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Fifteen writers have been working as contributors for the “Bookends” column at The New York Times. All of them have revealed the titles that gave them “their favorite reading experience of 2014.” Below, we’ve collected free samples of most of the books on the list for your reading pleasure.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Knopf will publish Lucky Guy, the final written work by the great Nora Ephron, as part of a hardcover-only release on October 29th.

The play will be part of a $35 collection edited by Robert Gottlieb called The Most of Nora Ephron. Lucky Guy tells the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning police reporter in New York City, and Tom Hanks now stars in the Broadway edition of the play. Gottlieb introduced the book in the release:

It includes her brilliant writing as a reporter and columnist, her novel, Heartburn, and her screenplay for When Harry Met Sally… as well as her last finished work, the play Lucky Guy. Nora’s unique takes on feminism, politics, family, marriage, food, being a woman, aging, and dying — everything her readers came to admire and love her for — are represented here. Hers was a remarkable life in letters.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The great actress Meryl Streep will narrate the first ever audiobook edition of Heartburn, a novel by the late Nora Ephron.

Random House Audio will release the audiobook in July 2013 as “a digital download exclusive.” Streep and Ephron were friends, and Streep starred in an adaptation of Heartburn in 1986. Here’s more from the release:

Additionally Random House Audio will be releasing digital download exclusives of Ephron’s magazine articles and essay collections, Wallflower at the Orgy, Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble. Casting for the narrators of these three titles, also available in summer 2013, is underway. Heartburn is Ephron’s sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Vintage, a Random House imprint, will be releasing two titles by the late Nora Ephron (pictured, via) as a single volume publication.

The books, Crazy Salad: Some Things about Women and Scribble, Scribble: Notes on Media, have been out-of-print for more than a decade. This single volume will be published in both trade paperback and digital format on October 16th. This project marks the first time either title will be available as an eBook.

Here’s more from the release: “The classic Crazy Salad, first published in 1975, is an extremely funny, deceptively light look at a generation of women (and men) who helped shape the way we live now. In this distinctive, engaging, and simply hilarious view of a period of great upheaval in America, Ephron turns her keen eye and wonderful sense of humor to the media, politics, beauty products, and women’s bodies.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Nora Ephron died yesterday at 71.

In her career, she worked as a journalist before reinventing the modern romantic comedy (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally) while writing everything from novels and essays to stage plays.

WD is saddened by her passing, and our thoughts go out to her sister Hallie (who we have worked with over the years) and the rest of the Ephron family.

Here, in Nora’s honor, are some of her words from an interview we did way back in 1974—when she was 32 and a successful freelancer, before all the Hollywood success that was to come.

Here’s how writer Rex Reed described her work back then: “Great, chunky spoonfuls served in tasty style by a fresh, inventive observer who stalks the phonies and cherubs alike, sniffing them out like a hungry tiger, clamping her pretty teeth down in all spots where it hurts the most, then leaving all of her victims better off than they were before they met Nora Ephron.”

 *

“Well, it’s just that my point of view happens to be faintly cynical or humorous—and just the way I see things and that’s how it comes out when I write it.

“You better make them care about what you think. It had better be quirky or perverse or thoughtful enough so that you hit some chord in them. Otherwise it doesn’t work. I mean we’ve all read pieces where we thought, Oh, who gives a damn.”

When asked about writer’s block, and what happens when she’s completely cold and stuck on a piece—
“I am never completely cold. I don’t have writer’s block really. I do have times when I can’t get the lead and that is the only part of the story which I have serious trouble with. I don’t write a word of the article until I have the lead. It just sets the whole tone—the whole point of view. I know exactly where I am going as soon as I have the lead. … But as for being cold—as a newspaper reporter you learn that no one tolerates you if you are cold. It’s one thing you are not allowed to be. It’s not professional. You have to turn the story in. There is no room for the artist.”

“I think that readers believe that a writer becomes friends with the people he interviews and writes about—and I think there are some writers who do that—but that hasn’t happened to me. I do think it’s dangerous because then you write the article to please them, which is a terrible error.”

When asked about her writing routine—
“I don’t have much of a routine. I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don’t do anything. I just sort of have lunch—all day. I never have been able to stick to a schedule. I work when there is something due or when I am really excited about a piece.”

When asked what her main distraction was—
“Life. I mean the main thing that distracts me is the pressure to go on with one’s life. That you have to stop to have lunch with someone or you have to take the cat to the vet …”

Her advice to young writers—
“First of all, whatever you do, work in a field that has something to do with writing or publishing. So you will be exposed to what people are writing about and how they are writing, and as important, so you will be exposed to people in the business who will get to know you and will call on you if they are looking for someone for a job.

“Secondly, you have to write. And if you don’t have a job doing it, then you have to sit at home doing it.”

*Special thanks to Dylan McCartney for his help on this post.

Author, director and screenwriter Nora Ephron has passed away. She was 71 years old. She created such memorable films as When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail and Julie & Julia.

Ephron had written a number of books, including Crazy Salad, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman and I Remember Nothing: And other Reflections. In the video embedded above, she talked about her writing on The View.  Here’s more from The New York Times:

Ms. Ephron’s collection I Remember Nothing concludes with two lists, one of things she says she won’t miss and one of things she will. Among the “won’t miss” items are dry skin, Clarence Thomas, the sound of the vacuum cleaner, and panels on “Women in Film.” The other list, of the things she will miss, begins with “my kids” and “Nick” and ends this way: “Taking a bath. Coming over the bridge to Manhattan. Pie.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Buoyed by the news of my first book being released in e-format, in November of 2007, I bought a Kindle. I soon learned I’d been “lucky” to get one for the holiday season, that they’d sold out much faster than Amazon expected.


