Wednesday Readup: Palin, Perry Preys Premiere, A Mercy, Booker List & Free BMP Help

Good Morning. Welcome to the Wednesday Readup for the week of 8/10/08

Toni Morrison's A Mercy, a Preview

For those of you who don't know me I am a huge Toni Morrison fan. Actually my background is in African American women's literary fiction moreso than commercial Christian fiction, and to be honest I would love to write a more literary novel. Perhaps that's why I'm stomped on my short story piece for the Essence Short Fiction Contest...As I figure myself out, let me introduce you to Ms. Morrison's new novel, A Mercy.

Synopsis: A Mercy reveals what lies beneath the surface of slavery. But at its heart it is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and of a daughter who may never exorcise that abandonment. Acts of mercy may have unforeseen consequences.

Excerpt...

Don't be afraid. My telling can't hurt you in spite of what I have done and I promise to lie quietly in the dark—weeping perhaps or occasionally seeing the blood once more—but I will never again unfold my limbs to rise up and bare teeth. I explain. You can think what I tell you a confession, if you like, but one full of curiosities familiar only in dreams and during those moments when a dog's profile plays in the steam of a kettle. Click here for full USA Today's full excerpt

Governor Palin's Authobiography at Tyndale House

Epicenter Press, publisher of the only available biography of Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down by Kaylene Johnson, has shifted distribution of the title to Christian publisher Tyndale House Publishers. Tyndale is printing 250,000 copies of its edition of the book (which retails for $15.95 and has a new ISBN, 9781414330501) and begins shipping copies today. (Source: Shelf Awareness)

Awards: Man Booker Shortlist

The shortlisted titles (and their U.S. publishers) for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, which "promotes the finest in fiction," are:

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Free Press, $24, 9781416562597/1416562591)
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Viking, $24.95, 9780670019403/0670019402)
• Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (FSG, $26, 9780374174224/0374174229)
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant (Virago Press, $21.46, 9781844085415/1844085414)
• The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher (Knopf, $27.95, 9781400044481/1400044480)
• A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (Spiegel & Grau, $24.95, 9780385521727/0385521723, and a new paperback edition, $14.95, 9780385521734/0385521731

The Family That Prey's Premiere

Don't forget this Friday Tyler Perry's The Family that Prey's releases nationwide in a movie near you. I have a free ticket. Would love to treat someone to go with. Hit me up. (Photo of Sanaa Lathan at the premier party courtesy of Getty Images and BlackVoices) Watch the trailer here.

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