THE INNOCENT SLEEP by Karen Perry is receiving rave reviews. Our friends at Henry Holt have created a PDF with all the great praise for you to share with your colleagues and patrons. Simply click the image below to download.
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Tag: starred review
LibraryReads, Indie Next & Three Stars for THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING
The good news just keeps coming for THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing. It's #9 on the December LibraryReads list, a January Indie Next selection, and now it's received THREE starred pre-publication reviews:
“The tortured relationship between literary lions and their liquor illuminates the obscure terrain of psychology and art in this searching biographical meditation…. Laing explores this rich topic through an unusual mix of biographical research, astute literary interpretation, and wonderfully atmospheric travelogue... The result is a fine study of a human frailty through the eyes of its most perceptive victims.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A funny, tragic, and insightful journey for anyone who has read F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, or John Berryman; prepare to be smitten with this fresh offering. Those unfamiliar with these writers will want to read their works.” – Library Journal, starred review
"Intently observant, curious, and empathetic, Laing, with shimmering detail and arresting insights, presents a beautifully elucidating and moving group portrait of writers enslaved by drink and redeemed by 'the capacity of literature to somehow...make one feel less flinchingly alone.'” – Booklist, starred review
"A provocative, evocative blend of memoir, literary history and lyrical travel writing." – Kirkus Reviews
Get whitelisted and download your review copy on Edelweiss.
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LibraryReads chooses DANGEROUS WOMEN and THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING!
CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY! LibraryReads just announced their December 2013 list and we're thrilled to have two great Macmillan titles in the top ten:
Coming in at #7 is DANGEROUS WOMEN, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. This amazing collection of 22 original short stories co-edited by the Game of Thrones creator features contributions from bestselling authors, including Jim Butcher, Diana Gabaldon, Lev Grossman, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Brandon Sanderson, and a new GOT novella from Martin himself. It's received three outstanding starred pre-publication reviews, all claiming that this collection has something for every reader. Whether it's science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, or suspense, women are the stars, from feisty heroines down to villainess vixens.
The #9 pick is THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing, which was also recently named a January Indie Next selection. Growing up in an alcoholic family, Laing wanted to make sense of this disease and started by examining the link between alcohol and creativity in some of America’s finest writers, including Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. “The tortured relationship between literary lions and their liquor illuminates the obscure terrain of psychology and art in this searching biographical meditation…. Laing explores this rich topic through an unusual mix of biographical research, astute literary interpretation, and wonderfully atmospheric travelogue... The result is a fine study of a human frailty through the eyes of its most perceptive victims.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review.
See the full December 2013 top ten list on LibraryReads.org.
Thank you to everyone who voted! Keep in mind with the Thanksgiving holidays approaching that nominations for the January list will be upon us very soon (due December 1). Don't wait, nominate!
As for the current list, you can help support these great books by promoting each month's selections in a featured display in your library and by using the FREE downloadable marketing materials provided by LibraryReads, which includes flyers and online banner ads.
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Books From Days of Yore
Hear ye, hear ye! Feast your eyes upon these books set in days long ago:
HILD by Nicola Griffith
Award-winning author Griffith's story of a girl named Hild who becomes St. Hilda’s of Whitby is "A book that deserves a place alongside T.H. White, to say nothing of Ellis Peters." — Kirkus Reviews. "Griffith expertly blends an exploration of seventh-century court life and a detailed character study of Hild as she balances a need for acceptance, love, and friendship and a desire to escape the strict gender roles of her time. In short, Griffith triumphs with this intelligent, beautifully written, and meticulously researched novel." — Booklist, starred review
Award-winning author Griffith's story of a girl named Hild who becomes St. Hilda’s of Whitby is "A book that deserves a place alongside T.H. White, to say nothing of Ellis Peters." — Kirkus Reviews. "Griffith expertly blends an exploration of seventh-century court life and a detailed character study of Hild as she balances a need for acceptance, love, and friendship and a desire to escape the strict gender roles of her time. In short, Griffith triumphs with this intelligent, beautifully written, and meticulously researched novel." — Booklist, starred review
WARLORD: A Novel of Robin Hood by Angus Donald
In the fourth installment in the Robin Hood series, King Richard I, the Lionheart, is engaged in a bloody war to drive the French out of Normandy. Aided in his struggle are the outlaw Robin Hood, and Sir Alan Dale, his loyal friend who is also attempting to discover the identity the man who ordered his father's death ten years earlier. "This book is a bloodcurdling tale of medieval greed, cruelty and honor. A fast-paced and exciting story unsuitable for the squeamish." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
HAVISHAM by Ronald Frame
Frame's prelude to Charles Dickens's classic GREAT EXPECTATIONS imagines the life of Catherine Havisham before she was cursed to a solitary life, roaming the halls of the mansion in the tatters of the dress she was never able to wear at her wedding. Everyone is simply mad for it—read more (and watch the book trailer) here.
