10th Anniversary Page and Pictures

It is well-known that I am direction-challenged. Spin me in a circle and I will walk the wrong way. Guaranteed. So last weekend when I was in Madison, Wisconsin for Bouchercon I discovered a new way to track my way --- follow the cows. Downtown Madison was having a CowParade, sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Council. I love these kinds of art festivals as I love clever things. Here the cows were given titles like Mothermoose (shaped like a caboose), Cow Lloyd Wright and Frank Loin Wright (Wright-inspired) and Georgia O'Cowffe (O'Keefe-inspired). On the walk from the conference hotel to my hotel there were at least 12 cows. I knew to make a left at "Half-and-Half Cow," which is pictured here. For more on Bouchercon, you can read my blog here. We also have the winners of the Anthony Awards and the Shamus Awards. Oh, for those of you with a hankering for clever-looking cow designs, there is a commemorative book, COWPARADE WISCONSIN: The Cows Come Home To America's Dairyland, here.
 
We have interviews this week with Tara Taylor Quinn and Lise Haines. As always, I enjoyed reading their replies to our questions. Hope you enjoy them as well. I had not been familiar with either of these authors' work prior to doing these features, so it has been nice getting to know them with you.
 
This weekend is a real Books Into Movies weekend. I am looking forward to the movie adaptation of LITTLE CHILDREN by Tom Perrotta, which opens in New York and L.A. this weekend and "goes wide" (love that term) on the 20th. Here's the scoop -- the movie has a different ending. So read, then watch and then let us know which you liked better!
 
Teens on our teen site, Teenreads.com, are loving a new book just out called CATHY'S BOOK, which is the unique story of a girl named Cathy that takes readers from the page into the world of cyberspace and beyond. The book includes a package of letters, photographs, date book entries, telephone numbers readers can call, websites they can access, as well as secrets only a careful reader will be able to decipher that enhance the story. We think it's the first interactive book of its kind and it's getting great raves from readers.   

Here's something different on the web that you may want to check out. You can join George R. R. Martin, the New York Times bestselling author of the epic A Song of Ice and Fire cycle, for his very first podcast. In these eight episodes, George covers a range of topics from the birth of his acclaimed saga, to his experiences in Hollywood, to "weird stuff," and even reads an excerpt from his new paperback novel A FEAST FOR CROWS. (Please note: you'll need to have iTunes or an RSS Reader to subscribe to the podcasts.) You can click here to listen to Episode 1: The Birth of A Song of Ice and Fire. If you listen to this podcast, or others, drop me a note and let me know what you think about them.

We also are sharing news about six very special offers that we have open to registered book clubs on ReadingGroupGuides.com including an opportunity to win a book club chat with Arianna Huffington, the author of the book I talked about last week, ON BECOMING FEARLESS. Groups need to register by October 13th to be eligible to enter. Click here to register. See more information about these offerings for registered book clubs later in this newsletter.

We are making this a long weekend. I decided we need to honor Columbus for sailing the ocean blue. Actually I think we all can use a bit more sleep and time for reading. I need some extra beauty sleep as the Quill Awards black tie event is Tuesday night. I have my picks all selected. Let's see how many I get right. A full report on the winners will be to you next Wednesday morning. I am reading and enjoying Reed Farrel Coleman's, THE JAMES DEANS, which won three awards last weekend at Bouchercon. His character, Moe Prager, is a P.I. with a soul.

I like holiday weekends like this where there is no event or special meal involved! Here's to a great week.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

List of titles reviewed and featured on October 6th.

List of titles reviewed and featured on September 29th.

Bestselling author Tara Taylor Quinn is known for her deeply emotional and psychologically astute novels. In her latest work of fiction, IN PLAIN SIGHT, she tackles the profound and controversial topic of white supremacy, which she plans to further explore through future installments. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's contributing writer Bronwyn Miller, Quinn describes the event that sparked her interest in this subject and explains the relevance of the book's title to its weighty subject matter. She also reveals her surprising writing process, discusses the blog she shares with five other authors and provides wise advice to aspiring writers.

IN PLAIN SIGHT by Tara Taylor Quinn (Romantic Suspense)
Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller
USA Today bestselling author Tara Taylor Quinn is back with a heart-racing thriller about an Arizona prosecutor who's working on the case of her life --- a case so dangerous, it could cost her just that. IN PLAIN SIGHT delivers a riveting, suspenseful story that leaves readers breathless.

