Tulsa
event guide
INSIDE! August 2012
Book Review 5 7 13
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 10
F R E E
NEW AND OF INTEREST
C H E C K
The Bride’s House Saga of a special house Page 4
Midnight Promises
I T
Small towns ARE different! Page 6
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus: 20th-Anniversary Full-Color Edition
O U T
Junie B. avoids a stupid smelly bus. Page 8
A Search for Belonging By Toni Morrison Knopf, $24.00, 160 Pages
15
Frank Money returned from the Korean War a broken man. Unable to deal with his guilt for the atrocities he witnessed and his inability to save his friends, Frank suffers from waking visions that wash over him at inopportune times. Frank is lost until he receives a letter about his sister; without his intervention, “She be dead.” Cee is indeed almost dead when Frank finally reaches her, and he has no choice but to take her to the home to which he’s sworn he’d never return. The indomitable women of Lotus, a small community on the outskirts of Atlanta, assiduously nurse her to health and give Cee
a sense of self-worth she’s never possessed. Both siblings find refuge in Lotus and learn what it means to be home. This slim novel reads like a short story. Each spare scene focuses attention on the difficulty an African-American has in finding his or her place in the world, specifically a segregated United States. In Frank, the problem is compounded by his veteran status and mental instability, but each of the characters struggles. Home beautifully argues that each individual has something to contribute to the community and everyone deserves a home. Reviewd by Tammy McCartney
Belles
Great start to a drama-filled series Page 10
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake Aging’s not for the weak! Page 13
51 Reviews INSIDE!
Book Reviews
MYSTERIES/THRILLERS Category
Mystery SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
COMING SOON
TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at http://tulsalibrary.org to reserve your copies now.
The Last Policeman
By Ben H. Winters • When the Earth is doomed by an imminent and unavoidable asteroid collision, New Hampshire homicide detective Hank Palace considers the worth of his job in a world destined to end in six months and investigates a suspicious suicide that nobody else cares about.
Fallen Angels
By Connie Dial • While investigating the death of a teen movie star, Captain Josie Corsino has to sort through a myriad of suspects and risks losing her career, family and life.
Kings of Midnight Blood in the Water: A Gregor Demarkian Novel By Jane Haddam Minotaur, $25.99, 288 pages Check this out! Actually, there was more than blood in the water — there was a body in there, too! And another body, burnt to a crisp, was found in the connecting locker room. The setting for this macabre scene was the gated community of Waldorf Pines, not far from Philadelphia’s Main Line. Waldorf Pines was more like a nouveau riche imitation, with large houses wrapped around a golf course, with a pool house and Club House for parties and cotillions, etc. Security was exceedingly tight — except for the nearly two hours when it wasn’t. And that’s really why there was blood in the water. Simple. Or it would have been, had not the DNA of the burned body been that of an unidentifiable male, when everyone was expecting it to be a female. And thus was Gregor Demarkian brought in to put an end to the seemingly unsolvable problem. It didn’t take him very long because, of course, he knew Philadelphia and its people almost better than anyone. Working backward soon provided him with the answers he sought, much to the dismay of the inhabitants of Waldorf Pines. However, the solution also helped Gregor with his own problem — coming to terms with the death of his longtime friend, George Tekemanian, at the age of 100 from normal old age. Blood in the Water is another dazzler in this long-running series from Jane Haddam. Hooray. Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz
Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders: A Mystery By Gyles Brandreth Touchstone, $14.00, 368 pages Check this out! Arthur Conan Doyle needs a respite from Sherlock Holmes and his fans, so off he heads to a spa in Germany in 1892. Oscar Wilde is also a guest, which means that Doyle isn’t going to get quite the rest he was hoping for. In fact, the thought of rest goes out the window when he opens one of his fan letters to find a finger with no note, just a return address: Rome. Off to Rome our intrepid heroes go and with the help of another clue, their first stop is the Vatican. The Eternal City has a few surprises up its sleeve for Wilde and Doyle, and even has a beautiful woman that turns Doyle’s head for a moment or two. At first, even the Pope himself is a suspect, along with every priest they meet. Slowly the mystery deepens to include a young girl that was a delight to all until the day Pope Pius IX died and she disappeared. Fun, atmospheric, and witty, just like Wilde was, Brandreth’s trip to the Vatican with Wilde and Doyle will keep you turning pages and wishing you were there with them. Reviewed by Gwen Stackler
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 2
By Wallace Stroby • Hoping for a final big score that will reunite her with her loved ones and allow her to live an honest life, Crissa Stone is forced to flee when her partners in crime kill each other, a situation that is complicated by an ex-mobster’s efforts to claim a former associate’s hidden millions.
Powers of Arrest: A Cincinnati Casebook
By Jon Talton • Cincinnati homicide detective Will Borders now walks with a cane and lives alone with constant discomfort. He’s lucky to be alive. He’s lucky to have a job, as public information officer for the department. But when a star cop is brutally murdered, he’s assigned to find her killer. The crime bears a chilling similarity to killings on the peaceful college campus nearby, where his friend Cheryl Beth Wilson is teaching nursing. The two young victims were her students. Most homicides are routine, the suspects readily apparent. These are definitely not. Once again, this unlikely pair teams up to pursue a sadistic predator before he kills again.
Target: Tinos
By Jeffrey Siger • Andreas Kaldis’ investigation into the murder of two gypsies on the Aegean island of Tinos leads him to more bodies, a secret society, and questions about the growing number of non-Greeks and gypsies flocking to the island.
Missing Child
By Patricia MacDonald • Caitlin Eckhart finds her past coming back to haunt her when her six-year-old stepson is kidnapped from school, jeopardizing her relationship with her husband and everything she loves.
Rizzo’s Daughter
By Lou Manfredo • Postponing his retirement when his daughter joins the Brooklyn police force, an overprotective Joe Rizzo unexpectedly tackles the most challenging case of his career involving a mob war and the death of boss Louie Quattropa.
Tulsa
Book Review
IN THIS ISSUE Mystery.......................................................... 2
Tulsa City-County Library 400 Civic Center Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 Ph. (918) 549-7323
EDITOR IN CHIEF Ross Rojek ross@1776productions.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN/LAYOUT
Fiction............................................................ 4 Romance......................................................... 6 Home, Garden & DIY...................................... 6 Cookbooks...................................................... 7
Grayson Hjaltalin grayson.hjaltalin@1776productions.com
Kids’ Books..................................................... 8
COPY EDITORS Lori Freeze Diane Jinson Lori Miller Robyn Oxborrow Holly Scudero Kim Winterheimer
Picture Books................................................. 8 Tween Reads................................................... 9 Teen Scene.................................................... 10
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Shanyn Day Christopher Hayden Erin McDonough Lisa Rodgers Justin Salazar-Stewart Elizabeth Tropp
Fantasy......................................................... 11 Biography & Memoir.................................... 12
FROM THE PUBLISHER The Tulsa City-County Library closed out our fiscal year at the end of June. I am happy to report that Tulsa County is reading more than ever. County residents borrowed more library materials, including e-books and e-bestsellers, this last year than ever before. All totaled residents borrowed more than 5.9 million items – that’s an increase of 3.5 percent over the previous year. Residents also love their library. Approximately one-third of residents regularly use the library system’s offerings, which go way beyond just books. Our heaviest users, 42,366 folks, visit the library weekly, while 80,737 people, on average, visit every two weeks. In addition to books, the library has a growing collection of DVDs and music CDs. We also offer self-paced online language learning and classes; live online tutoring, job and resume help; as well as pre-K and adult literacy programs to help children get ready for school and adults who struggle with reading improve their skills. Additionally, the library offers over 7,500 free programs for all ages each year. Libraries change lives. Please let us know how we can help you make the changes in your life that you wish to make. Best regards,
History & Current Events............................. 14 WEBSITE TulsaBookReview.com
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The Tulsa Book Review is published monthly by 1776 Productions, LLC. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Tulsa Book Review or 1776 Productions advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words ©2012, LLC.
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Popular Culture............................................ 15 Nature & Science.......................................... 15 Chapters: A Casual Evening of Books, Bards, and Bites................................ 15
Gary Shaffer Tulsa City-County Library CEO
Coming Up! Imagine life without reading. What if you could not fill out a job application, read the notes from your child’s teacher or understand the instructions on a medicine label? One in six adults in Tulsa County cannot read well enough to do these tasks. September is National Literacy Awareness Month. Next month, join the library’s Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service in promoting literacy in our community by becoming a tutor, referring a family member or friend with reading difficulties, or making a donation.
Book Reviews Category
Fiction SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
The Bride’s House By Sandra Dallas St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99, 400 pages Check this out! This is a wonderfully engrossing novel about three generations of women who loved neither wisely nor too well, and lived in The Bride’s House in Georgetown, Colorado. The Bride’s House was built for Nealie Bent by a man no one thought would ever be anything much. But Charlie Dumas was determined to have her, and after Nealie discovered that her lover, Will Spaulding, already had a wife, Charlie won out. Nealie was only 17 when she died giving birth to her daughter Pearl. Even though Pearl wasn’t his, Charlie loved her fiercely and taught her everything she needed to know, except how to protect her heart. Frank Curry just gave up too soon, so Pearl went to Europe to have her baby. When Pearl was thought to be too old to get married, Frank reappeared — a wealthy man in his own right, and finally claimed Pearl as his own. Their daughter Susan was nothing short of a miracle, but Frank now had his own business concerns in the east — Chicago, to be exact — so Susan only spent summers in Colorado. Susan has always loved Joe Bullock, but when he goes away to college, she falls under the spell of the slightly older airman, Pete, who doesn’t survive the war. The Bride’s House continues as it always has — sheltering the brides who live under its roof. Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz The Chemistry of Tears By Peter Carey Knopf, $26.00, 229 pages Check this out! I kiss your toes… As Catherine Gehrig privately grieves for the unexpected death of her colleague and married lover of thirteen years, she hides herself in the Swinburne museum, hidden away with a secret project and her anguish.
Her usual rational and controlled presence of mind ruined with grief, the story grows even stranger as Catherine unpacks a most extraordinary find in an automaton that her boss has arranged for her to restore. Accompanying the automaton are the notebooks of the original owner, an Englishman from the nineteenth-century named Henry Brandling, who commissioned the piece from a German genius as a present for his consumptive son. But as the story grows ever stranger, twists and turns in an eerie eldritch puzzle, Catherine, two hundred years later, will learn more of catastrophe and the human chemistry of love than she ever imagined. An unbelievable writer, in The Chemistry of Tears Peter Carey has outdone himself. The book is lively, brilliant, utterly entrancing, and intoxicating to the reader, wrapping the reader into the narrative so thoroughly that Catherine’s grief and Brandling’s frustrations become unimaginably tangible, complex as clockwork, tasting of vodka and love, with the bitterness of steel. Reviewed by Axie Barclay The Innocent By David Baldacci Grand Central Publishing, $27.99, 432 pages Check this out! This latest thriller by a king of the genre is as gripping and fast-paced as they come. The action, including several abrupt changes of direction, is furiously fast. The characterizations are vivid and intriguing. In Will Robie, a stone-cold government assassin, David Baldacci fashions a protagonist who leaves readers hungry for more. When Robie, a master of his trade, is unwilling to fulfill a suspicious assignment, he realizes that he is being targeted and manipulated by people who should be on his side.
