Reviews and Publicity - Macmillan Library

Starred Reviews for Flora

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Book clubs, take note! Reviewers are giving Gail Godwin's latest, FLORA, high praise. Here's a quick summary to get you familiar:

Ten-year-old Helen and her summer guardian, Flora, are isolated together in Helen's decaying family house while her father is doing secret war work during the final months of World War II. At three, Helen lost her mother, and the beloved grandmother who raised her has just died. Flora, who cries at the drop of a hat, is ardently determined to do her best for Helen. Their relationship and its fallout will haunt Helen for the rest of her life.

"Unsparing yet compassioante; a fine addition to Godwin's long list of first-rate faction bringing 19th-century richness of detail and characterization to the ambiguities of modern life." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[A] stirring and wondrous novel from Godwin…. [her] thoughtful portrayal of their boredom, desires, and the eventual heartbreak of their summer underscores the impossible position of children, who are powerless against the world and yet inherit responsibility for its agonies." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Godwin’s under-your-skin characters are perfectly realized, and the held-breath plot is consummately choreographed. But the wonder of this incisive novel of the endless repercussions of loss and remorse at the dawn of the atomic age is how subtly Godwin laces it with exquisite insights into secret family traumas, unspoken sexuality, class and racial divides, and the fallout of war while unveiling the incubating mind of a future writer." —Booklist (starred review)

FLORA was also on the May 2013 Indie Next List!

FLORA by Gail Godwin.Poignant story of loss of innocence in 1940s North Carolina mountains. #ewgc

— Janet Lockhart (@HartGami) May 7, 2013

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Monday Fun Day! (2/11/2013 Edition)

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Happy Monday, librarians!

Apologies for the unexpected radio silence after Wednesday of last week; I fell victim to the seasonal cold monster. I've triumphantly defeated the beast and returned only slightly sniffly to kick off the week with some great news.

- Continuing the exciting award nomination news from last week, we got the list of Macmillan books nominated for the 2012 Agatha Awards:

Nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Novel of 2012:

THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY
by Louise Penny

A FATAL WINTER
by G.M. Malliet

THE OTHER WOMAN
by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel of 2012:

DANDY GILVER AND AN UNSUITABLE DAY FOR A MURDER
by Catriona McPherson

Winners will be announced at the 2012 Agatha Awards banquet on May 4th, 2013, during Malice Domestic 25. See the full list of Agatha nominees here.

- A delightful review of THE MARLOW PAPERS is currently traveling all across the U.S. in American Airline's American Way magazine!

"With the screw-tightening verve of a great thriller and the romantic pull of Renaissance poetry, the novel—which purports that Marlowe is the true author of William Shakespeare’s legendary oeuvre—is a gripping, lyrical, most unlikely page-turner."

Read the super quick review here.

- Flavorwire suckered us in with another one of their bookish listicles, "The Best Fictional Libraries in Pop Culture."

- And finally, a couple of snuggly red pandas romping around in the snow!!

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Starred Review for See Now Then

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Talia and I have a girl crush on Jamaica Kincaid. We spent a little time with her before the Freedom to Read Foundation's Banned/Challenged Author event at Seattle Town Hall during ALA Midwinter. She completely won us over in, oh, approximately four minutes.

Kincaid joined us in Seattle to talk about her journey as a reader and a writer and the experience of having her book, LUCY, challenged in a Pennsylvania high school as "most pornographic." More on that event here.

We're excited to see that SEE NOW THEN, Kincaid's first novel in ten years, has some great press already. The New York Times ran a piece called "Never Mind the Parallels, Don’t Read It as My Life" in which Kincaid clarifies how much of her new book is autobiographical (spoiler: only some). And Publishers Weekly interviewed Kincaid in "The Age of a Mountain: PW Talks with Jamaica Kincaid" about the phrase "see now then" and her experience creating characters of all ages.

"Kincaid has created a measured, bewitching, and metaphysical fable, as well as a venomous, acidly comic, and plangent tale of love, betrayal, and loss that is at once slashingly personal and radiantly universal in its mystery, passion, and catharsis." -Booklist (starred review)

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Eleven Dark Tales of Murder, Mourning, and Revenge

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Ali Fisher

An aspiring writer discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. An accomplished surgeon meets a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart. And while the surgeon’s jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman. The fates of these and others converge in the dark web of Yoko Ogawa's REVENGE.

