Posted by Dana on 03.16.2010 at 3:49 pm
Patricia Sprinkle has written almost thirty books in her writing career. Most of them are mysteries but she takes a break from all that for her latest work Hold Up the Sky.
Hold Up the Sky is a story about 4 women relying on each other through some fairly difficult times. It takes place during a drought in a small Georgia farming town and though not the kind of book I would normally be interested in, I was drawn in.
The characters Patricia creates have heart and though the dilemmas they face may not directly be facing us all, they do force us to question how we would behave in similar circumstances.
When Patricia and I sat down for the interview we focused on where the story comes from and some of the situations the characters found themselves in. But we also dealt with the idea of looking deeper into “genre” fiction for the issues the book is handling. For example, in Hold Up the Sky, Patricia humanizes US immigration through the character of Emerita. She doesn’t have the answer for us, but she does put a human face on it.
Enjoy the interview, and click here to check out the rest of the great authors talking about their books on our podcast!
– Dana
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Posted by Dana on 03.09.2010 at 6:15 pm
Have you ever eaten a dessert so delicious you had no words to describe it? I mean you could try; “it’s rich…delicious…so chocolatey”, or maybe “so delicate…it melts in your mouth…the perfect blend”, but really the words just don’t do it justice.
That’s kind of how I feel about Little Bee. And whoever wrote the back cover copy clearly agrees with me. Little Bee IS a great story – and it IS filled with well developed characters and though it is not drenched in raspberry sauce, it is indescribably good. It unfolds in a unique way. It plays with language. It asks you questions and it puts you in uncomfortable positions without judging.
Read more…
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Posted by Dana on 03.08.2010 at 6:13 pm
Did you watch the Oscars last night? I swore I wasn’t interested. Didn’t care. Wasn’t going to waste my time. And then I put it on. Just for a minute. And I was sucked in. Argh.
I will admit that I’m not sure how long I would’ve stuck with it if it weren’t for the joys of Tivo, but as it stood I managed about 1.5 hours before I gave up and went to bed.
I saw the fabulous opening number where Neal Patrick Harris danced about in a sparkly black jacket and sang about Botox, Twilight and Julia Child.
Then on to the comic stylings of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin who essentially roasted all the nominees and some random audience members while the camera panned to a dark spot where James Cameron was and to an angry, sulky looking George Clooney. I think maybe that was some kind of joke – but if so my response was not to ROFL or even to LOL – it was more of a hmmm?? – not even really a haha.
Thanks to a blue Ben Stiller, some strange line flubs and the inability of many of the women to manage their dresses while walking, the awkward humor continued.
And then there was the fashion. I won’t do a full red carpet run down, but I will say this…what was up with Sarah Jessica Parker’s hair? And was that England, France or Zoe Saldana’s underpants on display when she tottered up to the mic?
But on with the show…as is often the case…many of the year’s notable and Oscar worthy movies are adapted from our favorite books. This year was no exception.
Congrats to:
- Sandra Bullock – Best Actress – The Blind Side – Adapted from the Michael Lewis book of the same name.
- Mo’Nique – Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Precious – Adapted from Push by Sapphire
(This one got the award for Best Adapted Screenplay too)
- Jeff Bridges – Best Actor – Crazy Heart – Adapted from the debut novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb. (This one got Best Original Song, too).
And oooh almost – but nice try to:
- Matt Damon – nominated for Invictus, based on the book by John Carlin
- Stanley Tucci – nominated for The Lovely Bones, based on the book by Alice Sebold
- Meryl Streep – for Julie and Julia, based on the book by Julie Powell
They’re all winners in my book – and as you can see there’s lots of books in the winners!
Posted by Dana on 03.03.2010 at 7:01 pm
I met Wendy Wax, author of Magnolia Wednesdays and The Accidental Bestseller several years ago through work and we became friends. Good friends. The kind of friends that know each others families and drink wine together whenever possible.
So, reading a book by a friend has an interesting quality to it, as does interviewing them. When reading, I think “Hmmm. That living room she is describing sounds a lot like her living room” or better yet ” I think I might know who she based that character on!”. While interviewing Wendy I struggled not to lapse into our usual chit chat about the struggles of the day – and I didn’t jump in to admit that indeed I was the friend who went ballroom dancing with her in the name of research.
Read more…
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Posted by Tommy on 03.01.2010 at 11:19 am
The 2009 Nebula Awards are coming up! The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) nominate a handful of highly esteemed works every year since 1965, when Frank Herbert’s Dune won Best Novel. Other novel category winners since then have included Flowers for Algernon, Rendezvous with Rama, The Forever War, Neuromancer, American Gods, and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.
I, for one, am on the edge of my Command Seat / Throne (Delete as needed according to your persuasion as a Sci-Fi or Fantasy fan.) to see who wins come mid-May. In the meantime, here are some links to this year’s nominees after the jump.
