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2022 Authors Night Dinner Party Hosts
Judy Batalion
Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos
One of the most important stories of World War II, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture: a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters—a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now. An instant New York Times bestseller, The Light of Days is an unforgettable true tale of war, the fight for freedom, exceptional bravery, female friendship, and survival in the face of staggering odds. “Pulses with pride and rage.” — New York Times Book Review
Carl Bernstein (minimum ticket price for this dinner is $1,000)
Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom
In this triumphant memoir, Carl Bernstein, the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of All the President’s Men and pioneer of investigative journalism, recalls his beginnings as an audacious teenage newspaper reporter in the nation’s capital―a winning tale of scrapes, gumshoeing, and American bedlam. Funny and exhilarating, poignant and frank, Chasing History is an extraordinary memoir of life on the cusp of adulthood for a determined young man with a dogged commitment to the truth. “The reader marvels as Bernstein, equipped with infinite curiosity and grit, goes from copyboy to newsman, from chasing history to making it.” ―Doris Kearns Goodwin
Bill Bratton
The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America
The epic, transformative career of Bill Bratton, legendary police commissioner and police reformer, in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. The Profession is both a searching examination of the path of policing over the past fifty years, for good and also for ill, and a master class in transformative leadership. Bill Bratton was never brought into a police department to maintain the status quo; wherever he went‑—from Boston in the ’80s to the New York Police Department in the ’90s to Los Angeles to New York again—branch reinvention was the order of the day, and he met the challenge.
Marie Brenner
The Desperate Hours: One Hospital’s Fight to Save a City on the Pandemic’s Front Lines
Award-winning Vanity Fair writer Marie Brenner shares a remarkable depiction of New York―a city in crisis―based on new, behind-the-scenes reporting that captures the resilience, peril, and compassion of the early days of the Covid pandemic. Brenner, having been granted unprecedented 18-month access to the entire New York-Presbyterian hospital system, tells the story of the doctors, nurses, residents, researchers, and suppliers who tried to save lives across the city. But The Desperate Hours is more than a thrilling account of medicine under extreme pressure. It is an intimate portrait of courageous men and women coming together in their devotion to duty, their families, each other, and the city they loved more than any other.
Tina Brown (minimum ticket price for this dinner is $1,000)
The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor — the Truth and the Turmoil
The “addictively readable” (The Washington Post) inside story of the British royal family’s battle to overcome the dramas of the Diana years—only to confront new, twenty-first-century crises. Tina Brown, former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, and the founder of The Daily Beast, has been observing and chronicling the British monarchy for three decades. Stylish, witty, and erudite, The Palace Papers is a sweeping account full of powerful revelations, newly reported details, and searing insight gleaned from remarkable access to royal insiders, that will irrevocably change how the world perceives and understands the royal family.
Pietro Cicognani
Pietro Cicognani: Architecture & Design
For 30 years, Italian-born Pietro Cicognani has been designing highly customized and exquisitely crafted country houses, city apartments, outbuildings, pool houses, and even garden plans for an A-list clientele. In the first monograph of his work, some 20 of his notable projects are featured, including a converted barn complex on Long Island, a sprawling estate in upstate New York, a chic minimalist town house in Manhattan, and a romantic seaside house and elaborate garden in the Hamptons. Illustrated with photographs by Francesco Lagnese, the book includes a foreword by Isabella Rossellini, whose country home Cicognani designed.
Katie Couric (minimum ticket price for this dinner is $1,000)
Going There
This heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest memoir shares the deeply personal life story of a girl next door and her transformation into a household name. For more than forty years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life—a story she’s never shared, until now. If you thought you knew Katie Couric, think again. Going There is the fast-paced, emotional, riveting story of a thoroughly modern woman, whose journey took her from humble origins to superstardom.
Jeanine Cummins
American Dirt
This #1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book Club pick has been translated into 34 languages and has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. It tells the story of Lydia, who lives in Acapulco with her son Luca and her journalist husband. While cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the cartels, Lydia’s life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. But after her husband’s tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and Luca find themselves joining the countless people trying to reach the United States. Everyone is running from something, but what are they running to?
