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Editorial Content for The Battle of Maldon: Together with the Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stephen Hubbard

J. R. R. Tolkien is, quite rightly, labeled as the grandfather of modern fantasy. A preeminent linguist of his time, he steeped his imagination in worldly epics, legends and poems from ages past. Read More

Teaser

In 991 AD, Vikings attacked an Anglo-Saxon defense-force led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in brutal fighting along the banks of the river Blackwater, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely considered one of the defining conflicts of 10th-century England, due to it being immortalized in the poem “The Battle of Maldon.” Written shortly after the battle, the poem would inspire J.R.R. Tolkien to compose his own dramatic verse-dialogue, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son,” which imagines the aftermath of the great battle. Leading Tolkien scholar Peter Grybauskas presents for the very first time Tolkien’s own prose translation of “The Battle of Maldon,” together with the definitive treatment of “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” and its accompanying essays.

Promo

In 991 AD, Vikings attacked an Anglo-Saxon defense-force led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in brutal fighting along the banks of the river Blackwater, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely considered one of the defining conflicts of 10th-century England, due to it being immortalized in the poem “The Battle of Maldon.” Written shortly after the battle, the poem would inspire J.R.R. Tolkien to compose his own dramatic verse-dialogue, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son,” which imagines the aftermath of the great battle. Leading Tolkien scholar Peter Grybauskas presents for the very first time Tolkien’s own prose translation of “The Battle of Maldon,” together with the definitive treatment of “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” and its accompanying essays.

About the Book

The first-ever stand-alone edition of one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most important poetic dramas, that explores timely themes such as the nature of heroism and chivalry during war, featuring previously unpublished and never-before-seen texts and drafts.

In 991 AD, Vikings attacked an Anglo-Saxon defense-force led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in brutal fighting along the banks of the river Blackwater, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely considered one of the defining conflicts of 10th-century England, due to it being immortalized in the poem “The Battle of Maldon.”

Written shortly after the battle, the poem now survives only as a 325-line fragment, but its value to today is incalculable, not just as a heroic tale but in vividly expressing the lost language of our ancestors and celebrating ideals of loyalty and friendship.

J.R.R. Tolkien considered “The Battle of Maldon” “the last surviving fragment of ancient English heroic minstrelsy.” It would inspire him to compose, during the 1930s, his own dramatic verse-dialogue, “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son,” which imagines the aftermath of the great battle when two of Beorhtnoth’s retainers come to retrieve their duke’s body.

Leading Tolkien scholar Peter Grybauskas presents for the very first time Tolkien’s own prose translation of “The Battle of Maldon,” together with the definitive treatment of “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth” and its accompanying essays. Also included and never before published is Tolkien’s bravura lecture, “The Tradition of Versification in Old English,” a wide-ranging essay on the nature of poetic tradition. Illuminated with insightful notes and commentary, he has produced a definitive critical edition of these works and argues compellingly that, Beowulf excepted, “The Battle of Maldon” may well have been “the Old English poem that most influenced Tolkien’s fiction,” most dramatically within the pages of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Editorial Content for Last Call at Coogan's: The Life and Death of a Neighborhood Bar

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ron Kaplan

About halfway through LAST CALL AT COOGAN’S, I asked myself, Who, outside of the immediate neighborhood, is going to be interested in this story? It seemed hyper-local. I compared it with the Instagram photos and videos that people post about their pets and kids. They might be fascinating, but mainly to those who have a close relationship to the subjects. Read More

Teaser

Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed its doors for good in the pandemic spring of 2020. Sometimes called Uptown City Hall, it became a staple of neighborhood life during its 35 years in operation --- a place of safety and a bulwark against prejudice in a multi-ethnic, majority-immigrant community undergoing rapid change. LAST CALL AT COOGAN’S tells the story of this beloved saloon --- from the challenging years of the late ’80s and early ’90s, when Washington Heights suffered from the highest crime rate in the city, to the 2010s, when gentrification pushed out longtime residents and nearly closed Coogan's itself. Only a massive community mobilization including local politicians and Lin-Manuel Miranda kept the doors open.

