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The Book Report Network
www.Bookreporter.com
www.AuthorsOnTheWeb.com
www.AuthorYellowPages.com
www.FaithfulReader.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com
www.Teenreads.com
www.Kidsreads.com
Ever craved a good book and just not been inspired by anything you see? Or felt annoyed that you bought a book that was merely so-so? Or closed a book and JUST wanted to talk about it?
We know what this feels like. The Book Report Network aims to solve these reader dilemmas, with thoughtful book reviews, compelling features, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of the hottest new releases, literary games and contests, and more every week. We hope you'll visit our websites and discover why since 1996 the Book Report Network has been the best place online to talk about your last great read --- and find your next one.
Carol Fitzgerald
Founder/President
As a child, I read before the sun came up. Today I still remember many of those books like old friends. In the early Seventies, I read A TRACE OF FOOTPRINTS by Ruth Wolff, a book I wanted to read again. It is out-of-print, but one of our readers found me a copy at some point, and after I re-read it I placed it on my bookshelf where I love seeing it along with my current favorite titles. The pleasure of finding a great book like this is why I love running The Book Report Network so much.
My house is filled with books. My older son Gregory, who is a freshman in college, thought this past summer was terrific not just because he was out of high school, but because for the first time in four years he had no required summer reading and thus he could meander his way through whatever he felt like reading. His interests include ocean liners, shipwrecks and lighthouses, which keep him reading a fair share of nonfiction as well as fiction. He has quite a library of books in his room and it's fun watching what books get carted to his dorm apartment. He's been working with us for the past four years doing production work and he also weighed in on our Teenreads.com Ultimate Reading List.
My son Cory (age 13) never goes anywhere without a book. He's sure to take one when we gets into the car, even for a short trip to the grocery store. In fact, he most often gets in the car twice; the second time he has the book that he forgot the first time. His current favorite authors include Anthony Horowitz, Garth Nix and Eoin Colfer. He has been known to greet me at the door with a list of books that I need to get for him and he has done blurbs for publishers for a couple of the books that he particularly loves. He has interviewed a couple of authors with me and prides himself on his book collection, which now fills four bookcases and trading books with friends. He takes special bookish joy in turning his reluctant reader friends onto books that he thinks they will enjoy. He proves to me day after day that there are GREAT books out there for boy readers.
My husband Tom can sit on a couch reading a book for an entire day and feel no guilt. In addition to thrillers he reads expedition and history titles. He's broadened his reading horizons as our shelves boast a pretty wide range of titles these days.
My reading taste spans a pretty wide range. I love suspense-thriller writers as well as a number of literary fiction and women's fiction authors. I love well-written memoirs. As I look at my shelves it's pretty cool to see how many of the authors whose work is there I now count as friends. There is something wonderful about reading a just-done manuscript or an early reader copy of an author whose work I really love. I also love reading reader comments at Word of Mouth --- there's always a great idea there on what to read.
Before logging onto the Internet for the first time in 1995, I spent 17 years at Mademoiselle magazine in Promotion and Marketing. I relish the online medium for its immediacy --- and for the ability it gives me to work anywhere, anytime, so long as I can log on. Any bets on where I am writing this?
I am enormously proud of the network of sites we have launched that includes www.bookreporter.com, www.readinggroupguides.com, www.faithfulreader.com, www.teenreads.com, www.kidsreads.com and www.authorsontheweb.com.
I would love to hear what you enjoy about The Book Report Network and what you would like to see more of. Feel free to drop me a note anytime. I appreciate the feedback from our readers --- it's some of the best reading that I do.
Editorial
Tom Donadio
Editorial Director
As a child, I always enjoyed visiting my local library and borrowing as many books as I could carry. During one of these excursions I discovered the fabulous Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. I couldn't believe that I had the ability to control the various plots and determine what happens to the characters in each story. This concept of "interactive reading" fascinated me, and I quickly became obsessed with the series.
I had my first taste of historical fiction at the age of 13, when my eighth grade Literature teacher introduced me to the North and South trilogy by John Jakes. Although I'm not the fastest reader in the world, I was so captivated by these books that I literally could not put them down. It took me less than two months to read all 2,500+ pages of the series.
