The Reading Life

Author sets debut novel, 'Uptown,' in Charlotte

2012-02-14T09:26:00.000-05:00

The insulated splendor of Morrocroft Estates had a certain artificial exclusiveness, but was no less compelling for that fact. In the absence of any natural distinction, Morrocroft was, much like the city of Charlotte itself, entirely dependent upon the creation of a fabricated one.
-- opening lines of "Uptown" (Main Street Rag; $14.95), by Jack Gardner

Though he lives in Virginia, Jack Gardner chose Charlotte as the setting of his first novel. The book's protagonist is Stephen Rayfield, a young history professor at UNC Charlotte. but the city itself also plays a major role in this story of pretense, betrayal and the New South.

Gardner, who graduated from Monroe High School, will give a reading at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Bestselling 'Weird Sisters' author in Charlotte

2012-02-13T09:17:00.000-05:00

In the New York Times bestseller "The Weird Sisters," now in paperback (Berkley; $15), we meet the three Andreas sisters, siblings raised by an eccentric Shakespeare professor father whose parental advise was often delivered in iambic pentameter.

When the three return to their childhood home in Ohio to care for their sick mother, they're also attempting to escape their own personal disasters. The Washington Post calls this novel a "family drama, gracefully costumed in academic garb and lit with warm comedy."

Brown will sign books at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Rules for a romance-novel marriage

2012-02-09T14:03:00.001-05:00

Charlotte's Charla Muller, author of "365 Nights" and avid romance-novel reader, will discuss how you can incorporate romance into your real-life relationships at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, at the Matthews Community Center, 100 McDowell St. East in Matthews.

This is a subject Muller knows something about. In her 2009 memoir, "365 Nights," she describes the unusual 40th birthday present she gave her husband -- sex every day for a year.

The Charlotte chapter of the Women's National Book Association is hosting this free event. Also on the program will be Jessica Daitch, who reviews books for Publisher's Weekly. Daitch will review for the group one good romance novel and one terrible one.

More info: Contact Betsy Thorpe, bthorpe@mac.com.

The Oxford comma: A dissent

2012-02-06T13:00:00.001-05:00

Recently, several of my grammar-obsessed Facebook friends have shared humorous posts (like the one at right) about the Oxford comma. They tout this special comma as a tool any smart, literate person should use.

And yet I am not convinced. This is partly because I just wasn't raised that way. Typically, newspapers use Associated Press style, which counsels us not to use that final comma unless it's needed to avoid ambiguity.

What, you ask, is the Oxford comma? It's a comma used before a conjunction when three or more items are listed in a series. In the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry," it's the comma following "Dick."

Advocates for the final comma, also called the "serial comma," argue that it can be all that stands between between clarity and ambiguity. They love to offer examples of the craziness that ensues when we don't use it. My favorite is this book dedication: To my parents, Ayn Rand and God.

Two thoughts come to mind, here. First, how weird is it that an author would dedicate a book to Ayn Rand and God? Because Rand was an atheist.

The other thought is this: There's an easy way to fix the problem, and you don't need an extra comma. Just avoid placing the plural noun first in the series. To Ayn Rand, my parents and God. Or: To Ayn Rand, God and my parents.

Ta-da. Problem solved. But it's still a weird book dedication.

If I've failed to grasp something about the necessity of the Oxford comma, feel free to let me know. But my other problem with this whole comma dust-up is that it shifts attention from far more important issues. Among them: the raging epidemic of apostrophe misuse.

Ron Rash's 'Serena' headed to big screen

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Filming is supposed to begin soon on a movie adaption of Ron Rash's bestselling novel, "Serena," according to multiple reports.

In "Serena," Rash, an award-winning novelist, poet and professor at Cullowhee's Western Carolina University, tells the Depression-era story of Serena Pemberton, whose timber-baron husband runs a logging operation in western North Carolina.

In this riveting novel, Serena is cold, calculating, larger than life. Reviewers have compared her to Lady Macbeth. I think Serena makes Lady Macbeth look soft.

So who'll play Serena in the movie?

Western Carolina University reports that it's Jennifer Lawrence, best known for her stunning portrayal of Ree Dolly in "Winter's Bone."
She's also starring in "The Hunger Games," out in March.

Playing Serena's husband, George, will be Bradley Cooper of "The Hangover."

The movie is scheduled for a 2014 release. The filming location hasn't been announced.

Charlotte's ImaginOn named top children's library

2012-02-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

Livability.com, a website that writes about America's best places to live work and play, has named Charlotte's ImaginOn the nation's No. 1 children's library.

Livability editors looked at 500 communities and consulted library experts to determine criteria for their ranking. Among them: The library's responsiveness to community needs.

ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center, "is the model of what a children's library can be," Livability editors write. The facility, at 300 E. Seventh St., opened in 2005. Along with numerous library services for children and teens, it also hosts Children's Theatre of Charlotte performances.

Other children's libraries ranked in Livability's Top 10 include facilities in Cincinnati, Iowa City and Birmingham.

'Broadway Baby' author in Charlotte Thursday

2012-01-31T08:35:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, my favorite parts of a novel are its bits of nonfiction – delicious, crazy facts the author pulls from real life and weaves into the story.

This is the case with Alan Shapiro’s “Broadway Baby” (Algonquin; $13.95), a novel studded with comic anecdotes so good it would be hard to make them up. Shapiro will give a reading and sign copies of his novel 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

“Broadway Baby” is the story of Miriam Gold, a Jewish girl from Boston whose life doesn’t end up matching the show-business fame she craves.
It’s the first novel for Shapiro, who teaches creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill, but it didn’t begin as fiction.

Shapiro, an award-winning poet and memoirist, began writing a series of autobiographical essays some years ago. “But I got to the point where I was writing about things I knew so well, there was no sense of discovery,” he told me. “I was basically just telling stories on the page that I’d told in life.”

So he started making stuff up, he says, “and writing became fun again.” Among his creations is Miriam herself. Miriam never achieves her own stage career, but she becomes the consummate stage mom when she spots talent in her oldest son.

Though Miriam’s inner life is pure fiction, other parts of the book draw from Shapiro’s family history. Miriam’s youngest son, Sam, becomes a poet, like Shapiro.

When Sam sends his parents his first book of poetry, titled “Family Matters,” Miriam is perplexed.
“From the sound of it,” she tells her husband, Curly, “you’d think he was raised by Nazis in a concentration camp.”

“Don’t worry Miriam,” Curly replies. “It’s poetry. No one’s gonna read it, and those that do won’t get it.”

Shapiro’s parents gave his poetry similar reviews. Telling lower middle-class Jews from Boston that you’re a poet, he says, “is like saying you’re a shepherd.”

When Miriam attends one of Sam’s readings, she finds he’s not the performer he should be. He fidgets and fails to make eye contact. He also makes the mistake of looking at the clock in the room.

“Stop lookin’ at the clock!” Miriam barks.

Later, he does it again.

“Enough with the clock already,” she calls out. “Buy a watch!”

Yep. That painful passage is also based on a true story.

Shapiro’s mom now lives in a Chapel Hill retirement community. Though she was never a stage mom, he credits both his mother and his late father with a remarkable wit. That wit comes through clearly in this new novel.

Humane Society president to speak in Huntersville

2012-01-30T12:33:00.000-05:00

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, will be making a stop at Huntersville's Barnes & Noble in Birkdale at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2.

Pacelle will discuss his bestselling book, "The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them." He'll also take questions and sign copies.

In his book, Pacelle examines the deep links of the human-animal bond and conflicting impulses that have resulted in widespread cruelty to animals.

The event is co-hosted by Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control and the Humane Society of Charlotte.

Charlotte author bests Jon Stewart in push-up contest

2012-01-26T16:58:00.004-05:00

If you read my story this week on Charlotte's Paula Broadwell, counterterrorism expert and author of "All In: the Education of General David Petraeus," you know this Dilworth mom is a tough competitor. After all, she graduated in the top of her West Point class in physical fitness.

Now she can boast another accomplishment. On Wednesday night, when she appeared on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," the two competed in an off-air push-up contest. And she killed.

Broadwell took her heels off, did 60 push-ups and looked liked she could keep going indefinitely. Stewart did 38 push-ups and looked like he was about to die. He donated $20,000 to an organization for veterans that Broadwell is also supporting. (Broadwell's husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, also got into the act.)

And what did Stewart say about the book? Well, he noted it it was a flattering portrait of Petraeus: "I mean the most controversial thing.. is is he awesome, or incredibly awesome?"

The video contains graphic language.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

More good news for UNC-Wilmington's Lookout Books

2012-01-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

"It seems impossible," my latest message from UNC-Wilmington's Lookout Books begins, "but the fairy tale for Edith Pearlman and Lookout Books continues."

On Saturday, Pearlman's "Binocular Vision," a short story collection, was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. That makes it the first book to be nominated for that award, the National Book Award and the Story Prize in the same year.

What makes that accomplishment even more amazing is that the book was the very first from Lookout Books, a small new publisher affiliated with UNC-Wilmington's Department of Creative Writing.

Here's more good news: In April, Charlotte-area residents will have the chance to hear Pearlman read from her work. She'll be at Davidson College on 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17,in the Sloan Music Center's Tyler-Tallman Recital Hall. She'll also do a signing at Park Road Books. Details to come.

The winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award will be announced March 8. The other fiction finalists are Teju Cole's "Open City," Jeffrey Eugenides's "The Marriage Plot," Alan Hollinghurst's "The Stranger's Child" and Dana Spiotta's "Stone Arabia."

Gin Phillips to read at Park Road Books

2012-01-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

Ren Taylor's gift for connecting with ghosts has helped make her a successful archaeologist in Gin Phillips's new novel, "Come in and Cover Me" (Riverhead; $26.95).

Phillips, who lives in Birmingham, will give a reading 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road. This is Phillips's second novel. Her first, "The Well and the Mine," won a Barnes & Noble Discover Award.

'Best Editorial Cartoons' features Observer's Siers

2012-01-18T10:43:00.000-05:00

Five cartoons by the Charlotte Observer's Kevin Siers are among the hundreds from top cartoonists featured in the 2012 edition of "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year" (Pelican Publishing; $14.95.)

Among the subjects Siers tackles: Pakistan's complicity in harboring Osama Bin Laden, the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt and Westboro Baptist Church's stance against homosexuality. This is the book's 40th edition.

"French Ducks in Venice" author in Charlotte

2012-01-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

Before you pick up the charming new picture book “French Ducks in Venice,” it’s helpful to know a few things.

First, the setting: It’s Venice, Calif., not Italy.

Second, the title characters: Siblings Georges and Cécile are actually cormorants, not ducks, “although I would advise against telling them that,” the book’s narrator counsels.