Promo

Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed its doors for good in the pandemic spring of 2020. Sometimes called Uptown City Hall, it became a staple of neighborhood life during its 35 years in operation --- a place of safety and a bulwark against prejudice in a multi-ethnic, majority-immigrant community undergoing rapid change. LAST CALL AT COOGAN’S tells the story of this beloved saloon --- from the challenging years of the late ’80s and early ’90s, when Washington Heights suffered from the highest crime rate in the city, to the 2010s, when gentrification pushed out longtime residents and nearly closed Coogan's itself. Only a massive community mobilization including local politicians and Lin-Manuel Miranda kept the doors open.

About the Book

The uniquely inspiring story of a beloved neighborhood bar that united the communities it served.

Coogan’s Bar and Restaurant opened in New York City’s Washington Heights in 1985 and closed its doors for good in the pandemic spring of 2020. Sometimes called Uptown City Hall, it became a staple of neighborhood life during its 35 years in operation --- a place of safety and a bulwark against prejudice in a multi-ethnic, majority-immigrant community undergoing rapid change.

LAST CALL AT COOGAN'S by Jon Michaud tells the story of this beloved saloon, from the challenging years of the late '80s and early '90s, when Washington Heights suffered from the highest crime rate in the city, to the 2010s, when gentrification pushed out longtime residents and nearly closed Coogan's itself. Only a massive community mobilization including local politicians and Lin-Manuel Miranda kept the doors open.

This book touches on many serious issues facing the country today: race relations, policing, gentrification and the COVID-19 pandemic. Along the way, readers will meet the bar’s owners and an array of its most colorful regulars, such as an aspiring actor from Kentucky who dreams of bringing a theater company to Washington Heights, a television reporter who loves karaoke and a Puerto Rican community board manager who falls in love with an Irish cop from the local precinct. At its core, this is the story of one small business, the people who worked there, the customers they served and the community they all called home.

Audiobook available, read by Robert Fass

Editorial Content for Try Not to Breathe

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Anna Rogers, a student at Gracewood College, returns home to the apartment she shares with her roommate, Kayla, after being overserved. Still, she is aware that an individual known as the Midnight Rambler has been terrorizing the neighborhood and breaking into apartments. As she approaches her building, a man steps directly out of the shadows calling her by name and follows her up to her door. Anna gets inside before he reaches her and informs Kayla of the situation, but she insists they not call the police. Read More

Teaser

A traumatic experience in the line of duty forces 30-year-old Avery Rogers to abandon both her relationship and her position as a Kentucky State Police officer. She retreats to a college town where she works an unfulfilling job as a security guard. But a frantic phone call turns Avery’s life upside down. Her father --- a retired cop who never fails to convey his disappointment in Avery --- says her half-sister is missing and in danger. Avery is sure Anna is just crashing with friends, but he strong-arms her into searching for the sister she barely knows. When Avery discovers Anna’s hiding place near a remote cave system, she risks everything to save her. Little do the sisters know that a secret is catching up to them --- a secret at the very heart of their family history.

Promo

A traumatic experience in the line of duty forces 30-year-old Avery Rogers to abandon both her relationship and her position as a Kentucky State Police officer. She retreats to a college town where she works an unfulfilling job as a security guard. But a frantic phone call turns Avery’s life upside down. Her father --- a retired cop who never fails to convey his disappointment in Avery --- says her half-sister is missing and in danger. Avery is sure Anna is just crashing with friends, but he strong-arms her into searching for the sister she barely knows. When Avery discovers Anna’s hiding place near a remote cave system, she risks everything to save her. Little do the sisters know that a secret is catching up to them --- a secret at the very heart of their family history.

About the Book

An ex-cop sets out to find her missing sister and discovers the shocking truth about her family.

A traumatic experience in the line of duty forces 30-year-old Avery Rogers to abandon both her relationship and her position as a Kentucky State Police officer. She retreats to a college town where she works an unfulfilling job as a security guard, breaking up fights between drunken frat boys. 

But a frantic phone call turns Avery’s life upside down. Her father --- a retired cop who never fails to convey his disappointment in Avery --- says her half-sister is missing and in danger. Avery is sure Anna’s just crashing with friends, but her father strong-arms her into searching for the sister she barely knows.

Anna Rogers is fed up with her family --- a half-sister who resents her existence and a domineering father who thinks it’s okay for cops to shoot unarmed civilians. She hits the road to attend a protest against police brutality, unaware of the danger that awaits her there.

