Library Love Fest

LLF Staff Suggestions for the January LibraryReads List

Hello, librarians! We hope you've been having a wonderful fall! We're back with our staff suggestions for the January LibraryReads list! Before we dive in, we have an important update!

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My Dark Vanessa Update!

The excitement and conversation surrounding My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell has been truly special. Thank you, librarians, for all your support. 

We want to let you know that My Dark Vanessa will now be publishing on March 10, 2020.

If you haven't yet read this unforgettable debut novel, we highly recommend you do so now.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
For fans of: My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent and The Girls by Emma Cline
Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

"Russell’s novel, alternating between past and present, presents a damning indictment of sexual predation, as she starkly elucidates the ways in which abuse robbed Vanessa not only of her childhood but also of her own once-promising future. It also prompts readers to interrogate their own assumptions about victimhood, consent, and agency. This is a frighteningly sharp debut."
—Publishers Weekly review

"A deeply relevant debut novel...[that] enlightens even as it chills."
—Library Journal review

"A gut-wrenching debut."
—Kirkus review

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LibraryReads Votes Due: February 1, 2020

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Reading Suggestions for January

All the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
For fans of: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams and The Summer Country by Lauren Willig
The New York Times bestselling authors of The Glass Ocean and The Forgotten Room return with a glorious historical adventure that moves from the dark days of two World Wars to the turbulent years of the 1960s, in which three women with bruised hearts find refuge at Paris's legendary Ritz hotel.

Praise for The Glass Ocean: "Williams, Willig, and White work together again to create a riveting historical mystery.... 'Team W' takes readers on a voyage, filled with twists and turns, in which secrets abound, no one can be trusted, and history isn’t always what it seems."
—Booklist

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

 

Highfire by Eoin Colfer
For fans of: The Oracle Year by Charles Soule and Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series comes a hilarious and high-octane adult novel about a vodka-drinking, Flashdance-loving dragon who lives an isolated life in the bayous of Louisiana—and the raucous adventures that ensue when he crosses paths with a fifteen-year-old troublemaker on the run from a crooked sheriff.

Click here to read a behind-the-book essay from Eoin Colfer!

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

 

The End of the Ocean by Maja Lunde
For fans of: Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins and The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
From the author of the #1 international bestseller The History of Bees, a captivating story of the power of nature and the human spirit that explores the threat of a devastating worldwide drought, witnessed through the lives of a father, a daughter, and a woman who will risk her life to save the future.

"Lyrical, atmospheric, and eerily prescient, The End of the Ocean is my favorite kind of speculative fiction. Lunde expertly weaves together both a warning and a gorgeous literary work of love and survival that will leave you wishing for rain."
—Christina Dalcher, bestselling author of Vox  

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey
For fans of: 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne and
My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
The New York Times bestselling author of Fix Her Up returns with a unique, sexy romantic comedy about a young married couple whose rocky relationship needs a serious renovation.

"Books by Tessa Bailey are an insta-buy for me." 
—Sally Thorne, USA Today bestselling author of 
The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

 

Little Gods by Meng Jin
For fans of: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo and
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Combining the emotional resonance of Home Fire with the ambition and innovation of Asymmetry, a lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel that explores the complex web of grief, memory, time, physics, history, and selfhood in the immigrant experience, and the complicated bond between daughters and mothers.

"Meng Jin is a writer whose sweep is as intimate as it is global.  Little Gods is a novel about the heart-wracking ways in which we move through history and time.  A fierce and intelligent debut from a writer with longitude and latitude embedded in her vision."
—Colum McCann, bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

The Gimmicks by Chris McCormick
For fans of: Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett and
The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history—the Armenian Genocide—whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives.

"The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away." 
—Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Mothers

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston
For fans of: Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
From "one of the greatest writers of our time" (Toni Morrison)—the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God—a collection of remarkable stories, including eight lost Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time.

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

 

Hunter Killer by Brad Taylor
For fans of: Red War by Vince Flynn and Spymaster by Brad Thor
Pike Logan tracks highly-trained Russian assassins to Brazil in this blistering, action-packed thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former Special Forces Officer Brad Taylor.

