tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-224641122024-03-15T00:05:32.932-05:00Campaign for the American ReaderThe official blog of the Campaign for the American Reader, an independent initiative to encourage more readers to read more books.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger23371125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-29944771352891981092024-03-15T00:05:00.001-05:002024-03-15T00:05:00.128-05:00Q&A with Clare McHughFrom my Q&A with Clare McHugh, author of The Romanov Brides: A Novel of the Last Tsarina and Her Sisters:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?
I feel so lucky to have landed on the perfect title for this novel! What better title than The Romanov Brides for a book that brings to life on the page the momentous decisions made by two German princesses, the sisters Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-4965326389049189122024-03-14T12:05:00.001-05:002024-03-14T12:05:00.126-05:00Six great psychological thrillers set in Washington D.C.Aggie Blum Thompson worked as a newspaper reporter, covering cops, courts, and trials, with a healthy dose of the mundane mixed in. Her writing has appeared in newspapers such as The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. A native New Yorker, she now lives just over the Washington D.C. line in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband, two children, cat, and dog.
Thompson's new novel is Such a Lovely Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-41226438004807429312024-03-14T08:05:00.001-05:002024-03-14T08:05:00.142-05:00Pg. 99: Matthieu Grandpierron's "Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War"Featured at the Page 99 Test: Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War: How Leaders of Great Powers Cope with Status Decline by Matthieu Grandpierron.
About the book, from the publisher:
Why do great powers go to war? Why are non-violent, diplomatic options not prioritized? Nostalgic Virility as a Cause of War argues that world leaders react to status decline by going to war, guided by a nostalgic,Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-8878683034253001902024-03-14T00:05:00.001-05:002024-03-14T00:05:00.134-05:00Pg. 69: Chris Nickson's "The Scream of Sins"Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Scream of Sins by Chris Nickson.
About the book, from the publisher:
Thief-taker Simon Westow uncovers an evil lurking in the underbelly of Leeds in this page-turning historical mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry and Charles Finch.
Leeds, October 1824. Thief-taker Simon Westow's job seems straightforward. Captain Holcomb's maid, Sophie, has stolen Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-78083049996636539082024-03-13T12:05:00.001-05:002024-03-13T12:05:00.130-05:00Eight books about characters with psychic abilitiesKatya Apekina is a novelist, screenwriter and translator. Her novel, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, was named a Best Book of 2018 by Kirkus, Buzzfeed, LitHub and others, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize, and has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, French, German, and Italian. She has published stories in various literary magazines and translated poetry and prose for Night Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-22431844513073020202024-03-13T08:05:00.000-05:002024-03-13T08:05:00.145-05:00Pg. 99: Arthur Goldwag's "The Politics of Fear"Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Politics of Fear: The Peculiar Persistence of American Paranoia by Arthur Goldwag.
About the book, from the publisher:
From the author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies, a probing exploration of the bizarre and dangerous conspiracies that have roiled America over the past decade and captured the minds of so many Americans
Some of the conspiracy Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-29945798185878853272024-03-13T00:05:00.001-05:002024-03-13T00:05:00.155-05:00Q&A with Rachel LyonFrom my Q&A with Rachel Lyon, author of Fruit of the Dead: A Novel:How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?
Fruit of the Dead came to me through researching the myth of Persephone. While in the underworld, Persephone eats six pomegranate seeds, sometimes referred to as "fruit of the dead," an act that, without her knowledge, binds her to the place for eternity. Every Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-86251267630404305862024-03-12T12:05:00.001-05:002024-03-12T12:05:00.146-05:00Seven great vacation and road trip rom-comsNew York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch's novels include Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, In Twenty Years, and Time of My Life. She lives in Los Angeles with her family and their two rescue dogs, Hugo and Mr. Peanut.
Her new novel, Take Two, Birdie Maxwell -- think Notting Hill meets The Proposal -- is new in bookstores.
