May 7, 2012

Announcing our Booktopia:Santa Cruz author lineup, book snobbery, The Man Who Planted Trees, and a new novel from Toni Morrison.

(Apologies for the less-than-stellar sound this week. Our recording conditions were less than optimal.)

Booktopia Past and Future:

We're finally back, recovered from the glory that was Booktopia Vermont. Thank you to all BOTNS listeners who joined us in a magical, bookish weekend. Extra-special thanks to our lovely authors, whom I now all count as friends.

Today we announce our author lineup for Booktopia:Santa Cruz, happening in October. This event is sold out, but you can sign up for the waiting list.

Our Booktopia partner Bookshop Santa Cruz is offering BOTNS listeners the opportunity to receive 10% off and free shipping when you order our Booktopia authors' most recent books, through this special page on their website. If you are attending Booktopia:Santa Cruz, please use this to order any books that you know you will want to buy that weekend. You can specify that they be held for you at the store. In this way, the store will be sure to have enough copies on hand. If you are NOT attending Booktopia, you may order your books and ask for them to be held for Booktopia weekend. At that time, we will have the authors sign the books, and then they will be shipped to you.

• Lynne Cox, author of South with the Sun
• Ann Packer author of Swim Back to Me
• Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
• Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master's Son
• Tupelo Hassman, author of Girlchild
• Cara Black, author of Murder at the Lanterne Rouge
• Sarah McCoy, author of The Baker's Daughter
• Preeminent audiobook narrators Grover Gardner (Robert Caro's The Passage of Power) and Simon Vance (Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies)
• Matthew Dicks, author of Memoirs of An Imaginary Friend (available in August).

Book Snobbery:

If you've been watching any media whatsoever, you've probably heard about the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James.  Millions of readers have discovered these sexually-charged novels, and many women point to the series as having sparked their love of reading. Meanwhile, some have criticized the novels or even had them pulled from library shelves. I was honored to stand next to EL James at her Connecticut event, and I witnessed for myself the hundreds of women who said that they hadn't read a book in many years prior to Fifty Shades of Grey. This led Michael and me to ponder "book snobbery," and to make a new vow: don't judge a book until you've read it, and don't judge a person for what they read.  Care to join us in our vow?

Two books we can't wait for you to read:

This week, Michael recommends The Man Who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins. This book follows David Milarch, a man obsessed with saving the planet through the preservation and cloning of the world's oldest trees.

Home by Toni Morrison is a spare and powerful story of a war veteran who returns home from Korea to find a place different but no less brutal. We move back and forth in time, learning about Frank and his sister Cee, and their cruel childhood that has had lasting impact on their lives.