Throughout my high school and college years, I was an avid reader of the classics and devoted much time to the works of William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, among others. My reading preferences have since expanded to include such genres as contemporary fiction, mysteries and suspense/thrillers.
I was in the midst of re-reading the North and South trilogy when I joined The Book Report Network in October 2002. In addition to various editorial projects, I have the pleasure of working with our marvelous reviewers, emailing them regularly and keeping them up to date on books that are available for review. I always look forward to reading their notes and appreciate the enthusiasm they have for our network of sites.
Working at The Book Report Network has been such an enjoyable and rewarding experience for me. Little did I know that the many months I spent looking for a job --- which was a long and sometimes frustrating process --- would pay off so well
Marisa Emralino
Editorial Coordinator
I've always been a firm believer in the idea that you can tell the most about people through the littlest details of their personalities. For example, I'm addicted to cooking shows, but I'm a terror in the kitchen. I have an incredibly selective memory, so that I'd be able to tell you what I had for lunch on the first day of kindergarten (PB&J sandwich, a box of apple juice, and a Twinkie that the boy next to me sat on), but I probably won't recall what I did yesterday. I like eating ice cream with a baby's spoon because it makes me feel taller than I really am, and sleeping with my head buried underneath the pillows and my feet sticking out of the sheets. I dislike most puns, and people who spit on the street. I drink more than three cups of tea a day (both caf and decaf), and if weather permitted, I would wear flip-flops all year long. So, what have we learned about me? Absolutely nothing. Remind me to toss this "littlest details" theory out the window.
To get down to the basics, most of my spare time is spent listening to or watching music, eating, taking black and white pictures, and reading as if my life depended on it. Ironically, when I first learned how to read, I detested it. It wasn't until I picked up THE VELVETEEN RABBIT for a second-grade reading assignment that the bookworm in me finally emerged. I found this little story --- about a stuffed bunny who was loved so much by his owner that he became REAL --- so touching that it actually made me cry. I didn't understand until then that words had the power to stir emotions. At that moment, I decided two things: 1) that I would rotate my toys so that they'd all receive an equal amount of Marisa-loving, and 2) that this whole reading thing wasn't so bad after all.
About 15 years, a B.A. in English Literature, and buckets of tears later, my appetite for reading has grown immense, and quite random at times. Currently, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN KEATS sits on my nightstand next to an ALICE IN WONDERLAND pop-up book; a collection of food essays keeps me company during subway rides, while a stack of literary fiction novels occupies the few and rare moments of office downtime. I'll also devour everything from historical fiction to biographies, from humor and pop culture commentaries to poetry and classics. And amidst all of this, I'm ready and waiting for my next good cry.
Joe Hartlaub
Senior Writer
 I
was born in a simpler time, known as "1951," of parents who prized literacy, learning,
and perseverance. I cannot remember a time without books: my mother read a children's
book titled RUDY KAZOO to me until she was hoarse, while my father came home one
night with a set of ALL ABOUT books from Random House (ALL ABOUT DINOSAURS, ALL
ABOUT CHEMISTRY, etc.) that are still fun to look at. I learned how to read somewhere
between three and four, when I discovered newspaper comic strips, then comic books;
"Dick Tracy" and "Little Orphan Annie" in their original incarnations remain priceless
and influence the shaping of my philosophies, and reading tastes, to this day.
I approach the age of 50 blessed beyond words. I live in the United States, the greatest country in the history of the world; I have four wonderful children; I am married to the most patient, beautiful woman on the planet; I practice entertainment law, wherein I get paid to give advice to people whom I would pay to sit in the same room with (but don't tell anybody); and I get books to review, dropped off on my doorstep. I never dreamt that life could become so good simply by following a few basic rules, such as maintain sobriety, be faithful, pay attention, and never give up.