At LitHub Scotch tagged seven favorite great vacation and roadUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-30914610107579648322024-03-12T08:05:00.001-05:002024-03-12T08:05:00.141-05:00Pg. 99: Anne Berg's "Empire of Rags and Bones"Featured at the Page 99 Test: Empire of Rags and Bones: Waste and War in Nazi Germany by Anne Berg.
About the book, from the publisher:
Paper, bottles, metal scrap, kitchen garbage, rubber, hair, fat, rags, and bones--the Nazi empire demanded its population obsessively collect anything that could be reused or recycled. Entrepreneurs, policy makers, and ordinary citizens conjured up countless Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-17832322225874745582024-03-12T00:05:00.001-05:002024-03-12T00:05:00.131-05:00Pg. 69: Clare McHugh's "The Romanov Brides"Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Romanov Brides: A Novel of the Last Tsarina and Her Sisters by Clare McHugh.
About the book, from the publisher:
From the author of A Most English Princess comes a rich novel about young Princess Alix of Hesse—the future Alexandra, last Empress of Imperial Russia—and her sister, Princess Ella. Their decision to marry into the Romanov royal family changed Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-4578754962544020612024-03-11T12:05:00.000-05:002024-03-11T12:05:00.249-05:00Laura McNeal's "The Swan's Nest," the movieFeatured at My Book, The Movie: The Swan's Nest: A Novel by Laura McNeal.
The entry begins:
My novel, The Swan’s Nest, is about an impossible thing. A 32-year-old man wrote to a 38-year-old invalid he’d never seen and said he loved her. They corresponded for five months. What happened when they met is still being written about in universities around the world and celebrated in Valentine’s Day Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-72793950717020200912024-03-11T09:05:00.001-05:002024-03-11T09:05:00.130-05:00Seven top modern gothic novels featuring a feminist perspectivePaulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain and Parting the Veil, which received the prestigious HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there. After her mother introduced Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-66671683227369683462024-03-11T00:05:00.001-05:002024-03-11T00:05:00.138-05:00Pg. 99: Guido Bonsaver's "America in Italian Culture"Featured at the Page 99 Test: America in Italian Culture: The Rise of a New Model of Modernity, 1861-1943 by Guido Bonsaver.
About the book, from the publisher:
When America began to emerge as a world power at the end of the nineteenth century, Italy was a young nation, recently unified. The technological advances brought about by electricity and the combustion engine were vastly speeding up Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-54013070095537559552024-03-10T12:05:00.002-05:002024-03-10T12:05:00.242-05:00Q&A with Melanie MaureFrom my Q&A with Melanie Maure, author of Sisters of Belfast: A Novel:
The entry begins:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?
The title Sisters of Belfast encompasses the story quite well. If anyone is interested in stories set in Ireland and or the complex connection between sisters, then they will know what to expect to a certain extent. This was not the Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-4859342345292656502024-03-10T09:05:00.001-05:002024-03-10T09:05:00.260-05:00Ten top books to read on St. Patrick’s DayAt The Zoomer Book Club Athena McKenzie tagged ten "notable books illuminate the history, culture and food of the Emerald Isle," including:
56 DAYS by Catherine Ryan Howard
A thoroughly modern psychological suspense story, 56 Days takes place over lockdown in Dublin. Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket the same week that COVID-19 is discovered in Ireland. The new couple decides to move in Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-89199026422007348052024-03-10T00:05:00.000-06:002024-03-10T00:05:00.146-06:00Pg. 69: Rachel Lyon's "Fruit of the Dead"Featured at the Page 69 Test: Fruit of the Dead: A Novel by Rachel Lyon.
About the book, from the publisher:
An electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, about addiction and sex, family and independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.
Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-3116904214219865952024-03-09T12:05:00.001-06:002024-03-09T12:05:00.249-06:00Melanie Maure's "Sisters of Belfast," the movieFeatured at My Book, The Movie: Sisters of Belfast: A Novel by Melanie Maure.
