The finalists for this year’s Story Prize areThe Angel Esmeralda by Don DeLillo (Scribner), We Others by Steven Millhauser (Knopf), and Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman (Lookout Books). The Story Prize, which annually honors the top book of short fiction, chose the three finalists from a field of 92 books from 60 different publishers. The judges for this year’s prize are Sherman Alexie, Breon Mitchell, and Louise Steinman.
The Angel Esmeralda is DeLillo’s first short story collection, the nine stories published between 1979 and 2010. Millhauser’s 21 stories are comprised of 14 previously published stories, and seven new stories. And Pearlman’s Binocular Vision, a National Book Award finalist, has stories dating back to 1976.
The Story Prize was established in 2004. Previous winners include The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat, Like You’d Understand, Anyway by Jim Shepard, Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff, and, most recently, Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr. The winner will be announced on March 21 at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium in New York City.
Thank you to Publisher’s Weekly for the article.
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John Corey Whaley wins the William C. Morris Debut Award and the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature for his novel Where Things Come Back. Other accolades include a National Book Foundation 2011 5 Under 35 selection, a Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2011 selection, an ABC New Voices selection for 2011, and a 2011 Summer SIBA Okra Pick.
Synopsis: Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, it all disappears. . . .
In the summer before Cullen’s senior year, a nominally-depressed birdwatcher named John Barling thinks he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Lily, Arkansas. His rediscovery of the so-called Lazarus Woodpecker sparks a flurry of press and woodpecker-mania. Soon all the kids are getting woodpecker haircuts and everyone’s eating “Lazarus burgers.” But as absurd as the town’s carnival atmosphere has become, nothing is more startling than the realization that Cullen’s sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.
While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, is searching for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.
Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It’s about a lot more than what Cullen calls, “that damn bird.” It’s about the dream of second chances.
Read an interview with the author by Susan Carpenter writing for the LA Times.
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The 2012 Caldecott Medal winner is A Ball for Daisy, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka, published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
In a wordless book with huge children’s appeal, Chris Raschka gives us the story of an irrepressible little dog whose most prized possession is accidently destroyed. With brilliant economy of line and color, Raschka captures Daisy’s total (yet temporary) devastation. A buoyant tale of loss, recovery and friendship.
“Chris Raschka’s deceptively simple paintings of watercolor, gouache and ink explore universal themes of love and loss that permit thousands of possible variants,” said Caldecott Medal Committee Chair Steven L. Herb. ‘A Ball for Daisy’ holds as many unique stories as there will be young readers and re-readers.
2012 Honor Books
Blackout, written and illustrated by John Rocco, published by Disney · Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group
A summer’s power outage draws an urban family up to their building’s roof and then down to the street for an impromptu block party. Rocco illuminates details and characters with a playful use of light and shadow in his cartoon-style illustrations. He delivers a terrific camaraderie-filled adventure that continues even when the electricity returns.
Grandpa Green, written and illustrated by Lane Smith, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership
Elaborate topiary sculptures give visual form to memories in a wildly fanciful garden tended by a child and his beloved great-grandfather. Using an inspired palate, Lane Smith invites readers to tour a green lifetime of meaningful moments.
Me … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.
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2012 Medal Winner
The 2012 Newbery Medal winner is Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, published by Farrar Straus Giroux
The importance of history and reading (so you don’t do the same “stupid stuff” again) is at the heart of this achingly funny romp through a dying New Deal town. While mopping up epic nose bleeds, Jack narrates this screw-ball mystery in an endearing and believable voice.
“Who knew obituaries and old lady death could be this funny and this tender?” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Viki Ash.
2012 Honor Books
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers
Hà and her family flee war-torn Vietnam for the American South. In spare yet vivid verse, she chronicles her year-long struggle to find her place in a new and shifting world.
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
On the eve of his induction into the Young Pioneers, Sasha’s world is overturned when his father is arrested by Stalin’s guard. Yelchin deftly crafts a stark and compelling story of a child’s lost idealism.
