Monday Fun Day - Macmillan Library

Wednesday Fun Day! (8/17/2011 Edition)

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Ali Fisher

My friends, Hawaii was a dream come true! Just look how happy I was at my underwater tea party. I spent 90% of my time on the beach, eating pineapple, reading great books, and working on my sunburn. I'm also pretty sure I saw a turtle.

During my absence some serious shenanigans were afoot:

Talia fell into deep despair over my absence and caught THE FLU! Don't worry; she made a full recovery in time for my return. I felt horrible for her until I realized she totally spilled the beans on the top secret three armed dino project. Now that the dinos are out of the bag, I'll make sure to keep you updated on all of our 2012 YA business.

The 2011 PEN Literary Award winners were announced and we have a few favorites on the list: Essays from the Nick of Time: Reflections and Refutations, which won the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, and Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, which won the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. There were quite a few exceptional runners-up on the list from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, as well.

The Arizona Republic wrote a feature story on one of our favorite blogging librarians, Lesa Holstine! Check out the picture they included of Lesa with some great Macmillan books. Photo credit: Carlos Chavez.

It turns out HBO likes Tom Perrotta's post-Rapture novel, THE LEFTOVERS, almost as much as the EarlyWord Galley Chat crew because they're adapting the novel into a tv show! See details here.

We'll be announcing the winner of THE OMEN MACHINE Awesome Stuff Giveaway this Friday, so check the site and your email!

And finally, tomorrow I'll be posting the beachy stuff contest I promised you guys in return for being good while I was gone.

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Monday Fun Day! (8/1/2011 Edition)

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Ali Fisher

Aaand we're back with another thrilling issue of Monday Fun Day!

Last week we ran a series of posts on books for reluctant readers of the teen male variety called He's Just Not That Into Books. After you check out the recommendations under the tag "Just Not That Into Books," let us know what other titles have proved successful in grabbing the attention of young men at your library.

Also, if you didn't get your request in for a galley of Patti Callahan Henry's latest, COMING UP FOR AIR, there's still time! We have more ARCs that need good homes. For an advanced copy of COMING UP FOR AIR send your name, library, and full mailing address to Library @ MacmillanUSA.com.

NPR has taken an interest in a few of our more scandalous and dark memoirs. Melissa Febo, author of WHIP SMART (now in paperback), was interviewed about her experiences as a dominatrix in Manhattan on NPR's Fresh Air (the half-hour recording can be heard here).

And in Game On! 5 Winning Summer Sports Books, NPR recommended BASKETBALL JUNKIE, the "exceptional" and "often devastating" memoir of Chris Herren, former Boston Celtics player and raging heroin addict.

We hope you're getting in plenty of good summer reading! Enjoy the sun!

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Monday Fun Day! (7/25/2011 Edition)

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Ali Fisher

It's Monday! Monday! Monday!

And we have galleys to send you! Patti Callahan Henry has written yet another insightful exploration of the human heart, COMING UP FOR AIR.

UPDATE: We have sent out all of our COMING UP FOR AIR galleys. If you got one, enjoy!

Ellie’s world turns upside down after her controlling mother passes away and she sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at the funeral. Ellie learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved her mother before her death. He wants answers to questions that Ellie’s not sure she can face, until, when going through her mother’s things, she discovers a hidden diary – and a window onto stories buried long ago.

COMING UP FOR AIR will be available September 2011 from St. Martin's Press and is featured on the August 2011 Indie Next List. If you would like an advanced copy of COMING UP FOR AIR send your name, library, and full mailing address to Library @ MacmillanUSA.com.

Tomorrow Talia will be giving shout-outs to some hot new titles in a Booklist buzz webinar. Join us, Random House, and HarperCollins for an hour of library-specific recommendations! Sign up here.

Last week, many of our buddies over at Tor were singularly focused on San Diego Comic Con. If you're following them on Twitter you've undoubtedly seen an influx in geektastic tweets about panels, interviews, and costume sightings. I am, admittedly, quite jealous.

And finally, a head's up: for the rest of this week we'll be running blog posts on great books for reluctant readers of the teenage male variety. Tune in and tell us your favorites, too!

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Monday Fun Day! (7/18/2011 Edition)

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Ali Fisher

Happy Monday, librarians!

First of all: congrats to all five winners of the Great ALA Signed Books Sweepstakes! We had hundreds of enthusiastic entries and so much positive feedback that we'll definitely be holding more contests like this in the future. In case you missed it, the winners are as follows:

The three (3) runners-up for a signed copy of IRON HOUSE are:
Nancy Vigezzi, Merrimack Public Library
Lisa Hullett, Wallace State Community College Library
Jeff Bailey, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro

The 1st runner-up for three (3) signed paperbacks is:
Lisa Cosgrove-Davies, Arlington Public Library

The Grand Prize Winner for six (6) signed hardcovers is:
Shana Hitt, Brooklyn Public Library

Last week EarlyWord put up a list of great new reads, "New Title Radar – Week of July 18," and marked Colin Cotterill's KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT as the Rising Star! And did you see Colin as Book Brahmin in Shelf Awareness last week? He's a riot.

If you've fallen head over, ehem, heels for the sassy kicks on the cover of third-in-series THIRD GRAVE DEAD AHEAD, you can buy them here on heels.com! NOTE: This is this Little, Brown UK version of this cover, so keep your eyes peels for our steamy US version.