"Brad Taylor knows his stuff. His new Pike Logan novel, Hunter Killer, has the gun metal ring of authenticity and the crisp writing of a military communique…. It makes you pause and think while you’re being thoroughly and rapidly entertained. It’s an excellent read, and I greatly enjoyed it."
—Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cuban Affair

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

 

Hunting for a Highlander by Lynsay Sands
Also from the author: Immortal Born and The Wrong Highlander
Four Buchanan brothers have found their brides...only three more to go in this scintillating romance from New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands.

Praise for Lynsay Sands: "Sands is skilled at crafting genuine characters with deep familial ties..."
—Publishers Weekly

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LibraryReads Votes Due: December 1, 2019

For more great reading suggestions for January, check out our
January LibraryReads Suggestions Edelweiss catalog!

The deadline to submit your votes is December 1!

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We hope you enjoy the books! For more information about LibraryReads, visit their website. Remember: Vote early! Vote often!

-Chris

Author Lou Berney Makes History and More News from Bouchercon 2019!

Bouchercon 2019 just wrapped up in Dallas, Texas, and we have some incredible news to share.

First, a huge congratulations to Lou Berney! His latest novel, November Road, swept all three major "Best Novel" awards at Bouchercon by winning the Anthony Award, Barry Award, and Macavity Award!

November Road is the only novel to win all three plus the Hammett Award for Best Novel in the same year!

You can learn more about this incredible novel by listening to an interview with Lou below!

 

In addition, Lori Rader-Day won the Best Paperback Original Anthony Award for Under a Dark Sky! Be sure to check out our podcast episode featuring Lori as she sits down with her editor to discuss her latest upcoming novel, The Lucky One, on sale February 2020!

Click here to request an egalley for The Lucky One on Edelweiss+
Click here to request an egalley for The Lucky One on NetGalley

Here are Lou and Lori celebrating their incredible accomplishments "prom-style"!

 

Finally, Sarah Weinman’s The Real Lolita won a Macavity Award for Best Nonfiction at Bouchercon! David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon, praised The Real Lolita as "a tour de force of literary detective work. Not only does it shed new light on the terrifying true saga that influenced Nabokov’s masterpiece, it restores the forgotten victim to our consciousness."

You can listen to an audio excerpt from the book by clicking here. 

Below is Sarah with her Macavity Award!

A huge congratulations to Lou, Lori, and Sarah!

-Chris

Happy Book Birthday to FINDING CHIKA by Mitch Albom!

"Mitch Albom has done it again with this moving memoir of love and loss. You can’t help but fall for Chika. A page-turner that will no doubt become a classic." 
—Mary Karr, author of The Liars’ Club and The Art of Memoir

Mitch Albom’s first nonfiction book in more than a decade, Finding Chika is a moving memoir about caring for a child. It is a beautiful reminder of the importance of kindness and service. At once heartwarming and thoughtful, readers will fall easily under the spell of this classic in the making.

Watch this moving interview on CBS Sunday Morning which aired on November 3^rd.

-Virginia

Happy Halloween! Here's Our Spoooooky October Facebook Live Book List

Trick or treat! The Library Love Fest Team took to Facebook Live on Monday, October 28th, to discuss terrifyingly good books that we previously hadn't presented. In true LLF fashion, we brought the holiday spirit. 

If you couldn't join us live, you can still watch the archived video below via Facebook or Youtube. We've also provided a list of the titles we discussed!

Watch on : https://youtu.be/gJYuB_xVjTw

 

Blossom and Bones by Kim Krans

The Sea of Lost Girls by Carol Goodman

No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez

Listen to LLF's Virginia Stanley read from No Bad Deed!

 

No Exit by Taylor Adams

Mother Land by Leah Franqui

The Distant Dead by Heather Young

Sanctuary by Luca D'Andrea

Help for the Haunted by John Searles  

Watch an author video with John Searles!

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst 

Get more scifi and fantasy reading recommendations by listening to our podcast episode featuring David Pomerico, Editorial Director for Harper Voyager US!

 

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn

The Dead Wife by Sue Fortin

Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

Below, you can listen to author Josh Malerman discuss his novel Bird Box (now a Netflix Original Movie!), and how being a musician informs his work!

