About the Book: Hard Work chronicles Coach Williams’ unlikely path to success, from his turbulent childhood to his stellar coaching career. In an all-new Afterword, he brings us up to speed on the past two NCAA championship titles and the subsequent 2010 season, its shake-ups and losses, the unexpected departure of key players, and on to a new season of coaching some of the most dazzling young players in the country–and a surprising ACC championship.

Williams recounts his long tenure head coach at the university of Kansas; how he recruits, teaches, and motivates his players; how he’s shepherded teams through some of the most nail-biting games at both Kansas and UNC; and how he suffered through one of the roughest seasons of his tenure and came out on the other side to be awarded 2011 ACC Coach of the Year.

Over the last seven years, Coach Williams has won 205 games, including 24 in the NCAA Tournament. That’s more Final Fours, more wins, and more NCAA Tournament victories than any basketball coach in the nation. But his memoir isn’t just for basketball fans– it’s a compelling and inspiring story for anyone who’s ever aimed high.

We’ve set aside three copies for our readers. Want a shot at winning one? Just leave a comment here or on our Facebook page, and we’ll count you in the giveaway. Good luck!

Praise for Hard Work:

“Coach Williams’ life story is all-out inspiring.”–Michael Jordan

“Inspiring … Engaging … [Williams] works as hard as anyone, and he knows how to tell a good story.”–Sports Illustrated

“A successful coach’s memoir … It reveals the humiliations and insecurities that have stoked Williams’ competitive fire and made him a basketball coach.”–Will Blythe, The Raleigh News & Observer

“If Roy Williams has a secret it is that he is the same person now that he was when I first met him as Dean Smith’s No. 3 assistant many, many years ago.  This book is a clear reflection of that man–hard working but loyal, dogged, self-deprecating, and, at his core, one of the world’s truly good people.”–John Feinstein

“There are a few people who could better explain the value of hard work than Coach Williams.  He is the epitome of the phrase… It was work that made him the success that he has become.”–John Wooden

“His story, from a small town in North Carolina to successfully running two fo the sport’s premier programs, is one that everyone who dares to dream should richly enjoy.”–Dean Smith

Erica reading on the job.

Erica Eisdorfer, long-time  manager of the Bull’s Head Bookshop, is the funniest person in the Triangle. Seriously. Just ask anyone who lives here. She’s also a talented writer in her own right–her awesome debut novel, The Wet Nurse’s Tale, was published by Putnam last year. The Bull’s Head is the UNC campus bookstore, but it’s so much more than your average student store–it’s loaded with tons and tons of trade fiction and nonfiction books, all the new and recent and essential titles–thanks to Erica’s savvy and impeccable taste. We wish Bull’s Head would consider moving in the building beside ours (there’s space available, Erica!), but not so sure how the students would feel about being 15 minutes away from campus. (Maybe they could just use the free Chapel Hill transit? Yes! Erica, let’s talk.)

What books recently rocked my world:
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Bailey (an Algonquin book which my husband totally loved)
The Pesthouse by Jim Crace
Charlotte and Emily (A+ historical fiction al a Hilary Mantel, by Jude Morgan who writes like a king but can’t think up a good title to save his soul)

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Best damn event we’ve hosted:
There’ve been so many. Was it the time Chuck Palahniuk made some guy faint due to grossness of subject? Was it the time Dave Eggers asked us to supply him with a cot (on the stage) because he was tired? Was it the reading by the courtly Alexander McCall Smith who came in a vastly rumpled, extremely expensive suit and charmed everyone to pieces? Maybe it was the time Elizabeth Edwards corrected my grammar? (I was just trying to be folksy.) Wait. I just thought of it. It was our Survivor-a-Thon with a Southern twist which we called Suh-vah-vuh and which included a carve-your-fave-Southern-book-thing out of grits (the winner carved Boo Radley’s tree); a gospel band; a bluegrass band; a trivia contest with physical challenges like each entrant had to eat some calf-brains-in-milk-gravy from a can; a Tammy Faye Bakker look-alike painting fingernails. Yeah, we’re scholarly, but we like to have fun.

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Most entertaining author we’ve hosted:
Jack Palance gave us lots of samples of his new scent, which was made to accompany his book of poetry, The Forest of Love. That was nice. I really liked the self-deprecating wit of Mark Salzman (Lying Awake), who told a story about how he was forced to daily wrap himself in tin foil so the cat would quit jumping on him as he was trying to write. Allan Gurganus, of course, could have had a long full career on Broadway and so every reading by him is a treat. Michael Taeckens of Love is a Four-Letter Word? That guy’s awesome.