Alex DeMille
The Deserter: A Novel
This instant New York Times best-selling thriller features a brilliant and unorthodox Army investigator, his enigmatic female partner, and their hunt for the Army’s most notorious—and dangerous—deserter. With ripped-from-the-headlines appeal, an exotic and dangerous locale, and the hairpin twists and inimitable humor that are signature DeMille, The Deserter is the first in a timely and thrilling new series from an unbeatable team of true masters: the #1 New York Times best seller Nelson DeMille and his son, award-winning screenwriter Alex DeMille. “Outstanding… In typical DeMille fashion, the last hundred pages move along like a ballistic missile.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Nelson DeMille
The Cuban Affair: A Novel
From the legendary #1 New York Times bestselling author of Plum Island and Night Fall, Nelson DeMille’s blistering new novel features an exciting new character—U.S. Army combat veteran Daniel “Mac” MacCormick, now a charter boat captain, who is about to set sail on his most dangerous cruise. Brilliantly written, with his signature humor, fascinating authenticity from his research trip to Cuba, and heart-pounding pace, Nelson DeMille is a true master of the genre. “The opening of The Cuban Affair is dynamite—crisp, funny and dramatic—and the climactic conclusion is masterful action writing, fast, precise and genuinely gripping.” —Newsday
Heather Einhorn & Adam Staffaroni
The Curie Society
An action-adventure original graphic novel, The Curie Society follows a team of young women recruited by an elite secret society—originally founded by Marie Curie—with the mission of supporting the most brilliant female scientists in the world. The heroines of the Curie Society use their smarts, gumption, and cutting-edge technology to protect the world from rogue scientists with nefarious plans. A selection of the 2022 Hal Clement Notable Young Adult Books List. “The characterization is deft and snappy, and the visual storytelling efficient and dynamic with an expressive color palette… A STEM treat for the curious.” —Kirkus Reviews
Andrea Elliott
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
In Invisible Child, Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. Elliott is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Her reporting has been awarded two Pulitzer Prizes, a George Polk Award, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, an Overseas Press Club award, and other honors.
Florence Fabricant
The Ladies’ Village Improvement Society Cookbook: Eating and Entertaining in East Hampton
A delicious melding of traditional taste with the flavors of the Hamptons, this cookbook offers 100 recipes for entertaining as well as for everyday meals. Vibrant original photographs shine a light on the freshness and originality of the food and the local spots from beaches to farm stands, while historical photographs and anecdotes from the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society archives and local newspapers express the best of Hamptons eating. The author of 12 cookbooks, Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer for The New York Times, where she writes the Front Burner, Off the Menu, and Pairings columns.
Amanda Fairbanks
The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind
In March 1984, the commercial fishing boat Wind Blown left Montauk Harbor on what should have been a routine offshore voyage. The fate of the Wind Blown—the second-worst nautical disaster suffered by a Montauk-based fishing vessel in over a hundred years—has become interwoven with the local folklore of the East End’s year-round population. A universal tale of family and brotherhood, The Lost Boys of Montauk is about what happens when the dreams and ambitions of affluent and working-class families collide. A journalist and author, Fairbanks’ writing has appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and The Atlantic.
Tovah Feldshuh
Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I’ve Played
This heartwarming and funny memoir from a beloved actor tells the story of a mother and daughter whose narrative reflects American cultural changes and the world’s shifting expectations of women. From Golda to Ginsburg, Yentl to Mama Rose, Tallulah to the Queen of Mean, Tovah Feldshuh has always played powerful women who aren’t afraid to sit at the table with the big boys and rule their world. But offstage, Tovah struggled to fulfill the one role she never auditioned for: Lily Feldshuh’s only daughter. “A vivid, charming memoir and reflection on an expansive career and family.” —Library Journal (starred review)
Elyssa Friedland
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
From the acclaimed author of The Floating Feldmans comes this tale of a family reunion for the ages when two clans convene for the summer at their beloved getaway in the Catskills—perfect for fans of Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Business and pleasure clash in this fast-paced, hilarious, nostalgia-filled story, where the hotel owners rediscover the magic of a bygone era of nonstop fun even as they grapple with what may be their last resort. “The vanished history of the Catskills is evoked with love and plenty of schmaltz. A high-spirited party of a book. BYOB: Bring your own borscht.” —Kirkus
Jane Green
Sister Stardust: A Novel
In her first novel inspired by a true story, Jane Green re-imagines the life of troubled icon Talitha Getty in this transporting story from a forgotten chapter of the Swinging ’60s. From afar Talitha’s life seemed perfect. In her twenties, and already a famous model and actress, she moved from London to a palace in Marrakesh, with her husband Paul Getty, the famous oil heir. There she presided over a swirling ex-pat scene filled with music, art, free love and a counterculture taking root across the world. Green is the author of twenty-one novels, including eighteen New York Times bestsellers.
Helen Harrison
An Artful Corpse (Art of Murder Mysteries, 3)
When Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton’s corpse is discovered behind the easels of Manhattan’s famed art school, whispers in the art community say he had it coming. As Benton’s list of enemies lengthens to include the school’s instructors, Vietnam War protesters, and members of Andy Warhol’s entourage, one art student is ultimately painted as the murderer. The only problem: the suspect has vanished. An art historian, museum director and journalist who specializes in modern American art, Harrison is the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, a National Historic Landmark museum and research collection in East Hampton.