Alan Cheuse raved about REVENGE on NPR saying, "So, really, it's not just Murakami but also the shadow of Borges that hovers over this mesmerizing book. And in that telltale heart, one may detect a slight bow to the American macabre of E.A. Poe. Ogawa stands on the shoulders of giants, as another saying goes. But this collection may linger in your mind—it does in mine—as a delicious, perplexing, absorbing and somehow singular experience." Read the full review here.

"Ogawa’s writing is simple and effective, and her technique for merging the tales demonstrates her mastery of the written word. [...] the author paints each tale exquisitely." -Kirkus Reviews

"Weaving together the morbid tales of 11 unnamed narrators, prolific Japanese author Ogawa, a Shirley Jackson Award winner, [...] makes it count with her precision and dedication to bringing the vision full-circle." -Publishers Weekly

Watch the book trailer for REVENGE here. IF YOU DARE!

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Monday Fun Day! (2/4/2013 Edition)

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Hello, librarian buds! We'reback in the office after ALA Midwinter and ready to talk about a bunch of great award nomination news.

The 2013 nominees for the Left Coast Crime (a.k.a. Lefty) Award, which honors the best humorous mystery published during the previous year, have been annouced! The Macmillan nominees are:

SWIFT RUN by Laura DiSilverio

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Brad Parks

Also HUSH MONEY by Chuck Greaves has been shortlisted for the Rocky Award for best mystery novel set in the Left Coast Crime geographical region and DANDY GILVER AND AN UNSUITABLE DAY FOR A MURDER by Catriona McPherson is shortlisted for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award, which is given to mystery novels covering events before 1960!

Winners will be announced on March 23rd during the 23rd annual Left Coast Crime Convention in Colorado Springs, CO.

In other award news, Colin Cotterill's GRANDAD, THERE'S A HEAD ON THE BEACH was shortlisted for this year’s Dilys Award! See all of the nominees here.

And again in award news, CURSE OF THE JADE LILY by David Housewright is up for the Genre Fiction Minnesota Book Award this year! See the rest of the cetegories and nominees here.

In, um, dragon news, Publishers Weekly talked to Marie Brennan, author of A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS, about—you guessed it—dragons! Read "Why Do Dragons Look Like That?" on PublishersWeekly.com.

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2013 RUSA Notable Books, Listen List, & Reading List

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Thank you to the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) who share their fine reading and listening lists with us every year!

Below are the excellent titles published and distributed by Macmillan that were honored with a place on one of the 2013 lists.

Congratulations to all!

RUSA’s 2013 Notable Books List:

Outstanding fiction, nonfiction and poetry for adult readers.

Fiction:

HALF-BLOOD BLUES by Esi Edugyan

Nonfiction:

LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER by Ross King

Poetry:

"Inferno" by Dante, Trans. Mary Jo Bang., Illus. Henrik Drescher

See all of the RUSA Notable Book winners here!

RUSA’s 2013 Listen List highlights:

Audiobooks that provide extraordinary listening experiences.

BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel, Narrated by Simon Vance

THE INQUISITOR by Mark Allen Smith, Narrated by Ari Fliakos

MR PENUMBRA'S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan, Narrated by Ari Fliakos

See the full Listen List here!

RUSA’s 2013 Reading List:

Top picks in adrenaline, mystery, romance, sci-fi, women’s fiction and other genres.

Adrenaline:

THE SURVIVOR by Gregg Hurwitz (short list)

THE INQUISITOR by Mark Allen Smith (short list)

Historical Fiction:

BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel (WINNER)

Horror:

THE RITUAL by Adam Nevill (WINNER)

THIS BOOK IS FULL OF SPIDERS by David Wong (short list)

Mystery:

THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY by Louise Penny (short list)

DON'T EVER GET OLD by Daniel Friedman (short list)

See the full Reading List here!

Again, thank you to RUSA and to all of the hard-working librarians on their selection committees!

