Book of the Week #8

The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America its Name by Toby Lester. (NY: Free Press, 2009)

"Old maps lead you to strange and unexpected places, and none does so more ineluctably than the subject of this book: the giant, beguiling Waldseemüller world map of 1507. The map draws you in, reveals itself in stages, and doesn't let go. When I first imagined telling the story of the map, several years ago, I thought I knew
where I was going. But then the map took over. For two years I followed its lead, and this unconventional book is the result." (p. ix)

Author Toby Lester will be speaking in Exeter, NH on Saturday, 2/27/2010 at 7pm, presented by The American Independence Museum and Water Street Bookstore. The event will be held at the bookstore.

Big Read: NH Reads To Kill a Mockingbird

Our Big Read: NH Reads To Kill a Mockingbird project kicks off next week with a reception at the NH Supreme Court.

Throughout March there will be nearly 200 events planned by over 100 partners at locations from Lancaster to Pelham and North Hampton to Plainfield.

Check out http://BigReadNH.org to learn more about To Kill a Mockingbird and to get details on all the great events planned for next month. Then visit your library to borrow a copy of this classic novel (or buy your own from a local bookstore) and get reading!

LAL Update

Letters About Literature received 684 entries in the 2010 competition from New Hampshire students. Of these, 47 letters have been selected as New Hampshire LAL Semi-Finalists. These 47 letters are on their way to a panel of Granite State judges who will select three winners, one at each competition level.

Over the next few weeks each student whose letter was selected as a semi-finalist will be notified by mail. We will announce the NH winners, and the complete list of semi-finalists, by mid-March.

Dublin Nominees Announced

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has released the 2010 long list which is the complete list of titles eligible for the 2010 award. The titles nominated by the NH Dublin Committee for 2010 were The White Tiger and The Story of a Marriage.

The short list for the 2010 award will be released April 14th and the winner will be announced on June 17th.

Personally, I'm rooting for The Story of a Marriage which is one of the best books I have read.

Upcoming Events at NH Bookstores

• Marilyn Johnson will be at RiverRun on Friday, 2/19/10 at 7pm talking about This Book is Overdue.
  
• Maxine Kumin will be reading her new book for children, What Color is Caesar? at Water Street Bookstore on Saturday, 2/20/10 at 2pm and at Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough on Saturday, 2/27/10 at 11am.
  
• Christine Sandor, author of Warming the Stone Children will be at Toadstool Bookshop, Keene talking about and autographing her books on Saturday, 2/20/10 at 2pm.
  
• Joe Smiga, author of Behind the Lies, will be at Toadstool Bookshop, Milford at 3pm on Saturday, 2/20/10.
  
• On Wednesday, 2/24/10 at 7pm Dwayne Raymond will be at River Run reading from his memoir, Mornings with Mailer.
  
• Joe Monninger will be reading from Eternal on the Water, his latest novel--this one for adults--at Gibson's on Thursday, 2/25/10 at 7pm.
  
• Jami Attenberg will read from her book The Melting Season at River Run on Friday, 2/26/10 at 7pm.
  
• Lisa Brooks, author of The Common Pot, will be speaking about reclaiming native space in New England at Toadstool Bookshop, Milford on Saturday 2/27/10 at 3pm.

Book of the Week #7

The Sustainable Learning Community: One University's Journey to the Future edited by John Aber, Tom Kelly, and Bruce Mallory (Durham, NH: UNH Press, 2009)

"University communities have the potential to serve as models in the development and application of sustainability principles and practices, not only by what they teach and study, but also by how they operate facilities and engage
with off-campus partners. With the oldest endowed campus-wide sustainability program in the country, established in 1997, the University of New Hampshire has
become a leader in advancing a campus culture of sustainability. The UNH experience provides a unique window into the development of a new and integrated
approach to teaching, learning, research, and operations. It is also a valuable guide for other institutions that aim to enhance the quality of campus life while reducing their environmental footprint." (from the book jacket)

John Aber, Tom Kelly, and Bruce Mallory are all members of the UNH community.

On Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 7pm John Aber and Tom Kelly will be talking about this book at RiverRun.

Joe Hill's NH Book Tour

Joe Hill's latest book, Horns, was released today. He starts off a book tour with a series of appearances this week at New Hampshire bookstores:

(Today) 2/16/10 at 7pm at RiverRun

2/17/10 at 7pm at Barnes & Noble, Manchester

2/18/10 at 7pm at Gibson's

2/19/10 at 6:30pm at Toadstool, Milford

Check Joe Hill's Twitter feed for weather related changes to the schedule.

Happy Valentine's Day

If you're looking for a good Valentine's Day book, check out this Book of the Week from 2007.

Book of the Week #6

Abraham Lincoln in New Hampshire by Elwin L. Page, introduced and updated by Mike Pride (Concord, NH: Monitor Publishing Co., 2009.)

