Summer Beach Bag of Books Promotion

I am looking out the window, and I am happy the leaves still are green on the trees outside my window. On the drive home the other night a yellow leaf landed on my windshield, and I felt like fall was looking me in the face and it was not pretty. I am not ready for fall foliage yet. Our office renovation had me sequestered inside a windowless office for such a long time that I need more summer.

I also think we need a holiday every week to make life more balanced. Last week we had Labor Day. This week my boys were off from school yesterday for Rosh Hashanah. I think we need this every week. It would be a day for us all to get out of the routine. We can rotate what gets celebrated and rotate the days of the week we celebrate, but I think a break in routine is in order these days. Think of the extra reading time we would have!

This week I escaped with CONFESSIONS OF A PREP SCHOOL MOMMY HANDLER, a memoir by Wade Rouse. If you want to read a FUNNY but thought-provoking book, this is it. Rouse was the Public Relations director at a swanky prep school where his real role was "handling the mommies." I ended up reading parts of this book to the staff at the office, my kids at the house and just about anyone who would listen wherever I could find them. The descriptions of these women and their lives are over-the-top. Rouse's writing is well crafted and full of great comedic timing. I laughed out loud reading it --- a lot. Want to see what I am talking about? Read an excerpt here. 

I wrote a blog earlier today about the television shows and movies that I enjoy. Many mirror my reading interests, so I thought I would share them. I have been noodling this blog for a while, and I knew I had to write it when I saw Kathy Reichs's new one, BONES TO ASHES, on our review lineup. I love "Bones," which was inspired by her book series. I also have a special Netflix offer I am sharing in a reader contest. Click here to see the blog and contest details.

I wanted to pass along info about a project that will be of interest to our readers who love thrillers. Fifteen distinguished authors --- including Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Jim Fusilli, David Hewson, James Grady, S.J. Rozan, Erica Spindler, John Ramsey Miller, David Corbett, John Gilstrap, Peter Spiegelman, Ralph Pezzullo, Lisa Scottoline and P.J. Parrish --- have joined together to create a single audiobook, THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, with each author contributing a chapter to the ongoing story. The book is serialized and is hailed as the first-ever audio serial book. Deaver wrote the opening chapter, handed it off to the other authors to each do their own chapter, and then he returned at the end to do the two last chapters to wrap up the story. Click here to learn more about this exciting project available exclusively on Audible.com and to see a video where participants talk about the writing!

Things continue to buzz here at the office. We are launching a new One to Watch author feature this week for Peter Pezzelli. His new book, ITALIAN LESSONS, will hit stores on September 25th. Here, Pezzelli tells an unforgettable tale of Italian-American life, family and identity. Do you want to enter to be one of 20 advance readers? Then fill out this form by Friday, September 21st.

We are featuring an interview this week with Markus Zusak, author of THE BOOK THIEF. A bestselling title and a Book Sense pick in 2006, this unforgettable novel was released in paperback this week. We have advance reader comments for THE ABDUCTION by Mark Gimenez, GARDEN SPELLS by Sarah Addison Allen and NEVER GO BACK by Robert Goddard. And M.J. Rose, author of THE REINCARNATIONIST, answers readers' questions, which you can see here.

Our poll this week continues to ask about airport bookstores and whether you browse or buy while you are waiting to fly. With the number of delays this summer, there was lots of time for airport shopping! Our Word of Mouth titles are THE BONE GARDEN by Tess Gerritsen, CONFESSIONS OF A PREP SCHOOL MOMMY HANDLER by Wade Rouse (so you can win the book that won my laughs this week) and YOU'VE BEEN WARNED by James Patterson and Howard Roughan. Tell us what you are reading and rate the titles 1-5 by noon on September 21st to ensure that you are in the running to win these books.

Want to win a terrific prize to give to a favorite aunt? Take a look at our contest for THE FARADAY GIRLS, which is running until September 28th. You could win an amazing collection of items that evoke the spirit and sentiment of the girls in the book and what they send their aunt. Click here for details.

I am reading a YA novel that is getting lots of buzz called BEFORE I DIE by Jenny Downham. It will be in stores September 25th. The plot goes like this, and I am picking up from the publisher notes as I just started reading, but this is what intrigued me to read it: "Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out." A powerful book from all I have heard.

For those of you who like getting out to meet authors, here are two book festivals to get on your radar. The first is the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, which takes place on the mall on Saturday, September 29th. You can see the schedule here. The second is the Miami Book Fair, in Miami. The Street Fair is the 9th-11th, while there are bookish events from the 4th-11th. The full schedule still is coming together, but bookmark this and keep checking back. There are other events, which you can see here. The boys will be with me in Miami since they have a break from school at that time. See why I love vacation days? I truly think experiences like this can be more valuable than class time.

Cory's fall baseball season kicks off at 8:30 tomorrow, which is an ungodly hour for baseball, but my knitting and I will be there. Here's to chatting up books with the moms in the stands. Have a great week...hold onto summer a while longer with your reading.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

Markus Zusak is the award-winning author of I AM THE MESSENGER and THE BOOK THIEF, which is now available in paperback. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Brian Farrey, Zusak discusses the appeal of reading and writing, and describes his experience in Germany while researching THE BOOK THIEF. He also addresses the similar threads that run through his work and even shares a poignant childhood memory.

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak (Historical Fiction)
Living in Germany during World War II, young Liesel Meminger scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist --- books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids. Reviewed by Brian Farrey.

-Click here to read a review of THE BOOK THIEF.
-Click here to read an excerpt from THE BOOK THIEF.
-Click here to see the reading group guide for THE BOOK THIEF.