The entry begins:
Sisters of Belfast is set mainly in Northern Ireland and partially in Newfoundland, Canada, and has four main characters—a set of twin sisters and two nuns. While there are several other characters, it is easiest to picture who would be cast as Aelish and Izzy, the twins who lose their parents duringUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-51864373142879431572024-03-09T09:05:00.000-06:002024-03-09T09:05:00.261-06:00Eight novels from across the world about isolationScott Alexander Howard lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where his work focused on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature.
The Other Valley is his first novel.
At Electric Lit he tagged eight novels from across the world about isolation, including:
Disappearing Earth by Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-88112142274335401832024-03-09T00:05:00.003-06:002024-03-09T00:05:00.138-06:00Pg. 99: Matthew A. Sears's "Sparta and the Commemoration of War"Featured at the Page 99 Test: Sparta and the Commemoration of War by Matthew A. Sears.
About the book, from the publisher:
The tough Spartan soldier is one of the most enduring images from antiquity. Yet Spartans too fell in battle – so how did ancient Sparta memorialise its wars and war dead? From the poet Tyrtaeus inspiring soldiers with rousing verse in the seventh century BCE to Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-66331326099878634012024-03-08T12:05:00.001-06:002024-03-08T12:05:00.244-06:00Pg. 69: Melanie Maure's "Sisters of Belfast"Featured at the Page 69 Test: Sisters of Belfast: A Novel by Melanie Maure.
About the book, from the publisher:
In the spirit of Heather Morris, Kate Quinn, and Pam Jenoff, an enthralling and deeply moving story that begins during World War II, about orphaned twin sisters in Ireland whose lives diverge for decades, until fate—and faith—reunite them in the twilight of their lives.
Orphaned Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-52706125558938743062024-03-08T08:05:00.001-06:002024-03-08T08:05:00.134-06:00Q&A with S. E. PorterFrom my Q&A with S. E. Porter, author of Projections: A Novel:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?
The title Projections takes readers into the heart of the story, but through the side door. The projections of the title have a double meaning: they’re primarily the magical recreations of his young self that the sorcerer Gus Farrow sends back to the ordinary Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-88130886179049832152024-03-08T00:05:00.001-06:002024-03-08T00:05:00.137-06:00Five of the best books about democracy in crisisRafael Behr is a Guardian columnist and leader writer. He was formerly a correspondent in the Baltic region and Russia. He is the author of Politics: A Survivor's Guide.
At the Guardian he writes about
the permacrisis – a state of perpetual turbulence that folds geopolitical tension into cultural polarisation and spins it all around in a furious vortex. It can feel like being knocked over in Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-7395344320380964442024-03-07T15:05:00.002-06:002024-03-07T15:10:04.797-06:00Pg. 99: James Gerber's "Border Economies"Featured at the Page 99 Test: Border Economies: Cities Bridging the U.S.-Mexico Divide by James Gerber.
About the book, from the publisher:
The border between the United States and Mexico is one of the most unique and complex regions of the world. The asymmetry of the border region, together with the profound cultural differences of the two countries, create national controversies around Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-48353875499851237922024-03-07T12:05:00.001-06:002024-03-07T12:05:00.130-06:00Seven top titles with women behaving badlySophie Wan is a graduate of UC Berkeley and spent too long writing emails before she picked up writing fiction.
As a Bay Area native, she has no choice but to enjoy outdoor activities, but prefers those where her feet remain firmly on the ground. She’s currently shivering her way through grad school in Philadelphia.
Wan's debut novel is Women of Good Fortune.
At CrimeReads she tagged seven of Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22464112.post-23192046777917126732024-03-07T08:05:00.001-06:002024-03-07T08:05:00.147-06:00Claire Coughlan's "Where They Lie," the movieFeatured at My Book, The Movie: Where They Lie: A Novel by Claire Coughlan.
The entry begins:
Where They Lie, my debut novel, is set in Dublin in 1968, with some parts set in 1943. Ambitious and conflicted young reporter Nicoletta Sarto happens to answer the telephone just before Christmas to the information that human remains have been found in a seaside garden. These bones have already been Unknownnoreply@blogger.com