Publication Eve

January 14, 2013 by Ann Leary 35 Comments

Tomorrow The Good House will finally be available in bookstores everywhere! I hope I will see some of you on Wednesday, January 16th at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan (Broadway and 82nd Street).

In the meantime, Redbook Magazine chose The Good House as it’s February “Must Read” book and included this very kind review in its February issue. They also posted a Q&A in its online edition, and I am reposting it here Thank you Redbook!

REDBOOK Reads: Q&A with Ann Leary

The author of The Good House shares how her childhood informed the novel, her feeling on psychics, and how a literary character can alter your real life behavior.

By Hannah Hickok

Filed Under: Husband, Literary stuff, Shameless Self-Promotion Tagged With: books

New Favorite Book Trailer

April 17, 2012 by Ann Leary 8 Comments

The other day, my editor encouraged me to look at some good book trailers to get an idea of something I might like for my novel. Apparently Brenda didn’t know that I’m an experienced book trailer director. Yes, that’s right. I directed the two critically ignored Julie Klam You Had Me at Woof trailers.

Here’s the first, my directorial debut, if you will.

This is my second ~~video~~ film.

Filed Under: Husband, Literary stuff, Stuff I Did Tagged With: book trailer, books, Husband, shame

Judging a Book By Its Cover

February 17, 2012 by Ann Leary 69 Comments

Although my new novel The Good House won’t be published until next year, my editor has asked me to start thinking about what kind of cover I would like for the book. Publishers like to find a cover early so that it will appear in their catalog that goes out to book distributors each quarter. The publisher usually reserves the right to have the final say on the book jacket design, but of course they want the author to be happy with it and because the author knows the book so well, they are often very good at conceptualizing a design.

Filed Under: Literary stuff Tagged With: books, writing

Meet Susan Orlean

May 23, 2011 by Ann Leary 14 Comments

Tomorrow, May 24th, at 5:00 PM, I will be moderating a Q&A with bestselling author Susan Orlean at the Apple Store, 103 Prince Street in Soho, Manhattan. What will we be talking about? Susan’s fabulous forthcoming book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, for one.

The Apple Store in Soho has been doing a very cool series of “Meet the Author” events and tomorrow’s event with Susan Orlean is also part of Book Expo America which is taking place in Manhattan this week. It’s free, but seating is limited, so get there early.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Interesting Animals and Their People, Literary stuff Tagged With: books, dogs

Vampires and Sex-Crazed Maidens

January 21, 2011 by Ann Leary 21 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m loving our book club selection, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. If you think you don’t need to bother with this book because you’ve seen vampire movies or read Anne Rice or those Twilight vampire books, you’re really missing out. This is such a horrifically magnificent novel, so brilliantly crafted, I just can’t believe I haven’t read it until now.

Filed Under: Hags, Bats, etc, Literary stuff Tagged With: books

Readings For A Christmas Day

December 25, 2010 by Ann Leary 20 Comments

I am always delighted and astounded to learn that so many classic poems and works of literature are available for free on the web. Last night and this morning I read Dicken’s A Christmas Carol which I hadn’t read since I was a kid, and if you have never read it because you’ve seen the play and/or the movie, you’ve really missed something beautiful and wildly entertaining. You may read it in its entirety here. It’s quite short. Allow me to share a couple of excerpts. First, a description of Scrooge:

Filed Under: Literary stuff Tagged With: books, poems

Custom of the Country

September 9, 2010 by Ann Leary 16 Comments

Today is the day we had set aside for our Custom of the Country discussion. I thought that this time we should just have the discussion here. In the comments. That way, people don’t have to be home at the one hour time designated for chats. You can just throw your comment into the discussion any old time. I’m hoping that you guys enjoyed reading the book and look forward to hearing what you thought about it.

Filed Under: Literary stuff Tagged With: books

On The Nightstand

July 31, 2010 by Ann Leary Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Literary stuff, Nightstand Tagged With: books

Lights! Camera! Action!

July 27, 2010 by Ann Leary 43 Comments

As many of you are probably aware, it is no longer enough to spend months and often years writing a book. Today an author must help sell the book, and by sell, I mean she must make each and every person in the northern hemisphere ~~aware of~~ obsessed with the book. She must make them understand that they need the book in order to survive in today’s world. She must make them wake up each morning and ask, “if not now, when? If not me, who? If not the …”

Wait, I’m not sure those are the questions.

Filed Under: Dogs, Cats, Horses, Literary stuff, Red Carpet Diaries Tagged With: books, dogs, red-carpet

Let Me Plan Your Weekend

July 7, 2010 by Ann Leary 57 Comments

Looking for something nice to do this upcoming steamy Saturday? Well, if you live in or near Litchfield County, CT, I have a lovely plan for you.

First, arrive in Washington Depot at around noon and enjoy a tasty lunch at either The Pantry or Marty’s. Then, at 2:00, make your way over to the Hickory Stick Bookshop, where my friend Wendy Burden will be signing copies of her book Dead End Gene Pool until 3:00. I’l be there with her! It’s air-conditioned and, in my humble opinion, the nicest independent book store in New England.