Happy February! We’re celebrating the end of winter (will it ever come?), Valentine’s Day and our brand new issue with a doozy of a giveaway.
There’s something for everybody in our February issue, from coverage of Don DeLillo’s new novel to an extended love & romance section (including a roundup of relationship memoirs and an interview with Kristan Higgins).
Three February novels look especially good: Louise Erdrich’s Shadow Tag; Adriana Trigiani’s Brava, Valentine; and Michael J. White’s Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter. . . and we’re giving them away to one lucky reader. Leave a comment for a chance to win: Which book from our February issue do you MOST want to read? (Browse our print edition webpage for a complete list of titles.) Deadline: Friday at 10 a.m. U.S. entries only, please.
Here’s a rundown of the goods:
Shadow Tag tells the story of Irene America, the wife of a painter who creates adoring, sensual and humiliating portraits—of Irene. Her husband starts reading her diary as their marriage deteriorates, and Irene starts a second, secret diary. In BookPage, reviewer Jillian Quint writes, “Erdrich is a muscular and fearless writer, and she explores her characters with both compassion and criticism and through lyrical and visceral prose.”
Reader favorite Adriana Trigiani is back with a sequel to Very Valentine. In Brava, Valentine, series star Valentine Roncalli takes over her family’s shoe business, goes on a quest to Argentina and discovers a family scandal. The novel is “laugh-out-loud funny” and “an unexpectedly poignant examination of the power and pull of family, faith and love,” writes reviewer Amy Scribner.
In debut novel Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter, 17-year-old George Flynn moves to Des Moines and becomes infatuated with the Schell sisters until a tragic accident almost tears them apart. “While they’re familiar to all, the territories of love and grief have no signposts,” writes Harvey Freedenberg. “Michael J. White has marked out a memorable path through this often forbidding landscape.”
Enter now for a chance to win these books!
I’m very, very excited about “Shadow Tag.” I’m a big fan of Erdrich’s work, and can’t wait to read her latest!
I’m with Sara — can’t wait for Shadow Tag. I’m also excited for The Paper Bride (in the Lifestyles section) – getting married in October and trying to find anyway possible to save some money in the process!!
I’d love to read I Don’t Care About Your Band: What I Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Faux Sensitive Hipsters, Felons and Other Guys I’ve Dated — the title is definitely intriguing!
I have to say Shadow Tag is of interest to me. This is a new author that I have not read before.
Thanks for this lovely feature. Brava Valentine is what I am looking forward to. I read Very Valentine and loved it so this continuation should be even better.
I just finished Very Valentine, and would love a shot at the sequel. Can’t wait to find out what Valentine’s up to these days! The other titles look interesting as well..I love to read!
I’d love to read Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter. I’m always excited to find a new author to read!
I’m going to have to say, “Wearing Underwear Is a Lot Like Laughter,” simply because the title is awesome.
I can’t wait to read Adriana Trigiani’s Brava, Valentine – love her books!
I love to read debut novels, so I would like to read Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter.
My second choice would be Louise Erdrich’s latest, Shadow Tag.
I had just finished reading a review of Weeping Under Water Looks a Lot Like Laughter the other day and thought how interestingit sounded. I’m new to this website – becoming active on it after getting a copy of the BookPage in an order from BooksaMillion I placed at Christmas – - and fell deeply in love with it!! What a great publication and grea giveways!! I’ll cross my fingers and hope cupid is on my side!
Hi Kristina,
Welcome to BookPage! Keep your eye on The Book Case for more giveaways and book news. You can also subscribe to e-newsletters, rate books and read about authors on our website. Enjoy!
I am looking forward to reading Adriana Trigiani’s Brava, Valentine. I have the first of these books, Very Valentine, sitting in my next to read pile of books and would be thrilled to get this book!
I’d like to read Shadow Tag; I’ve never read Erdrich and the plot of this one sounds really interesting to me.
I purchased Very Valentine last year so that I could take it on vacation. I’m planning this winter’s vacation and would love to have Brava, Valentine to take with me.
Cannot wait to read the new Louise Erdrich, as she is an author I follow.
Each of her books is so richly plotted
with so many wonderfully odd characters
that I remember them long after the book is read. She is an author that I recommend to many of our customers-especially “Last Miracle at Little No Horse” my all-time favorite.
can’t decide: Secrets of Eden by Chris B. sounds challenging due to the subject matter, or The Postmistress – I love historical fiction!
