Genre Fiction

If teens and kids are reading less now because of the popularity of the Internet, then perhaps a kick butt Web site all about authors, bestsellers, new releases, and more would help generate some more young readers. Let’s see what I can find …

* Random House publishing company hosts Teens @ Random where there are quizzes, author interviews, related videos, new noteworthy reads and old favorites, and social opportunities to make friends, pick fave books, and create a profile. This site has recently been making blogging headlines for welcoming author Judy Blume to chat and answer questions on a message board there. The layout and design of Teens @ Random is much more appealing than most reading sites, too.

* Harper Collins Publishers also has a teen-specific site, Harper Teen. There’s no Judy Blume, but there is plenty of reviews, author info, contests, and, of course, vampires.

* TeenReads.com includes all of the basics too: interviews, polls, reviews, book clubs, info about books being made into movies, and much more. This site tops the others on variety of content, but could use some help in the graphic design area.

* Teen Ink magazine covers all the regular book-related stuff in a well-designed, youthful way, but also features writing fun. While gathering inspiration from fave authors, teens can submit their own poems, short stories, and even artwork and photos for publishing. Education resources are available for those ready to go to college or interested in a summer writing program. It’s not just an online magazine either; Teen Ink can be read in print as well.

Find more links by clicking on the picture shown here.

Aside from filling the pages of magazine with advertisement cards encouraging you to “get 4 books for 99 cents,” Book-of-the-Month Club, an 80-year-old mail-order book club, recognizes one book annually through its First Fiction Award. This year, the 2008 award was given to Andrew Davidson for his novel The Gargoyle, which the Club calls “an extraordinary tale of love that transcends the boundaries of time”.

“Finding and promoting new authors is at the heart of what we do at the Club,” said Deborah Sinclaire, Editor-in-Chief of Book-of-the-Month Club. “This award is our way of recognizing authors whose debut novels have had a powerful impact on our editorial team as well as our readers.”

Previous years’ winners of BOTM Club’s fiction award include:

2007: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penny
2006: The Observations by Jane Harris
2005: Incendiary by Chris Cleave
2004: no award given
2003: Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
2002: The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart
2001: Mary and O’Neil by Justin Cronin
2000: Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis
1999: God is a Bullet by Boston Teran
1998: Caucasia by Danzy Senna
1997: The Man in the Box by Thomas Moran
1996: Push by Sapphire
1995: Private Alters by Katherine Mosby

Kate Jacobs, author of the growing Friday Night Knitting Club series, has been a very busy writer lately. Aside from keeping up with social networking opportunities by joining Twitter (follow her @KateJacobsBooks) and writing her own detailed, enjoyable e-mail newsletter, she’s right back to the novel-writing grindstone.

Her non-Knitting Club book, Comfort Food, has been released in paperback and is holding steady as a bestseller. But while she’s touring around promoting this book, she’s also taking time to call book clubs and record a welcome message for the nationwide Borders book clubs on April 23. Plus, she’s got a new book on the way!

“I’m working on another adventure in the FNKC series,” Jacobs wrote in her e-news about Knit the Season, her current project. “It takes place a little over a year after the end of Knit Two … [and] focuses on college-age Dakota and a holiday trip to see Gran in Scotland.”

Knit the Season is expected to release November 3, and Jacobs will be sharing more details on her web site.

Harper Collins Publishers hosts the all-books, all-the-time, online radio station Authors on Air, “where readers and writers listen and connect.”

The five regular shows - Top Shelf, Book Club Girl, The Beyond, Romance Radio, and Library Love Fest - feature new interviews and discussions with authors, editors, readers, writers, librarians, and more daily. Listeners can tune in live, or go back and listen to recorded past shows.

Upcoming and recent airing for the five themed shows include:

Top Shelf
Features: Interviews and discussions with today’s best-selling authors and tomorrow’s promising talent
Upcoming: Lunch with author Janet Evanovich
Recent: Catherine Hanrahan discussing her novel Lost Girls and Love Hotels

Book Club Girl
Features: Interviews with authors and book clubs from around the world
Upcoming: Judith Ryan Hendricks talks about Laws of Harmony
Recent: Isabel Allende on The Sum of Our Days

The Beyond
Features: All aspects of science fiction and fantasy reading and writing in an interactive form
Upcoming: Chat with New York Times bestselling author of fantasy and paranormal romances Kim Harrison
Recent: Writers on writing

Romance Radio
Features: Only the best of the best in the realm of romantic fiction
Upcoming: Novelist, blogger, and beauty journalist Nadine Haobsh
Recent: Best-selling, award-winning suspense writer Jordan Dane

Library Love Fest
Features: Host Virginia Stanley talks with and about anyone and anything related to libraries
Upcoming: Journalist-turned-author Mary Kay Andrews
Recent: Multi-genre author Jeffrey Ford

Visit the Authors on Air Web site to listen to all of these shows, see a complete schedule, or sign up for one of the many Harper newsletters.

CNN and Oprah.com have collaborated on a series of reading- and writing-related articles. Today’s piece, Free your ‘damaged anigel-in-waiting’ was written by author Wally Lamb and includes three tips for writing your personal story.

Click here to finish reading.

Many new fiction books come with a special section at the end for book groups. They often contain discussion topics, questions and answers, and notes from the author to help clubs get the ball rolling. But if a book club is based solely on discussion, it may be come boring or even spawn arguments. So why not find more creative ways to bring life out of the group’s selected read by recreating a food or recipe mentioned in the book?

