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In this feature exclusive to BookPage.com, each month, four authors are asked a question about the craft of writing to give readers an insight into how their favorite writers think and work. For November's author forum, BookPage brought together Silas House, Carla Neggers, Jill McCorkle and Jason Pinter to ask: How did you get your first book deal? And what's your #1 piece of advice for…The story behind my first book
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Foer offers food for thought on America’s taste for meat
Review by Alison HoodThe stories we tell ourselves about what is true in our lives have tremendous power, especially when those stories involve what we eat. We humans have strong convictions about food—many of these formed from memories ranging from sublime to scary—that are woven closely into our families and lives, affecting our choices about the foods we crave, purchase and consume. “We are made of… -
Stepping out: Little ones (and parents) find the courage to break away
Feature by Robin SmithWhen is the best time for a youngster to strike out on his or her own? Every family faces this crucial moment, whether it’s a toddler taking her first wobbly steps across the living room, a kindergartner nervously meeting the teacher or an older child biking down the street for the first time. These moments of poignancy follow weeks and years of experimenting with independence. Three new…
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Son of the South
Interview by Trisha PingCharismatic and controversial, Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest has been the subject of many a narrative. Now, novelist Madison Smartt Bell--a fellow son of Tennessee, National Book Award finalist and entertaining dinner companion--takes on this complicated man in Devil's…
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An ode to books
Review by Roger BishopThrough the centuries, technologies have profoundly affected the way people read. When the codex—that is, a book with pages to turn—replaced the scroll, readers approached the text differently. They could now concentrate easily on a single page and individual paragraphs and chapters. Printing with movable type made books available to thousands of people previously denied the reading…
Featured ReviewBehind the scenes of an Internet giantGoogle is little more than a decade old, but look at the impact it has already had on our lives. It processes more than 70 percent of all searches on the web and generates $20 billion in annual advertising revenue. It is the site of choice not only to search the Internet, but to correspond by Gmail, to get driving directions on Google Maps, to make a free phone call using Google Voice or even to watch a video on YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006. The search engine is so ubiquitous, in fact, that it has become a verb; people don’t conduct a search anymore, they “google.”
Author Ken Auletta tackles the phenomenal growth of Google in his new book, Googled: The End of the World as We Know It. The title is provocative, but…
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National Book Award (fiction) goes to Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin"
Fall fiction highlightsWine and crime in Mayle’s FranceWhen entertainment lawyer Danny Roth’s secretary finagles him an interview with the Los Angeles Times so he can showcase his impressive wine collection, Danny is over the moon. Alas, his newfound celebrity in the wine world soon curdles into sour grapes when hundreds of bottles of his prized Bordeaux are stolen from his wine cellar.
Thus…
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Web exclusives!The other side of the storyWeb exclusive
The Man in the Wooden Hat, a compelling new novel from acclaimed British novelist Jane Gardam, marks the return of Sir Edward Feathers, the central character in Gardam’s prize-winning Old Filth. Feathers (nicknamed Filth, an acronym for Failed in London, Try Hong Kong), is a retired judge who returns to England with his wife Betty after a long and…
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Tops for teensWestfeld sails into history with a whale of a taleWhat if World War I was fought with giant walking machines and genetically modified monsters instead of airplanes and ammunition? What if, instead of telephones and radios, long-distance communication was carried out by talking lizards and trained birds? What if our version of history was somehow turned on its head and futuristic tales were spun instead? Read More… |
Cozy cornerA modern cozy with an Austen twist
Debut novelist Tracy Kiely has come up with the smashing idea of marrying Jane Austen’s wit and social acuity to the form of the modern cozy mystery and gotten excellent results in Murder at Longbourn, which has all the signs of beginning a fine new series. Kiely uses some Austen plot lines, particularly from Pride and Prejudice, and gives her own 21…
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