Library Love Fest

"Best of" Lists

We owe a great big 'thank you' to Nora Rawlinson of Early Word--she just sent us a fantastic, comprehensive list of the books that made the "best of" lists this year.  Here are all of our titles that made the cut, in a hand-dandy Excel spreadsheet! Download HC Best Books 2010

The "BUZZ" is LIVE!

For those of you that could not come to the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. this past June, you definitely missed a lively and energetic "Book Buzz" given by the Harper Library Marketing Team. 

HOWEVER...you can listen to the highlights and obtain additional information on all the titles we presented just by clicking here!  Our Seasonal "Book Buzz" is available for your listening pleasures on EarlyWord.com.

Listen and enjoy!

-Bobby

32 Candles

I blogged about a book entitled, 32 Candles, by Ernessa T. Carter.  Ernessa's book, 32 Candles is the story of a self-proclaimed ugly duckling who finds her voice and finds herself.  Check out my article.

We received a great review from Lisa Steckhahn, Reference Librarian for the West Allis Public Library.  Here is what Lisa thought of 32 Candles:

"32 Candles is a look at the life of a very unique girl who moves to Los Angeles after enduring abuse from her mom and high school classmates.  Davie enjoys Molly Ringwald movies and wants her own “Molly Ringwald Ending”, a sentiment shared by many girls of her generation.  When she arrives in LA she transforms herself into another person and becomes a nightclub singer.  After establishing a life there, she encounters her high school crush who makes her relive all of the memories she ran away from.  It was a very entertaining read and I couldn’t help but root for Davie even though she is flawed.  The flaws are what makes her interesting and cause the reader to hope that she finally finds her “Molly Ringwald Ending”.  

-Lisa Steckhahn, Reference Librarian
West Allis Public Library

Many thanks to Lisa and everyone at the West Allis Public Library!  I hope you add 32 Candles to your reading list.

Enjoy!

-Bobby

Furious Love

If you attended our title presentation at ALA Midwinter in January, you may recall that I confessed to having an intense teenage crush on Richard Burton.  If you missed it, here's some auditory blackmail. 

Furious Love hits shelves on June 15th and there's a reason I'm ridiculously excited: for years, I haven't had anyone to talk to about Richard Burton and Liz Taylor.  Now, suddenly, there are stories in Vanity Fair and Time Magazine, coverage on Good Morning America, blog posts...it's the best excuse for my inner granny to come out at full force.  So what did I, a die-hard Taylor/Burton fan, think of Furious Love? 

Reader, I loved it.  Biography buffs, tabloid addicts, cinephiles, jewelry collectors, romantics...will all find something to sink their teeth into in this compulsively readable dual biography.  Burton's love letters to Taylor, many of which are excerpted, are incredibly intimate--I was visibly choked up by the end of the book, and wandered from cubicle to cubicle, telling anyone who would listen how sad it was, how tragic, that two people who loved each other so well could end up apart in the end.  But Furious Love isn't all tragedy--rather, it is the story of a flawed but timeless passion that began on a movie-set and changed the face of American culture forever.  Take a peek inside the book, check out some of the quoted love letters in Time, and know that summer flings--quite simply--pale in comparison.

-Kayleigh  

Monday Madness...32 Candles

So if you are anything like me, you are probably sitting in front of your computer reading this and wondering to yourself "where on EARTH did the weekend go?" 

I know one great way to get over the "Monday Blues"...talk about and give away good books!

I am very excited about an upcoming book entitled, 32 Candles, by Ernessa T. Carter.  32 Candles, on sale in June tells the story of Davie Jones, a self-proclaimed ugly duckling from Mississippi, who feels her life couldn't be any worse than it already is.  She's teased at school, and doesn't have the greatest relationship with her mother.  On top of all this, she's in love with a handsome football player, who doesn't know she's alive.  After watching the movie Sixteen Candles,she believes that in spite of it all, if Molly Ringwald can have a happy ending, so can she!

After she realizes she can't take the drama anymore, Davie decides to try her luck at fame and fortune in the big city of Los Angeles, where she reinvents herself and becomes a successful nightclub singer.  As if life couldn't get any better, the handsome football player walks into the club one night.  He doesn't recognize her and her dreams of love become reality. By all accounts, everything is just perfect, until something from Davie's past threatens to haunt her and tarnish her bright future. 

I presented 32 Candles at the ALA Midwinter Conference during our Title Presentation.  To hear my "buzz" on the book, click here!

I am SO excited about this book and would love to hear your comments.  I will send free copies of 32 Candles to the 11 lucky people who send us a comment or an email at librarylovefest at harpercollins dot com.  If you would be so kind as to send a brief review of the book, I would greatly appreciate it! 

Please be sure to check out Ernessa's blogs (32candles.com and fierceandnerdy.com) I hope you find 32 Candles fun and heart-warming as I have.

Enjoy!

-Bobby

Listen now: Marilyn Johnson on Blogtalk Radio!

Today's the big day! Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, is on Blogtalk radio (2 pm EST) with Virginia Stanley and Earlyword's Nora Rawlinson.  If you need an incentive to listen, here's a quick review of This Book is Overdue! from reference librarian Lisa Steckhahn (West Allis Public Library):

I was very excited to read this book and hear an outside perspective on libraries and librarians.  Marilyn Johnson shows that librarians vary but they all have a common goal: help people find information.  As the amount of information increases in our daily lives it becomes more evident someone is needed to organize and document it.  Johnson also challenges the image of a librarian behind a desk.  Radical reference and Second Life demonstrate what can happen when librarians take to the streets and cyberspace.  Reading about the various ways libraries and librarians are changing the world is very inspiring and has made me think of my job in a new and different way.  I think the general public has many misconceptions about librarians and hopefully after reading this book they will see that librarians are not set in their ways.  Libraries can change as society changes and in many cases lead the way to a better future. 

Curious? Call or write in with a question for Marilyn, and we'll send you a copy of the book.  Just remember to register here. 

This Interview is Overdue!

On Friday we told you about Virginia's Blogtalk Radio interview with James Grippando, slated for tomorrow, Tuesday March 16th at 3 pm EST.  Don't put your planners and calendars away just yet, though--this Thursday, March 18th (2 pm EST), Virginia will also be interviewing librarian-favorite, Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.  Joining them will be Nora Rawlinson, founder of Earlyword.  Remember, if you call or write in with a question, we'll send you a free book.  Just be sure to register here beforehand. 

Happy listening!

-Kayleigh 

Fall Title Presentation

If you were unable to attend our title presentation at ALA in Chicago this past July, fear not!  We’re bringing our book buzz to you! Click on the links below to watch us talk about the hot books coming out in Fall 2009.  Each link is about 10 minutes long and we’ve listed the titles being discussed in each video.  Also attached is the handout that we made available to all attendees of the presentation.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, Academy Award nominations, etc.

Thanks!

-Virginia, Bobby and Kayleigh

Video 1A
Included in this video: Introduction, information on HarperCollins Catalogs, eGalleys, Book Club Girl, Library Love Fest (radio show), twitter (HarperLibrary), HarperLibrary's blog (Library Love Fest), Shelf Help, Kayleigh’s blog (The Roaring 20s), Earlyword.com and Harper Perennial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2vF140GVoQ
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1A)

Video 1B
Included in this video: Information on Harper Perennial, and the following titles, Shelf Discovery, by Lizzie Skurnick, By The Time You Read This, by Lola Jaye, and Lies My Mother Never Told Me, by Kaylie Jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUe2jl8-sxE
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1B)

Video 1C
Titles included in this video: Bending Towards the Sun, by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, Under This Unbroken Sky, by Shandi Mitchell, Evidence of Murder, by Lisa Black, How to Paint a Dead Man, by Sarah Hall and I Shudder, by Paul Rudnick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZIX7h_a8WI
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1C)

Video 1D
Titles included in this video: Beneath the Bleeding, by Val McDermid, The Financial Lives of Poets, by Jess Walter, Anne Frank, by Francine Prose and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX-b-Eh06c0
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1D)

Video 1E
Titles included in this video: Not Lost Forever, by Carmina Salcido, Manhood for Amateurs, by Michael Chabon and Hummingbirds, by Joshua Gaylord
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjbIu4n5k3Y
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1E)

Video 1F
Titles included in this video:  Far from Zion, by Charles London, I am neurotic (and so are you), by Lianna Kong, The Hidden, by Tobias Hill, The Sand Fish, by Maha Gargash, Ten Storey Love Song,by Richard Milward and The Body in the Sleigh, by Katherine Hall Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQgzm6b72TE
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1F)

Video 1G
Titles included in this video: Notes Left Behind, by Brooke and Keith Desserich, The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver, Lit, by Mary Karr, Wishin’ and Hopin’, by Wally Lamb and This Book is Overdue!, by Marilyn Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBOV0CKk68A
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1G)

Video 1H
Titles included in this video: Be Careful What You Pray For, by Kimberla Lawson Roby, Gator A-Go-Go, by Tim Dorsey, Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich, and Horns, by Joe Hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmUlveJzyU
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1H)

Video 1I
Titles included in this video: Encore, Valentine, by Adriana Trigiani, Making Toast, by Roger Rosenblatt, The Lovers, by Vendela Vida and A Pearl in the Storm, by Tori Murden McClure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb6Sp0HEWk0
Download ALA Title Presentation (Part 1I)

 

A New Anne Frank Movie

In case you missed it, yesterday Early Word reported that Disney has acquired the rights to a new film version of The Diary of Anne Frank, with David Mamet helming the project.  Our very own Francine Prose was mentioned in the article, as was her forthcoming book Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife (9780061578267).  Early Word reports: "One of Prose’s objections to the earlier versions is that they don’t show Anne’s growth as either a person or an artist; 'On the pages, she is brilliant, on the stage, she is a nitwit.' She also points out that they attempted to 'universalize' the story to broaden it’s appeal; few mentions are made of the family’s Jewishness and Anne was made to seem more hopeful. Says Prose about the movie, 'She sounds like an American girl. And why not? It’s an American movie.'" David Mamet is sure to challenge our assumptions about this beloved piece of literature, just as Francine Prose has done with her book.  Be sure to check out Booklist's starred review, in full, after the jump.