10th Anniversary Page and Pictures

Last weekend my younger son and I made 3-D cookies with the cookie cutters that we got at Williams-Sonoma. Um, let's just say ours are going to be 2-D. There is no way the legs are going to fit on the body of the reindeer, the trunk on the tree or the rudders on the sleigh. I was in the store last night and told the salesperson there that we flunked cookie baking in 3-D. She told me not to fret since she thought they looked WAY too challenging. Nice to hear. I never knew cookies were challenging. I thought knitting was challenging.

This week we are launching FIVE, yes FIVE, new author features --- three Suspense/Thrillers, one Romantic Suspense and one One to Watch. Our featured Suspense/Thriller authors are impressive. Cotton Malone, who readers will remember from THE TEMPLAR LEGACY, is back in Steve Berry's newest title THE ALEXANDRIA LINK (coming out January 30th). William Landay (whose terrifying crime novel THE STRANGLER also hits stores January 30th) and Frank Turner Hollon (whose psychological thriller BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE is available January 16th) also are being spotlighted. Please note that we have three separate Suspense/Thriller mailboxes for the advance reader giveaways for these three features. Here's a handy guide and all details are below:

Steve Berry: SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com (requests for 20 due January 5th)

William Landay: SuspenseThriller1@bookreporter.com (requests due January 5th)

Frank Turner Hollon: SuspenseThriller2@bookreporter.com (requests due January 5th)

Romantic Suspense lovers will be thrilled by MOST LIKELY TO DIE, the sexy and suspenseful collaboration of three bestselling authors --- Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton and Wendy Corsi Staub. The book comes out January 30th, and the publisher has generously offered 25 advance reader copies to readers who would like to preview the book and comment on it. Write to RomanticSuspense@bookreporter.com by January 5th, if you want to enter to win a chilling read.

Not a suspense/thriller fan? Not to worry; we've got you covered. Readers of Barbara Kingsolver, Jacquelyn Mitchard and Ayelet Waldman will fall in love with SELF STORAGE, the wry and compassionate novel from Gayle Brandeis. I read this a few months ago, and I enjoyed this unexpected story of one woman's search for meaning and truth in her increasingly chaotic world. I also never knew that auctions took place when folks did not pay their self-storage bills. Readers (we are looking for 10) interested in previewing and commenting on this title should write to OnetoWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, January 5th.

If you are tired of the holiday TV movies running on Lifetime (I will not admit how many I watched last Sunday), ABC and the other channels, here's something bookish to note. I just read that "Inside the New York Times Book Review" will air this weekend on the C-SPAN2 network Sunday, December 17 at 11AM and again at 7 PM ET. The show chronicles the making of the October 29th issue and includes a guided tour of the Review's office led by editor Sam Tanenhaus and interviews with the section's staffers that reveal how books are selected for coverage.

Looking for something to listen to while you bake? There is a terrific audio interview with Nelson DeMille where he talks about NIGHT FALL that you can listen to here.

Still shopping? Think bookish thoughts and check out our What to Give/What to Get and Holiday Basket of Cheer featured titles for some great ideas. Still stuck? May we suggest an Amazon.com or Booksense gift certificate? Want to do something special for others this holiday season? As promised, we bring you a feature on Places to Donate Books and More. Our ideas include places to send books, cash donations and words from the heart. I thank all our readers who contributed ideas to this section.

The other big news of the week is that we won third place at the Holiday Tree exhibit with our turquoise tree. What did we get? A pizza! Also, I made a decision that there will not be garland on our banister this holiday season. No one else seemed motivated, and after the 3-D experience I was plumb holiday-ed out.

I am not fretting since we are doing something different this year. We are off to the Outer Banks next Friday where I am going to spend 10 days reading, knitting and watching movies --- and yes, we will decorate a tree in turquoise down there. This is the first time we will not spend Christmas Eve/Day at home. Instead we asked my parents to join us in North Carolina. I truly hope this is the start of a new tradition since we like it there so much. Note that I am reading A SPOT OF BOTHER by Mark Haddon, which I am enjoying as much as THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME.

This is our last regular newsletter of the year as our staff will be taking a well-earned and long-awaited hiatus until January 5th. Our annual holiday greeting card will follow sometime next week. Here's wishing you and yours the best this holidaze season and all good things for 2007. Thank you for reading. We hope lots of great books find their way to your house these next few weeks. We'll see you next year!

