Barnes & Noble offers National Book Club, free author conversations
If you are looking for book club recommendations or novels to add to your individual reading list, don’t overlook the “National Book Club” selections from Barnes & Noble Booksellers — and free virtual visits with bestselling authors.
“Sea of Tranquility,” the brand-new sci-fi novel by Emily St. John Mandel, is the April choice, and readers are invited to a free live Zoom event with Mandel at 2 p.m. CST May 10. She will be in conversation with Shannon DeVito, director of books at Barnes & Noble, and Miwa Messer, executive producer of Poured Over, the B&N podcast. Registration via Eventbrite is required. This is a great reader service from the Barnes & Noble chain, which includes a store at 6646 Youree Drive, Shreveport.
“Sea of Tranquility” travels through place and time, with echoes of Mandel’s previous books, “The Glass Hotel” and “Station Eleven.” It moves from British Columbia in 1912 to an outpost on the moon in 2401, with stops along the way in other places and eras and includes a time traveler.
The book has already made all sorts of “great books” lists and gotten strong reviews. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, saying, “Brilliantly combining imagery from science fiction and the current pandemic, Mandel grounds her rich metaphysical speculation in small, beautifully observed human moments. By turns playful, tragic and tender, this should not be missed.”
The novel was also chosen as the April top pick by national independent bookstores. For a Q&A with Mandel: https://www.bookweb.org/news/qa-emily-st-john-mandel-author-april-indie-next-list-top-pick-sea-tranquility-1627645/ And more about the author: http://www.emilymandel.com.
Other book recommendations from B&N Book Club
Previous Barnes & Noble Book Club selections have included: “The Female Persuasion” by Meg Wolitzer, “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” by Hank Green, “The Last Romantics” by Tara Conklin, “Lost Roses” by Martha Hall Kelly, “Mrs. Everything” by Jennifer Weiner, “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead, “Inland” by Téa Obreht, “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood, “Dear Edward” by Ann Napolitano, “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett (also a Caddo Parish One Read selection), “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, “Hour of the Witch” by Chris Bohjalian, “The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris, “The Paper Palace” by Miranda Cowley Heller, “Anthem” by Noah Hawley and “One Italian Summer” by Rebecca Serle.
B&N Audiobooks service launched
Barnes & Noble also announced this month the addition of B&N Audiobooks, billed as “audiobooks for book people, from book people.” The new service, available at bn.com/audiobooks, can be listened to on the Barnes & Noble NOOK app for Android, iOS or the web player and combines audiobooks and eBooks into one app. Readers have two options from B&N Audiobooks: You can purchase one of more than 300,000 audiobooks individually or enroll in a new subscription service for $14.99 a month, which provides one audiobook credit per month. (The bookseller is offering a free 30-day trial, including one free audiobook, as they start the service.)
Rooting for the success of B&N
These extra offerings from Barnes & Noble are encouraging, and I was happy to read about economic improvements across the chain of 600-plus stores, which has struggled in recent years. According to the New York Times, sales are up and costs are down, and I’m among those cheering for B&N’s success. The presence of brick-and-mortar bookstores is important to a community and having a B&N in North Louisiana is a win-win for writers and readers.
Don’t forget: Children’s Book Festival, May 7
One more book-lover reminder: The Children’s Book Festival, sponsored by Shreve Memorial Library, is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 7 at Louisiana State University-Shreveport—and it’s free.
In case you missed it, the awesome author lineup includes: bestselling author R.L. Stine, who brought us the “Goosebumps” and “Fear Street” series; Jennifer L. Holm, three-time Newberry Honor recipient and author of “Our Only May Amelia,” “Penny from Heaven,” and “Turtle in Paradise,” and co-author of the graphic novel series “Babymouse,” “Sunny” and “Squish”(now streaming on HBO MAX); Kwame Mbalia, author of the “Tristan Strong” series, co-author of “The Last Gate of the Emperor” and editor of the anthology, “Black Boy Joy;” Brenda Maier, author of picture books “The Little Red Fort,” “Peeping Beauty,” and “The Little Blue Bridge.”
More: Want to meet R.L. Stine? Goosebumps author to headline Shreveport book festival
Take your children, grandchildren or students to hear (and meet) authors, get autographs and have all manner of interactive literary fun. This annual event, on hold for two years because of the pandemic, is a great gift to our community. For more info: https://www.shreve-lib.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1007.
Columnist Judy Christie is the author of 18 novels and nonfiction books. With NYT bestselling author Lisa Wingate, she co-authored “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society,” the nonfiction sequel to Wingate’s novel “Before We Were Yours.” For more about Christie, see www.judychristie.com.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Barnes & Noble offers National Book Club, free author conversations