"On February 29, 1860 Abraham Lincoln arrived in Exeter, New Hampshire to visit his oldest son, Robert, a student at Phillips Academy. During the next three days, he made four speeches in New Hampshire that helped to propel him to the presidency.
Nearly seven decades later, Elwin L. Page followed Lincoln's path through the state in the delightful Abraham Lincoln in New Hampshire. He told his story through original research and interviews with aged members of Lincoln's audiences. Only 785 copies of Page's 1929 book were published.
This updated edition ... incorporates new information that has come to light since then. Without sacrificing the flavor of the original, it adds the only known contemporary account of Lincoln's appearance in Exeter, a letter Lincoln wrote to Mary Lincoln the day before he left the state, and other material discovered of made available in recent years.

In the weeks after his New Hampshire speeches, Lincoln rose from obscurity to become the New Hampshire delegation's overwhelming choice on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. A year to the day after he wrote to Mary from New Hampshire, he took office as the nation's sixteenth president." (jacket copy)

Edwin L. Page (1876-1974) was a lawyer and judge in Concord, NH and served as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court from 1934-1946. Mike Pride is the editor emeritus of the Concord Monitor and an amateur historian.

Book Events this Weekend

Rebecca Skloot --yes, the one who was on the cover of PW recently-- will be at River Run at 7pm on Friday 2/12/10 talking about her book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Lee Harper, author and illustrator of SNOW SNOW SNOW! will be at Time of Wonder Bookstore at 11am on Saturday, 2/13/10.

Walt Schnable will be reading from his novel Blood Club at Toadstool Bookshop in Keene at 2pm on Saturday, 2/13/10.

Feeling romantic? Romance is Alive at the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford on Saturday, 02/13/2010 at 3:00pm.

Kevin & Hannah Salwen will be talking about The Power of Half at Gibson's at 2pm and at Water Street Bookstore at 6pm on Saturday, 2/13/10. A portion of sales at the Salwens' event at Gibson's will benefit Capital Region Habitat for Humanity.

Philipp Meyer Reading in NH

Philipp Meyer, author of American Rust will be at local bookstores to read, discuss, and sign copies of the book next week. This novel has appeared on several "best of 2009" lists.

• River Run on Wednesday, February 10 (7pm)
• Gibson's on Friday, February 12 (7pm)

"Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation--as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love--that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes. Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever. Evoking John Steinbeck's novels of restless lives during the Great Depression, American Rust takes us into the contemporary American heartland at a moment of profound unrest and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid vision, a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and the power of love and
friendship to redeem us." (from the publisher)

Book of the Week #5

Mutual Aid by Ruth Doan MacDougall (Concord, NH: Plaidswede Press, 2009)

New Hampshire native Ruth Doan MacDougall received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Hampshire Writer's Project in 2005 and she continues to achieve. Her latest book -- which is her 15th including those she wrote with her father Daniel Doan -- is set in the fictional town of Chiswick, NH.

"Ruth is a New Hampshire treasure. We're honored to publish Mutual Aid," said publisher George Geers. "With her longstanding reputation as a writer and her unique take on new England themes, we think her fiction is a perfect fit for Plaidswede."

Ms. MacDougall will be reading from this novel at Gibson's on Saturday, 2/6/10 at 11am.

"As its heroine, Mercy Blodgett, says of herself, she seems to be related to almost everybody in the small town of Chiswick, NH. To those she isn’t, her husband, Bob, is likely to be. Just when a mill closing in 1986 costs the Blodgetts their jobs, this town is suddenly terrorized by an arsonist, and heart attacks may cost Bob his life.

The title refers to the emergency system in which fire departments from neighboring towns assist each other, but it also emphasizes the interdependence of all people,whether they are family, friends, or, as with Mercy and the young man who has become her pen pal, strangers at the outset. The word "aid" summons up the word "AIDS," and this too is part of the story." (jacket copy)

Upcoming Book Events

Visit your local bookstore -- authors do!

• Susan H. Shetterly, author of Settled in the Wild will be at Gibson's on Thursday, 2/4/10 at 7pm


• Eric Pinder will be at the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford to talk about Life at the Top on Saturday, 2/6/10 at 11am


• Ruth Doan MacDougall will be reading from her latest book, Mutual Aid, at Gibson's on Saturday, 2/6/10 at 11am
  
• Chuck Hogan will be at RiverRun on Monday, 2/8/10 at 7pm to read from his new novel Devils in Exile
  
• Ed Rowan, author of Mothers of Scouting: Baden-Powell and the Women Who Influenced Him will be at Water Street Bookstore on Tuesday, 2/9/10 at 7pm
  
• Philip Hoare, author of The Whale will be at Toadstool Bookshop, Milford on Tuesday, 2/9/10 at 7pm and at RiverRun on Thursday 2/11/10 at 7pm
  
• William D. Cohan will be at Gibson's on Tuesday, 2/11/10 at 7pm to talk about House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street.