Recently in Fiction Category

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The 60th annual National Book Awards was a night to celebrate literature and to wonder about its future.

Lifetime achievement winner Gore Vidal envisioned only pulp and dust Wednesday as he contemplated the state of books, while fellow honorary winner Dave Eggers declared that we live in a golden age. The evening's host, Andy Borowitz, joked that the meaning of publishing was "a lot of hard work. Then nothing."

As the e-book march advances, both Eggers and fiction winner Colum McCann insisted that paper texts were stronger than ever. McCann won the fiction prize for "Let the Great World Spin," a novel about daring, luck and mortality in the pre-digital world of 1970s New York.

Your parents never leave you. You can shut them out of your life, but they'll haunt you and maybe haunt your marriage and then you'll discover that you ARE them.
So it happens for Jack Griffin, the protagonist in "That Old Cape Magic." He is on the way to Cape Cod to dispose of his father's ashes and then attend a wedding in which his daughter is maid of honor.
As the weekend unfolds, we flash back to Griffin's childhood, his college professor parents and their summers on Cape Cod. He seems to have no fondness for his parents, but he can't let them go.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Nov. 8.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
3. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.
4. "True Blue" by David Baldacci.
5. "The Given Day" by Dennis Lehane.

From the Associated Press:

TORONTO -- Linden MacIntyre, an investigative journalist who wrote a novel about sexual abuse by Catholic priests, has won one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards.

MacIntyre won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his book "The Bishop's Man" on Tuesday night.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Nov. 1.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
3. "The Gathering Storm" by Robert Jordan.
4. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.
5. "The Big Burn" by Timothy Eagen.

"Spirits of '76: Ghost Stories of the American Revolution," a collection of ghost stories from the Revolutionary War era, includes two stories about York.

The ghost stories tell of bodies buried at Camp Security and executions carried out in York's square.

The book sells for $14.95 and is available at bookstores and from online retailers or from the publisher, www.blairpub.com.

The Paul Smith Library of Southern York County will collect new and used paperback books during November for shipment to American troops overseas.

The library is one of several collection points for the Sertoma Club's book drive for Operation Paperback, a Pennsylvania non-profit that has shipped nearly one million books to troops over the last decade. Other local drop-off sites include the YMCA Southern Branch and the Mason-Dixon Public Library.

Donations should be marked for Operation Paperback and dropped off during normal library hours.

The Paul Smith Library is at 80 Constitution Ave. in Shrewsbury.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- It was a weird day in the book price wars.

The cost of John Grisham's "Ford County," officially released Tuesday, moved up and down like stock market shares as rivals Amazon.com and Walmart.com extended, then rescinded, their high discounts for top-selling pre-orders.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Oct. 25.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.
3. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
4. "The Big Burn" by Timothy Egan.
5. "Arguing with Idiots" by Glenn Beck.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The latest weapon in the publishing price wars: Stephen King.

Scribner announced Wednesday that the digital edition of King's "Under the Dome," a 1,000-plus page novel, would have a list price of $35, several dollars higher than for what e-books usually are listed. Amazon.com and other online retailers have been offering best-selling e-editions for $9.99, which publishers fear is unrealistically low.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Oct. 11.

1. "The Last Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom.
3. "Arguing with Idiots" by Glenn Beck.
4. "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.
5. "In a Perfect World" by Laura Kasischke.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- An online book special offered by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is turning into a full-fledged price war with Amazon.com.

Wal-Mart got things started Thursday, offering $10 prices on such upcoming hardcover releases as Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" and John Grisham's "Ford County," a cut of 60 percent or more from the regular cost. Wal-Mart will also offer free shipping.

Amazon.com, the largest online bookseller, matched the $10 price, prompting Wal-Mart to take its offer to $9. By Friday morning, Amazon.com also had priced the books at $9.

Just in from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Tycoons, evolution and the environment are among the subjects of this year's National Book Award nominees.

Marcel Theroux's global warming novel "Far North" and T.J. Stiles' "The First Tycoon," a biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, were some the finalists announced Wednesday. Two books about evolution, including a story for young people about Charles Darwin, were also nominated.

Winners in the four competitive categories of the National Book Awards will be announced at a Nov. 18 ceremony in New York.

From the Associated Press:

STOCKHOLM -- Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, honored for work that "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."

The 56-year-old author, who emigrated to Germany from then-communist Romania in 1987, made her debut in 1982 with a collection of short stories titled "Niederungen," which was promptly censored by the Romanian government. In 1984 an uncensored version was published in Germany and her work depicting life in a small, German-speaking village in Romania was devoured by readers.

That work was followed by "Oppresive Tango" in Romania.

Because of her vocal criticism of Romania's government, and its feared secret police, she and her husband left the country.

The prize includes a 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) prize and will be handed out Dec. 10 in the Swedish capital.

Just in from the Associated Press:

LONDON -- A tale of political intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction Tuesday.

Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" scooped the 50,000-pound ($80,000) prize. Mantel's novel charts the upheaval caused by the king's desire to marry Anne Boleyn, as seen through the eyes of royal adviser Thomas Cromwell.

Mantel's novel beat stiff competition from a shortlist that included previous Booker winners A.S. Byatt and J.M. Coetzee.

From the Associated Press:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard University has acquired the manuscripts, correspondences, and other papers of two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author John Updike, a member of the university's class of 1954.

The Boston Globe reports that Harvard's Houghton Library, the university's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts, will house the John Updike archive. Officials did not disclose how much Harvard paid for the papers.

Leslie Morris, curator of modern books and manuscripts at Houghton Library, says the collection includes 1,500 books, including Updike's collection of his own work, as well as books Updike reviewed, photographs and correspondence from Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates and others.

Updike died in January at age 76.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Sept. 20.

1. "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.
2. "True Compass" by Edward Kennedy.
3. "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks.
4. "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.
5. "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls.

From the Associated Press:

CHICAGO -- Oprah Winfrey says her latest book club selection is an exception in more ways than one.

The latest pick from publishing's surest hitmaker is Uwem Akpan's debut short story collection "Say You're One Of Them."

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- Three poets, two fiction writers and a nonfiction writer have won $25,000 prizes given annually to emerging women authors.

Poets Vievee Francis, Janice Harrington and Heidy Steidlymayer; fiction writers Lori Ostlund and Helen Phillips; and nonfiction writer Krista Bremer are this year's recipients of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards. The awards were announced Wednesday.

Previous winners of the award, founded in 1995, include ZZ Packer and Lan Samantha Chang.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Aug. 23.

1. "The Weight of Silence" by Heather Gudenkauf.
2. "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger.
3. "Dreamfever" by Karen Marie Moning.
4. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.
5. "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy.

Among the many One Book, One Community programs:

Altered Books, 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at Red Land Community Library, 48 Robin Hood Drive, Etters. Joyce McCormick will teach how to use paints, stamps, decoupage and cutting to turn old books into keepsakes. Register by calling 938-5599 or at the library. For ages 13 to adult.

Pulitzer-Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks, whose novel "People of the Book" is this year's One Book, One Community selection, took a break from her current projects to answer questions for the York Daily Record/Sunday News via e-mail.

YDR: What role, if any, did libraries play in your youth?

Brooks: Libraries were HUGE in my youth. My family didn't have a lot of excess cash when I was growing up, so most of our books came from the library. We'd go as a family, on a Saturday. My parents would haul home an armful each of contemporary fiction and my sister and I were free to graze at will through the riches of the children's section.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Being chosen as the One Book, One Community recipient might pale in comparison to nabbing the Pulitzer Prize. Not so, says Geraldine Brooks, author of "People of the Book," this year's selection.

"It's a tremendous honor to have a book chosen as a community read. What could be better for a writer than to imagine people gathering to discuss her work?" Brooks said in an e-mail. "I love it when people come together around books, whether in a small private book group or a large community effort. It makes me feel optimistic about our future as a species."

I applaud the One Book, One Community selection committee for choosing "People of the Book" for this year's community read.

Geraldine Brook's historical novel tells the 500-year history of a Haggadah, or illustrated Jewish prayer book, and how Jews, Christians and Muslims repeatedly saved it from destruction, often at great personal risk.

Brooks is a masterful writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for "March," a novel about the absent father in "Little Women." Her other book, "Year of Wonders," is about a small English town visited by bubonic plague in the 17th century. I recommend them all.

So be sure to drop by the library or book store soon to pick up your copy. Then go to www.yorklibraries.org for a list of One Book, One Community activities.

Hanover YWCA is accepting used books for its annual used book sale Nov. 6, 7 and 8. Books can be brought to the YW at 23 W. Chestnut St. and placed in the "book box" located in front of the building. Please no encyclopedias, Readers Digest condensed books or magazines. Books should be in good condition and placed in bags or boxes.

Daily Record/Sunday News librarian Joan McInnis reviews "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova:

Alice Howland was at the top of her game. At 50 she had achieved her life's goals -- tenure as a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard and much sought after as a lecturer. She was married
to a fellow Harvard professor and renowned researcher, and she had managed to
juggle her demanding work schedule with her roles as a loving wife and mother.