Also good to know: “French Ducks in Venice” (Candlewick; $16.99) recently earned a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly, which declared that author Garret Freymann-Weyr’s storytelling gifts “are unmistakable.”

Freymann-Weyr hails partially from North Carolina. Though she grew up in New York, she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. Since 2009, she has lived in Davidson. She’s now dividing her time between Davidson and California.

In “French Ducks,” her first picture book, Polina Panova, a dressmaker who weaves frocks with “grass, flowers, pieces of the night sky, and strawberry jam,” has been dumped by her filmmaker boyfriend.

Georges and Cécile, who live in the canal behind her house, are indignant. Georges, especially, is eager to find Polina a new boyfriend, to make her happy again.

In this story, however, unlike many children’s books, there’s no tidy happy ending. Instead, we get a nuanced lesson about loss. When Georges proposes that he find a new boyfriend for Polina, Cécile counsels that “Polina has to be sad before she can be happy again.”

Polina does eventually cheer up, but not because she finds another man. Instead, she uses a present from Georges, a golden light, to make some new, amazing dresses, “unlike anything else I have made.”

With rich illustrations by Erin McGuire, this book has the feel of an animated Disney film. It’s Freymann-Weyr’s first picture book, but she has also written five young adult novels, including “My Heartbeat,” a 2003 Printz Honor Book.

She decided to write a picture book after a visit to her sister, who lives near the canals in Venice, Calif. During walks, Freymann-Weyr spotted what she took to be classy-looking black ducks. When she asked a friend about the birds, “she said, ‘Those are cormorants, you moron.’”

And a story idea was born.

Garret Freymann-Weyr will read at 4 p.m. Jan. 23 at Morrison Regional Library, 7015 Morrison Blvd., and at 11 a.m. Jan. 28 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Charlotte Mecklenburg library services limited next week

2012-01-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library services will be limited next Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 16 and 17, while the library upgrades its catalog software.

Part of the upgrade will occur on Monday, Jan. 16, while libraries are closed for Martin Luther King Day. That day, access to many remote services, including telephone renewal, online customer accounts and portions of the catalog, will be unavailable.

When the library reopens Tuesday, Jan. 17, patrons will be able to check out books and use public computers, but telephone renewal and many online services will remain unavailable until Wednesday, Jan. 18, when normal service returns. For more information: www.cmlibrary.org.

One week left to enter Rose Post nonfiction contest

2012-01-09T09:49:00.000-05:00

Submissions to the annual Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition must be postmarked by next Monday, Jan. 16.

The N.C. Writers' Network's annual competition honors nonfiction that's outside the realm of conventional journalism and has relevance to North Carolinians. It's named for Rose Post, who died last year after working more than a half century as a reporter and columnist at the Salisbury Post.

First-, second- and third-place winners receive $300, $200 and $100, respectively. This year's judge is Anne Clinard Barnhill. Check www.ncwriters.org for complete contest guidelines.

More poems from Julie Suk

2012-01-05T18:29:00.006-05:00

You can read about Charlotte poet Julie Suk and her new collection, "Lie Down with Me," in my story in Sunday's Observer. Here are three selections from the book, which includes new poems and works from four previous books:

Flying Through World War I

His plane was scarcely more than canvas
stretched across board.
Gunned down by a German Fokker onto no-man’s land,
my father crawled under cross-fire to a crater
and sprawled in on the dead.

Only once did he mention the maggots and stench
in a world that slammed up too soon.

That night, between the sizzle of flares,
A Yank pulled him back into a trench and left
before the swapping of names.

Long after I came and went my ways, a friend of his
passed through town, bringing with him an army pal.
Buddy, old buddy, war tales told until what do you know –
true I swear true – they found it was the stranger
who’d rescued my father.

Crying, they embraced – life is so sweet
when death is on leave.

By spring a tumor invaded my father’s brain,
taking him out, along with his wish to float
once just once again with the noiseless clouds.

I’m left replaying those summer nights
we sat on the stoop, bull-bats diving overhead,
cicadas puncturing the quiet.

See, he pointed, there – there! scorpion,
fish, ram and lyre, wheeling across a sky
threatened by hunter and bear.

Hiding my face on his arm, it was hard to connect
myth with the lap I nestled in.

And still no clue
from a heaven seemingly preoccupied.

Tracers that stutter around us
briefly illuminate our lives,

what I forgot to say, what I forgot to give
to the living, bringing me down to a fragment
of you, my derring-do father who flew.

The Dead

The dead sift through us

without flesh, bone, hair,

or whatever else the stars concoct

for us to touch.

Reaching for the velvet muzzle

of a horse, their hands pass on through

never feeling the warm breath in their palms.

Try catching wind as it runs over wheat

leaving it in shocked repose.

Cruel – to see the one you love

and realize neither tongue nor limb.

Desire is an unattached shadow.

Dashing without thought against the day,

we complain at the slightest wound.

The dead drift by longing for a bruise.

What We Know Is Not What We Feel

which explains why we shiver

when the heedless stars swing by.

Come see,

says my son,

the lens of his telescope

momentarily focused

beyond

what I want to believe –

that the earth is not

the last place we touch,

our song whisper rant

not drifting off

without route or shore.

I trace lines but find

no discernible shape for Vesta

Omega Aquarius Cetus

no trail marked

THIS IS THE WAY,

nothing

of anger sorrow love

or the foolish wishes

we wept and fought for

not knowing they seldom

come true, hope

the most savage lie.

And there in the lower sky,

Venus –

no, a night flight

flashing through the trees

and beyond,

and I'm not aboard,

am left, you could say,

like the aura of a burned-out star,

the body,

that incorrigible flirt,

still leading me on.

Upcoming: A writing contest, class and anniversary

2012-01-04T10:58:00.000-05:00

News from the book beat:

The N.C. Writers' Network is accepting submissions for its 2012 Doris Betts Fiction Prize. The competition is open to any legal resident of North Carolina or member of the N.C. Writers' Network. It's for short stories of up to 6,000 words. The first-prize winner receives $250 and publication in the North Carolina Literary Review. Last year's winner was Thomas Wolf of Chapel Hill for his story "Boundaries." Details: www.ncwriters.org.

The Charlotte Writers' Club is sponsoring its annual course, "Recalling Memories for Your Family or the Public." Margaret Bigger will teach the course 2-4 p.m. Wednesday Jan. 18-Feb. 15 at Christ Episcopal Church, 1412 Providence Road. Details or to register: 704-364-1788.

The Charlotte Writers' Club marks its 90th anniversary this year. The club will celebrate at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 with a reception and program featuring readings by selected members. Note new location: Queens College Conference Center, 2229 Tyvola Road.

Salon profiles two Carolinas booksellers doubling as publishers

2012-01-03T09:06:00.000-05:00

Two Carolinas booksellers -- Asheville's Malaprop's Bookstore and Spartanburg, S.C.'s Hub City Books -- are profiled in a new Salon article about independent booksellers getting into the publishing game.

The two bookstores are among what Salon calls "a heartening trend in the brave new world of publishing" -- indie bookstores that are "taking a page from Amazon and producing titles themselves."

Actually, Hub City began as a publisher that expanded into a bookstore.The Spartanburg store grew out of the Hub City Writers Project, launched 15 years ago to support local writers. The press has published about 50 titles.

Malaprop's recently revived Burning Bush Press, its publishing arm, with a soon-to-be-released title, "Naked Came the Leaf Peeper." The serial novel has chapters written by 12 N.C. writers, including Fred Chappell and Tony Early.

Queens University MFA program hosts readings

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

Elissa Schappell ("Blueprints for Building Better Girls") will be among four Queens University faculty members giving free readings this month as part of the school's low-residency MFA program in creative writing.

The New York Times says Schappell's "Blueprints for Building Better Girls," a collection of linked stories, "crackles with the blunt, cynical humor wielded by people chronically on the defense. Her women are caustic and witty, even in the face of sorrow."

She'll read at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at Ketner Auditorium in the Sykes Learning Center. Also reading that night will be Pushcart Prize winner James McKean, author of two books of poems and an essay collection, "Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports."

Queens will also hold a reading 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8, in Ketner Auditorium featuring Davidson College graduate Ashley Warlick, author of three novels, including "Seek the Living," and poet Sally Keith, author of "Design."

What were your favorite books of 2011?

2011-12-30T13:09:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, my favorite books are the ones I never would have chosen myself. Take Thomas Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure.”

When my book club picked the novel last year, I gritted my teeth and began reading out of duty, not desire. But I ended up loving Hardy’s indictment of Victorian society and his colorful, flawed characters, especially Arabella Donn, a tarty barmaid who would fit in perfectly on several current reality TV series.

So, my humble advice: Try some books in this new year that aren’t your typical picks. To get you started, I’m listing a few books I particularly enjoyed in 2011:

“Zeitoun,” by Dave Eggers. In this nonfiction work, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-American and father of four, chooses to ride out Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans to protect his house and business. Equipped with a canoe, he paddles flooded streets, rescuing people and feeding stranded pets – until he’s mistaken for a terrorist and imprisoned.

This spectacular piece of reporting makes our government look pretty awful. The New York Times has predicted that in 50 years, “when people want to know what happened to this once-great city during a shameful episode of our history, they will still be talking about a family named Zeitoun.”

“Bossypants,” by Tina Fey. A memoir by one of America’s finest comedians, complete with dorky childhood photos. Plus, you get Fey’s “A Mother’s Prayer for Her Daughter,” already an Internet classic. It begins: “First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither the Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.”

“Black Swan Green,” by David Mitchell. Known best for experimental novels like “Cloud Atlas,” Mitchell offers a semiautobiographical coming-of-age story in this rich, poignant novel. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, who lives in England in the early 1980s, must endure an adolescence made particularly miserable by his stammer, which, he says, “makes me shrivel up like a plastic wrapper in a fire.”

“When Parents Text,” by Sophia Fraioli and Lauren Kaelin. This collection of texts sent by parents to their teenaged and young-adult children is sometimes touching, always hilarious.Two examples:

Mom: My fingers are saying words. This is amazing.
Dad: You could poop in your pants in the yankee candle store and no one would know.

On that intriguing thought, I’ll end. Happy New Year, and happy reading.

What was your favorite read of 2011, and why? Leave a comment here and let me know.

Union County author writes an e-book cliffhanger

2011-12-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Serial novels made Charles Dickens a star. When his first one, “The Pickwick Papers,” was published over 20 months in 1836-37, readers clamored for each installment.

Now, Union County author S.L. Schmitz is hoping the serial novel might be her literary ticket to success, too.

Schmitz is among a growing number of authors publishing novels in installments as electronic books.

