Genre Fiction

I like making lists; so here’s one for you filled with summertime reads. I can’t vouch for the entertainment value of any of these books, only the fact that they have “summer” in the title. So if you’re feeling daring and looking for a summer read, check out one of these.

* That Summer by Sarah Dessen
* Summer Knight, book #4 in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher
* The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
* A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand
* Summer by Edith Wharton
* Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson
* Summer House by Nancy Thayer
* Summer On Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
* Driftwood Summer by Patti Callahan Henry
* The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb or by Lisa Wingate — two different novels, one name
* Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy
* The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin
* The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
* Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand
* Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
* Life Without Summer by Lynne Griffin
* Dragons of Summer Flame by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
* A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade by Christopher Benfey
* Summer’s End by Danielle Steel
* Once Upon a Summer, book #1 in the Seasons of the Heart series by Janette Oke
* Summer Pleasures and Summer Desserts, both by Nora Roberts
* How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

And finally, one that I can vouch for: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.

Enjoy your summer reading!

Mental Floss just published a list of 15 surprising stories about 15 best-selling authors. The article — which revealed that Jodi Picoult once wrote comics, Danielle Steel has been married five times and two of the husbands were convicted criminals, Dan Brown used to be a singer and songwriter and had an album titled Angels & Demons, and Nicholas Sparks holds a track and field record at Notre Dame as part of the 4 x 800 relay team — is a fun read! It has also inspired me to see what I can dig up about some of my favorite authors.

* Running With Scissors author Augusten Burroughs, who comes from a writing family with a poetic mother, philosopher father, and memoirist brother, didn’t have formal schooling beyond elementary school. Following him on different forms of social media I have learned that, although he likes eating at restaurants, he would never be caught at an “it” restaurant and enjoys vending machines.

* The Lovely Bones author Alice Sebold originally wanted to tell her story (of how she was raped and attacked) in poetic form. She didn’t really dive into becoming a successful writer until she moved to California and worked as a caretaker of an arts colony. During this time she lived on less than $400 a month, in a cabin in the woods without electricity, and wrote by the light of a propane lamp. Her story was published in 1999 as the memoir Lucky.

* Audrey Niffenegger, best known for penning The Time Traveler’s Wife, has only written this one novel. Most of her other work, aside from a few short stories, is in pictures. She has written visual books and graphic novels including one very “special” one called The Three Incestuous Sisters (cover shown here).

Some veteran authors have been turning out some new reads lately. Perhaps the economy is forcing them to write faster and more often, but regardless these published old heads have some new reading material recently or soon to be released.

* Historical fiction author Sarah Dunant, who previously wrote In the Company of the Courtesan and The Birth of Venus, released her newest novel - Sacred Hearts - yesterday, July 14. This story, like Dunant’s others, takes place in ancient Italy. This time it’s 1560 and the characters are noblewomen who are finding refuge in a local convent.

* No surprise here, but Dean Koontz and Danielle Steel both have new books out that are already topping the best-seller charts. Koontz’s new book is Relentless; Steel’s is Rogue. And don’t forget Nora Roberts either, with Black Hills.

* Known best for her Ya-Ya series that inspired the film version of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood starring Sandra Bullock, Rebecca Wells breaks away from her beloved regular characters with her new release The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder. Plenty of Wells’ specialty - heartache brought on by the ones you love most - should abound in this novel as a young girl turns the pain of a first broken heart into healing inspiration.

* In the upper level chick lit realm, we have Jennifer Weiner’s Best Friends Forever and Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girl.

* Dan Brown, the infamous Da Vinci Code writer, is preparing for a September release of The Lost Symbol , a sequel to his first best-seller which was written six years ago.

While logging on to MySpace tonight, one celeb blogging alert caught my eye: MTV reality queen Lauren Conrad updated her status to say “New York Times Bestseller….Yay!!”

Wait. What? Lauren “L.C.” Conrad’s L.A. Candy is a New York Times best seller? Surely she jests.

