Now wait just a minute... it's Monday? Again?! For some reason I thought we were all out of Mondays... Guess not!
- AMONG OTHERS won the Nebula Award for Best Novel!! If you've been ignoring my unreasonably incessant affection (see right) for this title, now's the time to give in and just read it already!
- Talia's slides for the Boston Book Buzz are available to view now (link to Adult deck) (link to Teen deck), so if you're not going to make it to the event, you can still take a look at the lineup. And, more importantly, if you are going to make it to the event, you can fool your co-workers into thinking you're psychic by "guessing" all of the books before she reveals them.
- ATTN: Teen Librarians! Did you see that we're running not one, but TWO(!) delightful signed-series contests? One of them includes the necklace from the Midnight Dragonfly covers! Enter now!
- We have an even to plug for ALA Annual... please don't miss The Great Non-Fiction Read-Alike: If You Like This, You’ll LOVE That!.
All-star panelists Alene Moroni (Manager, Selection & Order, King County), Anna Mickelsen (Reference Librarian, Springfield City), Kaite Stover (Manager, Readers’ Services, Kansas City), Robin Nesbitt (Technical Services Director, Columbus Metropolitan), and Stephanie Chase (Head, Reference, Adult Services, & Programming, Multnomah County) will cover major trends in popular non-fiction and recommend upcoming titles with pre-publication buzz as well as titles from your backlist will satisfy your patrons while the best-selling titles are on hold. Add it to your conference schedule now!
- THE SEVEN PEARLS OF FINANCIAL WISDOM received a great review from The Wall Street Journal.
They note that in most financial self-help books "the target reader is a man who has a job, is happily married and has 2½ kids. Some books target specific needs, such as caring and providing for an elderly relative, but they still make certain assumptions. A pioneering new book titled THE SEVEN PEARLS OF FINANCIAL WISDOM aims to fill the gap. Written by Forbes columnist Camilla Webster and financial planner Carol Pepper, the book is aimed at women. [...]
"What really sets 'The Seven Pearls' apart are the assumptions it makes about readers. If you know, love or support an alcoholic in your life, have an aging parent suffering from Alzheimer's disease, are worried about having children and considering or paying for expensive fertilization procedures, hate your job, are dependent on another income earner, or are responsible for someone who is sick, then this the book is for you."
- And finally...
Read moreLet me see your war face! twitter.com/EmergencyPuppy…
— Emergency Cute Stuff (@EmergencyPuppy) May 14, 2012
If you notice any of your patrons loitering around the stacks wearing something like this or this or definitely this, stop them at once and give them REDSHIRTS! It's what they're looking for anyway.
It's the future and Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the prestigious Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid. Andrew is thrilled with the assignment... that is, until he discovers that low ranking crew members such as himself have an suspiciously high mortality rate during away missions. If he doesn't figure out what's causing the deaths and stop it, he might be the next to die!
Booklist gave REDSHIRTS a starred review and said, "Scalzi takes the reality-versus-fiction idea in a new and decidedly mind-bending direction. It’s hard to imagine a reader who wouldn’t enjoy this one."
Library Journal called it "humorous and thought-provoking" and said it will "appeal to fans of sf (especially Star Trek devotees) who like a good laugh along with their big ideas and space action."
Sound like something you want to start now? Download the first four chapters for free!
Read moreThis is the time of year that Talia and I are of the busier of the busy bees (maybe that's why we're buzzing so much lately??) and we end up missing some of the totally rad week-to-week Macmillan excitement.
So when Talia paused for 1/23 of a second to sip her coffee this morning and glanced at The New York Times Book Review Best Sellers list for May 27, she did a double-take and then called me in to talk about how many of our awesome books are on the list.
We high-fived about it.
