It may be widely accepted that the movie is never as good as the book but I’m excited for this one! Author David Ebershoff recently visited the Calgary, Canada set of the forthcoming Lifetime TV original movie based on his novel, The 19th Wife. The book and film center around Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Mormon Church leader Brigham Young. From left to right in the photo are the film’s cast, Matt Czuchry, Chyler Leigh and Jeff Hepner. Mr. Ebershoff is pictured on the far right. We don’t have to wait too long for the movie. It will premeire on Lifetime on September 20th.
If you haven’t yet read The 19th Wife, you’d better get on it. Historical fiction fans will especially love it! Read my review of the book in a past issue of our Random Revelations newsletter here.
Last night, during the spin cycle at my neighborhood laundromat, I plopped myself down on the stoop outside to enjoy the summer evening air and finished David Nicholl’s acclaimed novel, One Day. The story of the friendship of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley (”Dex and Em, Em and Dex”) the book provides snapshots of them from the late 1980’s to 2000’s on July 15th of each year. In alternating perspective, the reader is able to be a fly on the wall as the pair navigate their twenties and thirties, the highs and the lows, both together and apart.
The dialogue is witty (at times hilarious) and sharp, the characterization pitch-perfect and the plot all-too-familiar as Nicholls addresses the idea that life is fluid – full of ever-changing currents that ebb and flow within friendship, career, romance and everything inbetween. Sorry for the bad generalization there. Simply put, this book is a delightful yet simultaneously moving read and the British pop culture references captured this Anglophile’s heart. Thank you, Mr. Nicholls, for including many references to rocket. You made me feel so cultured and “in-the-know.”
Random House loved this book so much they gave all of us two copies – one to keep and one to share. I would love to share my extra copy with one of you. Comment below for your chance to win!
So I just finished two weeks of grand jury duty where I spent my workdays sitting in a room with 22 other people hearing mutliple cases and voting on whether to indict the defendants. A case would come, we’d vote, and then we’d wait for another. Sometimes the wait time was 20 minutes and sometimes it was two hours. This means I had a lot of time to read so of course I flew through some wonderful books!
I started by finishing the last few chapters of Revolutionby Jennifer Donnelly. Out in October from Random House Children’s this engrossing historical read combines the story of a troubled teen growing up in contemporary Brooklyn with that of a rebellious young woman living during the French Reniassance.
Next came Dracula in Love, a staff favorite and an alternate take on Bram Stoker’s classic from the point of view of his love interest, Mina Murray. It has been heralded as Twilight for grown-ups and I agree!
After Dracula I tried a non-Random House title, Matched, which is the newest in dystopian YA fiction and would definitely appeal to fans of The Hunger Games.
From there I did a little more cheating and buried my nose in two titles I’d been told to read for a while now: The Shadow of the Wind and The Help. Both were excellent reads.
Now it is back to the grind and while I find I very much enjoyed all my reading time, I’m glad to be back amongst my wonderful colleagues. What have you all been reading lately?
Over the weekend I was chatting with a friend about a favorite Random House Children’s YA book of mine, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Around this time last year, I blogged about the latest in the series, The Dead-Tossed Wavesand how much I loved it so I recommended it to my friend who, like me, loved Hands and Teeth.
When I got home I had this link in my e-mail inbox. Guess who is rumored to be assuming the lead role? None other than Bella herself – Twilight movie alum Kristen Stewart. If this is true, she will certainly have established herself as the undead genre heroine of choice. I’m not so sure about this casting. What do you think?
If you have not yet read Carrie Ryan’s series, make sure you check it out!
As many of you might guess, we occasionally get to read some of the books we publish, and seasonally, we write up our favorites for our web site and our Random Revelations newsletter. Just posted today are our Staff Picks for Summer 2010! Click here for the full reviews!
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?
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.
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.
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.
This past weekend Erica, our RHAcademic co-worker Lani, and I flew to Atlanta for the National Council for Social Studies conference. Aside from the great perks of traveling (my personal fave is not having to make my own bed!) one wonderful thing about conferences is that it gives me a chance to discover or rediscover books that somehow missed my radar. This was the case with I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.
I picked up a galley copy of this slim book as I was drawn to the image of a beautiful little girl on the cover. Then I noticed the title. 10 years old and divorced?! I was immediately intrigued. Nujood, a Yemeni girl, had no record of the exact date or year of her birth but it was around age ten that she was married, without her consent, to a man three times her senior. She endured life as a wife, forbidden to play or do other childlike things, until one day she decided to get out. She slipped away to a courthouse where she asked to see a judge and demanded a divorce. Her request was granted and Nujood became the first child bride in Yemen to divorce her husband, setting precendence for so many others.
She writes, “I am a simple village girl whose family had to move to the capital, and I have always obeyed the orders of the men in my family. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today, I have decided to say no.” Nujood’s story is written in her voice and its childlike simplicity is exactly what makes it so powerful. Actions are alluded to, feelings are described, and the reader experiences it all with Nujood, from her family struggles to tasting “bizza” and “bebsi” for the first time.
While reading, I often found myself imagining what it would have been like to read this book as a young adult. It is a perfect addition to your Young Adult collection, great for parent/teen reading groups and school assignments. I have no doubt readers of all ages will be inspired and humbled by Nujood’s experience.
I am Nujood will be published in March 2010. Be sure to add it to your lists!
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
About the Site
Resources for libraries from Random House, Inc. -- Breaking news, readers' advisory, recommendations, and more.
It may be widely accepted that the movie is never as good as the book but I’m excited for this one! Author David Ebershoff recently visited the Calgary, Canada set of the forthcoming Lifetime TV original movie based on his novel, The 19th Wife. The book and film center around Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Mormon Church leader Brigham Young. From left to right in the photo are the film’s cast, Matt Czuchry, Chyler Leigh and Jeff Hepner. Mr. Ebershoff is pictured on the far right. We don’t have to wait too long for the movie. It will premeire on Lifetime on September 20th.
Last night, during the spin cycle at my neighborhood laundromat, I plopped myself down on the stoop outside to enjoy the summer evening air and finished David Nicholl’s acclaimed novel, One Day. The story of the friendship of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley (”Dex and Em, Em and Dex”) the book provides snapshots of them from the late 1980’s to 2000’s on July 15th of each year. In alternating perspective, the reader is able to be a fly on the wall as the pair navigate their twenties and thirties, the highs and the lows, both together and apart.
Over the weekend I was chatting with a friend about a 
