For anyone who has ever had a best friend, comes Gail Caldwell’s powerful new memoir, Let’s Take the Long Way Home.

I was hooked by the first line: “It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.”  This touching and insightful memoir about friendship and loss is perfect for book groups, there is much to discuss here.

Watch Caldwell’s expanded book video for a taste of this moving portrait of a friendship, ultimately a celebration of life and the joy a true human connection can bring.  And then go hug your best friend.

Actually it’s not sad or true, but it is hilarious. Check out the book trailer for SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY by Gary Schteyngart Schtyngardt Shtyengart Shteyngart.

-David

Nancy Thayer, author of Beachcombers (and resident of Nantucket Island) takes you to visit the Nantucket Atheneum, where part of her novel takes place.  Visit Nancy’s youtube page for more videos of Nantucket locations that appear in her book.  Watching them makes me want to head out on my summer vacation (with a beach bag full of books, of course).  Happy July Fourth everyone!

What exactly is going on this video? We found it at the Find Subject Zero website. Someone there posted the video with this cryptic message: “We’ll show you what the media won’t. We have recovered video footage from Colorado. The danger is real.”

I was so excited for this latest cookbook from Trisha Yearwood that I’ve already tried my hand at the spice cake with lemon sauce recipe.  And it came out yummy and great!

On sale as of last week, who else has already tested a Yearwood recipe in the kitchen?  And confess along with me, you played at least one of her cds while doing it!

Trisha Yearwood discusses new cookbook!

From the author of the international sensation The Vagina Monologues comes a new book about “The Secret Lives of Girls Around the World.”  I Am an Emotional Creature, told in a series of monologues, is an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be.

In this daring, provocative, and insightful book, Ensler captures girls’ voices from around the globe telling stories from the heart of their lives. From a girl in Westchester who no longer wants to live up to the demands of the popular crowd to a girl who miraculously survives being kept as a sex slave in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ensler’s monologues reveal the struggles of girls everywhere to find their voices amidst the pressures of family, friends, and society.

With teen pressures at an all-time high and bullying cases, violence, rape and suicide constantly in the news, this is an important and empowering book to share with your patrons.  But enough from me, please listen to what the author has to say in the video below and visit Eve Ensler’s website for more info.

A few weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to hear Yann Martel speak about his new book Beatrice & Virgil, which like his bestseller Life of Pi (now available in a Large Print edition), uses animals to discuss the human condition.  I count Life of Pi among my favorite books of all time, so I was already dying to read his new one, but after hearing him talk about it and how the story came to be, I couldn’t wait a moment longer and immediately started reading it on the subway back from the event.  Although I can’t replicate the experience of an in-person meeting, take a look at the video below to get some insight into this fascinating book from the author himself…and then get yourself on your library’s holds list!

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

If you Twitter (and follow us )you might have noticed my tweet last week saying we all got a call from Howie Mandel. Really. We did. The entire department (well, and company…) came in one morning to discover his enthusiastic voice in our voicemail inboxes. How’s that for special perks of the job?

The renowned funny man and host of the popular game show Deal or No Deal has a new memoir out in which he talks about his struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Check out the book trailer below featuring an interview with Howie and if you’d like to learn more, visit ABC’s 20/20 website for video clips from a piece about him that ran in November. I was able to catch part of it on television that night and found it really interesting.

Also, don’t forget to add Here’s the Deal: Don’t Touch Me to your collection lists!

-Marie

I know I’ve mentioned here before that I often watch the Today Show in the morning as I am getting ready for work. This morning, as I buzzed around trying to figure out what to wear, I was entertained by Meredith, Matt, and Anne’s interview with the show’s very own weatherman turned novelist, Al Roker, whose debut who-dun-it is appropriately titled The Morning Show Murders. Take a peek at the video. Looks like everyone involved had a bit of fun at work. Perhaps RH Library should stage something like this… What do you think?

 Whether The Morning Show Murders (say that five times fast!) turns out to be Ms. Viera in Studio 1A with the teleprompter or just maybe Mr. Lauer in the Green Room with the boom, well… you’ll have to read it yourself to find out!

-Marie