From Muppets to Nightmares April 24, 2013
Posted by Julie in Debut Author, Fantasy, Fiction, First Novel, New Books, Young Adult.Tags: Book news, Children's Books, Fiction, Teen Fiction, Young Adult
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Most people know Jason Segel from movies like Knocked Up and This is 40 or maybe from the television series, How I met Your Mother. What you might not know is that he is also a writer, having written the screenplays for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the 2011 movie The Muppets. According to the Associated Press, he is going to be using that writing talent to pen a series of books for middle school kids on overcoming your fears, and it’s supposed to be funny as well as scary. He’ll be collaborating with popular author, Kirsten Miller, to create the series “Nightmares!” and Random House is set to publish it next year.
—Julie
New Books in June June 5, 2012
Posted by Ann in Book List, Fiction, New Books.Tags: Book news, Fiction
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Watch for these new books coming in June!
Summer Breeze- Nancy Thayer
Kiss the Dead- Laurell K. Hamilton
Spring Fever- Mary Kay Andrews
Porch Lights- Dorothea Benton Frank
Wicked Business- Janet Evanovich
The Risk Agent- Ridley Pearson
~Ann
March Madness is Coming!! January 13, 2012
Posted by Julie in Book Awards, Fiction.Tags: Book Awards, Book news
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Sorry sports fans, this isn’t about basketball – we’re talking books, man, books! The chance to get in on some bracket and betting fever is here for those who aren’t motivated by college ball, but written word one on one action? Oh yeah, sign me UP!
What I’m talking about is the 8th annual TMN Tournament of Books. The Morning News, an online magazine, along with Powell’s Books and Field Notes brings us this compitition of novels written in 2011 that begins March 7, 2012. So get your office pools going and get in on the “action.” Among the competing titles in the first round are Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder vs. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. March madness rules!!
—Julie
Ann Patchett’s bookstore December 22, 2011
Posted by Ann in Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Book news, Bookstores
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There is still hope for brick and mortar bookstores, and Ann Patchett, author of the best-selling, State of Wonder, believes that is true. She has opened an independent bookstore in her native Nashville, Tennessee. Calling it Parnassus Books, Patchett feels that people still want bookstores, and many prefer to visit smaller stores. Read and listen to the story here. NPR’s story about Patchett’s bookstore
~Ann
Borders Bookstores February 23, 2011
Posted by Donna in New Books, Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Book news, Current Events
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I guess I will need to rethink my retirement plans. For many years now I told others that when I retired, I would open a Readery-Eatery. I would get a chance to do what I loved to do…eat and read! One of my favorite television series from the early 2000s shown on the Hallmark Channel was Mystery Woman starring Kellie Martin as Samantha Kinsey, the owner of a mystery bookstore who solved real-life mysteries. I loved that series! There was also another sitcom on television in 2005 called Stacked starring Pamela Anderson who worked in a small family-owned bookstore. Ellen DeGeneres, starred in her sitcom in the mid1990s Ellen (originally titled These Friends of Mine for season one) as a bookstore owner of Buy the Book. Yes, I truly believed that if I couldn’t work in a library, I would work in a bookstore like Kellie Martin, Pamela Anderson and Ellen DeGeneres but with the news that Borders is filing Chapter 11 and closing about 30% of their stores nationwide, I am filled with dread that bookstores may be becoming extinct. Joseph-Beth Booksellers closed their store in Legacy Village after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy too in December 2010. What’s happening to our bookstores? I don’t have the answers but I know that I will continue to support bookstores (and libraries too) by buying books…In fact, once I post this blog entry, I’m off to Borders with my coupon to buy the new J.D. Robb book, Treachery in Death. I might even start reading it tonight….
Happy Reading! ~Donna
“A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.” Jerry Seinfeld
The End of a Series January 28, 2011
Posted by Julie in Fiction, New Books.Tags: Book news, Coming Soon
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The countdown has begun for the sixth, and final, book in Jean M. Auel’s epic Earth’s Children series. What started with Clan of the Cave Bear will conclude with Land of Painted Caves, due out on March 29, 2011.
I’ve never read the books but they have been bestsellers since the first one came out in 1980. Check out what staff thought of Auel’s books in the Reading Room.
— Julie
Children’s authors of tomorrow? January 25, 2011
Posted by Julie in First Novel.Tags: Book news, Children's Books
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Some eighth graders in Kutztown, PA have experienced their first taste of literary fandom after writing and then reading sci-fi books to local third graders. Check out the story. Very cool!
I remember writing my first book for a school assignment…it was an exciting mystery about a mummy’s curse, complete with an illustration! Nobody ever encouraged me to write any more…
—Julie
News for Sherlock fans January 20, 2011
Posted by Julie in Mystery, New Books.Tags: Book news, Coming Soon, Mysteries
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No, not Sherlock Hemlock (although I love him too), but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s masterful detective, Sherlock Holmes. Orion Publishing Group has announced that Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series and the BBC series ”Midsomer Murders” and “Foyle’s War,” has been chosen to bring Holmes back to literary life. 
Horowitz has said he will try to “produce a first rate mystery for a modern audience while remaining absolutely true to the spirit of the original.” According to the Vancouver Sun, this is the first time Doyle’s estate has approved a new Sherlock Holmes story. It is due to be published in England this September, and I for one will be on the lookout for it’s arrival in the US!
— Julie
Is it just me or does anyone else think…? July 16, 2010
Posted by Donna in New Books, Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Book news
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Is it time for Stephanie Plum to get a new job?
I just finished with Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich. Although I really, really, really don’t want to admit it, I’m ready for this series to end. I love the characters of Stephanie, Ranger, Morelli, Lulu, and even Bob the Dog but come on already…Stephanie you need to choose and move on with your life! I eagerly look forward to the new Evanovich book every June and I always buy my own copy so that I don’t have to wait for it via the library holds. I block out a few hours and I’m off to Trenton, New Jersey with Stephanie. I laugh, I chuckle and I cheer. I love those crazy, weird characters! However, when I finished Sizzling Sixteen ….well, I was ready to shake Stephanie’s shoulders and yell at her to MOVE ON! What do you think?
Happy Reading! ~Donna
Get your Daily Prophet here! June 26, 2010
Posted by Julie in Fantasy, Uncategorized.Tags: Book news, Families, Fantasy, Harry Potter, Young Adult
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The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has opened in Universal Studios Orlando!! It looks like it an amazing experience for fans of the books (which would seem to include a great proportion of the world’s population). An interesting note is that althougth there are no doubt numerous opportunities to shop in the park, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods is the only place to buy Rowling’s books. Fun, no?
I need to start planning my trip to Florida – do you think the Floo Network operates between Cleveland and Orlando?
— Julie