Conrad’s blogging went on: “A big THANK YOU to everyone who bought my book!! It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for 2 weeks and this week it’s #1….. YAY! This is such an honor!! I really appreciate everyone’s support and nice comments about the book. My next book should be released sometime in February and there will be another book tour. I will keep you all posted.”

I was in such disbelief that I simply had to go see for myself; I headed to scope out the current best sellers. I wonder which category hers is topping the charts in …

Hardback fiction? Nope, that’s Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

Trade fiction? No, that’s Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, and mass-market fiction is Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan.

Conrad’s book also wasn’t to be found on the nonfiction, advice, or children’s lists. In fact, L.A. Candy wasn’t even in the top five of any of these categories.

After much digging around on the New York Times’ site, I finally found the book listed somewhere - Children’s chapter books - and yes, it was in the number one position.

Well, Lauren, I suppose congrats and apologies (for my continued total disbelief) are in order. And after reading your MySpace messages, I also must commend your editor, who probably had to delete many an exclamation mark.

With the recent release of the film version of Jodi Piccoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, starring Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz, and Medium’s Sofia Vassilieva, the family that inspired the story is speaking out.

The story is about a couple who conceives a second child to save the life of their first daughter who is battling with leukemia. The real life family behind the novel, the Nashes, were the first couple to use Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to create an embryo that could save a sibling’s life. They got help from a fertility specialist to select a healthy embryo that was a genetic match for their sick daughter Molly. This would be Molly’s little brother Adam. The cord blood from Adam’s placenta was used for a blood transfusion that saved Molly’s life. Later a second embryo from the couple became the couple’s third child, Delaine.

“I appreciate the public discussion of the ethical issues raised by the book, and now the movie,” said Molly’s mom, Lisa Nash. “But it’s important to remember Jodi Picoult’s story is in many ways a worst case scenario and our reality was one of miracles and hope.”

“We stress to people that the book is fiction and that our family is reality,” explains Jack Nash. “The reality is that because of amazing reproductive medicine advances, we have been able to have a family. Without the science, Molly would have died and we wouldn’t have tried to have any other children for fear they’d die of FA too. That’s the reality.”

Today all the Nash children are thriving … and so are the book and film, My Sister’s Keeper.

Usually I only read one book at a time, but in the past week I have started reading three fiction books. Upon the arrival of my new Latte MP3 player I have started reading Emma by Jane Austen using the player’s book reading feature. I have also started listening to Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger that I downloaded with my free trial at eMusic’s Audiobooks. I’ve also begun a new evening book - Knit Two by Kate Jacobs, the follow up read to The Friday Night Knitting Club - which means that I have finished another and so I have a review for you …

I fell in love with Lisa See’s writing after reading her fifth novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, which was released in 2005. Loving both her style and the historical fiction genre, I snagged her next novel, 2007’s Peony in Love. The latter was a story with a unique twist: Much like Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, the main character passes away near the beginning of the book and spend most of the story as a ghost. In addition to learning all about 17th century Chinese beliefs about women, literature, and marriage, the reader also gets a first-hand look at the beliefs and rites surrounding death and the afterlife.

While if you are only going to read one of these two See’s novel I certainly recommend Snow Flower over Peony, both of these books are extremely entertaining and historically educational.

In addition to these two novels, See has written four before and one since these, all of which are on my “to read” list:

On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995)
Flower Net (1997)
The Interior (1999)
Dragon Bones (2003)
Shanghai Girls (2009)

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization, hosted The Gift of Reading Gala earlier this month in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness for their cause … and a phenomenal $430,000 to support their efforts to motivate children to read!

“Our annual Gift of Reading Gala is a way for Reading Is Fundamental to acknowledge those who have committed themselves to improving children’s literacy throughout this country,” commented Carol H. Rasco, CEO and President of RIF.

Also during the fund-raising gala, Macy*s was presented with the Legacy of Literacy award for their outstanding commitment to children’s literacy through continued support and commitment to helping all children discover the joy of reading.

Check out RIF’s Web site to find out how you can volunteer to help encourage the kids in your community to read.

