Warehouse
Signings
• Sue Monk Kidd signs The Mermaid
Chair on May 7, at noon, at the Portland,
Oregon, Costco, at 4849 NE 138th.
• Brooke Shields signs Down Came the
Rain on May 7, at noon, at the
Westlake Village, California, Costco, at
5700 Lindero Canyon Road.
• Sue Ellen Cooper signs The Red Hat
Society’s Laugh Lines on May 10, at
noon, at the Mission Valley, California,
Costco, at 2345 Fenton Parkway.
• Michael Breen and Walt Kallestad sign
A Passionate Life on May 14, at noon,
at the Scottsdale, Arizona, Costco, at
15255 N. Hayden Road.
CLICK HERE TO FOR THE
WAREHOUSE LOCATOR.
Further adventures in
e-publishing
Having learned from the success of
Apple’s iTunes, Amazon is looking to sell
short pieces of writing online. According to a
story in Publishers Weekly, Amazon has been
asking agents if bestselling authors might be
interested in writing short pieces available for
download online. The online bookseller
would charge 49 cents apiece for the short
pieces, which would include essays, short
stories and journalism. They would run
between 2,000 and 10,000 words.
As yet there’s no scheduled date for
when this service will be available.
I loved it at the end when …
Do you ever find yourself surrounded by
people chatting away about the latest bestsellers—and you haven’t read any of them?
Don’t start thinking Cliff Notes. Instead, help
is available via a new Web site,
www.the-bookspoiler.com (a spinoff of
www.the-moviespoiler.com), which gives away the
ending to dozens of popular books, including
Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. The site
contains standard inside-flap descriptions of
each title, accompanied by reader-submitted
summaries of the ending.
Source: Publishers Weekly
Oprah’s super power
Recently, Word of Mouth, an association
of female authors, wrote an open letter to
Oprah Winfrey. The letter thanked the television icon for all she’s done to encourage reading. The letter states, “Few people have taken
advantage of the extravagant scope and
power of television to do good. But you have.
From the start, you used your role in the
media to encourage literacy, thought and
intellectual curiosity.”
Signed by authors such as Amy Tan,
Mary Gordon and Maureen Howard, the
open letter asks Winfrey to return to her original practice of selecting contemporary
authors rather than the classics.
The letter further points at declining sales
figures in contemporary literature and suggests that what readers need is for someone to
bring them “to the public’s attention in a
meaningful way.”
The entire letter can be read at
www.wordofmouthwriters.org.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
BOOK PREVIEWS
Tending to your mental- and physical-health needs
COOKING
Molto Italiano: 327 Simple
Italian Recipes to Cook at
Home, by Mario Batali. In this
easy-to-use cookbook, the star of
TV’s Molto Mario shows readers
ways to shorten and simplify
everything about Italian cooking—and still retain its authentic- Harlen Coben
ity and flavor. Dishes from many
of Italy’s regions are featured, including
antipasto, pasta and dessert recipies.
SUSPENSE
The Innocent, by Harlen
Coben. Matt Hunter made a mistake
when he was 20 years old, when he
broke up a fight and found himself a
killer—paying for it with four years
in prison. When he is out—with a job
and an expectant wife—he receives
photos that look like his wife and a
stranger. From there, everything
begins to unravel.
Book giveaway
JAN COBB
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
HEALTH
YOU: The Owner’s Manual—An
Insider’s Guide to the Body That Will
Make You Healthier and Younger, by Dr.
Mehmet C. Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen.
You’ve seen Oz on the Discovery Health
Channel and visited Roizen’s Real Age Web
site; now you can raid their combined wisdom in one book. The doctors bust myths and
teach fascinating facts. Regardless of body
shape, size or age, readers will find pointers
on exercise, diet and stress-management.
Down Came the Rain: My Journey
Through Postpartum Depression, by
Brooke Shields. When Shields welcomed
her newborn daughter, Rowan Francis, into
the world, something unexpected followed—
a crippling depression. Shields discusses her
struggle to get pregnant, the illness, the high
expectations she had for herself as a new
mom and the role of her husband, friends and
family as she struggled to get a handle on the
depression. She found help in talk therapy,
medication and time. —Valerie Ryan
Costco has two autographed books
to give away: one copy each of The
Motive, by John Lescroart; and
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
Succeed, by Jared Diamond. To enter, print
the name of the book you hope to win, your
name, membership number, address and
daytime phone number on a postcard or letter and send to: May Book Giveaway, The
Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle,
WA 98124-1088, or fax it to (425) 313-6718.
No purchase is necessary. Entries must
be received or postmarked by June 1, 2005.
Void where prohibited. Employees of Costco
and their families are not eligible. Winners will
be notified by mail. One entry per household.
Send your feedback on
this month’s book to:
discussionquestions@costco.com
