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Sarah Blake’s long-awaited new novel, following THE POSTMISTRESS in 2010, is now in stores. THE GUEST BOOK revolves around three generations of a well-bred family who summer on an island that they own off the coast of Maine. In this heartwarming and moving blog post, Sarah explains how her mother influenced her to become such a voracious reader. She recalls some of the books published in the 1930s and ’40s that her mother read as a child and then passed along to her --- and the enormous impact these titles have had on her as a writer of historical fiction.
In Wendy Wax’s new novel, MY EX-BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING (which releases May 14th), a wedding dress passed down through generations unravels the tangled threads of three women's lives. Although Wendy can’t recall her mother ever reading bedtime stories to her, it’s clear that her mother (and the other women in her family) helped inspire her to read --- and her weekly trips to the library as a child gave her great joy. Wendy, in turn, has passed down that love of reading to her two now-grown sons, whose book choices are just as varied and eclectic as hers.
Chris Pavone is the New York Times bestselling author of THE EXPATS, THE ACCIDENT and THE TRAVELERS. His fourth thriller, THE PARIS DIVERSION, releases on May 7th and marks the return of American expat Kate Moore, who discovers that a massive terror attack across Paris is not what it seems --- and that it involves her family. When Chris quit his job in publishing to become a full-time writer, he found himself holding down the fort at home while his wife, Madeline, forged ahead with her own publishing career. But despite her countless professional responsibilities at all hours of the day (and sometimes on other continents), Madeline always found time to read to their two young sons at night.
We are kicking off the 10th(!) year of our Mother’s Day Author Blog series with New York Times bestselling author Kate White, whose latest novel, SUCH A PERFECT WIFE, releases on May 7th and features true-crime writer Bailey Weggins in another page-turning mystery. For years, Kate thought that her longing to write suspense fiction was due in large part to her childhood obsession with Nancy Drew books. However, as she set out to write this piece for us, she came to the realization that the poem “The Highwayman” --- which her mom frequently read to her and her brothers --- played an even bigger role.
April 5, 2019

My Life in Booktopia

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Linda Johnson, one of our longtime readers, has written a wonderful piece for us about Booktopia, which takes place each year at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, VT. It is a weekend full of highly acclaimed authors, enthusiastic readers, games, food, drink, laughter, new and old friends, and great conversations. As you can see in her blog post, Linda and Booktopia have quite a history together. This year’s event will happen on May 3rd and 4th, and a few tickets are still available if you’re interested in attending.
On Monday, April 1st, one of our longtime readers, Annmarie Puleio (along with some of her book-loving friends), attended William Morrow's third Book Club Girls’ Night Out at the HarperCollins offices in New York City. The featured guests were New York Times bestselling author Taya Kyle, who talked about her latest book, AMERICAN SPIRIT, and Claire Gibson, who discussed her debut novel, BEYOND THE POINT. Read on as Annmarie shares her insights on the evening, which she describes as fast-paced, enthusiastic and upbeat. And many thanks to Kate Hudkins from William Morrow for providing us with the photos that you see throughout this blog.
April 5, 2019

Virginia is for Book Lovers

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Suzanne Leopold enjoys reading and finding that great book to share, which she does on her blog, Suzy Approved Book Reviews. Suzanne attended this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book, which took place in Charlottesville from March 20-24, and was kind enough to write about her experiences for us and share photos from the event. Not even a broken toe kept her from getting the most out of her weekend there!
Kathryn B., one of our readers from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, wrote us with some insight that she has gathered for more reading about the subject of Susan Meissner’s THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR, which we recently reviewed. It was so interesting that we asked if we could share it with you as a blog. She graciously said yes, and you can read it here.
We love when our readers share with us their experiences about the book festivals and literary events that they attend. Thus, we were so pleased to get this report about the Montclair Literary Festival from our longtime reader, Nancy Sharko.
On March 16th, the Arvada Center for the Arts and Regis University partnered with the Tattered Cover Book Store to present the first-ever Colorado Book and Arts Festival, a one-day literary arts festival that celebrates books, art and music for the entire family. Among the 40 authors in attendance was Roberta Gately, a nurse whose first two books --- LIPSTICK IN AFGHANISTAN and THE BRACELET --- were novels based on her humanitarian aid work. Her most recent book, FOOTPRINTS IN THE DUST, is a memoir chronicling the stories of the refugees with whom she worked. Roberta was kind enough to share with us her experiences at the festival --- which included memorable encounters with two of the attendees --- along with some photos from the event.