Yesterday Talia “the troublemaker” Sherer highlighted her favorite titles during Booklist‘s Book Clubs Abuzz webinar. If you were lucky enough to listen in you chuckled at her jokes and cringed at her awful songs. If you missed out, don’t worry—we’ve got Talia’s top picks and a link to the archived webinar below. Fiction: For Women, […]
Tag: Wilton Barnhardt

Best Books of 2013!
We've had an amazing year in books and are thrilled to be represented on so many Best of 2013 lists. Here's a look at the highlights:
BOOKLIST
Arts & Literature
IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD by Eve Ensler
Biography
JACK LONDON by Earle Labor
Health & Medicine
IN THE KINGDOM OF THE SICK by Laurie Edwards
History
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE by David Finkel
Social Sciences
EBONY AND IVY by Craig Steven Wilder
GOSPEL OF FREEDOM by Jonathan Rieder
HOPE AGAINST HOPE by Sarah Carr
IN THE NAME OF GOD by Cameron Stauth
THE UNWINDING by George Packer
Adult Books for Young Adults
A CHANCE TO WIN by Jonathan Schuppe
THE GAMAL by Ciarán Collins
Books for Youth
ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
IF YOU FIND ME by Emily Murdoch
Audio for Adults
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny
KIRKUS REVIEWS
Best Fiction
LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt
BOX OFFICE POISON by Phillipa Bornikova
GHOSTS OF BUNGO SUIDO by P.T. Deutermann
MIDNIGHT by Kevin Egan
JEEVES AND THE WEDDING BELLS by Sebastian Faulks
HAVISHAM by Ronald Frame
TRANSCENDENTAL by James Gunn
GOOD PEOPLE by Ewart Hutton
SOMEONE by Alice McDermott
THE NIGHT GUEST by Fiona McFarlane
SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT by Ian Tregillis
THE LAND ACROSS by Gene Wolfe
QUEEN VICTORIA’S BOOK OF SPELLS by Ellen Datlow
Best Teen
ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
Best Nonfiction
THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT by Rick Atkinson
REPORT FROM THE INTERIOR by Paul Auster
SHOUTING WON'T HELP by Katherine Bouton
MORTAL SINS by Michael D'Antonio
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE by David Finkel
THE SEARCHERS by Glenn Frankel
THE GREAT DISSENT by Thomas Healy
THE BOOK OF MY LIVES by Aleksandar Hemon
THE BROTHERS by Stephen Kinzer
A FORT OF NINE TOWERS by Qais Akbar Omar
THE UNWINDING by George Packer
MEN WE REAPED by Jesmyn Ward
EBONY AND IVY by Craig Steven Wilder
LIBRARY JOURNAL
Top 10 Best Books of 2013
THE SEARCHERS by Glenn Frankel
More of the Best
JACK LONDON by Earle Labor
OWNING THE EARTH by Andro Linklater
Best Books 2013: Memoir
HER by Christa Parravani
Best Books 2013: Consumer Health
MIDLIFE EATING DISORDERS by Cynthia M. Bulik
Best Books 2013: Sci-Tech
BUG MUSIC by David Rothenberg
Best Books 2013: Audio
LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Top 10 Best Books of 2013
MEN WE REAPED by Jesmyn Ward
Best Fiction
PERCIVAL EVERETT BY VIRGINIA RUSSELL by Virgil Russell
SOMEONE by Alice McDermott
Best Mystery
HOUR OF THE RED GOD by Richard Crompton
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny
ENIGMA OF CHINA by Qiu Xiaolong
Best Poetry
METAPHYSICAL DOG by Frank Bidart
INCARNADINE by Mary Szybist
Best SF/Fantasy/Horror
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE FICTION, edited by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden
VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab
Best Comics
THE PROPERTY by Rutu Modan
Best Nonfiction
MEN WE REAPED by Jesmyn Ward
MORTAL SINS by Michael D'Antonio
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE by David Finkel
FORTY-ONE FALSE STARTS by Janet Malcolm
SCARCITY by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
THE UNWINDING by George Packer
Best Children's Fiction
ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
Best Religion
MY BRIGHT ABYSS by Christian Wiman
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
Best Fiction
ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell
FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell
And here are all of our LibraryReads’ selections from 2013:
September list
#1: FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell
#2: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny
November list
#2: THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS by Julia Spencer-Fleming
#8: THE RAVEN'S EYE by Barry Maitland
December list
#7: DANGEROUS WOMEN, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois
#9: THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING by Olivia Laing
While it's not technically a "Best of 2013" list, NPR's Book Concierge is definitely a collection of favorites throughout the year.
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Monday Fun Day! (9/9/2013 Edition)
Our weekend involved authors & kittens.
What more is there to life, really?
Talia attended local bookstore events for Louise Penny (HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN) and Wilton Barnhardt (LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY) at Flyleaf Books and McIntyre's Books. All were smash hits as you can see from the standing room only pictures.
Meanwhile, Anne hit the Rockaways and found kittens living under the boardwalk. She (of course) wanted to take all seven of them home that instant! Fear not! a neighborhood kitten wrangler is keeping an eye on them. Phew!
We hope your week is off to a good start!
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NYTBR loves LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY
We love Wilton Barnhardt's LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY and are thrilled to see the latest great praise from the New York Times Book Review:
“Lacerating but affectionate, as exuberant as it is shrewd, LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY is a Southern novel so sure-footed the only real question for Barnhardt is, 'What took you so long?' The book is all about its characters, each of them delightfully flawed. Southern literature is full of humor but strangely short on satire. Barnhardt gleefully leaps into this gap like a man with a very long to-do list.... LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY is that rare thing: an excellent long novel that’s not long enough.” (An Editor's Choice selection!)