He soon encounters a courageous, streetsmart teenage runaway who discovers that her parents have been murdered and that she, too, is a target. Some strings are being pulled to draw Robie and young Julie together. Sometimes it seems as if they are meant to be in constant danger but kept alive; at other times it seems that evil, powerful people believe that both have information dangerous to the success of their plans. The fragile alliance between 40-year-old Robie and 14-year-old Julie is drawn with delicacy. Their conversations are crisp and resonant. The dark world of secret agencies that is Robie’s world — though he operates as a loner — is handled with authority. Just what is being covered up that requires the murder of an innocent teen? Readers are kept guessing until the explosive conclusion. Reviewed by Phil Jason Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’art By Christopher Moore William Morrow, $26.99, 404 pages Check this out! After Van Gogh is murdered by the grotesque dwarf “The Colorman” in Auvers, another “little man,” Henri ToulouseLautrec, and Lucien Lessard, a far lesser known Impressionist, try to solve the crime in Montmartre, Paris. This novel is rather difficult to characterize. First, it’s a surprisingly true and detailed history of Impressionism, and even the whole history of art, beginning 40,000 years ago in a cave of France, when The Colorman was born. Second, it is about Sacre Bleu—sacred blue—named for the color of the cloak of the Virgin Mary. It’s made from crushed lapis lazuli, and only supplied by The Colorman and his assistant, the whorish Juliette. It’s also about the mixing of colors, mostly blue, and the emergence of the color blue in the Impressionists—the first painters to paint outside, to paint light. Juliette is the daemon herself--the muse of artistic creation. In history, we learn in the novel, many artists have painted her in different bodily manifestations, and been inspired by her. But at what cost? Murder, syphilis, madness, that’s what. This is a kind of Monty Python look at 1890 France. You know, the absinthe, risqué girls, people smacked by baguettes for a joke, artists’ garrets, Left Bank existential hipness (fifty years before its time). As a bonus, the novel is illustrated with dozens of paintings and even features blue ink to read. Reviewed by Phil Semler
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 4
Barefoot Season By Susan Mallery MIRA, $14.95, 368 pages Check this out! A delightful surprise from classic romance writer Susan Mallory, Barefoot Season explores the boundaries of friendship and family, and the difficulties our soldiers face when there is no longer a war to fight. Wounded in action, Michelle Sanderson has no choice but to return to the place she had turned her back on so long ago, a small inn on Blackberry Island. Although her mother is no longer alive, every room is filled with reminders of Michelle’s difficult past. Struggling with a very real but unacknowledged case of PTSD and her physical limitations, Michelle has little choice but to depend on her former friend Carly Williams despite an age-old betrayal that sent her fleeing to the armed services in the first place. To save the Inn, the two must put aside old bitterness and resentments and work together. While each heroine is matched with a perfect romantic hero and romance blooms, the true heart of the story is in Michelle’s recovery and rediscovered friendship between the two women. A pleasant surprise, Barefoot Season will stay with readers long after they turn that last page. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Derby Day: A Novel By D.J. Taylor Pegasus Books, $25.95, 404 pages Check this out! D.J.Taylor channels Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, even a wry sprinkle of Jane Austen in this arch, knowing comedy of manners and errors. Derby Day calls itself a Victorian mystery. Although there are a prodigious number of plot lines, not much is mysterious save whether the sweet little part-Arab horse, Tiberius, will win or deliberately lose the Derby. The novel is full of intrigue. Most characters are, at least, duplicitous. Several are significantly smarter than others. Attending as they delicately manipulate each other in pursuit of gain is amusing - until an ill-advised, gloomy country gentleman commits suicide, after finding himself bankrupted by the machinations of a devious race track tout. Taylor’s genius lies in his ability to make a reader care about the plights of these deeply venial creatures. His observer’s eye is both fond and merciless. Watch slick Mr. Happer-
FICTION
Reign of Madness By Lynn Cullen Berkley, $16.00, 425 pages Check this out! Intoxicatingly dramatic, vividly detailed, and brimming with royal intrigue, Reign of Madness is historical fiction at its finest and possibly the hottest new novel of 2012. Step into the Golden Age of Spain and meet Juana of Castille- or Juana the Mad—and you’ll never want to leave. Hers wasn’t called one of the most controversial reigns in Spanish history for nothing. The third child of Spanish monarchs Isabel and Fernando, Juana lived a charmed childhood. She enjoyed close relationships with her sisters, thrived on the wild stories of the New World, and married the perfect man. This is no fairy tale, however. Juana’s vain husband, the Duke of Burgundy, transforms from loving and kind to an increas-
Alif the Unseen By G. Willow Wilson Grove Press, $25.00, 440 pages Check this out! Alif nominally lives in an unnamed emirate in the Middle East, but he pledges his true affiliation to the community of hackers who cache their ideas in the Cloud and correspond almost exclusively via the Internet. Alif’s job is to digitally protect his clients from state surveillance, which he does well until his lover jilts him for an arranged marriage and tells him that she never wants to see him again. In childish retaliation, he writes a program that profiles her computer use and makes it impossible for her to ever find him electronically. This ingenious program draws the attention of the state’s security force, nicknamed “The Hand of God,” and endangers the hacker community. When his former lover sends him a book titled The Thousand and One Days, Alif draws the attention of the jinn as well, and he finds himself running for his life. A deft combination of the digital and the mystical, Alif the Unseen asks questions about the evolution of religion and of the totalitarian state in the modern age. What impact do computers have on religion? What does it mean for a state to be free? What does revolution look like? Profound and entertaining, the novel is a page-turner. Reviewed by Tammy McCartney Angelmaker By Nick Harkaway Knopf, $26.95, 478 pages Check this out! Joe Spork is an unassuming clock repairman and tinkerer who has followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, rather than the criminal path blazed by his father. But when an elderly former spy decides to change the world with a clockwork device, Joe finds himself thrust into the center of several conspiracies AND a generational vendetta with a ruthless villain. Can Joe elude his numerous new enemies, save the
Friends Like Us By Lauren Fox Knopf, $24.95, 269 pages Check this out! Jane Weston and Willa Jacobs, two tall women with masses of curly hair, are best friends and roommates. Willa reconnects with Ben at their tenth high school reunion and brings him home to Jane. Ben and Jane fall in love. Willa thinks she is happy for them - until they decide to get married. Lauren Fox obviously knows this twenty-something slacker terrain well. She nails the diffidence and nuance of life on the financial edge, which works just fine as long as everyone is happy with the status quo. The novel is a record of the irrepressible turbulence that besets loving relationships. Willa, Jane, and Ben blend together into a seamless unit, for awhile. By the end of the novel, they have all grown up a little, but not much. They each have many excuses for behaving thoughtlessly: warring parents, indifferent parents, clueless parents - parents, really - but this does not excuse the amount of pain they inflict on one another. Watch and learn. The book is sparky, full of puns, ironic, often funny, and doesn’t resolve a thing. A fine summer read. Reviewed by Elizabeth Benford
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 5
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Wallflower in Bloom: A Novel By Claire Cook Touchstone, $24.99, 272 pages Check this out! As a personal assistant to her new age guru brother Tag, Deirdre Griffin has spent the last few years of her life putting his needs above her own. Flying from city to city at the drop of a hat, working atrocious hours, serving as his gate kee per/gopher and generally living under his shadow. But when Tag crosses one line too many, Deidre is finally forced to face the emptiness of a life lived through someone else’s glory. With the help a stiff drink Deidre uses her brother’s fame to land herself a spot on Dancing with the Stars. Through hard work and a little alone time, Deidre finally figures out how to shine. Billed as standard, chick lit summer release fare, readers may be lulled in thinking Wallflower in Bloom is simply a fun-filled romp of a middle-aged woman coming into her own. Through Claire Cook’s skilled narrative, they won’t realize till the very end they’ve been taught a wonderful lesson. It is never too late to find your place in the world. Reviewed by Lanine Bradley
ingly adulterous, abusive, and evil monster. When Juana’s older siblings tragically die and she finds herself first in line for the Spanish throne, she finds herself in dire straits. With both her husband and father against her and hungry to claim the crown, rumors start to swirl that the Queen has gone mad. Juana risks being locked up forever. Historically accurate and emotionally powerful, Reign of Madness will captivate you on page one and hold your interest throughout its turbulent, touching, and tremendous course. This is without a doubt one of the best works of historic fiction I have ever read. Juana will steal your heart. Reviewed by Jennifer Melville
The Thirteenth Sacrifice: A Witch Hunt Novel By Debbie Viguie Signet, $7.99, 368 pages Check this out! Samantha Ryan is a detective trying to forget a strange past, but that isn’t going to be an option in The Thirteenth Sacrifice, the first novel in a new mystery series by Debbie Viguie. Samantha Ryan grew up in a coven that practiced terrifying magic. As a child, she saw horrific things that still haunt her in nightmares. She, however, escaped and was adopted by a family that helped her put her past behind her. Or so Samantha thought. Strange murders begin occurring, which she realizes are connected with witchcraft. To stop them, Samantha must face her fears, go undercover as a witch, and practice witchcraft despite her Christian beliefs. Will she be accepted by the coven in time to stop the impending crisis, and will she lose herself in returning to her past? Viguie successfully weaves the supernatural with reality in a way that allows the reader to suspend disbelief. At the same time, she writes a satisfyingly unpredictable mystery. For readers who enjoy a bit of the occult in their mysteries, this is definitely a mystery worth checking out. Reviewed by Annie Peters
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ton slowly and compassionately poison his father-in-law or try to fondle his mistress’s vicious Pekinese. Sit beside green-eyed Mrs. Rebecca as she scatters scorn over a raffish collection of London artistes or plots to run her gambler husband for Parliament, since she can’t run herself. It all ends in disaster, what else? One can only hope for a sequel. Reviewed by Elizabeth Benford
world AND get the girl? Probably not. But he’s gonna try anyway. Angelmaker is equal parts comic farce, conspirac y-f ueled lunacy and neo-noir style, deftly assembled into a novel as intricate and elaborate as the doomsday mechanism driving the story. Harkaway’s sprawling story ricochets through time and space, often giving the reader the answers first and then providing context for the questions, all while sparking interest in the greater mysteries unfolding. It’s a labyrinthine work that will test your focus without testing your patience, as great set pieces and a snowballing pace make for a thoroughly entertaining read. And while the book ends on a satisfying note, you can’t help but wonder what else awaits this motley crew of characters. Here’s hoping the adventures of Joe Spork are only just beginning. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
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Category
Romance SNAP IT for additional book summaries. Midnight Promises By Sherryl Woods Mira, $7.99, 384 pages Check this out! Fans of the author’s Sweet Magnolia series may now rejoice! There are three new books to add to the series: Midnight Promises is the first one. There’s even a bonus here – the three Senior Magnolias, who adopt the motto “we’re old and we’re bold!” (You have to love it and them -- and you will!) This is the story of Karen and Elliott Cruz – now that they’re married, that is. True romance seldom runs smoothly, and this one is no exception. Karen’s first husband ran out on her and her two kids, leaving behind all the bills for her to settle. She is understandably in a constant state of financial pressure (some real, some imagined), so when Elliott is asked by sev-
eral of their friends to become a partner in a much-needed new gym for men in their hometown of Serenity, Karen is beyond suspicious and hesitant. In the meantime, two of the three seniors Liz and Flo are worried about the eldest of them, Fran, who has suddenly become more forgetful than usual. And Elliott’s older sister Adelia is experiencing domestic difficulties. Perception and compromise are almost sturdy secondary characters in this well-written, engaging tale of the meaning of small-town community. We should all be so fortunate as to have friends like this batch, who always have each other’s backs! Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz
Category
Home, Garden & DIY SNAP IT for additional book summaries. So Pretty! Crochet: Inspiration and Instructions for 24 Stylish Projects By Amy Palanjian Chronical Books, $22.95, 160 pages Check this out! So Pretty! Crochet: Inspiration and Instructions for 24 Stylish Projects delivers seven home décor designs and eighteen fashion pieces from a dozen women passionate about crochet, using easy-to-follow instructions. Each artist provides an insight into her inspiration for the projects she presents as well as the reasons for the yarn chosen. So Pretty! has something for everyone interested in creating something simple, beautiful and lasting in a short amount of
time. Projects include headbands, lariats, necklaces, rings, bracelets, neck-warmers, wristlets, slippers, mittens, caps, stone covers, rugs, pouches, hangers, pillow covers, bowls, ornaments, bunting, and coasters. Author Amy Palanjian fills the book with color photos of the finished projects as further inspiration. Veteran and novice crocheters alike will certainly want to begin with one of the basic designs and let their imaginations soar. After trying a few of the projects, they may be inspired to combine some of the stitches or designs to create their own pieces, or maybe to change yarn types or stitches to create something that fits more with their lifestyle. Whether you stick to the basics or explore the possibilities, you will learn that crochet is for all generations, the young and the young at heart. Reviewed by Linda Welz
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 6
F E AT U R I N G
Book Reviews
Join Tulsa County residents in reading this inspiring novel, which follows the life of a small-town woman as she reflects on her rural lifestyle that is giving way to progress in the name of development. Many of the themes covered in the book mirror the challenges faced by rural and urban families today. The author, Wendell Berry, an American writer and farmer, will be in Tulsa Dec. 7 and 8 to receive the Tulsa Library Trust’s Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Using “Hannah Coulter” as a conversation starter, this year’s One Book, One Tulsa initiative focuses on food, gardening, health and sustainability with more than 40 free programs scheduled at area libraries throughout the year. One Book, One Tulsa is sponsored the Tulsa Library Trust and Tulsa World.