Her grown children were pursuing good careers, and her married daughter was hoping to make her a grandmother. Life was good until the day she suddenly experienced
confusion while on her daily run and had difficulty finding her way back home. Other
troubling memory lapses occurred, forcing her to seek a medical explanation. After intensive testing her doctor informed her that she was suffering from early onset Alzheimer's.

Here are two reviews from reader Nancy Duncan:

I just read two books featuring lace, but they aren't how-to books.

The first one is "The Lace Makers of Glenmara" by Heather Barbieri.

After her mother's death and a failed romance, 26-year old Kate Robinson travels to her ancestral homeland of Ireland hoping to reinvent herself. After backpacking through the country she arrives on the west coast, in the seaside town of Glenmara.

I love the way Jhumpa Lahiri writes, and I love that I can get insight into the immigrant experience when I read her wonderful stories.

In "Unaccustomed Earth," she presents eight stories of Indian families, all of them different. But, of course, the people are just like any other people and the families have the same joys and problems.

Did you know Janet Evanovich wrote a dozen romances? That was under the name Steffie Hall, before the time of Plum, as she puts it.
"Foul Play" is the ninth, a short, cute story about Amy, the young TV character who lost her job to a chicken, and Jake, the handsome veterinarian.
Much description of her slim legs and his hunky bod. A little mystery about how the chicken meets his end livens up the courtship.
If you're an Evanovich fan, you'll see hints of the Stephanie Plum adventures to come.
It took me about two hours to read. Not sure it's worth $7.99, but if you find it at the library like I did, or a used-book sale, pick it up for a little fun.

I went to Borders this weekend with my stepdaughter, Britni. I finally bought the first installment to "Vampire Diaries." I read this series back when I was in high school, which was a very long time ago. And I wanted to reread the series for my own enjoyment.

I have read the "Twilight" series and did enjoy it.

Back to "Diaries," I completed Vol. 1: The Awakening, and about halfway through Vol. 2: The Struggle.

On L.J. Smith's Web site there is an updated book listing of more stories to follow in the "Vampire Diaries" series.

To add more fuel to the fire. The CW "Vampire Diaries" series premiere is Thursday, Sept. 10 8/7c.

So, Edward beware: A new vampire is moving into the dark shadows and he doesn't sparkle. Paul Wesley as Stefan in "THE VAMPIRE DIARIES."

Karl Larew of New Park has written "Paul, Betty and Pearl." According to Larew, the novel is the first book in a trilogy that traces an Army family's experiences from World War II through the Vietnam War. He says, "It is based on my research as a professional historian inside the Army and outside, and on some of my family's experiences."

Larew is a retired history professor. His book is $14.95 and can be purchased from amazon.com.

Waln K. Brown has co-authored "Growing Up in the Care of Strangers: The Experiences, Insights and Recommendations of Eleven Former Foster Kids." Brown was born in York and graduated from York Suburban Senior High School in 1963. He spent years in the York County Juvenile Court, experiencing multiple placements, including an orphanage and juvenile home. His story is one of the 11 written by college-educated child welfare professionals.

Brown's book sells for $27.95 and can be ordered at www.williamgladdenfoundation.org.

Paula Morton, who lived in York County for more than 20 years, has written "Tabloid Valley: Supermarket News and American Culture." Her book takes a look at how publications such as the National Enquirer and Weekly World News changed American journalism. The book contains dozens of photographs.

"Tabloid Valley" is $16.47 and can be purchased from amazon.com or the University Press of Florida, its publisher, at www.upf.com.

Lonnie Mounts of Red Lion is the author of "Twin Deception." The novel is available for $14.95 from PublishAmerican.com.

Professional organizer Debbie Jordan Kravitz of York Township has written "Everything I Know About Perfectionism I Learned From My Breasts: Secrets and Solutions for Overpowering Perfectionism."

The book is available for $19.95 from Kravitz's publishing company at www.malizapublishing.com.

Author Debbie Macomber has a legion of ardent fans. So I jumped at the chance to read an advance copy of the latest installment in her Cedar Cove series, "92 Pacific Boulevard" due in stores Aug. 25, to see what all the fuss was about.

The novels are set in a small town in Washington state. There are lots of colorful characters, which regular readers must consider family by now. I kept them all straight thanks to a "cast of characters" list in the front of the book.

A review of "The Third Angel" by our staff librarian, Joan McInnis.

What a magical spell Alice Hoffman has created in "The Third Angel."

The reader, is quickly caught up in the lives of two sisters reuniting for the London marriage of the older, Allie. The hotel setting, once the residence of their mother during a London visit years before, foretells happenings that are out of the ordinary.

This Sunday (July 26), PCN (Comcast channel 21) will air programming featuring the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt, who passed away on July 19 at the age of 78.

At 3 p.m., the network will re-air the "PCN Profiles" program in which McCourt spoke candidly about his life, achievements and inspirations. McCourt's speech during the Speakers' Millennium Lecture from 2008 will air on PCN at 4 p.m. Replays of the "PCN Profiles" featuring McCourt have also been scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday.

A son of Irish immigrant parents and native of Brooklyn, McCourt gained international acclaim after being awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for his memoir, "Angela's Ashes."

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended July 12.

1. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.
2. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson.
3. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson.
4. "Angel's Game" by Carl Zafon Ruiz.
5. "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows" by J. K. Rowling.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended July 5.

1. "Swimsuit" by James Patterson.
2. "Finger Lickin' Fifteen" by Janet Evanovich.
3. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson.
4. "Angel's Game" by Carl Ruiz Zafon.
5. "Glenn Beck's Common Sense" by Glenn Beck.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Sunday News/Daily Record

Jim Rath fell in love with York in the summer of 1980. So, almost three decades later, he decided to blow it up. Fictionally, anyway.

Rath's novel, "American Anarchy" (Cornerstone, $17.96), is about a group of homegrown terrorists who plan to overthrow the U.S. government. Their first move of the rebellion is the sudden and brutal destruction of York.

This just in from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- A Swedish author whose new book was promoted as a sequel to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" cannot publish it in the United States because it too closely mirrors Salinger's classic without adequate parody or critique, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended June 21:

1. "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton.
2. "The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
3. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult.
4. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.
5. "Cook Yourself Thin" by Lifetime TV.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

If the Civil War conjures images of debonair soldiers in dashing uniforms and with unbreakable principles, "Seen the Glory" (Simon & Schuster, $25) might just dash those dreams.

The soldiers in former York countian John Hough Jr.'s meticulously researched historical novel leave all romantic notions of the war behind. They march for days on end without bathing. They eat a scarce, rotting diet of salted pork and wormy hardtack. They face as much danger from disease and bacteria as they do on the battlefield. Most have, at best, an eighth-grade education and a muddied idea of the war's motivation.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended June 14:

1. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.
2. "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton.
3. "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young.
4. "Matters of the Heart" by Danielle Steel.
5. "When You are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris.

To read a review of "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," click here.

An undate from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- A Swedish author's new book is so similar to J.D. Salinger's classic novel "The Catcher In The Rye" that a judge said Wednesday she will carefully study copyright law before ruling whether it can be published in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts temporarily blocked publication of the book, "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," until she rules whether the book transforms Salinger's original creation enough that it qualifies to be published as a "fair use" of a copyrighted work.

A ruling was anticipated in the next 10 days. The book was scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 15 but the court dispute was likely to delay that.

Just in from the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- An author who's being sued by J.D. Salinger for copyright infringement is asking a Manhattan judge to let his book be published.

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday about the novel, called "60 Years Later." Its author, Fredrik Colting, writes under the name John David California.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

Filled with strong, believable characters, with a setting rich in history, "The Help" by Katherine Stockett is the best book to be published this year. I couldn't put it down.

Set in Jackson, Misssissippi, during the early 1960s when the civil rights movement is getting started, "The Help" is the story of black domestic workers in white households. Doesn't sound like much, right?

Well, the characters of Skeeter, the white woman who longs to escape Jackson, and Abileen and Minny, the "colored" women who tell Skeeter their stories, are so full of life that you want to know how this book will end. How will these women, and the other women who come to Skeeter with their tales, survive in this small town, where everyone knows each other's business, whether they are black or white? The telling of these stories must remain a secret, if word got out that the domestics were commenting on their white employers, the women, and their families, wouldn't be safe from retribution.

The times were changing and social and racial barriers were being broken down. Although change was slow to come in Jackson, humanity and respect rose to the top.

An excellent debut novel.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

Alice Lindgren is from a small town in Wisconsin where she lives with her parents and grandmother in the 1950s. She has no illusions of grandeur, she believes her life will follow the path of her parents, but a series of events in her teenage years leads her in an unexpected direction.

Loosely based on a biography of Laura Bush, the author attempts to understand why a quiet, bookish librarian would marry such a man as George Bush, or as he is called in the book, Charlie Blackwell.

The book is divided up by the houses Alice lived in. First her parents' house in Riley, Wisconsin; the apartment she lived in as a single, working woman; the governor's mansion in Wisconsin and finally the White House.

The last part of the book is the most introspective. At this point Alice is looking back and wondering what if, what if those events as a teenager hadn't happened, would her life have been so different? What lead her to this point, where she is struggling with the decisions her husband has made as president -- and is she complicit with them in her silence?