Just after catching a glimpse of Avery at the protest, Anna receives a shocking text. Now she’s no longer road-tripping; she’s running, pursued by an older sister she doesn’t trust and a violent stranger who has been stalking her for weeks. 

When Avery discovers Anna’s hiding place near a remote cave system, she risks everything to save her. Little do the sisters know that a secret is catching up to them --- a secret at the very heart of their family history.

Audiobook available, read by Erin Spencer

Editorial Content for A Stolen Child: A Maggie D'arcy Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Sarah Stewart Taylor embodies the ideology that great writers “write what they know.” Her protagonist, Maggie D’arcy, is a former Long Island homicide detective who relocated to Ireland where she later joined the Dublin Garda. Taylor, who grew up on Long Island and now resides in Vermont, was educated at Middlebury College in Vermont and Trinity College in Dublin. Read More

Teaser

After months of training, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy is now officially a Garda. She’s finally settling into life in Ireland, and so is her teenage daughter, Lilly. Maggie may not be a detective yet, but she’s happy with her community policing assignment in Dublin's Portobello neighborhood. When she and her partner find former model and reality TV star Jade Elliot murdered, days after responding to a possible domestic violence disturbance at her apartment, they also discover Jade's toddler daughter missing. Amidst a nationwide manhunt, Maggie and her colleagues must look deep into Jade’s life --- both personal and professional --- to find a ruthless killer.

Promo

After months of training, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy is now officially a Garda. She’s finally settling into life in Ireland, and so is her teenage daughter, Lilly. Maggie may not be a detective yet, but she’s happy with her community policing assignment in Dublin's Portobello neighborhood. When she and her partner find former model and reality TV star Jade Elliot murdered, days after responding to a possible domestic violence disturbance at her apartment, they also discover Jade's toddler daughter missing. Amidst a nationwide manhunt, Maggie and her colleagues must look deep into Jade’s life --- both personal and professional --- to find a ruthless killer.

About the Book

Sarah Stewart Taylor is known for her atmospheric portrayal of an American detective in Ireland, and her critically acclaimed series returns with A STOLEN CHILD.

After months of training, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy is now officially a Garda. She’s finally settling into life in Ireland, and so is her teenage daughter, Lilly. Maggie may not be a detective yet, but she’s happy with her community policing assignment in Dublin's Portobello neighborhood.

When she and her partner find former model and reality TV star Jade Elliot murdered --- days after responding to a possible domestic violence disturbance at her apartment --- they also discover Jade's toddler daughter missing. Shorthanded thanks to an investigation into a gangland murder in the neighborhood, Maggie’s friend, Detective Inspector Roly Byrne, brings her onto his team to help find the missing child. But when a key discovery is made, the case only becomes more confusing --- and more dangerous.

Amidst a nationwide manhunt, Maggie and her colleagues must look deep into Jade’s life --- both personal and professional --- to find a ruthless killer.

June 30, 2023

On Monday night, I did my final “on the road” Summer Reading event at the Avalon Free Public Library. I have been doing events there since 2017. My first event in the area was at the Avalon Yacht Club in 2016, if I remember correctly. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces in the audience, and to meet one of our readers from Michigan who happened to be in town. (I am terrible at remembering names!) Susan, my neighbor, was in the audience as she also owns a home in Stone Harbor. Talk about my worlds colliding!

June 29, 2023

Ahhhh…the 4th of July is just around the corner, bringing with it a wonderful and sorely needed long weekend.

My book group is embracing summer reading; we will be reading Elin Hilderbrand’s THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND. The premise of the “Five-Star Weekend” is that a woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her 20s, her 30s and midlife.

I have been thinking about who I would invite from each of the time frames that she mentions. I do wonder how the people from each of these phases of my life would get along. I feel that as much as I have stayed the same, I have changed a lot as well. Books always have been a part of my life, so I know that I would be tracking down my bookish friends.

June 29, 2023

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we think is a great summer reading selection. Read more about it, and enter our Summer Reading Contest by Friday, June 30th at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of BANYAN MOON by Thao Thai, which is now available and is July's "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

Alice Elliott Dark Event Signup

July 2023 Bookaccino Live Event

June 27, 2023

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of June 26th, July 3rd and July 10th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to our "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. Three book groups will win 12 copies of FELLOWSHIP POINT by Alice Elliott Dark, a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection that recently released in paperback. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, July 12th at noon ET.