The Olive Reader

Here at Harper Perennial (and It Books), we love to party!

For your viewing pleasure:

I think this was Mark Ronson’s Valerie.

It’s the End of the World As We Know It . . .

Tell It to My Heart

(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life

The rest of ours were blurry, but if anyone has any more, we’d love to see them!

This past weekend, we took a road trip to Boston and sold books at the Boston Book Festival. It was super fun (except for when we had a purse stolen out of our booth), and in lieu of a “and then this happened, and then this happened” recap I thought I would present you with some interesting things that people asked us or said to us over the course of our eight hours at the booth:

Do you have any lesbian authors? (cue frantic viewing of the table, trying to remember the sexual orientation of every author)

Does Harper Perennial have an office in Boston? (sadly, no, especially considering how excitedly this question was asked every time)

Do you have any books that men would like? (I sold her Manhood for Amateurs and Predictably Irrational)

Would this be good for a book club? (said while holding up Jason Mulgrew’s Everything is Wrong with Me. yes, if your book club isn’t easily offended)

Do you have any of that Amish romance? I want to buy it for my preteen son. He’s really into Twilight, but I want to steer him in the right direction. (um, huh?)

And of course, there were many people who wanted us to publish their manuscripts, even once we explained that we were all from marketing, not editorial, and that the best way to get your book published by us is to get an agent. One man in particular really, REALLY did not want to believe that.

All in all, though, we had lots of fun and will most likely be back next year! Yay Boston!

(from left to right: Jen aka Book Club Girl, marketing director Amy, harper paperbacks marketing coordinator Mary, and me (Erica, marketing manager.) Photo taken by the lovely Dawn at She is Too Fond of Books.

So, we know it’s somewhat short notice, but we’d really like it if all of you came to our very special fifth anniversary party next thursday, october 21st, at housing works. There will be beer (and wine. and most likely cupcakes.) And singing. And fire-breathing dragons.

Seriously, EVERYONE is invited. The more the merrier, and all that. Tell your friends!

Our latest goodreads giveaway include more than one favorite of mine:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Drinking Closer to Home

by Jessica Anya Blau

Giveaway ends December 18, 2010.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Crossing the Heart of Africa

by Julian Smith

Giveaway ends November 18, 2010.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Hating Olivia

by Mark SaFranko

Giveaway ends November 11, 2010.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas

by Ariane Sherine

Giveaway ends November 02, 2010.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

That’s what A Cineaste’s Bookshelf called Voltaire’s Calligrapher in this review. “Smart, sharp and dry—like a fine cheese. It leaves you wanting more, but with the knowledge that it is perfect as it is.” That’s pretty high praise, and now we have this awesome video from the book’s translator, Lisa Carter, to further pique your interest:

Interested? Start reading here!

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

My favorite part of this video from our friends at Harper hardcover is when the two dogs’ paws are touching. It’s like they’re holding hands!

Delayed at the airport on Monday, with one book finished (The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan, so excellent), and another started and not liked very much (and so it shall remain nameless), I headed to the bookstore to pick out something new. I had been up since before dawn and wanted something engrossing yet not emotionally heavy, something that would keep me awake until I got home.

I picked out Sophie Hannah’s The Dead Lie Down, and I haven’t regretted it so far. I hate to call a book “unputdownable” because a) it’s not a real word and b) you can put anything down if you have to, but this one comes pretty close. If you like Kate Atkinson, Laura Lippman, Tana French, etc etc, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t like it. (and as a side note: aside from Lippman, who are some other American female authors who write books like this? I would love to know, because I will read them.)

One thing I noticed on the cover of the book was tiny print telling me that in the UK, The Dead Lie Down was published as The Other Half Lives. I can understand why they changed it—I’m not sure if the phrase “how the other half lives” is used as much in the UK, but it would be the first thing anyone thought of here, and that’s not the meaning that the phrase has in the book. But looking on Sophie Hannah’s website, I can see that her US publishers have changed other titles of hers too. A Room Swept White will be The Cradle in the Grave. The Point of Rescue became The Wrong Mother. Hurting Distance became The Truth-Teller’s Lie. So I started wondering why the changes, and tried to think of other novels whose titles had changed, either between UK and US publication or between hardcover and paperback. Can you think of any?

We here at Harper Perennial are happy to do our part to help cats in the publishing community find homes. And so:

A missive from editor Michael Signorelli:

I have learned of two wonderful cats who need a new home. Their names are Chicken and Waffles. If I wasn’t allergic, I might consider helping out myself. But knowing that readers of the Olive Reader are generous and big-hearted (and that Erica has quite a thing for cats herself), I thought this would be an appropriate venue to ask for help. Please see the details from the owner below.

Chicken and Waffles are two delightful cats that we are fostering that need to find their forever home. They are brothers, about 5 years old, and as cute and snuggly as can be. Chicken is the bigger one with the black nose and chin, and some of his favorite activities include sitting in the window and rolling over to get tummy rubs. Waffles is as sweet as syrup with a pink nose and a slight overbite (looks like he’s smiling!), and he likes to chase cat toys and be held like a baby. We’re sad we cannot keep them forever, but our apartment is not made for two cats and we would very much like to see them happy and settled with someone else. They have had all their shots and have been fixed. Please contact jaysones@gmail.com if you would like to meet them!