AAP LibraryReads BookTalk Breakfast at 2016 ALA Midwinter Meeting

The third book-related event that I attended during the 2016 ALA Midwinter Meeting was the AAP LibraryReads breakfast, held on Monday, January 11, at the Seaport Hotel in the Lighthouse I room. I bumped into a colleague in the hotel lobby and we were directed back outside and across a parking lot to another building where the Lighthouse rooms were. Upon arrival we were greeted by the organizer and encouraged to take galleys of the books that were being promoted that day. After about 15 minutes of eating and chatting at our tables, the program began. Authors who were speaking and the books they were promoting included:

Chris Cleave

• Adam Haslett. Imagine Me Gone. Based loosely on his parents' lives, with his father suffering from severe depression.
• Ann Leary. The Children. Four step-siblings deal with the fallout from their father's death.
• Simon Van Booy. Father's Day. An irresponsible man adopts his niece after her parents' deaths; as an adult she plans a trip to Paris to honor and thank him.
• Helen Simonson. The Summer Before the War. Ms. Simonson is the author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand; this is her second novel.
• Lawrence Hill. The Illegal. An African immigrant making his living by running and winning races.
• Chris Cleave. Everyone Brave Is Forgiven. Mr. Cleave is the author of Little Bee.

I always appreciate the Association of American Publishers and the events that it holds for librarians at the ALA Midwinter and Annual Conference. Teaming up with LibraryReads, they promote the books and authors that are going to be of great interest to library patrons in the upcoming year.