Ramon Hervey II
The Fame Game: An Insider’s Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes
Legendary Hollywood entertainment manager and publicist Ramon Hervey II shares insightful tales of his remarkable four-decade career plotting and overseeing fame, success, crisis and spinning for seminal talents at the top of their game, from Little Richard, Bette Midler, and the Bee Gees, to Aaliyah, Rick James, and Vanessa Williams—a juicy and addictive retrospective that also traces the origins of fame and how social media is changing the rules. Hervey shares the hilarious, the absurd, the disappointing, and the surprising as he recalls how he became a trusted confidant to a Who’s Who in music, comedy, and film.
Amanda Hesser
The Essential New York Times Cookbook: The Recipes of Record
Ten years after the phenomenal success of her once-in-a-generation cookbook, former New York Times food editor Amanda Hesser returns with an updated edition for a new wave of home cooks. She has added 120 new but instantly iconic dishes to her mother lode of more than a thousand recipes, and devoted Times subscribers—as well as newcomers to the paper’s culinary trove—will also find scores of timeless gems. Hesser has tested and adapted each of the recipes, and she highlights her go-to favorites with wit and warmth. As Saveur declared, this is a “tremendously appealing collection of recipes that tells the story of American cooking.”
Abi Ishola-Ayodeji
Patience Is a Subtle Thief: A Novel
Hope and circumstance define a young woman’s life in this heartbreaking tale of lost innocence, set in politically volatile 1990s Nigeria, from an exciting and fresh voice in global literature. Suspenseful and evoking the subtleties of Nigerian life in a fresh and unexpected way, Patience Is a Subtle Thief is a heart-wrenching story of one young woman’s precarious journey to adulthood, and the risks and sacrifices it takes to follow her heart. “Abi Ishola-Ayodeji, award-winning journalist and television producer, can add accomplished author to her accolades with publication of this intense debut novel.”— Library Journal
James Kirchick
Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
Washington, D.C., has always been a city of secrets. Few have been more dramatic than the ones revealed in the New York Times bestseller Secret City. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, Secret City is a chronicle of American politics like no other. “Secret City is not gay history. It is American history.”―George Stephanopoulos. A widely published journalist, Kirchick has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and the New York Review of Books, among many others.
David Koepp
Aurora: A Novel
From the author of Cold Storage comes a riveting, eerily plausible thriller, told with the menace and flair of Under the Dome or Project Hail Mary, in which a worldwide cataclysm plays out in the lives of one complicated Midwestern family. Soon to be a major motion picture from Netflix and Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, author Stephen King says Aurora is a “Fantastic story, a real page-turner. Impossible to put down.” Koepp is a celebrated American screenwriter who’s written more than two dozen feature films, including the first two Jurassic Park films, Death Becomes Her, Carlito’s Way, Mission: Impossible, and Spider-Man.
Dahlma Llanos-Figuero
A Woman of Endurance: A Novel
Combining the haunting power of Toni Morrison’s Beloved with the evocative atmosphere of Phillippa Gregory’s A Respectable Trade, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa’s groundbreaking novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history—the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade—witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves. The dehumanizing violence of her life almost destroys her. But this is not a novel of defeat but rather one of survival, regeneration, and reclamation of common humanity. “The restoration of Pola’s spirituality and her deepened friendships are both touching and emotionally palpable. This harrowing story is hard to put down.” — Publishers Weekly
David Maraniss
Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe
A riveting new biography of America’s greatest all-around athlete. Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport during a period of severe racial inequity in the United States. He was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the USA in the Olympics (in both the decathlon and pentathlon) at the 1912 Olympics and played major league baseball for the New York Giants. But despite his colossal skills, Thorpe’s life was a struggle against the odds. David Maraniss is a New York Times best-selling author, has been affiliated with the Washington Post for more than forty years as an editor and writer, and twice won Pulitzer Prizes at the newspaper.
Alan Patricof
No Red Lights: Reflections on Life, 50 Years in Venture Capital, and Never Driving Alone
A look back at entrepreneurial growth and venture capital in the last half century by one of the leading figures in the industry. Extensive media and online coverage of the business arena, news of start-ups, mergers, and deals are familiar headlines these days. But that wasn’t always the case. The early years of venture capital were a far cry from today’s very public dealings. With a 50+ year career in venture capital, Alan Patricof is one of the pioneers of the venture arena. In No Red Lights, he offers a behind-the-scenes look at the past fifty years of the industry.
