#Erica Bauermeister

[ragazzoarcano]

“La vita è bellissima.

Ed alcune persone

te lo ricordano

più di altre, tutto qui.”

— E. Bauermeister

[nobeerreviews]

We sat in silence, letting the green in the air heal what it could.

-- Erica Bauermeister

[ma-pi-ma]

Lillian aprì il sacchetto e inalò aromi di arancia, cannella, cioccolato semidolce e qualcosa che non riuscì a identificare, intenso e misterioso, come profumo rimasto nelle pieghe di una sciarpa di cashmere.

Erica Bauermeister, da La Scuola degli Ingredienti Segreti

[winwin17]

for your ask game!

2. A book or series that's really annoyed you?

8. Talk about a character you love?

Thanks for the ask!

Honestly, as for a book that annoyed me, a particular one stands out. It was called The Scent Keeper, by Erica Bauermeister. I was quite engaged in the book, and it all came to a climax where the main character had to make a crucial decision about her future, and I was all ready to find out what she was going to do. And then ... it just ... stopped. It was like an anti-ending. I literally had to double check to see if I'd somehow downloaded an incomplete ebook.

I guess the ambiguous ending was intentional, and what I gathered from reading up on it afterward, I guess the author felt like the way it did end said what needed to be said to indicate what was meant to happen. But to me, it was just so annoying! It felt so anticlimactic. Or that there was a climax, but no resolution. Anyway, that was definitely a point of annoyance for me.

Ok, #8! I got attached really quickly to Tanner from the Michael Vey series. I can't say too much without giving spoilers for those who haven't read it, but this character is introduced in the middle of having The Worst Time. As someone who's struggled with mental health issues of my own, I think I empathized with this character's mental and emotional pain. It broke my heart to read about the PTSD he suffered from the things he was forced to do and the torture he endured, and it was happy to read about his journey to healing. Idk, I just got very attached to him, and honestly there's part of me that's inwardly just a teen with a crush on Tanner lol 😂

[illustration-alcove]

Erica Bauermeister's No Two Persons. Cover design by Young Jin Lim.

[kkecreads]

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

Published: May 2, 2023St. Martin’s PressGenre: Women’s FictionPages: 301KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily. Erica Bauermeister is the NYT bestselling author of the four novels including The Scent Keeper, The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, and The Lost Art of Mixing. Her newest novel, No Two Persons, will be…

[0mnemonic0]

"We sat in silence, letting the green in the air heal what it could."

~Erica Bauermeister, The Scent Keeper~

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Joy for Beginners | Author: Erica Bauermeister | Publisher: Berkley (2012)

[nochargebookbunch]

No Two Persons

After reading a review, I had decided not to read Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons, but it suddenly appeared in Libby, ready to be checked out. Forgetting why I had ordered it, I checked in with my best friend who reminded me she had recommended it. Trusting her opinion more than a published reviewer, I decided to read it – and glad I did. The premise is no two persons read the same book the…

[podcastconnectthedots]

I had a blast meeting book lovers, booksellers, authors, and my favorite authors.

[mercerislandbooks]

50 Years of Island Books: Erica Bauermeister

Erica Bauermeister lives in Port Townsend, Washington, with her husband and 238 wild deer. She's the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including The Scent Keeper, The School of Essential Ingredients, House Lessons: Renovating a Life, Let’s Hear It for the Girls, and her latest, No Two Persons. We've taken great pleasure in watching our community gather to celebrate her books. Lori Robinson welcomed Erica to the blog last May to launch No Two Persons, and today I'm bringing her back to contribute to our walk down Island Books memory lane.

Miriam: It's so nice to have you back here, Erica. Tell me, what are you thinking about when you walk into a bookstore?

Erica: I read once that almost 2,000 new books are published each Tuesday.  It boggles the mind, and it is what I think of each time I walk in a bookstore. I look at the selection of the books, especially the Staff Recommendations.  Are the books just the ones that everybody is talking about? Or can I sense an insightful reader’s mind behind the choices? When I encounter the latter, I know that I will also find the gems, the books I will open and realize that I need in my life, when a minute before I hadn’t even known they existed.

