As we mentioned last month, the Free Library was proud to host two National Book Award nominees during the fall author events series. Marilynne Robinson’s Home was nominated under the Fiction category, and Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello was nominated for Nonfiction. The winners were recently revealed, so read on for a round-up, and check out the available resources below!

Fiction
Peter Mattheissen—Shadow Country
In his new book, Mattheissen has rewritten and combined three of his books: Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River, and Bone by Bone. The story, which follows a tale of family and race from the Civil War to the Great Depression, was originally conceived as one whole work, but the sheer volume made it necessary to break into three separate novels. To listen to a podcast of Mattheissen's visit to Parkway Central last spring, click here.

Nonfiction
Annette Gordon-Reed—The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Gordon-Reed visited the Library in September to discuss her new work, which is set against the backdrop of the 1790s Philadelphia, revolutionary Paris, and plantation life at Monticello. Gordon-Reed explores the lives of Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s slave with whom he had a relationship, Jefferson himself, their children, and Hemings’ siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson’s wife, Martha.

Young People’s Literature
Judy Blundell—What I saw and How I Lied

Poetry
Mark Doty—Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems
 

Some of the country’s hottest graphic artists recently visited Parkway Central and enthralled more than 400 fans during the Graphic Novels Panel. Featuring Art Spiegelman, Chip Kidd, Jessica Abel, Charles Burns, and David Heatley, the night unfolded much like a comic convention panel, with Chip Kidd taking questions from the audience and directing them toward his fellow graphic novelists. Like the graphic novel royalty they are, panel members held court as they discussed and debated topics such as censorship, must-read graphic novels, the role of women in the world of graphic novels, and the worst direction they’ve taken as artists. My favorite bit was when Heatley discussed his experiences with false starts and recounted a piece he did about refusing a Mafia bribe to breakdance at his great grandmother’s funeral—seemingly too funny to be true, it actually happened.

If you missed the event—or simply want to relive it—check out the panel’s podcast. For a fan’s review of the event, click here; for a transcript, check out this link.

Looking to write your breakout success as a novelist but lacking the motivation to put pen to paper? National Novel Writing Month comes to the rescue with a simple yet seemingly daunting task: write a 50,000 word novel from scratch during the month of November. As the organization, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, points out, it’s about quantity not quality. Not that your work should be sub-par, but NaNoWriMo believes that by encouraging quantity in a short time, writers will be required to lower their expectations, which in turn encourages them to take risks with the written word. So forget the sheer volume of words (which equals about 175 pages) and just let the words pour. You might just be surprised at how easy it is!

We’ve compiled a list of resources that will guide you in the novel writing process, as well as editing and pitching. Happy writing!

Blythe Camenson and Marshall Cook – Your Novel Proposal

Loren D. Estleman – Writing the Popular Novel

James N. Frey – How to Write a Damn Good Novel

Elizabeth Lyon – The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit

Bob Mayer – The Novel Writer’s Tool Kit

Robert C. Meredith and John Dennis Fitzgerald – Structuring Your Novel

Sol Stein – How to Grow a Novel

Nigel Watts – Writing a Novel

A favorite among fans of science fiction, author Michael Crichton passed away on November 4 at the age of 66 after battling cancer. The author of more than a dozen bestselling books that leaned toward cautionary science tales, Crichton graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University. It was while he was studying at Harvard Medical School that he began writing novels under an alias. Bestseller Andromeda Strain, which was later turned into a major motion picture, was published while Crichton was still a student. Other well-known titles include The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Prey, State of Fear, Jurassic Park, and The Lost World. Crichton co-wrote the screenplay for Twister, and as the creator of long-running medical drama ER, he won an Emmy and a Writers Guild of America Award. Thirteen of Crichton's bestsellers were later turned into motion pictures.

Are you a fan of Crichton’s work? Leave us a comment and tell us what book had you quickly turning the pages or what movie got your heart pounding.

The great thing about the wide array of DVDs available at the Free Library  is that there is truly something for everyone, from every genre, stretching back to the silent era (look for the very buff Douglas Fairbanks in the wildly exotic 1924 Thief of Bagdad) to cable’s latest series phenom, AMC’s Mad Men Season One. Here’s a look at some of the great new and forthcoming DVD titles:

•  Of course, you should expect to see these summer’s blockbusters in your library very soon: Iron Man, Wall-E, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk,  Hellboy II and already available is the surprise hit political mystery, Vantage Point.
• Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman go bodice to bodice in the soapy but entertaining Other Boleyn Girl with great assists from Kristin Scott-Thomas and brooding Eric Banas as the volatile Henry VIII – no pre-nups allowed!
• Don’t overlook the critically acclaimed indie drama about an economics professor’s encounter with an  illegal immigrant couple squatting in his apartment from director Thomas McCarthy , The Visitor or the low-key comedic charmer with the irreplaceable Frances McDormand, Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day.
• Older releases and classics  that you won’t want to miss are the acclaimed Basquiat, Michael Douglas in a winning comeback as The King of California,  Tupac Shakur’s landmark performance in 1992’s Juice, and the November re-release of Hitchcock’s 1946 thriller Notorious, starring  the chemically fused duo of  Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman battling escaped Nazis in post-war Rio in the persons of sinister Claude Rains and his very scary mom, played by cobra-eyed Madame Konstantin. New from the fabulous Criterion Collections are restored, chock-full-of-extras, releases of  Max Ophuls’ 1950 reverie La Ronde,  Akira Kurasawa’s 1963 thriller High and Low, and Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan slacker cult classic Stranger Than Paradise.
• On the import side, why not forget the current Nicholas Cage bummer Bangkok Dangerous and go with the roller coaster ride, all-Thai original Bangkok Dangerous(2000), or try the French cineplex chiller Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre with an all-star cast including Sophie Marceau, Michel Serrault, Julie Christie, with a cameo from 60’s hipster sexpot Juliette Greco – who starred in the original 1960s French teleseries of the same name.
• More from the small screen: the sly, subversive animated series The Boondocks, Seasons 1 & 2, and don’t miss everyone’s favorite, lovable serial killer – Dexter, The Complete Second Season.
• Documentaries you will want to see include the re-release of the docudrama about Langston Hughes Looking for Langston, filmed in a semi-dramatic, dreamscape style; Breaking the Maya Code, focusing on one of the most important archaeological breakthroughs of recent times; and the disturbing but fascinating Television Under the Swastika, which compiled material from 285 reels found in the catacombs of the Berlin Federal Film Archive, exploring the technology behind the then-new medium and the programming the Nazis used.

Tags: Reviews