Read more…
Posted by Dana on 02.23.2010 at 1:47 pm
I have now tried and erased about 10 opening sentences to this post. Here’s why – it’s difficult to sum up TEDActive in a sentence or two. So let me just start with this…TEDActive rocks. Or as Sarah Silverman would say “TED is fancy”. (She said quite a few other things, too – but we can talk about that later). Okay not sure what TED is all about? Well, there was a whole talk on just how to explain what TED is to people who ask. Once that’s online all your questions will be answered. In the mean time here is my take:
TED is a conference where the world’s foremost thinkers of things talk about the things they have thought and the audience of thinkers think about the thinking and talk about it. TEDActive is the same thing only more active. Hence the bean bags (see picture below). Okay that’s not exactly it. TEDActive is a simulcast of TED for people who like bean bags and sushi.
But seriously folks, working for Better World Books, I have gotten to run event bookstores at a multitude of conferences and festivals and TEDActive was truly awesome (did I mention the sushi – or the Bollywood dance lesson?). We brought around 100 titles with us to the conference and were given an absolutely beautiful space to display them. Check it out!
And, while we were busy hawking our wares at the store, we had the pleasure of being able to listen to talking thinkers…which was thought provoking and um cool.
We also got to eat More cupcakes, meet neuro-scientists (you know who you are) and drink slow, intelligent coffee from Intelligentsia.
So – if you missed the thinking or talking or talking about thinking – you can still read what the thinkers think in their thoughtful books by checking out our online TEDActive bookstore. Great titles, great prices, and FREE SHIPPING in the US as always ($3.97 per book worldwide).
Oh – and before you run off, check out books by some of the TEDActive attendees:
– Dana Barrett, BWB Blog Editor
Posted by admin on 02.19.2010 at 3:30 pm
Applications for the new Better World Books/NCFL Libraries and Families Award are now available!
Through this opportunity the National Center for Family Literacy and Better World Books will reward and enhance existing family programming and expand literacy-building practices of families in library settings. The three $10,000 grants awarded each year will connect more families to their local libraries and expand their literacy efforts in new and innovative ways.
The deadline to apply is March 3, 2010. One winner will be chosen from each of the three following categories: local Friends of the Library programs, public/academic libraries and urban libraries. The winners will also receive scholarships to NCFL’s 2010 National Conference on Family Literacy that will take place April 11-13 in San Antonio, Texas.
Click here to apply now!
Posted by John on 02.15.2010 at 11:48 am
Erin Sawaya and Michelle Viegas of Worldfund recently paid a visit to Better World Books’ distribution center where they provided us an update on their progress improving literacy in Latin America. Better World Books book donors and readers have helped raise over $150,000 for Worldfund since they became a literacy partner in 2007.
Worldfund’s mission is to raise the quality and relevance of education in Latin America—the key to transforming lives and breaking the cycle of poverty. They do this through scholarship funding and through teacher and principal training programs. There is an excellent introductory video about Worldfund on their website.
Photo: Michelle Viegas, Director of Programs & Strategic Outreach, and Erin Sawaya, Vice President of Development and Communications, speak to Better World Books employees.
Presentations from our partners always have loads of great information, but there’s usually a key fact or two that jump out for me. In this case it was that $600 can provide a scholarship to a child for a full year (in case you’re interested here’s a link to the donations page). Read more…
Posted by Dana on 02.12.2010 at 9:30 am
I love books. I love reading them most of all, but I also like buying them, displaying them and owning them. If you’re anything like me, you’ll appreciate the fact that we here at Better World Books love you for loving books. And to honor that love, we present you with roses and chocolate. Kidding … but even better we give you the sweetest smelling, smoothest tasting deal in town. 14% off 2 or more books! Use coupon code BWBFF14 at checkout.
And if you love book about love – well then you’ll want to check out the following hot new love-fests:
Sizzle by Julie Garwood, Roses by Leila Meacham & Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. For more fun, hot or romantic reads click here!
Posted by admin on 02.11.2010 at 1:39 pm
In today’s post, David Murphy talks about his recent experience reading to kids as part of the Ferst Foundation’s CEO Challenge: For the Love of Reading. The challenge was for Georgia business and community leaders to take time out of their busy schedules to read to kids. The idea behind the challenge is to highlight the importance of childhood literacy. Check out what David had to say about the experience and don’t forget to vote!
**UPDATE – FEBRUARY 19TH, 2010 – PLEASE NOTE – VOTING HAS ENDED**
I get asked a lot of questions about our mission, our business model and our industry, so it was certainly refreshing on a cold, crisp morning this past January to have someone ask “Why literacy for children? Why focus our literacy efforts on them? Why do you value reading and literacy efforts for children?” You can hear some of my thoughts on this in a video that was recently produced to help support childhood literacy efforts here in the state of Georgia.
That day, I joined a group of Georgia based CEO’s and university presidents in a friendly competition to draw attention to childhood literacy efforts and had a great experience. I went to Premier Academy where I met with Gladys Gore, her staff and about twenty or so four year-olds for whom I had the pleasure of reading several books. Read more…
