Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Kate Morton.


She was born in 1976 in Australia. She completed a Licentiate in Speech and Drama from Trinity College London. She also has a Master's degree in Victorian literature. She is currently working on her PhD researching contemporary novels of gothic and mystery fiction. Her first book, The House at Riverton, was published in 2007. Her second book is called The Forgotten Garden. Her latest book, The Distant Hours, was published this year.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Jamie Ford. Read more about him here. He is the best-selling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.



In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American.

While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.

He's coming out with a new book in January.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is, who else, but Edgar Allan Poe.


He was born January 19, 1809 in Boston and died October 7, 1849 in Baltimore. He was an American writer and was part of the American Romantic Movement. He is one of the first American short story writers. He is also the father of detective fiction. He is known for his poems including Annabel Lee and The Raven and his short stories including The Purloined Letter and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Poe was probably the first American author to try to make a living by writing alone; he was poor. He joined the US Army at age 18 for financial reasons. He married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia Clemm, when he was 26. His death at the age of 40 remains a mystery, but it may have been related to cooping.

Do you like Edgar Allan Poe? What's your favorite poem or tale?

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Adam Ross.


He grew up in New York City where he attended the Trin­ity School. He was a child actor and appeared in movies, TV and radio. He attended Vassar College, Hollins University and Washington University where he earned degrees in Engligh and Creative Writing. He has lived in Nashville since 1995. In Nashville he is known for his column Mondo Nashville. Mr. Peanut is his first novel.


David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can’t imagine a remotely happy life without her—yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.

The detectives investigating Alice’s suspicious death have plenty of personal experience with conjugal enigmas: Ward Hastroll is happily married until his wife inexplicably becomes voluntarily and militantly bedridden; and Sam Sheppard is especially sensitive to the intricacies of marital guilt and innocence, having decades before been convicted and then exonerated of the brutal murder of his wife.

Still, these men are in the business of figuring things out, even as Pepin’s role in Alice’s death grows ever more confounding when they link him to a highly unusual hit man called Mobius. Like the Escher drawings that inspire the computer games David designs for a living, these complex, interlocking dramas are structurally and emotionally intense, subtle, and intriguing; they brilliantly explore the warring impulses of affection and hatred, and pose a host of arresting questions. Is it possible to know anyone fully, completely? Are murder and marriage two sides of the same coin, each endlessly recycling into the other? And what, in the end, is the truth about love?

Mesmerizing, exhilarating, and profoundly moving, Mr. Peanut is a police procedural of the soul, a poignant investigation of the relentlessly mysterious human heart—and a first novel of the highest order.

You can download a sample chapter from his website.

Did anyone go to Left Bank Books on Thursday to hear him read from Mr. Peanut?

Saturday Spotlight

Ned Vizzini

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Nicolas Sparks.

Whether you like his books or not, you should definitely read his short autobiography on his website. It's incredible. He has written 16+ books and 7 of them have been adapted for film. His lastest book was released last month: Safe Haven. Did you know he was a track star at Notre Dame? Read more about him.






Are you a fan? How many of his books have you read?

I've read his first two, The Notebook and Message in a Bottle. I've seen almost all of the movie adaptations. The most recent one I watched was Dear John (mostly because I love Channing Tatum).

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Katrina Kittle.


She was born in Illinois and raised in Ohio. She attended Ohio University and later earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University in Louisville. She has taught both middle school and high school English and Theater. She is the author of Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, The Kindness of Strangers, and the newly released The Blessings of the Animals.


Read 25 more random things about Katrina.

Have you read any of her books?

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Kazuo Ishiguro.


He was born in Japan in 1954. He earned his BA in Engligh and Philosophy from the University of Kent. He later got his MA in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. He has written 6 novels as well as screenplays and other short fiction. He has won the Booker Prize once (1989, The Remains of the Day) and has been a finalist 3 other times.


His latest novel, Never Let Me Go, was recently adapted for film.


In addition to being an author, he is also a song writer. He is both a Japanese and British citizen and now lives in London.








Have you read any of his books?

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Jonathan Franzen.


Franzen was born in Chicago in 1959 but grew up in St. Louis (Webster Groves). He attended Swarthmore College and also earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Munich. His first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City, was based on St. Louis (fell from 4th city to 27th city). His other novels include Strong Motion, The Corrections, and Freedom. His last two books have both been selected for Oprah's Book Club. Remember when she picked The Corrections...it was a controversy. She announced on the show, "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey show because he is seemingly uncomfortable and conflicted about being chosen as a book club selection. It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or cause anyone conflict. We have decided to skip the dinner and we're moving on to the next book." The Corrections went on to be one of the best-selling books of the decade.

Oprah announced her next book club pick on Friday...Freedom. I guess the controversy is cleared up! Read more here.



He'll be at the Schlafly Library Branch in the Central West End on Monday 9/20!

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Beverly Lewis.


She was born in Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She began writing early in her childhood but wasn't published until she had children of her own. She worked as a teacher and musician before becoming a full-time writer. She attended Evangel University and is a member of the National League of American Pen Women. She has written over 80 books for children and adults. Her work focuses mostly on the Anabaptist heritage and the Old Order Amish. Some of her most popular books are from The Heritage of Lancaster County series.















Have you read any of her books?

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Stephen Hawking.


He was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford, England. He attended St. Albans School and Oxford where he studied physics. He continued his studies in cosmology at Cambridge. He held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge for thirty years (it was once held by Isaac Newton). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. In 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is especially known for his research on black holes. He has ALS (Lous Gehrig's Disease).

His most famous books are A Brief History of Time and The Universe in a Nutshell. His latest book is called The Grand Design.














Have you read any of his books?

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Kathy Reichs.


Do watch the TV show Bones? Did you know that it's inspired by her life?


Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist. She was born in 1950 in Chicago. She earned her Bachelors of Arts degree in anthropology from American University in 1971. She earned her Master's and PhD in physical anthropology from Northwestern University. She has since taught at various universities including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has published various academic papers and two academic books. She is best known to the general public as the author of 13 novels featuring the character Temperance Brennan (who is closely based on Kathy herself). She has published ~1 book per year since her first release in 1997. Her latest came out August 24th and another is due out in November.














See all of her books here.

Have you read any of her books?

I have 2 of her books, but I'm thinking about starting over from the beginning.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Harper Lee.


She was born born April 28, 1926 in Monoroeville, Alabama.
Growing up, she was best friends with her neighbor, Truman Capote.
She pursued a law degree at the University of Alabama, but never finished it.
She worked as an airline reservation clerk until 1958.
She published To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960 after taking a year off to write it.


She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.
She accompanied Truman Capote to Kansas to help him research what would become his best-selling book, In Cold Blood.


Although she began writing 2 other books, she never published another one after TKAM.
She has earned various honorary degrees and was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

Why do you think she didn't write another book?