I just finished Very Valentine yesterday. Would love to read Brava Valentine next.
I think Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter looks like it will be a good read and can’t wait to start on it.
Brava Valentine sounds so apt for the month & has everything in a book that I look for…romance, laughter, suspense, etc. Sounds like a winner!
Librarians are my heroes so I’m looking forward to This Book is Overdue by Marilyn Johnson.
I would love to read Brava Valentine! Since I am a librarian, I would love to read This Book is Overdue as welle.
I can’t wait to read Brava, Valentine, but Shadow Tag sounds really good too. Can’t wait to read both!
All three sound great — but I have a bias for all things Louise Erdrich.
Shadow Tag would be my first pick. I like Louise Erdrich’s writing. I’ve been waiting for something new!
I love “Book Page”, started getting the daily book reviews recently, and now have discovered “The Book Case”! This is great – I love reading about books almost as much as I love reading the actual books! “Brava, Valentine” is my first choice because I sure could use a little (lot, actually)laughter in the dead of winter!
Can’t wait to read Brava Valentine….
I’d love to read Brava, Valentine.
All those books look fabulous! I don’t know if I can pick just one I want to read…
I’m very interested in reading Shadow Tag. I read the review and it sounds like just the type of book I would devour in one sitting.
All of the books sound interesting so it wouldn’t really matter to me which one I won. Thank you.
All thebooks look great – hard to choose one I would prefer!
Shadow Tag sounds very interesting. I’ve never read any books by Louise Erdrich, and would like to do so.
Shadowtag sounds really interesting to me as I’m
a journaling person always wondering what people
would think if they read my journal.
I hope I win the books!
“Doors Open”, the new Ian Rankin books sounds terrific – I love all of his mysteries. That’s my pick!
There are many great titles this month, but I am most intrigued by The Wife’s Tale. Intrigued by the perspective of the very obese.
I just read Kristina’s review of Weeping Under Water Looks a Lot Like Laughter and am looking forward to getting it to read from my local library.
Looking forward to Brava, Valentine. Read the first book and loved it.
Shadow Tag for sure. I’ve read only ONE Louise Erdrich novel that I didn’t really care for. Everything else I’ve read by her has been SUPERB!
I am looking forward to reading Shadow Tag. It sounds different from her other books and should be interesting.
Shadow Tag has peaked my interest. Think I might have discovered a fantastic new author. Will have to check out some of her other books as well.
I am looking forward to continuing Valentine’s saga in Brava Valentine. I am finishing Very Valentine right now. I loved Trigiani’s first series too!!
Shadow Tag sounds intriguing and different from many Louise Erdich novels I’ve read.
I think it would be “Burning Land” by Bernard Cornwell. I enjoy his work and I’m sure this would be another excellent read.
I also can’t wait for “The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet’s Nest” to come out.
These three books sound wonderful. I am particularly intrigued by “Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter” because love and grief can be a volatile, destructive combination and I wonder what the other does with them in this book. Shadow Tag also sounds interesting and almost scary with the husband’s strange paintings and then he’s reading his wife’s diary, intriguing! Thank goodness Brava, Valentine is lighter and funny, a nice break from the intensity of the other two books listed here!
I’m looking forward to reading “Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter” because debut novels always intrigue me.
The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell I am looking forward too.. but so many of the books sound great -
I’m intrigued by “Weeping Under Water Looks a Lot Like Laughter”. I have teenage grandchildren so I can relate to this age. Believe it or not, I can still remember the trials and tribulations of the parents of these grandchildren. They lived through it and turned out well….but it can be trying at times.
I am looking forward to Brava Valentine. I really enjoyed the first in the trilogy and am looking forward to this sequel!
I love Adriana Trigiani, so Brava Valentine would be my first choice, although there are many others here I’d love to try.
I really enjoyed Very Valentine. I would be very interested in reading the follow up to that book.
Brava Valentine would be my first choice!
Shadow Tag sounds really good too me, also I’d like to try The Postmistress this one also sounds great to read. I enjoy stories like these ones. Plus there is also The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell, this guy can really bring history to life in his fast paced tales, he should he has written over 40 of them, lol. But I’d be happen with any one of these, just the chance is great. Thank You!
I would like to read Brava, Valantine.”Laugh-out-loud-funny” is something we all could use this time of year.
