In the Bookroom

October 5, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

When you get to a certain age, something forces itself into your consciousness more often than you’d like: the untrustworthiness of memory. Think about the words that just won’t settle on your tongue, the task you had in mind when you left your office that you can’t recall until you retrace your steps back to your desk. It is heartbreakingly portrayed in Lisa Genova’s Still Alice, the story of a Harvard psychology professor who at age 50 is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alice Howland can’t accept the doctor’s pronouncement. She won’t consider that her life as a respected educator, wife, and m...Read More

July 15, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

 I’ve lost track of the number of American Library Association (ALA) conferences I’ve been to (not as many as some of my staff, but more than others), and I find my time spent in the LJ/SLJ exhibit booth to be both energizing and enervating. Chatting with librarians and publishers and vendors is fun; I always learn something. It can also be frustrating and bewildering. How do we satisfy everyone with so many varying needs? It is a challenge, but one we are constantly hoping to meet and overcome.
One wonderful thing I discovered on the show floor, however, made the frustration dissipate...Read More

June 24, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

When it comes to romances, I consider myself fairly well read. In fact, of the RUSA Reading List 2009 winners, announced back in January at the American Library Association’s Denver Midwinter Meeting, I had read three of the five titles on the short list. That’s 60 percent. Not bad. What surprised me, though, was that I had not read the winning book, nor the fourth shortlisted title, by that very same author. Sounds like I needed to expand my borders. RUSA president and all-around readers’ advisory guru Neal Wyatt told me I had to read Joanna Bourne’s two books, the winning Spymaster’...Read More

May 26, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

Rona Jaffe’s The Best of Everything was a revelation when I read it back in the 1970s. A book about publishing when I worked in a publishing company. Wow. And how fun to see the name of a sister magazine, Publishers Weekly, mentioned in that very same book. Many years and much reading later, I am thrilled to recommend a novel that describes the writing and publishing process with clarity and vividness and reminds us why we love to read. Wendy Wax’s The Accidental Bestseller (Berkley Pub.) lets us see how books are put together, from the writing and rewriting (even not writing) to the vast...Read More

April 7, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Library Journal has “celebrated” breast cancer awareness with an annual fall preview, but with all the interesting novels that feature cancer as a major player, we’ve put together a list of a dozen titles you shouldn’t miss. Actually, April is Cancer Fatigue Awareness Month, but you won’t tire of these books any time soon. Starting things off, though, is Emily Chenoweth’s debut novel, ...Read More