SMALL ACTS OF SEX AND ELECTRICITY, the second novel by author and poet Lise Haines, explores the boundaries of friendship, love and envy. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's contributing writer Hillary Wagy, Haines describes the extremely complicated, sibling-like relationship shared by the book's two main characters and how that dynamic but volatile bond has negatively impacted each of them. She also addresses the presence, or lack thereof, of antiquated mores regarding love and marriage, and discusses the strong and encouraging figures in her life who indirectly have influenced her writing.

SMALL ACTS OF SEX AND ELECTRICITY by Lise Haines (Fiction)
Reviewed by Hillary Wagy
A history of small acts of sex and electricity leads Jane to drive away and bestow her life to best friend Mattie --- her husband Mike included. Trading places comes easily for Mattie because she has been in love with Mike since the threesome met in college. Mattie's new place in the love triangle gives her the opportunity to live the life she has always desired. But does it bring her happiness?

MOTOR MOUTH by Janet Evanovich (Fiction)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
The racing season is over and Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby and Sam Hooker are on the run --- avoiding charges of grand theft auto, multiple counts of murder and the NASCAR awards banquet --- in Janet Evanovich's fast-paced, thrilling sequel to METRO GIRL.

-Click here to read an excerpt from MOTOR MOUTH.

We are so excited to be launching a NEW Feature --- Historical Fiction --- and Jeff Shaara is the perfect inaugural author. A modern master of the historical novel, Shaara has painted brilliant depictions of the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and World War I. Now he embarks upon his most ambitious epic, a trilogy about the military conflict that defined the twentieth century that begins with THE RISING TIDE, which comes out November 7th.

-Click here to see our Advance Reader Copy Winners.
-Click here to read an excerpt from THE RISING TIDE.
-Click here to read Fast Facts for Jeff Shaara.

More about THE RISING TIDE:
THE RISING TIDE begins a staggering work of fiction bound to be a new generation's most poignant chronicle of World War II. With you-are-there immediacy, painstaking historical detail, and all-inclusive points of view, Shaara portrays the momentous and increasingly dramatic events that pulled America into the vortex of this monumental conflict.

More than an unprecedented and intimate portrait of those who waged this astonishing global war, THE RISING TIDE is a vivid gallery of characters both immortal and unknown: the as-yet obscure administrator Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose tireless efficiency helped win the war; his subordinates, clashing in both style and personality, from George Patton and Mark Clark to Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery. In the desolate hills and deserts, the Allies confront Erwin Rommel, the battlefield genius known as "the Desert Fox," a wounded beast who hands the Americans their first humiliating defeat in the European theater of the war. From tank driver to paratrooper to the men who gave the commands, Shaara's stirring portrayals bring the heroic and the tragic to life in brilliant detail.

In the "interesting things we have heard about on the web" department, at 3 PM ET on Wednesday, October 11th, Paulo Coelho, author of THE ALCHEMIST, THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN and VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE, will be discussing his books and answering readers' questions in a special program moderated by Beliefnet Spirituality Editor Valerie Reiss. To participate in this free event, readers will need to register and login at 3 PM ET on October 11th. To register, visit here.

Throughout this web event readers can submit questions to Paulo and hear his responses.

ReadingGroupGuides.com is giving you some serious incentive to register your group this month --- SIX special offers for registered book groups! Groups that have registered with ReadingGroupGuides.com by October 13th are eligible to win the opportunity to chat with Arianna Huffington, author of ON BECOMING FEARLESS; Donna VanLiere, author of THE ANGELS OF MORGAN HILL; Lolly Winston, author of HAPPINESS SOLD SEPARATELY; Martha Moody, author of BEST FRIENDS; and Laura Zigman, author PIECE OF WORK --- and to win copies of BEFORE I WAKE by Dee Henderson.

We also have the following guides now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

