. Come join us!

No, Really – It’s Free!

Concord Free Press is a wonderful publisher that has just published its seventh book, Round Mountain by Castle Freeman, Jr. Here’s the catch, (don’t worry, it’s a good catch) the book is free. As in zero dollars. Concord Free Press publishes 3,000 copies of a book, then gives them all away, via their web site and independent bookstores. All they ask in return is that the reader makes a charitable donation of some sort (size and recipient is left up to the giver). The reader should also log their donation on the Press’ site, and then pass the book on so more people can read it and donate on its behalf. It’s a wonderful idea that is working very well. To date, their 7 titles have raised nearly $300,000 worldwide. So, check the list of stores that carry their books and see if one is near you. If not request a copy of Round Mountain here.

Revisiting Re-reading (7:17)

Our Goodreads Group’s “What do you want us to talk/write about?” thread comes to the rescue again. Tawny started a discussion there about re-reading, which books she has re-read and which she wants to. Surprisingly, it’s a topic we spoke about in the very first episode of BOTNS, but, frankly, both Ann and I are too afraid to listen to it to hear what we said. Suffice to say, with our reading schedules, we rarely have time to re-read, though Ann has recently read two books a second time: The Sense of an Ending and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. If we were to re-read more than we do, we’d love to re-experience To Kill a Mockingbird, The Chocolate War, The Great Gatsby and Nineteen Eighty-Four. So, what are your thoughts on re-reading? Do you have the time? Do you make the time?

Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read (15:15)

No, I still haven’t read William Boyd’s new book Waiting for Sunrise. I will get to it soon, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to tell you about this book which is the story a British actor in Vienna in 1913. He’s looking for psychological help but ends up in an affair that nearly ruins his life. Ann raves about Trapeze by Simon Mawer. It’s the story of nineteen-year-old Marian Sutro who is trained to operate covertly in occupied Europe during World War II.

(Apologies for the less-than-stellar sound this week. Our recording conditions were less than optimal.)

Booktopia Past and Future:

We’re finally back, recovered from the glory that was Booktopia Vermont. Thank you to all BOTNS listeners who joined us in a magical, bookish weekend. Extra-special thanks to our lovely authors, whom I now all count as friends.

Today we announce our author lineup for Booktopia:Santa Cruz, happening in October. This event is sold out, but you can sign up for the waiting list.

Our Booktopia partner Bookshop Santa Cruz is offering BOTNS listeners the opportunity to receive 10% off and free shipping when you order our Booktopia authors’ most recent books, through this special page on their website. If you are attending Booktopia:Santa Cruz, please use this to order any books that you know you will want to buy that weekend. You can specify that they be held for you at the store. In this way, the store will be sure to have enough copies on hand. If you are NOT attending Booktopia, you may order your books and ask for them to be held for Booktopia weekend. At that time, we will have the authors sign the books, and then they will be shipped to you.

• Lynne Cox, author of South with the Sun
• Ann Packer author of Swim Back to Me
• Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
• Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son
• Tupelo Hassman, author of Girlchild
• Cara Black, author of Murder at the Lanterne Rouge
• Sarah McCoy, author of The Baker’s Daughter
• Preeminent audiobook narrators Grover Gardner (Robert Caro’s The Passage of Power) and Simon Vance (Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies)
• Matthew Dicks, author of Memoirs of An Imaginary Friend (available in August).

Book Snobbery:

If you’ve been watching any media whatsoever, you’ve probably heard about the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James.  Millions of readers have discovered these sexually-charged novels, and many women point to the series as having sparked their love of reading. Meanwhile, some have criticized the novels or even had them pulled from library shelves. I was honored to stand next to EL James at her Connecticut event, and I witnessed for myself the hundreds of women who said that they hadn’t read a book in many years prior to Fifty Shades of Grey. This led Michael and me to ponder “book snobbery,” and to make a new vow: don’t judge a book until you’ve read it, and don’t judge a person for what they read.  Care to join us in our vow?

Two books we can’t wait for you to read:

This week, Michael recommends The Man Who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins. This book follows David Milarch, a man obsessed with saving the planet through the preservation and cloning of the world’s oldest trees.

Home by Toni Morrison is a spare and powerful story of a war veteran who returns home from Korea to find a place different but no less brutal. We move back and forth in time, learning about Frank and his sister Cee, and their cruel childhood that has had lasting impact on their lives.

Congratulations to Sara J. Henry, whose novel Learning to Swim won two awards last week: the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Sara lovingly relates the story of her childhood spent in a room full of books and a typewriter; the perfect breeding ground for a writer!

