Do you Read it Forward?

If not, you should. Read it Forward is the monthly book group focused e-newsletter produced by our friends up in the Crown Publishing Group. In this month’s newsletter is a wonderfully original feature on the “editor-model hybrid.” Yes, you read right. And I thought meeting authors and going to ALA were a cool job perks. Click here to find out how an editor landed on a book cover! 

Visit the Read It Forward website for more fun stuff and to subscribe to the e-newsletter.

Oh, and sign up for our Library and Book Group e-newsletters while you’re at it.

Happy Friday, everyone!

-Marie

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

Happy New Year!  I’d like to share our latest and greatest resource for the book clubs @ your library - the Random House Library Book Club brochure! 

You’ll find top picks from our Spring 2010 releases, along with sample discussion questions, links for more resources, and readers advisory hints.

It’s available online as well as in print.  They will be hot off the press at Midwinter!  We are also happy to send them to you in the mail, just send your address to library@randomhouse.com if you’d like to receive some copies.

My absolute favorite thing about working in publishing is meeting the authors.  And yesterday, we got to meet Kris Radish! She was just as fabulous as I had imagined and sent us away with goodies to raffle off to libraries!

Share with us your favorite novel from Radish and we’ll pick one lucky librarian to receive a signed copy of The Shortest Distance Between Two Women, a Radish women’s visor, and more!

And keep an eye on your holds lists and get those preorders ready! Kris’s lastest novel, Hearts on a String, will be out in May!

-Erica

I’d like to thank the many librarians who were able to join us for the first AAP Librarian Book Buzz Presentation last week! It was exciting to have so many publishers in one room, dedicated to the library marketplace.

Just because you’re not local to NYC doesn’t mean that you should be left out!  Below are the titles I presented and buzzed about – staff favorites, book you MUST have and the important mid-list books you don’t want to miss!  With only 12 minutes to present, I could only touch upon some highlights.  There are many more where these came from, so be on the lookout for more from our department.

THE SWIMMING POOL by Holly LeCraw 

UNION ATLANTIC by Adam Haslett

THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS by Michele Young-Stone  *Marie’s latest staff pick!

LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER by George Bishop

THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE by Carla Buckley

WISH HER SAFE AT HOME by Stephen Benatar

ALICE I HAVE BEEN by Melanie Benjamin  *Jen’s latest staff pick!

WOLF AMONG WOLVES by Han Fallada

THE MANY DEATHS OF THE FIREFLY BROTHERS by Thomas Mullen

THE AMERICAN GIRL by Monika Fagerholm  *for fans of Steig Larsson!

THE MAN FROM BEIJING by Henning Mankell  *more for fans of Steig Larsson!

WALKING TO GATLINBURG by Howard Frank Mosher

PARROT & OLIVIER IN AMERICA by Peter Carey

CLAUDE AND CAMILLE: A NOVEL OF CLAUDE MONET by Stephanie Cowell

ANCESTOR by Scott Sigler

Raise your hand if you’re in a book club.

We’ve posted a bit about them here in the past and each month I send out a nice little e-newsletter out specifically focusing on book groups. (Click here if you don’t already receive it but want to.) If you’re in a book club you know that title choice is a big deal. As are the logistics of who, when, and where. Just ask the New York Times.

My fellow club cohort Kayleigh (say that five times fast) and I began our own little group a few months ago and for us title choice is all about democracy. Members think of titles and then we all vote. Whichever title gets the most votes wins. Easy, right? Well, because life is busy and planning a date to meet often seems harder than brokering  peace negotiations, I now have one week to read said book. Eeek!

Back when I still lived at “home” I considered joining my library book club. (Shout out to the Carlsbad Public Library!) I was intrigued by the types of books that were chosen and always wondered who got the fun job of choosing them. Mondays were for Classics, Tuesdays were more hodge-podge, and so on. Now that I work in library marketing and know a bit about what goes into the book group efforts on our side, I’m curious to know how it works on your end. So humor me if you will…

Does your library have a book group? If so, how do you select the books that your patrons read?

Gesine Bullock-Prado’s memoir is out today and she has provided Reading Group Choices with a recipe for whoopie pies! It’s official.  My baked good of choice, straight from my grandmother’s Maine kitchen is now officially nationally known.  Famous even.  Gone are the explanations and descriptions that have plagued me for years.  Roommates and coworkers have all needed to be initiated, which my grandmother has always been happy to assist with.

For your next book group meeting, whip up some whoopie!

-Erica (and the fact that she is related to Sandra Bullock makes me love her even more. Sandra Bullock knows about whoopie pies?! Yes, I am that easy to impress.)

As I trek to and from work each day, it’s easy to forget the presence Random House holds in the public’s consciousness.  I still get a thrill from the fact that both Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts uttered our company name in Stepmom, when I was in high school. And I admit that I barely glance around the impressive lobby as I make my way up to our Library Marketing office space most days.

So imagine my glee to watch the hilarious Kathy Griffin experience the thrill of entering the Random House offices.  Her memoir, Official Book Club Selection, is coming in September and I’m so excited for it!  That woman cracks me up, never fails.

Kathy Griffin – Getting a Book Deal clip from My Life on the D-List 

Now, if I could just  accomplish a real celebrity sighting here at work!  I had thought it would be inevitable, but so far Bon Jovi, Martha Stewart, and ANDRE AGASSI have eluded me.  And now Kathy Griffin, as well.  I must spend far too much time at my desk…

-Erica

Do you or your patrons use BookGlutton?  It’s a social reading platform and Random House Publishing Group has teamed up with them to promote Sarah Dunant’s newest title, SACRED HEARTS  (which I just loved and am now a bit obsessed with nuns as a result).  BookGlutton has the ability to allow its users to read the same book simultaneously and share the experience by making notes online, chapter by chapter.  And readers can chat with Sarah Dunant in real time! 

-Erica

My book group met this weekend on the roof of a friend’s apartment building for an Italian themed picnic dinner to go along with our Italian themed book. Since the book wasn’t Random House (ahem) I will refrain from naming it, however, this weekend’s meeting did remind me that I’ve been wanting to share with you a great site for your book groups, library sponsored and otherwise.

The folks over at Reading Group Guides are wonderful and offer much more than the traditional numbered questions and topics. Check out just a few of the articles and other resources on some of my Random House Reading Group appropriate faves:

The 19th Wife’s David Ebershoff talks Character Inspiration.

Other Press author Dori Carter addresses money and satire and how they mix in her new short story collection, We Are Rich.  

Favorite author Lisa See explains how three book groups helped with her new novel, Shanghai Girls.

And that’s just the beginning. Check out this website for more tips and ideas, including those specifically for librarians!

Also, we would love to hear about what your book groups are reading. Feel free to comment and keep us posted. We also feature a monthly book group focused e-newsletter full of new titles, wonderful ideas for genre related themes, a featured book group guide, contests and more! E-mail us at library@randomhouse.com if you are interested in receiving the e-newsletter.

-Marie