Caroline Leavitt's Blog, page 137

Read This Book: Fragile by Lisa Unger

Lisa Unger is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author. Her novels have been published in over 26 countries and Fragile, her addictive newest, has just been chosen by Good Morning America as one of the "Top Book Picks for Great Summer Reading." I'm thrilled Lisa agreed to answer my questions.

You're known for tense literary thrillers, but Fragile is something different. Was this a conscious decision (and if so, why?) and if not, when did you realize you...

Read This Book: Suzanne Beecher's Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (If Disorderly) Life

Honestly, to know Suzanne Beecher is to adore her. Really. I mean it. Not only is she the founder of DearReader.com , where you can sample 2-3 chapters of books in your email each week, but she writes a column and designs book clubs for publishers, booksellers and libraries across the country. After having lunch in the city with her, I felt that I had known her forever. She's that kind of person.

Muffins and Mayhem: Recipes for a Happy (If Disorderly) Life is a wonderful book filled with...

Visit me on Wordswimmer

The fabulous blog Wordswimmer run by the amazing Bruce Black, asked me to talk about the writing process. Come and visit!

Gmail Hacked!!Apologies to all

My gmail was hacked and I believe everyone on my list got an annoying spam about Viagra this morning. I apologize profusely! I changed my password and now I just have to walk the spam-walk-of-shame for a while until I am forgiven. Sigh. What is the point? Do the spammers really think they are going to get business this way or are they just evil?

Welcome to the cowboy boots and beaded sweater tour!

I'm so excited to be going on tour (seven cities! I'll post details on my website as I have them!) that I decided I really need a new good luck charm, and what's better than red cowboy boots to go along with my collection of vintage beaded sweaters? I'm even happier that I found these boots at Heavenly Metal, a store owned and run by Vicki Honeyman, a person I used to know when I went to school in Ann Arbor. She used to run the Film Festival there and now she runs this unique store. I'm goin...

READ THIS BOOK: Maile Meloy's Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

I've loved Maile Meloy's work since I read her first collection, Half in Love, followed by Liars and Saints (shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize) and A Family Daughter. Published by The New Yorker, she's received the Paris Review's Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her latest collection of stories, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want it is astonishing, moving, and just brilliantly written. I'm so thrilled to have Maile here.

The interesting thing...

London Fogged

I admit I am jet lagged. London was insanely expensive ($40 for a croissant, juice and fruit for breakfast!) and completely wonderful. Imagine a city where people read on the tube rather than plug into their i-pods! The photo on the left, smaller than I would like, is of we three fools pretending to be the Beatles on Abbey Road.
But what was most wondrous about going away was not having email or phones or work or not even time or room for anything in my head except everything we were...

London's Calling!

A few weeks ago, I got an unexpectedly lush check. We had planned a mini-vacation to Quebec because a. it's affordable and b. we love Canada, but when I saw this check, I had a brief flash of how this should go into the bank and then I realized we had not been on a real vacation since Hong Kong, when the boy was 5. "We're going to London," I said, and that was that. We've planned this last minute and are leaving Friday and not back until July, so it'll be quiet here on my blog.
In the...

Read This Book: A. Manette Ansay's Good Things I Wish You

I've been knocked out by A. Manette Ansay's work for a very, very long time. True confession: I had a writer friend who knew her and I begged for an introduction a few years ago, but was told that Manette was private (I know, I know, it's a code word for "don't bother her.") So imagine how thrilled I was when I saw her on Facebook! I forged ahead and did the introduction myself, and I'm thoroughly happy I did because she's funny, smart, interesting--and of course, a stellar talent. She's...

Read This Book: Leah Stewart's Husband and Wife

Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart is a richly satisfying read about marriage, identity and fidelity. I'm thrilled that Leah offered to answer my nosy questions. (Thank you, Leah!)

Husband and Wife hones in on one of my favorite personal themes, how well do we really know the ones we love? Would you care to answer that?

I wish I could answer it--I think my curiosity about that very question has driven all my novels, at least in part. My first novel ultimately suggested, I...