Until Laura Bush writes her own biography and gives us insight into the why and how of her decisions, we can read "American Wife" and think we know the answers.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK -- The setting was divine -- a duplex on the Upper East Side. The featured speaker, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

The subjects: sex, violence and profanity.

In other words, the stuff that books are banned for.

The amazing thing to me about this book by Alexander McCall Smith, is that it was originally a serial in The Scotsman, Edinburgh's daily newspaper about five years ago.
Imagine reading part of a novel each day in the paper.
That is why this story unfolds in 110 short chapters. In the foreword, Smith says the serialization was a challenge. I think he pulled it off.

Best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended May 24.

1. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer.
2. "The Girls from Ames" by Jeffrey Zaslow.
3. "Gone Tomorrow" by Lee Child.
4. "Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton.
5. "Resilience" by Elizabeth Edwards.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Melissa Wyatt takes the writers' adage of "write what you know" and tosses it out the window.

Her latest book, "Funny How Things Change," tells the story of Remy, an Appalachian boy who grapples with where he belongs in the world. Her debut novel, "Raising the Griffin," focused on a grumpy young prince who leaves his English home to raise a monarchy in a fictional nation named Rovenia.

From the Associated Press:

TOKYO -- Everything has been kept secret, except the author and title. But the first novel in five years by Japan's Haruki Murakami has become a hit even before its official release Friday.

"It is amazing. People are craving his latest novel," said Takashi Machii, spokesman for the book's publisher, Shinchosha, which raised its first printing to 480,000 copies from 380,000 after orders flooded in.

Murakami, 60, is one of the most widely translated Japanese writers alive, with global best-sellers such as "Norwegian Wood," "Kafka on the Shore" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle." He is considered a top Japanese candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.

In a clever marketing scheme, the contents of his new novel have been kept secret. Fans ordering the book know nothing but the title, "1Q84," which can be read as "1984" in Japanese.

Dean Koontz's latest suspense novel, "Relentless," hits bookstore shelves June 9.

Let us know what you think, good or bad.

Send a short review to gfogal@ydr.com.

The first reviewer receives ... well, you get to see your review right here. Isn't that enough?

Connie Sprenkle of West Manchester Township has added another book to her Nonnie collection for children.

"Ocodile Dreams" was written and illustrated by Sprenkle to help children deal with frightening dreams.

Her other children's books are "The Pokey Pumpkin," "Enjenny," "Doo Dah," "King of the Pond," "Little Runaround the Homeless Hound," "Sand is Hot; Snow is Not" and "Christmas Pajamas." She also wrote a cookbook, "Smart Cuts to Victory: Cook and Entertain with Connie."

"Ocodile Dreams" is available at Borders Books & Music, amazon.com and booksurge.com or by contacting the author at 792-0986.

From the Associated Press:

ISTANBUL -- A Turkish author on trial over accusations that his latest book insulted Islam denied the charges Tuesday and insisted he was respectful of religion.

Nedim Gursel faces up to a year in prison if found guilty on charges of humiliating religious values and inciting religious hatred in his novel "The Daughters of Allah."

Alice Munro, the revered Canadian short story writer, has won the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement, according to the Associated Press.

The award, announced Tuesday, is worth around $95,000.

Munro, 77, is known for such collections as "Friend of My Youth" and "The View from Castle Rock." Her short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" was adapted into the acclaimed film "Away from Her," starring Julie Christie.

If you aren't familiar with Munro's work, do yourself a favor and pick up one of her short story collections at the library or bookstore. I'm not a big short story fan, but I love Munro.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

One of my favorite books is "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. When I heard about the new edition of the book, where zombies had been added to this tale of manners, I was a little leery about how the classic would fare.

I need not have worried.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

"Still Alice" by Lisa Genova is a well written, fictionalized account of a woman facing early onset Alzheimer's.

Dean Koontz's fourth book in the Odd Thomas series, "Odd Hours," is now in paperback.

To learn more, click here.

To read a review, click here.

From reader Nancy Duncan:

In preparation for the July release of the next Harry Potter movie, I decided to re-read "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." It was a good thing I did.

Chick lit with yarn is a good way to describe this book, a novel about Georgia Walker, who owns Walker and Daughter, a knitting store in Manhattan. She is a single mother with a precocious 12-year-old daughter, Dakota, and lots of worries.
Seems to me she had a good thing going. I was wishing she'd just get over herself at times. Same with the other characters, women who work in or visit the shop and come together every Friday to knit and keep each other company.

In these tough economic times, publishers are finding readers are more willing to purchase paperback editions of works by new authors.

To read more, click here.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended April 12.

1. "Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark R. Levin.
2. "Long Lost" by Harlen Coben.
3. "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan.
4. "Just Take My Heart" by Mary Higgins Clark.
5. "City of Thieves" by David Benioff.

From the Associated Press:

LONDON -- Author J.G. Ballard, a survivor of a Japanese prison camp whose vision was so dark and distinctive it was labeled "Ballardian" and who reached a wide audience with the autobiographical "Empire Of The Sun," died Sunday, his agent said. He was 78.

Ballard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006. He had been ill "for several years" and died in London at the home of his long-term partner, his agent Margaret Hanbury said. She did not give the cause of death.

Ballard was born in Shanghai, China, and was interned there in a prison camp by Japanese troops in 1941 -- an experience he drew upon in the 1984 novel "Empire of The Sun," adapted as a film by Steven Spielberg.

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Despite having published three books and countless newspaper articles, 54-year-old Nathan McCall cannot say how long he has been a writer.

"I wish I could tell you," said McCall. "Even though I have been a professional writer since 1981, there were always days in my life when I felt like I should have been writing and times today when I still feel like I'm not a writer at all."

If the affirmation of his readers is any indication, McCall should have no doubt that he is a writer. And if the excitement that has been generated by his impending visit to York is any indication, he is a well-liked and highly respected author to boot.

On Friday and Saturday, McCall will be a guest speaker of The York City Human Relations Commission and Martin Library. The two groups are collaborating to celebrate April's National Fair Housing Month and National Library Week, April 13-18.

Just in from the Associated Press:

A posthumous collection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut will be released this November.

To read five chapters of David Hewson's seventh novel featuring Detective Nic Costa, "Dante's Numbers," click here.

Joan McInnis, York Daily Record/Sunday News librarian, reviews "A Fine Balance":

I didn't know a thing about the Indian movie "Slumdog Millionaire" before I went to see it, except that it was built around the concept of the TV show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

I expected a comedy -- talk about wrong expectations. And when I picked up a novel about India, "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry, I thought I might find some similarities to my revised impression of the movie. This time I was right on. And even more so.

Nancy Duncan, children's librarian at Red Land Community Library, reviews "People of the Book":

In 1996, after the bombing of Sarajevo, rare book expert Hanna Heath is asked to examine an ancient Jewish prayer book. During her examination, she removes several objects from the book. It is through the study of these objects that Hanna is able to trace the history of the book back to 15 BC Spain.

A review of "The Art of Racing in the Rain" from Nancy Duncan, children's librarian at Red Land Community Library:

Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? This book will answer that question.

Nancy Duncan, children's librarian at Red Land Community Library, reviews "To Dance With the White Dog."

A short book about life, love and endings. Sam Peek is an old man whose wife of many years, Cora, has just passed away. Sam is lonely. He has children close by, and an elderly housekeeper who comes to his house more to visit than clean, but there is an emptiness to Sam's life.

From the Associated Press:

Stories and scholarship from around the world were honored by book critics Thursday night, including works about the ancient and modern Middle East and a novel set in Mexico, the late Roberto Bolano's "2666."

and that definitely applies to book lovers.

The following Web sites offer used books for purchase or exchange, some for as little as the postage to ship them.

Check them out, and if you know of any others, please let us know.

www.bookmooch.com

www.bookins.com

www.swaptree.com

www.paperbackswap.com

For fans of "The Time Traveler's Wife," here's some good news from the Associated Press:

In a time of cost-cutting in the publishing industry, wallets opened wide for a long-awaited second novel.

Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry," her first book since the million-selling "The Time Traveler's Wife," has been acquired by Scribner and will be published in September, spokesman Brian Belfiglio said Tuesday.

'The Associate' has many York references.

John Grisham placed York squarely into the setting of his most recent bestseller "The Associate."

York County often seems to find fame.

For more on York Sunday News columnist Gordon Freireich's piece on Grisham's affinity to York and York County's place in the middle of the universe, click here.

From the Associated Press:

A softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book has sold for just over $19,000, according to a Dallas auction house.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended March 1.

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3 --The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney.
2. "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" by Steve Harvey.
3. "Promises in Death" by J. D. Robb.
4. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
5. "One Day at a Time" by Danielle Steel.

Tobias Wolff, best known for his memoir "This Boy's Life," has been awarded a $20,000 prize for excellence in short story writing.

Wolff won the Story Prize on Wednesday for the collection "Our Story Begins." The finalists -- Jhumpa Lahiri, for "Unaccustomed Earth," and Joe Meno for "Demons in the Spring" -- each received $5,000.

The Story Prize was founded in 2004; previous winners include Mary Gordon and Edwidge Danticat.

