tuesday february 26
As I write this in late February, there are four candidates in the running for the office of President of the United States. By now, we are all way too familiar with the sound bytes and the TV ads. For a look into their heads before they got to this point, check out the memoirs that have been published in recent years by Barack, Hillary, John, and Mike.
Barack Obama - Dreams from My Father, 2nd ed., 2004, and The Audacity of Hope, 2006
Hillary Rodham Clinton - Living History, 2003
John McCain - Faith of My Fathers, 1999, and Worth the Fighting For, 2002
Mike Huckabee - Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork, 2005, and From Hope to Higher Ground, 2007
Life is hard for when your dad is running for President. You have to leave your overseas boarding school to go on the campaign trail with your parents and on top of that your father’s PR guru renames you with what she deems an Americanized nickname and then has a thirty-something year old man ghostwrite a vacuous blog for you. What is an adopted South Asian teen to do?
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monday february 25
The On The Same Page 2008 title selection for Teens - as chosen by a group of eleven very cool teen readers - is Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes. Named a Coretta Scott King Award Winner in 2003, Ms. Grimes’ novel portrays a high school English class as they discover ways to express themselves through 'Open Mic' poetry. For the next several weeks, branch libraries will hold Open Mic sessions for teens; some will be led by the dynamic performance poet Benjamin Hughes.
Participating in this year's program are classes from Northwest High School, LaSalle, St. Teresa in Covedale, Mt. Notre Dame, Aiken HS, and Ursuline Academy, to name a few. Leading in to National Poetry Month in April, teachers can continue to request book collections for use in their classrooms.
Anyone who has a creative streak would have to admire author Nikki Grimes, as she expresses herself via many art forms: writing, fiber arts, music, and jewelry-making. Fans of all ages can meet her at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in the Rookwood Pavilion on Wednesday March 26 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Joseph, protagonist of Bruce Jay Friedman's A Mother's Kisses was a good student in high school, but due to stiff competition from returning WWII soldiers, he finds himself in the summer after his senior year with nowhere to go next. (These were the days before community colleges and proprietary schools with flexible deadlines.) Fortunately for Joseph (or maybe not), he's got his mother fighting for him.
You'll either love or hate this book. I love it, but I'm not crazy about this particular cover, because I think the mother should be more glamorous.
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friday february 22
Turning the Page had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Robert Olmstead, author of Coal Black Horse, Cincinnati’s 2008 On the Same Page novel for adults. We asked Mr. Olmstead some general questions, because we wouldn’t want to include spoilers for those of you who haven’t yet read this gripping tale of a young boy seeking his father across the landscape of the Civil War.
But once you have read Coal Black Horse, be sure to bring your own questions to the book-signing with Mr. Olmstead at the Main Library on Sunday, February 24, or to one of the other events at which he’ll appear. Meanwhile, check out the official Web site for the book.
TTP: Where did you get the inspiration for Coal Black Horse?
RO: In the 1980’s I was living in Pennsylvania not far from Gettysburg. Visiting the battlefield for the first time was a powerful experience. I didn’t know that much about the Civil War, just the usual stuff. So living there, walking that ground, it is my way that I wanted to know as much as I could. And of course everything I learned simply made me all the more curious to learn even more.
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wednesday february 20
It has been more than ten years since the first "One Book/One City" community reading program was launched in Seattle. Since then, hundreds of similar events have been staged; some have lasted and some have not. We like to think that our program here in Cincinnati has "legs", i.e., that it is an event that people around town look forward to each year.
We started out in 2002, reading Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, in an attempt to address the aftermath of the city's riots of 2001. Over time, the program has become more of a reading event than a city-wide healing event, although the idea of "encouraging community dialogue" continues as a strong undercurrent. For On The Same Page 2008, the challenge for readers is to experience the Civil War through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy from the mountains of Appalachia, in Robert Olmstead's spellbinding novel, Coal Black Horse.
Olmstead will be in town for several programs, begining with a Civil War History Day on Sunday February 24 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Main Library. Discussion groups and special events will be held during the next six weeks throughout Hamilton County, featuring local Civil War history and concluding with a guided Civil War Tour of Spring Grove Cemetery on April 6.
Each year, there are many ways in which schools, book clubs, and individual readers participate in On The Same Page, making it truly one of the most viable "One Book" programs in the country. Look for upcoming posts about author Robert Olmstead (and about this year's title for teen readers, Bronx Masquerade).
I keep seeing trailers for a new movie with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, but the Fool's Gold that pops into my mind every time I see them is a completely unrelated 1993 novel of that title by Albert DiBartolomeo. Only his second novel (and apparently his last), it was a crisp little mob thriller about a cache of gold coins.
As the book opens, Benny Bean, a violent young thug, steals those coins from a beach house. But before he has even got them out the door, someone in turn steals them from him. Furious, Benny tracks down the second thief and kidnaps his daughter, Claire, for ransom. But the second thief has already been robbed of the coins, too.
Those are just the opening twists in a spirallingly complicated plot. The coins (which belong to a mob boss) pass through several more pairs of hands while Benny keeps Claire a prisoner and Claire's boyfriend races to recover the coins that will buy her life.
Fans of the genre will appreciate DiBartolomeo's snappy plotting. I remember the book as being pretty violent, though with a comic edge, so keep that in mind. But let me know whether it stands up to my memory of it. And whether it would make a good movie itself.