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

List of titles reviewed and featured on December 15th.

List of titles reviewed and featured on December 8th.

Before ringing in the new year, we at The Book Report Network reflect on some of our favorite books published in 2006. Though it was difficult to narrow down, each staff member chose up to five books that he or she enjoyed the most this year. Take a look and see if any of our selections match yours --- and which titles you may want to consider reading in the future. There's great diversity here.

-Click here to see our 2006 staff picks.

Recently we asked our reviewers to provide us with a list of some of their favorite books from 2006. Included is a mix of fiction and nonfiction titles, all published this year. Take a moment to read these varied lists of titles, and see if you agree with their selections! Please note that due to personal and professional commitments, some reviewers were not able to participate in this feature.

-Click here to see our 2006 reviewer picks.

As 2006 comes to a close, we invite you to take a look at the author interviews that were featured throughout the year on Bookreporter.com. This is a great way to catch up on the discussions you may have missed --- and to re-read what some of your favorite authors had to say about their books.

Steve Berry truly needs no introduction. An established master of the suspense/thriller genre, Berry is the author of such bestsellers as THE TEMPLAR LEGACY, THE THIRD SECRET and THE ROMANOV PROPHECY. His newest page-turner, THE ALEXANDRIA LINK, hits stores January 30th and will satisfy fans of Berry's distinctive brand of historically-inflected thrills.

We have 20 advance copies of THE ALEXANDRIA LINK to share with readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. Interested? Then send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, January 5th.

More about THE ALEXANDRIA LINK:
Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives for the U.S. State Department to lead the low-key life of a rare-book dealer. But his quiet existence is shattered when he receives an anonymous e-mail: "You have something I want. You're the only person on earth who knows where to find it. Go get it. You have 72 hours. If I don't hear from you, you will be childless." His horrified ex-wife confirms that the threat is real: Their teenage son has been kidnapped. When Malone's Copenhagen bookshop is burned to the ground, it becomes brutally clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want. And what they want is nothing less than the lost Library of Alexandria.

Our third featured Suspense/Thriller author is Frank Turner Hollon, who has written THE GOD FILE, THE PAINS OF APRIL, LIFE IS A STRANGE PLACE and A THIN DIFFERENCE. His latest fascinating and frightening medical thriller is BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE --- available in stores on January 16th --- a chilling tale that unfolds in the most unexpected way.

We have 10 advance copies of BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE to share with readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. Interested? Then send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller2@bookreporter.com by Friday, January 5th.

(Please note the slightly different mailbox as we have three Suspense/Thriller ARC giveaways running simultaneously)

More about BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE:
The pretrial interview sessions between a killer and a doctor create an intricate tale of murder, mercy, and madness.

Joel Stabler takes the life of his beloved brother Danny in what appears to be a mercy killing. When Joel's lawyers assign a psychologist to determine his sanity at the time of the shooting, the full story of the brothers' past --- and long family history of mental illness --- begins to unfold.

We are THRILLED to be featuring MOST LIKELY TO DIE as our newest Romantic Suspense title. A collaborative effort by three New York Times bestselling authors and mistresses of the genre --- Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton and Wendy Corsi Staub --- MOST LIKELY TO DIE (available January 30th) is a thrilling novel about love, revenge and the dark secrets three women hold to a terrifying murder.

We have 25(!) advance copies of MOST LIKELY TO DIE to share with readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. Interested? Then send your name and mailing address to RomanticSuspense@bookreporter.com by Friday, January 5th.

More About MOST LIKELY TO DIE:
A Killer Who Gets Away With Murder Once...

It's been twenty years since the night Jake Marcott was brutally murdered at St. Elizabeth High School. It's a night that shattered the lives of Lindsay Farrell, Kirsten Daniels, and Rachel Alsace. It's a night they'll never forget. A killer will make sure of that...

Finds It Easier To Kill Again...

A 20-year reunion has been scheduled for St. Elizabeth's. For some alumni, very special invitations have been sent: their smiling senior pictures slashed by an angry red line...

And Again...And Again...

