Book Buzz

'Odd Hours' gets better with time

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:40:55 -0500

Once I got past the first chase scene, "Odd Hours" picked up the pace.

I'm now in Dean Koontz's trance, the one that makes me carry around his latest book, just in case I get a spare moment to read even a few pages. (I don't bring it to work with me. It would be too tempting.)

I know at first, I was pretty disappointed. But I'm enjoying the trip down Memory Lane with Odd and his ghost dog.

Check those cereal boxes

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:50:43 -0500

Cheerios is putting children's books inside specially marked boxes of the cereal during October in the Spoonfuls of Stories program.

The titles to look for are: "Duck for President," "When Dinosaurs Came with Everything,"
"Romeo and Lou Blast Off," "Monkey and Me" and "Diego's Wolf Pup Rescue."

For information on the program, click here.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:57:12 -0500

I read "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards during a weeklong trip to the beach this summer.

It's a quick read, but a pretty good one.

It's the story of a doctor forced to deliver his own child during a blizzard in the '60s. It turns out his wife has twins. First, she delivers a healthy boy. But when the boy's twin sister arrives, the doctor can tell that the baby has Down syndrome.

Book sale rescheduled

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:47:32 -0500

York County Literacy Council will give away gently used books from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 18 at Starbucks, 2503 E. Market St., Springettsbury Township. YCLC celebrated York Literacy Week Sept. 3-10. The book give-away had to be rescheduled due to rain.

Preview John Lutz's latest

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:35:46 -0500

To read the first two chapters of John Lutz's new thriller, "Night Kills," click here.

Author to speak at Gettysburg College

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:37:37 -0500

Dustin Beall Smith, who spent 27 years as a key grip in the film industry before becoming a writer, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Pennsylvania Hall at Gettysburg College.
Smith was honored for his recent book, "Key Grip: A Memoir of Endless Consequences."
Smith also was a pioneer in sport parachuting and worked as an advance man for political campaigns for Robert Kennedy and Norman Mailer. He now teaches writing at Gettysburg College.
This event is free and open to the public.

Romance writers to meet

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:33:30 -0500

The Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers will meet 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cleve J. Frederickson Camp Hill Library, 100 N. 19th St., Camp Hill.
For details, call 938-1298.

Firehouse

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:58:16 -0500

Over the summer, I read David Halberstam's "Firehouse."

Halberstam writes of Engine 40, Ladder 35, a fire company in Manhattan. On Sept. 11, 13 men from the firehouse responded to the World Trade Center. Only one of them made it back.

But the book he writes is about much more than the events of that morning.

Celebrate Banned Books Week

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:17:52 -0500

Celebrate Banned Books Week, Sept. 27-Oct. 3, by reading a "challenged" book.

The Top "banned" books on Yahoo! this week are:

1. "Harry Potter" (Series) (J.K. Rowling)

2. "Gossip Girl" (series) (Cecily von Ziegesar)

3. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)

4. "Goosebumps" (Series) (R.L. Stine)

5. "The Outsiders" (S.E. Hinton)

6. "Lord of the Flies" (William Golding)

7. "Where's Waldo" (Martin Hanford)

8. "Of Mice and Men" (John Steinbeck)

9. "The Catcher in the Rye" (J.D. Salinger)

10. "Jumper" (Steven Gould)

11. "Bridge to Terabithia" (Katherine Paterson)

12. "Junie B. Jones" (Series) (Barbara Park)

13. "The Giver" (Lois Lowry)

14. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (Mark Twain)

15. "Captain Underpants" (Dav Pilkey)

16. "Flowers for Algernon" (Daniel Keyes)

17. "Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley)

18. "American Psycho" (Bret Easton Ellis)

19. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Ken Kesey)

20. "The Lovely Bones" (Alice Sebold)

21. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (Maya Angelou)

22. "James and the Giant Peach" (Roald Dahl)

23. "The Things They Carried" (Tim O'Brien)

24. "Go Ask Alice" (anonymous)

25. "A Time to Kill" (John Grisham)

Scieszka Named Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:02:43 -0500

Jon Scieszka will receive the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Medal from Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today in the Montpelier Room of the James Madison Building, as part of the National Book Festival celebration.

Scieszka is the author of several best-selling children's titles, including "The Stinky Cheese Man," which won a Caldecott Honor medal, "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and the Time Warp Trio, a chapter book series. He is the founder of Guys Read www.guysread.com.

Local author at story time

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:16:45 -0500

Spring Grove author Jacqui LeBeau will read from her children's book, "If I Could Fly," for story time at 11 a.m. Oct. 4 at Borders Books & Music, 3000 Whiteford Road, Springetsbury Township. LeBeau will sign her books from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Good Thief a good read

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:23:25 -0500

After I read the first chapter of Hannah Tinti's "The Good Thief" on her Web site, I immediately went to amazon.com and ordered a copy.

"The Good Thief" reads like a Dickens novel, but with fewer characters (something I really appreciate at my age).

More vampires

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:05:08 -0500

This just in from the Associated Press:

"Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro is collaborating with crime author Chuck Hogan on a trilogy of vampire novels, starting next summer with "The Strain."

Joan Mallgrave to sign books

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:02:16 -0500

Local author Joan Mallgrave will sign copies of her mystery novel, "Secrets on St. Croix," from 6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 9 at Sparky & Clark's Café at Martin Library. The library is at 159 E. Market St., York.

Calling all book groups

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:43:50 -0500

The Women's National Book Association is celebrating National Reading Group Month in October.

We'd like to celebrate by introducing our readers to your group.

E-mail information about your book group to gfogal@ydr.com. Include a photo of your members formatted as a jpeg. We'd also like to hear about what kind of books your group reads, which you liked and which you didn't.

For details about National Reading Group Month, click here