Upcoming Events at The Bookworm
Thursday, February 16 / 6:30 p.m. The As the Worm Turns Book Group will discuss Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey (Harvest Books, $14.00) and Script & Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting by Kitty Burns Florey (Melville House, $22.95). We will discuss both books. You may read either one or both. In Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog Florey explores sentence-diagramming, including what diagrams of famous writers' sentences reveal about them. Along the way Florey offers up her own commonsense approach to learning and using good grammar. When self-confessed "penmanship nut" Florey discovered that schools today forego handwriting drills in favor of teaching something called "keyboarding," it gave her pause. In Script and Scribble Florey tackles the importance of writing by hand and its place in our increasingly electronic society in this fascinating exploration of the history of handwriting. Weaving together the evolution of writing implements and scripts, pen-collecting societies, the golden age of American penmanship, the growth in popularity of handwriting analysis, and the many aficionados who still prefer scribbling on paper to tapping on keys, she asks the question: Is writing by hand really no longer necessary in today's busy world? Jackie Byers will facilitate the discussion. Space is limited, so please call to reserve your place.
Saturday, February 18 / 10 a.m. The U.S. Presidents group reads and discusses concise biographies of past presidents, their leadership abilities and how well their reputations have withstood the test of time. February's biography is John Adams: The American Presidents Series: The 2nd President, 1797-1801 by John Patrick Diggins (Times Books, $22.00). Volatile, impulsive, irritable, and self-pitying, Adams seemed temperamentally unsuited for the presidency. Yet in many ways he was the perfect successor to Washington in terms of ability, experience, and popularity. Possessed of a far-ranging intelligence, Adams took office amid the birth of the government and multiple crises. Besides maintaining neutrality and regaining peace, his administration created the Department of the Navy, put the army on a surer footing, and left a solvent treasury. Though he was a Federalist, he sought to work outside the still-forming party system. In the end, this would be Adams's greatest failing and most useful lesson to later leaders.
Tuesday, February 21 / 6:30 p.m. The International Intrigue Book Group will discuss Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom (Silveroak, $14.95). After years spent infiltrating the Polish mafia, Piet Hoffman, a top-secret operative for the Swedish police, has become a key player in their attempt to take over amphetamine distribution inside Sweden's prisons. To stop them from succeeding, he goes undercover, posing as a prisoner inside the country's most notorious jail. But when a botched drug deal involving Hoffman results in the death of another cop, the murder investigation is assigned to the brilliant but haunted Detective Inspector Ewert Grens--a man who never gives up until he's cracked the case. Grens's determination to find the killer not only threatens to expose Hoffman's true identity, it may reveal even bigger crimes at the heart of the Swedish justice system. And there are players who will do anything to stop Grens from discovering the truth.
Saturday, February 25 / 1 p.m. Paul Hedren will sign After Custer: Loss and Transformation in Sioux Country (University of Oklahoma Press, $24.95). Between 1876 and 1877, the U.S. Army battled Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians in a series of vicious conflicts known today as the Great Sioux War. In the end, the U.S. Army prevailed, but at a significant cost. Hedren examines the war's effects on the culture, environment, and geography of the northern Great Plains, their Native inhabitants, and the Anglo-American invaders.. Hedren examines the events of 1876-77 and their aftermath as a whole, taking into account relationships among military leaders, the building of forts, and the army's efforts to memorialize the war and its victims. Woven into his narrative are the voices of those who witnessed such events as the burial of Custer, the laying of railroad track, or the sudden surround of a buffalo herd. Their personal testimonies lend both vibrancy and pathos to this story of irreversible change in Sioux Country.
Monday, February 27 / 2 p.m. The World War II History Book Group will discuss The Hornet's Sting: The Amazing Untold Story of World War II Spy Thomas Sneum by Mark Ryan (Skyhorse, $24.95). Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Ryan describes how Tommy made an incredible escape from Denmark in a battered old Hornet Moth aircraft - which he had to refuel in mid-air by climbing out on the wing. Later, he escaped from Denmark again - by walking across a treacherous frozen sea on which two of his companions died. Tommy brought over precious intelligence about the Nazi radar installations in Denmark and their atom bomb - his reward was to be imprisoned in Brixton as a suspected double agent and threatened with execution. He cheated the hangman - but it is only with the publication of this enthralling book that Sneum can be celebrated as, in the words of Professor R.V. Jones, Churchill's chief of scientific intelligence, one of the true heroes of World War II.
Saturday, March 3 / 10 a.m. The U.S. Presidents group reads and discusses concise biographies of past presidents, their leadership abilities and how well their reputations have withstood the test of time. The biography for March is Thomas Jefferson by Joyce Appleby (Times Books, $22.00). Few presidents have embodied the American spirit as fully as Thomas Jefferson. He was the originator of so many of the founding principles of American democracy. Politically, he shuffled off the centralized authority of the Federalists, working toward a more diffuse and minimalist leadership. He introduced the bills separating church and state and mandating free public education. He departed from the strict etiquette of his European counterparts, appearing at state dinners in casual attire and dispensing with hierarchical seating arrangements. Jefferson initiated the Lewis and Clark expedition and seized on the the crucial moment when Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Territory, thus extending the national development. In this compelling examination, distinguished historian Joyce Appleby captures the richness of Jefferson's character and accomplishments.
