#read99women: Julie Langsdorf

New York City, particularly Brooklyn, has an undeniable reputation as the best place for writers to live. But while Washington, DC may not have quite as many marquee names, I have to say, it’s got a wonderful writing community. The whole metro area is full of talented people writing across the full spectrum of genres—not to mention an insanely robust independent bookstore scene, the hives in which we writers act as busy bees. At places like One More Page, Kramerbooks, Solid State Books, Politics and Prose, and East City Books, I’ve been fortunate to get to know a wide variety of local writers. And that’s how I met Julie Langsdorf, whose sharp suburban satire WHITE ELEPHANT made a big splash last year in hardcover. The outpouring of critical praise included phrases like “smart, satiric fun” (Washington Post) and “entertainment at its best” (Shelf Awareness, starred review.) Now it’s out in paperback—today!

More about Julie: Julie Langsdorf’s short stories and essays have appeared in Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, and Electric Literature, among other publications. She has two children and lives in Washington, D.C.

Julie Langsdorf

For #read99women, Julie recommends SUITE FRANCAISE by Irene Nemerovsky, which she calls “a miracle of a book—two books, really, novellas about the Nazi invasion and occupation of France that were written at the time the events occurred. Nemirovsky herself was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942, the book published over sixty years later, when her daughter found it written in a leather notebook. It’s the only book I’ve ever read that puts the reader so immediately into France during wartime, puts you in the hearts and minds of those fleeing Paris, a sea of people desperate to survive. Her writing is luminous, the details photographic, as she shows humans at their best and their worst.”  

Read more about SUITE FRANCAISE on BookBub here.

For more on Julie and WHITE ELEPHANT, click here for julielangsdorf.com.

#read99women: Jess Montgomery

Life as an author has its ups and downs, but the benefits are undeniable. One of my favorite perks is getting to read awesome books long before they come out, often to evaluate whether we want to say nice things about the book that publishers can put on the cover as a blurb. That was how I got to read Jess Montgomery’s gorgeous historical mystery THE HOLLOWS several months ago, and the nice things I said included “genuinely mysterious and utterly satisfying.” You can see the blurb here on BookBub. And now you don’t need any special connections to read THE HOLLOWS — it’s available everywhere!

Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mysteries, THE WIDOWS and THE HOLLOWS. Under her given name, she is a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News. Her first novel in the Kinship Historical Mystery series garnered awards even before publication: Montgomery County (Ohio) Arts & Cultural District (MCAD) Artist Opportunity Grant (2018); Individual Excellence Award (2016) in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council; John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio) in 2014. 

Jess Montgomery

Jess’s recommendation for #read99women is PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee, which she’s been “recommending everywhere I go.” She recommends it for its strong emotional impact: “I found myself exclaiming out loud in reaction, and after one particular event (no spoilers here) I remained emotional about that event and the impact on the characters' lives for literal days.”

To read Jess’s complete review of Pachinko on BookBub, click here.

For more on Jess, her work, and other books she recommends, follow her on BookBub.

#read99women: Sally Koslow

One of the joys of putting together this #read99women series has been learning about books I hadn’t heard of before. And the reviews and recommendations make me eager to read every single one!

Today’s recommendation comes from Sally Koslow, author of the novels ANOTHER SIDE OF PARADISE, a historical novel about the shocking love affair of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham; the international bestseller THE LATE, LAMENTED MOLLY MARX; THE WIDOW WALTZ; WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE; and LITTLE PINK SLIPS. Her books have been published in a dozen countries.

Sally is the former editor-in-chief of McCall’s Magazine. She has taught at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is on the faculty of the New York Writer’s Workshop. She has contributed essays and articles to The New York Times, O, Real Simple, and many other newspapers and magazines. She has lectured at Yale, Columbia, New York University, Wesleyan University, and University of Chicago, as well as many community and synagogue groups.

Sally Koslow

For #read99women, Sally recommends ON DIVISION by Goldie Goldbloom. She calls this novel “An edgy yet tender-hearted book… ON DIVISION illuminates the comforts and challenges of belonging to an ultra-Orthodox Chassidic sect, but in a larger way, this novel is a profound reflection on marriage and parenthood. Mazel tov, Goldie Goldbloom.”

Read her full review of ON DIVISION on Goodreads here.

For more about Sally and her books, visit sallykoslow.com.

