Author Events at Recycle - Sunday Signings & RBC Meetings

We have got a ton of author events coming up.  Take a look:

Sunday, June 19 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Paulette Bordeaux, Mulberry
Sunday, June 26 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Ruchi Rai, A Conscious Peace
Wednesday, June 29 - RBC - 6:30-8:00, Paulette Boudreaux, Mulberry
Sunday, July 3 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Betty Auchard, Living with Twelve Men
Sunday, July 10 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Adam Henig, Under One Roof
Sunday, July 17 - book signing - 11:00-2:00, Aria Glazki, Mending Heartstrings
Sunday, July 24 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Joshua Russell, Little Boy Soup
Wednesday, July 27 - RBC - 6:30-8:00, Toni Piccinini, The Goodbye Year
Sunday, July 31 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Audrey Greenhouse, The Neverland Wars
Sunday, August 7 - book signing - 9:30-12:30, Alfred Jan, A Gelett Burgess: Ethics & Aesthetics
Sunday, August 28, book signing - 9:30-12:30, Alina Sayre, The Illuminator Rising (book #3 - Voyages of the Legend series)
Wednesday, November 16 - RBC - 6:30-8:00, Toni Pacini, Alabama Blue

2 BOOK RELEASES:
1.  June 9 - Joshua Russell (the same last name as mine is NOT a coincidence) - Little Boy Soup
2.  July 17 - Daniel Silva, The Black Widow (#16 in the Gabriel Allon series) - no CA appearances

Check out this mobile library:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicago-trains-transformed-into-libraries-180956904/?no-ist

Walter Mosley's 14th Easy Rawlins Mystery - Charcoal Joe

Back on February 27, I wrote a review of Walter Mosley's 1st Easy Rawlins book, The Devil in the Blue Dress.  I didn't love it, but I did give it a 2.5/4.  I also told you how I came to read book 1, and how I was planning on reading the latest in the series, #14, Charcoal Joe.  Well, I did.  And I can see a pretty big development from #1-#14.  This one gets a 3/4 from me.  And it does make me even more excited to see Walter Mosley on June 16, at Kepler's.  After all, he is the winner of the 2016 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America.  That is cool.

When you read a series with a fair amount of episodes, the plot is pretty insignificant.  I mean, do you care who Gabriel Allon will save in the next Daniel Silva?  Nah.  Same here.  But that doesn't mean I don't have anything to say (perish the thought!).  Some observations:

1.  I really liked the relationship between Easy and his daughter, Feather.
2.  One of the ancillary characters, Fearless Jones, ends up arm wrestling with a big cocky auto repair shop bully.  I found myself looking forward to the match.  I guess that means I cared about not only Easy and Feather, but also Fearless.
3.  Very late in the book, Easy and Feather meet Fearless at the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood.  My mother told me a story about her and my father.  Many, many years ago, they went to dinner at the Brown Derby.  When the maitre d' went to seat them, my father said "We don't sit in this room."  So he took them into a private room.  And inside were a whole bunch of stars, including a table that had Sharon Tate and Roman Polaski.  And, of course, we all know what happened with Sharon and Charles Manson.  My father had a lot of chutzpah (a good Yiddish word; look it up.
4.  Mosley still made me tear up once or twice.  I didn't do that in book 1.

I still want to give you a few examples of his writing:

1.  "Uncontrollably his left knee was bobbing up and down like a seamstress's joint working a foot-powered sewing machine."
2.  "Mouse was a colorful man, his beauty defined by the distance one had from him."
3.  Deciphering his age would have required an algebraic equation that depended upon the variables of smoking and liquor consumption."
4.  "Walk softly wherever it is you goin'.  You know Charcoal Joe is a tombstone just waitin' for a name."

I can go on and on.  Suffice it to say that I really like his writing.

LITERARY NOTES:

1.  J. Ryan Stradal, author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest, will be coming to The Wine Steward, at 641 Main St., in Pleasanton, CA, on Tuesday, June 7, at 3:00.  Since I read Kitchens for Books, Inc. 4th Tuesday Book Club, back in 2015, and gave it a 3.25/4, I will definitely be there (and I don't even drink wine!)
2.  The 3rd book in Greg Iles Natchez Burning trilogy will be coming out in 2017.  That's all the info I have so far.

Do you remember when Ann Patchett bought a bookstore a few years ago?  And how that had an impact on print book sales?  Well, now it's Judy Blume's turn.  Take a look.  (P.S. There's absolutely nothing wrong with ebooks or audiobooks.  It's just that for me it will always be print.)

The beloved Judy Blume, on why indie bookstores are thriving!

'People are hungry for real bookstores': Judy Blume on why US indie booksellers are thriving

At 78, the multimillion-selling author has begun a new career, opening her own bookshop – and joining a business sector that’s flourishing again in the US

THEGUARDIAN.COM|BY ALISON FLOOD

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney - A Big Surprise for Me

You all know that I have a tendency to disagree with most everybody when it comes to literary fiction bestsellers.  By the time I get to them, they have been hyped ad nauseum, and there's just about no chance for the book to live up to the buzz (The Girl on the Train anyone?).  So when Margie Scott Tucker, the Books, Inc. impresario who runs the 4th Tuesday Evening Book Club in Palo Alto, told us last month that The Nest would be our May book, I thought (petulantly, I might add) "Do I have to?"  But because I enjoy the book club so much (even when Meg Waite Clayton doesn't come), I figured what the heck.

In my typical long-winded fashion, I'm trying to say that I was way wrong.  The Nest is not only very good, it's actually going to go on my rec table at Recycle Books.  I ended up giving it a 3.5/4 (which is the minimum rating to have the privilege of being selected for Sunday mornings), but I have to say it's one of the best-written, but still readable, books I have read in a very long time.  I know that's saying a lot.  It's one of those books where every word, I thought, was perfect.  These are the kind that are usually too literary for me, but that wasn't the case with The Nest.  Why am I not giving it a 4/4 or even higher?  Only because the story and characters didn't blow me away.  I liked it and them, but not ferociously so.

Instead of telling you specifically what the book is about, let me quote a paragraph on the inside flap of the cover:

The Nest is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend on one another, and the ways we let one another down.  In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

Let me list some of the best features of this book:

1.  The prologue grabs you immediately and makes you want to read on.
2.  You feel you know the characters, and find them interesting, as soon as they appear.
3.  Especially as the book moves along, you find that you are looking forward to the next chapter and to which central character hits the spotlight.
4.  The Nest is proof that I don't have to do a bunch of crying in order to like a book a lot.  In fact, I did almost none.
5.  It's fun to read a story about a bunch of dysfunctional characters and see how, or whether, they progress into functional characters.
6.  I can't believe that this is a debut novel!

I've told you how well-written it is.  But there are still just a few passages I want to quote for you:

"He would sing into her ear, his voice pockmarked from whisky."  How great a word is pockmarked?
"The quick pulse at the corner of her eye was beating as if there were tiny wings trapped beneath the skin."
"...the humidity crept northward and eastward, slowly making its way up the Jersey shore until it settled over the city like a clammy, uninvited embrace..."

I could go on.  Her use of the English language is just outstanding.  But the story and characters are very good too.  I think everybody would like this at least a little bit - even an old curmudgeon like me!

Ann Bridges' 2nd Novel, Rare Mettle, Is a Hot Topic for Current Events

On March 11 of this year, I wrote a review of Ann Bridges' Rare Mettle.  It's a fictionalized account of a very non-fictionalized current event.  The fact is that China owns 97% of rare metals that are used in a whole bunch of digital devices - the iPhone, for example!  Well, as you can see from Ann's post today, this whole situation is hitting the news.  Take a look.  And if you want to hear about it straight from the author's mouth, then get over to Books, Inc. in Mt. View next Thursday, May 26th, at 7:00.  That's the date/time/location of Ann's official launch of Rare Mettle, her 2nd book, following her debut novel, Private Offerings.  I guarantee you will find the author and the subject matter  fascinating.

Hi--

Many of you have actively supported my efforts to bring a little known topic to light through my novels, that of our region's and country's reliance on China's supply of rare earth metals and the potential impact on our economy and national security. No matter your opinion on the broad geopolitical issue or the range of possible solutions, not talking about it creates even greater risks. Fiction has often been used to kick-start change in attitudes and policies. Remember To Kill a Mockingbird? The Kite-Runner?

I would appreciate it if you would reach out and respond in some way to today's San Jose Mercury News column (link below), and make your perspective known on what we need to do to take corrective actions for a sustainable future. No need to be a expert--simply saying you are concerned is enough to let Silicon Valley leaders know they can no longer avoid the discussion, and respond appropriately.