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The Mystery Writers of America have revealed their picks for the best books of the year. The winners will be revealed at a banquet ceremony on April 26, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
Best Novel
The Ranger by Ace Atkins (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Gone by Mo Hayder (Grove/Atlantic – Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino (Minotaur Books)
1222 by Anne Holt (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)
Field Gray by Philip Kerr (Penguin Group USA – G.P. Putnam’s Sons – Marion Wood Books)
Best First Novel
Red on Red by Edward Conlon (Random House Publishing Group – Spiegel & Grau)
Last to Fold by David Duffy (Thomas Dunne Books)
All Cry Chaos by Leonard Rosen (The Permanent Press)
Bent Road by Lori Roy (Penguin Group USA – Dutton)
Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ulfelder (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Best Paperback Original
The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Hachette Book Group – Orbit Books)
The Faces of Angels by Lucretia Grindle (Felony & Mayhem Press)
The Dog Sox by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Mystery Books)
Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper Paperbacks)
Vienna Twilight by Frank Tallis (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
Best Fact Crime
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins (Crown Publishing)
The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge by T.J. English (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (Random House – Doubleday)
Girl, Wanted: The Chase for Sarah Pender by Steve Miller (Penguin Group USA – Berkley)
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal (Penguin Group USA – Viking)
Best Critical Biographical
The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of our Time by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer & John-Henri Holmberg (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran (HarperCollins)
On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling by Michael Dirda (Princeton University Press)
Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film by Philippa Gates (SUNY Press)
Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds and Marnie by Walter Raubicheck and Walter Srebnick
Best Short Story
“Marley’s Revolution” – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by John C. Boland (Dell Magazines)
“Tomorrow’s Dead” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by David Dean (Dell Magazines)
“The Adakian Eagle” – Down These Strange Streets by Bradley Denton (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
“Lord John and the Plague of Zombies” – Down These Strange Streets by Diana Gabaldon (Penguin Group USA – Ace Books)
“The Case of Death and Honey” – A Study in Sherlock by Neil Gaiman (Random House Publishing Group – Bantam Books)
“The Man Who Took His Hat Off to the Driver of the Train” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Peter Turnbull (Dell Magazines)
Best Juvenile
Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)
It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Vanished by Sheela Chari (Disney Book Group – Disney Hyperion)
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press)
The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (Egmont USA)
Young Adult
Shelter by Harlan Coben (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (Penguin Young Readers Group – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall (Random House Children’s Books – Knopf BFYR)
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Roaring Creek Press)
Kill You Last by Todd Strasser (Egmont USA)
Play
Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club by Jeffrey Hatcher (Arizona Theatre Company, Phoenix, AZ)
The Game’s Afoot by Ken Ludwig (Cleveland Playhouse, Cleveland, OH)
TV Episode
“Innocence” – Blue Bloods, Teleplay by Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (CBS Productions)
“The Life Inside” – Justified, Teleplay by Benjamin Cavell (FX Productions and Sony Pictures Television)
“Part 1″ – Whitechapel, Teleplay by Ben Court & Caroline Ip (BBC America)
“Pilot” – Homeland, Teleplay by Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon & Gideon Raff (Showtime)
“Mask” – Law & Order: SVU, Teleplay by Speed Weed (Wolf Films/Universal Media Studios)
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In a previous post, FoxTale Book Shoppe, was listed as one of the best indie bookstores on Twitter. Their commitment to authors and good books has been highlighted with getting an author into the store for an unscheduled book signing.
New York Times bestselling author Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, decided to make a special trip to the store. Why? Because they really, really, really love her new book.
When the owners of FoxTale Book Shoppe read The Night Circus, they knew it would resonate with a wide range of their customers, so it became their hand-sell title of the season. One special customer loved the book so much she offered to design a window display for the store. FoxTale posted a picture of the window on their Facebook page, which then caught the eye of their Random House rep, who raved all over the social network universe.
Erin Morgenstern was concluding her hardcover tour, with no plans to include a stop in Atlanta, no plans that is, until the window display image reached her via Twitter. “I gasped. I did,” she said later. Quickly, a dialogue was established between author and the FoxTale owner, Ellen Ward, leading to the involvement of Erin’s Random House publicist, and –as if by magic– a date was decided upon for the author to visit FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, Georgia, and witness firsthand the enthusiasm her debut novel has inspired.
Morgenstern will be at Foxtale Book Shoppe on January 27 at 7 pm. The event is ticketed. More information is available on their website.
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Is your bookstore on the Best Indie Bookstores on Twitter list?
Here are the indie SIBA-member bookstores that are on the list!
A Cappella Books: The smartest bookstore in town –Creative Loafing/ Hall of Fame –Atlanta Magazine Atlanta, GA
Avid Bookshop: a locally-owned indie bookstore at 493 Prince Ave in in-town Athens, Ga.