R E L AT E D L I B R A R Y P R O G R A M M I N G Free Health Screenings Conducted by the Tulsa Health Department 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3 • Hardesty Regional Library Thursday, Aug. 30 • Martin Regional Library Tuesday, Sept. 18 • Zarrow Regional Library Wednesday, Oct. 17 • Central Library Wednesday, Nov. 14 • Rudisill Regional Library
Urban Homesteading Discussion Group Monday, Aug. 6 • 7-8 p.m. Zarrow Regional Library
Meet James Oseland, Author of “Saveur: The New Comfort Food”
Tuesday, Aug. 21 • 7 p.m. Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma • 1304 N. Kenosha Ave. Co-sponsored by Book Smart Tulsa.
Global Table Adventure: Experience the World Without Ever Leaving Your Kitchen Friday, Aug. 31 • 11 a.m.-noon Martin Regional Library
Chapters: A Casual Evening of Books, Bards and Bites Friday, Sept. 7 • 6:30-9:30 p.m. Hardesty Regional Library Reservations: $50 Call 918-549-7364 for reservations. Deadline is Aug. 31.
Community Gardens
Saturday, Sept. 15 • 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Suburban Acres Library
Wildlife Habitat Gardening
11 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 13 • Judy Z. Kishner Library Saturday, Oct. 27 • Owasso Library
Book Reviews Category
Cookbooks SNAP IT for additional book summaries. Cook, Eat, Thrive: Vegan Recipes From Everyday to Exotic By Joy Tienzo Tofu Hound Press, $17.95, 237 pages Check this out! This is a simple, basic, yet excellent vegan cookbook without unnecessary fluff and filling, not even illustrations. Though the book production is almost austere, author Tienzo draws from a wide-ranging international repertoire, providing reasonably simple recipes using available ingredients. The beginner vegan cook should have no difficulty with most of the recipes. The twelve-page introduction provides everything a vegan cook needs to know: ingredients, equipment, terminology. Tienzo labels the recipes with several or all of six symbols, whichever apply: raw, low fat, soyfree, wheat-free, tasty for all, and quick-fix. Head notes are brief and informative; sidebars are equally good. Several tables provide information such as spice rubs, infusing oils, or a guide to grains. One table gives extensive menu lists for all occasions (e.g., kidfriendly dinner, poker night, vegan wedding fare). Book organization is very good with color tabs separating chapters to help the cook find them quickly. Layout of recipes is excellent, all on single pages to be cookfriendly. To give the pages some color, the black text is interspersed with purple text. The dessert section is extensive (“This is the largest section of the book, and that’s no accident”). The well cross-referenced index is also excellent. Reviewed by George Erdosh Easy Sexy Raw: 130 Raw Food Recipes, Tools, and Tips to Make You Feel Gorgeous and Satisfied By Carol Alt Clarkson Potter, $18.99, 256 pages Check this out! Certainly not for everyone, but if you are convinced that eating raw foods is your thing, Easy Sexy Raw is a “cookbook” you must have on your shelf. Your food budget will also need to be seriously enlarged as
most recipe ingredients are costly. This is not a vegetarian or vegan cookbook, as Carol Alt includes a few options with beef, pork, and fish (raw, cured, or marinated). The nine page introduction and thirty-three page informative section educate you on just what raw foods are and how to deal with them, including a list and discussion of ingredients and a shopping list for the raw kitchen. In this cookbook, raw means uncooked, unprocessed, un-roasted, unpasteurized and un-canned. If this is for you, your kitchen work is drastically changed. You may heat your creation (i.e. hot soup) up to 110 Degrees F and still consider it raw. The three primary kitchen equipment pieces are a blender, juicer, and dehydrator. The index is excellent and well cross-referenced. Many useful tables are also included, such as a soaking and sprouting chart, tips to turn recipes or restaurant foods from cooked to raw, a list of basic raw foods, menu ideas, and a swapping list. Reviewed by George Erdosh Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well) By Peter Kaminsky Knopf, $24.95, 258 pages Check this out! Over the course of his career, write Peter Kaminsky has spent a lot of time eating. Between searching out little-known restaurants as a food columnist, to sneaking little mealtime tidbits into his outdoor writings, and especially over the course of writing many cookbooks, Kaminsky has eaten many a fine meal. Unfortunately, that kind of a rich diet can often lead to health problems; after being denied life insurance due to his health, he realized that things were going to have to change. Fortunately, becoming healthy didn’t have to mean giving up everything delicious; instead, Kaminsky figured out that the best way to eat less and still feel satisfied was to maximize
the amount of flavor each calorie delivered, by buying better ingredients and learning to season things well. Meat doesn’t need fattening cheese- and butter-rich sauces when the meat itself has good flavor. Properly preparing vegetables produces better food than drenching them in butter. In Culinary Intelligence, Kaminsky shares his own personal philosophy on how to eat healthy without sacrificing flavor. Best of all, what he says makes sense. Organic produce, humanely raised organic meats, understanding how different tastes play with one another to create a satisfying flavor ... Kaminsky’s ideas, taken together, can make for the most delicious diet you’ve ever been on. Eating well truly can be an art form, but it is one that anyone can master. Reviewed by Holly Scudero Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night Chicken By Lorraine Wallace Wiley, $19.99, 240 pages Check this out! Chicken, chicken, and chicken—that is what you find in Mr. Sunday’s Saturday Night
Chicken, recipes arranged by the four seasons, plus more under the sections “Friends and Family,” “Two-By-Two Dinners,” and “Game Day.” Many non-chicken recipes follow under “Sides.” Of the hundred and three chicken recipes (including a few turkey, duck, goose, quail, and pheasant), you are likely to find many you want to try. In the 12 introductory pages Wallace previews what you can expect to find along with many family stories and photos. The recipes are good using readily available ingredients, with headnotes telling where the recipes came from. On top of every recipe you will find additional notes to help you choose: stovetop, one pot, potluck, boneless, skinless, family favorite, quick, inexpensive, and so on. Full-page photos of the recipes illustrate many pages, and also an unfortunate number of family and friend photos that are simply fillers (unless you are part of the photo). The layout of the recipes is good though some skip to overleaf page to the inconvenience of the cook. The index is also good and well cross-referenced for a nice collection of chicken recipes. Reviewed by George Erdosh
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Book Reviews Category
Kids’ Books SNAP IT for additional book summaries. Bink and Gollie, Two for One By Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee, Tony Fucile (illustrator) Candlewick Press, $15.99, 79 pages Check this out! Two very different people can be best friends. Bink is short; Gollie is tall. Bink is always excited; Gollie is always calm. Bink and Gollie are two best friends. They heal each others’ sadness by encouraging and cheering each other up. They spent a day at the state fair. Gollie wanted to know their destinies so they both traveled into the dark path! Can Madam Prunely tell them their destinies? This story is heart-warming. The pictures were hilariously funny. I read it three times. The scenes are too jumpy, so it confused me a little. Reviewed by Esther Hacker, Age 8 Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus: 20th-Anniversary Full-Color Edition By Barbara Park, Denise Brunkus (illustrator) Random House Books for Young Readers, $14.99, 85 pages Check this out! Junie B. Jones is a very funny girl who is almost six years old. When she opens her mouth, it gets her in trouble. Junie B. knows
she’s in trouble when she is being called ‘Missy!’ This book is about Junie B.’s first day of kindergarten and why she did not want to get on the school bus. She did not want to get on the bus for three reasons -- one was that it smelled like an egg salad sandwich, another was because it was yellow, and the third reason was that the seats had no cloth. Junie B.’s mom made sure she got on the school bus for her afternoon k i nd e r g a r t e n class. Her first day of school wasn’t much fun. Then it was time for Junie B. to get on the school bus to go home, but she didn’t want to get on the bus so she hid in the supply closet. The rest of the book is about what happens while Junie B. hides from everyone and is left alone in the school. I liked this book because it was very funny. I would have liked it better if there was a picture of Junie B. licking her shoes! This book is great for little students who don’t like buses but do like girly colors. Reviewed by Murphy, Age 6
of fun, and each montage features dads and their kids enjoying t hemselves t horoug h ly. The pictures burst with energy and delight: a little girl launches into a flying tackle as her dad falls in the autumn leaves, a chair tips as a dad tries to catch a long toilet-paper pass, a flipper-clad dad chases his son through the sprinkler. The dads are a variety of ages and ethnicities, but each of them clearly loves his child. When Dads Don’t Grow Up would be a great Father’s Day gift for the father who still reads the comics and watches cartoons. “Their kids are lucky.” Reviewed by Tammy McCartney Meet Me at the Moon By Gianna Marino Penguin Young Readers, $16.99, 79 pages Check this out! Little One’s mother has to climb the highest mountain to ask the skies for rain. Little One does not want her to go. Little One wonders how he (or she) will be able to hear Mama. She assures him she will sing and he will hear her on the wind. Little One wonders how he will know she still loves him. She will love him from afar and he
will feel that love in the warmth of the sun. They’ll both look at the brightest star and it will be like seeing each other. When Little One wonders how they will find each other again, Mama promises to meet Little One at the moon where the sky and earth come together. Little One sadly stays with friends while Mama goes on her j ou r ne y. He listens to the wind and looks at the stars each night. He feels her love in the warm earth. But it seems a long time she’s gone. When rains come, Little One cannot hear the song, see the stars, or feel the warmth. This lovely story answers a need most children have at times. The enchanting illustrations support every word of the sweet story. Reviewed by Rosi Hollinbeck
Kids Book Review
The ONLY children’s book review publication in the nation written BY the kids.
Category
Picture Books SNAP IT for additional book summaries. When Dads Don’t Grow Up By Marjorie Blain Parker, R. W. Alley (illustrator) Dial Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 32 pages Check this out! “Some dads just never grow up.” These dads like to drink their milk through a straw and pop bubble wrap. They play sports, both
indoor and outdoor, and, as a consequence, are really good at fixing things. They remember what it’s like to be little and always, always want to join in. “They may look like grown-ups on the outside, but underneath they’re just like us...KIDS! This heart-warming tribute to playful dads is impossible to read without a smile. When dads don’t grow up, they have a lot
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TulsaLibrary.org
918.549.READ
AUGUST 2012
A FREE MONTHLY GUIDE TO YOUR COMMUNITY LIBRARY, ITS PROGRAMS AND SERVICES TO SEARCH FOR EVENTS, SCAN THIS CODE USING YOUR MOBILE DEVICE AND QR SCANNER APP.
CENTRAL LIBRARY
adult/teen events BIXBY LIBRARY A-Book-A-Month Discussion Group for Adults Wednesday, Aug. 22 • 2-3 p.m. Read the "Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb" by Melanie Benjamin and then join us for a lively discussion.
BROKEN ARROW LIBRARY Storytime for Adults Wednesday, Aug. 15 • 12:05-12:55 p.m. Librarian Will Thomas will read selections from modern classics. You may bring your lunch. READ OR DIE All-Day Anime Saturday, Aug. 18 • 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Drop in for anime movies. We'll provide refreshments. For ages 13-18.
BROKEN ARROW LIBRARY/SOUTH Our Cosmic Neighborhood: Asteroids, Comets and Meteors ... Oh My! Monday, Aug. 27 • 6:30-8 p.m. Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomers invite you to explore the common thread of these objects. Afterward, we'll go outside for some sky gazing (weather permitting). You may bring your own telescope. For all ages.
Hearing loop available. Switch hearing aid to T-coil.
