Looking for a Classic?

Summer can be a great time to get caught up on your reading. But where to start? For some, it may be those latest summer blockbusters (check out our summer catalog for those). For others, it's a great classic. For the next few weeks, we'll post lists of winners for some of the major literary awards. Let's start with the Nobel Prize for Fiction.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither: The Chemical Garden Trilogy 01

Author: Lauren DeStefano

ISBN: 9781442409057

Price: $17.99

No one wants to grow old—at least, no one in our world. In Lauren DeStefano’s Wither, growing old is a dream. No one grows old. Due to complications of genetic engineering, no males live past the age of twenty-five. No females live past twenty. This is the world that sixteen year old Rhine Ellery lives in.

Pottermore Unveiled....sort of

Bright and early Thursday morning, J.K. Rowling's Pottermore went public. Sort of. Rowling's highly-anticipated announcement was sure to leave plenty of questions and room for speculation. Pottermore is described by Rowling as "an online reading experience unlike any other." It will be shaped and built by readers, though what exactly that means is somewhat unclear. The site will also be the exclusive retailer of digital audiobooks and e-books of the Harry Potter series. There will also be exclusive content about the world of Harry Potter. Pottermore will be open to the public in October. Starting July 31, however, fans can enter for a chance to register early.

What do you think of Pottermore?

Goethe Medal and Pritzker Winners Announced

John le Carre has been named as one of this year's winners for the Goethe Medal in Germany. The award is given for "outstanding service for the German language and international cultural dialogue."

The 2011 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing has been awarded to Carlo D'Este. D'Este's works on World War II include biographies as well as titles such as Decision in Normandy and Bitter Victory.

Literary News: Lawsuits, Insults, and More

Literary News Today....

*A second lawsuit was filed last week against Greg Mortenson amid the controversy surrounding allegations that his bestselling memoirs Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools are both full of false claims and inaccuracies. This lawsuit also names Mortenson's co-author, David Oliver Relin, and his publisher, Penguin. Mortenson has been under fire since a 60 Minutes episode made its allegations in April and was quickly followed by a lengthy expose article by respected journalist Jon Krakauer. A full article on the newest lawsuit can be found here.

*They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Check out Flavorwire's 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History. They've got everyone from Mark Twain to Virginia Woolf to William Faulkner to Vladmir Nabokov all weighing in on their contemporaries and predecessors.

*Head over to our Book into Movie News Page for the latest on casting for Peter Jackson's film The Hobbit.

*The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been awarded to Andrea Levy for her novel The Long Song. Levy's novel is set on a sugar plantation in Jamaica in the 1830s. The Washington Post has called Levy "one of the best historical novelists of her generation." The book was a finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize as well as a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year.

Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories

Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories

Author: Mike Birbiglia

ISBN: 9781439158005

Price: $14.00

Every once in a while you read a book that makes you laugh until you cry. Sometimes one also finds a book that feels like an old friend who’s just called to chat. Mike Birbiglia’s bestselling book Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories is both: he tells stories and in doing so, invites readers to share in his memories. Switching back and forth between stories of his childhood and adolescence and early years in comedy, Birbiglia maintains the conversational tone of an old friend who just has to tell you what happened today.

Update in Book into Film News

Check out the Book into Film page for an update on the newest Nicholas Sparks novel set to hit theaters.

BBC Samuel Johnson Prize Shortlist Announced

The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize Shortlist has been announced. The winner will be announced July 6.

This year's nominees....

Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikotter
Caravaggio by Andrew Graham Dixon
Liberty's Exiles by Maya Jasanoff
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Bismark: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg
Reprobates by John Stubbs

Summer Reads!

Looking for what to read this summer? Check out GBC's Summer Catalog 2011 for our picks for summer. From Robot Wars to summer cookouts to just a good laugh, these books have your summer entertainment needs covered.

Mystery J.K. Rowling Announcement to come

J.K. Rowling has set book lovers everywhere on edge with the unveiling of a website Pottermore. The site pictures two owls and links to a YouTube countdown to an announcement expected in 6 days. A spokeswoman for Rowling has said the announcement is NOT another Harry Potter novel, but they will not comment further. Fans everywhere are making their guesses as to what Pottermore could be and what exactly is Rowling's next project.

2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

Winners have been announced for this year's 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. The awards are given for excellence in children's and young adult literature.

Fiction

Blink and Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)

Nonfiction

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point/Roaring Brook)

Picture Book

Pocketful of Poesies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Sally Mavor (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Ben Franklin Awards, Lambda Awards, PEN/Malmud Award, Arab American Award Winners

Several literary award winners and nominees have been announced lately.

Keep reading for the latest on the Benjamin Franklin winners, Lambda Literary Award winners, the 2011 PEN/Malmud Award, and the 2011 Arab American Book Awards.

2011 Thriller Awards

Nominees have been announced for the 2011 Thriller Awards. The awards, given by the International Thriller Writers, will be handed out next month at the 2011 ThrillerFest.

2011 Thrillmaster Award: R.L. Stine

2011 Silver Bullet Award: Karin Slaughter

2011 True Thrill Award: Joe McGinniss

Paper Covers Rock

Title: Paper Covers Rock

Author: Jenny Hubbard

ISBN: 9780385740555

Releases on: June 14

It’s no secret that Young Adult literature is read by adults, and on an increasing level. Paper Covers Rock, I suspect, is a book which will be enjoyed even more by adults than by teens. Any book that inspires readers to pick up Moby-Dick must be, on some level, brilliant.

Orange Prize for Fiction and Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism

Orange Prize for Fiction

In a surprising win, this year's Orange Prize for Fiction went to twenty-five year old Tea Obreht for her debut novel The Tiger's Wife. Obreht is the youngest winner in the award's sixteen-year history. Other finalists for the award were: Emma Donoghue for Room, Nicole Krauss for Great House, Kathleen Winter for Annabel, and Emma Henderson for Grace Williams Says It Loud.


Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism
Out of 75 nominees, five finalists have been announced for this year's Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Author Lilian Braun Jackson has passed away

Sad news in the literary world this week: prolific mystery author Lilian Braun Jackson died June 4, 2011. Jackson was the author of the popular Cat Who... mystery series. The series began in 1966 with The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. Jackson wrote two sequels and then took an eighteen-year hiatus before continuing the series. In all, there are 29 books in the Cat Who... series, the most recent being The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, published in 2007. Jackson was 69 years old.

Books into Film

Quick update: Check out our Books into Film page for an update on the casting of the film Mortal Instruments, based on the book by Cassandra Clare.

Mullah's Storm

Title: The Mullah's Storm
Author: Thomas W. Young
ISBN: 9780425242254
Releases: June 7, 2011

Thomas W. Young, a Senior Master Sergeant wtih the Air National Guard, knows war. At the end of his debut novel The Mullah's Storm, Young writes of his experiences and what led to the book. "When I first flew into Afghanistan, what scared me most wasn't the thought of getting shot down and killed. It was the thought of getting shot down and not killed" (p. 275). That fear becomes the basis for his book. What happens when a plane is shot down in a war zone and the passengers are not killed?