 

The Last Seance by Agatha Christie

We hope you enjoyed our October Facebook Live! We'll see you next month. Until then, have a happy Halloween!

-Chris

Adriana Trigiani's TONY'S WIFE Wins People’s Choice Award in Fiction at Library of Virginia Literary Awards

A big congratulations to Tony's Wife by Adriana Trigiani, the winner of the People's Choice Award in Fiction at the 2019 Library of Virginia Literary Awards! The Library of Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, nonfiction (and, in the case of nonfiction, also by any author about a Virginia subject), and literary lifetime achievement. The People's Choice Award winners are selected based on online voting. 

To see a full list of the winners and the long list of finalists, including HarperCollins author James A. McLaughlin's Bearskin, read the awards announcement here.

Three cheers for Adriana Trigiani! In celebration, we are giving away finished copies of Tony's Wife to the first 10 librarians to email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com.

-Lainey

Editors Unedited: A Conversation with Harper Voyager U.S. Editorial Director David Pomerico

Our latest episode of The Library Love Fest Podcast is out of this world—literally! This week, we sat down with Editorial Director David Pomerico to learn more about our Harper Voyager imprint. Our Harper Voyager imprint at HarperCollins publishes some of the most notable names in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. On the episode, David gave an overview of the imprint, new topics they hope to cover in the future, and a presentation of some upcoming Winter/Summer 2020 titles. Listen to the episode and check out the title list below. You can find out more about Harper Voyager and sign up for their newsletter here.

Titles presented:

Daughter from the Dark by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated by Julia Meitov Hersey

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag

Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik

A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst

Crush the King by Jennifer Estep

 

David also mentioned these authors in response to the question about diversity in the genre:

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Noumenon Infinity by Marina J. Lostetter

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

A Study in Honor and The Hound of Justice by Claire O'Dell

The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang

The Blue Eye by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Markswoman and Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra

And he mentioned The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai as a rom-com he loved!

I hope you enjoyed this imprint overview. If you enjoyed the episode, please be sure to share on social and let us know your current sci-fi/fantasy read!

-Lainey

LLF Guest Post from Author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: "Libraries will get you through times of no money far better than money will get you through times of no libraries."

The Forest of Enchantments is a brilliant retelling of the Ramayana, one of the world’s greatest epics as well as a tragic love story. It is also a very human story of some of the other women in the epic, often misunderstood and relegated to the margins: Kaikeyi, Surpanakha, and Mandodari. While the Ramayana resonates even today, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni makes it more relevant than ever, asking questions such as: How should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’

The Diwali festival is coming up on October 27, 2019. In celebration, we welcome a guest post by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the author of The Forest of Enchantments. She is the winner of an American Book Award, the Italian Premio Scanno, and several Pushcart Prizes. Her books have been translated into 29 languages, including Hebrew, Hindi, and Hungarian, and some have been made into movies. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston. Having been a poor grad student for many years, she is a lover of libraries and a staunch believer of the saying, “Libraries will get you through times of no money far better than money will get you through times of no libraries."

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Fall is a popular time for festivals around the world. There’s Halloween and the National Apple Festival in the US, the Moon Festival in China, the Matchmaking Festival in Ireland, Mehregan in Iran—and Diwali in India. Diwali, the festival of lights, perhaps the most popular festival in India, is celebrated by millions of people of Indian origin across the world. It has always been my favorite, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness, something we seem to need more and more each year.

This year, though, it holds a special meaning for me.

The first ever Diwali was celebrated, people say, to commemorate the return of King Ram and his wife Sita to their kingdom, Ayodhya, after the demon king Ravan had been vanquished. Thus it is central to my new novel, The Forest of Enchantments, which retells the story of Sita, a woman much misrepresented by centuries of patriarchal reinterpretation.

Growing up, I’d been fascinated by the story of Sita, the beautiful princess who accompanies her beloved husband Prince Ram to the forest when he is banished due to a stepmother’s trickery. I’d read over and over about the abduction that separates her from Ram, how they are reunited, and the unexpectedly tragic turn that Sita’s life takes just when she is ready to live happily ever after. I always felt she was more than the docile wife my elders interpreted her to be. In The Forest of Enchantments, I explore her endurance, her courage, her outrage at victim-shaming, her resolution to not compromise her values—but also her humor and her very human shortcomings. At once timeless and timely, her life touches on contemporary themes such as #MeToo and single motherhood.