Fare thee well, friends! [...]
NYPL Mystery Book Buzz 2013
Today Anne is presenting all the latest and greatest Mystery titles at the New York Public Library Book Buzz (9:30-noon EST). We don't want anyone to feel left out, so here’s what she’ll be talking about:
AN OLD BETRAYAL by Charles Finch
The seventh book in Finch’s bestselling Victorian mystery series, starring his intelligent and charming sleuth extraordinaire Charles Lenox.
ONCE UPON A LIE by Maggie Barbieri
In a dramatic departure from her Murder 101 series, Barbieri has written a riveting mystery about one burnt out mother's desperate determination to protect her family's future by facing down her past.
MURDER AND MOONSHINE by Carol Miller
A debut mystery set in the heart of moonshine country and brimming with Southern charm courtesy of our heroine Daisy, a young diner waitress.
ROSEMARY AND CRIME by Gail Oust
Murder comes well-seasoned in this charming new cozy series featuring Piper Prescott, a small-town Georgia spice shop owner/spunky amateur sleuth.
THE ORPHAN CHOIR by Sophie Hannah
A standalone psychological suspense novel that is “Absolutely haunting, in every sense of the word.” — Booklist, starred review
SNOWBLIND by Christopher Golden
Survivors of a blizzard twelve years ago are being haunted by the memories of those who died. Stephen King said, "Throw away all those old ‘it was a dark and stormy night’ novels; this one is the real deal.”
APPLE TREE YARD by Louise Doughty
A woman in the wrong place, at the wrong time with the wrong man—evocative of the psychological suspense and dangerous eroticism found in the blockbuster thrillers “Unfaithful” and “Fatal Attraction.”
BAD WOLF by Nele Neuhaus
The next book in the internationally bestselling series that began with SNOW WHITE MUST DIE.
THE INNOCENT SLEEP by Karen Perry
A couple are restarting their lives five years after their son died in a tragic accident. But is the son really dead?
DOING HARM by Kelly Parsons
In this highly anticipated debut thriller from board-certified urologist Parsons, a doctor is about to get his dream job at a Boston hospital when he learns his patient’s mysterious death was caused by a sociopath he knows.
WHERE MONSTERS DWELL by Jørgen Brekke
Two gruesome murders take place half a world apart in Virginia and Norway and are somehow connected to The Book of John—a journal bound in human skin written by a sixteenth century serial murderer from Norway.
PRECIOUS THING by Colette McBeth
Rachel and Clara are two best friends who drift apart—until Rachel's job as a crime reporter leads her back to Clara, who turns out to be the missing person at the police press conference Rachel is covering.
THE REVENANT OF THRAXTON HALL by Vaughn Entwistle
Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde team up to investigate the future death of a medium at a manor in the English countryside.
NOTORIOUS by Allison Brennan
Brennan launches a new series starring investigative reporter Max Revere, a tough-as-nails lady with with her own TV show and a knack for solving cold cases.
RUNNER by Patrick Lee
An explosive new thriller series starring retired special forces operative Sam Dryden. Library Journal called it “a high-tech thriller that’s hard to put down.”
DEAD WATER by Ann Cleeves
The eagerly awaited new entry in Ann Cleeves' popular mystery series set in the Shetland Islands, now airing on BBC as the television series Shetland.
DON’T EVER LOOK BACK by Daniel Friedman
The sequel to the Edgar Award-nominated debut DON'T EVER GET OLD, starring feisty octogenarian Buck Schatz. This time Buck is trying to finish some unsolved robberies from his past.
FROM THE CHARRED REMAINS by Susanna Calkins
In the next charming historical mystery featuring chambermaid Lucy Campion, a dead body is discovered in the wreckage of the Great Fire of London—only the victim didn't perish in the blaze.
THE CAIRO AFFAIR by Olen Steinhauer
International politics are at play as an Egyptian agent, an American analyst, a CIA agent, and a bereaved wife all converge on Cairo to find out why a diplomat was assassinated.
DESTROYER ANGEL by Nevada Barr
In the next book in the Anna Pigeon series, Anna must rescue her four friends from armed thugs while on a camping trip with no access to the outside world and limited resources.