Her book, “Mina’s Daughter: The Harker Chronicles,” continues the Dracula story, as Katherine “Katie” Wilhelmina Harker searches for answers about her mysterious past.

It’s among more than 30 serial e-books published recently by Pennsylvania-based Trestle Press.

Sales of several of those, including “Amish Knitting Circle” by Karen Anna Vogel, are soaring. “Amish Knitting Circle” was one of six Trestle Press series that recently made Kindle’s Top 15 for fiction and short stories.

Serial novels aren’t as high-profile today as they were in Dickens’ time, but they’ve never died. Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” was serialized in The San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970s. Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities” ran in 27 parts in Rolling Stone in the 1980s.

Now, the rise of electronic books has created a convenient platform for the serial novel. Unlike traditional books, e-books can be written to any length, including just a few thousand words.

Through Trestle Press, Schmitz aims to publish an installment of two to three chapters of “Mina’s Daughter” each month. Each sells for 99 cents. She’s planning 10 to 13 parts in all.

Schmitz, a middle-school teacher who lives in Indian Trail, also publishes traditionally. Dark Continents Publishing is releasing her dark fantasy, “Let It Bleed,” in January.

She sees serial e-novels as “one way for authors to get control of pricing back.” A reader who buys every installment of “Mina’s Daughter,” for instance, will pay a total of $10 to $13, substantially more than the few dollars readers pay for most e-books by emerging authors.

Schmitz’s next installment of “Mina’s Daughter” is set to be published electronically any day now. It’s available through Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

As it concludes, Katie realizes she is changing into a vampire. She’s boarding a train to Amsterdam, hoping to track down a professor who can help her halt the transformation.

What happens next? I’m afraid, dear reader, I can’t tell you. You’ll just have to wait for the next installment.

Charlotte author's novel up for national award

2011-12-13T13:51:00.001-05:00

A big congratulations to Charlotte's Jenny Hubbard, who's one of five authors in the running for the William C. Morris Award. The annual award is given by the Young Adult Library Services Association for outstanding young-adult novel by a first-time author.

Hubbard's "Paper Covers Rock" (Delacorte; $16.99) is set in a boys' boarding school, where 16-year-old Alex is devastated when he fails to save a drowning friend.

Hubbard taught English before she quit to write full time. This first effort is drawing comparisons to John Knowles' "A Separate Peace." Pat Conroy calls it "one of the best young adult books I've read in years."

The winner of the Morris Award will be announced Jan. 23.

New Johnny Cash book features Charlotte photographer's photos

2011-12-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

In the summer of 2003, Charlotte photographer Daniel Coston photographed two Johnny Cash shows in Virginia. They turned out to be the country music icon's final public appearances before his death in September 2003.

Now, four of Coston's photographs are featured in "House of Cash: The Legacies of My Father, Johnny Cash" (Inside Editions; $39.95), by Cash's son, John Carter Cash. Among the four is the one at right, a photo of father and son.

"John Carter has said that he is very thankful that I was there, and got the photos that I did. Which honestly means the world to me," Coston told me in an email. "I shot those shows not caring what the outcome would be, but because I wanted to document what felt like an amazing series of events in the lives of the Cash and Carter families. As well as my own, as it turned out."

Vonnegut biographer in Charlotte next week

2011-12-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

Charles J. Shields will sign copies of his new Kurt Vonnegut biography, "And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Named a New York Times' Notable Book of the Year, Shield's biography portrays Vonnegut ("Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle") as an unhappy man trapped in a bad marriage. Vonnegut had been cooperating with the biography when he died in 2007 at age 84.

Shields, who lives in Virginia, is also author of "Mockingbird," a biography of Harper Lee.

New Miss Dimple mystery from Fort Mill author

2011-12-05T14:03:00.000-05:00

In "Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause," a new cozy mystery by Fort Mill author Mignon Ballard, we find first-grade teacher Miss Dimple Kilpatrick once again turning amateur sleuth in her small town of Elderberry, Ga. Set in 1943, this is Ballard's second Miss Dimple mystery, following last year's "Miss Dimple Disappears."

Ballard will sign copies 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road. She'll also sign copies 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 10,
at Crossings on Main, 102 Academy St. in Fort Mill, and 2-3:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10, at the BooKnack, 742 Anderson Road in Rock Hill.

Publishers Weekly calls Ballard's second Miss Dimple mystery "full of Southern charm."

'Darwen Arkwright': A new book for middle-grade readers

2011-12-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Before he published his newest fantasy, Charlotte’s A.J. Hartley sought the opinion of one critic in particular: His son.

As 9-year-old Sebastian read “Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact” (Razorbill; $16.99), his dad watched his reactions closely to see passages made him laugh, which parts he found scary.

Hartley, a UNC Charlotte Shakespeare professor, is the successful author of several adult thrillers and fantasies. This new novel is his first for middle-grade readers, so Sebastian provided a valuable target audience.

He gave his dad’s novel two thumbs up, by the way. That you might expect, but Kirkus Reviews was similarly impressed, calling the book “an page turner that manages to be by turns spooky, suspenseful and touching.”

Like Hartley, Darwen Arkwright hails from a small town in Lancashire, England. (“Darwen,” by the way, is a town in Lancashire. “Arkwright” is a common local name.)

At age 11, the boy is sent to live with an investment-banker aunt and attend a posh private school in Atlanta. There, already reeling from shock, he discovers a mirror that’s the porthole to a beautiful and dangerous world. Darwen, it turns out, is a mirroculist, a who can see into other worlds through mirrors.

Over the past month, Hartley has visited fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms around the Carolinas, reading from his novel and answering “sensible, smart questions” about where he gets ideas, how he deals with rejection and whether his book could become a movie.

He has also fielded a few questions that adults seldom ask, such as: How much money do you make?

It’s different than lecturing college students, but he’s enjoying it. “Nine is about my mental age,” Hartley says. “I spend a lot of time pretending to be a professor,” but writing about Darwen “gives me the opportunity to be the kid I never grew out of.”

Look for more Darwen adventures. Hartley’s publisher has already committed to at least two more novels. And look for Sebastian to continue as his dad’s first and most important reader.

A.J. Hartley will read from and sign copies of “Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact” 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Morrison Barnes and Noble, 420 Sharon Road, and 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

'Mudbound' author in Charlotte with her new novel, 'When She Woke'

2011-11-30T09:22:00.000-05:00

Hillary Jordan's debut novel, "Mudbound" became a bestselling book club favorite when it was published in 2008. Now, Jordan returns with "When She Woke," a futuristic retelling of "The Scarlet Letter" that Publishers Weekly calls "an instant classic for the 21st century."

Jordan's book tour will bring her to Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6. She'll read from her new novel, set in a dystopian future where convicted felons are no longer imprisoned. Instead, their skin color is altered to match the class of their crime. Jordan's main character, Hannah Payne, has been "chromed" red after being found guilty of murdering her unborn child.

"Christian fundamentalists may shun this novel," says Library Journal, "but book clubs will devour it, and savvy educators will pair it with Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter."

A new book from Charlotte's 'Southern Fried Preacher'

2011-11-28T11:06:00.001-05:00

The Rev. Harold Bales has been entertaining readers with his newspaper columns for decades. Now, the retired Methodist minister has a new collection of columns, "Southern-Fried Preacher: Musings from a Made-in-America Minister."

Bales will sign copies of his book 4-6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at Rehobeth United Methodist Church in Terrell and 10:30-11:30 a.m. Dec. 9 at the North Mecklenburg Senior Center, 16601 Old Statesville Road, in Huntersville.

"The Warmth of Other Suns" author here next week

2011-11-21T13:46:00.000-05:00

Inspired by her parents' own migration, Isabel Wilkerson spent 15 years writing "The Warmth of Other Suns." Her critically acclaimed history chronicles the decades-long migration of six million black Americans who fled the South in search of better lives.

Wilkerson will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in the McGlohon Theatre at Spirit Square. Tickets are $12. They're available through carolinatix.org or by calling 704-372-1000.

Her 2010 book, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, follows three African-American families who left the South for new lives in the North and West.

She'll sign copies after her talk, which is presented by the Levine Museum of the New South, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and The Mint Museum.

Wilmington author's 'Pulphead' wins raves

2011-11-17T16:09:00.000-05:00

With the publication of “Pulphead,” his debut essay collection, Wilmington’s John Jeremiah Sullivan is being compared to a number of nonfiction icons, including Joan Didion and Hunter S. Thompson.

Sullivan is funnier than Didion, certainly saner than Thompson. But I get the references. Like Didion, he can deliver a piece that captures the spirit of the times. Like Thompson, he can be gonzo.

Publishers Weekly praises his book as “extraordinary prose that’s stuffed with offbeat insight.” The Los Angeles Times calls the work “thoughtful, electric and alive.” In short, he’s a guy worth reading.

Subjects in “Pulphead” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; $16) include Tennessee’s prehistoric cave art, reggae legend Bunny Wailer and Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose.

The book also offers an inside look at Creation, a huge Christian rock festival. Initially, Sullivan had planned a festival road trip with a van of hard-core fans.

It seemed a fine idea, until he posted a chat room invitation and learned the fans he was soliciting were young – very young.

“I had just traipsed out onto the World Wide Web,” he writes, “and asked a bunch of twelve-year-old Christians if they wanted to come for a ride in my van.”

One girl who responded tried to set him straight: “I’m not saying you’re a creepy petifile, lol, but I just don’t think you’ll get too many people interested.”

One of my favorite stories in the book is “Peyton’s Place,” Sullivan’s tale of renting his family’s Wilmington house to the people filming “One Tree Hill.”

The family was paid to decamp occasionally to a hotel so the teen TV show could film in their home, which doubled as the home of Peyton. Peyton’s character, Sullivan writes, was “complicated, deeper than the other teens on One Tree, which in teen-show terms meant that she often wore flannel shirts.”

Sullivan, 37, grew up in Louisville, the son of an English teacher and a newspaper reporter who covered, among other things, horse racing in Kentucky. His first book was “Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter’s Son.”

Since 2004, he has lived in Wilmington. His wife, Mariana Johnson, is a UNC Wilmington film professor. They still live in Peyton’s house, but they stopped renting it out to “One Tree Hill.” It got too weird, he told me. Fans, however, continue to pay them visits.

GQ magazine recently published a version of his “One Tree Hill” story. Read it here.

Charlotte native to read from "Growing Gills"

2011-11-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

In "Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey," Charlotte native David Joy delves into his lifelong obsession with fish.

Joy, a columnist for the Crossroads Chronicle in Cashiers, will sign books and do a reading at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Hot guys, ingested objects and other oddities

2011-11-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

One of the best parts of my job is that publishing companies send me free books. Also fun is showing colleagues the really weird ones, the ones that make me think: Who's going to buy this? Why was it published? and This is stupid, but it'll probably sell.