John Hogan
Contributing Editor: Graphic Novels and Manga
 John Hogan is the former editor-in-chief of Pages magazine and has worked in the book industry, in one form or another, for nearly 15 years. He is also a freelance writer and reviewer. A native of Iowa, he grew up reading comics and graphic novels and continues to find them an exciting and mesmerizing format for storytelling. He can be reached at .
Promotions and Advertising
Alex Kassl
Advertising/Promotion Associate
 In the center of my elementary school library, there was an array of mismatched armchairs and sofas where I could have sat with my pile of plastic-wrapped hardbacks of THE SOLAR SYSTEM or SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK and read forever. Only being allowed to borrow two books at one time, I always had difficulty deciding which books I would get to explore beyond the allotted period of “Library Time.”
When I was growing up, going to the bookstore was like going to a candy shop. Even today, I still feel this way. Within each set of pages lies an entire world and I could escape from everyday life, even if for only a few moments. Each page I turn brings upon the feeling of sweet satisfaction. Rainy days can be a real treat when I have a good book in my hand. There is nothing like reading THE SHINING while listening to the sleet rattling the windowpane. I can actually look forward to a long subway ride, road trip or flight because I know I’ll always have my reading with me. Books like Joan Didion’s SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM and WE TELL OURSELVES STORIES IN ORDER TO LIVE have been most rewarding traveling companions.
My contentment with all of the wonderful books I have read is only dwarfed by the fact that there are so many books out there that I haven’t. When the opportunity to work with The Book Report Network arose, I saw it not only as an opportunity for professional development; I saw it as a chance to work with a variety of authors and the works they produce. As a result, even coming to work can be a trip to the candy shop.
Design and Production
Erin Quinn
Project Manager
As a child, I grew up in a suburb outside of Boston in a family full of University of Michigan alumni. I became a die-hard Wolverine at an early age watching Michigan football and basketball every weekend. I followed the path led by my parents and two older brothers and attended the University of Michigan in the Fall of 1997. My love of languages grew even more since high school and I ended up earning my B.A. in French and Linguistics. One of my best years to date was the one in which I spent my junior year abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Before coming to New York City, I was an Assistant Editor at the University Center for the Development of Language and Literacy in Ann Arbor. I was there for over five years when I decided to make a career transition to publishing. I attended New York University's Summer Publishing Institute which ultimately led me to The Book Report Network. I've been an avid soccer player ever since I was five years old, and I currently play on multiple leagues two to three nights a week here in New York.
Sunil Kumar
Website Producer
Four months after moving up to New York City from Philadelphia, sleeping on friends' sofas, and subletting tiny bedrooms, I finally found my own apartment in lovely Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was then time to move all my things, which consisted of furniture, clothes and half a U-Haul truck of brown cardboard boxes full of books.
My collection includes books from all subjects and genres; from my college music history textbooks to the novels of Salmon Rushdie (a recent favorite), from children's books retelling Hindu mythology to cookbooks by elite Manhattan chefs. I only feel truly at home when I have all my books around and available. Much of the enjoyment I get from new books is comparing them to others that I've read and being able to go back and reread things I liked.
I've had a number of jobs since coming to the big city including working in the kitchen of a three-star Manhattan restaurant, running the website of an online culinary magazine and programming the user interface at a high-tech start up. In those short (but full) four years, I did a lot of moving around and was never able to unpack my books and get settled anywhere.
Now I have my own apartment with all my own books comfortably within reach. I've finally come home. Working at The Book Report Network is a great way to feed my interest in books of all genres, add to my collection and work with some great people. And now I've got a place for all those new books.
Eric P. Rhodes
Web Developer/Producer
I was surrounded by books as a child, as both of my parents love to read. My mother, who still works at the family-owned auto parts store, loves Pop Fiction. My father, a retired Captain of the Hoboken Fire Dept. Rescue Co., has shelves filled with the classics like Sherlock Holmes as well as biographies and autobiographies of prominent figures in American culture.
But it wasn't until the summer after my first year of college that I really wanted to read for fun. I guess seeing all of those books on the shelves eventually had an impact on me. And because I heard about the book in some movie I can no longer remember, I chose The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I probably could've chosen something quicker to read, but I like to challenge myself.