Deadline for Literacy Tutor Training Monday, Aug. 6 for workshop scheduled on Saturdays, Aug. 18, 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28 for workshop scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sept. 11, 13, 18 and 20 from 5:45 to 8:45 p.m. Tulsa City-County Library's Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service needs volunteer tutors to help adults improve their reading and writing skills. Tutors must be 18 years of age or older and have graduated from high school. Each trained volunteer is matched with an adult student to provide one-onone tutoring once or twice a week. Volunteers are asked to make a oneyear commitment to tutor. Tutors must complete all sessions of this workshop. Preregistration is required. To register for the workshop or for dates of additional workshops scheduled throughout the year, call 918-549-7400 or click on www.tulsalibrary.org/literacy. Book Discussion Thursday, Aug. 9 • 2-3 p.m. Location: Plaza Room Read "What the Dead Know" by Laura Lippman and then join us for a lively discussion. You can meet Lippman when she comes to Tulsa in September to help raise money and awareness for literacy. She will be one of the featured authors for "Chapters: A Casual Evening of Books, Bards and Bites" on Sept. 7. For adults. Job Lab Thursday, Aug. 9 • 2-3:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20 • 2-3:30 p.m. Location: Computer Training Room Update your résumé, search for
jobs online or explore a new career in this special computer lab just for job seekers. You will have access to Microsoft Office software and the Internet. USB flash drives are available for purchasing, or you can bring your own to save your work. Standard printing charges apply. Library staff and resources will be in the lab to provide assistance. For adults. Meet Author Jacqueline Woodson: Winner of the Tulsa Library Trust's 2012 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature Friday, Aug. 24 • 7-9 p.m. Location: second floor Jacqueline Woodson is the national award-winning author of 24 picture and young adult books. She is best known for "Miracle's Boys." She will speak about her life and works, and sign books. Copies of her works will be available for purchasing. For all ages. Grant-Seeking Basics Saturday, Aug. 25 • 1-3 p.m. Location: Computer Training Room Learn about the Foundation Center and Tulsa City-County Library's cooperating collection – the Nonprofit Resource Center – plus learn how to seek out grant funds. For adults. Preregistration is required. Class size is limited. Call 918-549-7425 or email mkash@tulsalibrary.org to register. Novel Talk Presents ... Southern Discomfort: Loving and Loathing the South Wednesday, Aug. 29 • 7-8:30 p.m. Location: Aaronson Auditorium "My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call." So begins Pat Conroy's greatest novel, "The Prince of Tides," an investigation and disputation of his Southern roots. A distinguished
panel will dig into this paradox of the South, exploring both its beauty and its secrets, its greatest values and its most shameful sins. This program will kick off the season-long "Tulsa Reads Pat Conroy" series, culminating with Conroy's visit to Tulsa in September. For adults. "Tulsa Reads" is sponsored by The Oklahoma Center for Poets & Writers at OSU-Tulsa, Tulsa Town Hall, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa World. This program is cosponsored by McAlister's Deli.
COLLINSVILLE LIBRARY SUKIKYO! Anime/Manga Club Wednesdays, Aug. 8, 29 • 4-5:30 p.m. Join other fans of Japanese art and animation to talk about what you love. For teens. Refreshments provided by the Friends of the Collinsville Library. utime@yourlibrary Thursday, Aug. 23 • 2:30-4:30 p.m. Meet your friends for gaming, crafts and surprise activities. Snacks are provided by the Friends of the Collinsville Library.
HARDESTY REGIONAL LIBRARY Free Health Screenings Friday, Aug. 3 • 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Location: Frossard Auditorium The Tulsa Health Department will provide free health screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol (full lipid panel), glucose hemoglobin A1C (no fasting required), body mass index, and waistto-hip ratio measurements. This program complements Tulsa City-County Library's "One Book, One Tulsa" initiative exploring food, health, gardening and sustainability. For all ages. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust.
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Wills and Trusts: Planning Unequal Gifts to Your Children Wednesday, Aug. 8 • noon-1 p.m. Location: Pecan Room Join attorney Rita Foster as she discusses wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney and other estate planning documents. Learn how to avoid probate. For adults. Seating is limited. For more information or to reserve a seat at the seminar, call 918-549-7363. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust. Marketing on a Shoestring Tuesday, Aug. 14 • 9:30-11:30 a.m. Location: Frossard Auditorium Most nonprofits have a difficult time finding ways to market their products effectively and economically, and it's not getting any easier or cheaper! Bill Hinkle, advertising professor, University of Tulsa, will teach strategies on how to make your meager money go further, while also making more of an impact. For adults. Preregistration is required. Class size is limited. To register, go online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ RSVPVOE, email mkash@tulsalibrary. org or call 918-549-7425. Presented by Voices of Experience, a program of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. 2012 Young People's Creative Writing Contest Awards Presentation Saturday, Aug. 25 • 10 a.m. Location: Connor's Cove Jacqueline Woodson, winner of the Tulsa Library Trust's 2012 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, will present prizes to contest winners. Afterward, she will talk about her writing career and sign books. Copies of her books will be available for purchasing. For all ages. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust, Friends of the Tulsa City-County Libraries, KWGS Public Radio 89.5 and Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust.
HELMERICH LIBRARY Books People Are Talking About Wednesday, Aug. 22 • 12:15-1:15 p.m. Join us as we launch a new year of book discussions. Our topic will be favorite summer reads and forthcoming discussion titles. For adults. Light refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Helmerich Library.
MARTIN REGIONAL LIBRARY Safety in Your Neighborhood Saturday, Aug. 4 • 2-3:30 p.m. Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan and Alert Neighbors Director Carol Bush will discuss how to be proactive in protecting your neighborhood from crime. For all ages. Sponsored by the Tulsa Police Department, Citizens Crime Commission and East Tulsa Partners.
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Job Lab Mondays, Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27 • 9-11 a.m. Update your résumé, search for jobs online or explore a new career in this special computer lab just for job seekers. You will have access to Microsoft Office software and the Internet. USB flash drives are available for purchasing, or you can bring your own to save your work. Standard printing charges apply. Library staff and resources will be in the lab to provide assistance. For adults. Thursday Afternoon Book Club Thursday, Aug. 16 • 1:30-3 p.m. Read "The Good American" by Alex George and then join us for a lively discussion. For adults. Manga Ai! Saturday, Aug. 18 • 2-3 p.m. Munch on pocky and meet up with other manga fans to discuss your favorite books and movies, characters and plot twists from this popular Japanese publishing trend. For sixth-grade and up. Teen Advisory Board Meeting Saturday, Aug. 18 • 3:15-4:15 p.m. Help plan library services for teens and provide a teen perspective on the services and materials that the Martin Regional Library offers. For ages 12-18. Teen Time Wednesdays, Aug. 22, 29 • 4-5 p.m. Join us for Wii and board games. Work on your homework or enjoy fun activities with your friends. For teens and tweens. Free Health Screenings Thursday, Aug. 30 • 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The Tulsa Health Department will provide free health screenings, including blood pressure, cholesterol (full lipid panel), glucose hemoglobin A1C (no fasting required), body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio measurements. This program complements Tulsa City-County Library's "One Book, One Tulsa" initiative exploring food, health, gardening and sustainability. For all ages. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust. Global Table Adventure: Experience the World Without Ever Leaving Your Kitchen Friday, Aug. 31 • 11 a.m.-noon Join Sasha Martin as she discusses "Eating Our Way Around the World: 195 Countries. 195 Meals. 195 Weeks." This program complements Tulsa CityCounty Library's "One Book, One Tulsa" initiative exploring food, gardening, health and sustainability. For all ages. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust.
OWASSO LIBRARY Books With Barbara Wednesday, Aug. 8 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. • Read "A Change in Altitude" by Anita Shreve and then join us for a fun book discussion. For adults.
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RUDISILL REGIONAL LIBRARY Business Plan Basics Saturday, Aug. 18 • 10 a.m.-noon Whether you are starting a new business or expanding an existing company, a thorough business plan is important. Volunteers from SCORE: Counselors to America's Small Business, Tulsa Chapter 194, will take you through the steps to develop your own business plan. Learn why a business plan is important and what research is required. You also will review an actual business plan and learn about helpful library resources. Preregistration is required. Call 918-5497645 to register. For adults. Job Lab Tuesday, Aug. 28 • 1-3 p.m. Update your résumé, search for jobs online or explore a new career in this special computer lab just for job seekers. You will have access to Microsoft Office software and the Internet. USB flash drives are available for purchasing, or you can bring your own to save your work. Standard printing charges apply. Library staff and resources will be in the lab to provide assistance. For adults. Preregistration is required. Class size is limited. Call 918-549-7645 to register .
SCHUSTERMAN-BENSON LIBRARY Mystery Readers Roundtable Thursday, Aug. 2 • 2-3 p.m. Read a good mystery lately? Come for coffee and tell us about it. For adults.
SKIATOOK LIBRARY Teen Time Tuesday, Aug. 28 • 3:30-5 p.m. Play Wii and board games. For sixthgrade and up.
SUBURBAN ACRES LIBRARY Happy Birthday, Mr. President! Saturday, Aug. 4 • 1-2:30 p.m. Celebrate the birthday of our 44th president, Barack Obama. We will watch videos, listen to music and chat about his career. For all ages. Seating is limited. Celebrate the Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech Tuesday, Aug. 28 • 4-5:45 p.m. Celebrate the 49th anniversary of Dr. King's speech with a video presentation of this iconic moment in time. For all ages. Seating is limited.
ZARROW REGIONAL LIBRARY Urban Homesteading Discussion Group Monday, Aug. 6 • 7-8 p.m. Interested in a more sustainable,
c l a s s e s self-sufficient lifestyle? If so, this ongoing group is for you! Topics include gardening, poultry, beekeeping, food storage and more. Meet other likeminded people to share inspiration and ideas. This program complements Tulsa City-County Library's "One Book, One Tulsa" initiative exploring food, gardening, health and sustainability. For adults. Westside Stitchers Mondays, Aug. 13, 27 • 6:30-8 p.m. Like to knit or crochet or want to learn how? If so, join us for yarn-y fun and fellowship. For adults and teens. Teen Thursday Thursday, Aug. 30 • 6-8 p.m. Join us for Wii, X-Box 360 and other fun activities! For ages 10-18.
computer classes HARDESTY REGIONAL LIBRARY
CLASSES ARE LIMITED TO 18 ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED BASIS. MS Excel 1 Tuesday, Aug. 7 • 6-8 p.m.• Learn how to create formulas, use automatic fill and change basic formatting. MS Excel 2 Tuesday, Aug. 14 • 6-8 p.m. • Learn how to create and edit formulas, and apply functions and advanced formatting to your spreadsheets and workbooks. MS Excel 3 Tuesday, Aug. 21 • 6-8 p.m. • Learn how to create visual representations of spreadsheet and workbook data. Learn how to create charts, apply conditional formatting and control the appearance of printed spreadsheets. Publisher 101 Tuesday, Aug. 28 • 6-8 p.m. • Learn how to create fun and colorful signs and flyers.
MARTIN REGIONAL LIBRARY
CLASSES ARE LIMITED TO 12 ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED BASIS. MS Word 1 Saturday, Aug. 4 • 10 a.m.-noon Tuesday, Aug. 7 • 1:30-3:30 p.m. Learn how to create various kinds of documents; use the toolbar; set margins; apply spell check; and preview, save and print documents.
c o m p u t e r MS Word 2 Saturday, Aug. 11 • 10 a.m.-noon Learn how to create and format tables, use bulleted and numbered lists, and apply and format columns in a document. Really Basic Computer Class Tuesday, Aug. 14 • 1:30-3:30 p.m. This class is designed for new computer users who have little or no previous experience using computers, Windows, a mouse or the Internet, and little or no knowledge of basic computer terms. MS Word 3 Saturday, Aug. 18 • 10 a.m.-noon Learn how to create and use borders and shading, headers and footers, page numbering and drawing tools. MS Excel 1 Tuesday, Aug. 21 • 1:30-3:30 p.m. Learn how to create formulas, use automatic fill and change basic formatting. MS Word 4 Saturday, Aug. 25 • 10 a.m.-noon Explore mail merge, use tables to perform calculations and create on-screen forms.
en español clases de informática
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Email 101 Tuesday, Aug. 28 • 1:30-3:30 p.m. Learn how to set up an account, plus check, send and delete email. For adults.