It recently dawned on me that you, dear readers, would enjoy these titles, too. So, here's a first installment:

"Hot Guys and Baby Animals": A collection of photographs featuring handsome, shirtless men snuggling with cute animals.

"Stuck Up! 100 Objects Inserted and Ingested in Places They Shouldn't Be": Authored by three physicians, this book includes black-and-white photos of X-rays of objects -- a banana, Christmas lights, a screwdriver -- stuck inside various parts of humans and animals. It would be much more interesting if it explained how these events occurred.

"Jack and Jill Went Up to Kill: A Book of Zombie Nursery Rhymes": Zombies are all the rage, as you probably know. Last year, I got a copy of "The Zombie Night Before Christmas," so this one didn't even surprise me. The rhymes are also predictable: "There was an old Zombie woman who lived in a shoe. She ate so many children she was covered in goo."

Snow forecast Friday at Park Road Shopping Center

2011-11-14T10:27:00.001-05:00

Jeff Kinney's newest "Wimpy Kid" installment, "Cabin Fever," out Tuesday, Nov. 15, has a winter setting. So when Kinney appears at Park Road Books for a book signing at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, he'll be accompanied by a truck that churns out snow.

You don't need to buy anything to play in the snow. But you do need to buy a copy of "Cabin Fever" (Amulet Books; $13.95) from Park Road Books to meet Kinney and get the book signed.

As long as a there's a child in line, Kinney will keep signing books. The signing starts at 4 p.m. on Nov. 18.

For more information, check out the Park Road Books website or call the store at 704-525-9239.

"God Bless America" author at UNC Charlotte

2011-11-09T08:40:00.001-05:00

No, Steve Almond is not the guy who wrote the patriotic song. That was Irving Berlin.

But Almond, a prize-winning essayist and short story writer, has written "God Bless America" (Lookout Books; $17.95), a new story collection by the same name. Almond's publisher, Wilmington's Lookout Books, describes the collection as a meditation on the American Dream and its discontents.

Almond will read and sign books at 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday, Nov. 16, in room 200 of UNC Charlotte's Denny Building.

His previous books include the nonfiction "Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America."

Charlotte's Julie Suk reads Sunday at Park Road Books

2011-11-08T09:19:00.001-05:00

Charlotte poet Julie Suk's latest book, "Lie Down with Me," includes new poems along with selected works from four earlier collections.

"That's my whole life in that book, from my very earliest writings," says Suk, 87.

"Her poetry," says Michael Simms, her editor at Autumn House Press, "balances on that razor's edge between fulfillment and desire."

She'll give a reading at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Here's one of her new poems:

Luna

Splayed against the window,
its moth powder sifts
through the screen.

The eyespot on each wing
blind as I was toward those I loved --

meaning the ghosts who still
mill around in my dreams.

The dust of rue
must have been terrible
for my 103-year-old grandfather,
wives and friends he outlived
haranguing his sleep.

A lovesick boy once threw pebbles
at my bedroom window.

Huddled in a cocoon of sheets
I refused his pleas,

afraid he might break
through my green will, afraid
of loss even before I took flight.

Charlotte named one of America's best public libraries

2011-11-07T11:51:00.000-05:00

After just missing the cut last year, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library has regained a spot on the Library Journal's list of America's best public libraries.

The library is among 262 U.S. public libraries -- and the only one in the Carolinas -- that the magazine designated this year as "America's Star Libraries." The ratings use data from four areas -- visits, circulation, program attendance and public Internet computer use.

One big caveat with these ratings, however: They're based on 2008-09 data. That's data gathered before Charlotte-Mecklenburg made huge budget cuts in 2010. Back then, libraries were open 1,521 hours per week, Charlotte-Mecklenburg library spokeswoman Cordelia Anderson tells me. Today, they're open only 824 hours a week.

"We are pleased with the designation," Anderson said in an email, "but we also acknowledge that it is a reflection of where we were three years ago."

This year, the Library Journal gave Charlotte three stars out of five. In 2008 and 2009, it earned five stars, the highest rating. But in 2010, it slipped off the list, just missing the three-star designation. The Library Journal describes its 262 star libraries as "delivering exceptional levels of service despite economic hardships." Learn more about the ratings here.

'What Writers Do': New anthology from Lenoir-Rhyne

2011-11-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

They are a diverse bunch of writers, but Julia Alvarez, Billy Collins, Dori Sanders and the late John Updike have one thing in common: They have all paid visits to Hickory.

Since 1988, they have been among nearly 200 writers who’ve read and discussed their work at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Visiting Writers Series. Now, this stellar series has produced an anthology, “What Writers Do,” to celebrate its achievement.

The book (Lorimer Press; $29.95) includes poems, fiction and nonfiction from 35 writers who have taken part in the annual literary series. Some selections, including memoir excerpts from Updike’s “Self-Consciousness” and the late Reynolds Price’s “A Whole New Life,” have been previously published.
But many poems and stories will be new to readers. Several nonfiction pieces also offer insight into the writing process itself.

In “Ghost, Come Back Again,” for instance, Joseph Bathanti describes how his first visit to Thomas Wolfe’s boyhood home in Asheville launched his writing life. In “Finding Louise,” Josephine Humphreys tells how a chance meeting with a Lumbee Inidian woman on a bus inspired her to write “Nowhere Else on Earth.”

Co-editors of this volume are Anthony Abbott, a poet and retired Davidson College English professor, and Rand Brandes, the Lenoir-Rhyne English professor who started and continues to direct the series.

The two split up the work of contacting authors and requesting submissions, and both ended up securing pieces with which they’re particularly pleased.

Brandes points to “Beacons at Bealtaine,” a poem by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. It has appeared on a website, but has never been collected in a book.

Abbott is proud to have Lee Smith’s “Goodbye to the Sunset Man,” an essay recounting the mental illness and death of her son. “It’s an astonishing piece,” he says.

The volume includes lots of engaging author photos by Hickory photographer David Crosby, plus some photos of contributing writers’ desks and workspaces.

Lenoir-Rhyne has hosted more than 150 authors who aren’t in this book, and that number grows each year. Already, Brandes is working on the next anthology.

The college is launching the book 4-5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at Hickory's Barnes & Noble, 2405 Highway 70 Southeast. Nearly a dozen contributing writers will attend.

'Ballad of Tom Dooley' author at Winthrop University

2011-10-27T07:00:00.004-04:00

Sharyn McCrumb discusses her latest novel, "The Ballad of Tom Dooley," at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Tuttle Dining Room of McBryde Hall at Winthrop University.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by The Friends of the Dacus Library.

McCrumb's latest novel weaves together research and fiction to put a new twist on the story of North Carolina's infamous Tom Dooley, made famous by The Kingston Trio hit "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley."

Want to know more? Check out my recent story on McCrumb and her new book.

Davidson author's process is messy, but it works

2011-10-26T14:30:00.003-04:00

Davidson's Garret Freymann-Weyr, author of five young adult novels and "French Ducks in Venice," a forthcoming children's picture book, explains to me that her writing process is messy. Really, really messy.

She tells me that she wrote one entire book from the wrong character's point of view. So then she rewrote it. She notes that her first drafts aren't the best. "You can't see how much you suck," she says, "until it's on the page."

And she says her first picture book, "French Ducks in Venice," to be published Dec. 13, contains content that might be inappropriate for children. This content includes unmarried parents -- though they are duck parents. Even worse, her two main characters, ducks Georges and Cecile, make prejudiced comments about mallards.

But in Freymann-Weyr's case, a messy process and inappropriate content beget highly praised books. Her young adult novel "My Heartbeat" was a 2003 Printz Honor Book. And "French Ducks in Venice" (Candlewick: $16.99), just earned a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly.

In the story, Polina Panova, a dressmaker in Venice, Calif., has been dumped by her filmmaker boyfriend. Her friends Georges and Cecile, ducks who live in the canal behind her house, are indignant.

Freymann-Weyr's storytelling gifts "are unmistakable," PW declares.

Freymann-Weyr grew up in New York and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. She'll discuss her writing at a free talk, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, in the 900 Room of Davidson College's Alvarez College Union. She plans to read from her novel "Stay With Me," she says, "and talk a little bit about how sloppy my process is."

Readers: Can you solve an apostrophe mystery?

2011-10-25T08:34:00.001-04:00

Apostrophe errors drive me crazy. So I was shocked on a recent visit to London's Park Lane Hotel when I noticed the sign above. How did this posh hotel, I wondered, make such a big, honking grammatical error?
Then, later the same day, I saw another major apostrophe omission on a building: "Duke of Yorks Headquarters."
Was this a cultural difference -- like the way the British spell colour or recognise?
I asked a British friend. No luck. He uses apostrophes the same way I do.
Next, I Googled.
Along with discovering several British restaurants called Apostrophe, I found a Website for the UK-based Apostrophe Protection Society, evidence that some of our friends across the pond feel strongly about apostrophes. And I learned from a 2009 story that Birmingham, England's second largest city, had stopped using the apostrophe in city signs to avoid dealing with the things.
But I still don't have an answer about the signs I saw in London. Anyone have a clue about this? Anyone?

Buy a bag of books at Habitat used book sale

2011-10-19T08:58:00.000-04:00

Julia's Cafe & Books, 1133 N.Wendover Road, holds a Book Tent Sale 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22. For $25, you can get as many used books as you can stuff into one of Julia's tote bags, which is provided with purchase.

Julia's, as you may know, is part of Habit for Humanity Charlotte, so proceeds go to a good cause -- providing families with affordable housing. It's selling more than 7,000 books of just about every genre, including many for children and young readers.

On Saturday, in addition to the sale, Julia's holds a fall festival, which means popcorn, apple cider and family-friendly activities.

Wilmington publisher scores a National Book Award finalist

2011-10-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

Back in January, The New York Times Book Review raved about "Binocular Vision," the very first book published by UNC Wilmington's Lookout Books. The glowing review of Edith Pearlman's story collection appeared on the section's front page.

That was pretty amazing. A small, independent press landing a front-page New York Times review with its very first offering was akin to "a rookie stepping up to the plate for the very first time and hitting a grand slam," Lookout Editorial Director Ben George said at the time.

Guess what? The rookie has hit another home run. "Binocular Vision" is now a finalist for the National Book Award. The winner will be announced Nov. 16.

The folks at Lookout are thrilled, as you can imagine. And they should be. Pearlman, 74, has been writing award-winning stories for years, but she wasn't widely known. With hard work and smart marketing, Lookout Books introduced her to a much wider audience of readers.

Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout at Queens Thursday

2011-10-17T16:22:00.001-04:00

There's been a last-minute substitution: This morning, I posted a blog about Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty on Thursday, Oct. 20. Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was to be among the attendees.

Queens folks have just told me that Dee can't make it. But here's the good news: Elizabeth Strout is coming in his place. Strout won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for "Olive Kitteridge."

Everything else remains the same. The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.

Queens MFA Program celebrates with reading

2011-10-17T08:46:00.000-04:00

Queens University's Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free reading featuring alumna and faculty, including Jonathan Dee, whose novel, "The Privileges," was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The reading begins at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Sykes Auditorium. Other faculty readers include poet and nonfiction writer Rebecca McClanahan, author of "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings," and poet Morri Creech, author of "Field Knowledge."

The reading also features the work of three MFA graduates: Jessica Handler, author of the memoir "Invisible Sisters"; Susan Meyers, author of the poetry collection "Keep and Give Away"; and Susan Woodring, whose novel, "Goliath," will be published in 2012.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, serves as the opening event for the first annual Queens Writing Symposium, which continues through Friday, Oct. 21. It includes a panel on publishing and master classes taught by MFA faculty and that offer writers the chance to revise their manuscripts for publication. A morning session and luncheon is $99. The master classes are an additional $149. Here's a full schedule.

Want to be an author? Check out "Your Path to Publication"

2011-10-13T08:26:00.000-04:00

Dozens of guides on the market are designed to teach you to write.

But what happens after you've written? How do you get an agent? How do you make connections? And -- the big question -- how do you get published?

Charlotte's Kim Wright answers those questions and more in her lively new book, "Your Path to Publication: A Guide to Navigating the World of Publishing" (Press 53; $15.95).

Wright, author of the 2010 novel "Love in Mid Air," tackled this subject to fill what she saw as a market void.

Lots of books offer writing instruction. Few give the inside scoop on publication. "It was a book that would have been helpful to me five years ago," she told me.

Along with lots of nuts-and-bolts advice, she also imparts wisdom acquired the hard way: "If everyone's flattering you and calling you literary," she counsels, "all that means is that they are not going to give you any money."

About writing conferences, she says: "There's always some self-impressed New Yorker with a name like Adrienne who's the last person in America who still smokes and who keeps running out at every break to talk on her phone, presumably to Kate Medina and Salman Rushdie and people way more important than you. But then the day comes when her work is up for critique and it turns out there's just one little crack in her armor -- the girl can't write for s---."

Wright dishes advice about contracts, publicists and editors with humor, but she doesn't pull punches. If you can't get an agent to represent you, she warns,"odds are no editor will ever see, much less purchase, your manuscript."

And in today's publishing world, she says, you must promote yourself -- on Facebook, on Twitter, through blogs. Would reclusive J.D. Salinger get published today? Wright thinks not. "I don't think the writer who just writes will exist," she says.

Though her first novel was published by Grand Central, a large press, she went with the small Press 53 in Winston-Salem for this book. One important reason: Press 53 prints on demand. That means it prints copies as they're sold. So Wright can update her book every six months if she needs to.

"I wanted to not have 1,000 books out there when the market's changing," she says. And the market, especially self-publishing, is changing fast.

Wright's book includes a chapter on the subject -- "The Brave New World of Self-Publishing." Like much advice in her book, it's based on experience. Wright is now writing a paranormal romance with a friend. They plan to self-publish the work as an e-book.

“Your Path to Publication” is available through amazon.com and press53.com.

Poems -- and a CD -- from Davidson's Anthony Abbott

2011-10-12T08:47:00.001-04:00

You've got two chances in coming days to hear Davidson poet Anthony Abbott read from his new book of poems, "If Words Could Save Us" (Lorimer Press, $16.95.)

He'll be at Davidson College's Katherine and Tom Belk Visual Arts Center at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. His reading will include music and a projection of images.
He'll also appear 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

This latest collection from Abbott, a retired Davidson College English professor, includes a CD featuring Abbott reading 21 poems from the book.

Awards for three N.C. writers

2011-10-11T08:52:00.000-04:00

Three N.C. writers have been honored recently for their work:

Durham poet Melanie Drane (pictured right) has won 2011 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award. The $25,000 award is one of six given each year to women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers.

Drane, a full-time caregiver for her sister, is working on a manuscript of poems titled "The Language Orchard." The poems explore the experience of her sister's severe aphasia after a recent stroke.

Charlotte's Dannye Romine Powell recently received the N.C. English Teacher Association's Ragan-Rubin Award, given each year to a writer who has produced work of literary merit. Powell, a poet and Charlotte Observer reporter, has published three poetry collections and "Parting the Curtains," a collections of interviews with Southern writers.

Children's author Gloria Houston, who lives in western North Carolina, has won her third AAUW of North Carolina Award for Juvenile Literature for her latest picture book, "Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile." North Carolina's American Association of University Women chapter previously honored her for "Littlejim's Dreams" and "Bright Freedom's Song." Houston's best known work is "The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree."

Just in time for Halloween: 'Haunted Watauga County'

2011-10-10T08:35:00.000-04:00

Looking for some spooky stories? Winston-Salem author Tim Bullard's new book, "Haunted Watauga County, North Carolina," includes tales of a spirit who leaves the scent of pipe tobacco, a hanged Tory captain who rides his steed along Riddle's Knob and a haunted spring near the Watauga River.

Bullard will give a reading from the collection 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at Charlotte's Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author -- and snow -- coming to Charlotte

2011-10-07T14:36:00.000-04:00

Several things are cool about "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" author Jeff Kinney's visit to Charlotte's Park Road Books on Nov. 18.

Snow, for instance. Kinney's newest "Wimpy Kid" installment, "Cabin Fever," to be published Nov. 15, has a winter setting. So Kinney's appearance will include a truck that churns out snow. "Yes, you read that right: there will be snow all over the place," Park Road Books co-owner Frazer Dobson writes in an email.

Also cool is that as long as a there's a child in line, Kinney will keep signing books. There are restrictions from the publisher, however. You must have a ticket to meet the author. One ticket is good for one family. You get it by purchasing a copy of "Cabin Fever" from Park Road Books.

The signing starts at 4 p.m. on Nov. 18. The store, in Park Road Shopping Center, is now taking reservations. To get on the list, call the store at 704-525-9239.

Park Road Books co-owner Sally Brewster also told me something about Kinney I didn't know. Even though he's sold millions of "Wimpy Kid" books, he works as a full-time design director of an Internet publishing company. So he takes vacation to do book signings.

Nicholas Sparks in Charlotte Thursday

2011-10-07T12:08:00.000-04:00

Bestselling author Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook," "Nights in Rodanthe") signs copies of his new novel, "The Best of Me," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at Barnes & Noble in The Arboretum, 3327 Pineville-Matthews Road.

The latest novel from the master of the heart-tugging love story, "The Best of Me" is the tale of two former high-school sweethearts from the opposite sides of the tracks.

Sparks, by the way, is a Tar Heel. He lives in New Bern with his family.

Venerable Charlotte Writers' Club launches new season

2011-09-14T14:36:00.004-04:00

"In those first days it was surprising to me that so many Charlotte men and women really were skillful writers. They had needed just the spur and the confidence which this club was able to give them."

--Adelia Kimball, in a 1928 Charlotte Observer story on the Charlotte Writers’ Club

In 1922, Kimball, a recent transplant from Massachusetts, organized a local writers’ club in Charlotte.

Nearly 90 years later, the Charlotte Writers’ Club, one of the city’s oldest clubs, remains an important resource for aspiring and established authors. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, the club kicks off a new season with a discussion of current publishing trends, including on-demand and e-publishing. If Kimball could only attend, she’d be amazed.

Still, much about the Charlotte Writers’ Club remains the same. With about 260 members, it continues to organize critique groups, where writers gather to read and review each others’ work. It also offers reasonably priced or free writing workshops.

Monthly meetings feature speakers, including authors, professors, literary agents and publishers, who discuss writing and literature from a range of perspectives.

Members include poets and novelists, memoirists, screenwriters, journalists. Some have published extensively. Some have never published. Most pursue their creative writing along with their day jobs.
Sherry Nadworny, for instance, works in public relations, but also writes fiction. She’d moved to Charlotte from Boston last year, sad to leave her writing group there.

Then she discovered the club and joined a critique group. “I found them to be incredibly welcoming, talented people,” she says. “It’s nice to have a group to help you get better. Everyone needs an editor.”
And maybe it’s just the gentility of the South, she says, but even when her critique members don’t like something about her work, “They say it in a lovely way.”

Want to know more?

The Charlotte Writers’ Club meets monthly September through May at Providence United Methodist Church, 2810 Providence Road.

Kevin Watson, founder of Winston-Salem’s Press 53, will discuss independent publishing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20.

www.charlottewritersclub.org.

‘The Tarball Chronicles’
In "The Tarball Chronicles” (Milkweed Editions; $24), UNC Wilmington’s David Gessner takes a journey “into the heart of the Gulf oil spill.” Publishers Weekly calls the work a “brilliant, thoughtful book.” It’s out on Sept. 19.

UNC Charlotte hosts award-winning journalist

2011-09-14T09:26:00.000-04:00

Journalist and author Cynthia Barnett speaks at UNC Charlotte at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, on her new book, "Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis."

In the book, Barnett calls for a national water ethic. She uses the Catawba River to illustrate the key role water plays in America's energy supply.

Barnett's talk is scheduled for room 128 of the College of Health and Human Services. She'll sign books afterward.

Good food, good books: It's Bibliofeast

2011-09-13T08:35:00.000-04:00

Good food, good books, good discussions.

That's the essence of Charlotte's Bibliofeast, a literary moveable feast featuring eight authors who chat with guests as they enjoy dinner.

Bibliofeast was a sold-out hit when the Charlotte chapter of the Women's National Book Association launched the event last year.

This year, the group has booked a larger venue -- Maggiano's Little Italy Restaurant at SouthPark -- and plans to feature eight authors for the Oct. 10 evening. Authors will visit with diners, discussing their books, throughout the evening.

Authors so far confirmed are: Ellen Baker ("I Gave My Heart to Know This"); Ann Hite ("Ghost on Black Mountain"); Heather Newton ("Under the Mercy Trees"); Michael Parker ("The Watery Part of the World"); Drew Perry ("This Is Just Exactly Like You"); and JohnMilliken Thompson ("The Reservoir".)

The event runs from 6:30-9 p.m. Tickets are $45 for member, $50 for nonmembers. They're available at Park Road Books and at the WNBA website.