As previously announced, Lauren “LC” Conrad of MTV faux reality shows including The Hills has written and released L.A. Candy, the first teen novel in the three-part series contract that she received with Harper Collins Publishers. All joking aside … well, okay, not all joking because come on, “LC” an author? Really? … but anyways, apparently it’s an entertaining book, according to the Fug Girls. Quality literature? No. Cheesy summer read? Not quite. But entertaining, yes.

The Girls ventured to the book store on the day L.A. Candy was released and quietly picked up a copy so that all of us curious about it, but too embarrassed to actually be seen buying the book, could learn all of the details. Get the gossip on Lauren’s writing ability, the obvious connections and allusions to her real life, and more over at the Fug Girls’ review on the Cut.

As announced by Modality, Inc. and Wiley Publishing, Inc., the popular cheat sheet study guides CliffNotes now has an interactive application available for iPhone users, available in the Apple App Store.

Five individual CliffNotes apps, the first in a series of more than 40, provide comprehensive character, theme, and plot summaries and analysis; multiple choice quizzes; text highlighting; character maps and profiles, and audio CramCasts covering five classics:

* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
* Macbeth by William Shakespeare
* Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
* The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

These first five CliffsNotes study guides are available for just $0.99 per application now, and additional titles will debut later in 2009.

It has only been nine months since Harper Collins Publishers contracted Lauren “L.C.” Conrad, of MTV reality show fame, to write a three-part teen book series called L.A. Candy, and already the first book is upon us.

Conrad recently celebrated the upcoming June 16 release of L.A. Candy at the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills with BFF and reality costar Lo Bosworth by her side.

According to Faded Youth Blog, the first installment “tells the story of Jane Roberts, a young beauty most notable for her sweet nature and innocence. She eventually packs up and moves to L.A. with her BFF from kindergarten, the gorgeous, smart–mouthed Scarlett. After only a few nights out on the town, the duo are swept up by a producer making a new reality show.”

About the overwhelming similarities between her real life and that of her story’s character, Conrad said that “some of the characters may symbolize people in my life, but it is in no way calling anyone out.”

As for the writing quality and actual content, Teen Vogue helps give a glimpse with the exclusive inside look.
Read an excerpt over at Teen Vogue.

With just one week until the June 14, 9 p.m., season two premiere of the HBO series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series. And another five months after that until the November 20 premiere of the second movie based on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. While you get back into the vampire swing with one show, and await the arrival of the other film, take some time out to enjoy some other vampire novels; all of these are recommended by Barnes and Noble.

For Vampire Romance try:

* Skin Trade, number 17 in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series by Laurell K. Hamilton

* Lover Avenged, number 7 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J. R. Ward

For Classic Vampire stories check out:

* Dracula by Bram Stoker

If you want a Vampire Thriller read:

* The Strain by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan

* Deadly Desire, number 7 in the Riley Jenson Guardian Series by Keri Arthur

For Graphic Novels about Vampires look for:

* Dark Hunger, number four in the Dark Series, written by Christine Feehan and illustrated by Zid

* Vampire Knight, Volume 6, written by Matsuri Hino and illustrated by Matsuri Hino

If Vampire Horror is more your taste feast on:

* All four of Anne Rice’s vampiric reads, available in a boxed set titled The Complete Vampire Chronicles, including Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, and The Tale of the Body Thief.

* Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, translated by Ebba Segerberg

Yesterday I took the whole day off to gallivant around New York City and be a tourist. The first destination on my list was the New York Public Library. Ever since I saw its huge marble stairs and gorgeous interior architecture on the Sex and the City movie I have been wanting to see it in person. I’m not a huge SATC fan, but I am a huge fan of libraries - and this one was over the top.

I visited the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Ave. and 42nd Street, a research-only location meaning that you cannot check out books. You request the books that you need and a librarian brings them to you in a study room for you to use.

I cannot begin to tell you how phenomenal this building was. It was so much more than just a library. There are a number of special exhibits, an art room with several paintings, a children’s section that is home to the original Winnie the Pooh, one of the first Gutenberg Bibles, and so much more. But even if the building were empty, the architecture alone would make it worth while: the ceilings are the most elaborate ceilings that I have ever seen.