Abe March, a 1957 graduate of West York Area High School, has written his second book, "They Plotted Revenge Against America." The novel is available at amazon.com.

March's first book, "To Beirut and Back," is a memoir of his adventures in Lebanon in the 1970s.

This just in from the Associated Press:

It's not the sensation of his first effort, but Stephen King's latest e-adventure is another best-seller.

King's agent, Ralph Vicinanza, said Tuesday that downloads of King's novella "UR," available only as an e-book and released to coincide with the launch of Amazon's upgraded Kindle reader, have reached "five figures" after barely three weeks on the market.

One of the characters in John Grisham's new book, "The Associate," is from York. How did Grisham come to choose York?
Read Gordon Freireich's column in the York Sunday News March 8. He talked to Grisham and found out the story behind the best-seller.

From the Associated Press:

A long, unfinished novel by David Foster Wallace is scheduled for a posthumous release next year.

"The Pale King," excerpted in The New Yorker magazine edition coming out today, is set in an Internal Revenue Service office in Illinois in the 1980s.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Feb. 22.

1. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.
2. "The Associate" by John Grisham.
3. "Run For Your Life" by James Patterson.
4. "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 3: The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney.
5. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.

From the Associated Press:

Fifty years after debuting with "Goodbye, Columbus," Philip Roth is as prolific as ever.

Publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Wednesday that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author will have a novel out this fall, titled "The Humbling," about an aging stage performer. Next year, he'll have another book, "Nemesis," set during a polio epidemic in 1944.

Roth, who turns 76 next month, has been averaging a book a year for the past few years.

His works include "Portnoy's Complaint," "American Pastoral" and "The Human Stain."

This just in from the Associated Press:

Joseph O'Neill's "Netherland," an acclaimed post-Sept. 11 novel bypassed for the National Book Awards and the National Book Critics Circle prize, has finally received a literary honor: the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.

An Afghan bookstore owner, displeased with his portrayal in the best-selling novel "The Bookseller of Kabul," has written his own book telling his angry, bewildered side of the story.

To read more, click here.

Heather Mosko of New Freedom has written "Lake Meade," a mystery-romance. The novel was published as the winner of the Timeless Love contest by Oak Tree Press. The paperback is $12.95 and is available at amazon.com and barnesand noble.com.

Mosko, a homemaker, is working on her next novel. To find out more about her book, visit www.heathermosko.com.

From the Associated Press:

PERKASIE, Pa -- The long-lost handwritten manuscript of Pearl S. Buck's classic novel "The Good Earth" is set to go on display next month at the late author's home outside Philadelphia.

A review from reader Loretta Martin:

Being an avid fan of what to expect after death, I read a lot of what people have to say when they've supposedly returned from heaven and/or hell. Usually I opt for the so-called "true experiences," but when the fictional "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" was recommended to me, I decided to give the fictional version a chance.

Here is a review from reader Nancy Duncan:

Just like "Rebecca."

I mean that in the best sense. In "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield, we get a classic gothic novel, full of ghosts, haunted mansions and dark secrets. Setterfield has taken lessons from DuMaurier and the Bronte sisters.

"The Natural" is a 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud that was turned into a movie starring Robert Redford.

I've never seen the movie, but recently read the book, which was a quick, interesting read.

It's the story of Roy Hobbs, a baseball player whose promising chance for a major league career is abruptly halted when he's wounded by a serial killer who stalks pro athletes.

However, about 15 years later, Hobbs finally gets his chance as the newest member of the fictional New York Knights baseball team. His time with the club is rocky from the start, as the team has been on a long losing streak and morale is low.

From the Associated Press:

LONDON -- A British author said Monday she has been banned from a Dubai literary festival because her forthcoming novel contains references to homosexuality.

The first International Festival of Literature in Dubai, which runs from Feb. 26 to Mar. 1, has authors including Margaret Atwood, Louis de Bernieres and Jung Chang listed on the program.

Geraldine Bedell, a journalist for the Observer newspaper and the author of several previous novels, said organizers had been discussing launching her book, "The Gulf Between Us," which is set in the Gulf, at the festival.

From the Associated Press:

An early, long-unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien is coming out.

"The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun," a thorough reworking in verse of old Norse epics that predates Tolkien's writing of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, will be published in May by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

According to Houghton, the book will include an introduction by Tolkien and notes by his son, Christopher Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien, whose fantasy novels have sold millions of copies, died in 1973. "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun" was written in the 1920s and '30s, when the author was teaching at Oxford University.

A lonely foreigner in New York City, an assortment of characters from all over the world, 9/11 and a dissolving marriage make up the plot of "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill.
Not exactly heart-warming, though by the end I started to warm to Hans, the main character and narrator. It helps that the book ends on a happy, hopeful note after plowing through so much ennui to get there.

Blood and Ice Trailer from Bantam Dell on Vimeo.

A review from reader Nancy Duncan:

When I finished "The Reader," I wasn't that impressed with it. Then I went to Book Club.

The following books were were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Jan. 25.

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: The Last Straw" by Jeff Kinney.
2. "The Shack" by William Young.
3. " Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: the No-Diet Weight Loss Solution" by David Zinczenko.
4. "Dreams From My Father" by Barack Obama.
5. "Spooky York, Pennsylvania" by Scott Butcher.

From the Associated Press:

Officials at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh are upset that best-selling author John Grisham mentions the school in connection with a fictional gang rape in his latest novel.

John Grisham's new novel "The Associate" hit bookstores Tuesday. The book's fictional main character, Kyle McAvoy, is a 25-year-old lawyer from York. McAvoy is recruited as a spy for a large law firm and travels to New York City, where he gets caught in a web of extortion, blackmail and murder.

From the Associated Press:

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.

Updike was born in Reading, Pa. Read the rest of his obit story at the jump.

To read the first chapter of Lisa See's new novel, "Shangai Girls," click here .

News from the Associated Press:

Oh, the horror: Neil Gaiman has received the top prize for children's literature: The John Newbery Medal.

Gaiman's spooky "The Graveyard Book," about a boy raised by vampire, a werewolf and a witch, was named the winner of the 88th annual Newbery. The Randolph Caldecott Medal, given to the illustrator of the best picture book, went to Beth Krommes for "The House in the Night," written by Susan Marie Swanson.

The Coretta Scott King Award for best author was given to Kadir Nelson, for "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The illustrator award went to Floyd Cooper for "The Blacker the Berry." The King prizes were founded 40 years ago to honor the works of African Americans.

To read more about "The Graveyard Book," click here .

Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men" is a great read with themes that are at once ancient and timely.

The story, set in 1980 in Texas near the Mexican border, is about a law-abiding citizen named Llewelyn Moss who comes upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad and shootout. Moss finds a case full of money and, in a decision that would set his fate in motion, takes it.

Meanwhile, a sociopath named Anton Chigurh has broken out of a holding cell, killing a deputy. Chigurh begins his trek to recover the money, and no one will stand in his way.

Author Tom Bailey signs a copy of "The Grace That Keeps This World" for a reader at Joseph T. Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg.

Southcentral Pennsylvania's One Book, One Community campaign enticed thousands of area residents to read "The Grace That Keeps This World" by Tom Bailey.

The book was borrowed more than 3,300 times according to tracking done by the Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York County library systems and HACC academic libraries.

An estimated 1,245 readers participated in 83 library programs, including book discussions. Bailey made 14 appearances.

And more than 2,800 individuals visited the One Book Web site, www.oboc.org.

Want to read large chunks of crime fiction and suspense novels for free? Click here .

This just in from the Associated Press;

LONDON -- British writer John Mortimer, creator of the curmudgeonly criminal lawyer Rumpole of the Bailey, has died at 85.

Mortimer's literary representatives, United Agents, announced the death today.

Mortimer combined a career as a lawyer with a prolific literary output that included screen and stage plays and radio dramas. Among his most famous creations was Horace Rumpole, the wine-loving barrister who appeared in a TV series and a series of novels and stories.

Just in from the Associated Press:

Hortense Calisher, a prize-winning writer known for her dense, unskimmable prose in such works of fiction as "False Entry" and "In Greenwich There Are Many Gravelled Walks," has died. She was 97.

Stephenie Meyer sold more books in 2008 than any other author according to her publisher. To read more, click here.

From the Associated Press:

The French novel that inspired "The Class," one of last year's most acclaimed films, is coming out in English.

Francois Begaudeau's book, which literally translates to "Between the Walls" but will be titled "The Class," is a fictionalized account of the author's time as a high school teacher in France. Begadeau stars as himself in the film, directed by Laurent Cantet, winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes and a strong candidate among foreign releases for an Academy Award nomination.

Seven Stories Press will publish the book in the United States in April.

To see a book trailer and read excerpts from Stephen J. Cannell's new Shane Scully novel, go to www.onthegrindbook.com.

From the Associated Press

Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff and Joe Meno are the finalists for the fifth annual Story Prize for outstanding short fiction.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Jan. 4.

1. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
2. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J. K. Rowling.
3. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
4. "Flat Belly Diet" by Liz Vaccariello.
5. "Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell.

According to a new report, more adults are reading fiction. Could this blog be one of the reasons? Read on at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/books/12reading.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

This just in from the Associated Press:

Taylor Lautner will be back to morph into the monstrous Jacob Black in the "Twilight" sequel "New Moon."

