Author: Evelyn

Back on the Road Again….

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Tales from the Road: Memoirs from a Lifetime of Ohio Travel, Television and More by Neil Zurcher.

Neil Zurcher, the longtime TV host of Chanel 8’s “One Tank Trips” has created a nostalgic trip down memory lane for Clevelanders in his new book Tales from the Road.

Told in a folksy-style, Zurcher’s tales range from a poignant memory of a first girlfriend to some of the hilarious high jinks played by local TV personnel like Hoolihan the Weatherman, Big Chuck and Lil’ John, and even Dick Goddard! On one interview, he literally stumbled into President Gerald Ford and on another got caught using Prince Charles’ private bathroom. No assignment was too far-fetched for him—he rode a trapeze, a fighter jet and even a WWII tank. You’ll find many stories will bring tears to your eyes, from laughing as well as crying.

Part biography and part pure nostalgia, Tales from the Road is ultimately a welcome reminiscence for all of us who grew up in Cleveland.

This book was provided to our library for review by Gray & Co.

~Evelyn 

What If There Were an American Author Idol?

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Would we judge authors on their looks? their prose? or maybe even the jacket covers of their books? Hmmm…..What a dilemma! I was wondering about this last night since it was pretty quiet on the reference desk and someone suggested that everyone was home watching American Idol. They told me there was even a Facebook page asking President Obama not to schedule his State of the Union speech to conflict with the program.

If I apply American Idol judging to pick the book I read next, which do you think would win?

The Bone Chamber by Robin Burcell

 

The First Rule by Robert Crais

 

Or, Impact by Douglas Preston

I like them all, so I’ll just flip a coin to choose. Maybe I’m just a little Paula  Abdul-ish at heart.

~Evelyn

Snowy Reads

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The snow’s still falling here—three days in a row. It’s called lake effect and it is typical for Cleveland in January.  All this snow has me thinking about some of my favorite books where snow plays a big part in the story.

 

In The Big Thaw by Donald Harstad, it’s 30 below in the Iowa heartland and usually crime takes a vacation when it’s this cold. But when the sheriff discovers a break-in at the home of a farmer who is wintering in Florida, it leads to information about the possible hijack of a floating casino riverboat. I can still picture the sheriff driving down the single lane roads with walls of snow higher than his car on either side.

Imagine a city-wide snowman building contest in your local park as a popular winter event. Where? you say.  Only in Minneapolis. That’s how Snow Blind by P.J. Tracy begins. You can just feel the cold and wet snow, frozen toes and soggy mittens. Imagine chasing a suspect through this family event and finding the horror of two dead police officers inside a couple of the snowmen. And, the hunt for a serial killer begins.

Or, you can stay warm and just search the word “snow” in our Reading Room for more titles—just keep the hot chocolate near by.

~Evelyn

My Favorite Books of 2009: All are Thrilling, But Not All are Thrillers

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As I looked back over my 2009 reads, I realized that it would be hard to choose my top ten favorites, but here goes…..

 Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg is the true story of Pepperberg’s 30-year relationship with a gray parrot named Alex that will touch your heart as well as provide fascinating details of his astonishing abilities.

 Await Your Reply by local author Dan Chaon addresses the issue of identity and place as it tells the story of three people’s lives that intersect due to identity theft. Think literate thriller.

 Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan is a stunning work of noir fiction in which the editor of an Ann Arbor mystery magazine enlists the help of an associate to bury the body of a home intruder he accidently killed. Just when you think you know what is going on, Dolan throws in another twist.

 The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin is a historical mystery set in 1860s Istanbul and Venice with a distinct Holmesian feel about it. What’s not to like?

 The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips is the sequel to The Rossetti Letter. Claire Donovan is now a fellow at Cambridge researching the diary of Hannah Devlin, physician to the king’s mistress in the 1670s. If you like Lauren Willig, give these books a try.