I took the tour, led by a volunteer, that lasted just over an hour and I definitely recommend doing the same if you are in the area. Read about the rest of my day in NYC on my other blog, Living Without Meat.

Check out all of my NYC pictures by clicking on the one in this post.

If you have a minute, head to the NYPL Web site to learn the letter writing campaign and how you can help them maintain enough funding to stay open six days a week.

Have a kid’s party coming up this summer that you are responsible for planning? Why not use it as an opportunity to encourage reading early on by incorporating some favorite story book characters?

For one of her oldest son’s early birthdays, my sister hosted a party featuring Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar. There was a craft project for the kids, a themed cake, and even a giant a paper cutout of the caterpillar with a picture of the birthday boy in each body segment, starting with one of him as an infant followed by one of him at each month.

Cake Wrecks, a blog about disastrous professionally-made confections, has a “Sunday Sweets” edition each week that features cake successes. Today, the blog included a themed “Sunday Sweets” about cakes honoring favorite childhood books. Blogger Jen found inspirations for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon and Guess How Much I Love You, Dr. Seuss’s One Fish Two Fish … and Fox in Socks, Golden Book’s Poky Little Puppy, Babar, and Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit.

Click on the picture here to check the rest out for inspiration to make your own - or, for the less creatively confident, print out one of the pictures and take it to your own local bakery.

Don’t forget to spread the theme across the whole party, too! Incorporate the character or characters into the decorations, gift bags, crafts, games, etc.: Play pin the tail on Babar. Make monster masks or rabbit ears. Give out Swedish fish - or even a small copy of the chosen book! Have fun with it, knowing that you’re encouraging reading while celebrating a birthday!

Another book-to-film creation hits theaters next month. On June 26, leaving you just enough time to read the novel before watching the movie, the big screen version of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper releases under the same name.

My Sister’s Keeper is a heart-wrenching, “what would you do if” story about family versus self. It asks the questions how much do you owe to your family members and howw much of yourself should you sacrifice for their health and happiness. It’s the story of child sick with leukemia - Kate, played by Medium’s Sofia Vassilieva - and her sister - Anna, played by Abigail Breslin - who was conceived simply to provide Kate with any necessary transplants.

As they grow up, both girls start to question how much their parents - played by Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric - expect Anna to give up in her own life to save Kate’s. When Anna seeks emancipation so that she can stop undergoing painful medical processes to provide bone marrow and such for Kate, the Fitzgeralds begin to fall apart.

It is a story of familial love, don’t let that fact slip by. These sisters love each other and are connected in a way that most of us will never understand. But also know that you will surely want to bring along a box of tissues … or wait and rent it so that you can watch it and cry your eyes out in the comfort of your own home.

Click to check out more about: the book, the author, and the movie.

Angels & Demons, the film version of Dan Brown’s prequel to his infamous Da Vinci Code, opened a few weeks ago as the top seller of its time despite raking in a good $30 million less than its preceding sequel during each film’s first weekend.

Yes, it is holding its own in the ticket sales world, but there is still plenty of negativity surrounding the story line: Two days before the film premiered Westminster Theological Seminary, one of the oldest and most respected religious institutions, launched www.TruthAboutAngelsAndDemons.com, an online resource dedicated to providing a balanced assessment and factual response to the spiritual, historical, and scientific assertions in the book and movie of the same name. This site follows 2006’s www.TheTruthAboutDaVinci.com that coincided with the film release of Da Vinci Code.

“This Web site will help individuals sift through the mix of fact and fiction woven into the novel and presumably the film,” said Dr. Bill Edgar, professor of apologetics at Westminster. “By providing biblically-sound facts and highlighting issues related to the intersection of religion and science that Angels & Demons presents, we hope to educate people and empower them to engage in conversation about the book and film.”

“In the wake of The Da Vinci Code’s popularity, many people began to question the validity of the Bible’s message and its influence throughout history,” explains Dr. Vern Poythress, professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster. “The Da Vinci Web site fostered doubt about doubt, which we also hope to again generate as it relates to Angels & Demons.”