Three women have been marked for death. Tonight, as the music plays, and the doors of St. Elizabeth are sealed, a killer will finish what was started long ago, and the sins of the past will be paid for in blood...

Our newest featured One to Watch author is Gayle Brandeis, a skilled and compelling writer whose wry meditation on love, marriage and friendship --- SELF STORAGE --- comes out January 23rd.

We have 10 advance copies of SELF STORAGE to share with readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. Interested? Then send your name and mailing address to OnetoWatch@bookreporter.com by Friday, January 5th.

More About SELF STORAGE:
Set during the year following the September 11 attacks, SELF STORAGE explores the raw insecurities of a changed society. With lush writing, great humor, and a genuine heart, Gayle Brandeis takes a peek into the souls of a woman and a community-and reveals that it is not our differences that drive us apart but our willful concealment of the qualities that connect us all.

Our second featured One to Watch author is Lalita Tademy, whose newest title, RED RIVER, is a powerful tale of racial strife and the bonds of family that hits bookstores on January 3rd.

-Click here to read a new excerpt from RED RIVER.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about RED RIVER:
Hailed as "powerful," "accomplished," and "spellbinding," Lalita Tademy's first novel CANE RIVER was a New York Times bestseller and the 2001 Oprah Book Club Summer Selection. Now with her evocative, luminous style and painstaking research, she takes her family's story even further, back to a little-chronicled, deliberately-forgotten time...and the struggle of three extraordinary generations of African-American men to forge brutal injustice and shattered promise into a limitless future for their children... RED RIVER.

Our third featured One to Watch author is Julia Navarro --- a Madrid-based journalist whose mesmerizing biblically-inflected tale, THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD, was a publishing phenomonen in Spain. The English translation of the novel hits shelves on December 26th and is bound to garner a whole new audience for the talented and fiercely intelligent writer.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD:
A fire at the Cathedral of Turin and the discovery of a strangely mutilated body attract the attention of Italy's special Art Crimes Department. For the fire is only the latest in a troubling series of arsons and break-ins at the cathedral, which houses what millions believe to be the authentic burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

Spanning centuries and continents, from the storm-rent skies over Calvary, through the glories of Byzantium and the intrigue and treachery of the Crusades, to the modern-day citadels of Istanbul, New York, London, Paris, and Rome, BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD is a provocative page-turner of the highest order-one that will challenge you to believe.

Our newest featured Mystery Mayhem author is Deanna Raybourn, whose compelling blend of historical suspense and intelligent prose puts her in the Jacqueline Winspear category of smart thrills and chills. SILENT IN THE GRAVE is Raybourn's debut novel, and it hits shelves January 1st.

-Click here to read an excerpt from SILENT IN THE GRAVE
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about SILENT IN THE GRAVE:
A psychotic murderer is about to make his one mistake.

Underestimating Lady Julia.

To say that Lady Julia met Nicholas Brisbane over her husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward -- it should be noted -- was still twitching upon the floor.

Lady Julia Grey is a London aristocrat with a wildly eccentric family and a husband she does not love. When her husband dies, she discovers that Edward was the target of menacing notes. Enlisting the help of detective Nicholas Brisbane, Julia begins to sleuth for clues to unravel the mystery of Edward's death. As she does so, she discovers that she has more in common with her unconventional family than she would like to admit, and also finds herself increasingly attracted to Nicholas, a man with a few mysteries of his own.

We're bringing back our Fantasy Feature with Alan Campbell and SCAR NIGHT, which comes out December 26th and is Campbell's first novel. With its distinctive blend of mystery, thrills and the fantastic, Campbell is destined to make a name for himself in the fantasy genre.

-Click here to read a new excerpt from SCAR NIGHT.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about SCAR NIGHT:
Suspended by chains over a seemingly bottomless abyss, the ancient city of Deepgate is home to a young angel, an assassin, and a psychotic murderer hungry for revenge --- or redemption. But soon a shocking betrayal will unite all three in a desperate quest.....

THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Kathy Weissman
Historical novelist Philippa Gregory knocks off two more of Henry VIII's unlucky wives --- Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard --- in her splendid new book about Tudor England. It is as compelling and alive as its predecessors, with a fascinating narrative device that lays out the story from three points of view. 

-Click here to read an Author Talk with Philippa Gregory.
-Click here to read an excerpt from THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE.