So there I was with my Webster's Pocket Dictionary in one hand and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO in the other. A week later it was finished; I couldn't put it down. I read every chance I could --- on the way to work, at lunch, on car rides, during class and after dinner. Next was THE HOBBIT and thus I began to catch on to the classics that I had missed as a kid. THE CAT'S CRADLE, 1984, THE GREAT GATSBY, THE CRUCIBLE and ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE were soon to follow. It’s been a love affair with books ever since.
Working at The Book Report Network gives me the unique opportunity to work in an industry that interests me personally, exposing me to authors and books I may never have been introduced to. It also feeds my professional interest in graphic design and web developing.
I’ve been called a 20th Century Renaissance man before. I don’t know how true that is, but it probably comes from the range of my interests. When I’m not producing websites for The Book Report Network, I do freelance illustration and graphite portraits and assist award-winning illustrator Tony Capparelli at his Art of Sport workshop.
Vicky Kariolic
Web Producer
When I was a child, neither my parents nor my teachers could understand how someone they saw as intelligent would refuse to read. I was shuffled into remedial reading classes for the first few years of my education. I enjoyed stories, but I hated reading.
All through my grade school years, the hardest thing anyone could get me to read was Nancy Drew, Beverly Cleary or Choose Your Own Adventure. In high school something changed. As a freshman, I was told to read GONE WITH THE WIND. I laughed. I, who hated reading, was going to read this giant super-long novel? I started out by skimming, and failed the first quiz. I sighed and read the chapters --- and was amazed that I couldn’t put it down! Sure that was a good story, but I wasn’t really compelled to read anything independently. Until sophomore year.
My high school handed out suggested reading lists for each grade level. In an attempt to get me to read, my parents pulled all the matching titles from their small collection and put them on a shelf in my room. One fateful day, I was really bored. I had gone through the shelf of books on many occasions, and this time I was determined to read something from it. A title caught my eye, THE HOBBIT. My father would only tell me it was an adventure story.
After I read the book and told my father how fantastic it was, he informed me that there was more. Excited, I asked him for the next book. THE LORD OF THE RINGS did not look as daunting as it did when I was younger. After initially accompanying my father to the neighborhood bookstore, I starting going there on my own.
One of the employees gave me a suggestion: ARROWS OF THE QUEEN by Mercedes Lackey. I ended up joining the fan club after reading this book, and as far as the world is concerned, the rest is history. I have gone through many series, and while I do enjoy stand-alones, I am rarely satisfied by them. I ended up at the bookstore I had frequented, working part-time...for 12 years. I only left to move to New York.
When I walked into the offices of The Book Report Network for the first time in January 2007, I was impressed by the shear volume of books that were in the office. It looked like a smorgasbord and I wanted to dig in. The friendly staff clinched it for me, and I couldn’t wait to become a part of it all. When I was hired, I was ecstatic. It combined the best of several things I love --- books, the Internet and friendly co-workers.
Marketing
Wiley Saichek
Marketing Director
 Coming from a family of teachers, I grew up surrounded by books. Mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, fantasy and historical fiction quickly became --- and remain --- my favorite genres.
I became seriously interested in the book industry in the mid-1990s after a bookstore owner friend introduced me to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's books. After becoming a huge fan and initiating a correspondence with Yarbro, I began assisting with online publicity projects. This eventually led to online publicity jobs for novelists Suzy McKee Charnas and Tamara Thorne.
During all of this I stumbled across The Book Report Network. I volunteered for the company from 1998-2002, first as one of the chat hosts and later as a message board monitor.
The Book Report Network hired me in February 2002. As Marketing Director I help develop and oversee Internet Marketing campaigns for our author and publisher clients.
Wonderful colleagues, supportive family and friends and books. Who can ask for more?
