Valentine's Day is almost upon us, and what better time for a good old fashioned love story. But what to recommend?
I posed the question to our Facebook followers, specifying that we weren't interested in books starring gushing regency heroines or bare chested cowboys but instead wished to seek out quieter stories that explore love and relationships. Within a couple of hours we had over 100 recommendations - far too many to include here, so we've chosen to focus just on some of the debuts, and will return to this topic again in the future:
In 2011, President Obama proclaimed January 2012 National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month:
"With the start of each year, we commemorate the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective on January 1, 1863, and the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, which was signed by President Abraham Lincoln and submitted to the States for ratification on February 1, 1865.
These documents stand as testaments to the gains we have made in pursuit of freedom and justice for all, and they remind us of the work that remains to be done. This month, I urge all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, and in cooperation with our partners around the world, we can work to end this terrible injustice and protect the rights to life and liberty entrusted to us by our forebears and owed to our children."
2012 BookBrowse Favorites
We are delighted to present our annual roundup of BookBrowse's Favorite Books. As in past years these books have been selected not simply on the number of votes each book received (as is the way with most "popular awards") but by asking our members and subscribers to rate each book they've read from a shortlist of titles, so that we can gauge how good a book is rather than just counting votes - as a simple vote count tends to favor the best selling books, which as we all know, aren't always the best! Only those already on our mailing list were eligible to vote so as to minimize vote stuffing - about 5000 votes were cast.
Tuesday October 2nd is one of the biggest publishing days of the year, if not the biggest, with hundreds of new titles hitting the shelves. None of us have time to read all of them, not even to read about them; so here, for your reading pleasure are half a dozen of the most notable, plus another half dozen publishing later in October. These are selected from more than 100 previewed October titles that members can view in full here.
Oops! Just realized that one of the dozen below is nonfiction - The End of Your Life Book Club. That's what comes of writing blog posts late at night! In fact, we're currently discussing this very book in BookBrowse's book club - please do join the discussion!
Enjoy!
Davina, BookBrowse editor
For the past seven years The National Book Foundation has honored five young fiction writers with its "5 Under 35" award. The recognition of the authors as rising stars in the world of books far outreaches the nominal $1000 monetary award. This year's five honorees have just been announced - each of them nominated by a previous National Book Award winner or finalist. Here are this year's 5 Under 5 honorees, with links to more about them and their books: