August Book Club Authors Revealed

By Jason Boog 

0912_bookclub_150x100.jpgYou can read all the online book reviews in the world, but nothing beats real-world conversations between readers and authors. In an ongoing effort to build community among readers, writers, and publishing types in real life, we are hosting our third mediabistro.com Book Club on August 17, 2010 at Underbar in New York City.

Follow this link to RSVP. The after-work party will feature a memoir about race, a dessert cookbook, a Wall Street expose, a foodie/blogger novel, and a hotel novel. This installment will feature tons of free book giveaways for attendees.

This GalleyCat Reviews editor will lead the book club discussion with the authors. We received an overwhelming number of submissions last month, and these five authors were handpicked to include a wide range of subjects, genres, and publishing experience.

Besides scoring some free books, mediabistro.com book club participants will have a night of practical and entertaining conversation. More information about the Book Club authors follows below.


Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture by Thomas Chatterton Williams: “Losing My Cool portrays the allure and the danger of hip-hop culture like no book has before. Even more remarkably, Williams evokes the subtle salvation that literature offers and recounts with breathtaking clarity a burgeoning bond between father and son.”

Desserts 4 Today–Desserts Made with Just FOUR Ingredients by Abigail Johnson Dodge: “The recipes in Desserts 4 Today rely on simplicity–no outrageous ingredients, no difficult-to-master techniques, and no hours of prep work. Each of the 125 flavorful desserts uses pantry ingredients, is ready from start to finish in about 30 minutes, and provides flavor variations sure to please any palette and any craving. Desserts 4 Today enables cooks of all skill levels to effortlessly create delicious desserts.”

Life From Scratch by Melissa Ford: “Nine months after Rachel Goldman’s divorce, she gives birth to a cooking project as well as a blog that helps her find her voice that was missing during her married years. Life from Scratch is an enjoyable read about not only learning how to grab your own happiness, but also, how to fry your own egg. An amateur chef and popular blogger herself, Ford is the author of the award-winning website, Stirrup Queens. Her blog has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten motherhood blogs.”

Chasing Goldman Sachs: How the Masters of the Universe Melted Wall Street Down . . . And Why They’ll Take Us to the Brink Again by Suzanne McGee: “The financial system has been saved from destruction but as long as the mind-set of ‘chasing Goldman Sachs’ lingers, it will not have been reformed. As banking undergoes its biggest transformation since the 1929 crash and the Great Depression, McGee shows where it stands today and points to where it needs to go next, examining the future of those financial institutions supposedly “too big to fail.”

Based Upon Availability by Alix Strauss: “From the very first page of Based Upon Availability readers will be drawn into the strange, often humorous world where eight women grapple with family, sex, power, love and death. Throughout this powerful novel, these characters explore the basic need for human connection while seeking to understand themselves better.”