"The Perfect Storm" author at Davidson College

2011-09-12T09:11:00.004-04:00

Author and war correspondent Sebastian Junger speaks on "Twenty Years of Reporting from Around the World" 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Davidson College's Duke Family Performance Hall.

Junger's "The Perfect Storm" recounts the 1991 story of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat caught in a storm off the Massachusetts coast. The book,a bestseller,was made into a 2000 movie.

Junger has also reported on war in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. His wrote about his experience in Afghanistan in the book "WAR." His work has been published in The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Harper's.

The Davidson event is free, but tickets are required. For details: 704-894-2135.

Carolina Mountains Literary Fest starts Thursday

2011-09-06T15:32:00.000-04:00

Charlotte's literary festival, the Novello Festival of Reading, is, unfortunately, no more. But if you're looking for a literary fix this week, head to the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival in Burnsville, less than three hours away.

Ron Rash ("Serena") and Audrey Niffenegger ("The Time Traveler's Wife") are featured authors at the sixth annual festival. The three-day event begins Thursday evening, Sept. 8, with a free screening of the documentary, "The Day Carl Sandburg Died."

Some 30 authors are scheduled to participate in readings, workshops and book signings on Friday, Sept. 9, and Saturday, Sept. 10. Most are free. Check out the full schedule here.

"A Hobo Odyssey" at Park Road Books

2011-09-05T07:40:00.001-04:00

S.C. writer Larry Nichols will read and sign copies of "A Hobo Odyssey" 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Set during the Depression, Nichols' novel follows two young men who take up the hobo life, riding trains in search of adventure. Nichols, who grew up in Cramerton and now lives in Taylors, S.C., is also author of "Memories of Cramerton: A Cotton Mill Town."

Three readers win "Flash and Bones"

2011-08-31T08:58:00.000-04:00

A third copy of Kathy Reichs' "Flash and Bones" arrived at the newspaper this week, so I've chosen three winners:

Doug Price, who wanted to win a copy for his wife. You're a good husband, Doug.
Jennifer Edwards, who's re-reading "206 Bones" right now.
Stephanie Simpson, who says she's a big fan of the "Bones" television show but has never read the novels.

Folks, email me your mailing addresses, and I'll get the books out to you. And thanks for reading.

Longer Charlotte library hours start next week

2011-08-30T09:44:00.000-04:00

After Labor Day, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library is expanding hours at six regional libraries and reinstating Sunday hours at the Main Library and ImaginOn.

Starting Tuesday, Sept. 6, regional libraries -- Beatties Ford Road, Independence, Morrison, North County, South County and University City -- will be open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The Main Library and ImaginOn will be open 1-6 p.m. Sundays starting Sept. 11. Here's a full schedule of library hours.

Summer's last book giveaway: "Flash and Bones"

2011-08-29T09:04:00.000-04:00

School is back in session, which means summer's ending. So, too, is my Summer Book Giveaway.

For the final giveaway, I've got two copies of "Flash and Bones," the newest thriller by Charlotte's Kathy Reichs.

In her newest novel, Reichs explores a subject in her own backyard -- NASCAR. Just as fans are pouring into Charlotte for Race Week, a worker discovers a body inside an asphalt-filled barrel in the landfill beside the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Soon, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is on the case.

Here's my recent story on Reichs' new book.

If you'd like to win a copy, leave a comment here. Give me some way to identify you, not just anonymous. I'll post the two winners on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Charlotte Christian School teacher to read from new novel

2011-08-25T07:09:00.000-04:00

Dean Hardy, chair of Charlotte Christian School's Bible Department, is also an author. "Magnus Kir," his middle-grade fantasy novel, takes place on a distant planet, where 12-year-old Zack has lived a contented life in a walled society called Magnus Kir -- until his hesitant escape.

Hardy, who lives in Matthews will give a reading at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Barnes & Noble at The Arboretum, 3327 Pineville-Matthews Road.

Two readers win "The Family Fang"

2011-08-24T15:50:00.000-04:00

Congratulations, Basilkeeper and Trinitarian Mouse Fan. You've both won copies of Kevin Wilson's new comedic novel, "The Family Fang." Also, it sounds as if you have some good family stories of your own.

Email me your addresses, and I'll get the books in the mail to you. Thanks for reading.

Win "The Family Fang," a portrait of a nice, dysfunctional family

2011-08-22T08:14:00.000-04:00

You think your family's crazy? Wait until you meet Caleb and Camille Fang, a couple who propel parental dysfunction to a new level. In Kevin Wilson's new comic novel,"The Family Fang," we meet the Fangs, who use their two kids in performance art pieces reminiscent of "Punk'd" episodes.

The children grow up to be artists, too. Annie's an actress, Buster becomes a writer. But both their careers are imploding. Topless photos of Annie are all over the Internet. Buster suffers a serious injury when he's nailed in the face by a potato gun.

Wilson will give a reading 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

And I'm giving away two copies of his book. To win one, leave a comment here with some way to identify you, not just anonymous. You'll get extra points for sharing your own crazy family story. I'll post the winners Wednesday, Aug. 24.

"You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl" at Park Road Books

2011-08-19T08:35:00.000-04:00

Funny lady Celia Rivenbark will be reading from her new book, "You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl," 7 p.m. Monday at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.
Rivenbark, who grew up in Duplin County and lives in Wilmington, writes a syndicated humor column. She's been compared to Dave Barry and Erma Bombeck. Among the pieces in her newest collection: "Driving While Shaving," about the Florida woman who wrecked her car while grooming her bikini area.

Novello Festival of Reading? Not this year

2011-08-17T14:10:00.001-04:00

Charlotte won't have a Novello Festival of Reading this fall.

That won't come as a huge surprise to anyone who's followed the Charlotte-Meckenburg Library's budget cuts in the past couple of years. Still, for book lovers who looked forward to Novello events each October, it's sad news.

Launched in 1991, the library-sponsored reading festival presented talks by dozens of great authors, including, in recent years, Khaled Hosseini ("The Kite Runner"), Christopher Buckley ("Losing Mum and Pup") and Scott Turow ("Presumed Innocent").

After budget cuts decimated the library's 2010 budget, a group of volunteers, led by UNC Charlotte's Mark West, kept the spirit of Novello alive last year with "A Tribute to Novello," featuring local authors who appeared free of charge.

This year, we'll have neither Novello nor the tribute to it. "I don't want to say it's dead, it's never going to come back," says Karen Beach, the library's community engagement director. But she doesn't know what the future holds.

UNCC's West, however, is organizing an alternative --the Uptown Fall Authors Series, which will feature authors speaking at several uptown Charlotte venues.

And if you've got your heart set on a literary festival, check out the Bookmarks Festival of Books in Winston-Salem on Sept. 10. Authors attending include Tom Perrotta ("Election"), Margaret Maron ("Bootlegger's Daughter") and Lisa See ("Snow Flower and the Secret Fan").

Also, Charlotte-area colleges and other institutions will present a number of authors, including Wes Moore ("The Other Wes Moore") at Lenoir-Rhyne University, poet Elizabeth Alexander at UNC Charlotte and Isabel Wilkerson ("The Warmth of Other Suns") at Spirit Square.

For a full listing, check out the Observer's Arts Season Preview, to be published Aug. 28.

Emily, you've won "Paper Covers Rock"

2011-08-17T08:47:00.000-04:00

Emily, you've won this week's book giveaway. Email me your address, and I'll get "Paper Covers Rock" out to you. The young adult novel, written by Charlotte's Jenny Hubbard, is getting great reviews.

Punctuation geeks: A contest just for you

2011-08-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

National Punctuation Day is Sept. 24, and the fine folks who invented it have announced a new contest to mark the occasion.

Here are the rules:

Write one paragraph, maximum of three sentences, using these 13 punctuation marks: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon.

Entries will be accepted at Jeff@NationalPunctuationDay.com through Sept. 30. Jamming all that punctuation into three sentences sounds tough to me. You might want to start now.

Meanwhile, enjoy these punctuation-themed haikus from the winners of last year's contest.

Book giveaway: "Paper Covers Rock" by Charlotte's Jenny Hubbard

2011-08-15T09:04:00.001-04:00

The reviews for Jenny Hubbard's debut young-adult novel, "Paper Covers Rock," have been stellar. Now, the Association of Booksellers for Children has chosen the novel as one of 10 books on its New Voices YA List.

"Paper Covers Rock" is set at a boy's boarding school. Sixteen-year-old Alex has just begun his junior year when tragedy strikes: He fails to save a friend from drowning in a river on campus.

Hubbard, who lives in Charlotte, taught English before she quit to write full time, and she's hearing from lots of adults who are enjoying her book. This first effort is drawing comparisons to John Knowles' "A Separate Peace." Pat Conroy calls it "one of the best young adult books I've read in years."

Hubbard, by the way, will be signing copies 5:30-7 p.m. Sept. 21 at Park Road Books, 3139 Park Road.

Want to win a copy? Leave a comment here with some way to identify you, not just "anonymous." I'll post the winner's name on Wednesday.

"Emperor of All Maladies": We've got a winner

2011-08-10T08:58:00.000-04:00

Elliot Bencan has won Siddhartha Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize-winning look at cancer. Bencan says he'll share the book with his son, a doctor.

Elliot, send me an email with your mailing address, and I'll get the book out to you.

Two Charlotte writers win fellowships

2011-08-09T12:36:00.003-04:00

Charlotte writers Morri Creech and Rebecca McClanahan are among 18 N.C. artists to receive $10,000 fellowships from the N.C. Arts Council.

Creech, a poet, is author of "Paper Cathedrals" and "Field Knowledge."

McClanahan, who writes poetry and prose, is author of "Deep Light: New and Selected Poems" and "The Riddle Song and Other Rememberings." She teaches in Queens University's MFA creative writing program.

The fellowships support creative development and the creation of new work.

The Book Giveaway: Win "The Emperor of All Maladies"

2011-08-08T08:36:00.001-04:00

Cases of cancer doubled globally between 1975 and 2000, and will double again by 2020, nearly tripling by 2030. In America, one in two men and one in three women will get cancer during their lifetime; one in four will die.

Those are some good reasons to read Siddhartha Mukherjee's Pulitzer Prize-winning history of cancer. Another reason: It's a beautifully written book.

It's now out in paperback, and I'm giving away a copy. Leave a comment here and tell me why you'd like to read it. Please give me some way to identify you, not just "anonymous." I'll post the winner on Wednesday, Aug. 10.

A summer reading list to inspire you

2011-08-03T15:01:00.002-04:00

Looking for a good book to take on your last summer trip to the beach?

Charlotte- based Mothering Across Continents, a nonprofit dedicated to developing responsible citizen-leaders around the world, recommends a list of books focused on inspiring work that addresses global problems.

