By Anya

Fall means shorter and colder days and the prospect of cozying up with a good book seems so inviting.

The next couple of months offer readers a great selection from some of their favorite writers. Best selling author Nicholas Sparks will release “The Best of Me” — a tale of lovers reunited after 25 years. I haven’t read too many of Sparks books, but I have to say he knows how to hook a (female) reader:

“Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She’d believed
in it once, too, back when she was eighteen.”

If Sparks doesn’t do it for you, you might be interested to know that John Grishom has a new legal thriller coming in late October — “The Litigators.”  It’s set in “a boutique law firm.” (When did boutique become a synonym for small?) The write-up sounds promising - the boutique (re: small) firm goes after a big pharmaceutical company. Big Pharma seems like a good villian. I bet the movie rights have already been sold! Herman Cain and Ellen DeGeneres (that’s a combo I didn’t expect to see in the same sentence) both have books coming out. Paulo Coelho and Jeffrey Eugenides – two very respected writers – are also joining the Fall release schedule. It’s almost too much! And I haven’t even mentioned the new Stephanie Plum book - Janet Evanovich’s “Explosive Eighteen.” I know our own Samantha@IW can’t wait!

After seeing all the superb reads that will be hitting bookstores and Kindles this autumn, I honestly don’t know where to begin. I’m currently reading “Cleopatra – A Life” by Stacy Schiff and have at least a dozen other already purchased books waiting for me so I’m not even sure when I will be able to get to some of these great new reads. Sigh. Just another reason I wish I had been born an heiress….

What about you? Do any of these new tomes particularly interest you? Are you reading something fantastic right now that you want to share with us? Let’s fall into love with books!

By Jennie

The holidays are over, but there is still plenty of winter left. Just as summer tends to bring to mind a specific kind of reading material – often good, light ”beach reads” – winter may engender the desire for a different kind of book. Possibly something longer and meatier, well-suited to whiling away a weekend afternoon before a roaring fire. I live in a temperate climate; there’s no chance of me ever being snow-bound (more’s the pity), but there’s nothing like curling up with a good book on a cold and rainy Sunday. I think of winter as a good time to tackle classics, either for the first time or as re-reads. Even though I see winter as a time for more substantial literature, I still try to stay away from anything too dry or downbeat – the short days and lack of sunlight can be enough to put even me, a Californian, into a funk. I don’t need help from Les Miserables.

How about you? What are you reading this winter? What’s your ideal winter book?

More information about BBW can be found here.

By my quick count I’ve read 18 of the 100 books listed. (I heartily approve of banning The Old Man and the Sea, by the way. No one should read that book, ever.) I’m going to try to “celebrate” BBW by reading one of the 82 books I haven’t read, in celebration of my right to “intellectual freedom,” as described by the ALA in the first link above.

By Jennie

The film version of Eat, Pray, Love, starring Julia Roberts, came out yesterday. The Elizabeth Gilbert book was a bestseller, remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for years after its publication. As such, no doubt there are many devoted fans who will flock to the theaters hoping to recreate the special experience they had reading the book. But is that possible?

(I should say, as an aside, that I read Eat, Pray, Love a couple of years ago and liked it but didn’t love it. I don’t plan to see the movie; I’ve gotten tired of Julia Roberts over the years. Though I loved her in Mystic Pizza and Erin Brockovich, her sour performances in Ocean’s 11 and Closer turned me off, and I feel like she’ll accentuate some of Gilbert’s most unattractive traits as portrayed in the book.)

I am very wary of film adaptions of favorite books. In my experience, the more one likes a book, the less likely a film version is to work for them. The relationship a reader has to a favorite book is complicated and can be intense; it’s not unusual to feel proprietary about the story and the characters.

So it’s easy to get one’s nose out of joint about what one sees as miscasting, for instance. I read the A.S. Byatt book Possession years ago, and really liked it. I ended up seeing the film version when it came out in theaters with a bunch of people who had not read the book. They all liked the movie, but I could not get over – still cannot get over – how miscast Aaron Eckhart was in one of the main roles. Grr, it still makes me mad. The movie was ruined for me (despite being generally a good movie), and I can’t stand Aaron Eckhart as an actor, now. And this wasn’t even one of my favorite books – just one I liked.

Readers will also carp about plot changes and plot points/storylines being left out of films. I know that there are dedicated Harry Potter fans who pick apart the films and complain about important storylines and characters being left out. The fact is, it’s hard to condense an 800-page book into a film, even one running two and a half hours long, as some of the Harry Potter films have. There’s a reason that both the last Harry Potter book and the last Twilight book are being split into two films. (Well, besides the obvious reason – both franchises are cash cows for the studios that produce them.)

(I do think that Twilight fans, from what I’ve seen, are a little less critical of the film franchise – perhaps because they are largely tweens enamored of Robert Pattinson and/or Taylor Lautner. Or maybe – and this goes for Harry Potter, too – the fact that it’s a series rather than a single film based on a single book allows fans to get invested in the film version of the characters and story on their own, independent of the books.)

My general rule when I’m interested in a book and film and haven’t read or seen either yet is this – see the movie first. I’ve never had a book ruin a movie for me, but movies can…well, not exactly ruin books for me, but sour me on a book I loved, at least to the point where I can’t think of the book without thinking about what I disliked about the movie.

How about you? Do you have any book-to-movie horror stories? Any really good experiences? Or are you able to separate the book from the film and view each as a separate entity?

By Gwen Morrison

Maybe it’s the sound of waves softly caressing a shoreline, or the power behind a rushing waterfall, but writers will tell you there’s something about water that draws them. That inspires creativity.

So, because I am a writer, and because like all writers I know, I am drawn to the sea, I embarked on a new journey (along with a talented writer and novelist friend) to bring writers together “by the water.”

Write by the Water is a retreat that provides writers a place of solitude where they can explore their individual writing journey and connect with other writers. The retreats will be held four times a year at various locations across the country, all by the water.

The fee includes semi-private lodging, one-on-one time with the writer-in-residence, discussions of the business and life of the working writer, and free writing time. Breakfast is also included in the residency fee.

Our first retreat will be held October 15 – 19 in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and will be moderated by Jack Riggs , author of “When the Finch Rises,” and “The Fireman’s Wife.”

Giving Back

Write by the Water is a unique retreat, not only because all of our locations are by the water, but also because we provide an opportunity for writers in attendance to connect with the community.

It’s our desire to give back to each community we visit, by presenting literary readings and signings and through book donations. Sharing your work in a public venue, and participating in book donations to those in need is expected of all attendees.

And as an added bonus: Every writer who attends a Write by the Water retreat is guaranteed publication in an anthology of collected work at year’s end.

Find out more about Write by the Water retreats by visiting the website.

You can also keep up with all the news, photos, blog posts, and all kinds of fun stuff by following us on Twitter (@writebythewater) and becoming a fan on Facebook.

Visit Gwen’s blogs at  a life less ordinary and A Novel Idea.