DRAGON'S OATH, the first novella in a House of Night mini-series, released last week so we can finally share with you some rad early versions of the illustrations by Kim Doner.

"These characters may be nearly immortal, but they are at the beginning of such immortality and, therefore, they are like any other young couple.

These are a few of the sketches I made: him approaching from behind her, sword down; her handing him a sunflower; her beginning to lift the face of a sunflower up towards him." -illustrator Kim Doner

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Monday Fun Day! (7/11/2011 Edition)

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Ali Fisher

Happy Monday, everyone!

Let's start by congratulating Chevy Stevens whose chilling debut, STILL MISSING, won the 2011 Thriller Award for Best First Novel. Well done, Chevy! You can see all the 2011 Thriller Award-winners here.

Congrats are also in order for a second exceptional debut, THE POACHER'S SON by Paul Doiron, which just won the 2010 Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel!

In response to a flood of requests, we posted the full text of the fabulous BEA panel, "The Great Readalike. If You Like This…You’ll LOVE That!" The recommendations are spot on; I've already found two new favorites.

Barbara Hoffert shared some of her personal panel highlights from ALA 2011 in Authors at ALA: My Final Word. Her list includes “Tales from the Heart: Literary Memoirs” with Margaux Fragoso (TIGER, TIGER), “Celebrating Southern Writers" with John Hart (IRON HOUSE), and “Mystery and Horror @ Your Library” with Bill Loehfelm (THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS) and Erica Spindler (WATCH ME DIE). Barbara also included her Best Suggestion for a Book Club Read: THE TRANSFORMATION OF BARTHOLOMEW FORTUNO by Ellen Bryson and says,

"Both touching and absorbing, this First Author title reminds us that we’re none of us geeks—we share our humanity, whatever our 'curiosities.'"

Speaking of TIGER, TIGER, IRON HOUSE, and THE TRANSFORMATION OF BARTHOLOMEW FORTUNO, our Great ALA Signed Books Sweepstakes is only open until Friday, so get your entry in now!

And if you're in the mood to enter another rad contest, FSG is giving away 50 copies of THE HYPNOTIST here: http://us.macmillan.com/FSGadult/promo/hypnotistjuly.

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Tuesday Fun Day! (7/5/2011 Edition)

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Ali Fisher

I know, I know; "Tuesday Fun Day" doesn't exactly rhyme, but we were out of the office on Monday and I simply refuse to skip Fun Day, so you're just going to have to deal.

First of all, I have to tell you that I spent the long weekend completely wrapped up in Nebula-nominee SHADES OF MILK AND HONEY. My only question: why did I wait so long to pick it up?! This book is 100% swoon-worthy. It's no surprise that The Salt Lake County Library System selected it as a Reader's Choice-nominee! In response to the news, author Mary Robinette Kowal's said,

"I adore libraries, so to be on this list is a real honor."

A big round of applause to the 2011 RWA Librarian of the Year, Wendy Crutcher! This honor is awarded to a librarian who demonstrates outstanding support of romance authors and the romance genre. Read her acceptance speech on her blog.

Vogue weighs in on this Summer's Best Beach Reads, including Deborah Kay Davies’ TRUE THINGS ABOUT ME and Daisy Goodwin’s THE AMERICAN HEIRESS.

Fans of Alyson Noël can enter to win an MP3 player with the EVERMORE (The Immortals Series, Book 1) audio book already uploaded!

Finally, as the library marketing world starts to say our farewells to Marcie Purcell of Random House who is retiring after 20 years of service to libraries, Talia is introducing a new Marcie into her life.

Librarians, meet Marcie, Talia's new scruff ball:

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Monday Fun Day!

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Ali Fisher

Thanks to the sage adage of our ancestors, we know that Monday is, in fact, Fun Day, and it's high time we began treating it that way! Today we've got a veritable* smörgåsbord of library and literary goodness for you. Enjoy!

First and foremost, get up out of that rolly chair and join us in a standing ovation for the King County Library System, winner of the Gale/Library Journal Library of the Year Award.

"The innovations and programs, the creative management of KCLS resources, the ability to stretch but still serve the principles and core values of librarianship, the strong public support, and the vision for the system’s future make it clear that KCLS is more deserving than ever to be named Library of the Year." —Library Journal

Hear, hear! I am particularly giddy about this announcement seeing as KCLS is the library system I grew up on. Way to go, KCLS.

In other super-awesome awards news, THE WAY OF KINGS by Brandon Sanderson won the 2010 DGLA Legend Award for Best Novel! And Simon Winder's travel romp, GERMANIA, was shortlisted for the 2011 Dolman Travel Book of the Year!

In getting-pumped-for-ALA-Annual news, Library Journal's Barbara Hoffert made a super convenient, printable PDF for this year's author signings and hot galley giveaways. View and print Barbara Hoffert's ALA Galley & Signing Guide 2011 here! Here's a sneak peek:

Barbara's ALA Picks

Oh, and a reminder for all you sci-fi fans: io9 is holding a book club discussion for THE QUANTUM THIEF on June 28th. I'll definitely be dropping by. Need convincing? Read the reviews!

And finally, this weekend I waited in line for a scrumptious burrito and morita lunch combo behind this brilliant fellow:

Never Underestimate

Seriously good taste, my friend.

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