ALA Book Club Central
Jonathan Miles’ ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE is New ALA Book Club Central Pick
March 13, 2018
Honorary Book Club Central Chair Sarah Jessica Parker has selected Jonathan Miles’ ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE, on sale March 13 from Hogarth, as the latest addition to the American Library Association’s Book Club Central SJP list. ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE is a remarkable novel about a paralyzed young man’s unexplainable recovery, and explores faith, science, mystery and the meaning of life.
“Jonathan Miles is a great American storyteller, a writer to celebrate with a new novel easily devoured" said Ms. Parker. “His tender, life-affirming ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE follows paraplegic veteran Cameron Harris and his sister Tanya after Cameron suddenly regains the ability to walk. The story in these pages is astoundingly joyous and deeply humane, and I can’t wait to share it with you all as the new selection for Book Club Central.”
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Jonathan Miles[/caption]
Johnathan Miles is also the author of the novels Dear American Airlines and Want Not, both New York Times Notable Books. He is a former columnist for The New York Times and has served as a contributing editor to magazines ranging from Details to Field & Stream. His journalism has been frequently anthologized in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Crime Writing. He is also the author of a book on fish and game cookery, The Wild Chef.
Jonathan Miles“Jorge Luis Borges imagined heaven as a kind of library, and I wholeheartedly subscribe to that gorgeous vision,” said Mr. Miles. “Libraries have long been the seed banks for my imagination, so I’m humbled and thrilled that Sarah Jessica Parker and the ALA have chosen ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE as their Book Club Central selection.”
In a starred review, Booklist called ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE “Vibrant, bustling, and humorous… Cleverly shaped as a journalistic report, and told in a style similar to that of John Jeremiah Sullivan and Ron Currie, Miles’ tale offers a nuanced and endlessly entertaining exploration of the age-old debate between faith and reason.” Kirkus said “Miles possesses a rare and admirable command of structure and style, shifting smoothly from Afghan patrol tactics to Catholic doctrine to neurological science; his sentences are thick with data, wittily delivered. … An expertly shaped tale about faith in collision with contemporary American culture.”
Ms. Parker’s previous picks for Book Club Central have been No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts, EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid and STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo. In addition to being honorary chair of Book Club Central, Ms. Parker is an Honorary Lifetime Board Member of United for Libraries, a division of ALA, a role she is using to raise awareness about the integral role of Friends groups in the library.
Book Club Central, designed in consultation with expert librarians, provides the public with the very best in reading and is a place for engaging content and information for book clubs and readers everywhere. Book Club Central Sponsoring Partners are Booklist, the book review magazine of the ALA; United for Libraries, a division of the ALA; and Libraries Transform, the ALA’s public awareness campaign, along with Corporate Platinum Partner Penguin Random House. Corporate Gold Partners include NoveList, OverDrive, and Sisters in Crime.
Jonathan Miles[/caption]
Johnathan Miles is also the author of the novels Dear American Airlines and Want Not, both New York Times Notable Books. He is a former columnist for The New York Times and has served as a contributing editor to magazines ranging from Details to Field & Stream. His journalism has been frequently anthologized in Best American Sports Writing and Best American Crime Writing. He is also the author of a book on fish and game cookery, The Wild Chef.
Jonathan Miles“Jorge Luis Borges imagined heaven as a kind of library, and I wholeheartedly subscribe to that gorgeous vision,” said Mr. Miles. “Libraries have long been the seed banks for my imagination, so I’m humbled and thrilled that Sarah Jessica Parker and the ALA have chosen ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE as their Book Club Central selection.”
In a starred review, Booklist called ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE “Vibrant, bustling, and humorous… Cleverly shaped as a journalistic report, and told in a style similar to that of John Jeremiah Sullivan and Ron Currie, Miles’ tale offers a nuanced and endlessly entertaining exploration of the age-old debate between faith and reason.” Kirkus said “Miles possesses a rare and admirable command of structure and style, shifting smoothly from Afghan patrol tactics to Catholic doctrine to neurological science; his sentences are thick with data, wittily delivered. … An expertly shaped tale about faith in collision with contemporary American culture.”
Ms. Parker’s previous picks for Book Club Central have been No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts, EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid and STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo. In addition to being honorary chair of Book Club Central, Ms. Parker is an Honorary Lifetime Board Member of United for Libraries, a division of ALA, a role she is using to raise awareness about the integral role of Friends groups in the library.
Book Club Central, designed in consultation with expert librarians, provides the public with the very best in reading and is a place for engaging content and information for book clubs and readers everywhere. Book Club Central Sponsoring Partners are Booklist, the book review magazine of the ALA; United for Libraries, a division of the ALA; and Libraries Transform, the ALA’s public awareness campaign, along with Corporate Platinum Partner Penguin Random House. Corporate Gold Partners include NoveList, OverDrive, and Sisters in Crime. Sarah Jessica Parker Selects Mohsin Hamid’s EXIT WEST as ALA Book Club Central SJP Fall Pick
October 11, 2017
The latest American Library Association (ALA) Book Club Central SJP pick, chosen by Honorary Book Club Central Chair Sarah Jessica Parker, is EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid, published by Riverhead. EXIT WEST has been shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and is a finalist for the 2017 Kirkus Prize. 
