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Nancy Pearl Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl Biography

Nancy Pearl is known as "America's Librarian." She speaks about the pleasures of reading at library conferences, to literacy organizations and community groups throughout the world and comments on books regularly on KUOW FM in Seattle, as well as KWGS in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Wisconsin Public Radio.

Born and raised in Detroit, she received her master's degree in library science in 1967 from the University of Michigan. She also received an MA in history from Oklahoma State University in 1977. Among her many honors and awards are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal; and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. She also hosts a monthly television show, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl. She lives in Seattle with her husband.

Nancy Pearl's website

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Interview

Nancy Pearl discusses her first novel, George & Lizzie

(contains plot spoilers)

Though you've written four works of nonfiction describing good books to read, including Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, this is your first novel. Can you tell us something about your writing process? How did you decide on the plot?  Did you have to do any research? What was it like to tell Lizzie's story?

The characters of George and Lizzie appeared to me one night while I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep.  All I knew at that moment were their names and how they'd met.  Everything that follows, the specific events of their lives, their families, their friends, their marriage, all of that came much later, and very gradually.  For several years I kept it all in my head, adding details as I thought of them. Eventually I had so much in my head that I felt a need to start writing it down. I didn't, at first, think of what I was doing as "writing a novel."

I had no story arc in mind. I just had two characters that I felt drawn to and wanted to know more about. Writing about them was a way to accomplish it. The process of writing about them felt to me more like one of discovery than one of invention. I just wrote ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Nancy Pearl at BookBrowse
George and Lizzie jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Nancy Pearl but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Taffy Brodesser-Akner

    Taffy Brodesser-Akner

    Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and the New York Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble, which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is also the creator... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    George and Lizzie

    Try:
    Fleishman Is in Trouble
    by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

  • Jeffrey Eugenides

    Jeffrey Eugenides

    Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1960. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, and received an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University in 1986. His first ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    George and Lizzie

    Try:
    The Marriage Plot
    by Jeffrey Eugenides

We recommend 9 similar authors

View all 9 Read-Alikes

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