Jonathan Franzen’s latest novel, Freedom hits shelves tomorrow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 576pgs), though the media has been furiously buzzing about the title for weeks. The New York Times has published two rave reviews about the tale of a dysfunctional family; Sam Tanenhaus proclaims the books “a masterpiece of American fiction”, while Michiko Kakutani applauds Franzen’s “ability to throw open a big, Updikean picture window on American middle-class life.”  Earlier this month, the author was featured on the cover of Time magazine as a “Great American Novelist”, and President Barack Obama got an early copy of the book to take on a recent vacation. Yet, with all this love, there are some, like authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, who feel the “Franzenfrenzy” coverage, especially in the New York Times, is overblown and biased. They also feel that the media would do better by focusing on the works of a wide range of authors, with varied backgrounds, instead of one literary star. The pair have turned to Twitter to voice their opinions on the subject using the hashtag #franzenfreude. “Would love to see the NYT rave about authors who aren’t white male literary darlings,” tweeted Picoult. Weiner asked her Twitter followers to suggest “non-Franzen novels about love, identity, families”, such as her pick, Digging to America by Anne Tyler. Read more…

Scott Simon writes openly and lovingly about the adoption process that he and his wife went through in order to bring their two daughters home from China in Baby, We Were Meant For Each Other: In Praise of Adoption (Random House, 180pgs). The author, known on the airwaves as the host of NPR‘s Weekend Edition, and his wife Caroline, had tried for years to conceive before deciding to adopt a child from overseas. Simon tells of their first “adopto-tourism” trip to China, anxiously seeing the sights with a group of adoptive parents, nervously waiting for the big moment when they’ll finally meet their child. The fulfillment of a dream, becoming parents, is both joyful and terrifying. At first sight, they immediately fall in love with the little girl they name Elise, though the euphoria is tempered with moments of panic and fear. “What have we done? What were we thinking? We’ve ripped a baby away from the only place she’s ever known, to bring her some place on the other side of the world that might as well be the moon. What kind of people are we?”
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By Kathy Reichs
Scribner | 320pgs
Release Date: August 24, 2010

Summary:
An unusual death in Quebec drives Dr. Temperance Brennan to dig forty years into the past for answers in Spider Bones, Kathy Reichs’ 13th outing with the forensic anthropologist. Fingerprints identify the victim of drowning, with strange S&M overtones, as John Lowery. But, records show that John Lowery died in Vietnam in 1968, and was buried by his family in North Carolina. How could one man die twice? Brennan exhumes Lowery’s grave and takes the remains to the U.S. military’s Joint POW/ MIA Accounting Command, in Hawaii to find answers. Things are further complicated when yet another set of remains is discovered, this one entangled with Lowery’s dog tags, and Brennan is also asked to consult on the body of a possible shark attack victim. The good Doctor teams up with Detective Andrew Ryan, her on-again off-again lover, and Honolulu medical examiner Hadley Perry to unravel the twisted mysteries behind all these deaths. Read more…

First edition cover, 1941

In a column posted on the American Libraries Magazine website earlier this month, Jennifer Burek Pierce argues that children’s books, like the ever popular Curious George series, should garner more literary merit. “To represent the world for children involves skillful choices based on training, research, and lived experience.” Often times the simple words and captivating imagery of a 32-page picture book impart important life lessons or cultural themes. Such is the case with Curious George, the creation of husband and wife Margret and H. A. Rey. As German Jews, the couple was forced to flee France in 1940 as the Nazi army rolled toward Paris. They escaped on bicycles, and carried among their few belongings several manuscripts of children’s books, one of which featured a mischievous monkey named Fifi. Read more…

By Abigail Pogrebin
Doubleday ©2009 | Hardcover 288pgs

Journalist and identical twin Abigail Pogrebin offers a fascinating glimpse into the relationship between twins and how it impacts the need for individuality in One and the Same: My Life as an Identical Twin and What I’ve Learned About Everyone’s Struggle to Be Singular. Twins, especially identical twins, are often seen as special, at times almost a novelty, in our society. The duo is bestowed with a unique “star power” that draws levels of attention few singletons experience. Such was especially true for Abigail and sister Robin who grew up loving to sing and perform, excelling academically (both graduating from Yale), and achieving successful careers in journalism.
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By Julia Stuart
Doubleday | 320pgs
Relase Date: August 10, 2010

