Irish-American Women

Since this is the last day of March, I thought I'd better get this posted. Not only do we celebrate our Irish heritage but it is also Women's History Month, so I combined the two subjects and came up with some great Irish-American women authors!
The first three have a couple of things in common: one, they are all considered "Classic" authors, and two, they all died at a young age due to tragic circumstances. Kate Chopin died at the age of 54 of a cerebral aneurysm before being recognized as one of the first great feminist authors. Her novel "The Awakening" is considered a masterpiece. Pulitzer prize winning author Margaret Mitchell died at the age of 49 after being struck by a car in Atlanta. Her novel "Gone with the Wind" is one of our best-loved stories of the Civil War era. Savannah native Flannery O'Connor, known for her Southern Gothic stories and novels, died of complications from Lupus at the tender age of 39. Try one or more books by these great ladies and experience the past through their eyes.

Some other authors to try:
Mary Higgins Clark--bestselling suspense novelist.
Alice McDermott--1998 National Book Award/1999 American Book Award winner.
Anna Quindlen--magazine columnist and novelist for over 30 years.
Nora Roberts--Hall of Fame romance novelist and writing machine.

Confessions of a Romance Reader

I’m sending happy birthday wishes today to Jennifer Weiner and Jayne Ann Krentz (aka Amanda Quick). My gift to them is an admission I have always been reluctant to voice: I like romance novels. I tend toward contemporary romance (aka “chick lit”) when I need a little break from something that’s causing me stress, or when I’ve read too much literary fiction in a short time and need a break, or when I just want to relax and be entertained.

As it turns out, I’m a pretty typical romance reader. We like books where there is a strong female character who has to tackle a number of obstacles in her path, and for whom things end happily ever after. The other thing that makes me a typical romance reader is my slight sense of embarrassment about reading romances. In fact, until recently, I would claim that I never read romance. I read chick lit, or historical fiction, or sometimes fantasy. They just happen to have a romance in them. But, the guilt is gone from my guilty pleasure. There’s a wide variety of books that are considered romance.

Try one of these and see if you might just be a romance reader, too:

Jennifer Weiner – In Her Shoes or Little Earthquakes
Diana Gabaldon – The Outlander
Amanda Quick – Second Sight
Nora Roberts – Born in Fire
J.D. Robb – Glory in Death
Lauren Baratz-Logsted – This is Chick Lit

Horror Writers Association announces Bram Stoker Awards finalists

The Horror Writers Association just announced the finalists for the 2008 Bram Stoker Awards. The Stokers, which have been presented annually since 1988, are given by the organization for superior achievement in horror writing.

The winners will be announced at a banquet held during this year's Stoker Awards Weekend, June 12-14 at the Burbank Marriott Hotel, near Los Angeles.

The nominees for Superior Achievement in a Novel are:

Coffin County by Gary Braunbeck
The Reach by Nate Kenyon
Duma Key by Stephen King
Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson

For more information, including all nominees in all categories, visit the official site at stokers2009.org.

Galaxy British Book Awards

The 20th annual Galaxy British Book Awards take place on Friday, April 9th. Here are a couple of the categories and nominees:

Crime Thriller of the Year: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay, Revelation by C.J. Sansom, and When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson.

Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award: Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell, Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks, The Outcast by Sadie Jones, Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern, Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble, and This Charming Man by Marian Keyes.

The winners for these and other categories will be considered for the Galaxy Book of the Year Award. Visit the Galaxy British Book Awards' website for more information.

Hugo Nominees Announced

The Hugo Awards celebrate the best in the field of science fiction and fantasy. Hugos are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, by the World Science Fiction Society.

All members of this year's convention—Anticipation—may vote to select the winners. The Hugos awarded at Anticipation will be for works released in 2008. The nominees for Best Novel are:

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Free download)

Saturn's Children by Charles Stross

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

For more information, including all nominees in all categories, visit the official Hugo Award Web site.

2009 Lambda Literary Finalists

The 21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards finalists were announced this week. These awards seek to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. This year 105 finalists representing 72 publishers are competing for awards in 22 categories. Try one of the following books by 8 of the finalists and let me know which ones you think will win the awards. They are all winners in my book!

The Fisher Boy by Stephen Anable

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue

Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg

The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson

Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories by Craig Gidney

Map of Ireland by Stephanie Grant

Sweet Poison by Ellen Hart

Spider Season by John Morgan Wilson

For more reading suggestions, try our Gay and Lesbian Fiction list on the library website under Good Reads!

