Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha (debut novel, emerging literary voice)







UK book cover



Taiwan book cover






A few years back while in the dairy products section of our small town's grocery store I saw my friend, Naseem Rakha, and we stopped for one of those brief fun-running-into-you type of chats. Naseem had recovered from an extreme illness and she looked well and had a calm about her that was quite beautiful. I asked what she was doing......was she back at work now? She told me she was writing a book. As an acclaimed journalist, her becoming a novelist certainly didn't seem much of a leap, but the news was exciting nevertheless.

My early-on enthusiasm was not unfounded. Naseem's book, The Crying Tree, was released last week, and she is the talk of the town. Certainly so in the little town we each call home. But many other places, too. As the industry's awareness of -- and excitement about -- her book preceded its arrival in bookstores across the land, here's what Ben Beagle of The Daily News published on May 30, 2009:
A writer whose debut novel is finding her hailed as an emerging literary voice is scheduled to stop in Batavia [New York] for a booksigning in July. . .

Naseem Rakha, author of The Crying Tree, is planning to stop . . . July 29 . . .

Rakha's book is creating considerable buzz. This afternoon she is speaking at BookExpo America, a publishing industry gathering in New York City, as part of its "Emerging Voices" program. The Crying Tree has also been selected by Barnes and Noble for its fall "Discover Great New Writers" promotion. . .
Mike and I were thrilled to be among a large (standing-room-only) crowd at Powell's City of Books in Portland for the book launch on July 13. Powell's website describes the store as an independent book store . . . that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Evidently, the size of the crowd for the launch of The Crying Tree was underestimated by the store because it ran out of copies! We got our copies the next day at a small shop in our town. And to say I'm anxious to begin reading it would be an understatement.......

Is author, Naseem Rakha, scheduled for a book reading and signing event in your area? Check to see. If she comes to your city I can vouch for a wonderful experience in seeing and hearing Naseem Rakha talk about and read from The Crying Tree. Below is a short animoto of scenes from the Portland book launch.


Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.


{Note: The Animoto is embedded and shows in HTML, but for some reason does not appear in the post. If you want to view it click here.

About the Novel
About the Author
Naseem Rakha's website
Join Naseem on Facebook, where you can become a fan of The Crying Tree




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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's very exciting Lydia, to have one of your friends do so well!

Maggie May said...

How wonderful! I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Looking to the Stars said...

Lydia, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a good book :)

Lydia said...

@Svasti- I must add that Naseem has some very excited family members, also. Excited and extremely supportive.

@Maggie- That's great. I believe it would resonate with you.

@Looking to the Stars- It sure does! Thanks for commenting.

Erin Davis said...

I will definitely check this out.

Chuck Sheketoff said...

Thanks!

Lydia said...

@Erin- Did you notice on the upcoming events link that Naseem will be in Spokane on August 27th? I so hope you will be able to attend, Erin!

@Chuck- My pleasure, o proud husband to Naseem!

♥ Braja said...

Nice to hear of recommended books; I'll be at in Bangkok soon, at an international airport with huge book stores :) Will definitely look up this one....

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

How cool is that!

I love the Taiwan book cover.....

Sage Ravenwood said...

I can't imagine anything more exciting than seeing someone you know, get to this point. I think she's fortunate to count you as one of her friends. Where you able to find the extra books you were looking for?

Just wanted to stop by and say thank you for all the support you've given me the past few weeks. It meant a lot to me. (Hugs)Indigo

Batteson.Ind said...

Ahhhh.. how exciting must it be to be publishing your own work!.. the end of so many hours of hard work, frustration, thought, re-writing... I hope she does really well and will keep an eye out for the book in case it gets over here :-)

Lydia said...

@Braja- It sounds as if you have an interesting trip planned and I'm really curious to learn if the book will be there. If not, you can order through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others. (I wish I was planning a trip, too, only to India where you live!)

@Wayfaring Wanderer- Very cool. I agree with you about the Taiwan cover. It's special.

@Indigo- Yes, we bought copies in the little shop here in town and ordered more.:)
It's a pleasure counting you as a friend and I've learned much from your blog(s). I wonder if folks still click on your old blog will they have an opportunity to ask to be included in the (lucky) group of those of us reading your fierce and brilliant new private blog?

@the watercats- Yes, I can only imagine her excitement, but she's also very humble about all this.
I hope Ireland will be included in the list of countries where The Crying Tree will eventually be available! Or just shop Amazon....

Owen said...

Hi Lydia, sounds wonderful, will have to add it to my (long) reading list... someday there will be time for reading all that's on it... the guitar music accompanying the animoto was lovely...

Lydia said...

@Owen- I hear ya. Saturday afternoon I prioritized the books on my list. I have a book written by another friend to finish, and The Crying Tree has moved ahead of others for my next read.
I like that guitar music also...must be wonderful to be able to play like that.

francessa said...

That's interesting!

Will you keep us informed about the book as (and when) you'r reading it?

Anders Enochsson said...

Yep, I agree with the rest, it seems like a very interesting book! :)
Hmm, there are so many new books coming nowadays, it’s difficult to find the good ones in the lot. Thanks for the post, you really convinced me to check this out.

Nancy said...

Thank you for sharing. This is very exciting. I can't wait to check out the book.

Lydia said...

@Francessa- Look for a package in your mail, HS. :)

@Ande- I totally agree with you that we are given such a selection of reading material and even entertainment that it is sometimes overwhelming. If my post about The Crying Tree weeded through some of that for you I am very pleased!

@Nancy- From things you've shared at your blog I think you'll very much appreciate this book. Right now I can't remember if Naseem had any events scheduled in Reno-Tahoe. I don't think so, but maybe that will be added. People are unaware of what a reading/library city Reno really is.....

Elizabeth Halt said...

I'll have to look for it!

I love Powells. It's like a book lover's idea of heaven. :)

Lydia said...

@elizabeth- I agree with you there. Actually, I think it's the best thing in Portland!

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