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GalleyCat contributor and eBookNewser editor Dianna Dilworth will be covering the National Book Awards tonight at Cipriani Wall Street. Follow her coverage live on our GalleyCat Twitter feed and on this blog. Below, we’ve linked to free samples of all the National Book Awards finalists.

At the ceremony three years ago, this GalleyCat editor interviewed Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, NBA finalist Salvatore Scibona, NBA executive director Harold Augenbraum and literary blogger Edward Champion about the Great Recession (video embedded above). The stock market had just plunged 400 points and writers gathered for the awards a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange.

This year, the city is still divided over Occupy Wall Street eviction and readers around the country wonder about the future Occupy Wall Street library. It should make for an interesting evening.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

For a while, it looked like cell phones were going to put watchmakers out of business (but Gen Y is developing a retro fondness for timepieces…though the analog versions are treated as accessories, and wearers most often check their phones for... Read the rest of this post

Amazon has launched The Back Story, a page promising “author interviews, essays, guest reviews, recipes, and much, much more.”

Amazon has uploaded five videos featuring author interviews with celebrity chef Tom Douglas, bestselling author Joshua Foer, teen fiction writer Holly Black, young-adult novelist Cassandra Clare, and Gossip Girl producer John Stephens. Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell revealed Carrie Bradshaw’s 1980s playlist in honor of her new title Summer and the City.

What do you think? Managing editor Mari Malcolm explained: ”We love these conversations so much that we wanted to share them with our customers. We hope that customers will take the opportunity to submit questions on our Amazon Books Facebook page or through our blog, Omnivoracious. They can also contact us at authorinterviews@amazon.com.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’re already enjoying the second installment of The Carrie Diaries series, Summer And The City, which came out last week, when we had a chance to chat with author Candace Bushnell to get the background on this addition to many summer reading... Read the rest of this post

Style icon Nicole Richie and menswear designer John Varvatos joined NBC’s ‘The Fashion Star’ (as celebrity mentors and judges in the upcoming style show, where aspiring designers compete for a multimillion-dollar contract to launch their own... Read the rest of this post

It’s Vacation Time around the office lately, especially now that ALA is over.  But one of the delights of being offline is getting to catch up once you’re back online: it’s always fun to see that the electronic world has continued to spin even in your absence.  Here are some of the posts I’ve read and loved since being back in the office:

• From Abby the Librarian: first, I loved her discussion of summer reading clubs – she’s had a phenomenal turn-out for hers…further evidence that libraries and librarians provide vital and popular services.  I also enjoyed her post on ALA’s Emerging Leaders program.  I was an ALA Emerging Leader (Class of 2008) and agree with everything Abby had to say – it really is a great program and I encourage librarians who meet the qualifications to apply (you still have a little time left – the deadline is August 1st!).
• Jenny Brown (of Shelf Awareness fame) over at twentybyjenny wrote a lovely reflection of Kevin Henkes’ JUNONIA: “For a child, sometimes the small shifts can feel like tectonic plates realigning their world. That’s certainly the case for Alice. And with Alice as a companion, children know that if she can survive all these changes, they can, too.“
• The Reclusive Bibliophile created a booklist “if you like cooking, baking, and candy making…”  Some of my favorite foodie books are on there, and I’d love to add THE KING’S TASTER by Kenneth Oppel, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, and just wait until you read our upcoming BLISS by Kathryn Littlewood (February 2012)!
• Jennifer Hubert Swan over at Reading Rants reviews Candace Bushnell’s SUMMER AND THE CITY, the sequel to THE CARRIE DIARIES.  It’s the perfect summer beach read (both Jen’s blog and SUMMER AND THE CITY)!
• Melissa Rabey at librarian by day has a fun cover comparison post that involves Chris Crutcher’s DEADLINE, and she also posted a review of P.J. Converse’s SUBWAY GIRL.
• A lovely review of
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In today's Ypulse Books, Alli rounds up some of the more interesting books inundating her mailbox over the past month including Does My Head Look Big In This? , a new YA book about an Australian-Palestinian teenager who has decided to wear the... Read the rest of this post

Before Manolo’s and Cosmo’s there was homework and parental issues. The much-anticipated prequel to Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell is excerpted in the April issue of Teen Vogue and will be on shelves at the end of April.

