Book Lust with Nancy Pearl

Nancy's guest is Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. Brooks, who won the Pulitzer for her novel March, has based her new novel, People of the Book, on the real-life adventures of a 14th century Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. The manuscript, which surfaced in 1894, is a richly illuminated version of the narrative Jews around the world use at their Passover tables to tell the story of the Exodus. It caused uproar among art historians who had long believed that the Third Commandment had precluded the use of figurative art by medieval Jews. The story moves from Sarajevo in 1940, then back to late-19th-century Vienna, 15th-century Venice, Catalonia during the Spanish Inquisition and finally Seville in 1480.

Nancy Pearl's guest on this edition of Book Lust is award-winning novelist Molly Gloss, whose latest novel, The Hearts of Horses, tells the heartwarming story of a determined young woman with a gift for "gentling" wild horses. Set in Oregon in the winter of 1917, the story follows the journey of nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen, a strong-willed young woman who leaves home to find work breaking horses for families whose sons have left to fight in the Great World War. Molly Gloss is a fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland. In 1996 she was the recipient of a prestigious Whiting Writers' Award. She also authored these award winning books: The Jump-Off Creek, The Dazzle of Day and Wild Life.

Nancy's guest is Judy Schachner, illustrator and writer of the award-winning Skippyjon Jones children's books. Skippyjon is a rambunctious Siamese kitten with oversized ears and an equally oversized imagination. When he is sent to have a time-out in his room, Skippyjon entertains himself by donning a cape and taking on the persona of El Skippito, a sword-toting, superhero Chihuahua. Skippyjon Jones' adventures have been chronicled by Schachner in five books, the latest is Skippyjon Jones and the Treasure Hunt. Schachner and her family live in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Nancy's guest is Justina Chen Headley, a writer of young adult fiction. Chen's debut novel, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), won the 2007 Asian Pacific American Award for literature and was a Borders' Original Voices nominee, BookSense pick, and NYPL Book for the Teen Age. Her new novel, Girl Overboard, is a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection. Publishers Weekly writes, "Headley crafts a tale that will stand out in the crowd by offering a good dose of girl power and an intriguing family back-story." Justina is also the creator of the popular website ReaderGirlz, an interactive website for teen girls that promotes literacy and community involvement. She lives in Seattlewith her husband and children.

Nancy's guest is author Ann Patchett. Ann has authored five novels, including Bel Canto (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize), The Patron Saint of Liars, and Run, as well as her bestselling nonfiction book, Truth & Beauty. She has written for the Atlantic, Harper's, Gourmet, the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and the Washington Post. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bharti Kirchner is the prolific author of eight books -- four novels and four cookbooks, and has been publishing since 1992. Her work has been translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, Marathi, Thai and other languages. Her fourth novel Pastries: A Novel of Desserts and Discoveries (St. Martin's Press) is now out in hardcover. Bharti has won two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants, and an Artist Trust GAP grant.

Nancy Pearl's guest on this edition of Book Lust is Nassim Assefi, a 2nd generation Iranian-American who is an internist specializing in women's health and global medicine. Her first novel, Aria, examines the struggle of a young cancer specialist and single mother to come to grips with her daughter's death and to reconnect with her estranged Iranian parents and heritage. She is currently writing a second novel set in post-conflict Afghanistan entitled Say I Am You. She lives in Istanbul with her husband Miguel. Most recently, she has been an academic in Seattle, a humanitarian aid worker and underground salsa dance teacher in Kabul, and an aspiring musician in Havana. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, UW Medical School, and Harvard's Brigham and Women's residency program.

Nancy Pearl's guest on this edition of Book Lust is Stephenie Meyer, author of the bestselling young adult Twilight series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse), which chronicles the adventures of star-crossed lovers Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. The first book of the series, Twilight, tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together, even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edwards nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella. The Twilight series is a cultural phenomenon with a fanatic fanbase - more than 3.5 million copies of her three books have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into 20 languages. Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's degree in English. She lives with her husband and three young sons in Phoenix.

