The Book Studio Blog

At $2, the 1.5 hour bus ride from Quito up to the mountain town of Otvalo, Ecuador sounded like one of the world's best travel bargains.  The seats were comfortable enough. The bus was clean. But before the bus pulled out of the terminal, the driver turned on the trip's entertainment: Black Hawk Down (at top volume).  First, a slow crawl through Quito—the heavy smell of emissions made a fine companion to the movie—and, then, we raced up the mountain roads.  The bus driver swerved into the other lane to pass slower buses--those that were only going two times the speed limit.  I got off the bus a stop early, badly in need of the headache-fighting powers of a Coke.

In my last post, I talked about history's losers. Vladimir Ilyich Ulanov, known to history as "Lenin," cannot properly be called a loser or a winner, but he can be deemed a Person of Significance.

Any book knowledge I previously had of Lenin was confined to my experience as an undergraduate political-science major (I did see plenty of his busts in Eastern Europe when I lived in Soviet-era Germany!). I wasn't at all sure what to expect when I picked up "Lenin's Brother: The Origins of the October Revolution" (Norton) by Philip Pomper, a professor of history at Wesleyan University.

I adore the group of books we've gathered in this week's giveaway, because they are about different stages that the distaff side of humanity experiences -- and they are three different types of books, too.

For marriage, we've got "Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding" by Judith Martin and Jacobina Martin (Miss Manners and her daughter), a how-to book that is also extremely funny. For grandmotherhood, we've got "Eye of My Heart" by Barbara Graham, an anthology of essays from many wonderful writers. For running away and trying to figure it all out? "The Scenic Route" by Binnie Kirshenbaum, a novel with incredibly beautiful language and style.

Ten randomly chosen giveaway winners will receive all three of these books. All you have to do for a chance is answer this question in our Comments section:

If you wrote a book about one woman -- any woman -- what would it be called?

History has its winners, and we all know their names: Alexander the Great. Henry the Fifth. General Eisenhower. For hundreds of years, history books, schoolrooms, and popular media emphasized the winners, celebrating their names in stories, song, documentaries, and more.

However, over the past few decades writers have begun to investigate history's losers, and these stories can be fascinating. If Michael Kranish hadn't written "Flight from Monticello: Jefferson at War," I doubt I would ever have known that Benedict Arnold conducted at least one large-scale naval and military invasion of Virginia -- or that Thomas Jefferson, revered as one of our Founding Fathers, was vilified during that invasion for fleeing his post as Governor of Virginia.

My mouth waters at the image of an elegant eclair, its pate choux puffed up and golden brown, decadently glazed in shiny dark chocolate ganache. Do I dare turn the page? I do!

A vivid two-page spread of madeline cookies takes my breath away as the haunting aroma of butter tickles my nose. A figment of my imagination? I flip back to an earlier page.

A close-up photo of rainbow-hued macaroon cookies in bright raspberry pink, pistachio green, violet purple and almond cream makes me swoon.

Paris Patisseries: History, Shops, Recipes is no ordinary coffee table book. It is unadulterated pastry porn for which an accompanying cup of strong coffee is highly recommended – not to mention a Gauloise after you've shut the book's cover.

How do I even begin to introduce this video? (You'll notice I'm not in it, which is due to the technical and logistical difficulties of filming in a five-star hotel suite. The added benefit is that the focus is on the wonderful authors.)

I got to meet and interview Dame Julie Andrews with her daughter and co-author Emma Walton Hamilton for their new book, "Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies."

!!!!!

Even months after conducting this interview, I can scarcely believe it. I met Julie Andrews. Somebody, pinch me...

However, if you watch the interview, I hope you'll notice not just Dame Andrews and Ms. Hamilton as fascinating and impassioned advocates for reading, but that you'll also see the warm and loving mother-daughter relationship that they share. 

I truly enjoy almost every interview I conduct for The Book Studio, but some of these interviews really do become better conversations than others. There are so many factors that go into a good interview, including the strength of a book's content and its author's ease in discussing that content. James McGrath Morris has an incredible subject in Joseph Pulitzer -- and he's wonderfully well versed in that subject.