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell. Balzer & Bray, an imprint of Harper Collins. 2010. ARC provided by publisher.

The Plot: Carrie Bradshaw, high school senior, living in the suburbs far from New York City.

What she wants: to be a writer. To be a writer in New York City.

What her father wants for her: to go to nearby Brown, his alma mater. And to be a scientist.

And there's also Sebastian Kydd. The new boy in school.

Carrie wants Sebastian. And wants to be a good friend to her friends, whatever that means. She wants to make herself happy without disappointing her family and friends.

Most of all, Carrie wants to find out who she is. And to become the Carrie Bradshaw she is meant to be.

The Good:

I loved, loved, loved this book. Yes, in part because I am a fan of both the book Sex and the City and the HBO series Sex and the City, which feature a thirtysomething Carrie Bradshaw. I loved this book because it works as a classic coming of age story, with Carrie figuring out her world and her place in it; with that world including expanding her horizons beyond her small town. Carrie works on being a writer and what that means. As the book starts, Carrie has been rejected for a summer writing program in New York City. She is at first reluctant to join the school newspaper (it's not her type of writing); she does not become an investigative journalist, rather, (spoiler!!!) she starts looking at herself and her friends and foes as source material, providing biting (and anonymous) commentary on high school.

Sorry about that spoiler. But this is a prequel of sorts, to both the book and film Carrie, so the reader "knows" where Carrie will end up, at least in fifteen odd years. The question isn't whether Carrie become a writer living in New York City; the question is how that happens. And while there is romance, sex, and love in The Carrie Diaries, this is equally about becoming an artist, finding a voice, and discovering what is, and isn't, important.

There is romance in the book: Carrie falls for new kid Sebastian Kydd, handsome with a reputation. A typical enough story for a young adult book. What happens (and doesn't h

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 1, 2010

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases, the bestsellers, and kids’ book events.

2010 Children’s Choice Book Awards Nominees

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

2010 Children’s Choice Book Awards Winners

Book Giveaways

Summer Reading Suggestions: Random House Children’s Books

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Linger

(Young Adult)

How to Train Your Dragon Book 7:…

by Cressida Cowell

(Ages 8-12)

Pinkalicious: Tickled Pink
by Victoria Kann

(Ages 4-8)

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Ladybug Girl at the Beach

by Jacky Davis, David Soman

(Ages 3-7)

Ed. Note: In today's Youth Advisory Board post, Caroline reports back from a memorable author panel in New York featuring Cecily Von Ziegesar ("Gossip Girl"), Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City) and debut author J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement).... Read the rest of this post

THE CARRIE DIARIES by Candace Bushnell introduced the world to Carrie Bradshaw as a teenager, leading up to her move to New York City (wasn’t the end line of THE CARRIE DIARIES the most perfect thing?!).

Now there’s SUMMER AND THE CITY.  Carrie Bradshaw is loving NYC in the summer, especially since she’s taking her first real writing class.  But making it in the big city isn’t all glamour and gorgeousness, as Carrie soon discovers.

SUMMER AND THE CITY is the continuing story of Carrie Bradshaw, an icon of fashion and New York City.  On-sale April 26, 2011.

Can’t make it to New York this summer?  We have the next best thing: we’re giving away TWO gift packs containing an advanced readers copy of SUMMER AND THE CITY, a letter from Candace Bushnell, and a “I <Heart> NYC” t-shirt.  Tell us in the comments what you love about Carrie Bradshaw and/or New York City, and you’ll be entered to win one of the two prize packages.  Contest ends 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 20th.  Winners will be announced Monday, March 21st.

Congratulations to our SUMMER AND THE CITY giveaway winners:

GABRIELLE

and

SUMMER LAURIE!

And be sure to check out SUMMER AND THE CITY when it comes out on April 26, 2011!