In which she reveals that she doesn’t watch Downton Abbey.

The interview airs this Sunday.

USA Today leads up to Oprah’s interview with Ayana Matthis, the author of her latest Book Club 2.0 pick, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, (RH/Knopf), with one of their own (click through for video).

Oprah’s interview appears on OWN network’s  Super Soul Sunday, this week, February 3, at 11 a.m. ET/PT.

Promo for the show also promises “OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB 2.0 NEWS!” which may mean the announcement of a new title.

A taste of Oprah’s interview below:

If you weren’t a member of the sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall for John Green and brother Hank’s appearance Tuesday night, you can watch it here (take the advice to “Skip to the beginning of the show,” which is about 3 minutes in to the video):

The New York Times reviewed the show, saying it  ”…had the polish of a really good high school talent night, but the audience members…lapped up every minute.”

If you’ve wondered what it’s like to be in the midst of the world’s largest book fair (featuring over 7,000 exhibitors in multiple buildings), the New Yorker gives a good impression of it:

The Frankfurt Book Fair, which took place in Germany last week, feels like an airport (gift shops, people movers, high ceilings, ample bathrooms, the anxiety of missing something), except you can’t go anywhere.

And, in a description that could be applied to an ALA show floor, “Little separates the book fair from a tech fair,” but with a different twist:

The juxtaposition of game giants with paper products seemed an accurate—if slightly disorienting—reflection of today’s publishing landscape. The book publishers are doing digital products and the video-game makers are doing books.

Tellingly, the story focuses on the technology and not the books.

As part of the Penguin First Flights program, the authors of the upcoming debut novel, City of Dark Magic (pictured above) joined us for an online chat on October 3. Click below to read a transcript of the event.

This is the fifth episode in the program. To learn about upcoming titles and to find out how to join, click here.

Join us for today’s GalleyChat, from 4 to 5 p.m., Eastern (3:30 for virtual cocktails). Hashtag #ewgc [more info on how to join here].

We’ll be chatting about the books librarians are looking forward to for the fall.

Below are a few of the titles that came up during our August chat (all are available on Edelweiss):

The End of Your Life Book Club, Will Schwalbe (RH/Knopf 10/2) — The sure-fire success of the fall. When the author’s mother learns she is dying of cancer, the two of them create their own private book club. Through books, they are able to talk more honestly about what matters the most to each of them.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan (S&S/Free Press, 11/13)  – Memoir  by a young New York Post reporter who suddenly wakes up strapped down in a hospital.

Killer Librarian Mary Lou Kirwin (S&S/Pocket Books) — This one comes with an irresistible tag line: “When she checks in, someone always checks out..”

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic David Quammen, (W.W. Norton 10/1) — Scary science, sure to be heavily covered in the media this fall.

Join us for today’s GalleyChat, from 4 to 5 p.m., Eastern (3:30 for virtual cocktails). Hashtag #ewgc [more info on how to join here].

We’ll be chatting about the books librarians are looking forward to for the fall.

Last month, GalleyChatters were buzzing about dozens of titles (remember, this group saw Gone Girl coming back in March), including:

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan, (Macmillan/FSG, 10/2) —  several GalleyChatters said this is their favorite of the year so far. It was also selected by most of the panelists during BEA’s Librarian  Shout ‘n’ Share panel, with GalleyChat regular Kaite Stover giving it this book talk:

Clay, a recently downsized web & graphic designer takes a job at an obscure San Francisco bookstore run by an otherworldly and old world mannered gentleman, Mr. Penumbra. The bookstore is patronized by an unusual clientele, a secret biblio-society. They “check out” books using bookstore member cards and return the books at their leisure. Clay’s job is to work the graveyard shift, fetching books and recording every minute detail of a customer’s appearance, mood, and conversation in a giant logbook.

In an effort to assist the business end of the bookstore and yank it into the iAge, Clay creates a data visualization program that tracks the bookstore’s customers’ borrowing patterns. Assisted by fellow techno-geeks, Clay is about to discover the purpose of the bookstore and hopefully thwart the cabal trying to destroy the bookstore and Mr. Penumbra.

This hip literary Easter egg hunt will appeal to fans of careful plotting with quirky characters in a page-turning story that asks which is more immortal, print books or ebooks?

The End of Your Life Book Club, Will Schwalbe, (RH/Knopf, 10/2; RH Audio; BOT Audio; Thorndike Large Print) — Request Digital ARC from Edelweiss – there’s high expectations for this one, which Kaite Stover also booktalked at the BEA Shout ‘n’ Share panel:

It should come as no surprise that this book will be on every book groups’ list this year. An unsentimental portrait of a man’s love for his funny, wise, loving mother as she undergoes chemo treatments and their shared passion for books and reading.

