Blog

Last Saturday, over 200 fans and readers were invited into Hachette's offices for their annual Book Club Brunch. Boasting a variety of authors, books and snacks, this event is highly anticipated by readers and sells out nearly every year. I had the pleasure of attending with Carol Fitzgerald, former intern Matthew Burbridge, reviewer Vivian Payton, and her friends Mary, Cheryl and Donna.

On Saturday, October 3rd, readers and writers braved the very cool, damp and gloomy weather that followed the threat of a hurricane to attend the second annual Morristown Festival of Books. Focused on celebrating the power of the written word while bringing authors and readers together, the festival featured several fun, informative panels throughout the day as well as author signings and a pop-up bookstore.

As one of this season's most highly anticipated novels, Lauren Groff's FATES AND FURIES is everywhere. I received my copy last week and since then I've seen copies on the subway, in coffeehouses and even in a few restaurants. Focusing on the marriage of Lotto and Mathilde, FATES AND FURIES offers readers to wildly different perspectives of a shared relationship over the course of two decades.

Over my summer staycation I read a number of Young Adult (YA) books. About 15 of them! I remembered why I love this category; tight plotting and typically edgy stories. Here are some that I particularly loved and recommend.  

September is always a big month for new releases and this year has been no exception. This week, I had the pleasure of attending two book launches for some of this season's most highly anticipated books. In my time in publishing, I've found that book launches are a terrific way for readers to interact with authors and get a behind-the-scenes view at how books are written and published. Best of all, readers can even hear their favorite authors read their work aloud and --- if they're lucky --- even snag a signed book or two.

A comment about National Coloring Book Day (August 2nd) in the Bookreporter newsletter on July 31st inspired lots of reader feedback. Please find below a selection of the comments that we heard, and see photos of some of our readers coloring and their work. Also, be sure to check out our latest bookshelf, "20 Coloring Books for Adults: Inky Adventures, Stress Relievers, Mandalas and More" and our roundup of some of the best supplies for coloring, "Passion for Coloring: What to Color With?"

Following up on a contest that we ran in March, we reached out to several groups that had read THE POCKET WIFE by Susan Crawford and won a visit from the author. THE POCKET WIFE is a psychological thriller in which Dana Catrell, a woman suffering from bipolar disorder, is shocked to find that her neighbor has been brutally murdered and is even more stricken when she realizes that she was the last to see her neighbor alive. To make matters worse, there are some big gaps in her memory, which begs the question: Could she have done it or is there still a murderer out there? 

On Monday night, in anticipation of the release of Paula McLain's CIRCLING THE SUN, readers enjoyed a lavish spa evening at Elizabeth Arden's The Red Door sponsored by Random House. I had the fortune of attending with a dear friend --- and audiobook lover --- Jamie Carroll, and we had a wonderful time.

This past Saturday, more than a hundred readers trekked up to beautiful Hudson Valley for Random House’s latest reader event, “Off the Page.”  Although Random House has been inviting readers into their headquarters for years, this time they took the party to the stylish Basilica Hudson, a stone’s throw from the Hudson Amtrak train station, where attendees were invited to listen as authors discussed their latest works, participate in workshops and even do a bit of shopping.  I had the fortune of attending Off the Page with former Bookreporter intern Matthew Burbridge, Bookreporter reviewer Vivian Payton and Carol Fitzgerald.

Two things we love here at The Book Report Network are book groups and audiobooks. So when we heard that Andrea DeWerd’s loves to listen to audiobooks of her book group's selections, we couldn’t resist asking her to tell us all about it! Here, Andrea shares some background on her group --- where they meet, how they choose books, some of their best discussions --- and explains why she started listening to books in the first place...and why she's hooked.