Strangest question a customer has ever asked:
Where can I find Virgil’s Anita?
I need help finding out how many calories there are in dolphin.
My coworker Stacie has a good story. One time someone called her to ask for a book and while she was looking it up he asked her if she could smell the country ham he was cooking.

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What makes our neighborhood and customers awesome:
We’ve got professors who want books on Middlebrow German Culture in the 1700’s. We’ve got sports visitors who want Roy Williams’s bio, but they want a dozen and they want them signed. We’ve got undergrads who are willing to enter our Write-a-Limerick-in-Honor-of-the-Discovery-of-Uranus contest. We’ve got lady librarians who want bloody books and wrestlers who want romances. Every day it’s something new and unusual.

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I promise you won’t find this at any other store:
I’m trying to decide. It’s either The Eskimo (Inuktitut) Dictionary: Revised Edition (Eskimo-English; English-Eskimo) edited by Arthur Thibert or it’s 88 autographed copies of The Wet Nurse’s Tale.

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If I weren’t selling books, I’d be:
Scaring little children.

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Books that changed my life:
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

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Top three authors, living or dead, I’d invite to my dinner party:
I’m too shy to have dinner with authors.

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Top three songs on the soundtrack to my life:
100 Days, 100 Nights (Sharon Jones)
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)
The soundtrack from The Piano

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My last meal request:
Bread and butter. And wine.

Keebe Fitch

Pittsboro is technically outside of the Triangle area, but it’s so close and has such distinctive charm that we consider it an honorary member of the area. Many Triangle residents make the short trip to Pittsboro to visit Fearrington Village, which boasts a 5-star restaurant, an enchanting inn, belted cows, and some of the best stores in the area–not least of which is McIntyre’s Fine Books. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve visited McIntyre’s and never wanted to leave–it’s the kind of bookstore that is so  incredibly cozy (including a fireplace) and inviting that you just want to live there. Owner Keebe Fitch–who, despite photographic evidence to the contrary, is not a monster–is in our bookseller spotlight today.

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What books recently rocked my world:
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
The Wake of Forgiveness, Bruce Machart
House of Prayer No. 2, Mark Richard

Best damn event we’ve hosted:
Toss up between Roy Williams for Hard Work and Jimmy Carter for Living Faith. Both had large crowds of very happy people in lines that moved quickly. Nothing is worse than a long, slow line of unhappy people.

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Most entertaining author we’ve hosted:
Roy Underhill of The Woodwright’s Shop on PBS. He has a workshop in up the road and had people laughing themselves silly for 90 minutes.

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Strangest question a customer has ever asked:
Had to ask Pete, and he reminded me that the oddest customer was a guy on the phone who wanted directions to traffic court. Turns out he was calling from Texas and became quite indignant when informed he was talking to a bookstore in NC. Pete thinks we should have suggested taking the next left and keep going straight.

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What makes our neighborhood and customers awesome:
As the store is off the beaten path, we are a destination for readers. People intentionally seeking out book browsing and advice. We are very fortunate to be in a community of great readers and have several retired devotees with lots of time/desire for books.

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I promise you won’t find this at any other store:
Our trademark black and white belted cattle right outside the front door.

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If I weren’t selling books, I’d be:
Probably teaching school.

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Books that changed my life:
Love in the Ruins, Walker Percy
A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

Top three authors, living or dead, I’d invite to my dinner party:
Jill McCorkle, Dorothy Parker, and Laurie Notaro

Top three songs on the soundtrack to my life:
One Way or Another, Blondie
Eight Piece Box, Southern Culture on the Skids
Will it Go Round in Circles, Billy Preston

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My last meal request:
A sandwich of prosciutto crudo and fontina on focaccia with a cold pint of ale or Rick Robinson’s steak frites.

If you haven’t checked ‘em out, what are you waiting for?

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart

Hard Work by Roy Williams and Tim Crothers

The debut novel A Reliable Wife is just out in paperback–which makes for a fantastic start in 2010. Click here to see a video interview with the author, Robert Goolrick.

Happy New Year from all of us at Algonquin!

-christina

To hear Roy reveal how determination took him from a small home in the mountains of North Carolina to the very pinnacle of coaching success, check out his new book, Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court.

-christina

For Her

Going Away Shoes
By Jill McCorkle

Eleven short stories, full of longing and laughter, from the “guardian angel of short fiction.”

The Dinner Diaries: Raising Whole Wheat Kids in a White Bread World
By Betsy Block

A humorous, life-changing book on mom’s mission to achieve the ultimate of all makeovers: improving the family meal. Complete with helpful charts, food lists, recipes, tips, and suggested culinary and farm programs for kids.