In the book I’m reading right now, You Made Me Love You by Joanna Goodman, some of the characters clash over food - some are foodie snobs while others are fast food connoisseurs. Their taste differences are not a large part of the story; however, their clashing personalities are. Having a taste of what the characters disagreed on could lead to further discussion on he diverse personalities. It’s a fun - and tasty - way to get the group talking.

Here are two ideas for food tie-ins to this book:

1. Cook up some porcupines (not the animal)! As Erica mentions that her sister will probably be fixing porcupines - and that her college professor boyfriend will probably be disgusted - she kindly explains that they are meatballs made from ground beef and rice, cooked in V8 juice. Googling “porcupine recipe” returns lots of different versions.

2. Erica, and the same snobbish boyfriend, later debate coffee with Erica’s parents Milton and Lily. The folks offer Sanka or instant coffee from the freezer, while our resident food snob only consumes fresh ground coffee brewed in a press. Make two different kinds of coffee for your book group and have a taste test. Can you tell the difference between instant and fresh?

It is with infinite excitement that I announce the upcoming release of Wally Lamb’s third novel, The Hour I First Believed. In one month, on November 11, Lamb’s newest work will be available in hardback.

The Hour I First Believed take a new turn for Wally, heading into the realm of historical fiction as he details the life of Maureen, a school nurse at Columbine High, after the infamous incident that occurred there. From there, a story-within-a-story emerges as Maureen and her husband recount five generations of their family history through diaries, letter, and newspaper clippings.

His characters are never happy-go-lucky, and always have plenty of personal demons, but the psychological look into a person’s life that Lamb offers is insurmountable. He is easily one of my favorite writers and historical fiction is easily my favorite genre; I have been long anticipating this book.

Both of Lamb’s first two fiction novels - She’s Come Undone (1992) and I Know This Much is True (1998) - won multiple awards, became bestsellers, were selected for Oprah’s Book Club, and told a complete, thorough story. Oh yea, and they were each 500 pages long, with 900+ in I Know This Much is True!

The length of the stories that Lamb tells should be enough to explain the years-long gaps between publications, but on top of that he spends time teaching writing, too. From 1989 to 1998, he was the director of the Writing Center at the Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut. He continues to teach as an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Connecticut. In 2003 and 2007, he edited collections of short stories by female inmates called Couldn’t Keep It to Myself and I’ll Fly Away.

Once The Hour I First Believed releases, Lamb will set out promoting his new book with a tour throughout the U.S. Read more about author Wally Lamb, his previous publications, the up-coming novel, or book tour stops, head to Harper Collins Publishing’s Wally Lamb page.

Last Friday, on her talk show, Oprah Winfrey announced her newest selection for her famous book club.

The mogul with the Midas touch has chosen David Wroblewski’s debut novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Oprah raved about Wroblewski’s writing, calling it the “best novel [she's] read in a long, long, long time,” and comparing it to the workd of John Steinbeck and Harper Lee. Edgar Sawtelle, which was just published over this summer, has already been climbing the New York Times’ bestseller list, but with the addition of the “Oprah’s Book Club” seal it is sure to soar higher and faster.

Oprah is known for picking reads that heart-wrenching, gripping tales about down-and-out characters who struggle through, and ultimately overcome, extraordinary hardships. And The Story of Edgar Sawtelle has all the makings: Disability? Check - born mute. Tragedy? Got that - his dad dies. Crumbling life, bullying antagonist, and only one true friend and ally? All there with a bonus: the ally is a dog.

Connect with other readers, learn about the author, and find a readers’ guide at Oprah’s Book Club online (site requires flash player). Click on the cover photo shown here to read an excerpt at MSNBC.

Borders certainly has its appeal - Starbucks coffee, a vast selection, good bargains, and big name author events. But did you know that if you “spend $100 at a local [bookstore,] $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43″?

This, and other facts about supporting local, small business, is just one facet of Indie Bound. Through this online, independent book community you can discover upcoming and best-selling indie books, find an independently owned bookstore near you, and connect with other indie book fans. The site even rewards members, through a point system, for participating in the community!

So go, find a new favorite book or store, and support small businesses around your town.

The picture shown is Indie Bound’s logo. Click on it to check out the Indie Bound site.

Metro, a free, daily newspaper published and distributed in 100 major cities worldwide, wants to give you a free fiction book!

Sign up for the Metro Life Panel, where you can fill out opinion surveys and win prizes, then also check that you have an interest in participating in the Metro Book Club and you could receive a free book to review!

For the month of July, the Metro Book Club is currently reading:

Everything Nice (July 2008) by Ellen Shanman

How to Talk to a Widower (2007) by Jonathan Tropper

Jessica Z (June 2008) by Shawn Klomparens

No One You Know (June 2008) by Michelle Richmond

Say Goodbye (July 2008) by Lisa Gardner

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (July/Aug 2008) by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Reading a book online, while cheaper and more environmentally friendly than buy it in print, has never appealed to me. I am just not interested in sitting and staring at a computer screen longer than need be. I’ve toyed with the thought that I might download classics to read on the bus if I had a Blackberry or iPhone. But, alas, my free cell phone does not accept e-book downloads.

DailyLit, the leading publisher of online books, knew that this was a problem and has come up with a new hook to make e-books more appealing.

Teaming up with social networking site Twitter, DailyLit has established virtual book clubs.

Starting this week, DailyLit has made three popular titles available in short, daily installments via Twitter. All subscribed readers receive readings on the same schedule, and can then discuss the book in the designated forums. The first group reading began June 16 and includes Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (2003) by Cory Doctorow, 100 Ways to Succeed/Make Money (online only) by
Tom Peters, and Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen.

Joining is free and explained in detail on DailyLit’s Twitter page. E-books can be received through RSS feed, e-mail, Twitter notices, and some mobile devices.