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Dec. 28:

1. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.
2. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling.
3. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
4. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.
5. "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.

It's wonderful to receive books, but sometimes a gift is all about the presentation.
Christmas morning our oldest son, Mike, gave my husband and me a slim volume of poetry by Billy Collins. Then he proceeded to read one of the poems, "The Lanyard," about the love between mother and child. By the end we were laughing and crying and my husband was rushing for the box of tissues. That reading was the true gift.
Not to be outdone, our youngest son, Peter, opened his backpack and explained that he hadn't wrapped our gift, another book. But he didn't think that the cover was good enough and so, late on Christmas Eve, he rummaged through the old toy closet, found some ancient, but still usable tempera paints, and fashioned his own cover for "The Color Purple." He eloquently explained all of this, then brought out a book with a simple, beautiful cover.
I'm sure I'll enjoy both books. But the giving is what I'll remember.

A review from reader Beth Vrabel:

Take Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and mix with the Olympics. Blend in all that's evil about reality televison, add a dash of "Romeo & Juliet," and you'll end up with something not nearly as irrestible as "The Hunger Games."

This book, despite being geared toward Young Adults (of whom, sadly, I am not), was so compelling and original that I flipped back to the beginning to read again as soon as completing the last page.

The book: "No Time for Ribbons" (iUniverse, $17.95)
The author: Craig Trebilcock of Glen Rock is an attorney/partner with Shumaker Williams PC and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Jen Hetzer of New Freedom reads Clement Moore's classic poem, 'The Night Before Christmas,' to her 2-year-old son Andrew at the Paul Smith Library of Southern York County.

Deborah Sullivan
York County Library System community relations director

We brought my son, Michael, home from the hospital on Christmas Day in a huge red stocking with furry white trim. Each year, we would root that stocking out, he would climb in, and we would take his picture -- always amazed at how much he had grown.

Around pre-school age, we started sprinkling "reindeer food" on the lawn to help guide Santa's sleigh to our house, and of course we set out a plate of cookies for our jolly visitor to eat!

Snuggling up to read Christmas tales, singing carols and driving around to see lights have all weaved their way in and out of our celebrations over the years, creating what I hope will become cherished memories.

From the Associated Press:

"Twilight" fans have a short wait for the next installment of the vampire saga.

Summit Entertainment spokesman Paul Pflug says "New Moon" is following just 12 months after the first movie, opening Nov. 20, 2009, over the same weekend as "Twilight" this year.

Summit has tapped Chris Weitz ("The Golden Compass") to direct "New Moon," based on the second book in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling series about the dangerous romance between a teen (Kristen Stewart) and a vampire (Robert Pattinson) fighting his bloodsucking instincts.

Weitz is taking over the franchise from "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke. "Twilight" has shot to $150 million at the box office since debuting Nov. 21.

Following were best-sellers at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township for the week that ended Dec. 7.

1. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J. K. Rowling.
2. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer.
3. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer.
4. "The Christmas Sweater" by Glenn Beck.
5. "Multiple Blessings" by Kate Gosselin.

Several people I know told me I must read "The Shack" by William Young. I had seen it in all the stores and knew it was a best-seller. I'm always up for the latest in book trends, so obliged them.

that books make great gifts, but now we can listen to famous authors tell us why.

Gloria Fogal is the Daily Record/Sunday News books page editor. Nancy Duncan is a Daily Record/Sunday News staff librarian and the children's librarian at Red Land Community Library.

Nancy: What do readers really want for Christmas? More books! So, Gloria and I came up with our top five books of all time. Believe me, it wasn't easy limiting myself to just five titles.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order.

"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett

The building of a 12th-century cathedral and all it entails. A huge, spellbinding book with ambition, sex and the struggle for power -- all that you want in a novel that will last a long time. A wonderful choice for a long, cold winter.

Daily Record/Sunday News

If you want to stay local with your holiday gift giving, here are some recently published books with local themes or local authors. Most are available at Borders Books & Music, 3000 Whiteford Road in Springettsbury Township or online.

"York: America's Historic Crossroads" (Schiffer Publishing) by Scott Butcher. This coffee table book includes more than 300 color photos, with chapter introductions and photo captions that showcase York's history, from its founding in 1741 to today. For sale at the Museum Shops of the York County Heritage Trust, 250 East Market St., Borders or amazon.com.

"My Father's Heart: A Son's Journey" by Steve McKee. This book does a lot of things, everything well. It's a memoir of growing up in York in the 1960s. It explores life in Haines Acres, showing a close-knit neighborhood. McKee's work touches on moments fishing at Muddy Creek and eating at Gino's and acquaints the reader with legendary York Catholic basketball coach Jim Forjan and the admired Cole Steel veep Otto Lewin. At Borders and online.

"My Favorite American" by Dennis McCloskey. A book about Valen Cover, a York County woman who, at 25, has endured an organ transplant, polycystic kidney disease, a seizure disorder, coliosis, pancreatitis and a motorcycle accident. "What impressed me most is her positive outlook on life and living," McCloskey said. At Borders and amazon.com.

Here is a review of J.K. Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by Deepti Hajela of The Associated Press:

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" (Children's High Level Group, $12.99, 111 pages), by J.K. Rowling: Just in time for the holidays, J.K. Rowling has given Harry Potter fans a little gift.

According to the Associated Press:

A rare original edition of J.K. Rowling's latest book is going on display at the New York Public Library, just as the work is being published around the world.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" is a collection of five stories that's mentioned in the last book in Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. It's being released today.

Rowling originally wrote and illustrated seven copies of the book as gifts. She gave one to Arthur Levine at Scholastic, which published the American versions of the books. It's Levine's copy that will be on display at the library through Jan. 4.

As you prepare to buy books for gifts or just shop for something new for yourself, perhaps you'd like to consider what the New York Times book reviewers liked best of the hundreds of books they've seen this year. Here's a link to their picks http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/books/28bmaslw.html?_r=1&ref=books

Debbie Macomber wrote '8 Sandpiper Way' with inspiration from her York friend, Minda Butler.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Best-selling author Debbie Macomber's fans might be too excited to get to the latest gossip in her recent Cedar Cove series installment, "8 Sandpiper Way," to peruse the dedication page.

So Macomber wrote a letter to her readers, in which she asks them to take note of that page, and the women she thanks for their courage and strength. First among them is Minda Butler of York. "I think that she probably inspired the entire story," Macomber said.

Gloria Fogal, books page editor, and Nancy Duncan, children's librarian, discuss Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book."


Gloria: After watching a video of author Neil Gaiman reading the first chapter of his new children's novel, "The Graveyard Book," I knew I had to find out what happened to Nobody Owens, the boy raised in a graveyard by ghosts after his parents and sister are murdered. I was familiar with Gaiman, having read his decidedly weird yet engaging "Coraline."

Nancy: I knew nothing about Gaiman except that he was one of the "cool" authors of graphic novels, so I had no expectations when I began reading "The Graveyard Book." Maybe I should have done some research on the book first. It is catalogued at the library as JFiction-geared for children in elementary grades through middle school. It would take a special child to read and understand this book.

Book award winners, announced Nov. 19, from left: Mark Doty, poetry; Annette Gordon-Reed, nonfiction; Judy Blundell, young people's literature and Peter Matthiessen, fiction.

Judges for the National Book Award honored a comeback, giving the fiction award to Peter Matthiessen's "Shadow Country," a thorough revision of a trilogy of novels from the 1990s.
The nonfiction prize went to Annette Gordon-Reed for "The Hemingses of Monticello," while the poetry category was won by Mark Doty's "Fire to Fire." Former genre writer-for-hire Judy Blundell won in young people's literature, for "What I Saw and How I Lied."
For more on book awards http://features.csmonitor.com/books/2008/11/20/national-book-award-prizes-announced/

Elizabethtown College Professor Mark Harman has crafted a new translation of Franz Kafka's first novel, "Der Verschollene" ("The Missing Person").

Harman's translation of Kafka's "Das Schloss" ("The Castle") was named best book of the year by the Los Angeles Times.

Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times calls Toni Morrison's new novel, "A heartbreaking account of lost innocence and fractured dreams [that] also stands, with Beloved, as one of Ms. Morrison's most haunting works yet."

Read an excerpt from the book and watch a video of Ms. Morrison by clicking here.

To read the first two chapters of Dean Koontz's latest book, "Your Heart Belongs to Me," due in bookstores Nov. 25, click here.

Last year, Christopher Hivner of Dallastown published a collection of his horror stories as an ebook. That book, "The Spaces Between Your Screams," is now also available as a paperback from www.etreasurespublishing.com and from Amazon.com as a paperback or for the Kindle.

"The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb hits bookstores Tuesday.

Lamb is the author of "She's Come Undone," an Oprah's Book Club pick, and "I Know This Much Is True."

To read an excerpt of the book and see a video featuring the author, click here.

This just in from the Associated Press:

Michael Crichton, the million-selling author of such historic and prehistoric science thrillers as "Jurassic Park," "Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain," has died of cancer, his family said.

He died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 66 after a long battle with the illness.

Carolyn Chute, author of gritty, earthy novels about her native Maine, will release a new one, "The School on Heart's Content Road" on Friday.