ZARROW REGIONAL LIBRARY Computers for Seniors Wednesdays, Aug. 8, 15, 22, 29 1:30-3:30 p.m. • Have you always wanted to learn to use a computer but were afraid to try? This series of four classes is designed especially for older folks who need a slower-paced, encouraging atmosphere in which to learn new skills. If you always thought a mouse was something you set a trap for, this is the class for you! Aug. 8, "Hardware Boot Camp"; Aug. 15, "Beginning Internet"; Aug. 22, "Beyond Typewriters"; and Aug. 29, "Email 101." For 55+. Preregistration is required. Class size is limited. Call 918-549-7683 to register.
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COLLINSVILLE LIBRARY
children’s events BROOKSIDE LIBRARY Preschool Storytime Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 10:15-10:45 a.m. • For ages 2-5. An adult must accompany 2-year-olds. My First Storytime Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 11-11:20 a.m. • For newborns to 24-month-olds and their caregivers.
CENTRAL LIBRARY Stay and Play Storytime Mondays, Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27 • 9:30-10 a.m. Location: Plaza Room For babies and toddlers, playing is learning! Enjoy storytime and then stay after for games, toys and activities that foster critical early literacy skills. For newborns to 5-yearolds and their caregivers.
Patrocinado por el Centro Hispano y el Fideicomiso de las Bibliotecas de Tulsa. Informes al 918-549-7597.
TulsaLibrary.org/hrc
BIBLIOTECA REGIONAL MARTIN
usarla para enviar, recibir correo, crear carpetas y documentos. Para todas las edades.
con la familia y amigos desde tu propia computadora, GRATIS. Para todas las edades.
Microsoft Word I Miércoles, 1 de agosto • 9:30-11:30 a.m. En esta clase te enseñaremos a usar el programa de Microsoft Word para formatear texto, escribir cartas y documentos. Para todas las edades.
Correo Electrónico I Miércoles, 15 de agosto • 9:30-11:30 a.m. Les enseñaremos cómo crear una cuenta de correo electrónico y cómo usarla para enviar y recibir correo. Para todas las edades.
Internet para Principiantes Miércoles, 1 de agosto • 6:15-8:30 p.m. Los familiarizará con la terminología del Internet, cómo navegar y encontrar sitios útiles e interesantes en el internet. Para todas las edades.
Usos del Microsoft para la búsqueda de trabajo Miércoles, 15 de agosto • 6:15-8:30 p.m. En esta clase te enseñaremos cómo usar las herramientas del Microsoft Word para formatear texto, escribir cartas de presentación, documentos y tu currículum. Para todas las edades.
La Búsqueda de trabajo en la era digital Miércoles, 29 de agosto • 9:30-11:30 a.m. Usaremos recursos en el Internet que ofrece la biblioteca para apoyar la búsqueda de trabajo. Para todas las edades.
Computación e Internet para Principiantes Miércoles, 8 de agosto • 9:30-11:30 a.m. Esta clase es para las personas con poca o ninguna experiencia usando computadoras y el Internet. Los familiarizará con el uso y la terminología de la computación. Para todas las edades. Usos del Correo Electrónico Miércoles, 8 de agosto • 6:15-8:30 p.m. Les enseñaremos cómo crear una cuenta de correo electrónico y cómo
Correo Electrónico II Miércoles, 22 de agosto • 9:30-11:30 a.m. Les enseñaremos cómo usar el correo electrónico más eficientemente, creando carpetas, abriendo archivos, guardando fotos. Para todas las edades. Skype: Llamadas gratis de computadora a computadora Miércoles, 22 de agosto • 6:15-8:30 p.m. En esta clase aprenderemos lo práctico y fácil que es comunicarte
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Currículum, presentaciones, volantes y otros usos de la computadora Miércoles, 29 de agosto • 6:15-8:30 p.m. Para principiantes-Microsoft Word, Publisher y Power Point y sus usos para escribir y diseñar currículum, cartas, presentaciones para la escuela/el trabajo, volantes promocionales y avisos. Para todas las edades.
programas infantiles BIBLIOTECA REGIONAL MARTIN Cuentitos Bilingües Jueves, 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 de agosto 11-11:30 a.m. • Disfruta cuentos, canciones, y actividades en inglés y español. Para niños de 1-5 años.
Stories From the Rocking Chair Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 10:30-11 a.m. • For newborns to 4-year-olds and their caregivers.
HARDESTY REGIONAL LIBRARY Sensory Storytime Saturday, Aug. 4 • 10:30 a.m. Does your child have difficulty sitting through storytime? If so, this inclusive, interactive program of stories, songs and activities may be just what you are looking for! Sensory Storytime focuses on learning with all five senses and is especially designed for children with a variety of learning styles or sensory integration challenges. Preregistration is required. Register online at www.surveymonkey. com/s/HRLSensory or call 918-549-7555. For ages 1-7 and their caregivers. Sponsored by the Tulsa Library Trust.
KENDALL-WHITTIER LIBRARY Bilingual Storytime Thursday, Aug. 2 • 9-9:45 a.m. Location: Health Department, 315 S. Utica Enjoy stories in English and Spanish. For ages 12 and younger. PAWS for Reading Saturday, Aug. 18 • 11 a.m.-noon Registered therapy dogs are excellent listeners. Kids ages 5-12 are invited to read their favorite books to a furry, four-pawed friend. Each reader will receive a free book provided by the Tulsa Library Trust.
MARTIN REGIONAL LIBRARY Bilingual Family Storytime Thursdays, Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 11-11:30 a.m. • Enjoy stories, songs and activities in English and Spanish. For ages 5 and younger. Preschool Storytime Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 11-11:30 a.m. • For ages 3-5. Fun Fun Music! Monday, Aug. 20 • 11-11:50 a.m. Hop, jump and sing Japanese and English songs with members of Konnichiwa. For ages 3-6.
NATHAN HALE LIBRARY Preschool Storytime Thursdays, Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 10:30-11 a.m. • For ages 5 and younger. PAWS for Reading Saturday, Aug. 25 • 1-2 p.m. Registered therapy dogs are excellent listeners. Kids ages 5-12 are invited to read their favorite books to a furry, four-pawed friend. Each reader will receive a free book provided by the
TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY EVENT GUIDE
AUGUST 2012
c h i l d r e n ' s (Nathan Hale Library continued)
Tulsa Library Trust. Preregistration is required. Call 918-549-7617 to register.
OWASSO LIBRARY My First Storytime Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 9:30-9:45 a.m. • For newborns to 2-year-olds and their caregivers Preschool Storytime Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 10-10:30 a.m. • For ages 3-5. Stay and Play Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 10:30-11 a.m. • For babies and toddlers, playing is learning! After our
e v e n t s
regularly scheduled storytime, join us for games, toys and activities that foster critical early literacy skills. For ages 1-5 and their caregivers. PAWS for Reading Thursday, Aug. 2 • 4:30-5:30 p.m. Registered therapy dogs are excellent listeners. Kids ages 5-12 are invited to read their favorite books to a furry, four-pawed friend. Each reader will receive a free book provided by the Tulsa Library Trust. Preregistration is required. Class size is limited. Call 918549-7624 to register. Owasso Mother-Daughter Book Club Thursday, Aug. 16 • 6-7 p.m. Read a book together and then join us for a fun discussion. For girls ages 9-12 and their mothers. Preregistration is required. Call 918-549-7624 to register.
c o n t i n u e d
SCHUSTERMANBENSON LIBRARY My First Storytime Wednesdays, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 10-10:20 a.m. • 10:30-10:50 a.m. For newborns to 2-year-olds and their caregivers. PAWS for Reading Monday, Aug. 6 • 3:30-4:30 p.m. Registered therapy dogs are excellent listeners. Kids ages 5-12 are invited to read their favorite books to a furry, four-pawed friend. Each reader will receive a free book provided by the Tulsa Library Trust. Preschool Storytime Tuesdays, Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28 10:30-11 a.m. • For ages 3-5.
SKIATOOK LIBRARY Preschool Storytime Thursdays • 11 a.m.-noon Join us for stories, songs, rhymes and a craft! For newborns to 6-year-olds and their caregivers. Aug. 2 • Bubbles! Aug. 9 • Wet and Wild! Aug. 16 • Ponies and Horses Aug. 23 • The Seashore Aug. 30 • Classic Tales
Free and Open to the Public • If you are hearing-impaired and need a qualified interpreter, please call the library 48 hours in advance of the program. • The Tulsa Book Review and Tulsa City-County Library Event Guide are printed on partially recycled paper.
tulsa city-county library locations 1 Bixby Library 20 E. Breckenridge, 74008 • 918-549-7514 M-Th, 12-8; Fri., 12-6; Sat., 10-5 2 Broken Arrow Library 300 W. Broadway, 74012 • 918-549-7500 M-Th, 10-8; Fri., 10-6; Sat., 10-5 3 Broken Arrow Library/South 3600 S. Chestnut, 74011 • 918-549-7662 M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 4 Brookside Library 1207 E. 45th Place, 74105 • 918-549-7507 M-Th, 10-8; Fri., 10-6; Sat., 10-5 5 Central Library and American Indian Resource Center 400 Civic Center, 74103 • 918-549-7323 M-Th, 9-9; Fri.-Sat., 9-5; Sun., 1-5, Sept.-May 6 Charles Page Library 551 E. Fourth St., Sand Springs, 74063 918-549-7521 • M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 7 Collinsville Library 1223 Main, 74021 • 918-549-7528 M-Th, 12-8; Fri., 12-5; Sat., 10-5 8 Genealogy Center 2901 S. Harvard, 74114 • 918-549-7691 M-W, 10-5; Th, 1-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 9 Glenpool Library 730 E. 141st St., 74033 • 918-549-7535 M-Th, 12-8; Fri., 12-5; Sat., 10-5 10 Hardesty Regional Library and Connor’s Cove 8316 E. 93rd St., 74133 • 918-549-7550 M-Th, 9-9; Fri., 9-6; Sat., 9-5; Sun., 1-5 11 Helmerich Library 5131 E. 91st St., 74137 • 918-549-7631 M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 12 Herman and Kate Kaiser Library 5202 S. Hudson Ave., Suite B, 74135 918-549-7542 • M-Th, 10-8; Fri., 10-6; Sat., 10-5 13 Jenks Library 523 W. B St., 74037 • 918-549-7570 M-T, 12-8; W-Th, 10-6; Fri., 12-5; Sat., 10-5
14 Judy Z. Kishner Library 10150 N. Cincinnati Ave. E., Sperry 74073 • 918-549-7577 M-T, 12-7; W, 10-5; Th, 12-7; Fri., 12-5; Sat., 10-5 15 Kendall-Whittier Library 21 S. Lewis, 74104 • 918-549-7584 M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 16 Martin Regional Library and Hispanic Resource Center 2601 S. Garnett Road, 74129 • 918-549-7590 M-Th, 9-9; Fri., 9-6; Sat., 9-5; Sun., 1-5 17 Maxwell Park Library 1313 N. Canton, 74115 • 918-549-7610 M-F, 10-6; Sat., 10-5 18 Nathan Hale Library 6038 E. 23rd St., 74114 • 918-549-7617 M, 12-8; T-Th, 10-6; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 19 Owasso Library 103 W. Broadway, 74055 • 918-549-7624 M-Th, 10-8; Fri., 10-6; Sat., 10-5 20 Pratt Library 3219 S. 113th W. Ave., Sand Springs, 74063 • 918-549-7638 M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 21 Rudisill Regional Library and African-American Resource Center 1520 N. Hartford, 74106 • 918-549-7645 M-Th, 9-9; Fri.-Sat., 9-5; Sun., 1-5 22 Schusterman-Benson Library 3333 E. 32nd Place, 74135 • 918-549-7670 M-Th, 10-8; Fri.-Sat., 10-5 23 Skiatook Library 316 E. Rogers, 74070 • 918-549-7676 M, 12-8; T-Th, 10-6; Fri.-Sat., 11-5 24 Suburban Acres Library 4606 N. Garrison, 74126 • 918-549-7655 M-Th, 10-6; Fri.-Sat., 11-5 25 Zarrow Regional Library 2224 W. 51st St., 74107 918-549-7683 M-Th, 9-9; Fri.-Sat., 9-5; Sun., 1-5
T u l s a L i b r a r y . o r g
The Tulsa City-County Library Event Guide is produced by the Public Relations Office of the Tulsa City-County Library. For questions or concerns, call 918-549-7389.