Richard Mason had such a great time in Vermont that he asked if he could join us in Oxford as well. The fact that he was such a big hit made it an easy decision for us. Oxford attendees, prepare to be charmed and entertained! During his talk Richard spoke about writing, longhand, History of a Pleasure Seeker, and the interactive app he has created for his novel.

Live from Booktopia!

We are pleased to present the talks given by Bill Landay and Leslie Maitland at this past weekend’s Booktopia event in Vermont.

There were many interesting discussions about Defending Jacob, and the motivations of the characters, discussions that were somewhat hard to have since not everyone in the room had read the book yet! Bill spoke about his background and how the debate about nature versus nurture sparked the creation of his book.

Leslie Maitland’s Crossing the Borders of Time was just released last week and is already garnering raves from readers and authors. Leslie’s description of her mother’s tale of lost love had many Booktopians in tears. This is sure to become a classic story of WWII survival and a love that can span decades.

Literary Debate in the New York Times

We’ve been fascinated by the New York Times website feature “Room for Debate,” especially when they tackle literary topics. One topic was book blurbs, and recently they took on the topic “The Power of Young Adult Fiction.” There was a hue and cry from the blogosphere when columnist Joel Stein wrote a rather inflammatory editorial called “Adults Should Read Adult Books.” We love the idea of different voices debating literary topics (of course we do!) so we wanted to share this section with you, even if some of the entries infuriate us.

Covering Book Covers

Jacket designed by Matt Roeser, borrowed from the New Cover blog

We’ve decided to do another show about book jackets, because we know that you are all fascinated by the topic. Also, many things have come to our attention recently that are worth sharing.

First, Chip Kidd, famed book designer, did a TED talk that has been highly praised. If you have ever wondered how a book jacket is created, and what happens in the mind of the designer, don’t miss this 20 minute video. It’s highly entertaining, and will make you look at books in a whole new way. For more on Chip’s work, see if you can track down a copy of Book One: Work, 1986-2006.

At the same time, Michael found a tumblr site called New Cover, where graphic artist Matt Roeser redesigns book jackets after he’s read the books. His designs are terrific, and we are eager to follow Matt’s career as a book jacket designer.

Lastly, one of our favorite author friends Matthew Dicks wrote a blog post showing some of the early ideas for the jacket of his new book, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. Matt shows the UK cover, the US cover, and two covers that were rejected. I’ve started reading Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, and so I have some sense of what the book is about. That sense colors my opinion of the four book jackets, though I understand where the ideas of the jackets came from. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is already out in the UK (published under the name Matthew Green), and will be published in the US this summer.

The UK and US jackets of MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND by Matthew Dicks

Two Books we can’t wait for you to read:

I loved The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, and I’m very excited that it is now in paperback. This story of a young woman who has “aged out” of the foster care system is a poignant and compelling novel that has made me keenly aware of what happens to foster children once they reach the age of 18. Author Vanessa Diffenbaugh is committed to shining a spotlight on this problem, and her novel does this in a way that is never preachy and is wholly entertaining. I think this is a great selection for book clubs, as there is much to discuss.

Michael starts his segment with a challenge to me: he wants me to read Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, which has just been re-released in a deluxe edition. It looks at the beginning of Batman and what happens when Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after training to become Batman. It’s also a look at the early lives of several Batman characters. The art for this edition is by David Mazzucchelli, who did the amazing Asterios Polyp (“hmmmm,” says Ann, intrigued), and is very realistic. There are a lot of “extras” in this edition, and Michael recommends it as a graphic novel for those who think they don’t want to read Superhero comics.

Booktopia Swag: We now have three official Booktopia Souvenir items ready for purchase! (Click the name of any item to be taken to the page for purchasing) The Living in Booktopia book, which is being printed on Northshire Espresso Book Machine, is finished and came out wonderfully! Thanks to everyone who contributed their vision of Booktopia. NOTE: even if you are attending Booktopia in Manchester, and plan to buy the book then, we urge you to pre-order it and indicate that it should be held for pickup. We want to make sure we have enough! Also available: official Booktopia T-Shirts and Tote Bags, via our Zazzle Store.

The Changing Literary Canon?

A recent blog post about the evolution of the American Literary Canon got Ann and I talking about exactly how you can go about measuring an author’s popularity in academic circles. The author of this post ranked authors by the number of scholarly papers written about them, which places Henry James in the top spot, followed closely by William Faulkner and T.S. Eliot. What are your thoughts on this list and the author’s methodology for ranking?