AFTER THIS by Alice McDermott
ALL MORTAL FLESH by Julia Spencer-Fleming
ANGELS OF MORGAN HILL by Donna VanLiere
AT FIRST SIGHT by Nicholas Sparks
BEFORE I GO by Riley Weston
BEFORE I WAKE by Dee Henderson
BREADFRUIT by Celestine Vaite
THE DAYS OF SUMMER by Jill Barnett
ECHO PARK by Michael Connelly
FARTHER THAN I MEANT TO GO, LONGER THAN I MEANT TO STAY by Tiffany L. Warren
FIRE WITH FIRE by Allan Kahane
FOR ONE MORE DAY by Mitch Albom
THE FUGITIVE WIFE by Peter C. Brown
THE GUY NOT TAKEN by Jennifer Weiner
HAPPINESS SOLD SEPARATELY by Lolly Winston
HELEN OF TROY by Margaret George
THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
THE HISTORY OF LOVE by Nicole Krauss
JULIE & JULIA by Julie Powell
KABBALAH: A Love Story by Lawrence Kushner
LOVE AND LOUIS XIV by Antonia Fraser
LUCY by Ellen Feldman
MAGIC TIME by Doug Marlette
ON BECOMING FEARLESS.... by Arianna Huffington
THE ONLY BEST PLACE by Carolyne Aarsen
PIECE OF WORK by Laura Zigman
THE RIVER OF DOUBT by Candice Millard
RIVER'S EDGE by Marie Bostwick
THE SNOW FOX by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS by Marisha Pessl
THE SENSE OF PAPER by Taylor Holden
THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield
THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT by Heidi Julavits
VERTIGO by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
THE VOTE by Sybil Downing
WHEN MADELINE WAS YOUNG by Jane Hamilton
THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH by Robert Hicks
THE WORLD TO COME by Dara Horn

MORAL DISORDER: And Other Stories by Margaret Atwood (Fiction/Short Stories) Reviewed by Pauline Finch
In these ten interrelated stories Margaret Atwood traces the course of a life and also the lives intertwined with it, while evoking the drama and the humor that color common experiences --- the birth of a baby, divorce and remarriage, old age and death.

ONLY REVOLUTIONS by Mark Z. Danielewski (Fiction)
Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard
Mark Z. Danielewski --- the man responsible for driving readers crazy with HOUSE OF LEAVES --- takes us on a trip through history as witnessed by Sam and Hailey, though they are not your typical 16 year olds. ONLY REVOLUTIONS destroys the conventions of the novel form for an incredible experience.

SKELETON COAST: A Novel of the Oregon Files by Clive Cussler with Jack DuBrul (Action & Adventure)
Reviewed by Marge Fletcher
Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the covert combat ship Oregon have barely escaped a mission on the Congo River when they intercept a mayday from a defenseless boat under fire off the African coast. Little does Cabrillo know that a hunt for giant metal snakes will lead him onto the trail of a deranged militant and his followers.

SHARPE'S FURY by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds
For more than twenty years, Richard Sharpe, the brave and dashing officer who rose from rags on the street to a commission in his majesty's army, has been thrilling audiences on both the page and on screen. Now Bernard Cornwell returns with a thrilling new installment --- the first new Sharpe novel in more than two years.

ABUNDANCE: A Novel of Marie Antoinette, by Sena Jeter Naslund (Historical Fiction)
Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol
In this compelling novel, a very human Marie Antoinette invites readers to live her story as she herself experiences it. From the lush gardens of Versailles to the lights and gaiety of Paris, the verdant countryside of France and finally the stark and terrifying isolation of a prison cell, the young queen's life is joyful, poignant and harrowing by turns.

FEAR by Jeff Abbott (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
The psychological impairment of post-traumatic stress disorder is the thread that runs through FEAR. It's the possibility of a cure --- and the profit that might be made from it --- that brings three individuals reluctantly together not only to conquer the condition that is controlling their lives but also to save themselves from shadowy pursuers who seem to be bent upon their destruction.

THE LIGHT OF THE EVENING by Edna O'Brien (Fiction)
Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
The prolific Edna O'Brien's latest novel is --- like much of her work--- about place, loss and longing as well as identity and misunderstanding. She acknowledges James Joyce as a strong influence on her prose, and his voice is evident here; the book is mostly stream of consciousness and deals with subjective memory, not to mention Ireland.

BREADFRUIT by Celestine Vaite (Fiction)
Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton
In this sequel to FRANGIPANI, a drunken Pito proposes to Materena Mahi, "the best listener in Tahiti." Materena initially thinks it's just the booze talking, but she can't help starting to plan for a fabulous wedding. Celestine Vaite's latest tale of big dreams on a small island will leave readers cheering.

THE ECHOING GREEN: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World by Joshua Prager (Sports)
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
This wonderfully evocative portrait of the great American pastime is more than a story of a baseball game and the players who participated; it's a magnificent work of history that happens to chronicle the 1951 National League pennant race between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants.

October 6th Entry:
-Bouchercon 2006 --- A Prairie Escapade

September 8th Entries:
-What I Did On My Summer Vacation
-Reflecting on 9/11: The Books

Note: You can read past blogs here as well.
 
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What's the book that you have been "talking up" the most in the past few months?
 

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have two great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of ECHO PARK by Michael Connelly and THE INNOCENT MAN by John Grisham.

-Click here to see our Reading Group Guide for ECHO PARK.

Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on October 20th.