Featured Author Sarah Pekannen Goes from Writer to Reviewer for Washington Post

GBF featured author Sarah Pekannen ("Skipping a Beat" and "The Opposite of Me") reviewed "The Ninth Wife" by Washington resident Amy Stolls, calling it "a witty, satisfying novel with a clever structure."

Read the full review.

The Washington Post Reviews Tom Shroder's "Fire on the Horizon"

The Washington Post ran a short review of Tom Shroder and John Konrad's "Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster." (NOTE: Shroder will be at the festival. Konrad will not.)

The review commends the book for how it "covers a remarkable amount of territory with brisk efficiency." It also praises the authors' depiction of everyday life aboard rigs as being "especially fascinating" and say the book deserves "a prominent place in the growing literature on the Gulf oil disaster."

Read the full review.

Washington Post Gives Glowing Review to "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain

The Washington Post sided with the book-buying public over The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times today when it gave a rave review to "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain, calling it "a richer and more provocative book than many reviewers have acknowledged."

The reviewer goes on to say that the book is "an imaginative homage to Hadley Richardson Hemingway" and describe it as a "fictional but scrupulously true-to-life narration."

Read the full review.

A Washington Post Q&A with Youth Adult Author Wendy Wan-Long Shang

The Washington Post's KidsPost page recently interviewed featured author Wendy Wan-Long Shang about her new book, "The Great Wall of Lucy Wu."

In the interview, Wan-Long Shang talks about getting into the mind of a tween (hint: she can hear her 11-year-old self in her head!), writing her first novel (which she did while being a stay-at-home mom... we're not quite sure how she did it... except for the fact that obviously she's a superwoman!) and what kids who want to be writers should do.

We can't wait to hear her speak at the festival on May 21!

Read the Washington Post interview.

Washington Post Gives Bayard's "The School of Night" a Positive Review

The Washington Post reviewed Louis Bayard's "The School of Night" yesterday, praising Bayard for adding "twist after satisfying twist to these interlocked tales."

Read the full review.

Washington Post, O Magazine Praise Sarah Pekkanen's "Skipping a Beat"

Sarah Pekkanen drew positive reviews from the Washington Post for her second novel, "Skipping a Beat." The Post called it an "intelligent and entertaining novel" that "offers a delightful slice of life inside the Beltway." Read the full review.

"Skipping a Beat" also was listed in the "10 Titles to Pick Up Now" column in O Magazine. Here's a link to the piece, which calls the novel "engaging."

Two Featured Authors Make Washington Post Bestseller Lists

Two Gaithersburg Book Festival featured authors made their debuts on Washington Post bestseller lists this week.

• Eleanor Brown's "The Weird Sisters" made its debut on this week's Washington Post hardcover fiction bestseller list at #10. See the full bestseller lists.
• Douglas Waller's "Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage" made its debut on this week's Washington Post poli/sci list at #7. See the full list.
  

What books do you think deserve to be on the bestseller lists?

Alex Berenson Makes Washington Post Bestsellers List

Good news for another Gaithersburg Book Festival author! Alex Berenson's politically-charged thriller, "The Secret Soldier," joined the Washington Post's fiction hardcover list at #7 this week. Read more. Then make sure you come see him at the GBF on May 21.

Get Thee to a Bookstore to Buy "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown

Washington Post critic Ron Charles quotes Polonius's good advice to "read on this book" and advises anyone who knows "a Stratfordian who's always quoting the Bard" to "get thee to a bookstore" in his mostly positive review of "The Weird Sisters" by Eleanor Brown.

Charles also calls the book smart and hopeful. Read the full review.

Brown is a Featured Author at the 2011 Gaithersburg Book Festival. Come meet her on May 21st, and read about more of our Featured Authors.