Francine Prose
The Vixen: A Novel
Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose returns with a dazzling new novel set in the glamorous world of 1950s New York publishing, the story of a young man tasked with editing a steamy bodice-ripper based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg—an assignment that will reveal the true cost of entering that seductive, dangerous new world. “Depending on the light, it’s either a very funny serious story or a very serious funny story. But no matter how you turn it, The Vixen offers an illuminating reflection on the slippery nature of truth in America, then and now.”—Washington Post
Maralyn Rittenour
Thursday’s Child: One Woman’s Journey to Seven Continents
Maralyn Rittenour has lived a life of accidental twists and turns full of luck, opportunity, intrigue, and at times, hardship and tragedy. From her first close call as an infant when her mother literally missed a boat that later sank, to being twice married in November and twice widowed in August, to trips to all seven continents on the globe, to her work for MI6, Thursday’s Child chronicles the life of a true adventurer, her rich family history, and the people she’s met along the way. A travel memoir to captivate and inspire the adventurer in all of us.
Wade Rouse
Magic Season: A Son’s Story
Before his success in public relations, his loving marriage and his storied writing career, Wade Rouse was simply Ted Rouse’s son. A queer kid in a conservative Ozarks community, Wade struggled at a young age to garner his father’s approval and find his voice. For decades, baseball offered Wade and his father a shared vocabulary—a way to stay in touch, to connect and to express their emotions. But when his father’s health takes a turn for the worst, Wade returns to southwest Missouri to share one final season with his father. Magic Season is an unforgettable story of love, family and forgiveness against the backdrop of America’s favorite pastime.
Deborah Goodrich Royce
Ruby Falls: A Novel
Ruby Falls is a nail-biting tale of a fragile young actress, the new husband she barely knows, and her growing suspicion that the secrets he harbors may eclipse her own. In this thrilling and twisty homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, the story ricochets through the streets of Los Angeles, a dangerous marriage to an exotic stranger, and the mind of a young woman whose past may not release her. “Royce’s prose is taut and propulsive. Ruby Falls inhabits a hallucinatory Hollywood where fact and fiction mingle freely and even the smallest acts can feel ominous… an enjoyable pastiche with plenty of twists and turns.” —Kirkus Reviews
Michael Shnayerson
Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream (Jewish Lives)
In a brief life that led to a violent end, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906–1947) rose from desperate poverty to ill‑gotten riches, from an early‑twentieth‑century family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side to a kingdom of his own making in Las Vegas. In this captivating portrait, author Michael Shnayerson sets out not to absolve Bugsy Siegel but rather to understand him in all his complexity. Siegel’s story laces through a larger, generational story of eastern European Jewish immigrants in the early‑ to mid‑twentieth century. “With a keen eye for the amusing, and humanizing detail, Shnayerson enlivens the traditional rise-and-fall narrative.”
—New York Times Book Review
Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist
Lacie’s Secrets: A Novel
Lacie’s Secrets is the latest psychological thriller from writing duo Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist, authors of the award-winning thriller The Woman in the Park. For the past 18 years, Kate Williams has tried to forget the fateful summer in which her sister Lacie’s disappearance ripped their family apart. But when their estranged mother unexpectedly dies and Kate inherits Villa Magda, the family’s summer home on the Maine coast, Kate decides that enough time has passed. With the help of her husband, her son, and their close group of friends, Kate decides to face the past and go back to Villa Magda for one last trip.
Linda Villarosa
Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation
From an award-winning writer at the New York Times Magazine and a contributor to the 1619 Project comes a landmark book that tells the full story of racial health disparities in America, revealing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of our nation. Anchored by unforgettable human stories and offering incontrovertible proof, Under the Skin is dramatic, tragic, and necessary reading. “A stunning exposé of why Black people in our society ‘live sicker and die quicker’—an eye-opening gamechanger.” — Oprah Daily
Julie Wilcox
The Win-Win Diet: How to Be Plant-Based and Still Eat What You Love
Reinvent your diet, take control of your health, and live a better life with a flexible and sustainable plant-based diet solution. For anyone looking to enhance energy, prevent disease, and reduce stress, nutritionist and wellness expert Julie Wilcox provides a flexible and delicious plant-based solution in this rigorously researched book. Wilcox offers an actionable guide to four eating patterns that allow readers to choose the approach that’s best for them: flexitarian, pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan. Featuring ninety-five perfected recipes and sample meal plans for each eating pattern, The Win-Win Diet presents a sustainable approach to enjoying meals that will help you become fit and feel great—for life.
Tia Williams
Seven Days in June
Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award‑winning novelist, who, to everyone’s surprise, shows up in New York. When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their buried traumas, but the eyebrows of the Black literati. With its keen observations of creative life in America today, Seven Days in June is a hilarious, romantic, and steamy story of two writers discovering their second chance at love. “A sexy, modern love story to start the summer off right.” — Reese Witherspoon