Dear Wonderfully Knowledgable Librarian,

Today I come to you with open ears (well, eyes) and an open heart. I have a problem and am in need of your help.

I. am in. a reading. rut.

Tragic, I know.

The books I’ve picked up the last couple of nights just aren’t doing it for me and I’m kind-of, sort-of know what I’m in the mood for but nothing I grab off the shelves satisfies me. Don’t you hate that? So I figured I would lean on you, my one-stop circulation specialist shop, to see what you recommend I delve into next.

Last week I was reading something fairly modern with a mystery twist to it. And it lost me. For now anyway. I want something rooted a bit more in history but not too historical fiction-y (Read – no Tudors, princesses, or queens right now. I love them but they can wait.) Perhaps I want a contemporary classic? I do love coming-of-age stories. Or since we are flirting with Spring here in New York City, maybe I’m in the mood for something light and airy but not too fluffy? It is hard to say.

So, please give me the best you got and I promise I will take all your wonderful suggestions to heart. Also, if you are in the same boat I am, unburden your heart and perhaps someone can throw you a line.

Thanks in advance!

-Marie

PS – Don’t worry about crossing publisher lines. We have been known to cheat a little here. I won’t tell if you won’t!

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A couple of readers recently commented (thanks!) on my review of the new memoir, I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. Since this book has sparked conversation and contemplation, I thought I’d share this recent op-ed piece in The New York Times  by Pulitzer-Prize winner Nicholas D. Kristof whose book, Half the Sky, is a Random House, Inc. bestseller.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think! I’d love to discuss.

-Marie

As we all know, the Academy Awards took place last night. Congrats to all of the book-to-movie Random House, Inc. winners!

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique from Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Best Animated Film: Up

Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Among the other nominees were The Last Station, Up in the Air, and Julie & Julia (partially based on My Life in France by Julia Child).

Be sure to stock up on these titles as you will surely have patrons who have to read the book first!

Perhaps I’m a bit late to the party but I just finished reading Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls last week. I admit I wasn’t too sure about it because the cover, while gorgeous, was so pretty I figured it was going to be a “too pretty”. I should have known better. See wonderfully illuminates the plight of the Chinese American immigrant in 1930’s through the story of May and Pearl, two sisters. And their story reads so realistically at points you can almost see the Angel Island Immigration offices, the streets of Shanghai and the palm trees of Los Angeles.  

If you have yet to pick this one up, take a look at the video below and then don’t stress about your tardiness. Paperbacks are sometimes better anyway, right?

-Marie

I don’t know how many of you will have noticed this already, but Library Journal has begun a new column on their website and in their e-newsletter, BookSmack!, called “Book Cheer.”

The idea is that the heads of Library Marketing at 12 different publishers in the AAP are sending books to each other to be reviewed. The latest installment is by Macmillan’s Talia Sherer, and although she didn’t choose it overall, she mentions Henning Mankell’s  THE MAN FROM BEIJING in a positive note. Check back to LJ.com and search “book cheer” for the latest picks from corporately unfaithful directors.

-David

We’ll sign off for the long weekend with our latest Help YourShelf cheatsheet, appropriately themed for Valentines Day.

Find more Help YourShelf here, and check back monthly for more!

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Curious about what we’ve all been reading these days? Here’s a department-wide update:

Jen – Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
A charming, heart-warming story of two widowers with very different backgrounds, but a shared love of Kipling. One of those books that just makes you smile as you read it. Perfect for Book Groups.

Erica - The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald
I picked this up in preparation for meeting Lisa Grunwald at the PLA conference in March. It is the unconventional coming of age story of Henry, who was raised by six mothers as part a college home economics course in the 1950s. It follows him through the conformist ‘50s and the psychedelic ‘60s, with cameos by Benjamin Spock, Walt Disney, Julie Andrews, and The Beatles.

 Marcia - The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell
A twisty thriller the author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries that crosses two centuries and two continents and thoroughly explores the notion of revenge.

David – Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky
I am of the opinion that David Foster Wallace was a genius and sort of my soul twin (minus the whole clinical depression thing). So I will read anything written by or about him. He somehow articulates the thoughts that I never even thought about thinking.

 Marie: Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
So much to talk about in just under 200 pages. Wow! A taxidermist and a novelist working together on a play about a howler monkey and a donkey? I will definitely be talking about this one for a while so stay tuned!

Be sure to check our Staff Picks page for more of our recent favorites.

  Spring 2010 Drop-In from Crown Publishers

 OPRAH

By Kitty Kelley

Based on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication, Oprah is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful, and admired public figures of our time, by the most widely read biographer of our era. Anyone who is a fan of Oprah Winfrey or who has followed her extraordinary life and career will be fascinated and newly informed by the closely observed, detailed, and well-rounded portrait of her provided by Kitty Kelley’s exhaustively researched book. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation of who Oprah really is beyond her public persona and a fuller understanding of her important place in American cultural history.

Among the awards that Kitty Kelley has been honored with by her professional peers are the Outstanding Author Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors for her “courageous writing on popular culture,” the Philip M. Stern Award for her “outstanding service to writers and the writing profession,” the Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club in New York City, and the 2005 PEN Oakland Literary Censorship Award. She has also been selected as a member of Vanity Fair magazine’s Hall of Fame. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, People, Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

On sale 4/13/10 | HC | 9780307394866 | 600,000| $30.00 US / $37.00 CAN

I’ve begun to notice a pattern in my reading. This happens a lot. I’ll jump from historical fiction to literary coming-of-age stories to popular best sellers and back, gobbling them all up along the way.

It seems there is an abundance of Appalachian fiction these days and it would appear that I am slightly addicted to it. We all know how I felt after reading Sweeping Up Glass. I also ventured outside the Random House family last fall and read Velva Jean Learns to Drive and The Well and the Mine, both fine reads. My latest favorite, Bloodroot, is set in East Tennesse’s Smoky Mountains and follows three generations of a family haunted by secrets and madness, blood red love and intense hatred, from the Great Depression to present day. And I must say I agree with a fellow Goodreads.com member who said not to be fooled by the peaceful looking cover, this book is vicious. A debut novel, it is wonderfully written. Somber and heartbreaking, even the most difficult moments are gorgeous. Also woven into the narrative and the lives of the characters are smidges of magical realism that enable the reader to vividly imagine each wild woman and her “haint blue” eyes as well as the ghosts that haunt the residents of Bloodroot Mountain. 

This one is available now. Pick it up. You won’t be sorry!

-Marie

I’ve heard about the most wonderfully inspiring book donation program!  As you weed your Romance Collections, there is a wonderful opportunity to pass along those editions to non-profit organizations providing assistance to women in need.  Share the Love!

Join favorite authors  Eloisa James, Julia Quinn, & Julia London, among others, in supporting this thoughtful cause!

-Erica