Archives - Weekly Update

My friend Beverley reminded me this week that February is one of the longest and most depressing months of the year. The sky is more gray than blue, and the weather is unpredictable. Making plans is not easy, and it feels like we are trapped in a slog to get to spring that's going to take forever.

My days have been brightened by looking ahead at spring books as we make our editorial plans for the websites. We also are making plans for our ReadingGroupGuides.com's 5th Annual Book Group Speed Dating Event at BookExpo America (BEA), which this year is scheduled for Chicago on Friday, May 13th. Representatives from more than a dozen publishers will be in attendance to share selections and book group news from their publishing houses in a speed-dating format designed to give booksellers, librarians, book group leaders and bloggers an inside look at what book groups will want to know for fall and winter. Galley giveaways and ideas for enhancing book group discussions will be part of this event. Advance signup is required by Tuesday, May 3rd at noon ET. Seating will be assigned. Fill out this form to sign up. Please note: You must be registered to attend BookExpo America in order to attend this session. If you are not, click here to register.

As we were putting this newsletter together today, news came in that Harper Lee had passed away at the age of 89. To say that Harper Lee was a national treasure is an understatement. I have never heard anyone say that they did not like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Most instead talk about it as a book that made them love reading, or changed their lives, and in that way she had a huge impact on encouraging a lifelong love of reading.

All week, meteorologists have been talking about the Arctic Blast that will be ripping across the country this weekend. Listening to them, it’s like the weather is a character in a fast-paced book, laced with lots of intrigue. Their television commentary is followed by at least five people on the street telling you how cold they are. It’s all so predictable (pun intended) that it's rather amusing.

One of the joys --- and conundrums --- when books are pitched to me is trying to decide what to read first. After my Denver trip, I zipped my way through THE GIRLS by Emma Cline, which I talked about last week.

Then I quickly turned to THE NEST by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, which will be in stores on March 22nd and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On title. In it, two brothers and two sisters are in line for an inheritance when the youngest one turns 40. Each has an immediate need for this money; let’s just say the chickens have been counted before they've been hatched, and they all are over-extended. Something happens to one of the brothers, and suddenly the nest egg everyone was banking on becomes a sum much less than they were counting on as their mom parses a huge chunk his way. The three adult Plumb siblings confront their errant brother Leo, who is fresh from rehab, over lunch at the Oyster Bar in Manhattan. Suddenly everyone is caught up in their own dramas and each other’s. Forget the money...the sibling dramas alone are worth the price of the book. You can afford it; you are not one of the Plumbs!