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The Big Idea: Steven Gould on Whatever

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Steven Gould's latest novel in the world of JUMPER is now available! It's called IMPULSE and the story follows Cent, Davy's daughter, who is a second generation Jumper.

There are few things I love more than listening to two fantastic authors chat it up (this is also why I love all of the events at the Pop Top Stage during ALA conferences so freaking much). So I'm aggressively directing you (think stuttering neon arrow sign) toward Whatever, John Scalzi's blog, where Scalzi extended his soapbox to Gould for a quick rundown of the scientific revelations in the Jumper universe and how they magnify the drama of the stories.

Gould starts with the science,

"In the first book we learned a few things about Jumping: 1. Jumping does not conserve momentum. Davy can jump off a cliff or a tall building and, as long as he jumps before he goes splat at the bottom, he carries none of the acquired downward velocity with him when he appears elsewhere."

Then gives us a sneak peek of how Cent will manipulate that in IMPULSE,

"Cent [...] takes this to another place, exploiting rule 1: Momentum is not conserved."

And comes around to his personal journey through the series,

"I was that teenage boy with the alcoholic father. I was the reluctant parent unsure whether my own childhood would poison my ability to parent well. And, now with IMPULSE, I have daughters who amaze and surprise me."

Go read more in The Big Idea: Steven Gould!

On IMPULSE Kirkus Reviews says, "Mr. Gould, please write faster."

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The 2013 Edgar Nominees!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Ali Fisher

The 2013 Edgar nominees are in! The list, as always, is jam-packed with a suspiciously high level of talent. We want to celebrate all of the awesome Macmillan titles on the list.

Best First Novel:

DON'T EVER GET OLD by Daniel Friedman

Best Paperback Original:

BLOODLAND by Alan Glynn

Best Fact Crime:

THE PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS by Richard Lloyd Parry

Mary Higgins Clark:

DEAD SCARED by S.J. Bolton

A CITY OF BROKEN GLASS by Rebecca Cantrell

THE RECKONING by Jane Casey

THE OTHER WOMAN by Hank Phillippi Ryan

See the full list of the Mystery Writers of America's nominees here! [...]

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Monday Fun Day! (1/14/2013 Edition)

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Ali Fisher

Happy Monday, Librarians!

- We're proud to see some fantastic books published and distributed by Macmillan on the list of finalists for the National Book Critics’ Circle Awards!

In the category of Fiction:

HHhH by Laurent Binet (FSG)

In the category of Biography:

ALL WE KNOW by Lisa Cohen (FSG)

In the category of Autobiography:

MY POETS by Maureen N. McLane (FSG)

In the category of Criticism:

REINVENTING BACH by Paul Elie (FSG)

THE GREY ALBUM: On the Blackness of Blackness by Kevin Young (Graywolf Press)

In the category of Poetry:

USELESS LANDSCAPE, OR A GUIDE FOR BOYS by D. A. Powell (Graywolf Press)

- We also saw some great reads on Nancy Pearl's list of Sure Bets for Your Book Group in her most recent Check it Out column for Publishers Weekly. We're especially excited about AMONG OTHERS by Jo Walton and FIELDWORK by Mischa Berlinski. See all of her picks here.

- Don't forget to get whitelisted so you can download all of Macmillan's e-galleys from Edelweiss! Instructions here.

- And check out the chapter sampler that St. Martin's Press created of their Spring 2013 debuts just for you. Download it now!

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The Monster is Within: Hemlock Grove on Netflix!

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Ali Fisher

I have been very anxious to see what Eli Roth is going to do with Brian McGreevy's dark, small-town murder mystery debut HEMLOCK GROVE in his series adaptation for Netflix.

Adaptations have always seemed daunting to me and the bizarre tone of HEMLOCK GROVE will make for an additional challenge. Fingers-crossed on this girl that the translation sings.

We got out first peek recently in the trailer:

Come April Netflix will be promoting this show like crazy. Since all the episodes drop at the same time, it'll watch more like a 13-hour movie than a season of tv. Don't be surprised if you get some bloodshot eyes scoping the stacks for McGreevy's source material soon after.

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