But once I got it opened and downloaded a couple of books, whether I was lucky or not was up for interpretation. I found myself more focused on the e-reader than the books, which seemed to be defeating the entire purpose.

Three years have passed. I’ve downloaded the occasional book, particularly those available only in e-format. I’ve figured out the basics: how to move around, change the font, convert .pdfs, etc. But still, the Kindle would sit quietly for weeks and sometimes months on a shelf. Did I like it? Not really. But I didn’t exactly dislike it, either.

Now, I need to add that I’m a big Sophie Kinsella fan, and her book, Remember Me? was the test-case I had used on my Kindle. But as time has passed, I realized that I barely remembered the story at all, and last month, I decided to power the Kindle up and give that book another go. And was I glad I did. Without focusing on the nuts and bolts of the e-reader, I found the book absolutely charming!

So when I got a call last week that my son had been in a snowboarding accident, in my rush to get to the hospital--and knowing there’d likely be a lot of downtime in my immediate future--I’d had the wherewithal to grab my Kindle.

And right from the first night, while he slept and I tried to stay calm and focused, that Kindle kept me company. I used the internet function to deliver a virtual bookstore to the hospital room. I looked over Top 100 lists, then at different authors’ books, occasionally pushing the “download the first chapter” button.

Over the next week in the hospital, as he grew stronger and my concentration improved, that Kindle stayed with me. During down periods, I read through those first chapters and purchased and read a humorous memoir by Nora Ephron (perhaps best known for penning “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail”). I texted friends for more recommendations, and checked those out, as well. I re-read a Stephen King novella I’d downloaded early on (which I didn’t remember very well, either.)

The short of it being, when I needed it, the Kindle was there for me. Offering me the best of all distractions: a world of books.

Now we’re home and my son is doing great. While I am threatening to take an ax to his snowboard, I am also thinking of upgrading to the newest Kindle. Because while I know my love will never lessen for paperbound books, having a virtual bookstore at my fingertips in a time of great stress was “just what the doctor” ordered for me!

How about you? Have you "made friends" with your e-reader?

What I’m Reading: My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent

Tina

Tina Ferraro
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie
The ABC’s of Kissing Boys
www.tinaferraro.com

Book lovers everywhere are all talking about the most lavish, luxurious and literary experience of a lifetime: The Algonquin Round Table Dinner. First Book, chosen as Neiman Marcus’ 2009 signature charity, is bringing the best and brightest minds of modern literature to your dinner table.  Inspired by the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920’s, the dinner, held at New York’s legendary Algonquin hotel, will include a magnificent array of literati.* Picture it now: sparkling conversation, fine food, you, a guest and . . .

Christopher Buckley
Roz Chast
Delia Ephron
Nora Ephron
Malcolm Gladwell
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Adam Gopnik
John Lithgow
Anna Deavere Smith
George Stephanopoulos
Ali Wentworth

Best of all? All proceeds from the dinner will go directly to First Book and help put books in the hands of the children who need them most.  And who knows? Maybe those books will inspire children in need to become the next generation of authors, journalists, editors, and literary geniuses.

So if you are stumped about what to give that special someone this holiday season . . .  think no more! And if you are thinking (even though I just said think no more), “Hey First Book!  I can’t afford a $200,000 dinner!”  No need to worry . . .   you can still support First Book by making a donation through the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book.  So just think about it, because it is almost certain that the Algonquin Round Table Experience is more magnificent than Santa’s elves, more memorable than Frosty the Snowman, and probably even more fabulous than Rudolph the Reindeer.

*Final guest list will include at least eight authors committed to donating their time for this wonderful evening, pending scheduling arrangements.  Substitutions could occur if unplanned absences become necessary.

I sensed this wouldn’t be just any old press event when three giant cupcake-mobiles came rolling toward us.  Only in Dallas and only at the Neiman Marcus debut of its 2009 Christmas Book would such whimsical, over-the-top motorized confections be the norm.

Known for its fantasy gifts and experiences, this year’s Neiman Marcus Christmas Book offers other remarkable forms of transport: the Icon A5 “His and Hers” amphibious aircraft (flying lessons included, good thing); the Mission One electric motorcycle that not only is environmentally correct but also a thing of beauty to behold; and a limited edition Jaguar XJL.  As for the Custom Cupcake Cars, these ingenious techno-art vehicles that were introduced at Burning Man™   offer almost as smooth a ride at 7 mph.

Why would someone from First Book be at this press event?  First Book is the featured charity in the Christmas Book.  When Neiman Marcus gave us the chance to dream up our own literary fantasy, we were excited to come to the table.

Or more accurately, The Algonquin Round Table.  We have created a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a generous person who loves books and wants to ensure that all children have that same opportunity.

The Algonquin Hotel is a literary landmark in Manhattan where ninety years ago, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and other leading writers and theater people began weekly meals at what became known as the Round Table.

We have created a contemporary Round Table with an astounding guest list of the best and wittiest, including:  Christopher Buckley, Roz Chast, Delia Ephron, Nora Ephron, Malcolm Gladwell, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Adam Gopnik, John Lithgow, Anna Deavere Smith, George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth.

The person who takes us up on this offer will enjoy an intimate dinner party with at least eight of these luminaries (though scheduling the actual date may require some changes in the guest list).  We are grateful to our friends at The Algonquin Hotel who will provide accommodations and what promises to be a spectacular meal.

This dinner party will have lasting benefit for children in need because First Book will honor the generous purchaser with a donation of 10,000 books in his or her name.

This priceless evening can be yours for $200,000, with all proceeds supporting First Book’s mission.  Even Dorothy Parker would approve.