KEEP QUIET by Lisa Scottoline
New York Times bestseller Scottoline's new thriller about a father making a split-second decision to save his son—and the consequences that follow.
Want a briefer, more adorable version? Click here to download the handout. To those attending, see you soon! [...]
Sneak Peek: The December 2013 Indie Next list
The December Indie Next list was recently announced and we're thrilled that it includes so many wonderful Macmillan titles!
THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The eighth book in the Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne series is also #2 on the November LibraryReads list and is celebrating a very special #BookBday today!
JEEVES AND THE WEDDING BELLS by Sebastian Faulks
Bertie and Jeeves are back and in fine fettle, courtesy of Sebastian Faulks's homage to P.G. Wodehouse. Faulksie's done him proud: four outstanding starred pre-pub reviews. Well done, old chap!
THE HOUSEMAID'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Mutch
The great praise keeps coming in for this debut novel: "Rich in detail and subtle in its politics, this affecting novel tells a poignant, inspiring story." –Booklist, starred review
REPORT FROM THE INTERIOR by Paul Auster
In the bestselling author's most intimate autobiographical work to date, Auster describes his journey into adulthood through the postwar 1950s into the turbulent 1960s.
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Head over heels for HAVISHAM
Everyone loves Ronald Frame's HAVISHAM, and for good reason. The story is creative (it's a prelude to Charles Dickens's classic GREAT EXPECTATIONS), the package is gorgeous, and the reviews are glowing:
“Before she took to pacing about her cobwebbed London manse in a tattered wedding gown, literature’s most famous jilted bride, Miss Havisham, ran the family brewery. Expectations are great for this engaging ‘prequel’ to Dickens’ classic.” —Good Housekeeping, New Book Picks
“In HAVISHAM, his prequel to Great Expectations, Ronald Frame colorfully imagines the traumas that doomed the tortured Miss Havisham.” —Vanity Fair, Hot Type column
“If you love Great Expectations, you'll bask in the light of Frame's detailed and atmospheric prequel focusing on the dark and tragic Miss Havisham.” —Shelf Awareness
“An excellent example of a present-day writer taking on a classic, HAVISHAM gives the reader food for thought while reviving one of the great characters of Victorian literature.” —BookPage
"An intelligently imagined Dickens prequel." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review and Best Book of the Year selection
More reviews are still to come from USA Today and the New York Times Book Review. Film and TV rights have been acquired for adaptation by BBC producer Christopher Aird (Call the Midwife), but until then, you can watch the lovely book trailer.
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Thriller Thursday (10/24/13 Edition)
Our #ThrillerThursday picks are a bit cozier this week (it's getting cold out!), but enjoyable all the same:
ACCUSED by Lisa Scottoline
The ladies from the Rosato & Associates law firm are back! Mary DiNunzio is now a partner(!) and engaged(!!) and has an unexpected new client: thirteen-year-old Allegra Gardner, who believes the man accused of her sister's murder is innocent. "This is a long-awaited, solid entry into a terrific series that should appeal to fans of Sheldon Siegel, Rose Connors, and Steve Martini." — Booklist
OUTLAW by Mark Sullivan
This high-stakes thriller continues the adventures of former CIA operative and master thief Robin Monarch (after ROGUE), who must rescue the U.S. Secretary of State and foreign ministers from China and India, who have been kidnapped. "Sullivan has created a fine adventure-thriller hero in Monarch, who fits perfectly into the Ludlum or Vince Flynn mode. The action and the surprises are nonstop. Readers will demand the next one in the series, pronto." — Booklist
NEVER LAUGH AS A HEARSE GOES BY by Elizabeth Duncan
Who can resist a mystery involving libraries?!! Duncan's fifth book in the Penny Brannigan series "is a pleasing update of the 'body in the library' standard. In the time-honored tradition of village cozies, Duncan provides structure, subtle clues, rampant gossip, and a satisfying conclusion." — Library Journal, starred review
DUCK THE HALLS by Donna Andrews
In Meg Langslow's 16th mystery, she's tasked with finding an alternate venue for her church's holiday events while simultaneously finding a killer after a series of escalating pranks leaves another church member dead. "Andrews leavens the action with her trademark humor, including dueling Christmas dinners and an extravagant—and extravagantly funny—live nativity scene." —Publishers Weekly
What are you reading this #ThrillerThursday? Share your picks with us @MacmillanLib. [...]
