A book club milestone

In 1960, Charlotte’s Connie Braxton started a Great Books group, an outgrowth of the Great Books Foundation, founded to encourage readers to discuss enduring ideas.
For the past half century, as far as she can remember, Braxton has read every book the group has chosen. “I wouldn’t dare go the meeting without reading the book,” she says.
Now 92, she recently decided she’d no longer attend meetings because she has difficulty hearing. But she’ll continue reading the group’s monthly selections.
In fact, she just finished the most recent, Cervantes’ “Don Quixote” – all 1,000-plus pages, she told me, not some abridged version.

Charlotte's A.J. Hartley pens a new fantasy

He's a sort of literary superhero, that A.J. Hartley.

At UNC Charlotte, he's Andrew Hartley, distinguished professor of Shakespeare. But fans of his novels know him as A.J.

Hartley's newest work, "Will Power" (Tor; $25.99), is now in bookstores. The fantasy novel centers on young actor Will Hawthorne, who finds himself transported to a strange land and plunked down in the middle of a war between humans and goblins. Readers first met Will in Hartley's previous book, "Act of Will."

Early reviews are good. "All of the fast pacing, outrageous dilemmas, and sharp cynical humor (of "Act of Will") are back in full force," says Publishers Weekly.

Hartley will speak at noon Saturday, Oct. 2, at the main library, 310 N. Tryon St., as part of the "Tribute to Novello" festival.

The story behind your cute outfit

Kelsey Timmerman has traveled the world to find out where, exactly, his clothes are made.

Timmerman, author of "Where Am I Wearing: a Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People that Make our Clothes," speaks at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 17 in the chapel at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer. He'll also attend a 7 p.m. dessert reception on Thursday, Sept. 16 in the Stokes Student Center Lounge. Both events are free and open to the public.

The 2008 book is Pfeiffer's required reading for freshmen this year.

Davidson professor dedicates his new book to a fallen soldier

Stories of soldiers ancient and modern converge in Peter Krentz's new book, "The Battle of Marathon" (Yale University Press; $27.50), a new interpretation of a battle that changed Greek military history.

In the Battle of Marathon, in 490 BCE, the city-state of Athens defeated invaders from Persia. For centuries, scholars have found fault with the earliest surviving account of the battle, written by the Greek historian Herodotus. Nearly all, for instance, have doubted Herodotus's claim that the Athenians ran nearly a mile when they charged the Persians. The soldiers' heavy equipment and armor would have made such a long run impossible, they argued.

But Krentz, a Davidson College classics professor, wasn't so sure. He decided to test Herodotus's claim by consulting some modern wartime experts: American soldiers.

In 2006, Krentz emailed dozens of Davidson College ROTC graduates asking about their experience running with heavy equipment. About 50 responded, and many described training that involved running for miles with a 35-pound rucksack and gun. Based on their accounts, Krentz says he became convinced that Herodotus's story was plausible.

Among those Davidson graduates was David Taylor Jr., a 1991 graduate and Army major who took the time to email Krentz from Iraq with a long, thoughtful response. A few months later, Krentz learned Taylor had been killed -- the first Davidson graduate to die in the Iraq war.

Krentz dedicates his new book to Maj. David Taylor. "It just felt right," Krentz says, as a way of remembering Taylor and all the ROTC graduates who helped him.

It also felt right to dedicate the book to a soldier, since the Athenians' victory in the Battle of Marathon, Krentz believes, was a victory won by the soldiers, not the commanding officers.

New children's book from Charlotte's Tameka Fryer Brown

Sometimes, Tameka Fryer Brown will tell you, persistence pays off. Brown, a Charlotte mom who lives in the University City area, worked for three years to find a publisher for her children's picture books. And she got nowhere.

Then, in 2008, lots of things happened at once. A publisher expressed interest. The Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Author Contest awarded one of her stories a $1,000 prize. The publisher got more interested.

The result? Brown's first book, "Around Our Way on Neighbors' Day" (Abrams Books for Young Readers; $16.95). Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb, the book's

rhyming lines tell the story of a diverse neighborhood holding its annual summer block party.

Brown has now sold a second book, due out 2012.

She'll be among a slew of children's and young adult authors reading and signing books 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m Oct. 9 at Imaginon, 300 E. Seventh St. The event is part of this year's Tribute to Novello activities.

Support the public library. You may win wine.

Surely you know by now that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library has suffered huge budget cuts. But did you know this: Neiman Marcus at SouthPark is raffling off some ritzy prizes to help our beleaguered library system.
As part of the department store's Fashion's Night Out event at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, Neiman Marcus is selling $20 raffle tickets, with all proceeds going to the library system.
What could you win?
1. A private wine tasting for 12 guests from Bond Street Imports, plus three bottles of Northern Rhone Wine.
2. A Ritz-Carlton hotel package that includes a night in a deluxe guest room and breakfast.
3. $500 Neiman Marcus gift card.
How do you buy a ticket?
1. At the event. It's free, but reserve a spot at RSVPCharlotte@NeimanMarcus.com.
2. Online at www.cmlibrary.org/raffle.
3. At any of library's 20 locations.
Organizers are aiming to sell 1,000 tickets. You don't have to be present to win.

A new historical novel from CPCC's president

Tony Zeiss has a plenty demanding day job -- president of Central Piedmont Community College, the state's largest community college. But Zeiss is also a history buff, a guy so passionate about the subject that he also finds time to write historical novels.

His new book, "Backcountry Fury" (Parkway Books; $19.95), tells the true story of Thomas Young, who was just 16 in 1780 when he fought against the Tories in the South Carolina backcountry during the Revolutionary War. Zeiss worries that students today are often ignorant about the Revolutionary War. He's hoping Thomas's story will educate while it entertains.

And it is a heck of a story. Zeiss discovered an intriguing quote from Thomas on an historical plaque at Kings Mountain National Military Park, on the N.C.-S.C. border near Interstate-85.

Then he found Thomas's memoirs and discovered the young man became a soldier at 16. He fought barefoot at the Battle of Kings Mountain, Zeiss learned, because his shoes had worn out. He suffered six saber wounds. He was captured and interrogated. But he escaped and lived to 83.

Though only 16, Thomas wasn't particularly young for a soldier, Zeiss told me. "The best estimate is 50 percent or more of all militiamen were teenagers," he says. Some soldiers were as young as 10.

This is Zeiss's second historical novel. His first, "Journey to Cherry Mansion," was a Civil War story. But this new one, Zeiss says, is better. "I give it a solid B, and maybe a B-plus," he says. "I’m proud of it."