On this episode of Book Lust, Nancy Pearl's guests are Authur and Alex Dorros, a father and son who recently collaborated on a children's book called Numero Uno. Arthur Dorros is a well-known author and illustrator of children's books, while Alex, a high-school student, wrote the basic story of Numero Uno when he was in sixth grade.

Seattle's uber-librarian Nancy Pearl interviews Mykaila Ostrom, an enthusiastic reader who is in the 8th grade at St. Benedict School in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. Ostrom's favorite authors are Meg Rosoff, E.L. Konigsburg and Jonathan Stroud.

Nancy's guest on this edition of Book Lust is Karen Joy Fowler. Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation. She is best known as the author of the best-selling novel The Jane Austen Book Club, which has been adapted into a screenplay for a major motion picture.

Nancy Pearl's guest on this episode of Book Lust is renowned Northwest author (and one of the most popular writers of his generation) Sherman Alexie. Alexie is well-known for his novels, short stories and screenplays depicting contemporary Native Americans. His many works include Smoke Signals, The Long Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and a new novel for young adults to be published in September 2007 called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Nancy's guest in July is local author and bookseller Nick DiMartino. DiMartino, a self-described intense, unstoppable reader, compiles a monthly list of recommended new books called Nick's Picks for the Novelworld website (novelworld.squarespace.com).

Nancy's guest in June is bestselling author Elizabeth George. Fans of George's popular Inspector Lynley series were stunned by the brutal slaying of the Scotland Yard detective's wife in With No One as Witness (2005). Her latest novel, What Came Before He Shot Her, unveils the events leading up to that bold, bloody event. George is the bestselling author of thirteen novels of psychological suspense, one book of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Most of her novels have been filmed for television by the BBC and broadcast in the United States on PBS's Mystery series. She lives in Seattle Washington and London.

Connie Willis is the award winning author of Doomsday Book, Passage, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and Bellwether. Willis has been awarded nine Hugo Awards, Nine Locus Poll Awards and six Nebula Awards. Her stories have an epic feel to them and range from laugh out loud funny to deadly serious. She is currently working on All Clear, a time travel novel to the time of the London Blitz.

Nancy's guest is Tim Sandlin, author of Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty -- a hilarious and touching novel that explores how baby boomers are facing their own mortality. Tim lives in Jackson, Wyoming and is also the author of the GroVont trilogy and a collection of columns from the Jackson Hole News called The Pyms: Unauthorized Tales of Jackson Hole.

Nancy's guest this month is internationally bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay. Kay's distinguished literary career began when he helped complete Tolkien's posthumous masterpiece, The Silmarillion. His own epic trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry, appears on The Internet Top 100 SF Fantasy List. Kay's latest novel, Ysabel, is a departure from his earlier historical fantasies in that it takes place in the world of today in Provence, France. The story revolves around a photo shoot in the Saint-Saveur Cathedral, an ancient structure of many secrets. Guy Gavriel Kay's works have been translated into fourteen languages. He lives in Toronto.

Nancy's guest this month award-winning novelist Colson Whitehead, whose latest book Apex Hides the Hurt, has just been released in paperback. Fans of his earlier novels, The Intuitionist and John Henry Days, will find the same wicked humor and literary wordplay in his new book.

Nancy's guest in January is award-winning novelist and playwright Nancy Rawles. Rawles' latest book, My Jim, revisits Mark Twain's classic and racially charged tale, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In My Jim, Rawles uses the first-person story of Sadie, the wife of Huck Finn's enslaved traveling companion, to give us new insight into Jim's life and the world of slavery he left behind.

Nancy's guest on this episode of Book Lust is British author Kate Atkinson. Atkinson was born in York in 1951 and studied English Literature at Dundee University. She began writing for women's magazines after winning the 1986 Woman's Own Short Story Competition. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995), won the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year award, beating Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh and Roy Jenkins' biography Gladstone. Her latest books are Case Histories (2004), and One Good Turn (2006).