 The Help by Kathryn Stockett tells the story of three women working as maids for white families in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi and is probably my top favorite of the year. It is absolutely fabulous on audio!

 The Last Child by John Hart is a mystery about teenager Johnny Merrimon searching for his missing twin sister in rural North Carolina. If you like atmospheric settings and complex characters, this one is a sure bet.

 The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe tells the tale of a grad student who find a book of spells from a Salem witch in the ancestral family home. This book is part historical and part thriller, with a little magic and romance thrown in for good measure.

 Plea of Insanity by Jillian Hoffman is a legal thriller about an attorney who must confront her own past when defending a doctor accused of murdering his family. I guarantee that you’ll re-read the ending of this book at least twice.

 Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo is a “non-put-downable” thriller set in Ohio Amish country in which new sheriff Kate Burkholder tracks a serial killer who may have links to her past. So accurately written, it’s hard to believe that the author is from Texas.

Hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.                                  ~Evelyn

Elementary, My Dear Indy!

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bouchercon

Can there be any more to add about Bouchercon? Well, the answer is yes there can!

Some of the sessions I attended were The Mean Streets of Indianopolis, casey danielsfeaturing Indiana-based detectives, Heroes for Our Times, with a behind-the-scenes looks at those strong, silent-type characters that always save the day, and Love, Murder and Suspense, showcasing mysteries with romance in them–and local Cleveland author Casey Daniels as well. She only stayed through Friday because she had a “paranormal” event in Parma on Saturday. Her character Pepper Martin is a cemetery tour guide that sees ghosts.

My two favorite sessions both featured thriller authors. 

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David Morrell of Rambo fame and Lee Child (think Jack Reacher) both spoke of the history of the thriller. Lee Child, who is British, told the story of how, at age 11, he realized that his Greek history lesson about Thesues and the Minotaur and Dr. No by Ian Fleming were really the same story–A gratutious action scene at the beginning (Thesues sinks King Minos’s fleet of ships and, well,  just think of every James Bond movie you’ve ever seen). Second, where James Bond always seduces an enemy woman to gain secret knowledge,  Thesues wins the favor of Princess Ariadne and receives a ball of string that enables him to slay the Minotaur and get out of the labyrinth. Third, lee childboth Bond and Theuses win their challenges and go on their way leaving the woman behind. By the time Lee Child had finished his story, most of the audience was laughing their heads off — even though it was 9:30 a.m on Saturday morning!

 

The other thriller session I attended featured authors who write forensic scientist books, including Lisa Black who writes Theresa MacLean books set in Cleveland. Much to the delight of the audience, one author actually shared *REAL* crime scene photos that the authors then analyzed as their characters would have done. evidence                                                                      

                                                                                                    ~Evelyn

Decide For Yourself

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foreverMy first experience with a library censorship issue concerned Judy Blume’s book Forever. It was the late ‘70s and some high school parents had protested the book being in our school library. When I asked why, my boss told me “the book condones pre-marital sex.”  The books I remembered reading as a teen certainly weren’t controversial, so I decided to read Forever myself to see what all the fuss was about.

 What I found was an intriguing story about Katherine, a senior in high school, who is strongly attracted to Michael, who has already been sexually active. As they acknowledge their feelings, they plan for Katherine’s first experience by going to a family planning clinic and getting her on the pill. They both feel that having sex will link them “forever.”

Soon after graduation the couple finds themselves working summer jobs in different states and it takes a toll on their relationship. Even though Katherine considers herself “in love” with Michael, she finds herself romantically attracted to a tennis pro at her summer camp. When Michael comes for a surprise visit, Katherine breaks up with him, telling him she’s found another relationship.

What I read was a sad story about a teen who grew up and learned that she wasn’t ready for a long-lasting relationship and regretted sleeping with her boyfriend while still in high school, not a book that “condoned pre-marital sex.”  My boss and I had a long discussion about our differing views and came to mutual understanding that we’d never agree about the book.