International Mirth Month

March is International Mirth Month. Created by Allen Klein, who goes by the moniker "Mr. Jollytologist," the purpose of Mirth Month is to find the humor in stressful situations. As someone who has had my own share of painfully funny moments, I really appreciate this effort (if you ever need a good laugh, feel free to ask me about the time I broke my nose....on a school desk...that I was sitting in) .

If the economy, the news, or just too much traffic has you feeling a little down, promote International Mirth Month by reading a funny book. For some funny books to check out, click here.

National Women's History Month

March is National Women's History Month, which is part of the National Women's History Project. For more information on this project, visit the organization's website here.

This project got me thinking about the works of the many great women writers over the years. But which of these authors are best suited to your tastes? Perhaps you enjoy the emotional works of Jane Austen. These novels often focus on missed opportunities and human relationships. The works of Maya Angelou somehow end up being uplifting despite her focus on topics that are often gut-wrenching. Maybe you want to check out the philosophical, futuristic works of Ayn Rand. She often wrote about equality and individualism in worlds that did not value these objectives. Joyce Carol Oates has written many remarkable works over her career. She has written poetry, prose, short stories, essays, and works for young adults. Virginia Woolf is considered one of the finest of women's fiction writers, though a nonfiction essay, A Room of One's Own, is perhaps her most well known work.

This list is a mere sampling of the many successful women's writers who helped transform writing over the years. Check the library's catalog for these authors and more of your favorite women's writers!

This is not a post about non-fiction

Here at Fine Print, we stick to fiction. Occasionally, you might see someone veer off into the non-fiction realm, but I'm new here and am not quite bold enough to do so. As such, I will not write about Shakespeare Wrote for Money, Nick Hornby's brilliant new, incredibly funny collection of "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns chronicling...well, the stuff he reads. I will not mention that this is the third such collection, following The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. The Dirt , all three of which you should, if you like reading at all, reserve right now. (Just click on the title of the book and then click "request." No, really. Now. I'll wait...)

Instead, I'll mention that keeping a book diary can be a really great way to track not only what you've read, but also how reading one book can lead you to three others that may or may not be related, and which you otherwise might never have thought of reading ("reading begets reading" is the Hornby quote I would use if I were discussing his non-fiction books, which I clearly am not).

Book diaries are also really great for seeing how the books you read influence your life. Case in point: I was recently trying to figure out why I had such a case of the blahs. When I looked at my reading history on the WCPL website (I promise I'm not being paid extra to promote that -- it just really is that cool that if you opt in, it automatically keeps track of what you've checked out and lets you rate each item), I got a hint about why I might've been feeling a little more down than usual. In the past month, among the books I've read were: More Than It Hurts You by Darrin Strauss (subject: Munchausen by Proxy syndrome), We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (subject: a school shooting),the Big Read selection Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (subject: a school shooting), Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (subject: a dying man ruminates on his life in a letter to his 7-year-old son who will grow up without him), and Inferno by Dante Alighieri (subject: Hell). All of these were very good and I would highly recommend reading them, but they aren't really light-hearted. So, I've decided that the next few books I read need to be light, interesting, and humorous. I hear there are some funny columns that were just published in a new book...

Random House Offers Free Science Fiction/Fantasy E-Books

Really. No Kidding. Right here. Here's what they have to say:

We know it can be hard to navigate the countless fantasy and science fiction series out there and figure out which ones are right for you. Well, we're here to make those tough decisions a bit easier on you. With the Suvudu Free Book Library, you can read the first book in some of our most acclaimed series absolutely free!

They are starting off this free library with some really great SF titles, including Kim Stanley Robinson's Nebula Award-winning Red Mars and Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, a finalist for the British Fantasy Award.

And don't forget, we too are in the business of offering e-books for free.

In the Queue

Etta
by Gerald Kolpan
At the turn of the last century, Etta Place captivated the nation as she dodged the law with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Did you ever wondered what happened to this schoolteacher who loved an outlaw!

The Rose of Sebastopol
by Katharine McMahon
Hoping to break out of the stuffy confines of her 19th century life, Rosa Barr travels to the Crimean battlefield with Florence Nightingale’s nursing corps and then mysteriously disappears.

No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech
by Lucinda Roy
While serving on the faculty at Virginia Tech, Roy counseled Seung-Hui Cho and expressed her concerns about him to the university and to the police. On April 16, 2007, Cho opened fire on classrooms filled with students and killed 32 people.