Book Reviews Category
Tween Reads SNAP IT for additional book summaries. Summer of the Gypsy Moths By Sara Pennypacker Balzer + Bray, $15.99, 273 pages Check this out! For two months Stella has lived with her Great Aunt Louise, inventing ever new excuses for her flighty mother’s absences. When Louise takes in another foster child to keep Stella company, the plan backfires. The girls are complete opposites. Stella is imaginative, dreamy, trustful. Angel is streetwise, tough, cynical. Stella makes rules for everything, striving for structure. Angel breaks rules as a matter of principle. They rub each other the wrong way until an unexpected tragedy early on forces them to depend on each other. To say more about that would be a spoiler. The story unfolds with humor that varies from bittersweet to hilarious. All of Pennypacker’s characters shine, though the story is told through Stella’s eyes. The caterpillars attacking Louise’s beloved blueberry bushes are a major challenge for Stella, and a symbol of her growing maturity as they evolve into the moths of the title. But challenges galore unfold for both Angel and Stella as they navigate a situation more bizarre than any TV show, a situation that finally resolves into a happy ending for each of them. Stella’s voice is quirky and poignant; settings are palpable. Pennypacker’s turn of phrase is sheer reading pleasure. Reviewed by Elizabeth Varadan Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms: Magic, Mystery & a Very Strange Adventure By Lissa Evans Sterling Children’s, $14.94, 270 pages Check this out! S. Horten is very small, in a family of tall. Only his greatuncle Tony, an inventor of magical tricks, was short. Tony disappeared after the War to search for his fiancee, Lilly. Stuart finds some of Tony’s coins, along with a note,
and so sets out to find his uncle no matter what the cost. He finds he will not go unmolested on his journey; next door are three nosy triplets who hinder him in every way. However, he manages to make friends with one of them when he tells her the story, and she helps him on the chase. He finds more support from Leonora, the younger sister of Tony’s fiancee. Stuart is hindered again, but this time by Jeannie and Clifford, who want to find Tony’s workshop and sell the ideas off as their own. I like this book a lot; there were a lot of realistic, not random, connections between clues. I enjoyed the characters, most especially Stuart and the triplets, but also Stuart’s father, who says a lot of things in a very educated and wordy way. I am excited to read the next book in the series! Reviewed by Gretl, Age 11 The Rock of Ivanore: Book 1 of the Celestine Chronicles By Laurisa White Reyes Tanglewood Press, $16.95, 356 pages Check this out! The Rock of Ivanore is the engaging tale of Marcus Frye, an orphaned apprentice to the enchanter Zyll, who lives in the village of Quendel. On his fourteenth birthday, Marcus and five other boys are sent on a quest. They must find the Rock of Ivanore and bring it back to the village, or face a life of shame. Before Marcus leaves, Zyll gives him his magical staff, Xerxes, and a magic key to aid him on his journey. The quest takes the boys on perilous adventures across the Isle of Imaness, where they encounter snakes, monsters, and the strange half-breed Jayson. As some of the boys are captured, Marcus learns an important secret about Jayson and races with him to the seaside city of Dokur, hoping to outrun Arik and his evil Mardoks who are planning to destroy Dokur. After an intense battle, the heroes return home with a dramatic twist that sets the stage for the sequel. I would give this book five stars. It has
everything an adventure reader craves: dangerous quests, magical spells, mythological creatures, deception, battle scenes, and suspense. Fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter are sure to be hooked on this new series. Reviewed by Brendan, Age 8 The False Prince: Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy By Jennifer A. Nielsen Scholastic Press, $17.99, 344 pages Check this out! Since leaving his family behind some years before, Sage has lived hand to mouth, hopping between orphanages and stealing for extra food. When he and a few other boys his age are taken from their orphanages by a man who says he has a plan for them, Sage doesn’t know what to expect. But after the three arrive at Conner’s grand home, the nobleman’s scheme slowly becomes clearóand it doesn’t bode well for any of them. The teens will have to learn in two weeks’ time to impersonate the kingdom’s lost prince. Whoever is chosen will have to play by Conner’s rules permanently, and the two who are not chosen will certainly be killed.
Sage has to figure out how to play along, despite his deficiencies, particularly his strong tendency toward stubbornness. The other two youths have their own plots to stay alive as well. Every page of The False Prince is filled with danger or the promise of danger, and readers can’t help but keep turning the pages to find out what happens not only to Sage but to his two companions, as powerful men scheme to take over a kingdom. This book should captivate young and older readers alike. Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim
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, CHILDREN S NONFICTION
COMING SOON
TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at http://tulsalibrary.org to reserve your copies now.
Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery From Your Own Backyard
By Loree Griffin Burns • Anyone can get involved in gathering data for ongoing, actual scientific studies such as the Audubon Bird Count and FrogWatch USA. Full of engaging photos and useful tips, this book will show you how.
Open Wide!: A Look Inside Animal Mouths
By Catherine Ham • Go inside the mouths of your favorite wild animals! With dozens of close-up photos, natural history details and fun verse, this book will leave you filled with wonder and awe.
Sneed B. Collard III’s Most Fun Book Ever About Lizards By Sneed B. Collard III • Text and photographs introduce the physical characteristics, behaviors and habitats of a variety of lizards.
Great Moments in the Summer Olympics By Matt Christopher • The Summer Olympics are chock-full of epic athletic achievements by athletes such as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis, Wilma Rudolph and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olga Korbut and Mary Lou Retton. Now readers can relive those moments in this fact-filled volume just right for young sports enthusiasts.
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 9
Book Reviews
Category
Teen Scene SNAP IT for additional book summaries. Belles By Jen Calonita Poppy, $17.99, 356 pages Check this out! This new series by Jen Calonita, author of the Hollywood Secrets series, is off to a great start with Belles. Izzy and Mira come from opposite sides of the spectrum-Izzy lives in what many people call a “rough” neighborhood, while Mira lives in a large privileged household. Izzy has been taking care of her grandmother, but when her illness advances to a point that she needs additional care, Izzy is sent to live with her only remaining relative: Mira’s father, who Izzy just learned is her uncle. Chapters are told in alternating viewpoints from Izzy and Mira, and this is an
essential part of the story. Mira’s friends are determined to make Izzy’s life awful at her new school, and learning what Mira knows and what her friends are planning while watching Izzy struggle to fit in is much more effective than reading from just one perspective. Izzy isn’t a character to sit down and take it, either, so readers will be rooting for her to both find her place and stand up for herself. Belles is a great start to a series sure to be filled with drama and discovery. Reviewed by Shanyn Day Gilt By Katherine Longshore Viking Juvenile, $17.99, 416 pages Check this out! I’m not a big fan of historical fiction, but I may change my mind after reading Gilt by Katherine Longshore! Then again, I love all things Henry VIII (Tudor history and that
time period) so I may be biased. The thing I loved about this book was that it was historically accurate, or as accurate as it could be. Longshore, a history buff, did her research and did it well! That being said, Catherine Howard wasn’t my favorite of Henry’s wives, and I actually couldn’t stand her in the book either; she was a selfish obnoxious brat. I actually felt really sorry for poor Henry marrying such a horrible person. Heck, I would have chopped her head off too! I adored Kitty, the brave and selfless MC; sometimes a little naive in the ways of the court, but she held her ground against some pretty big rivals. The one thing I didn’t like about her was her protectiveness of Cat. There were a good amount of handsome men in this book but only one captured Kitty’s and my heart: William. If you’re a fan of Historical Fiction or just a Tudors nut like me, then Gilt is definitely the book for you! Reviewed by Jaime Arnold No Safety in Numbers By Dayne Lorentz Dial Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 263 pages Check this out! No Safety in Numbers takes place over seven days and is told from the perspectives
M E E T AU T H O R
Jacqueline Woodson WINNER OF THE TULSA LIBRARY TRUST’S 2012 ANNE V. ZARROW AWARD FOR YOUNG READERS’ LITERATURE
•
Zarrow Award Presentation
Friday, Aug. 24 • 7 p.m. • Central Library, second floor • Fourth Street and Denver Avenue
2012 Young People’s Creative Writing Contest Awards Presentation
Saturday, Aug. 25 • 10 a.m. • Hardesty Regional Library, Connor’s Cove • 8316 E. 93rd St.
•
Jacqueline Woodson is the national award-winning author of 24 picture and young adult books. She is best known for “Miracle’s Boys,” which received the Coretta Scott King Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults. In 2002, filmmaker Spike Lee turned “Miracle’s Boys” into a miniseries. She garnered a Newbery Honor Medal for both “Feathers” and “Show Way.” Her book “Coming on Home Soon” received the Caldecott Honor. Her novel “Locomotion” was a National Book Award finalist and received a Coretta Scott King Honor distinction. In 1990, she released her first picture book, “Martin Luther King Jr. and His Birthday,” illustrated by Oklahoma artist Floyd Cooper. She partnered with Cooper again for “Sweet, Sweet Memory” in 2000. Woodson will speak about her life and works, and sign books at both events. Copies of her works will be available for purchasing. Free and Open to the Public • TulsaLibrary.org • If you are hearing-impaired and need a qualified interpreter, please call the library 48 hours in advance of the program.
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 10
of four teens. Marco is a hard-working boy, who is often bullied by his peers. Lexi is a computer whiz, whose mother is a United States senator. Ryan is a football player, like his older brother. Shay is a free-spirited Indian girl who is new to town. When Marco accidentally discovers a biological bomb in the air ducts of a megamall, the shopping complex is suddenly and completely shut down. No one can leave. Then, people start to get sick, coughing violently; the ears and fingertips of others turned blue. Some people die. The four teens try to find a way to escape from the mall. No Safety in Numbers is an outstanding novel that keeps you reading until the very end. I recommend this book because readers can easily imagine this nightmarish scenario in real life. Even though the teens are very different from one another, they find themselves helping each other in the midst of a deadly virus. No Safety in Numbers is the first novel of a trilogy, and I cannot wait to read the sequel. Reviewed by Zachary, Age 11
Book Reviews
no one realizes is the entire situation is being stage-managed by a wizard who plots to bring down the Mongol Empire. This Dark Lord has the power to raise an army of the dead and, since there are rather a lot of dead thanks to the feuding, he’s getting strong enough to take down entire cities. The only thing holding him up is Temur, grandson to the Khagan who, with the help of a newly qualified wizard, a Cho-tse tiger lady, a semiblind kung fu monk and his horse (the most important “person”), is off to see his grandfather and sort out this mess. All told in silky smooth, slightly poetic prose, this blend of history and magic leaves us wanting more and as soon as possible. Reviewed by David Marshall
Category
Fantasy SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
The Killing Moon: Book One of the Dreamblood By N.K. Jemisin Orbit, $14.99, 440 pages Check this out! The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin is the first of two books set in a new fantasy worldóthe next is published almost immediately, making the wait mercifully shortóin which a few carefully trained and religiously devout individuals can become Gatherers. In this role, they help people to a peaceful death and, in so doing, extract the essence of these individuals’ dreams. Once liberated from the body, dream energy can be passed on to Sharers who use it to heal the sick. Called narcomancy, this system of magic is the foundation of life in Gujaareh but, across the border in Kisua, it has long been banned as a form of murder. In that country, people die a natural death when their time is up. When the leading Gatherer is tasked with helping a woman to a peaceful death, he discovers that his role has been corrupted. This is a political assassination. What follows is a completely absorbing journey of discovery for this Gatherer and his young apprentice. The Killing Moon is a quantum leap forward from Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. Read this or miss out on one of the best fantasy books of the year so far. Reviewed by David Marshall The Ruined City By Paula Brandon Spectra, $15.00, 384 pages Check this out! The prophecy is coming true. In the Veiled Isles, the power of magic is in flux, plague is running rampant, the city burns, dead walk the streets, and reality is wavering. In her first writing endeavor, Paula Brandon has created a dynamic trilogy that combines magic, mystery, drama, and intrigue. In the series’ first book, The Traitor’s Daughter, readers meet Jianna Belandor, the privileged daughter of a Faerlonnish overlord. Jianna is
on her way to meet her future husband when she is kidnapped and held captive by rebels angry with her father. She escapes with the help of Falaste Rione, a doctor and a rebel sympathizer. Jianna struggles to reconcile her attraction to Falaste and allegiance to her father. Paula Brandon’s exciting trilogy continues with The Ruined City. Magicians must join together to fight an unknown power that threatens the Isles and promises catastrophe. Brandon addresses issues of class, race, political espionage, and slavery. The book reads like an old-fashioned historical fantasy. Although the living dead are included in the plot, they are not zombies per se. They serve another purpose. The Ruined City should be read in conjunction with the others and not as a stand-alone book. Fans can look for The Wanderers, the final book of the series, on July 31, 2012. Reviewed by Kathryn Franklin
Throne of the Crescent Moon By Saladin Ahmed DAW, $24.95, 478 pages Check this out! Fantasy fans are bound to enjoy author Saladin Ahmed’s debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, the first book in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms series. Ahmed has created a world that will seem familiar to the reader, but has its own entirely unique characteristics. In a land filled with djenn and ghuls, Doctor Adoulla Makhslood is ready to retire. After a long career, he is now known as the “last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat.” But when an old flame’s
Range of Ghosts By Elizabeth Bear Tor, $25.99, 334 pages Check this out! In Range of Ghosts, author Elizabeth Bear as magician presents a rather magnificent trick. By infusing historical fiction with magic, she’s created one of the most interesting fantasy books of the year so far. At the stroke of her digital pen, we’re transported to the Steppes where those in line of succession to the Khagan are killing each other to ensure they will be the last standing heir. What Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 11
family is murdered, Adoulla is pulled back into the dangerous job of hunting monsters and saving lives. Along with his sidekick Raseed (a holy warrior with a talent for fighting) and young Zamia (a young girl with the power of the Lion-Shape and the desire to revenge the destruction of her tribe), Adoulla sets out to investigate the unusual deaths. The city is in turmoil as its citizens suffer under the iron-fisted rule of the Khalif and cheer for the antics of the Falcon Prince, a Robin Hood type character. The interplay between the book’s multitudes of characters is interesting. Back stories are slowly revealed as the plot unravels. Between magical battles and encounters with monstrous beasts, the fast-paced dialogue and plot development keeps readers enthralled. Reviewed by Kathryn Franklin
Book Reviews
BESTSELLERS COMING SOON
TO TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY Search the library’s catalog at http://tulsalibrary.org to reserve your copies now.