To give these books a pat on the back, a nod of approval, and a "well done, champ!" I've listed them below:
#3 BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel
#11 THE SINS OF THE FATHER by Jeffrey Archer
#14 A DOG’S JOURNEY by W. Bruce Cameron
#4 MOST TALKATIVE by Andy Cohen
#6 KILLING LINCOLN by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
#20 WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel
#11 SEAL TEAM SIX by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin
#4 THIS IS HOW by Augusten Burroughs
#9 The Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking
#8 BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel
#20 THE SINS OF THE FATHER by Jeffrey Archer
#7 MOST TALKATIVE by Andy Cohen
#9 KILLING LINCOLN by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
#32 THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman
Read moreFARTHER AWAY by Jonathan Franzen
"The theme of human struggle against the pulls of solipsism and narcissism illuminates every page of the novelist’s essays."
OBLIVION by Héctor Abad. Translated by Anne McLean and Rosalind Harvey.
"Abad’s highly personal coming-of-age story is also a sociopolitical portrait of Colombia."
Well, well, well. It looks like HALF-BLOOD BLUES won YET ANOTHER award; this time it's the BC Book Prize’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize!
What's that you say? You're getting confused about all of the awards and honors that HALF-BLOOD BLUES has received?
Let's recap, shall we:
- Winner of the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize!
- Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Prize!
- Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize!
- Shortlisted for the Orange Prize (to be announced May 29)!
- Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize (to be announced June 16)!
- Finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize!
- Finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award!
- A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice!
- An Amazon "Best of the Month" Pick for March 2012!
...to, you know, name a few.
Read moreIn the Midnight Dragonfly series, Trinity Monsour wants nothing more than to live a normal life. But Trinity is different. She sees visions, and for those she’s seen, it’s already too late... Read more here.
Librarians, enter to win these signed books and the necklace by sending your name, your library, and your full mailing address to Library-at-MacmillanUSA.com (Subject: YA #1) by Friday, May 25th.
In the Shadow Falls series, Kylie Galen's mother ships her off to Shadow Falls, a camp for troubled teens, but within hours of arriving it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just troubled... Read more here.
Librarians, enter to win these signed books by sending your name, your library, and your full mailing address to Library-at-MacmillanUSA.com (Subject: YA #2) by Friday, May 25th.
This sweepstakes is open to librarians in the United States. Librarians are welcome to enter both contests! More eligibility details below.
Read moreCalling all Boston-area librarians!
Boss Lady Talia is heading your way at the end of the month to chat about forthcoming books and she's not doing it alone! Some of our favorite library marketers from other houses are along for the ride and will be presenting books from their lists, as well.
We're all pretty excited about it...
Boston-based librarians!! The one & only #BostonBookBuzz is Wed 5/23 @BPLBoston. HOT titles. FREE advance copies! eventkeeper.com/code/ekform.cf…
— Talia Sherer (@taliasherer) May 15, 2012
Are you a librarian attending BookBuzz @BPLBoston on Wed, May 23? @brocktonlibrary @Worcester_PL @SpfldMassLib. #cantwait
— Chris Vaccari (@christhebookie) May 14, 2012
Boston-area librarians: scroll on down and register for our big, multi-publisher Boston book buzz, May 23rd! ow.ly/aV6iK
— librarylovefest (@librarylovefest) May 15, 2012
And yeah, I guess I'm also pretty excited about the Embed this Tweet feature.
Anyway, here are the details:
Join us on Wednesday May 23, 2012 from 11:00AM until 4:15PM.
Boston Public Library, Copley
700 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116
We'll have advanced reader copies of some of the books we discuss and a swanky tote bag for each of ya!
Questions? Post a comment below or e-mail: info@masslibsystem.org.

Hello all you sassy librarians! I hope you had a lovely weekend and a brunch-tastic Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all you bookish moms out there. May you get some good reading done.