TRUE EVIL by Greg Iles (Thriller)
Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles returns to his trademark Southern milieu in this terrifying thriller, an unnerving tale of evil lurking beneath the veneer of idyllic suburban life. It tells the chilling story of a divorce attorney who may be orchestrating the deaths of his clients' spouses.

-Click here to read an excerpt from TRUE EVIL.

BORN IN DEATH by Nora Roberts, writing as J.D. Robb (Mystery)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
In New York City, it's the year 2060. Police Lt. Eve Dallas has two murders on her hands, a promising young couple about to be married. As she struggles to figure out whether it's a crime of passion or greed, another body is found. Then a friend of a friend goes missing, and Dallas needs all her resources to prevent another killing.

INES OF MY SOUL by Isabel Allende (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Born into a poor family in Spain, Ines, a seamstress, finds herself condemned to a life of hard work without reward or hope for the future. It is the sixteenth century, the beginning of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and when her husband disappears to the New World, Ines uses the opportunity to search for him as an excuse to flee her stifling homeland and seek adventure.

ANDREW CARNEGIE by David Nasaw (Biography)
Reviewed by Robert Finn
Historian David Nasaw's method in this massive new biography is to let the facts of Andrew Carnegie's life --- 801 pages of them --- speak for themselves. The poor immigrant boy who rose to become "the richest man in the world" and then dedicated his life to giving his fortune away has never before been so fully documented.

THE HANDMAID AND THE CARPENTER by Elizabeth Berg (Fiction)
Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
At this time of year, many minds and hearts naturally turn to the holidays --- and, in particular, the story of the birth of Christ. Elizabeth Berg is no exception. In THE HANDMAID AND THE CARPENTER Berg retells Jesus's birth, but from a unique perspective.

AMERICAN BLOOMSBURY by Susan Cheever (History/Literary Criticism)
Reviewed by Shannon McKenna
Susan Cheever sheds new light on some of the most famous writers in American history, among them Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. In a vibrant narrative, Cheever goes beyond their literary legacies to reveal the tumultuous, often scandalous private lives of these volatile and vulnerable geniuses.

ASK THE PARROT by Richard Stark (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Parker is on the verge of being taken down for one of the biggest and most disastrous bank heists the state of Massachusetts has ever seen, when Tom Lindahl comes to the rescue. A quiet but angry recluse, Lindahl saves Parker from the police dogs while enmeshing him in a dubious and highly dangerous, but potentially profitable, scheme.

RESTLESS by William Boyd (Historical Thriller)
Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg
Based on the true story of a British disinformation campaign designed to draw the United States into World War II, William Boyd's latest novel is a riveting spy thriller that will appeal both to fans of that genre and admirers of the best literary fiction.

FRENCH WOMEN FOR ALL SEASONS: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, & Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano (Health)
Reviewed by Hillary Wagy
France is known around the world for Coco Chanel, the Eiffel Tower, Provence, the Tour de France, designer fashion houses --- and now for Mireille Guiliano's FRENCH WOMEN FOR ALL SEASONS. In this follow-up to FRENCH WOMEN DON'T GET FAT, Guiliano shares her personal secrets, healthy recipes and a champagne lifestyle that are the keys to l'art de vivre (the art of living).

LIGHTS OUT by Jason Starr (Mystery)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
From Barry and Anthony Award-winning author Jason Starr comes a story of two friends --- once Major League-bound rivals on their high school baseball team --- divided by chance and reunited during a long Brooklyn weekend that will change both of their lives forever.

THE PEDDLER by Richard S. Prather (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
In the cutthroat world of organized crime, Tony Romero was headed straight for the top. His territory: the brothels of San Francisco. But the path was littered with bodies and broken dreams --- some of them his. First published in 1952 and long out of print, this stand-alone novel is a classic noir read from first page to last.

Poll:

Do you buy holiday-themed books?

I buy them for myself.
I buy them to give.
I buy them to give and get.
I do not buy them.
 
-Click here to answer our Poll.


Question:

What is your favorite holiday-themed book?

-Click here to answer our Question of the Week. 

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have two great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of THE RAVENSCAR DYNASTY by Barbara Taylor Bradford and WHEN DARKNESS FALLS by James Grippando.

Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on January 5th.