~ Jonathan Maberry, speculative fiction author, has a fantastic guest post up at Crowe’s Nest, in which he deftly explains the genres of pre-apocalyptic, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian fiction.

~ Author Terri Guiliano Long, author of In Leah’s Wake: Thanks to you: How book bloggers sparked the indie publishing revolution

~ Neil Gaiman posted a speech he once gave on three authors who influenced his life and work: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and G.K. Chesterton.

Discussion starters:

~ Chrisbookarama: We Just Want to Read – Some excellent thoughts on the funding cuts currently plaguing libraries, along with publishers pulling out of electronic content sites like Overdrive.

~ My Friend Amy: The Growing Relationship Between Books and Television – About the new(ish) trend of TV series adapted from books.

~ Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?: Legit – Survey says people buy books after reading about them on book blogs. Who knew? ~wink~ All kidding aside, it’s nice to have some firm numbers to confirm the value of book blogging.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, reviewed by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This

~ The Orchard by Theresa Weir, reviewed by Kathy at Bermudaonion

~ The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney, reviewed by Jen at Devourer of Books

~ Foreign Correspondence by Geraldine Brooks, reviewed by Kristen at BookNAround

~ Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn, reviewed by Tasha at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, & Books

~ The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan, reviewed by Melissa at The Avid Reader’s Musings

~ The Condition by Jennifer Haigh, reviewed by Sheila at Book Journey

Other bookish links:

~ Flavorwire: 15 Famous Authors’ Beautiful Estates

~ Three days left to vote for the March read-along book!

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~ The amazingly gifted Beth Kephart has a new two-book deal with Philomel.

Discussion starters:

~ Book Journey: When authors attack

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss. Vasilly mentioned this as one of the 2012 books she is most looking forward to. It looks amazing!

~ 20 Years Later by Emma Newman, reviewed by Darren at Bart’s Bookshelf

~ Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen, reviewed by Amy at My Friend Amy

~ Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir….of Sorts by Ian Cron. Sherry mentioned this one on her list of twelve best adult non-fiction reads of 2012.

Book to movie news:

~ Cherie Priest’s novel Boneshaker is headed for the big screen.

~ If you’re as curious as I was about how film-makers could possibly turn a book like What to Expect When You’re Expecting into a film, check out the trailer.

~ Warner Bros has released the first two official images of Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Other bookish links:

~ NY Times: Publishers guild books with special effects to compete with e-books

~ LA Times: Has book blogging hit the wall? William Morrow’s blogger notice

~ New coin honors Charles Dickens

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Discussion starters:

~ Bookalicious: Google Friend Connect – The Experiment

~ A columnist for Santa Cruz News pissed off a lot of book bloggers with her column Book Expo’s Sorry Turn. To quote:

Book blogging has become a subculture whose members are mostly women between 20 and 50 years old, often known as “mommy bloggers” because they are housewives who blog about romance novels, horror/vampire stories and paranormal novels.

As a housewife – homeschooling mom, no less – and book blogger between the ages of 20 and 50, I really wanted to write a response. I was too busy this week, though, so I’ll leave you with these fantastic responses from Laura at I’m Booking It, Florinda at The 3 R’s Blog, and Jennifer at The Literate Housewife Review. There are also a lot of great responses from familiar names in the comments section of the original article.

Other bookish links:

~ Flavorwire: The 30 harshest author-on-author insults in history

~ Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011 is coming up! Save the date – and, if you can, sign up to volunteer.

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~ Bookalicious: Authors are people too – Great post with much discussion in the comments section.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams, reviewed by Missy at Missy’s Reads & Reviews – I really enjoyed The Chosen One by the same author.

~ Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart, reviewed by Amy at The House of Seven Tails – I loved Stewart’s The Myth of You and Me.

Book to movie/television news:

~ HBO is in talks to adapt Neil Gaiman’s American Gods as a television series.

~ Matt Reeves (Cloverfield and Let Me In) has been chosen to direct the film adaptation of The Passage by Justin Cronin.

~ Flavorwire: The 10 Most Badly Bungled Classic-Book-To-Film Adaptations

Giveaways:

~ There’s still time to enter my two-year bloggiversary giveaway – six books up for grabs!

Other bookish links:

~ If you, like me, are unable to attend BEA this year, but still want to participate in the week-long book love-fest, be sure and sign up for Armchair BEA.

~ Allie at A Literary Odyssey has an amazing system for organizing her books. I may borrow some of her ideas, if I ever find time to actually catalog all the books in the nooks and crannies of this house!

~ NPR: The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going to Miss Almost Everything – If you only have time to click on one link, this is the one – read it!

I’ll leave you with the new book trailer for Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks:

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Did I really just write 2011? Happy New Year, everyone!

Author links:

~ Author Jamie Ford announces that we will have to wait until early 2012 for his next novel. This makes me sad, but if it’s anywhere near as good as Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, it will be well worth the wait.

Discussion starters:

~ Another hilarious video from Pam: Will you review my self-published book?

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers, reviewed by Michelle at GalleySmith.

~ A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler, reviewed by Chelsea at The Page Flipper.

~ Brave New Worlds: Short Fiction, edited by John Joseph Adams, reviewed by TJ at Dreams and Speculation.

~ Choker by Elizabeth Woods, reviewed by Zia at My Life in Not So Many Words.

~ The Truth-Teller’s Lie by Sophie Hannah, reviewed by Wendy at Caribousmom.

~ Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet, reviewed by Jackie at Farm Lane Books.

~ The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, reviewed by Staci at Life in the Thumb.

Book to movie news:

~ In this interview, Anne Hathaway talks about her role as Emma in the upcoming film version of David Nicholls’ One Day.