-Click here to read a review of THE ABDUCTION.
-Click here to read a second excerpt from THE ABDUCTION.
-Click here to read an interview with Mark Gimenez.
-Click here to read fast facts about Mark Gimenez.
-Click here to read Mark Gimenez's bio.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE ABDUCTION.
-Visit the author's official website, www.MarkGimenez.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to see advance reader comments.

More about THE ABDUCTION:
Ben Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie. But Gracie has no uncle --- she was kidnapped.

One of our featured One to Watch authors is Joshua Henkin, whose second novel, MATRIMONY (following SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON), releases on October 2nd. Here, Henkin presents a beautifully detailed portrait of what it means to share a life with someone --- to do so when you're young, and to try again, afresh, on the brink of middle age.

-Click here to read an excerpt from MATRIMONY.
-Click here to read Joshua Henkin’s bio.
-Click here to see Joshua Henkin's backlist.
-Click here to read critical praise for MATRIMONY.
-Visit the author’s website, www.JoshuaHenkin.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about MATRIMONY:
From the moment he was born, Julian Wainwright has lived a life of Waspy privilege. The son of a Yale-educated investment banker, he grew up in a huge apartment on Sutton Place, high above the East River, and attended a tony Manhattan private school. Yet, more than anything, he wants to get out --- out from under his parents’ influence, off to Graymont College, in western Massachusetts, where he hopes to become a writer.

When he arrives, in the fall of 1986, Julian meets Carter Heinz, a scholarship student from California with whom he develops a strong but ambivalent friendship. Carter’s mother, desperate to save money for his college education, used to buy him reversible clothing, figuring she was getting two items for the price of one. Now, spending time with Julian, Carter seethes with resentment. He swears he will grow up to be wealthy --- wealthier, even, than Julian himself.

Then, one day, flipping through the college facebook, Julian and Carter see a photo of Mia Mendelsohn. Mia from Montreal, they call her. Beautiful, Jewish, the daughter of a physics professor at McGill, Mia is --- Julian and Carter agree --- dreamy, urbane, stylish, refined.

But Julian gets to Mia first, meeting her by chance in the college laundry room. Soon they begin a love affair that --- spurred on by family tragedy --- will carry them to graduation and beyond, taking them through several college towns, over the next ten years. Then Carter reappears, working for an Internet company in California, and he throws everyone’s life into turmoil: Julian’s, Mia’s, his own.

Starting at the height of the Reagan era and ending in the new millennium, MATRIMONY is about love and friendship, about money and ambition, desire and tensions of faith. It asks what happens to a marriage when it is confronted by betrayal and the specter of mortality. What happens when people marry younger than they’d expected? Can love endure the passing of time?

Shobhan Bantwal's debut novel, THE DOWRY BRIDE, is now available in stores. In this moving work, Bantwal introduces Megha, a woman forced to flee her home after overhearing a plot for her murder --- by her own husband and mother-in-law! With nowhere to go, Megha seeks refuge with Kiran. The relationship that develops will challenge her views on love and tradition.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE DOWRY BRIDE.
-Click here to read Shobhan Bantwal’s bio.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE DOWRY BRIDE.
-Visit the author’s website, www.ShobhanBantwal.com.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about THE DOWRY BRIDE:
One sultry night, a young bride overhears an extraordinary conversation. The voices speak of a plot to murder a wife who has failed to produce a child and whose family has failed to produce the promised dowry.

Megha is sick with horror when she realizes she is the intended victim. Her husband --- the very man who tied the sacred necklace of marriage around her neck --- and his mother are plotting to kill her! In the moment of panic, she runs for her life. Frantically racing through Palgaum’s deserted streets, her way lit only by the lights strung up for the Diwali festival, her single goal is to escape death by fire. But fleeing from her would-be killers seems impossible --- unless she can find someone to help her.

To approach her best friend would bring scandal to an innocent woman's doorstep, and turning to her own strict, conservative family is out of the question. Instead, with nothing but the sari she wears and a memory of kindness, Megha finds her way to Kiran, the one man who has shown her friendship and respect. Hiding her in his apartment, Kiran becomes her protector. But the forbidden attraction that grows between them can only bring more danger.

Caught between tradition and the truths buried in her heart, a dowry bride will discover the real cost of the only things worth having in life.

Gail Tsukiyama has written such bestsellers as WOMEN OF THE SILK and THE SAMURAI'S GARDEN. Her latest novel, THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS, takes place in Tokyo, where two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents. Life seems full of promise for these ambitious young men --- but then the attack on Pearl Harbor changes everything. This incredibly moving story that spans almost 30 years is now available in stores.

-Click here to read a review of THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.
-Click here to read an excerpt from THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.
-Click here to read an interview with Gail Tsukiyama.
-Click here to read Gail Tsukiyama's bio.
-Click here to see Gail Tsukiyama's backlist.
-Click here to read critical praise for THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS.
-Click here to visit the author's official website.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.

More about THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS:
It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers are growing up with their loving grandparents, who inspire them to dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows unusual skill at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of creating hand-carved masks for actors in the Noh theater.

Across town, a renowned sumo master, Sho Tanaka, lives with his wife and their two young daughters: the delicate, daydreaming Aki and her independent sister, Haru. Life seems full of promise as Kenji begins an informal apprenticeship with the most famous mask-maker in Japan and Hiroshi receives a coveted invitation to train with Tanaka. But then Pearl Harbor changes everything. As the ripples of war spread to both families’ quiet neighborhoods, all of the generations must put their dreams on hold --- and then find their way in a new Japan.

In an exquisitely moving story that spans almost thirty years, Gail Tsukiyama draws us irresistibly into the world of the brothers and the women who love them. It is a world of tradition and change, of heartbreaking loss and surprising hope, and of the impact of events beyond their control on ordinary, decent men and women. Above all, THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS is a masterpiece about love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.