The grand prize winner will receive two tickets to the Northlight Theater and a $50 gift card to the Cheesecake Factory.

This August at LitLounge:

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

August 18th, 2010 at 7:00 PM
The Curragh Irish Pub
8266 Lincoln Avenue

Since this is a short story collection, we’re only going to be able to discuss a few stories. We recommend you read these eight. (Don’t worry, they’re short.)

• Tonight is a Favor to Holly (page 5)
• In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried (page 29)
• The Harvest (page 103)
• The Most Girl Part of You (page 111)
• Weekend (page 199)
• Sportsman (page 209)
• Reference #388475848-5 (page 337)
• The Dog of the Marriage (page 347)

Please feel free to read others and share them with the group. You can pick up a copy of this book at the Readers’ Services desk on the first floor.

We also welcome suggestions for future titles. Please let us know in the comments!

You must be a Skokie Public Library card holder to enter and win. Just send an email with your name, library card number, and the correct answers to askrs@skokielibrary.info. The contest will end July 31 at 5 PM. The winner will be drawn at random from the correct entries. If no one answers all the questions correctly, the winner will be pulled from those entries with the most correct answers. The winner will be notified by email and the prize will be held at the Reader’s Services Desk. Good Luck!

1. Chicago’s most famous mobster, Al Capone, was ultimately sent to jail because of what crime?

2. During the 1920s, which two University of Chicago students shocked the nation by planning and committing what they thought was the perfect crime: the kidnapping and murder of young Bobby Franks?

3. Which book by Truman Capote is often referred to as the first true crime novel?

4. Although she has now written more than 30 true crime books, Ann Rule wrote her first book, The Stranger besides Me, because of her personal connection with what serial killer?

5. Belva Gaertners’ and Beulah Sheriff-Annan’s scandalous jazz-age crimes were immortalized in what Broadway show and succeeding movie?

6. He has written about a swordfishing boat caught in a tragic storm and, most recently, war; but it was his intersection with the Boston Strangler that prompted what author to write A Death in Belmont?

7. Whose disappearance after a daring hijacking and subsequent parachuting from a Boeing 727 with $200,000 in ransom money remains unsolved to this day?

8. Which serial killer (famously depicted in the wonderful book Devil in the White City by Erik Larson) terrorized the visitors to Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair?

9. What bank robber was gunned down by the FBI in an alley outside of Chicago’s Biograph Theater?

10. Which famed aviator’s son kidnapping prompted Congress to pass a federal kidnapping statute?

One recent example that deserves particular mention is the trailer for Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story. Shteyngart has always been hilarious as a writer (many moments in Absurdistan left me gasping for breath), and the trailer demonstrates a similar talent. It features cameos from a number of contemporary literature’s giants, including Jeffrey Eugeniedes, Mary Gaitskill, and Jay McInerney, not to mention an actor famous for playing a certain Spider-villain.

Enjoy the trailer below. Have you seen any other notable book trailers? Share your favorites in the comments.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You get 10 votes, but, as we know from Chicago elections, the best way to insure your favorites win is to vote early and often.  NPR will announce the winners on August 2.  Even if you do not vote, browse their list for some excellent book suggestions…or stop by the Readers Services Desk for even more great thriller recommendations.

NPR’s Killer Thrillers Poll – Vote For 10

Stay tuned next week for our final blog contest of the summer.

You must be a Skokie Public Library card holder to enter and win. Just send an email with your name, library card number, and the correct answers to askrs@skokielibrary.info. The contest will end July 15 at 5 PM. The winner will be drawn at random from the correct entries. If no one matches all the detectives correctly, the winner will be pulled from those entries with the most correct answers. The winner will be notified by email and the prize will be held at the Reader’s Services Desk. Good Luck!

1.  Although my author only wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring me, I am in The Guinness Book of World Records as the “most portrayed movie character” of all time with over 200 movies adaptations of my adventures, including the most recent one starring Robert Downey Jr.

2. I live in the typical English village of St. Mary Mead where my hobbies of knitting and gardening blind people to my sharp analytical mind.

3. In 2007, one of every fifteen hardcover fiction books sold was a book written (or co-written) by me. In fact, according to Bookscan, I have sold more books than any other author in the last three years.

4. Even though I am now on my 16th escapade (or 20th if you add in the ones “between the numbers”), you can count on my car blowing up, my grandmother making a scene and my inability to choose between Joe and Ranger to make its way into every book.

5. Although I died in 2001, my character of Jason Bourne lives on in books now written by Eric Lustbader.

6. I was a successful jockey- winning over 350 races- before I started my equally successful mystery writing career.

7.  My books featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan serve as the inspiration for the very successful television series, Bones.

8. My first name was supposed to be David. My creator changed his mind at the last minute, however, so my first name reminds a mystery to this day- even to my best friend Hawk and my girlfriend Susan.

9. Not only am I the best selling mystery author of the Decker/Lazarus series, but my husband and son are best selling mystery authors also.

10. I am the art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent whose adventures started in the book, The Kill Artist.

Unsure if the Reader is for you?  Ask at the RS desk for further details or watch this short video for further information.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Miss Penelope Lumley graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females comes to Ashton Place to serve as a governess to 3 children that Lord Ashton found in the woods. The children appear to have been raised by wolves and, at first, can only communicate through a sequence of howls and barks. Penelope has her work cut out for her- especially after Lady Ashton decides the children will make their societal debut at her big Christmas party.

Funny, clever and with just enough of a cliff hanger ending to leave us eager for the second installment, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling is a great read for children of all ages.

No time to read a long book review? Then, you are in luck, One Minute Reviews tell you all you need to know about a book in just one minute. Take a look at our review of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake!