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 Weekly Words about Books
JULY 7, 2013
Two New Novels by Women Offer  Intriguing National, International Perspectives
CURTIS SITTENFELD IS THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the novels Prep, The Man of My Dreams, and American Wife. This last book, published in 2008, was based on the life of Laura Bush, for whom Sittenfeld has great admiration even though their politics don't mesh. Prep and American Wife were nominated for prestigious writing awards, including England's Orange Prize, but they also were on the Top Ten lists of People and Entertainment Weekly. Both sisterland publications have her newest, Sisterland, on their Summer "Musts" lists this year, so Sittenfeld has proven she can write both well and entertainingly. Here's what one independent bookseller had to say about Sisterland for the July Indie Next list:

"Sisters always have special relationships, but identical twin sisters are a world unto themselves, especially if they have ESP. The lives of Violet and Kate go from mad closeness to fragile separation as they attend different colleges and then return to their native St. Louis. Clairvoyance has colored their lives, and suddenly Vi is the on national news to warn of an earthquake that will strike within a week and wreak havoc in everyone's life. Kate, meanwhile, has tried to ignore her visions and is married and raising two children. Sittenfeld is a funny and sagacious chronicler of the world we live in and the ways - sometimes quirky, sometimes conventional - in which we seek security, loyalty, and love."
- Sarah Bagby, Watermark Books and Café, Wichita, KS


DEBUT NOVELS DON'T OFTEN MAKE A BIG IMPACT. Sometimes they indicate that an author has promise or they reveal some writing chops, but usually that's the best-case scenario. And then, every once in a while, a first book clicks; such is the case with Children of the Jacaranda Tree. The author, Sahar Delijani, was born in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, in 1983, the same year both her parents jacaranda were arrested due to their political activism against the Islamic regime. In 1996, when she was 12 years old, her parents decided to move to Northern California. She ended up earning a BA in Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley and has since married and moved to Turin, Italy.

She has not forgotten those early roots, however, and her parents' personal experiences inform her stunning debut, which is set in the tumult of post-revolutionary Iran. Children of the Jacranda Tree is also one of 20 books chosen for the July Indie Next list, voted on by independent booksellers across the country. Here's praise from one such fan:

"Reading Delijani's novel is like peering into the living rooms of families torn apart by counter-revolution measures in Iran. The intensely intimate moments she depicts and the highly personal struggles she focuses on show life under the regime through the eyes of those most devastated by its vicious tyranny. The struggles of three generations fill the pages, as they try to hold their lives together, to find and sustain love, to support their families, to heal from unspeakable wounds, and to live with unthinkable absences. A deeply moving story of life, death, persecution, and survival."
- Nichole McCown, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

The Next 'Hunger Games' Phenomenon?
Following the extraordinary success of the Hunger Games trilogy (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay), teenage readers - and some of their parents - are continually searching for other similar series. Fortunately, dystopian novels featuring teen characters are in vogue, and series like Michael Grant's Gone, Neil Shusterman's Unwind, and Ally Conde's Matched are enjoying great popularity.

But right now, Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy seems the logical successor to the Hunger Games. Not only is the plot of Divergent, the first book, evocative of Hunger Games (as you'll see below), divergent but the book has been made into a movie that will release in March 2014. A panel featuring cast members and first footage from the movie will also be presented at Comic-Con in San Diego later this month, which will undoubtedly fuel interest in the series.

Book 1, Divergent, is in paperback, while the second, Insurgent, is still in hardcover, and book 3, Allegiant, will be published this Fall. If you'd like to know what many teenage readers will be absorbed in over the coming months, here's a brief plot description of Divergent from the publisher:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue - Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all 16-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is - she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences.
WHERE TO FIND A BOOKSTORE
Many of you already have a favorite local bookstore, but for those of you without such a relationship, this link will take you to a list of Northern California indie bookstores by region.
 
If you live or work elsewhere, you can click here to find the nearest indie bookstore by simply entering your postal code.
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BACK ISSUES
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
My name is Hut Landon. I'm a former bookstore owner who now runs the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) in San Francisco.

My goal with this newsletter is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.

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