Last Bite: A Novel of Culinary Romance
By Nancy Verde Barr

Casey Costello, an executive chef at morning television show, is too busy for men…that is until she’s unexpectedly whisked off her feet by the adorable Danny O’Shea, a rising chef from Ireland who seems like he may be more trouble than he’s worth.

For Him

Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court
By Roy Williams with Tim Crothers

An inspiring memoir from the head coach of the UNC Tar Heels Men’s Basketball team.

Boone: A Biography
By Robert Morgan

This rich, authoritative biography offers a wholly new perspective on a man who has been an American icon for more than two hundred years.

Far Bright Star: A Novel
By Robert Olmstead

Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman,  leads an expedition of inexperienced soldiers into the mountains of Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa and bring him to justice.

For the Gardener

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
By Amy Stewart

An A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.

A Rose by Any Name: The Little-Known Lore and Deep-Rooted History of Rose Names
By Douglas Brenner and Stephen Scanniello

With full-color art throughout, this eclectic little volume is a marvelous miscellany starring what is arguably the world’s most popular flower.

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden
By William Alexander

Part humor tale and part garden memoir, The $64 Tomato follows Bill Alexander on his journey from organic idealist to pragmatic food producer, and from eager backyard gardener to tired gentleman farmer–taking time along the way to reflect on ecology, nature, and the meaning of it all.

For the Foodie

The Feasting Season
By Nancy Coons

Meg Parker is a harried mom in a lackluster marriage until she lands a dream assignment: to write a guidebook about French history. Follow her adventures as lamb daube, paella and rosé, bull steak and anchioade, Brebis and strawberries awaken her senses.

Southern Belly: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Companion to the South
By John T. Edge

Spark a delicious road-trip with this guide to savory, Southern restaurants!

Seasoned in the South: Recipes from Crook’s Corner and from Home
By Bill Smith

Structured around the seasons and the freshest seasonal foods, this cookbook offers up marvelously uncomplicated recipes— Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Fried Green Tomatoes with Sweet Corn and Lemon Beurre Blanc, Pork Roast with Artichoke Stuffing, and his signature dish, Honeysuckle Sorbet—the new bistro food of the South.

For the 20-Something

Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small
By John Cook with Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance

The exuberant story–in words and pictures–of a much-loved indie record label that, despite the odds, has become a major success story.

Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers
Illustrated by Edward Hemingway; Text by Mark Bailey

The perfect blend of classic cocktail recipes, literary history, and tales of the good old days of extravagant Martini lunches and delicious excess.

Rock On: An Office Power Ballad
By Dan Kennedy

Kennedy chronicles his misadventures at a major record label. Whether he’s directing a gangsta rapper’s commercial or battling his punk roots to create an ad campaign celebrating the love songs of Phil Collins, Kennedy’s in way over his head in this power-ballad to office life and rock and roll.

For the Travel Enthusiast

A  Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure
By Marlena de Blasi

In search of the rhythms of country living, Marlena and her husband move to a barely renovated former stable in Tuscany with no phone, no central heating, and something resembling a playhouse kitchen. They dwell among two hundred villagers, ancient olive groves, and hot Etruscan springs. Together, they discover the soul of Tuscany and explore all the land has to offer.

Very Washington DC: A Celebration of the History and Culture of  America’s Capital City
By Diana Hollingsworth Gessler

A travel guide with character, this fact-filled keepsake offers all the history, beauty, charm, and culture of our nation’s capital city. Also included are an index of sites and a useful appendix of addresses, Web sites, Metro stops, and phone numbers.

New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City
By Andrei Codrescu

New Orleans has been author Andrei Codrescu’s hometown for over twenty years. This collection of essays is an epic love song , a clear-eyed elegy, a cultural celebration, and a thank-you note to New Orleans in its Golden Age.

For the Pet Lover

My Therapist’s Dog: Lessons in Unconditional Love
By Diana Wells

An intriguing exploration into the rewards of relationships–both the canine and human varieties–begins when the author agrees to dog-sit for her therapist. What follows is an exploration of our canine connection: what we name our dogs, how we breed them, how we’ve explored the wilderness with them, the kinds of literature we write about them, why we love them, and, most important, what we can learn from them.

First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends
By Roy Rowan and Brooke Janis

A lighthearted romp through American history, packed with drawings and paintings from early America, plus photographs, starting with Abraham Lincoln’s Fido all the way to Obama’s Bo.

