Through December 25 we’re offering sale prices on all our LT goodies:
Gift memberships are $5 for a year or $15 for life.
CueCats are $12.
T-Shirts are $12.95.
Our “Catalogued at LibraryThing” stamp is $12.95.
Stickers are $1.50.
Shipping’s not included in these prices.
Get your orders in now: USPS first-class orders must be received by Monday morning, December 20 to be delivered before Christmas.
I asked everyone on the LT staff to put together a list of their favorite reads from 2011. Here’s what they came up with:
Tim:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. Listened to this twice through in the car with my son. White simply never puts a foot wrong. The book is perfect.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Engrossing door-stopper survey of Christianity—with a thousand years of Greek and Jewish civilization thrown in for context.
Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis. A highly enjoyable series of vignettes related to the Founders. Ellis lied about his war record, but he’s still worth reading.
What Happened at Vatican II by John W. O’Malley. Excellent overview of the council from a historical, rather than theological angle, demonstrating, against recent chatter, that “something” did indeed happen.
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card. The only Card book I read in 2011, Xenocide isn’t as good as Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead, but it’s still hugely enjoyable. The audiobook version is particularly engaging.
Abby:
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. Yes, I’m one of the people who didn’t get started on A Song of Ice and Fire until the HBO series came out. But then I got to read/devour all five right in a row, without waiting years for them to come out, like the rest of you. Who’s laughing now?
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I just love Ann Patchett.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Erin Morgenstern writes beautifully, and it’s a treat to enter her fantastical, magical world. (If you liked this, you should probably also read Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and its sequel that came out this year, The Magician King).
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. There’s a reason this book is hitting so many “best of the year” lists. An unexpectedly wonderful, woven together story about baseball, college, love, and life.
Bossypants by Tina Fey. This is a book that will make you look like a crazy person laughing loudly to yourself if you read it in public.
Kate:
I Was Told There’d be Cake: Essays by Sloane Crosley.
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett.
In the Woods by Tana French.
Bossypants by Tina Fey.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.
The Sugar King of Havana by John Paul Rathbone.
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach.
Colossus by Michael A. Hiltzik.
The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick.
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burt.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
Back to Our Future by David Sirota.
Decision Points by George W. Bush.
Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster.
Liberty’s Exiles by Maya Jasanoff. Even when I read this in May I knew it would be on my Best of 2011 list. It’s an extremely well-written account of the loyalist diaspora, drawing on a massive amount of new archival research. Full review.
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips. As I wrote in my review, this novel “includes the text of a newly rediscovered Shakespeare play. Or it doesn’t. Either way, it’s a delightful examination of books and forgeries and Shakespeare scholarship, wrapped up in a meta-narrative and tied with a bow.” Full review.
Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield. I absolutely devoured this set of fascinating alt-histories. What if a suicide bomber had killed JFK outside his house in December, 1960, before the electors had cast their ballots? What if RFK hadn’t been shot in June, 1968, just after winning the California primary? What if Gerald Ford had recovered from a crucial gaffe during a 1976 debate, and won reelection? Greenfield delves into some seriously wonderful political arcana. Full review.
Pym by Mat Johnson. A darkly satirical reimagining of Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Full review.
The Story of Charlotte’s Web by Michael Sims. From my review: “If you’ve ever enjoyed White’s masterpiece, or like to know the “story behind the book,” this is a title you should be sure to add to your shelves. It’s a keeper.” Full review.
NB: I always post a top ten fiction and a top ten non-fiction list on my blog on December 31, so check in there at the end of the year for the complete list.
Mike:
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.
The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett.
The Magician King by Lev Grossman.
What were your favorite 2011 reads? Come tell us here.
RSVP on the Facebook page, or just let us know here that you’re coming. We hope to see you there!
Labels: flash-mob cataloging, maine, meet up
The December 2011 batch of Early Reviewer books is up! We’ve got 89 books this month, and a grand total of 2,395 copies to give out.
