Summary: BookCon in NY. Negative reviews for prize-winning books. Books! by Murray McCain, and Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead. A Book Trade Show for Everyone Ellen asked about book trade shows and if they are ever open to "regular" readers. BookCon (http://www.thebookcon.com/Home/) is a new event that has grown out of Book Expo America, the largest book trade show in the U.S. It's open to everyone and ticket (http://www.thebookcon.com/Tickets/) prices are very reasonable. There will be authors signing, publishers exhibiting, along with panels about books. As far as we know, this is the only trade show that now has a consumer component. Of course there are many book festivals around the country, including in LA (http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/), DC (http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/), and Boston (http://www.bostonbookfest.org/). The Newburyport (MA) Literary Festival (http://www.newburyportliteraryfestival.org/) is coming up very soon! (http://booksonthenightstand.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/audiobooks.jpg)Audiobook of the week (09:18) (http://covers.audiobooks.com/images/covers/full/9781442370289.jpg)Flash Boys by Michael Lewis, narrated by Dylan Baker, is Ann's pick for this week’s Audiobooks.com Audiobook of the Week. Special thanks to Audiobooks.com (http://www.audiobooks.com/freebook) for sponsoring this episode of Books on the Nightstand. Audiobooks.com allows you to listen to over 40,000 audiobooks, instantly, wherever you are, and the first one is free. Download or stream any book directly to your Apple or Android device. Sign up for a free 30-day trial and free audiobook download by going to www.audiobooks.com/freebook (http://www.audiobooks.com/freebook) Poor Donna Tartt (15:12) Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which is wonderful news, but might actually lead to the book receiving more negative reviews from readers. A recent academic paper called The Paradox of Publicity (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2350768) used reviews from Goodreads to analyze 64 books that either won or were shortlisted for major prizes. They also looked at when books were added to TBR piles, which indicates whether a book was read because of a prize, or not. Whether it's because of the "snob factor," or a perceived backlash, the authors of the paper can point to a marked decrease in review ratings. Two Books We Can't Wait For You to Read (31:11) (https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375753735l/17465246.jpg) (https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1384816768l/18209290.jpg) While browsing for some books for my kids, I came upon Books! by Murray McCain, with art by John Alcorn. Originally published in 1962 and recently re-released, this is a vibrant and exuberant look at what books are, what they do, and how great they can be. Ann loved, loved, loved Maggie Shipstead's new book Astonish Me, even more than she loved Maggie's first book Seating Arrangements. It's set in the ballet world, but even if you are not interested in ballet, do not miss this wonderful novel.
