Inside Jacket

The Internet brings authors and readers a little too close together.

Bob Thompson reminiscences about interviewing Joan Didion and Philip Roth.

Jonathan Lethem walks the Guardian through his Brooklyn.

New York magazine excerpts John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s exposé of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Sean Carroll explains why time only runs in one direction.

An interview with Brad Lamm about the controversial claim in his book that we can and should intervene with loved ones who are addicts.

I’ve been summoned for the first time, and while I’m not quite as excited about my civic duty as I feel I should be, this is a great reading opportunity, I’m told.

At first, my mind clearly went to courtroom drama. A good old-fashioned John Grisham novel, or maybe a crime-infused detective  novel. James Patterson’s "I, Alex Cross" seems pretty popular now.

OF course, I could go a bit more historical. The first secret ballot juries date back to Ancient Greece, and tribunals made of hundreds of men decided cases in Rome. Anthony Everitt’s "Cicero" has been begging for a re-read lately …

So long story short, I head to the courthouse this morning with a couple of books; my Kindle, ready to download whatever my heart desires in a moment; and hopes that the movie they picked isn’t too bad.

Wish me luck! (And any other reading suggestions are welcome, as well.)

Can I use another explanation mark?!!  The always awesome Nicole from Linus’s Blanket has been shaking up the blogosphere by hosting a Blog Talk Radio Show every Tuesday night and interviewing book bloggers (check out past shows & future dates) about books, blogging and life!  They have been simply awesome and I look forward to them every week.  Now it’s my turn in the hot seat.  Mark your calender for Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST.

You can listen live or to the archived version later when you have a few minutes. If you listen live, make sure you register so you can join in the conversation in the chat room.  That’s where half of the action takes place.  If you have any questions or comments, you can send them to: nicole AT linussblanket DOT com before the show, ask in the chat room or call 646-381-4606 to ask yourself.  The player can also be found in my sidebar.

At the end of the show, stick around for the “Twenty Minute Book Club.”  For the last twenty minutes we will be discusing the book War Child by Emmanuel Jal.  Now, I tell you this in advance before the show because I REALLY want you to read the book.  So go find it right now!

BUT if you don’t manage to read it before the show I still want you to stick around to discuss it.  It’s a type of book where spoilers don’t matter and Emmanuel Jal’s life is SO fascinating that I just want everybody to know about him and his cause. I would be disappointed if you bailed on the discussion.  To prep yourself, check out my book review of War Child where there are several great videos about Jal, listen to his album War Child (it’s in my player right now) or watch the documentary about his life.

So what are you doing Tuesday, January 19th?

That’s what I thought . . . .

__________________________________________________
I will be on Blog Talk Radio show on Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST as a guest for Nicole’s That’s How I Blog Show. I’d be thrilled if you listened in! At the end of the show, we will also be discussing the book WAR CHILD by Emmanuel Jal which is a book that I think everybody should read.
__________________________________________________
Copyright 2009 by Maw Books Blog. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator or by email, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take immediate action.

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Hola Bloggiesta fiesta goers!  You did it!  You made it to the end of the finish line!

THANK YOU so much for participating!  I hope that got much accomplished, have a better looking blog and had fun at the same time.  We had more than 130 bloggers join the fiesta! I am still trying to make my way around to everybody’s blog to read up on your progress.

A shout out to our awesome sponsors:  Scholastic, Hachette Book Group, Peachtree Publishers, Lisa Roe, Publicist and Bloomsbury Publishing for giving away some fantastic titles.  Thank you!  I will be putting up a post about mid-week announcing winners.

I hope you enjoyed the mini-challenges from:  Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog, Pam from MotherReader, Danielle from There’s a Book, Pam from Bookalicio.us, Beth from Beth Fish Reads, Jackie from Farm Lane Books, Karin from Karin’s Book Nook, Chelle from Tempting Persephone, Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century, and Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves.  Thank you ladies for hosting.  They were great!

Please sign the Mr. Linky again (I know, again!) with the direct link to your final summary post. This is a totally selfish move on my part and helps me make sure I don’t miss any of them.  I really want to read your feedback!  Let me know how many hours you spent on the challenge, the mini-challenges you participated in, how many comments you left other bloggers, what you accomplished, what you liked best and any constructive criticism you might have.  I also need some ideas for mini-challenges for the next Bloggiesta so let me know!  Mark your calenders for June!

Hasta la vista!

__________________________________________________
I will be on Blog Talk Radio show on Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST as a guest for Nicole’s That’s How I Blog Show. I’d be thrilled if you listened in! At the end of the show, we will also be discussing the book WAR CHILD by Emmanuel Jal which is a book that I think everybody should read.
__________________________________________________
Copyright 2009 by Maw Books Blog. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator or by email, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take immediate action.

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

It’s Day 3 of Bloggiesta (but we still have almost a full 24 hours left so jump in at the starting line if you want)!  Wow.  Your enthusiasm is awesome!  People are making Mexican food for dinner, listening to mariachi music and some like Dawn are going all out!

Yesterday we took a whack at the pinata.  A pinata full of books!!  So who broke the darn thing and won a book of their choice from our awesome sponsors:  Scholastic, Hachette Book Group, Peachtree Publishers, Lisa Roe, Publicist and Bloomsbury Publishing?

Well . . . J.T. Oldfield from Bibliofreak has arms!  Those before her just couldn’t do it but when she took a whack, books went flying everywhere!  Not only did she snag a book but we had bloggers flying in from the sidelines and frantically scooping up the goods!

Joyful from Joyful Journey used her elbows and did some damage and also emerged victorious! But wait.  Angela from Bookish Blather is a sneaky one too.  She crawled into the mayhem and crawled out with a book as well!  Congrats ladies!!  (J.T. will get first choice, then Joyful and then Angela.  I’ll be emailing you for details.)

Don’t forget you can connect with other Bloggiesta participants by subscribing to the shared Bloggiesta RSS feed, follow @Bloggiesta on Twitter, and use the hashtag #bloggiesta to join the chatter.  Miss Remmers’ was kind enough to put together a Twitter list of participants.

I’ll be posting the finish line post about mid-day today, so watch for that.  But we officially go until early tomorrow morning for you die-hards!  Carry on!

__________________________________________________
I will be on Blog Talk Radio show on Tuesday, January 19th at 9pm EST as a guest for Nicole’s That’s How I Blog Show. I’d be thrilled if you listened in! At the end of the show, we will also be discussing the book WAR CHILD by Emmanuel Jal which is a book that I think everybody should read.
__________________________________________________
Copyright 2009 by Maw Books Blog. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator or by email, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take immediate action.

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.