Saturday, March 3 / 1 p.m. Kim Justus will sign In a Flash: Miracles Here and Beyond (Createspace, $12.50). A piercing pain suddenly shot through Kim's brain, like a bolt of lightning snapping and tracing through the sky. An ordinary day was instantly transformed into a fight for survival. Within days, she underwent aggressive, brain surgery. Her doctor's initial misdiagnosis led to her speech and comprehension being severely compromised, before she lost consciousness. From the depths of a coma, Kim entered a near death experience, awaking to find her life profoundly changed. Facing mortality, changes in her body, mind and spirit were thrust upon her without warning. Her courageous fight to overcome unconventional obstacles is intimately shared in this compelling story. In a Flash: Miracles Here and Beyond offers Kim's personal account of her battle to survive a ruptured brain aneurysm, the unfolding of a near death experience, and the miracles that ensued. In a Flash is a powerful story of survival, challenges of faith, and divine orchestration. Kim artfully describes a journey where the tenants of science and spirituality collide, resulting in a dynamic union.
Saturday, March 3 / 3 p.m. The Golden Sowers group will discuss Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow by James Ransom (HarperCollins, $7.99). When a mysterious envelope arrives for Jake Ransom, he and his older sister, Kady, are plunged into a gripping chain of events. An artifact found by their parents--on the expedition from which they never returned--leads Jake and Kady to a strange world inhabited by a peculiar mix of long-lost civilizations, a world that may hold the key to their parents' disappearance. And as Jake struggles to find a way home, it becomes obvious that what the Skull King wants most is Jake and Kady--dead or alive.
Monday, March 5 / 6:30 p.m. The I Should Have Read That in School classics group will discuss The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (Mariner, $12.00). Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum. Written for own children, The Hobbit is one of literature's most enduring and well-loved novels.
Wednesday, March 7 / Noon - 1 p.m. What Are You Reading? book chat. Join us to chat about favorite reads, books that changed our lives, or the book we just couldn’t put down. No need to make reservations--just come and enjoy a little conversation about books. Carol Lynch will facilitate the discussion.
Thursday, March 8 / 6 p.m. Amiable Adult Readers Discussing Books Almost Always Read by Kids (Aardbaark) will discuss Born Blue by Han Nolan (Harcourt, $6.95). Leshaya is a survivor. Rescued from the brink of death, this child of a heroin addict has seen it all: revolving foster homes, physical abuse, an unwanted pregnancy. Now, as her tumultuous childhood is coming to an end, she is determined to make a life for herself by doing the only thing that makes her feel whole . . . singing. Nolan pulls no punches in this hard-hitting story of a girl at the bottom who dreams of nothing but the top.
Saturday, March 10 / 1 p.m. Winifred Moranville will sign The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food That French Women Cook Every Day (Harvard Common Press, $24.95). Here is authentic French cooking without fuss or fear. Now that the typical French woman works outside the home like her American counterpart, the emphasis is on easy techniques, simple food, and speedy preparation, all done without sacrificing taste. In a voice that is at once grounded in the wisdom of classical French cooking, yet playful and lighthearted when it comes to the potential for relaxing and enjoying our everyday lives in the kitchen, Moranville offers 300 recipes that focus on simple, fresh ingredients prepared well. The Bonne Femme Cookbook is full of tips and tricks and shortcuts, lots of local color and insight into real French home kitchens, and above all, loads of really good food. It gives French cooking an accessible, friendly, and casual spin.
Sunday, March 11 / 11 a.m. The book group Books and Bagels will discuss Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Harper, $15.95). Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening--until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds, and people from different continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion . . . and cannot be stopped.
Thursday, March 15 / 6:30 p.m. The As the Worm Turns Book Group will discuss How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (Little Brown, $17.99). Jill MacSweeny just wishes everything could go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she's been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends--everyone who wants to support her. And when her mom decides to adopt a baby, it feels like she's somehow trying to replace a lost family member with a new one. Mandy Kalinowski understands what it's like to grow up unwanted--to be raised by a mother who never intended to have a child. So when Mandy becomes pregnant, one thing she's sure of is that she wants a better life for her baby. It's harder to be sure of herself. Will she ever find someone to care for her, too? As their worlds change around them, Jill and Mandy must learn to both let go and hold on, and that nothing is as easy--or as difficult--as it seems. Ellen Scott will facilitate the discussion. Space is limited, so please call to reserve your place.
Monday, March 26 / 2 p.m. The World War II History Book Group will discuss Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene (Harper, $13.99). During World War II, American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte, Nebraska, on troop trains en route to their ultimate destinations in Europe and the Pacific. The town, wanting to offer the servicemen warmth and support, transformed its modest railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen. Every day of the year, every day of the war, the Canteen--staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers--was open from five a.m. until the last troop train of the day pulled away after midnight. Astonishingly, this remote plains community of only 12,000 people provided welcoming words, friendship, and baskets of food and treats to more than six million GIs by the time the war ended. In this eyewitness history, based on interviews with North Platte residents and the soldiers who once passed through, Bob Greene tells a classic American story of a grateful country honoring its brave and dedicated sons.
