The Book Studio Blog

We've got ten copies of "Role of a Lifetime: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Significant Living" by James Brown -- yes, THAT James Brown, meaning he of The NFL Today, not he of music. 

THIS James Brown continues to grow in the path he's following, so this week's giveaway question is:

What is the next goal you'd like to meet -- personal, professional, or spiritual?

I think that when we taped this interview I had just finished gaining all of my winter weight. I know that I'd just gotten an unfortunate haircut! 

Am I a little preoccupied with myself? Perhaps that's because...I'm interviewing myself! My wonderful, patient, longsuffering producer, Mark Jones, was quite eager to have me subjected to the old Book Studio Treatment the minute he learned I had a book coming out last fall. (For those of you not barraged by my tweets about "An Uncommon History of Common Things," which I co-authored with John Thompson, you can get much more info and buy the book with this linked sentence.)

Therese Borchard has written a book that is a fascinating amalgam of memoir and advice. I don't want to call "Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression and Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes" a "self-help" book, because even though Borchard has included lots of ways for people with depression and anxiety to help themselves, she'd be the first to say that anyone with mental illness needs outside help and support.

Borchard built her platform as an author the very hard way: She earned it through years of suffering with manic-depression. She channeled some of her lessons in her popular "Beyond Blue" blog for Beliefnet but in this new book, she also offers hope to those with similar difficulties. 

The transatlantic cousin to Armistead Maupin’s Tales of a City series returns with an airy update on the eclectic residents of the 44 Scotland Street series. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is an ideal book for a long flight, a busy schedule or the avid fan. Like a letter from a distant cousin, it can be consumed in one sitting or easily put down and picked back up again without really losing one’s place.

To the women who are slaves and mistresses of their owners in "Wench" by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the merest mark or sign can mean the difference between danger and safety, whether they're inside or outside, with loved ones or alone, above or below the free zone. A letter signals joy, or heartbreak; a pretty gown can be a reminder of lowly status -- even a small kindness may portend a great tragedy.

In other words, Lizzie, Reenie, Teesie, and Mawu walk on eggshells nearly every moment of their lives. While they tread carefully, Perkins-Valdez does not: She has reclaimed the power these women were never allowed to have in a carefully crafted and fiercely honest novel about the hypocrisies that existed during the years the United States of America was a nation that allowed human slavery.