To read about Chute, author of the hit "The Beans of Egypt, Maine," click here.

Alice Walker is the latest author to launch her own Web site.

Walker is the author "The Color Purple" (a great book and a great movie).

Alice Walker's Garden (www.alicewalkersgarden.com) features her poetry and writings, photographs, a timeline of her work, a bookstore and a link to her new blog. Walker will use her blog to publish new articles like "Anxiety Soup!" -- her latest article created especially as medicine for this moment in our history.

This just in from the Associated Press:

After dozens of best-selling novels, Danielle Steel still has words to spare: She's starting a blog.

"It's like a letter to a friend, and fun to be able share something and say, 'Gee I did this,'" says Steel, 61, whose run of hits includes three this year alone: "Honor Thyself," "Rogue" and "A Good Woman."

This just in from the Associated Press:

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-- As the father of three girls, Tim McGraw understands the challenges that face dads who want to please their daughters.

So the children's book he's co-written with Tom Douglas has some simple advice: As long as you're spending time with them, it doesn't really matter what you do.

The books are about teenagers with real-life issues like popularity and weight loss, but the authors aren't just writers. They are experts in adolescent development who are aiming to help their young readers live healthier lives.
The Beacon Street Girls series has had results, too. To read about the books and their effect on girls, click here http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/health/14well.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

This just in from the Associated Press:

LONDON -- Aravind Adiga won the prestigious Man Booker award Tuesday for his first novel "The White Tiger."

Adiga won the $87,000 prize for his book about a protagonist who will use any means necessary to fulfill his dream of escaping impoverished village life for success in the big city.

I've been a fan of English mystery writer Ruth Rendell since devouring one of her books lent to me by a friend years ago, "A Demon in My View." It is one of Rendell's excellent psychological thrillers. She also writes more conventional mysteries starring Inspector Wexford.

This just in from the Associated Press:

BOSTON -- The question of whether to choose an official book for the state of Massachusetts made for a whale of a debate.

The state House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill naming "Moby-Dick" the state's official "epic novel."

To read the first two chapters of John Lutz's new thriller, "Night Kills," click here.

After I read the first chapter of Hannah Tinti's "The Good Thief" on her Web site, I immediately went to amazon.com and ordered a copy.

"The Good Thief" reads like a Dickens novel, but with fewer characters (something I really appreciate at my age).

This just in from the Associated Press:

"Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro is collaborating with crime author Chuck Hogan on a trilogy of vampire novels, starting next summer with "The Strain."

Here's a review from one of our readers, Loretta Martin:

"The Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyers

I'm not one who would choose a novel about vampires or werewolves for reading. But if that's the reason you're not devouring "The Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyers, you're cutting yourself off from some of the best reading "for kids" out there today.

I am dead tired today (please don't tell my boss) because I stayed up past midnight reading "Breaking Dawn," the fourth book in the "Twilight" series.

I just don't get it. I don't understand why these books are so popular. There was a little bit of action in each book, but way too much conversation and way too little character development. By the fourth book, I really didn't care who lived and who died. I just wanted it to be over!

Here are some books in the science fiction/fantasy genre that I heartily recommend instead of "Twilight":

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
"The Traveler" by John Twelve Hawks
"Interview With the Vampire" by Anne Rice
"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger
"His Dark Materials" triology by Philip Pullman
"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Here are two book reviews from one of our readers, Marti Ronemus:

The two books I read this week couldn't have been more different. Let's start with everyone's current favorite, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It is set in 1947, immediately after the War, and in London and the channel island of Guernsey.

Oprah Winfrey has chosen David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" as her latest book club pick.

I'm talking about Gary Hazen, one of the characters in "The Grace That Keeps This World" by Tom Bailey. This is the 2008 selection for One Book, One Community.

I went to Borders the other day with a 25 percent off coupon clutched in my hand. (Borders Rewards sent me the coupon for my birthday. Aren't they sweet?)

I knew just what I wanted to get -- "The Zookeeper's Wife." It's about a Polish zookeeper and his wife who hid several hundred Jews from the Nazis during World War II. It got very good reviews.

Novelist/essayist David Foster Wallace, 46, was found dead in his California home after apparently hanging himself Friday.

He had been teaching English and creative writing at Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. His best known work is probably the inventive "Infinite Jest" (1996), which he once told Salon magazine was an effort to describe America as it approached the millennium.

"There's something particularly sad about it," he said, in a comment that might be viewed as a clue to the circumstances of his death. But he also cited fiction as a way of overcoming what he called "this existential lostness in the real world," the Washington Post reports.

I recently spent a vacation week plowing through the first three books in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series.

I found the books overwritten and overwrought for the most part. Way too much dialogue for me and I didn't find any of the characters all that compelling.

Still, there was enough action to propel me on to the fourth book.

I've heard so much good stuff about this series. Is there anyone out there who feels the way I do about Bella, Edward and Jacob ... sorta lukewarm?

A judge says "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has won her claim that a fan violated her copyright with his plans to publish a Potter encyclopedia, according to the Associated Press.

Judge Robert Patterson said in a ruling Monday that Rowling had proven that Steven Vander Ark's "Harry Potter Lexicon" would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. Vander Ark runs the popular Harry Potter Lexicon Web site.

I was the blogger who was going to read all the Harry Potter books this summer. Well, here it is Labor Day, the official end of summer, and I have a confession to make. I only re-read the first one! What a disappointment. I have no excuse except that other books got in my way-specifically books by Stephenie Meyers.

By BETH VRABEL
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Area libraries are challenging readers to trade the muggy, late-summer days of central Pennsylvania for the bitter cold of winter in the Adirondacks as part of the annual One Book, One Community program.

This year's book selection, announced Wednesday afternoon at Pequea Valley Public Library in Intercourse, Lancaster County, is "The Grace That Keeps This World" by Tom Bailey.

Fans of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight' series won't have to wait much longer to see their favorite novel on the big screen.

"Twilight," the film adaptation of Meyer's best-seller, will now open Nov. 21.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke ("Lords of Dogtown"), the big screen "Twilight" will introduce Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a 17-year-old girl who falls in love with the utterly dreamy Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). She's a mortal. He's a
vampire. Swooning ensues.

I am not a picky reader. Most of the books I find come from second-hand stores and thrift shops. Half the time, I don't know when they were even written, until I look at the copyright date.
I picked up "Icy Sparks" by Gwyn Hyman Rubio for $2 at The York Emporium. It was written in 2001. And even though it was an Oprah's book club pick, I never heard of it. I think I picked it up because I liked the cover and the back blurb sounded good.

Even though Danielle Steel recently released her 75th book, she still battles insecurity.

"I still never finish a book without being terrified I can't write another one. I never start one without being terrified I can't finish it," Steel says.

Read more about Steel and her latest book, "Rogue," on this Sunday's Books page.

By Gloria Fogal
Daily Record/Sunday News

The book: "Secrets on St. Croix" (PublishAmerica, $19.95)
The author: Joan Mallgrave, 68, of Manchester Township has lived in York for 13 years. She was vice president of the Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union before retiring.

Quote: "The book is targeted to older women who can identify with a mystery novel heroine who is over 65, has wrinkles and age spots and possibly even replacement parts."

Bantam Dell has officially launched the audiobook podcast of New York Times best-selling author Karen Marie Moning's "Darkfever." This the first joint effort between Bantam Dell and one of its authors to release the full version of a book for free as a podcast.

The book will be presented in its entirety, with four episodes per week available for download. "Darkfever" is the first book in Moning's "Fever" series which features protagonist MacKayla "Mac" Lane, a woman who possesses the gift to see beyond the world of man and into the dangerous realm of the Fae.

Click here.

The final book of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series managed a million-selling debut.

"Breaking Dawn," the fourth of Meyer's sensational teen vampire series, sold 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours after its midnight, Aug. 2 release, the Associated Press reported.
It was also the top-selling book at Borders Books & Music in Springettsbury Township this past week.

The numbers for "Breaking Dawn" don't approach the unveiling of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The seventh and final volume of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours in the United States alone.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard," the book J.K. Rowling wrote and illustrated and auctioned off to benefit the charity she co-founded, the Children's High Level Group, will be available to all Harry Potter fans beginning Dec. 4.

Stephenie Meyer is being called the "heir apparent to J.K. Rowling."

To find out why, click here.

I fell in love with Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief." The minute I finished it, I started reading it again. It has bumped "Charms for The Easy Life" by Kaye Gibbons to No. 2 on my all-time favorite books list.

By BETH VRABEL
For the York Sunday News

What do a literature professor, a bookstore owner and a former librarian have in common? In addition to knowing a thing or two about books, they are often asked for recommendations from other readers.

Here are some favorite titles, recommended by those who've made a career out of knowing what constitutes good reading.

Our readers are: Colbey Emmerson Reid, York College assistant professor of modern
literature; Irene Ritson, owner of Recycled Reader Used Bookstore in York; and Suzy Hershey, former Village Library librarian and member of two local book clubs.