Ms. Parker’s second book selection for Book Club Central will be part of the kickoff of the 12th annual National Friends of Libraries Week, an initiative of United for Libraries to be held October 15-21, 2017. The celebration recognizes the advocacy and fundraising efforts of Friends of the Library groups across the country. Ms. Parker is an Honorary Lifetime Board Member of United for Libraries, a division of ALA.
“United for Libraries is excited to feature Sarah Jessica Parker’s pick, EXIT WEST, as part of National Friends of Libraries Week,” said United for Libraries President Steve Laird, president of the Reference Division of Infogroup. “Friends groups do so much on behalf of their libraries, from funding summer reading programs to hosting author events and sponsoring book clubs. As a board member of United for Libraries and honorary chair of Book Club Central, Sarah Jessica Parker is raising awareness about the integral role of Friends groups in the library.”
Book Club Central, designed in consultation with expert librarians, provides the public with the very best in reading. It debuted this past summer and since that time has become a place for engaging content and helpful information for book clubs and readers everywhere.
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Mohsin Hamid[/caption]
Ms. Parker said, “Mohsin Hamid's EXIT WEST gives a deeply real, beautiful, intricate and electrifying look at what it means to be an immigrant right now. This tale of two people forced from their homeland and searching for a home elsewhere is transporting and illuminating. I was swept away by this gorgeous, otherworldly novel and I'm so excited to offer it as our second selection for Book Club Central, as I'm convinced every reader will feel the same.”
As honorary chair of ALA’s Book Club Central, Ms. Parker will make her next book selection this winter. Ms. Parker’s inaugural pick for Book Club Central was No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts.
“I might not have become an avid reader in my childhood if it were not for the libraries where I spent countless hours, and so I might not have become a writer either,” said Mr. Hamid. “I owe libraries a great deal. I am honored that Sarah Jessica Parker and the ALA have chosen EXIT WEST.”
EXIT WEST is a timely love story that imagines the forces that transform ordinary people into refugees — and the impossible choices that follow — as they’re driven from their homes to the uncertain embrace of new lands. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, this book tells a story of love, loyalty and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times wrote, “Writing in spare, crystalline prose, Hamid conveys the experience of living in a city under siege with sharp, stabbing immediacy.” In a starred review, Booklist stated, “Caught in the whirlpool of refugees from around the world, Saeed and Nadia are tossed around like flotsam, the necessity of survival binding them together more than any starry-eyed notion of romance ever could…spellbinding writing.” The New York Review of Books wrote, “Skillful and panoramic from the outset… [A] meticulously crafted, ambitious story of many layers, many geopolitical realities, many lives and circumstances.”
Ms. Parker launched SJP for Hogarth in partnership with Molly Stern, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Crown, Hogarth, Broadway, Crown Archetype, and Three Rivers Press. SJP for Hogarth will selectively publish high-quality works of fiction by both established writers and distinctive emerging voice with critical and commercial promise. In this role, Ms. Parker will be involved in all aspects of the publication process, from their selection and acquisition to cover design and promotion with her vision providing the editorial foundation for each publication. SJP for Hogarth’s first acquisition is A PLACE FOR US, a debut novel by Fatima Mirza to be published in 2018.
For more information, visit www.bookclubcentral.org and for SJP for Hogarth: www.sjpforhogarth.com
Mohsin Hamid[/caption]
Ms. Parker said, “Mohsin Hamid's EXIT WEST gives a deeply real, beautiful, intricate and electrifying look at what it means to be an immigrant right now. This tale of two people forced from their homeland and searching for a home elsewhere is transporting and illuminating. I was swept away by this gorgeous, otherworldly novel and I'm so excited to offer it as our second selection for Book Club Central, as I'm convinced every reader will feel the same.”
As honorary chair of ALA’s Book Club Central, Ms. Parker will make her next book selection this winter. Ms. Parker’s inaugural pick for Book Club Central was No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts.
“I might not have become an avid reader in my childhood if it were not for the libraries where I spent countless hours, and so I might not have become a writer either,” said Mr. Hamid. “I owe libraries a great deal. I am honored that Sarah Jessica Parker and the ALA have chosen EXIT WEST.”
EXIT WEST is a timely love story that imagines the forces that transform ordinary people into refugees — and the impossible choices that follow — as they’re driven from their homes to the uncertain embrace of new lands. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, this book tells a story of love, loyalty and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times wrote, “Writing in spare, crystalline prose, Hamid conveys the experience of living in a city under siege with sharp, stabbing immediacy.” In a starred review, Booklist stated, “Caught in the whirlpool of refugees from around the world, Saeed and Nadia are tossed around like flotsam, the necessity of survival binding them together more than any starry-eyed notion of romance ever could…spellbinding writing.” The New York Review of Books wrote, “Skillful and panoramic from the outset… [A] meticulously crafted, ambitious story of many layers, many geopolitical realities, many lives and circumstances.”
Ms. Parker launched SJP for Hogarth in partnership with Molly Stern, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Crown, Hogarth, Broadway, Crown Archetype, and Three Rivers Press. SJP for Hogarth will selectively publish high-quality works of fiction by both established writers and distinctive emerging voice with critical and commercial promise. In this role, Ms. Parker will be involved in all aspects of the publication process, from their selection and acquisition to cover design and promotion with her vision providing the editorial foundation for each publication. SJP for Hogarth’s first acquisition is A PLACE FOR US, a debut novel by Fatima Mirza to be published in 2018.
For more information, visit www.bookclubcentral.org and for SJP for Hogarth: www.sjpforhogarth.com