It takes an extraordinary amount of work to create a bookstore that feels as if it was made just for you. This is the special magic of Island Books. The tables at Island Books tempt me to read memoir, history, non-fiction, beach reads and mysteries. I find books in categories I might not otherwise, because I am tempted by  the obvious care in the selections. And I am grateful for the dedicated people who put these books in my life. To have an independent bookstore that is 50 years old and operates at such a high standard is amazing.

Miriam: I feel the same way and will spend the rest of my life marveling at the collective energy of so many minds. I'm so glad you're one of those writers as well as readers! Now, you've done multiple events over the years with Island Books. We hosted you in 2011, 2020 on Zoom at the height of the pandemic, and only a few months ago in May 2023. Do you have any particular memories from those events that stand out in your mind?

Erica: I’ve enjoyed all my visits, but I think my favorite was the most recent. It was an absurdly hot day in May. I completely expected the event to be me and a single bookseller, just sitting there sweating together.  But the welcome was so enthusiastic, and the chairs were full and the air fans were going and you could feel the community in the room. These were booksellers who loved their jobs, and customers who loved books and their bookstore. Readers in the best sense of the word. And you know what struck me at the end? The sheer number of people who bought books and had them personalized to someone else—and the smiles on their faces as they said “it’s a gift."

Miriam: I love that! In your opinion, what separates Island Books from the big bookstores and popular websites?

Erica: I love the serendipity of finding books that I didn’t know existed but which feel as if they were written just for me. Exploring the Staff Recommendations is one way, but my favorite is what I call The Bookseller Game. Rather than thinking about books in genres—literary, mystery, women’s fiction, dystopian, etc—you consider the feel of the books you most like to read. Are they plot or character driven? Do you gravitate toward long and luxurious sentences or short declarative ones? Is setting important? Do you like the puzzle of multiple narrators or the immediacy of a single, first-person narrator? Do you need a burning question at the center (who did it? why did this family fall apart? will the couple fall in love?) or do you relish just living in a different world for a while? 

Then you bring your answers to an indie bookseller and see what they suggest.  For example, the first time I played, I said I was looking for a wicked-smart novel with beautifully written sentences and an unreliable narrator. The bookseller suggested Gone, Girl. I said I didn’t read thrillers (completely forgetting the point of the game). She said “oh, you will now.” She was right, and I read more widely now because of her.

I suppose it’s possible to play this game with an algorithm, but I find algorithms bland and predictable. They know only what you have read, not what you could. The surprises happen at the smaller stores where the booksellers know their inventory. And my favorite part is watching a bookseller's face light up and hearing their enthusiasm. At its core, reading is about human connection, and the booksellers at Island Books are really, really good at it.

Miriam: Thank you. We love the work we do. That look on anyone's face when they're excited about a book is my absolute favorite as well. Readers can never go wrong with Gone Girl. Erica, it's always great to connect with you and we're grateful for your support and love for Island Books over so many years. We love your work and sharing your books with customers.

To our Island Books community: In the next 50 Years of Island Books installment, I’ll be talking to author and store friend Kevin O’Brien. The author of 21 internationally-published thrillers, he won the Spotted Owl Award for Best Pacific Northwest Mystery and served on the board of Seattle 7 Writers. Kevin's latest nail-biter, The Enemy at Home, just hit shelves in August. Check it out in the meantime!

—Miriam

[lilibetbombshell]

[ma-pi-ma]

Non l’aveva mai preoccupata il fatto che quanto scriveva non fosse indispensabile; su accontentava di essere un pensiero nella giornata di qualcuno, se ciò le lasciava lo spazio per crescere fino all’indomani.

Erica Bauermeister, da La casa dei destini intrecciati

[bargainsleuthbooks]

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister #NetGalley #ARC #BookReview

A new book explores the journey of a book, from writer to publisher to 9 readers and the impact the book made on them. #NoTwoPersons by #EricaBauermeister was an unputdownable book! #NetGalley #ARCReview #BookReview #StMartinsPress #MacMillanAudio

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.” That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go… Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and…

[narabea06]

" It's amazing how easily we can cast ourselves in the role of hero . "

- Erica Bauermeiste

[longlivetv]

If anyone is in a reading slump and trying to force themselves out of it, I highly recommend

1) Widowland by CJ Carey

2) No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

3) Help Wanted by Adele Waldman

I’m doing the read/exercise each day in May challenge so thought I’d recommend my 5 star, couldn’t put it down reads of 2024