From short stories to fill up a free afternoon to fine literature to come back to again and again, here are some titles to add to your collection, and a few gift ideas for other readers in your life. Their picks:

Barnes & Noble.com is featuring a special episode of Barnes & Noble Tagged!, the book video series. The episode is dedicated to the best-selling "Twilight Saga" and precedes the Aug. 2 publication of "Breaking Dawn," Stephenie Meyer's fourth and final novel in the series.

In this special episode, Barnes & Noble Tagged! host Molly Pesce explores the excitement surrounding Stephenie Meyer's world of vampires, adventure and passion. She is joined by "Twilight Saga" fans from the New York-area and a bookseller from Barnes & Noble's Lake Grove store on Long Island.

During the episode, Molly challenges fans with a quiz designed to test their knowledge of the Twilight Saga.

To join in the fun, go to www.bn.com/tagged

Andre Norton, one of science fiction's most prolific female writers until she died three years ago, intrigued her readers by creating hundreds of fantasy worlds during her 70 years of writing.
And in a decision that may have been accidental or calculated, she left her friends and fans a final puzzle: Who should control the rights to her more than 130 books, including the popular "Witch World" series, according to the Associated Press.

As part of my campaign to visit every York Library, I checked out the books on tape section at the attractive and easily accessible Red Land Community Library.

See see what I found there and to see a little library history to boot, visit York County libraries offer serendipity - and have done so for decades at York Town Square blog.

Here is a review of "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by Marti Ronemus of York:

I just finished reading "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and I have to talk to someone about it. I can't think of any superlatives strong enough to recommend it, but if you want a "good read" that is going to pass into our culture and become "literature," this would be it.

Speaking of summer reads, here are the top book-related searches on Yahoo!

It was the perfect week for a beach book, even though I wasn't anywhere near the ocean. I was in my living room, in fact, when I would much rather have been biking on the rail trail.

But when the temps are in the high 90s with a heat index into the 100s, it's the perfect time to grab a book and stay in the air conditioning.

Some kids get reading lists from their schools for the summer -- I make my own.

This summer I have decided to read all the Harry Potter books in order, from 1 to 7.

I thought of this last summer as I read the lfinal Harry Potter book. I was sad that my journey with Harry and friends was over. For so long they had been a part of my life, I couldn't imagine not having another book to look forward to.

I might not get them all finished by Labor Day -- since I'm always around books, there is always something new to read, but I will give it a go. I'll let you know how it goes.

Does anyone else set reading assignments for themselves, or am I the only nut job?

Barnes&Noble.com has added three new features to its Barnes & Noble Studio multimedia site that are well worth a look.

In Guest Books, found out what writers read as authors talk about their top three favorite books. David Sedaris is featured this week.

5 Books selects five titles that will help readers sharpen their skills on a particular topic. Read all about wine.

The Book Files tells the story behind the book. This week’s featured book is James Joyce’s “The Dubliners.” Upcoming are Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Steps” and Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.”

Visit http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-studio/videos-podcasts/index.asp?.

While publishers pray for a new children's series as popular as Harry Potter and anxiously await Dan Brown's follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code," a report released today predicts a tight market for at least the next few years.

Those of you of a certain age (and you know who you are) who are members of AARP will want to check out Borders’ latest promotion.

Just go to www.borders.com and click on “Exclusive offer for AARP members.”

You can save from 10 to 35 percent on books purchased both online and at the store. And if you’re not a member, they will sign you up on the spot.

Occasionally getting older has its advantages.

Readers would rather curl up with a printed book than go online or read an e-book, a new Random House/Zogby poll finds.

An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in London.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's latest book, "Days of Infamy," written with historian William Forstchen, debuted at No. 11 on the New York Times Fiction Best-seller list this week.

This comes on the heels of the success of Gingrich’s non-fiction work, "Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works," which spent 12 weeks on the NY Times Non-Fiction Best-seller list.

Gingrich joins the ranks of only a handful of authors who made the fiction and non-fiction list in the same year.

A novel about space invaders and body snatchers isn't typically my cup of tea. But then again, neither is a love story between a 100-year-old vampire and his teenage would-be prey.

And I'm currently reading that book for (I'm a little ashamed here) the third time. I'm talking, of course, about "Twilight," the young adult series that has made stay-at-home mom Stephenie Meyer a best-selling author.

The book: “Tankman in America.”

The author: Robert F. Merrill, 65, is a retired Navy pilot and York City schoolteacher. He was a member of a support group to help Golden Venture asylum seekers and wrote and sang freedom songs at the Sunday vigils held for the prisoners. He and his wife, Jane, have three children and six grandchildren.

Jodi Picoult, New York Times best-selling author of "Plain Truth," "My Sister's Keeper" and "Nineteen Minutes," will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 310 S. 7th Ave. in Reading.

Dean Koontz fans will be happy to hear that his novel "The Good Guy" will be issued in paperback on April 29.

To learn more, visit his Web site at www.deankoontz.com.

At the papal court, the thumbscrews are applied.

But wait!

Author J.K. Rowling will testify today against a fan who plans to publish a "Harry Potter" encyclopedia.

The Pulitzer Prizes in literature, announced Monday, went to:
Fiction: “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)
General Nonfiction: “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945,” by Saul Friedlander (HarperCollins)

Sometimes, as much as we hate it, we have to part with our books.

What else can we do when there just isn't enough shelf space for all our recent purchases?

Not much to choose from between these two series for teen girls.

Both are filled with shallow, one-dimensional characters intent on keeping their place in their group of "so-called" friends.

Her other books include "Sullivan's Island" and "The Land of Mango Sunsets."

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

‘Goosebumps,’ the children’s horror series by R.L. Stine will be reborn this spring with a new series of 12 stories called ‘Goosebumps HorrorLand.’

To read about the new books and their author, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/books/25stin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

While my husband watches basketball on television, my nose is in a book.

But now I’ve discovered that we literary types can get hyped with a March Madness of our own.

"The Great Man" by Kate Christensen was named winner of the 2008 PEN/ Faulkner Award for Fiction.

I did it again Friday night.

I wanted to stay faithful. But the temptation was too much.

I laughed, I cried, I was horrified by this look into reservation life -- but it was a great book.

Fourteen year-old Arnold Spirit, a goofy-looking dork with a pretty good jumpshot, spends his time complaining about life on the Spokane Indian reservation until a teacher pleads with him to want more.

“The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon.

By MEGAN ERICKSON
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

Alex Martin is an Eagle Scout and is interested in astronomy and physics. The 15-year-old sophomore at Susquehannock High School is currently working on a 30-square-foot hand-drawn maze, and hopes to attend college for astrophysics.

And there’s another accomplishment he’s got in the bag — he’s a published author.

“Shadows: The Narlan Wars” is the first of four books in the “Shadows Cycle.” Alex said the book is science fiction, along the lines of “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings.” He first became interested in writing a book when the “Eragon” series by Christopher Paolini came out in 2003. Paolini himself was a young writer, and Alex was inspired by him.

Phyllis A. Whitney, whose romantic suspense tales sold millions of copies, has died. She was 104.

Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and author of “The Sportswriter” and “Independence Day,” has left longtime publisher Alfred A. Knopf and switched to Ecco, a literary imprint of HarperCollins.

According to the Associated Press:

Ford, who turns 64 on Saturday, is best known for his trilogy of novels about ex-sportswriter Frank Bascombe: “The Sportswriter,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Independence Day” and “The Lay of the Land.” He has agreed to a three-book deal with Ecco, including two novels and a collection of short stories.

Ford’s literary agent, Amanda Urban, said that Ford had a “long and very rewarding relationship with Knopf, but that, regrettably, we couldn’t come to terms.” Ford, reached by The Associated Press at his home in Maine, declined comment, except to say that his years at Knopf had been “wonderful.” Knopf’s director of publicity, Paul Bogaards, said that it was Ford’s decision to leave.

By JOSEPH MALDONADO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

A book is like a warm quilt comprised of many threads, colors, textures and images. And like any quilt, a book takes tremendous know-how to transform it from an idea to something people curl up with in their favorite chair.

In May, the literary group Pennwriters will host its 21st annual conference, “A Writer’s smorgasbord.” The three-day event will feature scores of publishing experts, including many pub
lished authors.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

What do art historians and radical Irish political groups have in common? A stolen Vermeer painting owned by the Queen of England.

Historical art expert Patricia Dolan has never fully recovered from the death of her daughter that eventually led to her divorce. She gets lost in her work at New York's Frick Art Reference Library.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

J.K. Rowling's handwritten and illustrated book of fairy tales, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," sold for nearly $4 million at a London auction today.

The book: “Choices” (Kapribooks, $13.95)

The author: Katrina L. Burchett, a York native and 1979 graduate of William Penn Senior High School, now lives in Jacksonville, Fla. “York is part of my history, which is why it was the only city where I wanted my story to take place."

What it’s about: This young adult novel is about five girls in York who find themselves facing decisions about premarital sex.

BIL BOWDEN

Katie Deardorff with her dog Jackson, the star of ‘Jackson Discovers Pattern.’

By LAUREN MITCHEL

Katie Deardorff, an art teacher at Indian Rock Elementary School in the York Suburban School District, wrote a children’s picture book, complete with her own illustrations and a handwritten story, and it’s inspired by her pet dog, Jackson. The 20-page book is titled “Jackson Discovers Pattern.”