First, make sure to sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing address and make sure it’s correct.
Then request away! The list of available books is here:
http://www.librarything.com/er/list
The deadline to request a copy is Monday, December 19th at 6 p.m. EST.
Eligiblity: 
Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, and a bunch more. Make sure to check the flags by each book to see if it can be sent to your country.
Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!
| Gefen Publishing House | HarperCollins Childrens Books | Mulholland Books |
| Henry Holt and Company | Taylor Trade Publishing | Ballantine Books |
| Image Books | William Morrow | South Dakota State Historical Society Press |
| Fantastic Books | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Dundurn | Urban Romantics | Hyperion and Voice |
| Sourcebooks | Random House | Crossed Genres Publications |
| Zondervan | Amethyst Moon Publishing | PublicAffairs |
| Riverhead Books | Bethany House | Chosen Books |
| Sunrise River Press | Rovira i Virgili University Press | Human Kinetics |
| SpaceStation Colt | McFarland | JournalStone |
| MSI Press | BookViewCafe | Prufrock Press |
| The Writer’s Coffee Shop | Open Road | Doubleday Books |
| Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. | Dutton | St. Martin’s Griffin |
| Del Rey | HighBridge | NTI Upstream |
| Demos Health |
Labels: early reviewers, LTER
We’ve got a special mid-month author interview with Anthony Horowitz, the author of the popular Alex Rider series of books as well as several popular UK television series and mini-series, including “Foyle’s War,” “Midsomer Murders,” and “Poirot.” Anthony’s latest work is The House of Silk, a new Sherlock Holmes adventure published last month by Mulholland Books.
You’ve written that you “paused for at least half a second” before agreeing to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel. What made you hesitate, and how did you
overcome the hesitation?
I had two concerns. The first was that, with so much Sherlock Holmes around—the Robert Downey Jr. films and the very successful TV series on BBC—I might be seen as jumping on a bandwagon. Also, I have my doubts about this rash of prequels, sequels and add-ons that are appearing. Are they just a cynical way to sell books? I agreed only because I love Sherlock Holmes and couldn’t resist the idea of moving into 221b Baker Street for a short while. I knew I could write a good book. I knew I would enjoy writing it. In short, I couldn’t resist it.
What sort of research or preparation did you do before you started writing?
I began by re-reading the entire canon, which didn’t take long. There are only 56 short stories and four novellas. I have to say that it was great to have an excuse to immerse myself once again in Sherlock Holmes. I then read a couple of books about nineteenth century London which helped me decide on some of the locations. The plot for The House of Silk came very quickly. I actually started writing it a week after I signed the contract … the prologue and chapter one, anyway. That was how I found my voice.
Did you find any aspect of writing The House of Silk particularly challenging (or particularly easy)?
The biggest challenge was to stretch the very elegant but fragile structures of the original Doyle novels to the 95,000 words demanded by my editors. I overcame this by effectively writing two short novels‐The Man in the Flat Cap and The House of Silk‐and intertwining them. I never use the word “easy” about writing but I have to say that I loved writing the book and that an awful lot of it seemed to fall into my lap. It took four months‐half the time of an Alex Rider novel.
What do you think it is about Holmes and Watson that makes them such wonderfully lasting characters?
It’s their interdependence. Doyle’s genius was to create a character who is cold, aloof, irritating, an occasional drug addict, a man who never reads fiction and knows nothing about philosophy or politics … and to partner him with a warm, affable, civilized, intelligent and totally loyal doctor. We read the books for the atmosphere and for the mysteries but above all because this is the greatest friendship in literature.
Do you have a favorite Sherlock Holmes story? If so, which, and why?
My favourite story is “The Dying Detective” (which takes place three days before The House of Silk begins). It’s a chamber piece. There’s no detection and no actual crime. But it’s a great duel of wits with a memorable villain and a startling denouement.
Read the full interview.
Labels: author interview, authors