Among the selections: "It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace," by Charlotte's own Rye Barcott, a former Marine captain who co-founded Carolina for Kibera. The nonprofit works with residents of Kibera, Kenya's largest slum, to develop leaders and alleviate poverty.

Other books featured in the group's "I Care Book Fair" include Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond Mountains" and Margaret Trost's "On That Day, Everybody Ate: One Woman's Story of Hope and Possibility in Haiti."

If you order a book through the group's web site, a portion of the money will go to support humanitarian projects in Third World countries.

We've got a winner for "Blood Clay"

2011-08-03T08:44:00.001-04:00

Skkorman, you've won a copy of Valerie Nieman's "Blood Clay," a novel about a North Carolina community torn apart by tragedy.
Send me an email with your mailing address, and we'll get the book to you.

And don't forget: You can meet Nieman on Aug. 13. Nieman, who lives in Greensboro, will give a reading at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Check back here next week for my next giveaway. It's a good one -- a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Win a copy of Valerie Nieman's "Blood Clay"

2011-08-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

In her latest novel, "Blood Clay," Valerie Nieman writes of a North Carolina community torn apart by tragedy. Trying to escape the wreckage of her divorce, Tracey Gaines has moved to rural Saul County, NC, and become a teacher at an alternative school. But then a tragic event -- and her testimony about it -- divide the community.

Nieman, who lives in Greensboro, will give a reading at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

And this week, I'm giving away an autographed copy of the book that author Ron Rash calls "profoundly moving and beautifully written." Leave a comment here, and I'll choose a winner on Wednesday. Be sure to give me some way to identify you -- not just "anonymous."

Black Forest Books & Toys is moving to Elizabeth

2011-07-27T14:01:00.000-04:00

Black Forest Books & Toys, a fixture in Myers Park/Eastover since 1978, is moving to a new location in Elizabeth -- the purple house on 7th Street that was formerly La-Tea-Das. That's the house in the photo, with co-owners Pat Siegfried (left) and June Hargrove in the foreground.

The store had its final day in the Tudor house at 115 Cherokee Road on Saturday, July 23. It'll open at its new location, 1942 E. 7th St., the week Aug. 8. Look for the grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 1.

The new location more than doubles the retail space, allowing the store to offer many more activities, including story times and readings with children's authors, co-owner June Hargrove says.

Black Forest is among the nation's oldest children's bookstores still operating. It's sad leaving the old location, just off Providence Road, Hargrove says, but it'll be a lot easier now to direct customers to the store. Just look for the purple house.

Clyde Edgerton's "Night Train": We've got a winner

2011-07-27T09:16:00.001-04:00

TMcB44, you've won Clyde Edgerton's new novel, "Night Train."
Why? Because you love Edgerton's work so much you read "The Bible Salesman" in your church book club.

"I served as moderator and emailed him to get some suggestions," TMcB44 told me. "He couldn't get over the fact a church book club was doing one of his books. Must have been a shock after his Campbell College (now University) days."

Please email me your name and address, and I'll get the book in the mail.

Stephen "Steve-O" Glover signs books in Charlotte Saturday

2011-07-26T12:20:00.000-04:00

The title of Stephen "steve-O" Glover's new book says it all: "Professional Idiot: A Memoir."

Glover, who starred on MTV's "Jackass" series, recounts his journey as a guy who rose to fame abusing drugs and alcohol and doing ill-advised stunts, including stapling his scrotum to his leg. He's now a sober, drug-free vegan.

In town on a stand-up comedy tour, he'll be at the Barnes & Noble at Morrison Place, 4020 Sharon Road, at noon Saturday, July 30.

Book giveaway: Clyde Edgerton's new novel, "Night Train"

2011-07-25T08:49:00.001-04:00

Like many readers, I fell in love with Clyde Edgerton's writing in 1986 when I read his first novel, "Raney," the warm, funny story of a small-town Baptist woman who marries -- gasp -- an Episcopalian from Atlanta. Edgerton, North Carolina born and raised, now teaches at UNC Wilmington.

I'm happy to report that his newest work, "Night Train," is out today. Set in 1963, it features Dwayne Hallston, a 17-year-old white kid in Starke, North Carolina who has recently discovered James Brown.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls it "The work of a generous, restrained writer whose skill and craft allows small scenes to tell a larger, more profound story."

Want to win a copy? Leave a comment here and tell me why. Leave some way for me to identify you -- not just "anonymous." I'll post the winner on Wednesday, July 27.

Carol N. Wong, you've won Baldacci's newest novel

2011-07-20T07:59:00.003-04:00

The temperature's heading toward 100 today, and Carol N. Wong tells me she'd go for any book that has a picture of water and a beach on it.

Carol, I can't guarantee it'll cool you off, but I've got a copy of David Baldacci's "One Summer" for you. Email me your mailing address and I'll send it your way.

Check back on Monday, folks. I'll post another book giveaway.

This week's book giveaway: A beach read

2011-07-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

David Baldacci ("Absolute Power," "The Sixth Man"), gained fame for writing thrillers. But now he has a beach book -- "One Summer," a family drama about love, loss, faith and healing that's set partly in South Carolina.

Want to win a copy? Leave a comment here with some way to identify yourself, not just "anonymous." I'll post the winner on Wednesday, so be sure to check back.

Four readers win John Hart's "Iron House"

2011-07-13T08:48:00.000-04:00

Four readers have won copies of John Hart's latest thriller, "Iron House":

Tim44, who says his pay keeps getting cut. Tim, here's a small bonus for you.

DC2006, who wants to win a book from a fellow Wildcat. Hart, who grew up in Salisbury, graduated from Davidson College.

Rexxtigger, who says he'll donate the book to his library when he's done.

Paula Finegan, who's going to share the book with her daughter.

Folks, send me an email (pkelley@charlotteobserver.com) with you mailing address, and I'll get the books to you. And check back next week for another summer book giveaway.

It's AWESOME. It's AMAZING. It's cliche.

2011-07-12T13:34:00.001-04:00

Maybe you hadn't noticed, but the word "amazing" is suffering from overexposure.

I blame Facebook. Status updates are full of amazing stuff -- amazing friends, husbands, movies, hamburgers. There's a lot of awesome going on, too.
It's enough to give a person superlative fatigue.

I'm not going to try to convince anyone that it's unnecessary to refer to new sandals as "fabulous." But if we're going to continue describing everything with superlatives, maybe we could at least change them up.

To that end, I suggest perusing Arthur Plotnik's "Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives" (Viva Editions; $15.95).

Plotnik's new book offers hundreds of superlatives neatly organized into chapters such as "Intense," "Great," "Sublime," "Physically Affecting" and "Trendy." Under "Intense," for instance, you'll find "dead-on," "dharma incarnate," "high-wire" and "Hegelian."

So next time you want to describe some really yummy frozen yogurt in your status update, consider calling it "slurp-worthy" or "plate-licking good." Or, my favorite: "Glad tidings for the gullet."

Win "Iron House," John Hart's latest thriller

2011-07-11T09:28:00.000-04:00

John Hart, who grew up in Salisbury and graduated from Davidson College, is winning raves for "Iron House," his new thriller. Booklist calls it "an unforgettable novel from a master of popular fiction."

So wouldn't you love a copy?
I've got four to give away. Leave a comment here with some way to identify yourself, not just "anonymous." I'll post the four winners on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, you can pay Hart a visit at his book launch party, 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Charlotte book club for the homeless to discuss "The Dry Grass of August"

2011-07-07T14:51:00.000-04:00

The good people who organize the Turning Pages Book Club at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library tell me they've had a nice run of local authors who've spoken at recent meetings.

On Tuesday, July 12, North Carolina's Anna Jean Mayhew, author of "The Dry Grass of August," will speak to the group. It meets at 10 a.m. on the first floor of the main library, 310 N. Tryon St. The discussion is open to the public.

Launched in late 2009, Turning Pages is the brainchild of Charlotte's Candace Curlin Vance. It was designed as an outreach to the homeless, but participants now include people from varied circumstances and backgrounds.

Mayhew got her publisher, Kensington Publishing, to donate 25 copies of her novel to the club. It should be a rich discussion. The book tells a coming-of-age story of a white girl in Charlotte in the 1950s.

If you'd like to learn more about the club, check out Kay McSpadden's recent column.

And if you'd like to donate to keep the club running, send your check to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, 310 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202 to the attention of John Zika. Write "Turning Pages Book Club" in on the memo line.

Chaine2: You've won the new Warriors book

2011-07-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

Chaine2, I love the image of your daughter making cat bookmarks for her Warriors books. Email me your mailing address, and I'll get the book to you so your daughter can put those bookmarks to use.

Be sure to check back in on Monday. I'll post a book giveaway for a new novel from one of North Carolina's biggest authors -- John Hart.

Meanwhile, a second call to last week's winner of Annie Proulx's "Bird Cloud": Veronica MacKinnon, send me your address so I can mail you the book.

Win the new Warriors Super Edition: "Crookedstar's Promise"

2011-07-05T08:38:00.000-04:00

In this week's Summer Book Giveaway I've got a novel for younger readers: "Crookedstar's Promise," the latest in the hugely popular Warriors series.

The book is aimed at kids 10 and up. Feel free to enter and win for your favorite middle-grade reader. Just leave a comment with your name or some way to identify you -- not just "anonymous." I'll post the winner on Wednesday, July 6, so be sure to check back.

For those unfamiliar with the whole kitties-as-warriors premise, a little background: Written by three British women using the pseudonym "Erin Hunter," this book series features clans of cats who engage in heart-stopping epic adventures.

As the owner of a couple of felines who spend their day sleeping, eating and dealing with grooming issues, this makes me chuckle.

UNCC professor pens "Macbeth: A Novel"

2011-06-30T09:13:00.000-04:00

You loved the play, with all its Scottish tragedy. Now check out "MacBeth: A Novel," a new audio book co-written by Andrew Hartley, UNC Charlotte's Russell Robinson professor of Shakespeare studies.

Along with being a Shakespeare expert, Hartley writes fiction. As A.J. Hartley, he's author of several historical thrillers and fantasy adventures.

Hartley and co-author David Hewson have fleshed out "Macbeth," making it a rich work of historical fiction. Audible.com is publishing the novel as an audio book only. It's narrated by Alan Cumming, a prolific actor who appears regularly in CBS's "The Good Wife."

Hartley and Hewson, also a thriller writer, hatched the idea for the novel, which allowed them to tell the Scottish play's story in a new way. (With battle scenes and internal dialogue, for instance.)

"We've also made some fairly bold choices that go beyond fleshing out narrative," Hartley told me. Listen here as Hartley, Hewson and Cumming discuss the novel.

