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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The Barren Bitches Book Brigade

So, I stole this idea from the great Ann Douglas. For her new sleep book, she invited people to read the book and then everyone posted a review on the same day. Get it--an online book tour! She could then post comments under the review to respond to points or questions and she posted about the book tour on her own blog. Serenity and I totally want to do this for Elizabeth Swire Falker's new adoption book so I wrote her and proposed the idea and she said yes.

As you all know, I think her first book--the Infertility Survival Handbook--is just about the best all-inclusive, getting-you-started-with-infertility-information book out there. Great tone, great information, great writing. Falker has been through practically every test and procedure so her writing comes from her own experience. She also adopted her son, which leads us to her new book: The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Adoption.

It's subtitle is "everything you need to know about domestic and international adoption." It begins with helping you decide which type of adoption you want to pursue and then walks you through every step of the process. And the best part? Not only is Falker an adoptive parent herself, but she's an adoption lawyer. So she knows the whole system.

So who would benefit from reading this book right now and participating? Anyone who has considered adoption but wants more information, anyone who has adopted and can talk about their experience, and anyone who wants to be more informed about adoption to support their fellow stirrup queens and sperm palace jesters. Think about how nice it would be if you were doing treatments and an outsider took the time to read a book about infertility so they could read your blog with that background knowledge. And this is one last way you could get involved for National Adoption Awareness Month (November). Read a book, write a review, and comprehend adoption blogs on an entirely new level.

How the online book tour works: (1) let me know you want to participate by posting a comment on this post or emailing me at thetowncriers@gmail.com. I will create a list of everyone who is participating so people will know to go over to your blog on the review day and read your review. (2) read Falker's Ultimate Insider's Guide to Adoption. (3) write a review for the book--your reactions, your feelings, what you learned, etc. (4) post it on your blog on January 10th (that gives you 6 weeks to read and write over the holidays). People can find your review via a link from the big book tour list post on my blog. (5) read everyone else's post on their blog (oh--and this is why you can't post before the 10th. I don't want people influenced by what other people write. It should be your own reaction). (6) Falker will read the reviews and answer comments and questions in an additional post that I'll put up on January 15th. I'll go all Barbara Walters and interview her, but without the crying. Since, you know, making people cry isn't really my thing.

So it's sort of like a big, bloggity book club from the comfort of your own living room. With the author dropping in to answer questions and respond. And if this works, we can even work backwards and choose books from the book list that people love and try to set up something more regular that we do every other month or so.

Let me know if you're interested in joining and I'll create a book tour list of blogs where the reviews will appear.

4 comments:

TeamWinks said...

I'm in! She sent me an email thanking me for my blog previously. She's an amazing author.

GLouise said...

I would love to join in, especially since we will probably be pursuing adoption early in the new year. Thanks, Mel!

Anonymous said...

I'll do it.

Anonymous said...

Of course I'm totally in. Started the book already. Teamwinks is right - I like her writing thus far.