Anna Jarzab
Marketing Associate
I can't imagine what my life would be without books. When I meet people who don't read, I always have to bite my tongue to keep from asking, "Well, then, what DO you do?" For me, books are like food --- I need them to live. I've been doing a lot of moving in the last few years, and each time minds are boggled by the lengths to which I will go just to bring a few more books with me. I am most comfortable with a paperback in my hands, and I always keep at least one or two in my purse, just in case --- even if I'm just running out to the store. I never know when I'll get caught in a long line and feel the need to brush up on theoretical physics or make certain that Elizabeth Bennet does in fact end up with Mr. Darcy --- I've read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 12 times now, but it never hurts to be sure!
When I was young, I loved all the traditional series for girls --- Nancy Drew, The Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley High --- and I went through a very exhaustive Mary Higgins Clark phase in early high school. As an adult, I read anything and everything, trying to hit a goal of at least 50 books for pleasure per calendar year, although I often exceed it. Nancy Mitford, the bold, brilliant British novelist who is sadly neglected today, is probably the closest thing I have to a literary hero --- THE PURSUIT OF LOVE and LOVE IN A COLD CLIMATE are absolutely the funniest books I've ever read. Douglas Coupland's HEY NOSTRADAMUS! moves me more than I ever thought a novel possibly could, and Anne Fadiman's EX LIBRIS: Confessions of a Common Reader is a perennial favorite that never fails to make me geek out about just how great books are.
Working at The Book Report Network is more than a job to me; it's a chance to surround myself with people who value reading, to watch the future of publishing as it unfolds, and to get an inside look at the industry as it moves into a new era of blogs and podcasts.
Nicole Bruce
Marketing Associate
When I first told my mother I was going to work for a company called The Book Report Network, she laughed. "It sounds so official," she said. Then I laughed, reflecting on the irony.
The company name stirs up images of me as a third grader forgetting that the first book report of my life was due, scrambling to pull something creative together while the rest of the A- and B-lettered last names were called up to present, one by one. I managed to throw a brief synopsis paired with a doodled game (complete with torn fragments of paper as game pieces) and went up to the front of the classroom to meet my doom.
When my mother found out I hadn't told her about the book report that was due, she disciplined me with years upon years of book report punishment. My mother… is … a teacher. I never minded reading the books, or even writing the book reports. What paralyzed me were book report "performances." I was embarrassed to walk up to the front of the classroom with yet another beyond the typical bare-basics book report. As someone who just wanted to blend in, the attention certainly didn't help. People still remember my puppet shows, my hand-drawn constellation maps, and the televised report of Helen Keller's life story (of which my four-year-old brother was Alexander Graham Bell kneeling beside my six-year-old sister as the deceased Helen Keller).
So, when I think of reading, I think of when it first started. I'm THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, greedily absorbing words. FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER gave me the desire to sleep in a museum, and then when I did this twice as a Girl Scout, the blinding exit sign and spooky dinosaur bones kept me up all night. IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE fed my hunger for another book…and a cookie. HARRIET THE SPY challenged the way I observed my surroundings, typically from my maple tree post. NUMBER THE STARS left my heart pounding and took me places that made me grateful to be sitting where I was at the time. Roald Dahl's THE BFG made making certain noises funny and fun. THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE led me in search of a cricket cage in Chinatown, which I found, but now I'm missing that smart cricket to keep me company. THE BORROWERS and THE LITTLES perpetually left me with strange dreams of me as a miniature being with a tail. MISS RUMPHIUS instilled my desire to live by the ocean as I grow old. Henry Reed, Ramona, Nancy Drew, and Scout from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD were rambunctious children with a passion for mystery in their hearts, which made it difficult to grow up. WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS inspired my first book cry. Words have an immeasurable weight. Oh, the things books carry….
Of course, many books for grown-ups (fiction, nonfiction, poetry --- anything goes) have changed my life, but it's safe to say that there's just nothing like a good book for kids to bring you back to where it all began. One of the reasons I'm so drawn to the Internet in the publishing world is the possibilities of getting more and more people to connect with books.
The Book Report Network provides me with the opportunity to work in publishing and help give a book a greater chance of finding more readers. I also don't know where else I could have a job where my manager thanks me for my work literally every day (thanks, Wiley).
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