~ Lily Collins, who played Sandra Bullock’s daughter in The Blind Side, has been cast as Clary in the film version of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones. Finally some book-to-film casting I am happy about! There’s a picture at the link – I think she’s perfect.

~ Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay, blogs about Who Controls Hollywood in the wake of news that Dakota Fanning will no longer be playing Mia in the film version.

~ Gary Ross, director of the upcoming Hunger Games film, talks about casting Katniss.

Other bookish links:

~ Check out the cover for City of Fallen Angels, the fourth book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series.

~ Writer’s Blog has a CBS News Video about the process of creating a book cover.

~ Funny comic about e-readers.

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Author links:

~ Author Nick Hornby inspires kids with writing school.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, reviewed by Bedazzled.

~ The Unidentified by Rae Mariz, reviewed by Debbie at Debbie’s World of Books.

Book lists:

~ NY Times: 100 Notable Books 2010.

Reading challenges:

~ Booklover Book Reviews is hosting the 2011 Aussie Author Challenge.

~ Katy at A Few More Pages is hosting the 1st in a Series Reading Challenge and the 2nds Challenge 2011.

~ Candace at Beth Fish Reads has announced the categories for What’s In a Name? 4 Challenge. I can’t wait to start this one!

Other bookish links:

~ “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night” Board Game – this is going on my Christmas list!

~ Candace at Beth Fish Reads has some great plans for next year for her Great Imprints feature.

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On Thursday, those of us who live in the United States will observe Thanksgiving, a day devoted to being thankful and eating a boatload of delicious food with family and/or friends. In honor of Thanksgiving, I am devoting today’s Sunday Salon post to the authors I am most thankful I “discovered” this year, the ones who, for one reason or another, made my 2010 reading experiences richer.

Jamie Ford: His historical novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, will definitely be on my list of top reads of 2010, and is a book that I highly recommend to anyone, adult or teen, male or female.

Beth Kephart: Her YA fiction is beautifully written – more like reading poetry than prose – and peopled with authentic teenage characters whose beauty comes from the heart and spirit.

Sarah Addison Allen: Allen writes magic-breathed contemporary women’s fiction; I will read anything she writes.

Zadie Smith: On Beauty is one of the best pieces of literary fiction I’ve ever read. The way she puts words together is miraculous, and she deals with some of the most difficult issues: race, religion, politics.

David Nicholls: One Day is one of my favorites of the year as well – a book that made me fall in love with the characters and then broke my heart.

Anne Perry: Historical fiction + mystery + war story + exploration of the nature of faith amid the horrors of World War I. And excellent on audio.

Gail Carriger: Because sometimes you want to read a book about a soulless Victorian maiden who cavorts with vampires and werewolves.

What authors are you feeling thankful for today?

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This list is, I’m sure, missing a lot of really good posts. When we came home from the hospital, I had to click the infamous “mark all read” button again – there was simply no time to read everything. Feel free to point me in the direction of discussions and reviews that I shouldn’t have missed!

Author links:

~ John Marsden speaks about the identity of the invaders in his Tomorrow, When the War Began series.

Discussion starters:

~ Bookalicious: When will I grow up and read adult books?

~ Debbie’s World of Books: Serial readers

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Illyria by Elizabeth Hand, reviewed by Beth Kephart

~ The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June by Beth Conway, reviewed by Debbie

~ Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, reviewed by Lulu

Book lists:

~ Bookalicous: A few books from 2010 you should read

Other bookish links:

~ NY Times: The Kids’ Books Are All Right

~ Postertext: Book posters for reading enthusiasts – These posters are amazing – they use the entire text of literature’s greatest books to create art.

~ Better Book Titles (Warning: contains some salty language.)

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Author links:

~ Shannon Hale: How to be a writer’s friend (or spouse)

~ Andi at Estella’s Revenge has an interview with Lucy Knisley, author of the graphic memoir French Milk.

~ Beth Kephart: How do you choose the books you are going to read?

Discussion starters:

~ Books Lists Life: The problem with series

~ My Friend Amy: Reflections on Peeta and reading

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, reviewed by Rhapsody in Books.

~ Poetry Speaks Who I Am edited by Elise Paschen and Dominique Raccah, reviewed by Vasilly.

~ Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, reviewed by Pam.

~ The Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers, reviewed by Michelle.

~ Chasing Orion by Kathryn Lasky, reviewed by Amanda.

~ Troublemaker by Janet and Alex Evanovich and Joelle Jones, reviewed by Amy.

~ Room by Emma Donoghue, reviewed by Carrie.

~ A God Somewhere by John Arcudi & Peter Snejbjerg, reviewed by Swapna.

Book lists:

~ EW: Stephen King’s 6 Must-Read Books for Summer

Other bookish links:

~ Guardian: Eighty Years of Book Cover Design by Faber and Faber

And, lastly, I leave you with Jane Austen’s Fight Club:

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Author links:

~ Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog has a guest post by Beth Hoffman, author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: Book Bloggers: Foxes of the Literary World.

Discussion starters:

~ Michelle’s Masterful Musings: Free Speech and Blogging

~ Bookstore People: If you could pick one book that would represent America to foreigners, which book would you pick?

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons, reviewed by Staci at Life in the Thumb.

~ Sleepless by Cyn Balog, reviewed by Irish at Ticket to Anywhere.

~ The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison, reviewed by Marci at Serendipitous Readings.

~ Library Wars: Love and War, Volume 1 by Kiiro Yumi, reviewed by Nicola at Back to Books.

~ WWW.Wake by Robert J. Sawyer, reviewed by Rhapsody in Books.

~ Time’s Legacy by Barbara Erskine, reviewed by Sarah at Reading the Past and Alaine at Queen of Happy Endings.

~ Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus, reviewed by Lenore at Presenting Lenore.

Other bookish links:

~ Lenore is hosting Dystopian August.

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