Here’s another batch of awards received at ALA in Denver!

RUSA – the Reference and User Services Association – annually selects a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader. This year, Random House took 14 of the 25. Listed below are our winners:

Fiction:
Rabin Alameddine – The Hakawati (Knopf)
Nadeem Aslam – The Wasted Vigil (Knopf)
Richard Bausch – Peace (Knopf)
Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth (Knopf)
Steven Millhauser – Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories (Knopf)
Owen Sheers – Resistance (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese)
Elizabeth Strout – Olive Kitteridge (Random House)
Jeff Talarigo – The Ginseng Hunter (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese)

Nonfiction:
Drew Gilpin Faust – This Republic of Suffering (Knopf)
Dexter Filkins – The Forever War (Knopf)
Jane Mayer – The Dark Side (Doubleday)
Nick Taylor – American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA (Bantam)
Tom Vanderbilt – Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (Knopf)

Poetry
Edward Hirsch – Special Orders (Knopf)

-David

Much missed by just about everybody….

I joined the throngs of people this week who were surprised and upset by the sudden death of John Updike.  Not only because it made me think of my own mortality and how fragile life is, but because he was such a fixture in our publishing life here at Random House, Inc.  EVERY year (almost) it seems there would be some offering from him and he has his first collection of short fiction in nine years appearing in June 2009, entitled My Father’s Tears and Other Stories.

In the 18 years I have been at Random House he was frequently requested to appear by libraries, foundations, state and national conventions.  The first year I worked here and was just overwhelmed by author requests – several of them for him – I came back from an early lunch and discovered him standing in front of our building (at that time 1501 50th Street).   For one insane moment I almost threw myself at his feet, intending to clutch his ankles, and beg him to solve my problems and appear at all those libraries that had requested him.  Even after all those years I can still recall the effort it took NOT to do that rash act.   Instead a mere “Hello Mr. Updike,” saved the moment.  I did speak to him several times over the years, he did make library appearances, and I will continue to keep his address and phone number in my file.

To date, 347 NYT readers from all over the world (Paris, Armenia, Auckland, NZ…) have posted comments in response to the obituary and 99.5% of them were very admiring and sorrowful.  The small minority needn’t have bothered to be mean-spirited.   I suspect they are aspiring writers suffering from a blockage of their own talents.  I will quote one post which seems to sum up the thoughts of most: 

1/28, 12:48 p.m.  “Mr. Updike probably knew every word in the dictionary and then some.  No one wrote a better sentence.  I will miss him terribly.  I don’t know why but I feel sadder than I ought to.  We’re not related or anything.  There must be a connection between us.  He wrote it, I read it.  Hundreds of hours, maybe more.  Rest in peace.”  – Jim H., Mass.

-Marcia

A must read book for the organic obsessed, the diet depressed, and the everyday food lover, who wants to separate nutritional sense from nonsense.  Library Journal recently had a Q&A with the author of AN APPLE A DAY, Dr. Joe Schwarcz.

My favorite quote from the interview: “An overall balanced diet allows for a few excursions into the tunnel of nutritional horrors.”

-Erica (sipper of pomegranate juice and one of many who threw out a beloved Nalgene bottle)

This spring, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Laurie R. King’s first Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel, turns fifteen; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would turn 150; and the ninth Russell novel, The Language of Bees, turns up in stores.

In the midst of all this buzz, the Laurie King e-universe (web site/Goodreads/Myspace/Facebook/LRK Virtual Book Club/blog) will celebrate Fifteen Weeks of Bees, with library and reading group events, contests and drawings, art projects both on and off line, and a bee-hive fundraiser through Heifer International. See the full news release here.

The ALEX Awards, for those who don’t already know, are given each year by YALSA to the best adult books for young adults. Of the 10 this year, we’re happy to say that 3 of them are from the Random House, Inc. family! This is a great honor, and there was much squealing at the dinner table in Denver when we found out. See the full list here! More award announcements from Denver to come soon!

Listening with your Body & Soul to Shambhala Audio.  Enrich your audio collection with the growing list of titles available from Shambhala and you will help to enrich the lives of your patrons.

-Erica

Now available  in paperback is Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence, which Library Journal called a “…magical and haunting new novel.”  Just in time for the paperback release, Random House has launched a dedicated Salman Rushdie website featuring excerpts from the author’s many books, information about his upcoming appearances, author videos, and more.

-Jen

No matter where you are chances are IT IS COLD. Winter is in full swing and Spring seems oh so far away so we are issuing a call to all librarians and collection developers. Make sure your shelves are stocked with great stories; stories your patrons will want to delve into with hot cocoa in hand next to a roaring fire (feel free to mentally add a other great cliches if need be). A few of Random House’s newest offerings (both in paperback and hardcover) as well as some out in the coming weeks are below. Stay warm!

-Marie

Evidence of Barak Obama’s fast approaching inaguaration day is everywhere: from the cable news channels, to the newstands and now in the newest piece of fiction by New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld. Slate magazine has asked her to pen an original inaguration novella which appears on their website in five parts.

Sittenfeld’s first foray into the political novel came last year with American Wife, which chronicles the life of Alice Blackwell  —  whose resemblence to Laura Bush is anything but subtle. In a previous blog entry I praised this great portrait of a fictionalized First Lady.  The paperback is available next month.

If this novella is anything like her latest novel, you’ll be glad you have internet connection and a mouse.

-Marie

You can now add Obama White House style to your home decorating collections.  Rizzoli has two inspiring titles from Michael S. Smith! 

“The family’s casual style, their interest in bringing 20th century American artists to the forefront and utilizing affordable brands and products will serve as our guiding principles as we make the residence feel like their home,” Mr. Smith said in a statement released by the Obama transition office.

Countdown to the inauguration continues!

-Erica