Cutos to all the books. I couldn’t pick. Any book would be great to win and read.
I just finished rereading “The Catcher in the Rye”. I love “coming of age” novels. We are all marred and shaped by our experiences of youth. I can’t wait to read “Weeping Under Water Looks a Lot Like Laughter”.
All these books look very interesting! Any one of them would be good winter reading!
All 3 of these books sound amazing! Thank you for the opportunity to win them. They will all go on my TBR list nonetheless.
I just added that Weeping Under Water book to my Goodreads list. I love the cover and the story sounds wonderful too.
All these sound great, but I think Shadow Tag would be my book of choice. Thanks for entering me!!!
WEEPING UNDER WATER LOOKS A LOT LIKE LAUGHTER is one of the best titles I’ve heard in a long time. It’s reminiscent of SNOW FALLING SOFTLY ON CEDARS, which also was a wonderfully poetic title…. All the books sound wonderful! I want to read them all…
Thanks for keeping us updated on the latest “good reads’! From my experience with past selections, I have not been disappointed by the choices!
Brava, Valentine sounds good to me!
I’ve been waiting for Brava, Valentine. It’s finally available and I’m on the list to get a copy.
I love to scout out new authors! Looking forward to reading all of their works!
Shadow Tag sounds interesting to me. About a wife of a painter. I’m married and an artist myself, so I best can relate to this story. Thanks for the contests. Keep them coming.
I would pick Shadow Tag. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this author’s other books, and can’t wait to read this new one.
I am torn betweeen Shadow Tag and Brava Valentine as I like both authors. I read Very Valentine last year and my book group is reading it this Spring.
Love Louise Erdrich’s books.
All three titles sound like they wold be enjoyable reads, but I’d like to read Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter first. It sounds like it would be both funny and thought-provoking.
I have recently read “Very Valentine” and liked it very much. I would like to read “Brava, Valentine”.
Hope I can win it.
Rose Mary
I’m eager to read “Brava, Valentine”. Today I picked up “Very Valentine” from the library so that I could read the trilogy in order. Laughing out loud sounds ideal for our long winters
I’m looking forward to Shadow Tag. Louise Erdrich creates such vivid characters and strange yet plausible situations!
“Weeping Under Water Looks a Lot Like Laughter” sounds very intriguing and is definitely my top choice. Also, I’ve been meaning to read a Louise Erdrich book for ages.
I am looking forward to reading Brava, Valentine. Love a good “laugh-out-loud funny” book.
I’d love to read SHADOW TAG, I’ve heard great things about Louise Erdrich’s work.
Weeping Underwater Looks a Lot Like Laughter and Brava, Valentine; I heard both are a delight to read and will hopefully pick them up to read soon. Both novels seem fitting for February!
I’d love to read Shadow Tag. I love reading books about artists, writers, and musicians, and adding a secret diary really piques my interest!
I am very much planning on reading “Brava Valentine”. The books from this author bring me great reading, and wonderful characters that I care about…I want to know what happens to them.
In addition to the three books in the giveaway, I would like to read “This Book is Overdue” as libraries are my second home.
Secrets of Eden, Shadow Tag, and The Postmistress–can’t wait to read them all!
I’m most looking forward to Brava Valentine. I read Very Valentine a few months ago, alternately laughing and crying because the characters reminded me so much of my own crazy, loud, unsensible shoe wearing Italian American family, right down to the spot on recreation of that most important of life events, the wedding reception. If I didn’t know better I would swear Ms. Trigiani had had crashed the party at one (or heck, all) of my cousins’ receptions. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Valentine and Co.!
Definitely SHADOW TAG by Louise Erdrich, THE GOLDEN SEASON by Connie Brockway, and A RELIABLE WIFE by Robert Goolrick.
Meljprincess AT aol DOT com
I am looking forward to reading Brava Valentine! I hope to win!! What’s not to like about funny and shoes!
Weeping Under Water…. certainly intrigues. All the plot lines seem to have something unique… who could pick just one!
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdich – she just gets better and better! I have read several of her books and can’t wait to read the new one. I am excited just to know that she will have a new book out! PLEASE CHOOSE ME!!!
I would love to read Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen. He has been one of my most favorite authors for several years. I have read his books since I was a kid and want to read this newest one of his.
Shadow Tag has my vote. Love Erdich’s writing.
I’d love to read Shadow Tag – It sounds fascinating to me.
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