Auburn University Bookstore: The Official Bookstore of Auburn University Auburn University, AL
Books & Books: We’re your independent bookstore with 4 locations in SoFla, including MIA & our newest location at the MOAFL, and stores in Grand Cayman & Westhampton Beach! Coral Gables, FL
Cavalier House Books: is an independently owned general interest bookstore in Denham Springs, LA.
Charis Circle: exists to foster sustainable feminist communities, to work for social justice and to encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. Atlanta, GA
Eagle Eye Books: Locally-owned and operated Atlanta bookstore. New and Used Books! We Buy Books!
Fountain Bookstore: Read all about us at www.fountainbookstore.com! Richmond, VA
FoxTale Book Shoppe: in historic downtown Woodstock, GA; a precious independent bookstore known for great service, fun author events and BOOKS! Y’all come visit!
Hub City Bookshop: Spartanburg SC
Lemuria Bookstore: Book love, one tweet at a time. Jackson, MS
Little Professor: Indie bookstore since 1973 Homewood, AL
Octavia Bookstore: an independent, locally-owned New Orleans bookstore serving book lovers everywhere.
Page & Palette: Fairhope, Alabama bookstore
Quail Ridge Books: independent bookstore Raleigh, NC
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The Submission by Amy Waldman is a powerful novel that poses the question: What if a Muslim was chosen to design the 9/11 memorial (though the date and the event is never named)? That the architect is a native born American Muslim and the choice made anonymously does not deter the conflicted response from the memorial panel. And, when the choice is leaked to the public, the ensuing divide threatens not only the architect and the panel members, but the country itself.
This is Waldman’s first novel. Her background is in journalism as a reporter for The New York Times and a national correspondent for the Atlantic. The novel has garnered a huge amount of press and praise, including being chosen as Entertainment Weekly’s Novel of the Year and short-listed for the 2011 Guardian’s First Book Award.
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Next week, art collectors and bibliophiles will have the chance to bid on what’s often called the world’s most expensive book—the last copy to go up for sale, in London two years ago, went for $11.5 million.
The Birds of America is four volumes and contains 435 massive hand-colored prints. Opening one is a two-person job. Christie’s auction house in New York, where the work goes on sale on Jan. 20, expects this complete first edition to fetch between $7 million and $10 million.
John James Audubon was a self-taught American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter.
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There are so many Spring 2012 YA and Children’s fiction/non-fiction being released that I have just highlighted a few of them. The entire list can be seen at Publisher’s Weekly.
Children’s
Bat and Rat by Patrick Jennings about two animal pals who go out for ice cream one hot summer night
Huff and Puff by Claudia Rueda, an interactive retelling of the Three Little Pigs
The Baby That Roared by Simon Puttock: Mr and Mrs Deer would love a baby, and one day they find a little antlered bundle on the doorstep. Mrs Deer thinks their wish has come true, but Mr Deer things that the baby is very, very peculiar. Soon they realise it isn’t a baby after all, it’s a little monster!
The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle, a picture book about the Jolley-Rogers, who move into the quiet shore town of Dull-on-Sea
YA
Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig, in which a teen girl plays at being Robin Hood, stealing from rich and popular girls at school to give to the less fortunate ones
Croak by Gina Dormico, first in a series about a girl who joins the family business as a grim reaper
Radiate by Marley Gibson, a novel in which Hayley draws strength from cheerleading as she fights cancer
His Fair Assassin: Grave Mercy by R.L. LaFevers, first in a YA trilogy about a young assassin in 15th-century France
Last Chance and You Can Run by Norah McClintock, which launch the Robyn Hunter mystery series, starring a Canadian teenage detective with a talent for getting into trouble
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, a romantic YA novel that takes place over a 24-hour period
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Ten years of great southern lit for $9.95!
Ordering Information:
Bookstores: Available from Ingram, 978-0-9825205-0-5, SRP $9.95
Consumers: Available at Southern Indie Bookstores.
How well do you know your Southern lit? We dare you to use a pen on these crossword puzzles, each inspired by one of the winning titles of the SIBA Book Award, honoring ten years of the very best in Southern literature as chosen by the people who would know...Southern Independent Booksellers! A great gift for your book club, for puzzle-lovers, and anyone who loves Southern literature.