Summary:
Julia Stuart creates a whimsical and amusing menagerie of humans and animals alike, in The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise: A Novel. Modern day Beefeater Balthazar Jones and his wife Hebe live in the Tower of London, along with an unusual assortment of staff members that man the historical monument. Dealing all day with tourists, both curious and cranky, distracts him from greiving the loss of his 11-year-old son, Milo. The boy’s death lies heavily on the couple, and Hebe is desperate to talk about their loss and share her grief. But, Balthazar attempts to further avoid the subject by becoming engrossed in the odd hobby of collecting rainwater in Egyptian perfume bottles. When the Beefeater is unexpectedly assigned the job of creating a menagerie to house all the exotic animals gifted to the Queen, the population of the Tower grows even more strange and colorful. The folly and foibles of two-legged and four-legged creatures combine to tell an endearing love story.
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Author Naomi Hirahara based her crime-solving protagonist, Mas Arai, on an unassuming role model: her father, who started a landscaping and gardening business in the L.A. area after World War II. With no police or military background, a 72-year-old Japanese American gardener may seem an odd choice for an amateur detective, but from the start, the series has won acclaim from both readers and critics. “I’m basically making a character like my father a hero,” says Hirahara in an interview with NPR. “I think all the times I complained that my dad was a gardener and we couldn’t afford this trip or that trip, I’m trying to make up for it by creating this heroic, iconic figure that’s underestimated.” Read more…

The Sistine Hall in the Vatican Library.

After three yeas of extensive remodeling, the Vatican Library will finally re-open its doors to researchers and scholars on September 20, 2010. According to the Rome Reports website, the majority of the remodel was focused on upgrading library security, and now all books will be tracked electronically using RFID tags. “Each book is identified by a computer code, a tag with an electronic chip. Then, according to the user, there may be places accessible or forbidden depending on the volume and the person who takes the book,” explains Msgr. Cesare Pasini, Director of the Vatican Library. Now the location of every book will be known at all times, and any unauthorized removal of a book from a restricted area, or even the library premises, can be prevented. RFid Gazette has identified the electronic tags used in the library as Texas Instruments’ Tag-it™ models. Additionally, cameras and security arches have also been installed in each room.
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By Gail Caldwell
Random House | 208pgs
Release Date: August 10, 2010

Summary:
Pulitzer Prize winning critic Gail Caldwell writes a deeply touching testament to her best friend in Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship. Caldwell and fellow writer Caroline Knapp (Drinking: A Love Story) shared an intensely close connection, and when Knapp was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in April of 2002, the pair shared Knapp’s struggle in the final days of her life. The women had come into this valuable friendship in mid-life. They met in Boston and quickly bonded over their mutual love of dogs, active lifestyles and past struggles with alcoholism. Neither were married, and turned to each other for advice, companionship and emotional support. Caldwell openly discusses Knapp’s decline in health and death two months after the diagnosis, as a way to deal with her grief and memorialize their friendship by sharing their story.
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Fledgling wine label takes a design cue from traditional library cards.

Twitter has entered the wine business with its Fledgling label and proceeds from the sales will benefit Room to Read, a non-profit organization committed to bringing education and literacy to children in need throughout the world. “The Fledgling Initiative embodies two things that are at the core of Twitter’s mission: providing access to information and highlighting the power of open communication to bring about positive change,” announced Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams on the initiative’s website. The label will soon offer limited vintages of 2009 Fledgling Chardonnay and 2009 Fledgling Pinot Noir, created by the winemakers at Crushpad, using grapes from California’s premier vineyards. The wine can be pre-ordered, and the bottles will sell for $20, with $5 going directly to Room to Read. Bottling will begin August 25th.
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