The Local News by Miriam Gershow is out in paperback! I read and reviewed Miriam’s novel when it was first out in hardcover and really enjoyed it (my review here). It’s an emotional story of a girl coming of age at a time of tragedy in her family. I think it’s a novel that would appeal to many and would also be a great novel to consider for your book clubs. Here’s a bit about the book from Miriam Gershow’s website:
“Going missing was the only interesting thing my brother had ever done.”
Even a decade later, the memories of the year Lydia Pasternak turned sixteen continue to haunt her. As a teenager, Lydia lived in her older brother’s shadow. While Danny’s athletic skills and good looks established his place with the popular set at school, Lydia’s smarts relegated her to the sidelines, where she rolled her eyes at her brother and his meathead friends and suffered his casual cruelty with resigned bewilderment. Though a part of her secretly wished for a return of the easy friendship she and Danny shared as children, another part of her wished Danny would just vanish. And then, one night, he did.
In the year following Danny Pasternak’s disappearance, his parents go off the rails, his town buzzes with self-indulgent mourning, and his little sister Lydia finds herself thrust into unwanted celebrity, forced to negotiate her ambivalent–often grudging–grief for a brother she did not particularly like. Suddenly embraced by Danny’s old crowd, forgotten by her parents, and drawn into the missing person investigation by her family’s intriguing private eye, Lydia both blossoms and struggles to find herself during Danny’s absence. But when a trail of clues leads to a shocking outcome in her brother’s case, the teenaged Lydia and the adult she will become are irrevocably changed, even now as she reluctantly prepares to return to her hometown.
Relentlessly gripping, often funny, and profoundly moving, The Local News is a powerful exploration of the fraught relationship between a brother and sister and how our siblings define who we are.
Here’s a bit about the author from Miriam Gershow’s website:
Miriam Gershow is a novelist, short story writer and teacher. Her debut novel, The Local News, was published by Spiegel & Grau in February 2009. It has been called “unusually credible and precise” and “deftly heartbreaking” by The New York Times, as well as “an accomplished debut” (Publisher’s Weekly) with a “disarmingly unsentimental narrative voice,” (Kirkus Reviews).
Miriam is the recipient of a Fiction Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, as well as an Oregon Literary Fellowship. Her stories appear in The Georgia Review, Quarterly West, Black Warrior Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Journal, and Gulf Coast, among other journals. Miriam’s stories have been listed in the 100 Distinguished Stories of The Best American Short Stories 2007 and appeared in the 2008 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories. She is also a past winner of the AWP Intro Journals award and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
She received her MFA from the University of Oregon. She taught fiction writing at the University of Wisconsin as well as descriptive writing to gifted high school students through Johns Hopkins University. She currently lives in Eugene with her husband and son, where she writes and teaches writing at the University of Oregon.
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The paperback of The Local News was released on February 9, 2010 and is a Random House Reader’s Circle selection which means there is an additional 14 pages which include a Q&A with the author, an author bio, and a Reading Group guide.
In addition, Miriam is one of the featured authors in this month’s Random House Author Chats which means that book groups can request Miriam’s participation in their book club chats. Remember when I said this would make a great book club pick. Well how much greater would it be if Miriam could join in your discussion of the book? Awesome, I’d say.
In celebration of the paperback release of The Local News by Miriam Gershow, both Miriam and Random House have graciously offered up 1 paperback copy of The Local News to one of my readers. To enter…
- For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
- For 2 entries, follow my blog. If you already do, thanks, and let me know in your comment.
- For 3 entries, blog or tweet to spread the word!
This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only as the book will be shipped directly to the winner from the publisher. I will draw for the lucky winner on Sunday, March 28, 2010. Good luck to you all!
Sounds like a good book. I'd love to win a copy. I'm a follower.
I'd love to enter! Thanks!
aikychien at yahoo dot com
I'm a follower.
aikychien at yahoo dot com
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/aikchien/status/10215652451
aikychien at yahoo dot com
Sounds great.
This sounds like a great one!
I'm a follower.
Please enter me, and thanks!
fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com
I'm an old follower.
fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/bookmonstrosity/status/10220521230
fitz12383(at)hotmail(dot)com
Please enter me for this book. Thanks.
pbclark(at)netins(dot)net
I am a follower.
Please enter me as well! I've missed out on checking this one out.
+2 I'm a follower.
Thanks!
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
The review sounds like a book I would like to read.
cenya2 at hotmail dot com
I follow by google reader.
cenya2 at hotmail dot com
I'm interested in this book, so please enter me.
janezfan (at) yahoo (dot) com
I follow your blog, so entry #2.