— Picador Paperbacks (@PicadorUSA) May 13, 2012
We have a couple of fun things to share:
- Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City by Guy Delisle, which won the Best Comic Book Award this year at Angoulème, was recently featured in School Library Journal's Adult Books 4 Teens column! They said,
"This is a rounded, insightful way to explore and become acquainted with how history, culture, ritual, and human emotions shape and misshape a storied part of the world most Americans know only through politically charged news accounts. [...] Delicate and detailed cartoons inhabit mostly small and always bounded panels, with color accents highlighting sounds, sunsets, and points on the maps Delisle mentions to clarify how locations are connected–and disconnected–in the contemporary Middle East."
- BRING UP THE BODIES, sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner WOLF HALL, came out last week and according to McNally Jackson Books in NYC, it's quite popular...
You people are buying more Mantel than we can hantel.
— McNally Jackson (@mcnallyjackson) May 10, 2012
- Did you see the big Chelsea Cain news?!
- Class act Lisa Scottoline talks about her writing process in The New York Times Business Day (link).
- Interested in the book jacket art process? Check out Minotaur Books' new tumblr, http://minotaurart.tumblr.com/.
- And finally, this tweet:
Read moreDonate to my Kickstarter. We are building a cat spaceship to get to Saturn
— Cat_ebooks (@Cat_ebooks) May 14, 2012
The fourth book in Gerald Elias' Daniel Jacobus series, DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION, is getting ecstatic, to-the-point reviews of high praise.
When acting concertmaster, Scheherazade O’Brien, is summarily dismissed by the despotic, tyrannical conductor Vaclav Herza, O’Brien slits her wrists. Now, blind, cantankerous violin teacher Daniel Jacobus, who had shunned O’Brien’s earlier plea for help against Herza’s relentless harassment, investigates Herza’s dark past not only in Prague, but in Tokyo and New York.
"Brilliant and captivating on every level." -Booklist (starred review)
"There’s just one word for this book: bravo!" -Publishers Weekly (starred review)
UPDATE: Library Journal has also given DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION a starred review!
Read moreAttention Chelsea Cain fans! We have some very, very exciting news! You may soon have the pleasure of watching serial killer Gretchen Lowell and Detective Archie Sheridan solve cases together on FX! That's right, as Deadline reports,
FX has put in development a drama series adaptation of Chelsea Cain’s best-selling book series. [...] The thriller novels, HEARTSICK, SWEETHEART, and EVIL AT HEART, center on beautiful serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her relationship with damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan. (link)
Bring it on, FX!
Read more
Tuesday, June 5th9:00am Galley Giveaway
PRIVACY by Garret Keizer
9:30am Author Signing!
THE HEART BROKE IN by James Meek
10am Galley Giveaway
THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel #8) by Louise Penny
WORLD WITHOUT CANCER by Margaret Cuomo
11:00am Galley Giveaway
WAKE (Watersong #1) by Amanda Hocking
MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND by Matthew Dicks (ALC)
2:00pm Author Signing!
CROSSTOWN TO OBLIVION by Walter Mosely
3:00pm Galley Giveaway
AN ECHO THROUGH THE SNOW by Andrea Thalasinos
WINTER JOURNAL by Paul Auster
4:00pm Galley Giveaway
MEMOIRS OF AN IMAGINARY FRIEND by Matthew Dicks
SPRING FEVER by Mary Kay Andrews
4:30pm Author Event (with booze!!)!
CAPTURING CAMELOT by Kitty Kelley
9:00am Galley Giveaway
WE SINNERS by Hanna Pylväinen
9:30am Author Signing!
THE OTHER WOMAN by Hank Phillipi Ryan
10:00am Galley Giveaway
GRACE GROWS by Shelle Sumners
A FOREIGN COUNTRY by Charles Cumming
10:30am Author Signing!
MR. PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan
11:00am Galley Giveaway
OBJECT LESSONS: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story
2:00pm Galley Giveaway
FALLEN MASTERS by John Edward
3:00pm Galley Giveaway
THE FORGETTING TREE by Tatiana Soli
*Dates and times subject to change. Please check back for updates!
Read more