Faulknerpalooza (10:35)

BOTNS listener Hope posted, on Facebook, a link to an article called How to Read William Faulkner. In it, the author explains how Faulkner wrote, what he expected of his readers, and why, for him, character development took precedence over plot. It’s an extremely engaging article and one that got Ann and me excited to read (or re-read) Faulkner in time for Booktopia Oxford. We both, independently, decided to start with As I Lay Dying, but we’re encouraging everyone attending or anyone who wants to take part, to read any Faulkner that interests them. Discussions will occur on our Goodreads Group and, of course, in Oxford!

For more information on the Faulkners of Mississippi, check out Every Day by the Sun, a memoir by William Faulkner’s niece Dean Faulkner Wells.

Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read (20:52)

Blood, Bones and Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton is a book I loved last year. It’s out in paperback now – with a new chapter bringing the story up to date – and was just named Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year in the Indies Choice Awards. Ann has been a fan of Jim Lynch’s previous books, and his new novel, Truth Like the Sun is no exception. Set in Seattle, the story takes place both in 1962, during the World’s Fair, and in 2001, when a young reporter decides to get to the truth behind Roger Morgan, current mayoral candidate, and the man responsible for bringing the fair to town forty years earlier.

In segment one, we analyze this front page article from The New York Times, about parents who pay to have their children’s books self-published. It’s not a completely black and white issue, but Michael and I definitely have our opinions.

Fiction into Non- (7:13)

As you all know, I loved Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, and it made me incredibly intrigued about North Korea. This obsession caused me to buy Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden, about a man who was born in a North Korean labor camp and managed to escape to South Korea. I love when fiction makes me want to learn more about a specific topic. The Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley led me down a path of Arthurian literature, both legend and criticism. Michael felt this with The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen, which made him want to pick up Flu by Gina Kolata.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer made him Google about Guernsey. Nonfiction can have this effect, too, as in Blind Descent by James Tabor, or The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

Is it this curiosity that makes the difference between avid readers and those who don’t read much for pleasure?

Whatever it is, I am planning on soon learning more about Joan of Arc, inspired by The Maid by Kimberly Cutter, a novel of Joan of Arc, and The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone, a nonfiction account of Joan of Arc and Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily.

Tell us your experience: has there been a novel (or work of nonfiction) that has caused you to want to learn more about a particular topic?

Two books we can’t wait for you to read: (17:43)

I am an Executioner by Rajesh Parmeswaran, is a book that I always describe as “a book where the writing makes my brain tingle.” It’s a very dark collection of stories that are simply brilliant. One story is told from the perspective of a tiger in a zoo who is in love with his zookeeper. My favorite story is the title story, mainly because of how Parameswaran plays with language. I can’t really compare the collection to other story collections, but I love it as much as Aimee Bender’s The Girl int he Flammable Skirt or Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.

Michael tells us about The Power of Habit by Charles Duhig, which he is listening to on audio. It’s a “big idea” book, like Quiet, or The Tipping Point, or Made to Stick. It explains how we form habits, how habits are perpetuated, and how to change habits.

[image credit: License Some rights reserved by arsen.guschin, via flickr creative commons]

Two Booktopia updates: Manchester Packets with the full schedule should be going out to all registered attendees within the next few days, so watch for those. All registered Oxford attendees, plus those on the waiting list, should have received an email announcing the authors. For those who can’t make it, but want to read along, you can see the full list here.

What’s Your Speed?

A recent app on the Staples website lets you gauge your reading speed. I’ve always claimed I was a slow reader and now I have proof! My number was somewhere around 260 words per minute and Ann’s was 487. It’s hardly a scientific test, after all its sole purpose seems to be to sell you e-readers, but it’s a fun exercise. Feel free to share your speed in the comments below!

Craving The Hunger Games (7:10)

Hunger Games mania has gripped the nation! Ann took her daughter and friends to see the movie opening night (thereby contributing to the movie’s $155 million weekend). Like most adaptations, Ann still thinks the book was better, but definitely thought the movie was pretty darn good. Lots of stores and websites are creating lists of books to read once you’ve devoured The Hunger Games. Here’s one such list that seems to be good and diverse. Ann also mentions Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (a book for adults, or very mature teens), and recommends Feed by M.T. Anderson and Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Two Books We Can’t Wait For You to Read (16:28)

Some of you may remember that I loved Blind Descent, a non-fiction look at extreme caving. Now, James Tabor, the author of that book, has returned with The Deep Zone, a thriller that follows a young woman as she leads an expedition into a super-cave in Mexico to find a cure for a virus threatening to turn into a pandemic. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s something I’m saving for summer vacation. Ann recommends The O’Briens by Peter Behrens, a sequel to The Law of Dreams, one of the first books ever written about on Books on the Nightstand. In The O’Briens, we follow a family of Irish immigrants during  the first half of the twentieth century as they make their way from Canada to California.