Having grown up with two older brothers, I'm always intrigued by books about sibling relationships. Thanks for the giveaway.
I follow through Google Reader.
I'm a follower. =)
sliugarcia@gmail.com
I would love to have a chance to win a copy.
Thanks for the giveaway.
libneas[at]aol[dot]com
I'm a follower – Libby's Library
Thanks
libneas[at]aol[dot]com
Sounds intriguing! And, I'm a follower.
readbabbette (at) yahoo (dot) com
Sounds good. Please enter me in the drawing.
forwhlz at gmail dot com
I'm a follower.
forwhlz at gmail dot com
Looks really good.
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
I already follow publicly.
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
tweet; http://twitter.com/fredalicious/status/10232086551
freda.mans[at]sympatico.ca
It looks like a good book..Count me in.
Follower
ainfinger@comcast.net
The plot reminds me of that old 80s movie Stand By Me with River Phoenix. Sounds really good, and I'd love to win a copy. 😀
hersilentmusings@yahoo.com
I tweeted your giveaway.
+3 🙂
Please enter me!
xxsquigglesxx(At)gmail(dot)com
I am a follower.
xxsquigglesxx(at)gmail(dot)Com
Tweet: http://twitter.com/squiggles87/status/10235189849
xxsquigglesxx(At)Gmail(dot)Com
I would love to win this book!
joannelong74 AT gmail DOT com
I'm also a follower.
joannelong74 AT gmail DOT com
Sounds great! I would love to win a copy!
misusedinnocence@aol.com
I follow.
misusedinnocence@aol.com
This sounds like it would be a good read, and I would love to be entered in your giveaway!
zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net
I'm interested!
fizzybeverage at gmail dot com
Thanks for the giveaway!! I follow!!
areallibrarian[at]gmail[dot]com
Sounds like a good book. Please enter me.
I am a follower.
mlawson17 at hotmail dot com
I follow.
ihappydance at gmail. com
I liked your review. Please count me in.
I follow.
mystica123athotmaildotcom
Would love to win!!
billiondollarprincesss@hotmail.com
Please enter me.
I follow you w/ Google Reader.
Here's my tweet:
http://twitter.com/bibliofreakblog/status/10295413211
j.t.oldfield[at]gmail.com
great giveaway!!
vivaglampink@yahoo.ca
justpeachy36@yahoo.com
Please enter me in the giveaway.
justpeachy36@yahoo.com
I am a follower.
Please enter me for a copy!
baileythebookworm at gmail dot com
I follow the blog 🙂
baileythebookworm at gmail dot com
I've been wanting to read this one. count me in please!
melacan at hotmail dot com
follower
melacan at hotmail dot com
sounds really good
ykatrina at hotmail dot com
Very intrigued!
I am a follower =]
I added this to my sidebar: http://thedmlibrary.blogspot.com
alannakurt at gmail dot com
Thanks!
I remember well your review for this one … please enter my name for a chance to win, thanks!
I follow and will post here.
wanda_waiting[@]hotmail[.]com
Please enter me – vvperesk@gmail.com
I blogged about the contest here.
joannelong74 AT gmail DOT com
Thanks for entering me!
denny(dot)gill(at)gmail(dot)com
I follow #1 vvperesk@gmail.com
I follow #2 vvperesk@gmail.com
Please enter me.
allygotts567 at hotmail dot come
I follow
I follow #2
Enter me please.
dawnpnr(at)aol(dot)com
I'm a follower.
I'd added Local News to my wishlist after having read your review, so I would love the chance to win a copy!
And I'm an old follower 🙂
shiloki(at)gmail(dot)com
this book does sound good-please sign me up
tiramisu392 (at) yahoo.com
Count me in.
dsandyboy@gmail.com
I follow you.
dsandyboy@gmail.com
Please enter me. walkerd@primus.ca
I follow you. walkerd@primus.ca
Sounds great. I'd love to win/read this book.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
I would love to win this book. Thanks for the opportunity!
shnndvs(at)hotmail(dot)com
I am a follower.
shnndvs(at)hotmail(dot)com
Please count me in. I just started following.
Looks like a great book – please count me in!
Thanks ~ megalon22 at yahoo dot com
GFC follower
megalon22 at yahoo dot com
So glad to see this out in paperback. It's been on my TBR list waiting for paperback as it's easier to tote to work. Thanks for the chance.
rubymoonstone at gmail dot com
Old follower (Ally)
rubymoonstone at gmail dot com
Please count me in.
simplystacieblog at gmail dot com
follower.
simplystacieblog at gmail dot com
Would love to read this, been following your blog for a couple months now- love the variety.