At this dark time in our world when so many countries are looking with suspicion upon their immigrants, multicultural books are one of the best ways to bring people together. And libraries are one of the best places to access such books. My hope is that they will enable The Forest of Enchantments to reach many people and help them celebrate the festival of humanity that we share. That readers will resonate with Sita as she discovers, “No one can take your dignity away from you. You lose it only by your own actions.”

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Thank you, Chitra! The Forest of Enchantments is available now. We are giving away finished copies to the first 10 librarians to email librarylovefest@harpercollins.com.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Join Us Tomorrow, 10/17, for a Facebook Live Interview with Kassandra Montag, Author of AFTER THE FLOOD, the Inaugural Libraries Transform Book Pick Selection!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Booklist’s Senior Editor Susan Maguire sits down with Kassandra Montag, author of After the Flood, the inaugural Libraries Transform Book Pick selection.

Join us TOMORROW, Thursday, October 17 at 3pm EST, 2pm CT to watch this conversation on Facebook Live!
 

To watch the interview, visit the American Library Association Facebook page!

All public libraries in the U.S. currently participating in OverDrive are lending unlimited copies of the ebook edition of After the Flood to borrowers during the reading period of October 7-21, 2019.

The clock is ticking! Libraries only have a few more days to loan the ebook edition of After the Flood at no cost with no holds or waitlists.

The deadline to download is October 21!

Learn more about the Libraries Transform Book Pick: http://bit.ly/lt-book-pick

To help public libraries promote the program and encourage checkouts, free marketing resources are available, including a flyer template, social media graphics, a sample press release, and more. (Registration is required but the tools are free.)

A discussion guide and other materials for libraries to fuel discussion about the book are also available!

For more information and resources, please visit the I Love Libraries website or join the conversation online using the hashtag #LTBookPick.

-Chris

Reminder: AFTER THE FLOOD by Kassandra Montag is the Inaugural Libraries Transform Book Pick!

Reminder: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag, the inaugural Libraries Transform Book Pick, a new digital reading program from ALA in collaboration with Rakuten OverDrive, is available as an ebook with no waitlists or holds until October 21, 2019. 

Public libraries in the U.S. already partnering with OverDrive can lend ebook copies of After the Flood at no cost during the two-week program. Readers will only need a library card and the Libby app to download a copy.

To help public libraries promote the program and encourage checkouts, free marketing resources are available, including a flyer template, social media graphics, a sample press release, and more. (Registration is required but the tools are free.)

A discussion guide and other materials for libraries to fuel discussion about the book are also available!

Click here to listen to an exclusive interview with author Kassandra Montag!

For more information and resources, please visit the I Love Libraries website or join the conversation online using the hashtag #LTBookPick.

-Chris

The November LibraryReads List is Here!

You voted, they counted, and the winners have finally been announced!

This month, we are thrilled to share that we have TWO selections for the November LibraryReads List: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert and We Met in December by Rosie Curtis.

Click here to see the full list.

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Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert: Talia Hibbert, one of contemporary romance’s brightest new stars, delivers a witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being "boring" and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her get a life—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang.

"Will readers giggle at the cuteness of the banter and weep at the emotional truths that are thrown down...? Absolutely. Is this book what the word 'charming' was invented for? Probably. This interracial romance with a disabled heroine is an #OwnVoices treat that will satisfy readers who love a cinnamon-roll hero and love scenes that scorch the dang pages."
—Booklist review

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We Met in December by Rosie Curtis: Following a year in the life of a twenty-something American woman who falls hard for her London flat mate, this clever, fun, and unforgettable romantic comedy is the perfect feel-good holiday read.

"Curtis has a gift for capturing complex emotion and both romantic and platonic intimacy. The witty dialogue, loyal friendships, and endearing romance are sure to capture readers’ hearts."
—Publishers Weekly review

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Thanks to all who participated and submitted votes for the November LibraryReads list! Be sure to submit your votes for the December LibraryReads list by November 1st. You can see our recommendations here. Click here to learn more about LibraryReads.

-Chris