The book: “Magic, Luck, or Guardian Angels” (iUniverse, $8.95)

The author: Joe Reilly, 53, lives in New Oxford. He has been a sailor, truck driver, bounty hunter and repo man. “I figure I’ve been doing research (for his books) up until now,” Reilly said. He now writes full-time.

Denis Johnson, author of the Vietnam novel, “Tree of Smoke,” won the National Book Award for fiction Wednesday night.

According to the Associated Press:

New York Times reporter Tim Weiner won the nonfiction award for “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.” Robert Hass won the poetry award for “Time and Materials.”

Sherman Alexie won the award for young people’s literature, for “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”

“Tree of Smoke” was widely considered the front-runner for the fiction award. Lauding Johnson’s novel as a “conventionally satisfying but formally daring masterpiece,” Harper’s reviewer John Jeremiah Sullivan described it as “a 614-page multigenerational, transnational, braided morality saga about Westerners in Southeast Asia and the Southeast Asians who have to figure out how to stay alive around them.”

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Norman Mailer, author of such books as “The Naked and the Dead” and “The Executioner’s Song,” died Saturday in New York. He was 84.

Just finished reading "The Pleasure of My Company" by author/actor/good-at-everything guy Steve Martin.

I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. My husband picked it up at the library, and even though I hadn't read any of Martin's other stuff, I thought it might be good. (I had watched the movie version of "Shopgirl," which was pretty decent, though I'm more of a happy-ending fan, honestly, and I didn't think it qualified.)

Anyway, the day "Pleasure" was due back to the library, neither my husband or I had read it yet, and I couldn't decide whether I should renew. So I figured I'd pick it up, skim the first few pages, and decide from there.

There is much happiness in the land of Philip Pullman fans!

The movie of "The Golden Compass," the first book in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy opens Dec. 7.

So there's plenty of time to visit the movie Web site at www.goldencompassmovie.com and discover your daemon. Answer a few questions and voila! Your daemon is revealed. (Mine is a snow leopard; how cool.).

You can also watch a really neat movie trailer.

And there's still plenty of time to re-read "The Golden Compass" before Dec. 7.

See you in line at the movie!

J.K. Rowling has written another book, an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.” Alas, we won't be reading it.

Nora Roberts' “Angels Fall” was named the Quill Book of the Year during a an awards show held at Lincoln Center in New York.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Roberts’ romance novel was chosen in online voting by the public among 19 winners in individual categories announced in September. Those selections were made by booksellers and librarians.

The award for debut novel of the year went to Diane Setterfield’s “The Thirteenth Tale.”

The awards, sponsored by Reed Business Information (which owns Publishers Weekly, Variety and other publications) and NBC Universal Television Stations, were handed out Monday night in categories that included biography/memoir, graphic novels, poetry and science fiction.

The Platinum Quill, honoring an author whose life and work have had a special influence on the culture, went to the late David Halberstam.

Multiply that abandoned feeling a few thousand times to understand the protagonists in two excellent books -- “Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” and “What is the What.”
Both boys are torn from their families and never stop looking for home.

"The Gathering," an uncompromising portrait of a troubled family, won the Man Booker fiction prize for its Irish author, Anne Enright.

According to the Associated Press:

She is the second Irish writer to win the prize in the past three years, after John Banville’s “The Sea” in 2005.

Enright had been considered a long-shot to take Britain’s most prestigious, and contentious, literary trophy. The award, which carries a prize of $100,000, was bestowed during a ceremony at London’s medieval Guildhall.

“The Gathering” is a family epic set in England and Ireland, in which a brother’s suicide prompts 39-year-old Veronica Hegarty to probe her family’s troubled, tangled history. The judges praised it as “a very accomplished and dramatic novel of family relationships and personal breakdown.”

Looking for something spooky to read as Halloween approaches? Delve into the literary past and grab a collection of tales by Algernon Blackwood. You won't be disappointed.

There have been numerous collections of his short stories over the years. Some that you might be able to track down include "Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood," "Ancient Sorceries and other Weird Stories," "The Listener and Other Stories" and "The Best Supernatural Tales of Algernon Blackwood."

Whichever collection you pick up, make sure it includes his classic tale, "The Willows." (Although you could also go to this site and read the whole thing online).

At least according to Mena Reese, the main character of Robin Brande’s “Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature.”

This novel for young adults tackles a subject that has a local connection. I understand that author Brande read the transcripts of the Dover Intelligent Design trial while writing this book.

I'm referring to the vampire series by Stephenie Meyer.

I've only read the first book, "Twilight," and have the second one in the pile of books by my bed.

I am hooked, though I can't imagine an ending that will be pleasing to both of the main characters.

Here's a review from Daily Record/Sunday News staffer Pam White:

"Interred With Their Bones" by Jennifer Lee Carrell

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
William Shakespeare

Over the years, groups and individuals ranging from true scholars to cult-like conspiracy theorists have questioned whether William Shakespeare was truly the author of the great works attributed to him.

They cite clues found in his plays and sonnets, in letters of the time, and the social structure of Elizabethan England, as evidence to support their contentions.

Likewise, there are those who have spent vast sums of time and money searching for long-lost Shakespearean manuscripts.

It is these two threads that author Jennifer Lee Carrell twined together to make "Interred With Their Bones" a gripping, action-packed mystery.

Have you just finished reading a book you couldn't put down, or one that kept putting you to sleep?

We want to hear about it, good or bad.

Send your book review to gfogal@ydr.com and we will post it here.

Christopher Hivner of Dallastown has had a collection of horror stories published as an electronic book.

"The Spaces Between Your Screams" can be found at www.etreasurespublishing.com.

Set in October 2002, "Wild Fire" by Nelson DeMille involves an American right-wing plot to nuke two U.S. cities. The blame would be put on Middle East terrorists.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse won the 1998 Newberry Award for best book for children. Once you read it you’ll see why.

“The Dark Is Rising Sequence” by Susan Cooper

Nothing pushes a book to the front of the bookstore shelves more quickly than to use it as the basis for a movie.

The upcoming movie, “The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising,“ aroused my curiosity about the book upon which the flick is loosely based.

The movie follows the second of five books in Susan Cooper’s series known as “The Dark Is Rising Sequence.“

Originally published in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the Sequence is technically classified as teen fiction.

Though long past my teens, I found the stories to be an enjoyable read.

I can understand why Cooper refers to the stories as a sequence.

To follow the five intertwined stories to the ultimate conclusion, they must be read in order.

James Frey, whose addiction memoir "A Million Little Pieces" turned out to be largely fabricated, is writing a novel.

"Bright Shiny Morning," described by the publisher as a portrait of modern Los Angeles, will be released in summer 2008 by HarperCollins.

"New England White" By Stephen L. Carter.

I loved his earlier mystery --"The Emperor of Ocean Park"--and was delighted to see that he had a new mystery. The plus of his books is that he gives you a glimpse into the lives and mores of African-American upper society and intellectual elites.

Alas, I was disappointed in this new novel; you almost needed a program beside your chair to keep track of the many characters, none of which was adequately developed. It is the tale of a murder of an economy professor, who is black, at a small New England college where Julia Carlyle, his one time love, has been acting as dean of the divinity school and to which her husband, Lemaster Carlyle, has just been appointed president.

After 46 years as a resident of York and Adams Counties, award-winning author Nancy Springer has moved to Bonifay, Fla.

July 20, 2007 - The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series made its debut. Didn't mean too much for me.

I never read any of them. But the buzz in the newsroom was all about the last Harry Potter book. Almost everyone was reading it and talking about it. There were even special meetings to discuss it. I couldn't understand why all the hoopla. So I decided to find out for myself.

Whenever I want to read something just for fun, I reach for one of the books in Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

I just finished “Blue Shoes and Happiness” and, as always, it didn’t disappoint.

This novel takes place in China during the 1850’s, but life was so primitive there, especially for women, that it could have taken place in the 1300’s.

Snow Flower, and the narrator Lily, are both 7-year-old when they first meet. They become “laotong”, life long companions and intimate friends for the rest of their lives. The secret fan of the title refers to a fan with “nu shu” on it. Nu shu is a secret code of phonetic writing for women. Snow Flower teaches Lily how to become adept in this writing. The fan passes back and forth between the two girls through their adolescence and beyond, telling of their lives and circumstances.

I had a difficult time reading about the custom of foot binding, but the author’s research into local customs and ceremonies made fascinating reading. Life in the primitive villages wasn’t easy for anyone, but it seemed especially difficult for women.

An interesting look into a time I knew nothing about.

And I was intrigued, for the first two-thirds of the book. Then, just when Callie decides to become Cal, (which you might think would be the most interesting part), I got bored.
I don’t think it was because the book was too long - 544 pages - I just think I didn’t find Callie that interesting.

“Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” So said American novelist Henry James as quoted in Edith Wharton’s “A Backward Glance” in 1934.

Here, in 2007, I would add five more “beautiful words” — “Summer afternoon ... and a good beach read.”

And what a beach read is Scott Smith’s “The Ruins.”

When I attended a Penn State reunion in June, the speaker at our luncheon was Paul Levine, a fellow alumnus and former staff member of the Daily Collegian.

He was so entertaining that I decided to buy one of his books.