The Olive Reader

we still have books for you! Today we invited some of our Harper Perennial and Harper Paperbacks authors to meet with bloggers. But we want those of you who aren’t at BEA to get to experience these books an authors too! That’s why we’re giving them away. So see below for some brief descriptions of the two books we featured today, Lauren Belfer’s A Fierce Radiance and Diana Spechler’s Skinny, and comment for a chance to win! I’ll pick three winners to get copies of both books.

And check in with Armchair BEA throughout the week for even more giveaways—from us and from other publishers!

In the anxious days after Pearl Harbor, Life photojournalist Claire Shipley finds herself covering one of the nation’s most important stories. At New York City’s renowned Rockefeller Institute, researchers are racing to save thousands of wounded American soldiers and countless others by developing a miraculous new drug they call penicillin. For Claire, a single mother haunted by the loss of her young daughter—a death the miracle drug could have prevented—the story is cuttingly personal, especially after she unexpectedly begins to fall in love with the shy and brilliant head physician, James Stanton. But Claire isn’t the only one interested in the secret cure. When a researcher dies under suspicious circumstances, the stakes become starkly clear: someone understands just how profitable the new drug could be—and will stop at nothing to get it. Now, with lives and a new love hanging in the balance, Claire will throw herself into harm’s way to find a killer—no matter what price she may have to pay.

After her father’s death, twenty-six-year-old Gray Lachmann finds herself compulsively eating. Desperate to stop bingeing, she abandons her life in New York City for a job at a southern weight-loss camp. There, caught among the warring egos of her devious co-counselor, Sheena; the self-aggrandizing camp director, Lewis; his attractive assistant, Bennett; and a throng of combative teenage campers, she is confronted by a captivating mystery: her teenage half-sister, Eden, whom Gray never knew existed. Now, while unraveling her father’s lies, Gray must tackle her own self-deceptions and take control of her body and her life. Visceral, poignant, and often wickedly funny, Skinny illuminates a young woman’s struggle to make sense of the link between hunger and emotion, and to make peace with her demons, her body, and herself.

we’d love to see you! The HarperCollins booth is #3338 and #3339, and we’ll all be there on and off the entire time. I’ll also be leading a group expedition to Chipotle on Weds the 25th at 1 PM. So far there’s 9 of us going, and there might be more. We’ll be meeting at the booth, so join us! If you’re coming to Chipotle and you haven’t already told me on twitter, it’d be helpful to post a comment here so I have an idea how many people to expect.

Now, if you want to see our authors (and those of It Books and Harper Paperbacks), see below!

Tuesday, May 24

9:30 – 10:00
Autographing: Q: A LOVE STORY by Evan Mandery, Table 23

10:30 – 11:00
Autographing: FATHERMUCKER by Greg Olear, Table 23

11:30 – 12:00
Autographing: WHEN WE DANCED ON WATER by Evan Fallenberg, Table 6

Autographing: GREAT PHILOSOPHERS THAT FAILED AT LOVE by Andrew Shaffer, Table 23

Wednesday, May 25

10:00 – 10:30
Autographing: EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL BEGAN AFTER by Simon Van Booy, Table 6

Autographing: DOMESTIC VIOLETS by Matthew Norman, Table 26

11:30 – 12:00
ABA Lounge Autographing: HEART OF DECEPTION by M.L. Malcolm

12:00 – 12:30
Autographing: JERUSALEM MAIDEN by Talia Carner, Table 22

Autographing: THE NINTH WIFE by Amy Stolls, Table 25

1:30 – 2:00
ABA Lounge Autographing: Q: A LOVE STORY by Evan Mandery

3:00 – 3:30
Autographing: SKINNY by Diana Spechler, Table 25

Autographing: HEART OF DECEPTION by M.L. Malcolm, Table

4:00 – 4:30
Autographing: EVERYTHING WE EVER WANTED by Sara Shepard, Table 190

Thursday, May 26

11:00 – 11:30
Autographing: MAP OF TRUE PLACES by Brunonia Barry, Table 9

12:00 – 12:30
Autographing: PRIDE/PREJUDICE by Ann Herendeen, RWA Booth 3774

A little while ago, I asked for your suggestions for awesome New York books. You offered lots of suggestions, ALL of which are listed below, but the one that came up the most was . . .

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem!

Close seconds were Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.

Are there any that were left out? What do you think of the top choices?

The full list!

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
The Great Bridge by David McCullough
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Tender Bar by J. R. Moehringer
From Rockaway by Jill Eisenstadt
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
All-of-a-Kind Family (series) by Sydney Taylor
Here is New York by E.B. White
Watchmen by Alan Moore
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
The Sandman: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 3 votes
Harriet the Spy
New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
Dreamland by Kevin Baker
The Epic of New York City by Edward Robb Ellis
Forever by Pete Hamill
Babysitters Club Super Special New York New York by Ann M. Martin (this one was said as a joke but I’m leaving it in)
Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz
Shadows on the Hudson by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Very Valentine/Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Zero by Jess Walter
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 3 votes
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Girl in Translation
Island at the Center of the World
JR by William Gaddis
Herzog by Saul Bellow
The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Molly Murphy (series) by Rhys Bowen
Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
Low Life
Time and Again
Savage City by TJ English
The Faith of Graffiti
Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster
New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
Totally Killer by Greg Olear
Dogrun by Arthur Nersesian
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Little, Big by John Crowley
Peeps by Scott Westerfield
Some Girls by Kristin McCloy
Minding Ben by Victoria Brown
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe

Bloggers! Want to review a book published by HarperCollins? Talk to these people! We first posted this list almost a year ago, but there have been a lot of changes since then.

Remember, you can always view all our upcoming titles at HarperCollinsCatalogs.com.

Harper Perennial:
Erica Barmash, erica.barmash AT harpercollins DOT com,
@harperperennial on twitter

@ericabrooke on twitter (for more musings about books, cats, tv, and Chipotle)

Harper Paperbacks:
Mary Sasso, mary.sasso AT harpercollins DOT com,
@maryrsasso on twitter

It Books:
Joel Caceres, joel.caceres AT harpercollins DOT com
@itbooks on twitter

William Morrow (hardcovers and trade paperbacks), Eos, and Avon mass market:
Shawn Nicholls, shawn.nicholls AT harpercollins DOT com

Harper (hardcover)
Mark Ferguson, mark.ferguson AT harpercollins DOT com, @harperbooks on twitter

Ecco (hardcover and paperback)
Ben Tomek, benjamin.tomek AT harpercollins DOT com, @eccobooks on twitter

Harper Teen:
Olivia deLeon, olivia.deleon AT harpercollins DOT com, @harperteen on twitter

Balzer and Bray:
Allison Verost, allison.verost AT harpercollins DOT com

Greenwillow:
Marisa Russell, marisa.russell AT harpercollins DOT com

HarperOne:
Molly Birckhead, molly.birckhead AT harpercollins DOT com, @harperone on twitter