More reviews are still to come from People Magazine and the Wall Street Journal (among others), and it’s a September Indie Next pick.
But wait, there's more! He's got a great website, including drool-worthy barbecue pictures.
And don't forget you can send your friends some sassy Southern-style e-cards (especially if they wear white after Labor Day).
- If you don't know how to sustain the simplest of white lies, you have NO place in High Society!
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Monday Fun Day! (8/12/2013 Edition)
It's Monday again, librarian friends, and we're kicking it off with one of our classic collections of digital bits and bobs.
- First things first, keep your eyes locked to LibraryReads.org tomorrow mid-morning to see the very first LibraryReads monthly recommendation list! LibraryReads is a new program, launching tomorrow, which harnesses the value of 'library staff picks' into a single nation-wide discovery tool, a monthly list of ten newly released must-reads. So exciting!
- Publishers Weekly included SALINGER on a list of page-to-screen adaptations to be aware of that are coming this fall. The film SALINGER based on SALINGER: A Biography by Paul Alexander will premiere in September. If you're subscribed to Publishers Weekly you can read the full article here.
- Chelsea Cain's latest white-knuckle thriller, LET ME GO, releases tomorrow! Cheryl Strayed recommended it. Criminal Element featured it. And the Huffington Post ran a great new title alert:
"As LET ME GO opens, it's both Halloween Weekend and Archie's birthday. Obviously the combination of these auspicious occasions primes us for Gretchen's return to Archie's life, which has at this point reached some modicum of normalcy, though not for long. [...] LET ME GO also reveals a side of Gretchen that we very rarely see and I won't spoil the surprise for you; you'll have to read the book to see what I'm talking about."
The exquisitely smart and talented Chelsea Cain has a fantastic new book out this week. I highly recommend that... http://t.co/QosXBDEjiL
— Cheryl Strayed (@CherylStrayed) August 12, 2013
- Flavorwire posted "50 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels That Everyone Should Read."
- Finally, if you're into Southern-style sass served ice cold, check out these cheeky e-cards based on Wilton Barnhardt's LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY:
More! Sassy! E-cards!
- - A little tactlessness every now and then can be strategic—but there's never any excuse for tastelessness.
- - We have had the misfortune in this family to enjoy privilege and to enjoy fortune but, inconveniently, not at the same time.
- - If you don't know how to sustain the simplest of white lies, you have NO place in High Society!

Sneak Peek: The September Indie Next List
I know, I know—it's only July, but we just got word that a few of our super fine fall titles are going to be featured on the September Indie Next List and we had to share the good news!
The following books have been selected as "Great Reads from Booksellers You Trust."
LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny
BITTER RIVER by Julia Keller
THE AFFAIRS OF OTHERS by Amy Grace Loyd
THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon
You'll also see A HUNDRED FLOWERS by Gail Tsukiyama in the "NOW IN PAPERBACK: Indie Next List Selections Come to Paperback" section.
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Tuesday Fun Day! (4/16/2013 Edition)
Hello librarians,
I'm back in New York and wishing you all a wonderful National Library Week! I'm wearing my very best yellow, plaid skirt and evergreen sweater combo in tribute to you.
In book news:
- The Man Booker Prize winning novel, BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel, is one of six novels on the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist!
- CURSE OF THE JADE LILY by David Housewright is the winner of the 25th annual Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction! The honor is awarded by the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, the Saint Paul Public Library, and the City of Saint Paul. See the full list of award winners on Shelf Awareness.
- And speaking of good books, Kirkus Reviews gave an exalting review of Wilton Barnhardt's latest novel, LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY.
"Barnhardt’s fourth novel is a revelation: witty, savage and bighearted all at once, it is the Southern novel for the 21st century. [...] Barnhardt masterfully reimagines the Southern gothic: There is every kind of sordid deed committed, but there is also an abundance of humanity and grace." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Get whitelisted and download a review copy from Edelweiss now!
Finally we wish all the best for the victims, families, and friends of those affected by the bombings in Boston. We were relieved to hear that the Boston Public Library next to the finish line was closed on Monday in observance of Patriot’s Day. Stay safe, Boston friends.
Thank you for the expressions of care and concern for the #library today. Our thoughts go out to those affected by today's tragedy #boston
— BostonPublicLibrary (@BPLBoston) April 16, 2013
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Monday Fun Day! (3/18/2013 Edition)
Happy post-St. Patrick's Day Monday! I know, I know. I'm not actually all that happy about being awake either. So let's get straight into the good stuff going on this week.
Good thing #1: Library Journal is hosting a totally rad webinar tomorrow at 3pm (EDT) that you must sign up for called "Editors' Picks: Hot Summer Titles from HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Random House." Details! Register!
Good thing #2: We have all sorts of awesome new e-galleys up on Edelweiss ready for you to download, including:
ALWAYS WATCHING by Chevy Stevens
THE HIGHWAY by C.J. Box
WITHOUT A SUMMER by Mary Robinette Kowal
THE HUMAN DIVISION by John Scalzi
THE DEVIL IN HER WAY by Bill Loehfelm
HER LAST BREATH by Linda Castillo
DEATH OF A DYER by Eleanor Kuhns
LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt
Good thing #3: You can start reading or listening to Z: A Novel Of Zelda Fitzgerald now on HeroesandHeartbreakers.com. This will help you get through your lunch break.
Good thing #4: You can finally get the Sweet Valley sisters on your claws (see below).
New on Etsy: Sweet Valley High Nail Decals: "pure 1980s kitsch" pwne.ws/YGAjDL
— Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly) March 17, 2013
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