Countdown to our new book: Marketing with New Media

It's pretty incredible that in seven days readers will be able to walk into any bookstore around the country and in 25 countries around the globe and pick up a copy of our book, "Marketing with New Media: A Guide to Promoting Your Small Business Using Websites, E-Zines, Blogs, and Podcasts" (Penguin/Prentice Hall Press).

Written with fellow book club member, business partner and friend, Lena Claxton, the book came as a natural outgrowth of seminars we did on technology. We realized that businesses were clammoring for information on technology and that we could help them.

I'll post more information here over the next couple of weeks but we'll be having two big kickoff events:

1. On Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. EST we will host a worldwide launch party online. For more information, visit http://www.newmediamavens.com/page/page/6056407.htm.

2. If you live in Charlotte, come see us in person! Queens University's McColl School of Business will be hosting our kickoff party on Friday, Sept. 12 at 6: 30 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.newmediamavens.com/calendar/calendar_day/6056407/2008-9-12.htm.

Enjoy!

Speaking Volumes Sneak Peek

The book for October will be Maryann McFadden's "The Richest Season." Details TBA.
The book for November will be "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls.

Want to suggest a future book club pick? E-mail me at alison@thecharlotteweekly.com.

Happy reading!

Favorite cookbook of the moment

Run, don't walk to pick up a copy of "Two Dudes, One Pan" by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. These guys are the real deal and honed their skills in Hollywood cooking for the likes of George Clooney and friends. What I love is that this is the kind of book you can curl up on the sofa and dream about making such mouth-watering delights. It's real food that's really good. Simple stuff like roasted chicken and lemon bars and Sunday specials such as braised roasts.

Read more about why I call them the cookbook for the season in this week's Charlotte Weekly and Union County Weekly.

September Speaking Volumes Selection: The Dying Animal by Philip Roth

Love and loss are familiar themes in life and literature. But National Book Award winner and literary legendary author Philip Roth takes a new look at the topic in “The Dying Animal,” Charlotte Weekly’s book club selection for September. Hollywood producers revived interest in the novella and currently Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruise play the central characters in “Elegy” the movie inspired by the book.

The story follows cultural critic and star lecturer David Kepesh at a New York college who hopes to rediscover himself through his relationships his students. But into his life comes Consuela Castillo, a Cuban exile, who turns the table on him. In the book Roth examines the themes of eros and mortality, license and repression, selfishness and sacrifice.

Since his first book, “Goodbye, Columbus,” which won the National Book Award, Roth has been a darling of the literary scene. Numerous other best-selling books followed including “American Pastoral,” “I Married a Comunist” and “The Plot Against America.” He has made a career looking at the dissolution of relationships, the absurdity of neuroses, and the downside of his own literary fame. So much of his work draws on his roots born in New Jersey, the son of immigrant parents. Many of his readers believe that Roth has been writing his own story for nearly fifty years.

Roth’s twenty-ninth book, “Indignation” comes out on September 16 and Charlotte Weekly has won an exclusive interactive webinar with the author. Join us on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville where we will discuss his book, “The Dying Animal” and hear from the author himself about his latest work. Please RSVP by e-mailing alison@thecharlotteweekly.com.