The Time Keeper
By Mitch Albom Given one last chance at redemption, Father Time, the inventor of the world’s first clock, must teach two earthly people the true meaning of time – a journey that leads him to a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and a wealthy businessman who wants to live forever.
Today best-selling Obsidian and Enduring Flame Trilogies with Crown of Vengeance. Here, readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon. She worked some of the greatest magic her world has ever known and paid the greatest price. No previous knowledge of Lackey and Mallory’s collaborations is necessary to enjoy this fastpaced, action-packed novel, but returning readers will be excited to discover this amazing story.
The Black Box
NYPD Red
By Michael Connelly In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992 – the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved. Now Bosch’s ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal and connected to a deeper intrigue.
The Last Man
By Vince Flynn The four dead guards didn’t concern Mitch Rapp as much as the absence of the man they’d been paid to protect. Joe Rickman wasn’t just another foot soldier. For the last eight years Rickman had run the CIA’s clandestine operations in Afghanistan. It was a murky job that involved working with virtually every disreputable figure in the Islamic Republic. At first glance it looks as if Rickman has been kidnapped, but Rapp knows certain things about his old friend that cause him to wonder if something more disturbing isn’t afoot.
Crown of Vengeance
By Mercedes Lackey Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, best-selling authors individually and together, return to the world of their New York Times and USA
By James Patterson NYPD Red is a special task force charged with protecting the interests of Manhattan’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens. When a worldfamous producer is poisoned on the first day of the Manhattan film festival Hollywood on the Hudson, they are the first ones called. Then an actor is killed on the set of a film and a Molotov cocktail explodes at a movie premiere. Detective First Grade Zach Jordan and his new partner, ex-girlfriend Detective Kylie MacDonald, are assigned to the case. The killer has every murder, every escape, planned down to the last detail, and he’s scripted an explosive finale that will bring New York and Hollywood to its knees.
Shiver
By Karen Robards That night, Samantha Jones was doing what she always did: just trying to get by. Left to make her own way on the mean streets of East St. Louis, the pretty 23-year-old single mother supported herself and her son as best she could by repoing cars. When she hooked up her junker of a tow truck to the BMW she’d been sent to haul in, the last thing she expected was to find a beaten, bloody man in the trunk – or to be catapulted into a terrifying fight to survive.
Category
Biography & Memoir SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
Midnight Sun, Arctic Moon: Mapping the Wild Heart of Alaska By Mary Albanese Epicenter Press, $14.95, 208 pages Check this out! Alaska: the last frontier. Mary Albanese’s heart was drawn to the wilds of Alaska. After failing to land a teaching position, she decided to throw her passion into geology. She committed to the strenuous challenge of a geology degree and discovered her own quirky personality was no different than the many other unique characters she met at the University of Alaska. In Midnight Sun, Arctic Moon -- Mapping the Wild Heart of Alaska, author Mary Albanese’s writing is like comfortable conversation, and its easy to envision the people, places, and events that followed her trek into Alaska’s wilderness. Mary’s triumphs weren’t easily gained, but she never gave up, never backed down, and her perseverance is inspiring. Her success in a predominately male field, in an sometimes unforgiving and dangerous environment is inspiring. If you’re an armchair traveler, you’ll appreciate her vivid portrayal of the rugged wilderness of Alaska. There’s great humor and love, gritty defeats and painful tragedies, all wrapped up in this engaging coming-of-age story. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild By Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence Thomas Dunne Books, $16.99, 368 pages Check this out! The telephone call was a plea rather than an invitation: Would you be willing to take a herd of wild elephants? While most of us would assume it was a crank call, conservationist Lawrence Anthony,
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 12
who ran a wild animal refuge in Zululand, recognized the caller’s desperation. He heard himself assent and some days later, with a lot of pushing and shoving, seven potentially killer elephants were harbored in a hastily made barricade. The Elephant Whisperer is every bit as much a page-turner as a novel. Co-author author Graham Spence undoubtedly deserves some credit for the book’s spirited tone. The elephants’ acceptance of their new owner deepens into affection. But he, hesitant to appear anything other than down to earth, took a little time before admitting the great creatures followed his travel movements through a humanly unintelligible bush telegraph. Their awareness that he had missed a flight back from Johannesburg, and then came to welcome him home on a subsequent flight, confirmed his acceptance of their intelligence. Anyone who remembers Born Free, a personal story of tamed East African lions, will hope this book, too, is destined for the screen. Reviewed by Jane Manaster Rurally Screwed: My Life Off the Grid with the Cowboy I Love By Jessie Knadler Berkley, $24.95, 324 pages Check this out! Quirky, laughout-loud funny, poignant, passionate, new beginnings, and chickens all describe Rurally Screwed: My Life off the Grid with the Cowboy I Love by Jessie Knadler. It’s a classic fairy tale: New York magazine editor gives up her flagging career and Kundalini yoga to marry a twenty-five-year-old bull rider she met at the annual bucking horse sale in the badlands of Montana. Whereupon her hard partying, Manhattan lifestyle turns to chopping firewood, sewing, canning, and raising chickens in Virginia, all the while wondering “What the... did I do?” When getting swept off her feet by a
Biography & Memoir
Garth Brooks-listening, gun-owning, Republican cowboy wears off and reality sets in, Knadler is left with reality with a workaholic husband who can get called off to war, leaving her with moonshine, Bible club, and a serious lack of decent Thai food. Rurally Screwed is a great love story that carries on past “I Do” and “Happily Ever After.” It deals with relationships when the shiny newness wears off and the grim day-to-day trials of love are left. The book is much the same as Knadler describes her wedding and marriage: energetic, individual, and a tiny bit nuts. Reviewed by Axie Barclay Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake By Anna Quindlen Random House, $26.00, 182 pages Check this out! New York Times bestselling author, Anna Quindlen has hit the mark again with her heartwarming and hilarious memoir on life, family, and aging in today’s world. Nothing - and I mean nothing - is off limits with Quindlen and she tackles every topic with equal wit, humor, and aplomb. Those, like myself, in their twenties might not relate to her musing on the peculiarities of the gaining process, but everyone is sure to enjoy her play on words. There’s a reason (or many, many reasons) why this woman is a best selling author: the way she weaves words into beautiful and captivating sentences is nothing short of incredible. As far as I’m concerned, she could have written a book on nuclear physics and it would still come off as wonderfully poetic. At sixty years of age, Quindlen discusses the trials and joys of each passing year, takes on conventional myths about aging, and declares with admirable optimism her excitement over the years to come. While it’s no doubt that those of the older generations will garner more enjoyment (I can hear my mom laughing as she reads it now), all will find it a worthy read from a wonderful author. Reviewed by Elizabeth Raymond Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16 By Moshe Kasher Grand Central Publishing, $24.99, 300 pages Check this out! Moshe Kasher has penned a memoir that is equal parts heart breaking and inspirational. Kasher In The Rye is his attempt
to make sense of ñ and shed - his demons while explaining how everything went so very wrong in his life. The result is simply jaw dropping. Growing up in Oakland, CA, Moshe Kasher never quite fit in. A Jew in a Christian home. A white kid in a black school. A drug addict in an affluent middle school. Everywhere Moshe went, it seemed he just could not fit in. That is, until he discovered booze. Then drugs. Then stealing. Life would never be the same again. Kasher really opens the door for people to see what it actually is like to be so desperately addicted to a substance that nothing else matters; how it feels to literally live for the high. Non-addict readers will be shocked. Readers who’ve shared in this struggle will feel a kinship of empathy for Moshe. While the writing is relatively pedestrian - and the big F-bomb is dropped into every other sentence - the story carries the reader through some of less than stellar prose. I would recommend this to all. Reviewed by Elizabeth Raymond
the Sierras. There would be moments when she would consider quitting. Even before starting, when trying to stand up under the immense weight of her overpacked backpack, lovingly named Monster. There would be face-to-face encounters with wildlife, and not-so-wild free-range cattle. There would be pain, blisters, rashes, aching feet, dirt, grime and sweat, bitter cold and intense heat, in inhospitable conditions. And yet Cheryl would trek on. Strayed’s writing style feels like a deep heart-to-heart chat with a dear friend. I loved this book. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin When I Left Home: My Story By Buddy Guy, with David Ritz Da Capo Press, $26.00, 266 pages Check this out! Buddy Guy was born in 1936 in Louisiana to sharecropping parents. With little education, his “good job” was as a custodian at LSU Baton Rouge. In this heartfelt autobiography, he describes the first guitar his father bought him for just over five dollars from a drunken bluesman. At 21, he headed to competitive Southside Chicago to be a bluesman. Guy found
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail By Cheryl Strayed Knopf, $25.95, 315 pages Check this out! Cheryl Strayed was on a quest. A journey to find herself after the demise of her marriage and the premature and painful unexpected death of her mother. There was a lot for her to work out in her head and in her heart, and she came up with the ultimate path upon which to undertake this journey back to herself. But the path was going to be more difficult and dangerous than she ever would have imagined and at times her very life would be in peril. The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,663 miles long, running through three states -- from the fiery dry heat of the Mojave Desert in California, over the snowy Sierras, into the rugged Cascades beginning in Oregon and ending in Washington at the Canadian border. Cheryl was a novice hiker. Bluntly put, she was completely and totally unprepared for such an undertaking. Nevermind that she picked a banner year for heavy snows in Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 13
his shtick there: he would attach his Strat to a 150-foot cord like Guitar Slim, start playing outside in the snow, and enter the club playing like crazy. “I cottoned to the electricity because it was something I could turn up,” he says. “Not better but louder.” He jammed crashing notes together, added “buzzin’ and fuzz tones and distortion,” and a new style was born in 1957. Chess Records was not interested in recording Guy’s “noise.” He kept playing Chicago gigs making ends meet until he went to London. Clapton, Beck, and Hendrix worshipped Guy-and imitated him shamelessly, much to Buddy’s chagrin. His anecdotes about mentors (including Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and many others) are priceless. Guy is an American treasure. Listen to a Buddy Guy playlist while reading this, and you’re in blues heaven. Reviewed by Phil Semler
Book Reviews Category
History & Current Events SNAP IT for additional book summaries. America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom By Meghan McCain, Michael Ian Black Da Capo Press, $26.00, 336 pages Check this out! When Twitter and Ambien conspired to bring together Republican trailblazer Meghan McCain and comedian Michael Ian Black, no one could have predicted the book that would result. At first blush, America, You Sexy Bitch appears to be a fish-out-of-water buddy-comedy road trip across America, but in reality, it’s a book examining preconceived notions and the long, difficult road toward dispelling some of them. McCain and Black pull no punches, turning the spotlight on themselves and their opinions, unafraid to reveal both virtues and foibles along the way. They confess when they’ve been petty, and they celebrate every epiphany and unexpected moment of connection. From Las Vegas to New Orleans, Branson to Salt Lake City, they sample the weirdness and wonder of the American melting pot. Not just funny as hell, but thoughtprovoking and occasionally challenging, America, You Sexy Bitch features not only the polarized snippiness of modern “discourse,” but genuine attempts by people with differing views to find common ground. In a better world, this would be the start of a fascinating series of books with mismatched and ideologically disparate people taking road trips and coming to something approximating a better understanding of each other and the country they share. I loved it. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan By Del Quentin Wilber Picador, $16.00, 320 pages Check this out! Surprisingly, the events of March 30, 1981 - the day that President Reagan was shot - have not been detailed in book form. Del Quentin Wilbur corrects this deficiency