Enslaved by Ducks
By Bob Tarte

Bob gets more than he bargains for when he marries Linda and moves to rural Michigan: there’s Binky, a belligerent rabbit who craves high voltage wires; Ollie, a tyrannical parakeet who brutally attacks the Tartes; and Stanely Sue, the gender-bending parrot; and more. This hilarious account gives us the other side of animal ownership: the complicated logistics of blending species under one roof, the intricate routines that evolve before you realize it, and ultimately, the distinct and insistent personalities of every animal inside—and outside—the house.

-christina

Tim Crothers,

Algonquin: How did you come to write this book with Coach Williams? Did you approach him with the idea?

Tim: I have been stalking Coach Williams for years to do the book. He is a very private man in a very public job and I knew he would not be comfortable with the idea of sharing the intimate details of his life publicly, but I guess I finally wore him down. I think Coach Williams is the only person in his universe who wasn’t really sure that a story about a North Carolina mountain kid growing up poor with an alcoholic father and no idea of what college was who becomes a Hall of Fame coach at the University of North Carolina would make a good book. Parts of his story are so dramatic that they read like a novel.

Algonquin: What was your working process with Coach? Where were the interviews conducted, and how long did they take?

Tim: We usually did the interviews at night either at his house or at his office. We’d spend three or four hours each night. We began with him telling me his life story from childhood to the present and then we went back and filled in the details later. I originally asked him for 12 hours to accomplish that and my guesstimate was a bit light. We actually spent 64 hours doing interviews and that was before the many hours of editing and proofreading. He will not let me forget that all of the hours he spent on the book this summer totally ruined his golf game.

Algonquin: Is Hard Work the story that you expected it would be when you set out to write it?

Tim: I don’t think I really knew what to expect and that is part of the fun as a co-author. I had no idea he would dig so deeply into the intimate details of his past to bring out a story so raw and touching. In fact, I didn’t know most of the story we tell in the book at all until he was sharing it with me. But after hearing it, I wanted readers to be able to experience his passion for the story as strongly as I did.

Algonquin: After the interviews were completed, what was your process to craft it into a story? How much time did you have between the interviews and when the manuscript needed to be turned in to work on the book?

Tim: Basically I was interviewing Coach Williams right up until the day before the book was due, but the manuscript was written largely over the final two weeks before the deadline. Fourteen chapters. Fourteen days. Fourteen-hour days. My writing style is anecdotal, which meshed well with Coach Williams, whose speaking style is anecdotal. We tried to maintain his unique voice as much as possible in the text and present his story in a dramatic fashion with plenty of teases along the way to make the reader anxious to turn the page.

Algonquin: Now that the months of tight deadlines and late nights of editing are over, what are you planning for your next project?

Tim: My next project will be catching up on my sleep and reintroducing myself to my wife and children. All of that could take a while, but eventually I hope to write another book. Because my literary oeuvre now consists of The Man Watching, the biography of UNC women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance, and Hard Work, I’d guess that if there is another book, it will not involve a UNC coach. I’m in danger of getting pigeonholed.

To find out more about Tim Crothers, Roy Williams, and Hard Work, visit www.roywilliamsbook.com.

-Katie

HARD WORK; My Life On and Off the Court, by Roy Williams

Congratulations to Jamey, Michael, Kathy, Allison and Jennie – each winners of a signed copy of the New York Times bestseller, Hard Work. I’ll send you an email in just a bit to get your address!

If you weren’t a lucky winner, you can still get a signed copy of Hard Work! Coach Williams will be signing books tonight at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC at 7:30. To see the rest of his upcoming events, visit www.roywilliamsbook.com.

Coach Roy Williams

Coach’s next book signing event will be this Friday, 7:30pm at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC. And remember, you still have two more days to enter to win one of FIVE signed copies of Coach Williams’ new book, just by commenting on the blog. See complete rules here.

More than 300 people lined up to have their book signed

This Tuesday was Coach Williams’ first book signing event for Hard Work; A Life On and Off the Court, hosted by McIntyre’s Fine Books at Fearrington. The event was held in The Barn, the gorgeous event space at Fearrington Village. Over 300 people came out to buy copies of the book and have them signed by Coach Williams. A very special thank you to Missy McLamb from Fearrington Village for sending us these fabulous photos of the event!

Coach Williams signed books for well over an hour

Check out that National Championship ring!

Coach’s second event last night, at The Bull’s Head Bookshop on the University of North Carolina campus was also a hit! Read about it in the Daily Tar Heel, and watch this great video recapping the event!

Coach’s next event will be Tuesday, November 10 at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC. For a list of all of his upcoming appearances, check out the website.

And don’t forget, if you can’t make it to an event to have your book signed in person, you can still enter for a chance to win one of 5 signed copies, just by leaving a comment, through Nov. 13.

-Katie