Well respected columnist Scott Herhold did his research, and understands the basic issue of over-reliance on China and its potential repercussions; the brain-drain to China; the over-emphasis on the E in STEM (including telling young women that coding game apps makes them "scientists"), not the S; and our dwindling resources.

http://www.mercurynews.com/scott-herhold/ci_29908915/rare-earth-metals-political-dilemma

Use any and all social media, email him, call him, write a Letter to the Editor, use this with any Silicon Valley or global contacts you want who might want to join in with the discussion, forward this email on. If we can raise awareness here, it will have positive global repercussions. 

Thanks, and let's grab this opportunity. Rare Mettle only has one release date--today.

Ann

Ann Bridges
Connecting Generations through Novel Ideas

Author of Private Offerings* and Rare Mettle
*Named in 10 Best Business Books of 2015 by Wealth Management Magazine

website: www.AuthorAnnBridges.wordpress.com
publisher: http://balcony7.com/authors/ann-bridges/

Another Review of Another Local Author - Two Among the Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in the Holocaust - Marty Brounstein

On April 30, I gave you a lot of details about seeing Marty Brounstein at the JCC in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.  You can take a look at that to learn a lot about the Roman Catholic couple in The Netherlands who either harbored several dozen Jews during WWII or, if not, got them sequestered in other homes.  But everything I told you back then was based on seeing Marty live.  Now I have actually read the book.  And I have come away with even more facts:

1.  Of the 140,000 Jews living in The Netherlands at the time WWII started, 107,000 died!
2.  Germany attacked The Netherlands on May 9, 1940.  I read about that attack on May 9, 2016.
3.  The 1st person to live with the Wijnakkers was a 14-year old girl named Shulamit Laub.  "Shula" was a friend of Anne Frank.

Let me point out that for those of you who have not had a chance to see Marty in person (do it if the opportunity arises) you will be blown away by this book.   I saw him, and I was still totally engrossed in the story.  Do yourself a favor and get your hands on Two Among the Righteous Few.  It's an important story well-told.

2 MOVIE NOTES:  You know how I love to talk about movies that come from books.  Well, I've got two of them for you -
1.  I just found out that A Man Called Ove is a movie that they came out in Sweden this past December.  I don't know anything else about it.  Does it have English subtitles?  Beats me. Can you even get it in this country?  Dunno.  But I would love to see it.
2.  We all have a soft spot for Roald Dahl books.  I specifically remember reading The BFG to our youngest child, Lauren, when she was probably around 7.  But guess what?  Her older sister, 12, and brother, 15, listened too.  It's really hard not to.  What does this have to do with movies?  Yep, you're right.  It's coming to theaters July 1.  It's live action, and it's directed by Steven Spielberg.  Go on YouTube and type in Disney's The BFG - official trailer 2.  If you have any connection to the book, like I did, you might even have a happy tear or 2 just watching the trailer!

Under One Roof, by Adam Henig - A Look at MLB Spring Training and Integration

Adam Henig has written a very interesting book about what for most of us is a little known fact.  This is about racism in Major League Baseball during Spring Training in St. Petersburg, Florida.  The year is 1961, and the teams in question were the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals.  Ralph Wimbish, a well-to-do-black doctor living in St. Petersburg, was determined to put an end to it.  Jon Wilson, a sports writer in Tampa and an author, said about Under One Roof: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor's Battle to Integrate Spring Training:

This book will need to be on every baseball historian's shelf, but also every civil rights historian's shelf and it is a must-read for those who cherish Florida history.
   
This is a short book (100 pages) and a very quick read.  But Adam gives us sports buffs (and everybody else, too) a slice of history that is definitely well worth knowing.  The amount of crazy facts that he gives had me shaking my head on a number of occasions.   I even had a "Wow" and "Unh" thrown in there, along with a big smile near the end of the book when Adam tells us about Ralph's wife, Bette, and their kids.  In fact, Ralph Wimbish Jr. wrote the forward for the book.

Here are a couple more quotes:

There should be a life-size statue of Dr. Ralph Wimbish on the streets of St. Petersburg. Dr. Wimbish was to this city what Dr. Martin Luther King was to the country. Adam Henig's terrific new book, Under One Roof, beautifully tells the whole inspirational story.  - Peter Golenbock, author

Adam Henig's painstaking research shines a light on a special man, Dr. Ralph Wimbish, whose courage and resolve eased some of the pain brought by racial segregation.  Under One Roof is a baseball book-and much more. - Bill Stevens, Tampa Bay Times

I reiterate that you don't have to be a sports fan to appreciate this book.  This is another little slice of history that all of us can appreciate.