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Bookreporter.com Newsletter |
November 5, 2004 |
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Our Third Annual Reader Survey |
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As promised, this week we bring you our 3rd Annual Reader Survey. It's your chance to weigh in on what you buy, where you buy it, what you read and what prompts you to read it. Your replies will help us program Bookreporter.com in the weeks and months to come, so please do weigh in. And for sharing your thoughts you can be entered to win a $100 gift certificate from Amazon, as well as two other $25 gift certificates. Click on the link below to learn more. The survey is open til December 5th, but may we suggest you vote now?
The holidays are coming. As soon as the page turns to November I start thinking gifts, holidays and shopping. With a mild panic. This year, like every year, I am vowing to be organized. I love to paint and make holiday gifts. Last weekend I set up "shop" in the basement playroom (which it seems like no one uses these days) and lined up everything I want to do. I felt a sense of accomplishment just doing this!
Each week from now until the holiday we are going to spotlight bookish gifts you may want to give...or get. This week's selection --- The Special Illustrated Edition of THE DA VINCI CODE. Even for those who have read the book already, this is a treat. There are photos, drawings and pictures that enhance the reading experience. My mom's book group met on Wednesday to discuss THE DA VINCI CODE and she brought this book with her. Their conversation dug deeper into the book by having the visuals to share. Click on the link above to learn more.
For those who love history, you may want to think about Harold Evans' THEY MADE AMERICA. Also, note that this Monday, November 8th THEY MADE AMERICA, a four-part series based on the book, debuts on PBS with "Rebels," profiling two present-day magnates who have built bridges to different communities and countries through today's dominant American exports: information and entertainment. Russell Simmons has created a multimillion-dollar empire and an international following through rap music and hip-hop culture, once the sole province of inner-city America. Ted Turner turned a lens on the world with CNN, a 24-hour news station launched in 1982 - and destined for failure, predicted most news executives.
For those of you doing holiday shopping who would love to support Bookreporter.com at the same time, may we ask that you shop using the Amazon link on the upper left of the home page of Bookreporter.com or one of our book links? We received a small royalty from every sale, which we consider a lovely gift. In fact, if you tell us you used the link, I will write you a lovely thank you note!
Wind here is whipping around as I write this letter. I am really glad we did not waste time blowing the leaves this week. We now have the ones from the neighbors five houses down at our house and the five houses the other way, have ours.
Lots on our lineup this week...enjoy.
Have a nice weekend...and start making your holiday shopping lists.
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected]) |
Answer our 3rd Annual Reader Study here.
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THE MURDER ARTIST by John Case |
THE MURDER ARTIST by John Case (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Following the disappearance of his twin sons at a local Renaissance Fair, television news correspondent Alex Callahan vows to use his own relentless investigative skills to rescue his children from the shadowy figure dubbed The Piper. |
Read a review of THE MURDER ARTIST and an excerpt here.
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PAGING APHRODITE by Kim Green (Chick Lit) |
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Four strong women from different walks of life all come to the beautiful isle of Corfu seeking the same thing --- refuge. Between marriage woes, dead-end careers and demanding families, these ladies need a vacation and surely will be able to relax, right? Well, perhaps not. |
Read more about PAGING APHRODITE here, including an excerpt.
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Win Copies of EMMA, Featured in THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB |
Ever thought about making your book club a Jane Austen Book Club? Given the success of the bestseller THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, by Karen Joy Fowler, we're sharing with book clubs what they need to make this happen. Between now and April, each month we will publish a discussion guide that Fowler has written expressly for book clubs for one of the six Jane Austen titles mentioned in the book. Our first selection is EMMA.
To make this Austen celebration even more fun, we are selecting 5 groups to each win 12 copies of EMMA for their discussion. Interested? See the link below for more details. |
Read more about Win Copies of EMMA, featured in THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB here.
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Now in Paperback: SEDUCTRESS by Betsy Prioleau |
Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love studies and celebrates a feminist heroine we haven't heard about-one of the most misunderstood women in history. The great enchantresses of the Western world explode all the stereotypes. Instead of dim babes and shark-hearted vamps, they were strong exemplars who got and kept the best men and combined erotic conquest with personal and professional success.
Seductress is a celebration, a manifesto, and a thinking woman's how-to-a master plan for full female entitlement in the twenty-first century: women in charge erotically and professionally, holistic happiness, and the best men under their spell. |
Click here to read more about SEDUCTRESS and Betsy Prioleau.
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New on ReadingGroupGuides.com |
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More than a dozen new reading group discussion guides have been added to ReadingGroupGuides.com. They include a guide for BANISHING VERONA by Margot Livesey, a book that I have been reading --- and enjoying. Also, for those of you whose groups like nonfiction, we add Micheline Maynard's THE END OF DETROIT, a NYT bestseller that looks at what happened to the Big Three automakers, and a guide for NOT FADE AWAY by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton, which, as many of you may know, is a real favorite of mine. For those who wonder what happened in their former relationships, there is a guide from the memoir by Susan Shapiro called FIVE MEN WHO BROKE MY HEART. Shapiro, a journalist, tracks down the five men who'd broken her heart between the ages of thirteen and thirty-five. |
Go to ReadingGroupGuides.com
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This Week's Book Reviews and Features |
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THE WARLORD'S SON by Dan Fesperman (Thriller)
Reviewed by Andi Shechter
Dan Fesperman takes us to present-day Afghanistan, where the fates of an American journalist and a Pakistani translator become dangerously intertwined with the fortunes of warlords, spies, and dubious corporate interests.
HEIR TO THE GLIMMERING WORLD by Cynthia Ozick (Fiction)
Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner
Cynthia Ozick takes readers to the outskirts of the Bronx in the 1930s, in this grand romantic novel of desire, fame, fanaticism, and unimaginable reversals of fortune.
IN THE NIGHT ROOM by Peter Straub (Fiction)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Bestselling author Peter Straub tells of a famous children's book author who, in the wake of a grotesque accident, realizes that the most basic facts of her existence, including her existence itself, have come into question.
EDENBORN by Nick Sagan (Science Fiction)
Reviewed by Pauline Finch
Screenwriter Nick Sagan's thought-provoking second novel sees future humanity through the minds of super-children let loose on a planet where humans no longer matter.
SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY by Amulya Malladi (Fiction)
Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
Between the pressures to marry and become a traditional Indian wife, and the humiliation of losing her job in Silicon Valley, Devi Veturi is on the verge of committing suicide --- but she ends up being saved by the last person she wants to see: her mother.
SARAH'S SONG by Karen Kingsbury (Fiction)
Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Karen Kingsbury's Red Gloves series focuses on the spirit of Christmas and Christian giving, and SARAH'S SONG continues in that vein as an elderly nursing home resident reaches out in the only way she knows to a disillusioned young nurse.
DEAREST DOROTHY, HELP! I'VE LOST MYSELF by Charlene Ann Baumbich (Fiction)
Reviewed by Cindy Crosby
Partonville fans won't want to miss this latest installment in the Dearest Dorothy series, full of the same loveable characters, intergenerational relationships, and endearing perky antics of the 87-years-young Dorothy.
IT'S MY AMERICA TOO: A Leading Young Conservative Shares His Views on Politics and Other Matters of Importance, by Ben Ferguson (Nonfiction)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Twenty-two-year-old conservative Ben Ferguson, the voice of America's youth and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show," one of the country's fastest-growing syndicated radio programs, delivers his views on a variety of issues, including politics, current affairs and popular culture.
THE INNER VOICE: The Making of a Singer by Renee Fleming (Memoir)
Reviewed by Robert Finn
The current reigning diva of America's opera stages delivers some very practical advice for young singers, drawn from her own experience and offered with girl-next-door directness.
SPEAK, SO YOU CAN SPEAK AGAIN: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston, by Lucy Anne Hurston (Literary Criticism and Collections)
Reviewed by Tony Leuzzi
Lucy Anne Hurston offers a concise and compassionate portrait of her aunt, Zora Neale Hurston, as a gifted writer, a dedicated anthropologist, an impetuous lover, a reticent maid, and --- perhaps most of all --- a fierce and uncompromising individual. |
Read the reviews and features here.
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Poll: Reading Excerpts |
Do you read excerpts of books online to help you select what books you may be interested in reading?
All of the time
Some of the time
Never
Will you read excerpts of new authors, as well as old favorites?
Yes I will read new authors, as well as old favorites.
I only will read authors who I know.
I do not read excerpts online. |
Answer the Poll here.
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Question of the Week: More on Excerpts |
Tell us about one book that you were intrigued to read after reading an excerpt.
Our next question update will be on November 12th. |
Answer the Question of the Week.
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Word of Mouth: Tell Us What You're Reading -- TWO Prizes! |
Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.
This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of METRO GIRL by Janet Evanovich and TO THE LAST MAN by Jeff Shaara
Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on November 12th. |
Need more details about Word of Mouth? Click here.
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As always, here are a few housekeeping notes. If you are seeing this newsletter in a text version, and would prefer to see the graphics, you can either read it online (see the link on the upper right) or change your preferences below.
Those of you who wish to send mail to Bookreporter.com, please see the form on the Write to Us page. We were forced to move to this format after we were inundated with SPAM at the other address. If you would like to reach me, please write [email protected]. Writing any of the respond buttons below will not get to us.
Quick observation --- we have noticed that many of you have been changing your Internet providers in the past month. If you do, please be sure to "take us along" by signing up for the newsletter in your new name!
Happy reading! Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com: ReadingGroupGuides.com, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com, FaithfulReader.com, AuthorYellowPages.com, Teenreads.com, and Kidsreads.com.
--- Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])
The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228
New York, New York 10107 |
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