The experience taught me that I needed to read a book for myself and that I didn’t want others taking that right away from me by trying to ban the book from a library or school. Decide for yourself–Keep the right to choose by supporting Freedom to Read Week at your library!

Same Plot, Different Location

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lost symbolDon’t get me wrong, even though Dan Brown’s latest book The Lost Symbol is a familiar plot, it is still an entertaining read. This time symbologist Robert Langdon isn’t racing through the streets of Rome, Paris or London, but, our own nation’s capital instead.  This time he’s trying to solve the secrets of the Masons scattered throughout Washington, D.C. with a brilliant woman scientist, not a cute French police officer.  His nemesis isn’t a strange monk like Silas, but a just-as-creepy Mason named Mal’akh.

Similarities to The Da Vinci Code aside, I still enjoyed reading The Lost Symbol and I think you will, too, if you remember that it is a work of fiction meant to entertain.  Besides…how could you not like a book that has the quote, “Time is a river…and books are the boats”?

Maybe we just need to get Nicholas Cage to do the movie…It could be called National Treasure 3: The Lost Symbol.  No one questioned his jaunts through our capital to solve all those  puzzles and secrets.

~Evelyn

One Amazing Parrot

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alex and meI can’t remember where I heard about the book Alex and Me by Irene Pepperberg, but it sounded interesting so I put a hold on the book on CD thinking that I’d listen to it. Well, I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a book as much as this one. Part scientific study and part memoir, Alex and Me is also the story of a thirty-year loving relationship that any pet owner would completely understand. As much as Dr. Pepperberg stresses Alex’s accomplishments in the field of animal behavior, she also shows his unique personality while telling anecdotes about her studies with Alex. 

Once, when given a piece of apple to eat, Alex would not repeat the word apple. Instead he gave it the name “ban-nerry.” The more the trainers repeated “apple,” the more he replied “ban-nerry.” Finally students figured out that Alex coined the word to describe the red outside skin of an apple and the soft inside of a banana.

Alex often got bored with the repetiveness of his training and would say “want a nut.” He expected to receive one right away. Once when he was repeatedly ignored, he sounded out the word nut–nnn…uuuu….tttt. Again, he amazed his trainers because he actually knew the sounds that made up the word and wasn’t just “parroting” other people’s phrases.

If you liked the story of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat, you’ll love Alex and Me.

~Evelyn

Dan Brown Won’t Let me Down

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Back in 1999 while booktalking about new thrillers at a library conference, I held up Angels & Demons by Dan Brown showing that neat original cover that looked the same upside down. Think “ambigram.” I’d forgotten all about it until just recently when another librarian said to me, “I remember you, you held up Dan Brown’s book and said he was going to be the hot new thriller author way before The Da Vinci Code was published. angels-and-demons

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since then, over the years, I’ve picked other winners in my booktalks, but a couple real “dogs,” too.  Hopefully, my picks for the “hot” reading this summer will all be sizzlers!

 

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June: Roadside Crosses by Jeffrey Deaver – A standalone thriller about a serial killer who puts up roadside crosses with the intent to kill someone rather than as a memorial.

 

 

 

black-hillsJuly: Black Hills by Nora Roberts – A new romantic thriller about reunited childhood friends who must work together to solve a series of crimes threatening a wildlife refuge.

 

 

 

 

silent-hourAugust: The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta – The 4th book in the Lincoln Perry investigator series. Set in Cleveland, these just get better and better!

 

 

 

 

September: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown – Robert Langdon returns for his third adventure.

 

It’s been a long wait, but I know that Dan Brown won’t let me down.

~Evelyn

Golden Anniversary

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 elements-of-style1      

Happy 50th anniversary to Strunk & White!  The Elements of Style, first published in 1959, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.  A classic reference book, The Elements of Style has been considered a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Combining composition skills with the study of literature, it gives the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage composition most commonly violated. 

~Evelyn