Will Schwalbe, author of End-of-Your-Life Book Club, recently spoke at the Fox Cities Book Festival. He read several excerpts from this wonderful new title Books for Living, a memoir of a reader. In 26 chapters, Schwalbe writes about the books which shaped his own life story. He did not intend the specific books which are chapter titles to be a reading list of either the greatest literature or his personal favorite titles, but rather a way to share the ways in which books helped him engage with the world, learn life lessons, cultivate empathy and compassion, remember the stories of those who have passed away, make him a better person, and a better citizen. “Books remain one of the strongest bulwarks we have against tyranny—but only as long as people are free to read all different kinds of books, and only as long as they actually do so. The right to read whatever you want whenever you want is one of the fundamental rights that helps preserve all the other rights. It’s a right we need to guard with unwavering diligence. But it’s also a right we can guard with pleasure. Reading isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control and domination: It’s one of the world’s great joys.” There are so many reasons to read. Not the least of which is entertainment. Is there any finer way to spend a rainy afternoon in October than lying on the couch with a book that takes you to a different time…
Looking for something to read or gift this holiday season? Here are my book recommendations for the best of 2017. None of these titles are written by my clients. Each one of these books is something I’ve enjoyed as a reader during the last year and give you my best word-of-mouth recommendation. I read four or five books a month for pleasure and these are… [Read More]
Filed Under: Books for Living, Chickenshit Club, Difficult Women, Ginny Moon, Infamous Mothers, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions, Montaigne in Mud Boots, Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen, The Best We Could Do, The Future is History, The Hate U Give, The Twelve Mile Straight
No Comments
Guest blog by Carolyn Porter, author of Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate (Skyhorse, 2017). In the five months “Marcel’s Letters” has lived in the world, I have been honored to join ten book clubs, and I look forward to the half-dozen more who have arranged events for the coming months. The visits have been delightful. If I sound surprised,… [Read More]
Where should your book be reviewed? What literary journals and magazines should you submit excerpts or adaptations to? Which bookstore events will be worth your while? Are there podcasts or radio interviews you should book to promote your new release? These and other questions you may have when you begin to put together a marketing strategy are not easy to answer. Studying your comp titles… [Read More]
On December 1, Tumblehome Learning will release of Larry Scheckel’s new book, I Always Wondered About That: 101 Questions about Science and Other Stuff. Entertaining and educational, this book applies science to phenomena that are part of our everyday lives with questions and answers that appeal both to science nerds and those who struggled through high school chemistry class. Hypothetical, irreverent, and quirky questions—the kind… [Read More]
Today I welcome Linda J. Spielman as a guest-blogger. Linda is the author of A Field Guide to Tracking Mammals in the Northeast (Countryman Press/W.W. Norton). Now that snow is in the forecast, it’s a fabulous time to get outside and start tracking wildlife. Linda Spielman shares her experience of finding bobcat tracks with us. You can enter to win a free copy of her… [Read More]