with a micro-detailed look at the events of that day. It’s an engaging narrative which begins with a look at the schedules of Reagan (whose Secret Service name was Rawhide), his Secret Service detail members, and the disturbed individual who sought to impress a Hollywood starlet. In these pages, Ronald Reagan is a likable and courageous man who was able to joke with his emergency room physicians. (He wondered what the gunman had against the Irish, as all those shot happened to be of Irish heritage.) But he was also a man who wondered if he was about to meet his maker. Reagan lost fully half of his blood volume as surgeons removed a bullet near his heart. The elderly president was uniquely fit and strong. He ignored medical advice and returned to his duties at the White House just twelve days later. The courage of the Secret Service agents who saved the president’s life is nearly incomprehensible. The only disappointment in Wilbur’s fascinating, unique account is that it ends too soon. Reviewed by Joseph Arellano Debating Same-Sex Marriage By John Corvino, Maggie Gallagher Oxford University Press, $16.95, 224 pages Check this out! In Debating Same-Sex Marriage, John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher have done the nearly impossible: they’ve taken a fiery hot button topic and presented a debate that is thorough, civil, and wholeheartedly respectful of the other’s viewpoints. You would be hard pressed to find two people who disagree more vehemently, yet their arguments never cross over into name-calling, generalizations, or whole-hearted condemnation. I was wowed by the authors’ ability to stay on topic and debate such a heated subject matter so tactfully. Regardless of where you stand on the debate line, Debating Same-Sex Marriage is serious food for thought. Debating Same-Sex Marriage’s format is quite interesting - and massively effective. Each of the authors offers up an essay out-
lining theirs views first. Then, they each have a chance to offer a rebuttal to the other’s essay. The result is that each point made by Corvino is addressed by Gallagher and vise versa. It’s like witnessing a live debate between these two lively characters. Excellent indeed. While my personal views did not change in light of Gallagher’s arguments, I did find myself contemplating ideas I had not previously thought of. I highly recommend this to all - if only for a manual on how to respectfully debate a member of the opposing viewpoint. Well done! Reviewed by Elizabeth Raymond Mr. Hornaday’s War: How a Peculiar Victorian Zookeeper Waged a Lonely Crusade for Wildlife That Changed the World By Stefan Bechtel Beacon Press, $26.95, 272 pages Check this out! William Temple Hornaday is not a name that many would think of when discussing zoos or animal conservation today, and that’s a shame. He was one of the first to cry out and actually do something when the rest
of the country was busy slaughtering the American Bison almost to the point of extinction. Hornaday single-handedly saved the Alaskan fur seal when others couldn’t be bothered with an animal they would never see. He came up with the idea of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was responsible for picking out the location and designing the Bronx Zoo from a wooded patch of land, and served at its helm for thirty years. He fought tirelessly in the “plume wars,” pitting himself against the fashion of sacrificing endangered birds just for the sake of a lady’s hat. Stefan Bechtel brings the man and his contradictions to the twenty-first century in a timely biography of a man that should be celebrated, as opposed to being a footnote in animal conservation history. The complete transformation from the backwoods hunter in his youth to the loudest, most bombastic, and passionate champion of animals is a great story of how one man can indeed make a difference, even today. Reviewed by Gwen Stackler
PRESENTS ...
MEET JAMES OSELAND Tuesday, Aug. 21 7 p.m. Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma 1304 N. Kenosha Ave. This program is co-sponsored by Tulsa City-County Library and complements the library’s “One Book, One Tulsa” communitywide initiative exploring food, health, gardening and sustainability. For more information, visit www.booksmarttulsa.com, email booksmarttulsa@gmail.com or call 918-697-9042.
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 14
Book Reviews Category
Popular Culture SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
Fat, Drunk, and Stupid: The Inside Story Behind the Making of Animal House By Matty Simmons St. Martin’s Press, $25.99, 218 pages Check this out! Animal House is iconic. The first great college comedy-and arguably the best -it changed campus culture, National Lampoon, and the comedy genre forever. And Matty Simmons, founder of National Lampoon, was there for every second of it, from its birth to its ascension into legend. Fat, Drunk, and Stupid chronicles the launch and growth of National Lampoon, the film’s gestation, and the unexpected aftermath of its success, both for National Lampoon and for the numerous attempted sequels and TV spinoffs of Animal House. Balancing warm nostalgia and honest firsthand reporting of events, Simmons manages to cover a lot of territory in two hundred
pages, even concluding the book (quite appropriately) with a where-are-they-now for the cast and writers. Oddly enough, the actual filming of the movie gets the shortest coverage in the book, and in the end, Fat, Drunk, and Stupid feels a bit truncated. (That’s probably an unavoidable consequence of wanting to spend more time with the characters and actors, though). However, these are the moments that meant the most to Matty Simmons, and they’re richly explored with snippets from the cast and two photo inserts. It’s a fitting tribute to a true classic. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Tasteful Nudes: and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation By Dave Hill St. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 232 pages Check this out! Dave Hill has certainly walked a path all his own. A comedian and musician, he’s also an artist who works almost exclusively in the medium of self-deprecating awkward-
Category
Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers: The Next Generation, From the 1950s to Hollywood Today By George Stevens, Jr. Knopf, $39.95, 737 pages Check this out! “Film works psychologically differently from the written word… Film is very direct, Long has also taught evolution on The Discovery Channel and The History Channel. The book’s contents are a rich world seldom seen in science. Albeit a little scary, robotics is here to stay and Long is a driving force behind it. Long’s eye-opening work may explain the behavior of extinct species and pave the way for the future. We can glean insight into evolution by “letting robots play the game of life.” The book is invaluable, readable, and intellectually stimulating. Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky
Nature & Science SNAP IT for additional book summaries.
Darwin’s Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology By John Long Basic Books, $26.99, 288 pages Check this out! A century ago, many scholars still doubted Darwinian evolution. A few brave thinkers considered even more radical interpretations of earthly existence. Now, many tread on the very fabric of sentience. Long discusses robotically engineered “evolvabots,” inviting readers to toe the fine line between science and science
ness. Whether he’s performing for a crowd of inmates, reveling in the joys of Japanese toilet technology, or being manipulated into hanging out with a clergyman by his mother, Dave perpetually makes the most of every bizarre situation, endearing himself to the reader amidst a great many laugh-out-loud moments. By turns absolutely twisted and utterly adorable, the stories contained in the pages of Tasteful Nudes paint a picture of a man who has transformed questionable decision-making into an art form. And Dave’s charmingly welcoming writing style makes you feel like you’re right alongside Dave in his tiny cell in the Chelsea Hotel or battling exhaustion across town in a pedicab. (And the frequent footnotes are both informative and hysterical to boot.) I first became aware of Dave Hill thanks to BBC America’s Would You Rather?, where his hilariously vulnerable voice made me an instant fan. Tasteful Nudes is the perfect gateway book for a crippling and debilitating addiction to Dave Hill. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
fiction. By endeavoring to understand how robots might work, we’re realizing what sentience means biologically. Long is trying to figure it out, and he’s on the right track. Long, a biorobotics expert and Vassar biology professor, is a longtime expert on robotics. He and his colleagues pioneered the emerging field of evolution biorobotics. He runs research programs to design, construct, and evolve biorobots. His two “pet” robots, Madeleine and Tadros, have been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Evolving: The Human Effect and Why It Matters By Daniel J. Fairbanks Prometheus Books, $19.00, 328 pages Check this out! This book details evolution in a way that is refreshing and intellectually satisfying. The entire book is a menu of evidence organized by categorical domains. This approach gives the reader a special insight into the discoveries from recent and classical research that concern the nature of why we evolve and puts to the test the rigor needed to gain understanding. One area that is particularly inviting is the chapter on the evolution of our health, in which a discussion and history of the
Tulsa Book Review • August 2012 • 15
like life. You’re sitting there and it attacks you. With movies you use your ears and eyes in combination. I could never adapt a book into a movie. I think truly cinematic stories have to be rooted in the moving image, not literature.” George Lucas reflects in just one of the gems from the massive collage of producers, directors, writers, actors, editors, cameramen, and all those picture makers in Conversations at the American Film Festival. In this phenomenal collection, George Stevens, Jr., gathers some of the most prolific and inspiring screen story-tellers since the 1950s. An intimate conversation with Q & A is the form and the outcome is as valuable and inspiring as a finely extracted jewel. Recorded at the American Film Institute, all realms of the work are up for topic, from the inspiration and birth of concept, to the logistical aspects of lighting, sound, and color, to the inner workings of influence, and the final product of moving art. One hundred and three black and white photographs are a welcome contribution. Readers and film enthusiasts will meet the minds of such greats as Janusz Kaminski, Robert Altman, Nora Ephron, Jack Lemmon, Sidney Poitier, John Sayles, and Gregory Peck, amongst other profound artists. This is a fascinating read, a mammoth of an adventure. Reviewed by Sky Sanchez-Fischer evolutionary processes of HIV and AIDS is included. The reader is enriched with the knowledge extracted from the research, and it’s set in an historical context so that the reader feels the sense of insight and continuity. Fairbanks is a geneticist and multifaceted visionary and scholar who has indulged his intellectual prowess in other related areas. They extend the importance of the present volume in their own remarkable ways. He’s authored Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA and coauthored two others. Reviewed by D. Wayne Dworsky
A CASUAL EVENING OF BOOKS, BARDS AND BITES BENEFITING TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY’S RUTH G. HARDMAN ADULT LITERACY SERVICE
FEATURING AUTHORS: LAURA LIPPMAN
PAULA MARSHALL
EILIS O’NEAL
LAURA LIPPMAN was a reporter for 20 years, including 12 years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, The Anthony, The Agatha, The Shamus, The Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. Lippman is the author of 18 mystery books.
PAULA MARSHALL is the CEO of the Bama Companies and the author of “Sweet as Pie, Tough as Nails,” “Finding the Soul of Big Business” and “Sometimes Being a CEO Looks Pretty Tough.” Bama was started in her grandmother’s pie shop and has grown to be the sole dessert supplier for the nation’s largest fast-food chain. Marshall has won the McDonald’s Quality Award, McDonald’s Award for Innovation, Pizza Hut Supplier of the Year and the Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award all while turning Bama into a $300 million company.
EILIS O’NEAL is the author of “The False Princess,” a writer of fantasy and the managing editor of the literary magazine Nimrod International Journal. She started writing at the age of 3 (though the story was only four sentences long). Her short fantasy titles have been published in various print and online journals.
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