Veronica, you've won Annie Proulx's "Bird Cloud"

2011-06-29T09:45:00.002-04:00

Veronica, you're this week's winner in my Summer Book Giveaway. Send me your mailing address, and I'll send Annie Proulx's newest book, "Bird Cloud," on its way to you.

Thanks, folks, for entering, and check back next week for my next giveaway. Since Monday's July 4, I'll post the new giveaway on Tuesday, July 5.

The Book Giveaway: This week, let's be literary.

2011-06-27T12:46:00.001-04:00

I launched my Summer Book Giveaway with a beach read and a James Bond novel. This week, how about a more literary selection -- "Bird Cloud," the latest by Annie Proulx?

Proulx is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Shipping News" and "Brokeback Mountain." In "Bird Cloud" (Scribner; $26), she writes about her life in rural Wyoming, on a remote 640-acre property she purchased in 2003.

This nonfiction work, described as part memoir, part naturalist's journal, part history and archaeology of place, has won glowing reviews. "With a scientist's exactitude, an artist's attunement to beauty, and a storyteller's enchantment," Booklist writes, "Proulx takes us through the building of a home, intimacy with place, and reclamation of the past."

To enter, leave a comment on this blog with your name or some way to identify you -- not just "anonymous."
I'm giving away a summer read each week through August. I'll post the winner of "Bird Cloud" on Wednesday, June 29.

Peter wins the new James Bond novel

2011-06-22T09:24:00.001-04:00

I can't resist a guy who likes vodka martinis. Peter, you've won a copy of Jeffery Deaver's "Carte Blanche," the newest James Bond adventure.

Send me an email with your mailing address, and I'll get the book out to you.

Here's what Peter said in his winning entry:
Sounds like the perfect thing to go with my Vodka Martini (shaken, not stirred) by the pool!!

Check back soon for my next summer book giveaway, then leave a comment to enter. I'll give away another book each week through August.

Want a divinely inspired life? Charlotte author tells you how.

2011-06-21T13:31:00.003-04:00

Make a pilgrimage. Catch dreams. Create a sacred space. Practice mindful eating. Lose some baggage.

Those are among the chapter headings in Debra Moffitt's new book, "Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life" (Llewllyn Worldwide; $16.95).

The book, designed to help readers integrate spiritual practices into their daily lives, grew out Moffitt's own experience. She was married, living on the French Riviera and working in international business in the mid-'90s when her life fell apart. Her husband walked out. She lost her job. She fell ill.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," she writes in the book's introduction.

She spent the next 15 years traveling the world, seeking life's answers by exploring a range of religious practices. With her book, she shares what she has learned through simple, clear instruction about 108 practices.

Moffitt is now remarried and lives in Charlotte. She'll do a free mini-workshop and book signing 2-4 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Borders at Stonecrest, 7836 Rea Road. She'll also do a workshop 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, at Yoga for Life, 1410 W. Morehead St., Suite 200.

This week's Summer Book Giveaway: A new James Bond

2011-06-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

Last week, I gave away Dorothea Benton Frank's "Folly Beach," a beach read in every sense of the word.

This week, let's head in a slightly different direction. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win "Carte Blanche" (Simon & Schuster; $26.99), the new James Bond novel by Jeffery Deaver. In this novel, Deaver brings the world's most famous fictional spy into the modern age. This 21st-century Bond is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, drives a Jetta and uses a smart phone with multiple cool apps.

Deaver, who lives in Chapel Hill, is author of numerous bestselling thrillers, including "The Bone Collector" and "The Burning Wire."

Each week, through August, I'll give my blog readers a chance to win a great summer read. It's easy to enter to win. Leave a comment with your name or some way to identify you -- not just "anonymous."

In past contests, I've chosen winners at random. For these contests, I'll pick my favorite answer. I'll post the winner of "Carte Blanche" on Wednesday, June 22.

Beach book winners: Tom R. and Leslie

2011-06-20T09:17:00.000-04:00

Tom R. and Leslie, you've both won copies of "Folly Beach."
Email me your addresses and I'll mail you the books.

Thanks to all readers who entered the first week of my Big Summer Book Giveaway. Wish I could send you all copies. But I can't.

What I can do, though, is give away another book. I'll continue this weekly contest through August. Check back here later today, when I'll reveal the next book.

Here's what this week's winners told me:

From Tom R.: I'll be Frank. My life's no Beach, so even if it's Folly, I'm Benton getting this book. And there's no pun for Dorothea.

From Leslie: As an English teacher, I have to read lots of academic "stuff" throughout the school year, but summer is time for brain candy. My best friend just recommended this author to me, so I would love to begin my summer with a North Carolina beach read.

Big Summer Book Giveaway starts now

2011-06-15T08:13:00.001-04:00

Today, I'm launching my first Big Summer Book Giveaway.

Each week, from now through August, I'll give my blog readers a chance to win a great summer read. I'm starting this week with Dorothea Benton Frank's new "Folly Beach."

This is the consummate beach read. Also, Frank will be doing a book signing at 6 p.m. Monday, June 20 at Books-A-Million, 14151 Steele Creek Road.

It's easy to enter to win a copy. When I post a new book giveaway contest, leave a comment with your name or some way to identify you -- not just "anonymous."

In past contests, I've chosen winners at random. For these contests, I'll pick my favorite answer. Length doesn't count. Cleverness does.

And if you hate beach books, don't worry. I'll choose different genres for each giveaway.

So leave a comment -- one per person, please. I've got two copies. I'll post the names of two winners on Monday, June 20.

Four new books from N.C. authors

2011-06-14T13:06:00.000-04:00

Some new books from area authors:

"Magnus Kir" (Ambassador; $11.99), by Dean Hardy. On a distant planet, 12-year-old Zack has lived a contented life in a walled society called Magnus Kir. This middle-grade fantasy novel tells of his hesitant escape. Hardy, who lives in Matthews, is chair of the Bible Department at Charlotte Christian School.

"Thunder in the Morning Calm" (Zondervan; $14.99), by Don Brown, out in July. Could North Korea be holding elderly Americans in secret prison camps, nearly 60 years after the end of the Korean War? Brown, an ex-naval officer and attorney who lives in Charlotte, explores that question in his sixth military thriller.

"The Creative Photographer" (Pixiq/Sterling Publishers; $19.95), by Catherine Anderson. Anderson, who teaches creativity and photography in Charlotte, includes lots of ideas for parents and children to explore. Here's a good one: Look for letters of the alphabet in the world around you. A curved stick could be an "S." A tree branch is a "Y."

"Autumn Bends the Rebel Tree" (Canterbury House Publishing; $16.95), by Carolyn Guy. This historical novel, set in the N.C. mountains in the '30s and '40s, follows Clarinda McCloud as she struggles to raise her family. Guy lives in Watauga County.

"Collective Visioning" author in Charlotte

2011-06-13T13:48:00.000-04:00

N.C. native Linda Stout has spent her life working for social justice and a better world. Now, in her new book, "Collective Visioning," the former director of Kannapolis' Piedmont Peace Project gives readers practical, concrete ways to bring people together to work for common goals.

Stout, who divides her time between Asheville and Massachusetts, will sign books 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 24, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

A Quaker, Stout grew up in poverty in North Carolina. She won national acclaim for her work with the Piedmont Peace Project, which focused on issues including literacy, voter registration and job opportunities. She's now founder and director of Spirit in Action.

She's on a 27-city tour to promote her new book, which includes strategies and exercises designed to help diverse groups work together for a collective vision. "I wanted to show people how you can break through differences and create a space that's welcome to all voices," she told me.

While in Charlotte, she'll also conduct workshops at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, meeting in Charlotte for its 50th anniversary.

Sister Souljah adds a Friday appearance in Charlotte

2011-06-09T11:21:00.001-04:00

Response to author and activist Sister Souljah's free appearance in Charlotte Saturday has been so strong that she's adding a second appearance -- 7-9 p.m. Friday, June 10 at the HarveyB. Gantt Center, 551 S. Tryon St.

She'll be reading from her new novel, "Midnight and the Meaning of Love." Souljah's other novels include "The Coldest Winter Ever" and "Midnight, A Gangster Love Story." The event is free, but RSVP at contact@RealEyesBookstore.com.

She's also appearing 6-8 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at Red@28th, 2424 N. Davidson St. in Charlotte. That event is now full.

Library to launch summer reading programs

2011-06-08T13:08:00.002-04:00

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg library kicks off its summer reading clubs for preschoolers, children and teens on Wednesday, June 15. And yes, while reading is certainly its own reward, the library is giving away lots of prizes for hitting reading goals.

Also, note: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library is now on its summer schedule. That means branches that were open on Sundays are now closed Sundays for the summer.

We've got a winner for Lynne Hinton's 'Pie Town'

2011-06-08T08:44:00.001-04:00

Hey, baristabrwn, you've won a copy of "Pie Town," Lynne Hinton's new novel.
Email me your mailing address, and I'll send it to you. Thanks for reading.

And by the way, Hinton will be reading from the novel on Friday, June 10, at Barnes & Noble at The Arboretum. 3327 Pineville-Matthews Road.

'Hassie Calhoun': A new novel from a Charlotte native

2011-06-07T13:43:00.000-04:00

If you're a longtime Charlotte resident, you may know Pamela Cory as Pamela McMahon, daughter of Sam and Carolyn McMahon and a graduate of East Mecklenburg High and Queens University.

What you might not know is that Cory, a former cabaret singer, voice coach and model, is now a novelist, author of "Hassie Calhoun," the first book in a planned trilogy from Scarletta Press.

The coming-of-age novel centers on Hassie, just 17 when she escapes small-town Texas in 1959 in search of a Las Vegas singing career.
Hassie has beauty and talent, but also a "tendency to make the wrong decision, to put it mildly," Cory says.

She'll read from the novel at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 15 at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

Cory, who splits her time between Dubai and New York, got the idea for the story when her husband, an architect, was working on a hotel project in Las Vegas. To gain background, she dove into books and movies about the city and the Rat Pack era. Frank Sinatra appears in the book.

She's now working on the next Hassie novel. When the trilogy ends, young and naive Hassie will have evolved into a "fabulous, mature woman" in her 60s, Cory says. "So the payoff is there."

Sister Souljah in Charlotte on Saturday

2011-06-06T13:42:00.001-04:00

Novelist and social activist Sister Souljah will read and sign copies of her books, including her new novel, "Midnight and the Meaning of Love," 6-8 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at Red@28th, 2424 N. Davidson St. in Charlotte.

Souljah's other novels include "The Coldest Winter Ever" and "Midnight, A Gangster Love Story."

The event is free, but RSVP at contact@RealEyesBookstore.com.