#read99women: Kristy Woodson Harvey

Today’s #read99women rec comes from sweet Southerner Kristy Woodson Harvey, bestselling author with a genius eye for design.

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the bestselling author of DEAR CAROLINA, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE, SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE, THE SECRET TO SOUTHERN CHARM, THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF PARADISE and the forthcoming FEELS LIKE FALLING. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, her work has been optioned for film and her books have received numerous accolades including Southern Living’s Best Reads, Parade’s Most Anticipated Reads and Entertainment Weekly’s Reading Picks. She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on her award-winning blog, Design Chic, about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life. She lives with her husband and son in coastal North Carolina where she is working on her next novel.

Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy recommends the classic A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN in a great post on her blog where she reflects on how her relationship to the book has changed over time. “I think anyone who has read this book would agree that it’s Francie, Katie’s daughter’s, story,” she writes. “But, more and more, I am fascinated by Katie, by her steadfastness and steadiness, her inner strength, the way she knowingly chose to spend her life in hard work and strife and struggle to marry the love of her life.”

You can read Kristy’s full review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn here.

And click here for more on Kristy and her books, including FEELS LIKE FALLING, coming April 28, 2020.

#read99women: Susan Meissner

Today’s guest for #read99women is one of my favorite people in historical fiction: Susan Meissner.

Susan Meissner is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction with more than half a million books in print [editor’s note: holy mackerel!] in fifteen languages. She is an author, speaker and writing workshop leader with a background in community journalism. Her novels include AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN, starred review in Library Journal; SECRETS OF A CHARMED LIFE, a Goodreads finalist for Best Historical Fiction 2015; and A FALL OF MARIGOLDS, named to Booklist’s Top Ten Women’s Fiction titles for 2014. A California native, she attended Point Loma Nazarene University and is also a writing workshop volunteer for Words Alive, a San Diego non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth foster a love for reading and writing. Visit Susan at her website: http://susanlmeissner.com on Twitter at @SusanMeissner or at www.facebook.com/susan.meissner

Susan Meissner

Susan’s recommendation is a modern classic from a much-admired writer, LIFE AFTER LIFE by Kate Atkinson. As Susan puts it, “Any book that makes you stop and deeply ponder, ‘What if that could really happen, and what if happened to me?’ is a keeper.”

If that’s not quite enough to draw you in, here’s more: “Kate Atkinson’s brilliantly conceived LIFE AFTER LIFE, one of my all-time favorite books by a female writer, is the imagined life of Ursula Todd. She’s a girl who keeps having her life rebooted, almost as if she is being handed by Providence chance after chance after chance to alter the course of human history. Only the reader truly knows the full breadth of Ursula's multi-layered existence. And we’re not in control of anything either. We just know more than she does, and we cannot help her.”

(That last line just gave me chills. Chills!)

Read Susan’s full review of LIFE AFTER LIFE on BookBub here.

To read more of Susan’s recommendations and check out her wonderful books, including her most recent release THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR (coming to paperback in April 2020), click to see her author page on BookBub.

#read99women: Fiona Davis

When I invited fellow authors to recommend a book for #read99women my only conditions were that each book be written by or about a woman (or both). I hoped we’d have a mix of well-known and little-known, new books and old — and so far, it’s working out great!

Today’s recommendation is a true classic, and our recommender is Fiona Davis, a superstar of the historical fiction genre.

Fiona Davis; photo credit: Deborah Feingold

The bestselling author of THE DOLLHOUSE, THE ADDRESS, THE MASTERPIECE, and THE CHELSEA GIRLS, Fiona began her career in New York City as an actress, where she worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in regional theater. After getting a master's degree at Columbia Journalism School, she fell in love with writing, leapfrogging from editor to freelance journalist before finally settling down as an author of historical fiction. Fiona's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She's a graduate of the College of William & Mary and is based in New York City. Her new novel THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE is forthcoming on July 28, 2020.

So what book does Fiona recommend for #read99women? Fittingly for a New Yorker who writes across multiple eras, it’s one of the best and best-known books about New York high society in a particular age — THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, by Edith Wharton.

Fiona says: “I recently re-read The Age of Innocence and this time around was struck by how funny Wharton is. She skewers Gilded Age high society with her vibrant wit, while at the same time offering up characters who are flawed, tragic, sometimes irritating, and always relatable.”

