Barbara's blog

It's going to been a hot one again. Check out this video about reading when it is steaming hot! Thanks Regulator Books for this fun and music video.

Author On the Bookcase
Laura Morowitz

I'm thrilled to speak to Laura Morowitz, co-author with Laurie Lico Albanese, of The Miracles of Prato. Art in a book -- love these historical novels centered around real-live artists and their lifes! It helps me learn about past artists and the history and politics that surrounded them.

The Miracles of Prato brings to life glorious Italy in the era of the Medici —as it tells the story of an illicit love affair between the renowned painter Fra Filippo Lippi and his muse, a beautiful convent novitiate named Lucrezia Buti. Lippi, the chaplain for Convent Santa Margherita sees in Lucrezia's flawless face inspiration for countless Madonnas and he brings the her to his studio to serve as his model.

Author On the Bookcase
Mitchell James Kaplan  

History and religion and politics -- oh my!

I'm pleased to welcome Mitchell James Kaplan, author of the debut novel, By Fire, By Water. Mitchell's book tells the heartbreaking story of Luis de Santangel, the courtier who convinced Queen Isabella to sponsor Christopher Columbus’s voyage of discovery in 1492.

Author On the Bookcase
Michelle Hoover

Michelle Hoover, welcome to On the Bookcase! Michelle's book, The Quickening, is the story of two women stuggling to make a living in the upper Midwest in the early 1900s. For one, their hardscrabble life comes easily, while the other longs for the excitement of the city. Though they depend on one another for survival and companionship, their friendship proves as rugged as the land they farm.

Author On the Bookcase
Cathy Lamb

I'm excited to welcome Cathy Lamb, author of Such A Pretty Face. Her book tells the story of Stevie, who two years and 170 pounds ago, was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she'd be: thin.

Stevie realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she's lost, but the courage and confidence she's gathering, day by day. What fascinating reading-group topics -- identity, family, friendships.

Today, Cathy chats about her writing process. What do toilets, electricity, carpet and a chimmey have to do with her writing?

Teaser Tuesday and Room by Emma Donoghue Giveaway.

Room is one of the 13 books selected for the longlist of the 2010 Man Booker Award. I will featured all 13 in upcoming posts.

Here are the beginning lines of Room.

"Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra. Before that I was three, then two, then one, then zero.

 Giveaway Winner!

Thanks so much for the comments on the A Secret Kept post. I finally finished reading it. Nothing to do with the quality of A Secret Kept but work as kept (ha!) me busy.

Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco's book buyer, has chosen Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen as her pick of the month for August. This book is a great book club pick. Lots of conversation starters -- culture differences, family, loss, personal challenges. Clark wrote:

"It's a common adage that you can't go home again, but Rhoda Janzen does just that in her memoir, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.

"Shortly after Janzen turns 43, her husband leaves her--for a man--and a car accident leaves her seriously injured. Those two events lead her to her parents' home--and the Mennonite community in which she was reared.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the 2010 Tulane University Reading Project book selection. 

Since its inception in 2002, The Tulane Reading Project has created a shared intellectual experience for the entering first-year class through the reading and discussion of a selected book. With a variety of events scheduled throughout the fall semester, the Reading Project creates a campus-wide dialogue on a variety of themes. 

This year is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Zeitoun is a perfect choice for discussion.

The Man Booker Award for Fiction, first awarded in 1969, promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. Any full-length novel, written by a citizen of the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe is eligible.

I try to read the Man Booker award winner every year. Some years, I don't get around to it.