Both mother and son recognize one of the most valuable traits of books, “they help us talk. But they also give us something we all can talk about when we don’t want to talk about ourselves.”

Each chapter is titled after a book that Will’s mother, Mary Anne, has read and loved. While telling the story of his mother’s treatment, the family’s reactions, and his own responses to the reading, Schwalbe deftly works in the most discussable elements

The Cutting Season, Attica Locke, (Harper; 9/18; Dreamscape Audio; HarperLuxe) —  Request Digital ARC from Edelweiss – There was strong enthusiasm for this new mystery, which follows the author’s debut, Black Water Rising. It was also presented at BEA’s Shout ‘n’ Share, by Cuyahoga’s Wendy Bartlett,

The Cutting Season has the best opening line of any book this fall, “It was during the Thompson-Delacriox wedding, Caren’s first day on the job, that a cottonmouth, measuring the length of a Cadillac, fell some twenty feet from a live oak on the front lawn, landing like a coil of rope in the lap of the bride’s future mother-in-law.”

Not enough people know about this author. Her settings remind me of Dave Robicheaux’s Louisiana in the James Lee Burke books. She writes outstanding literary thrillers à la Dennis Lehane [ed note: Lehane also sees it that way; it's the first pick in his new line of books, designated by the burst on the cover] or some Laura Lippman’s standalones. If your customers don’t know Attica Locke, here’s the chance to turn them on to a great new talent. Grab some backlist copies of her debut, Black Water Rising and create a display with The Cutting Season.

Last night, I was a “giver” for World Book Night. It was so much fun, from opening my Giver Boxes, with specially printed editions of Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie (thanks to Kate, who like all the authors, gave up royalties on these special editions, Candlewick and all the other publishers who donated books and the printers and binders who created the special editions)…

…to delighting kids with a free book (yes, the diner in the background on the left IS from Seinfeld).

…to the adults who wanted to get in on the act:

For a list of all the books in the program, click here. More stories and photos on the WBN Facebook page.

Missed out this year? Join the mailing list to be updated on next year’s program.

Thanks to all of you who are going out tonight to “Spread the Love of Reading, Person to Person” as you give out books to surprised (and delighted) strangers on World Book Night.

Share your stories by @ tagging World Book Night USA in your Facebook posts (organizer Carl Lennertz begs you not to email your photos; it will crash the mailbox). On Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr, use the hashtag #wbnamerica. We’re already seeing some great stories and photos on the WBN Facebook page.

USA Today ran an inspiring feature on the program today. An Associated Press story also appears in many newspapers across the country.

Book giveaways are also going on in the UK, Germany and Ireland (it may not be an actual worldwide event yet, but it’s more so than the World Series).

Have fun everyone, and be safe out there.

If you missed out this year, sign up here to be involved in the program next year.

The AuthorChat with Jean Zimmerman, author of The Orphanmaster is now archived here.

The Orphanmaster is a historical thriller, set in 17th C Manhattan (then New Amsterdam). It’s rich with historical detail that makes the period come alive, based on Jean’s research (she has written several nonfiction titles, including The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune and a Dynasty, Harcourt, 2006).

The Orphanmaster Jean Zimmerman Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 432 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2012-06-19) ISBN / EAN: 0670023647 / 9780670023646

Charlotte Rogan captivated the audience when she spoke last month at PLA’s Debut Authors panel. The NYT interviews her today about her book, Lifeboat, saying it is,

…already riding a wave of heady praise and early reviews. It carries sparkling blurbs by Emma Donoghue, the author of Room, and Hilary Mantel, the author of Wolf Hall. Booksellers have predicted that it will become a hit among book club members, those prized word-of-mouth readers who have helped make best sellers out of novels like The Help and The Paris Wife.

With its theme of a WWI shipwreck and survivors facing moral crises, it echoes James Cameron’s The Titanic which opens today in IMAX theaters (in others on Friday), a connection pointed out by many, including the UK’s Guardian, which calls it “A compelling and disquieting first novel.”

Libraries are showing holds, averaging 5:1.

The Lifeboat: A Novel Charlotte Rogan Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hachette/Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur – (2012-04-03) ISBN : 9780316185905

Hachette Audio

When we saw this book, we could hardly contain ourselves:

What better combo than librarians + knitting + cats?

Fortunately, our friends at Workman/Black Dog & Leventhal agreed and prevailed upon author Sally Muir to offer an opportunity for a librarian to win a knitted version of his or her very own cat.

To enter, email the publisher with a photo of your beautiful feline (be sure to note if the cat works in a library). The cut-off date is Thursday, 4/12/12 at midnight, ET.

Five runners-up will win a copy of the book.