You can read the rest of Fiona’s recommendation here.

For more recommendation from Fiona and information about her (fabulous!) books, follow her on BookBub here.

Will tomorrow’s #read99women book be a well-known classic or an undiscovered pleasure? Contemporary or historical? Light reading or intense drama? Only one way to find out…

#read99women: Kim Taylor Blakemore

Welcome to today’s installment of #read99women! THE COMPANION, the latest release from today’s author, Kim Taylor Blakemore, just hit shelves last week. (I devoured my advance copy: you can take a peek at my BookBub recommendation, which is also my blurb for the book, here.)

More about Kim: Kim writes about the thieves and servants, murderesses and soiled doves, grifters and flimflam girls. The fierce women. The dangerous women with tangled lies and hidden motives. The Companion is her adult debut in historical mystery. Publishers Weekly calls it a "captivating tale of psychological suspense." She is also the author of the YA historical novels Bowery Girl and the WILLA Literary Award winner Cissy Funk. Recipient of a Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award, WILLA Literary Award, and three Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) grants, she also teaches novel intensives in Portland, Oregon, and is a member of Women's Fiction Writers Association, and Historical Novel Society.

Kim’s recommendation for #read99women: THE OUTLANDER by Gill Adamson, which sounds amazing. “In 1903, a woman is chased across the vast Canadian frontier and into the Rockies by two men - the brothers of her husband seeking vengeance for his death at her hands….The characters she meets are strange and compelling, violent and filled with kindness, each person a product of the wild woods and unforgiving mountains.”

Read more of Kim’s recommendation on BookBub by clicking here.

Click here to see Kim’s other BookBub recommendations.

And come back tomorrow for another recommendation from another fabulous author!

#read99women: Diana Giovinazzo

Pleased as punch to kick off a super-fun project I’m calling #read99women! So for the next 99 days (ooh that’s a lot of days) I’ll be hosting one awesome author a day, recommending one book by and/or about women. We’ve got a delightful mix of authors from across genres, talking about books they think readers would love, whether the book is a brand-new thing that hasn’t even come out yet, an overlooked gem from the archives, or a clear classic.

So for our first #read99women recommendation, please welcome to the blog Diana Giovinazzo, podcast co-host extraordinaire of Wine, Women and Words and soon-to-be debut author of THE WOMAN IN RED, a novel of Anita Garibaldi that’ll knock your proverbial socks off when it hits shelves in August 2020.

Diana’s recommendation: THE LOST DAUGHTER by Elena Ferrante. She says: “The Neapolitan novels are getting a lot of attention right now, and rightfully so. But this book, which may be more along the lines of a novella, deserves some attention.”

Click here to read more of Diana’s recommendation. (Or here to see all of her recommendations on BookBub.)

Have you read THE LOST DAUGHTER? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments!

And tune in tomorrow for another great author with another great book to add to your TBR pile…

deadlines, deals and diversions!

It’s a big day at Greer Macallister HQ! Yesterday was the deadline to turn in the updated draft of my next book (“Book 4” is what I’ve been calling it so far), and at 11:45pm, I did so. YAY! There are definitely a few more cycles to go through, including copy edits, but it feels like a major milestone, and I can’t wait to share this book with the world. Not to mention the title and cover, which I hope to reveal soon. Maybe while I’m doing events for the paperback release of WOMAN 99, coming February 4? Maybe!

Speaking of WOMAN 99, if you can’t wait for that paperback and you’re not a fan of hefty hardcovers, now’s a great time to snap up the e-book! It’s discounted for a limited time on all e-book platforms. So if you’re an e-reader, grab it for your Kindle or Nook or other preferred e-reading device before the price goes from less than a latte to more than a macchiato.

And I’m thrilled to announce that in lieu of #womenshistoryreads this year, I have another fun project that’ll be launching next week. Obviously one of the ways we find new books is through recommendations from friends — and how many book-loving, well-read authors would you like to hear from? 10? 50? How about… 99? Get ready for the hashtag #read99women, and prepare to see your TBR pile topple.

genre chitchat on Writer Unboxed

My latest post is up on Writer Unboxed! If you’re a writer who’s thinking about switching genres, this post is for you. It’s all about what to consider before you make the leap.

(Because yes, I’ve got something in the works that would be a big genre switch, so it’s very much on my mind!)

Click here to read more.