For Your Consideration… December LibraryReads suggestions
Friends, thank you again for choosing Julia Spencer-Fleming's THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS and Barry Maitland's THE RAVEN'S EYE for the November LibraryReads list.
We're already halfway through the month, which means only two more weeks to nominate titles for the December list (due Nov. 1). Never fear! We're happy to help you whittle down the "To Read" pile with our favorite December books:
THE HOUSEMAID'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Mutch
This moving debut novel is a December Indie Next selection! Set in the arid plains of Apartheid-era South Africa, THE HOUSEMAID'S DAUGHTER tells the story of Cathleen, an estranged young woman whose only true companions are her diary and her housemaid's daughter. But one night changes everything and Cathleen must choose between conforming to society or finding the girl she has come to love as her own daughter. "Rich in detail and subtle in its politics, this affecting novel tells a poignant, inspiring story." – Booklist, starred review
Available on NetGalley. Email library@macmillanusa.com (subject line: HOUSEMAID'S DAUGHTER) to get pre-approved for a galley.
ONCE UPON A LIE by Maggie Barbieri
In a dramatic departure from her Murder 101 series, Maggie Barbieri has written a gripping novel about one burnt out mother's desperate determination to protect her family's future by facing down her past. What starts out as a standard suburban mystery evolves into an unexpectedly riveting tale of ordinary cruelty and complicated heroism. "...Barbieri skillfully avoids tipping her hand until the last possible moment, leaving readers both breathless and unnerved by the novel’s conclusion." – Publishers Weekly, starred & boxed review
Available on NetGalley. Email library@macmillanusa.com (subject line: ONCE UPON A LIE) to get pre-approved for a galley.
THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing
“The tortured relationship between literary lions and their liquor illuminates the obscure terrain of psychology and art in this searching biographical meditation…. Laing explores this rich topic through an unusual mix of biographical research, astute literary interpretation, and wonderfully atmospheric travelogue... The result is a fine study of a human frailty through the eyes of its most perceptive victims.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review. If that's not enough of an endorsement, Library Journal's Barbara Hoffert made it one of her picks saying, “Perennially astonishing authors framed by a perennially popular theme.”
Email library@macmillanusa.com (subject line: TRIP TO ECHO SPRING) to get request an e-galley.
THE RED POLE OF MACAU by Ian Hamilton
Booklist called the exotic Ava Lee mystery series, “Slick, fast-moving escapism reminiscent of Ian Fleming,” and the third entry shows no sign of flagging. In THE RED POLE OF MACAU, Ava must rescue her half-brother Michael and his business partner Simon from a disastrous multi-million-dollar real-estate deal in Macau that could bankrupt them. When the developers turn out to be gangsters and kidnap Simon, Ava must use all her skills to outwit the gangsters, rescue Simon, and save her family’s future.
Available for download on Edelweiss.
For more December LibraryReads title suggestions, view our collection on Edelweiss.
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Maximum Shelf: WHERE THE MOON ISN’T
"'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother,' Matthew says, 'His name's Simon. I think you'll like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.'"
Today's Maximum Shelf features one of our favorite debut novels of the season: WHERE THE MOON ISN'T by Nathan Filer. Recently named a November Indie Next selection, this story about two brothers—one who goes missing and the other who doesn't quite come back—is inspired by the author's experience as a psychiatric nurse.
"Equal parts family drama, mystery, coming-of-age and meditation on mental illness, Nathan Filer's unusual and haunting novel, WHERE THE MOON ISN'T, defies easy categorization. Whereas many genre-bending novels tend to overreach, this one succeeds on every level, most notably with its affecting protagonist. Though unnerving, this unique window into a mental illness that is so often misunderstood and misrepresented is both interesting and enlightening." — Shelf Awareness
See the full summary, review and interview with Nathan Filer on Shelf-Awareness.com.
Start reading now! Email library@macmillanusa.com (subject line: WHERE THE MOON ISN'T) to get pre-approved to download a review copy from NetGalley.
Praise for WHERE THE MOON ISN'T:
"VERDICT: In this very assured debut, performance poet and mental-health nurse Filer shows that he knows what he's writing about. It should prove catnip to book group participants (especially those who loved Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and will appeal to anyone looking for a serious (but not ponderous) story that's impossible to put down." — Library Journal, starred review
"A haunting story about how to mourn when the source of your grief will never go away” — Kirkus Reviews
“...deeply affecting and insightful in its account of mental illness." — Booklist
WHERE THE MOON ISN'T will be available from St. Martin's Press on November 5.
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