National Book Festival

Just a heads up my fellow book worms:

The National Book Festival
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The National Mall, Washington DC
10am to 5pm

Man, the Mall is going to be crowded this day, with people checking out the new ocean exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History and more than 100,000 bibliophiles attending the Library of Congress's annual book love-in. The festival takes place between Third and Seventh streets.

More than 70 authors will be in attendance including Salman Rushdie, Bob Schieffer, Michelle Singletary, R.L. Stine, Paul Theroux, Neil Gaiman, Philippa Gregory, Kimberly Dozier and more.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1093050&categories=Book%20Events&venueid=1025752)

Meet Your Bloggers: Mademoiselle M.

Mademoiselle M.

Avid Reader, [insert: Slacker] Blogger

About me:

• I have subscriptions to more magazines than I can possibly read in a month (how stupid right)
• I have more books on my "to-read" shelf on GoodReads than I will probably ever finish, considering the fact that I keep adding like 15 new ones for each one I complete
• Somehow I still believe that I will one day finish reading all of those books
• My dream house will have a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves
• Every morning you will catch me reading on the Metro as I make my way downtown to work
• Every evening you will see me reading on the Metro as I finally escape from work and back into my book of the week/month
• I love talking about the books I read!

Which book had the greatest impact on me as a kid?
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman was my favorite childhood book. It was about a young girl with a BIG imagination. One day she decides to try out for the role of Peter Pan in her school play. Despite being told that she could never get the part because she's a black girl, she goes on to get the role and proves that you can do anything you set your mind to. I loooved this book so much back in the day. And, it was a Reading Rainbow book (for those of you who remember those days... man I'm getting old)!

Top 5 books?
I have like 12 all-time favorites (aside from my #1), but I'll go with these five - with the last four in no particular order. Each of these have moved me in ways that no other books were able to do...

1. Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood - read my review here
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
3. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
5. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

I love Uptown Literatti because...
I mean, do I really need to answer this for you? Where else can you find such intelligent, beautiful, fabulous, and witty ladies who are so passionate about reading? Pshhhh. Only on UL!

Oprah's Book Club Selects New Book: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Greetings fellow bibliophiles. For anyone interested in keeping up with Oprah's picks for her book club, I just received this in the inbox and thought you'd be interested to read. I haven't followed Oprah's book club save for her recommendation for "100 Years of Solitude" if I'm honest, but this story of a mute child enduring this life sounds pretty engaging. Take a look at the review, and feel free to read along with Oprah and book club members the world over!

Oprah, Barnes & Noble, reviewers, and readers all agree — The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is one of the best books of the year! Barnes & Noble recently picked the book as a Fall 2008 Discover Great New Writers title, and today it was named the newest Oprah's Book Club Selection. This sweeping debut novel about a sheltered mute boy thrust out into the world has been praised as "a big, mesmerizing read" (The New York Times) and "a literary thriller" (The Christian Science Monitor). Said Stephen King, "[It is] wonderful, mysterious and satisfying... Readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world."

*Review courtesy of Barnes&Noble.com

Books + Life, Life + Books

I've made some ab fab book discoveries in the past month and think that you should know about them as well. They are:

Exhibit A: David Pearson-designed Book Covers. Imagine a book that's well-designed, precise and downright gorgeous cover was as much a piece of art as the words inside. I've found those books. David Pearson, an award-winning designer was commissioned by Penguin Books to design artful covers to some classic Great Ideas books which, to date, include The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, Common Sense by Thomas Paine and Where I Lived, and What I Lived For by Henry David Thoreau. All books available on Amazon.com.

[The Communist Manifesto's bold, artful cover, as visioned by David Pearson]

[Henry David Thoreau never looked this good on a bookshelf before...]

Exhibit B: The New Yorker Fiction Podcasts. I love books, but it is very (very) difficult to sit down and read as I get older. I always seem to think about the million other things that I need to do and get distracted. Melissa is obsessed with books on tape, so I decided to look into some book podcasts when I discovered these. They are a wonderfully curated collection of short stories that have appeared in The New Yorker available on your iPod or iPhone. Amazing!!! Right now I'm "reading" Head Cold by Harold Brodkey.

[The New Yorker, digitized]

Exhibit C: Persephone Books. This little printing house in London is the book-maker that could. Their venerable editors find little known literary works by women and re-publish them in classic, muted grey covers and vintage-inspired endpapers.

[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day's Endpaper]

[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day cover]

They have gotten up to 78 books published, all worth checking out. I plan to order Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, a story published in 1938 about a Governess' wild day, which, coincidentally, is now a movie of the same title.

What cool/weird/fascinating ways have books become part of your life?

P.S. We're almost done with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, look for reviews soon!

Whitney