TC Tidbit: What Should You Read During The Rest of Summer?

Here's a flow-chart that might help you find your next new read!

Introducing Our New VIB

A powerful story about an unforgettable friendship between two teenage boys and their hopes for escape from a dead-end town.

The year is 1968. The world is changing, and sixteen-year-old Jon Mosher is determined to change with it. Racked by guilt over his older brother’s childhood death and stuck in the dead-end town of Brewster, New York, he turns his rage into victories running track. Meanwhile, Ray Cappicciano, a rebel as gifted with his fists as Jon is with his feet, is trying to take care of his baby brother while staying out of the way of his abusive, ex-cop father. When Jon and Ray form a tight friendship, they find in each other everything they lack at home, but it’s not until Ray falls in love with beautiful, headstrong Karen Dorsey that the three friends begin to dream of breaking away from Brewster for good. Freedom, however, has its price. As forces beyond their control begin to bear down on them, Jon sets off on the race of his life—a race to redeem his past and save them all.

Mark Slouka's work has been called "relentlessly observant, miraculously expressive" (New York Times Book Review). Reverberating with compassion, heartache, and grace, Brewster is an unforgettable coming-of-age story from one of our most compelling novelists.

Cathy says:
"Brewster is a novel so vividly written with such a strong sense of time and place, upstate New York, 1968, that I just about had flashbacks as I devoured it. Jon and Ray are mismatched best friends: Jon, a high school track star, Ray, a defiant rebel and fighter, though both come from difficult home lives. The Vietnam war and the draft loom large as the two sixteen year olds struggle to negotiate their way toward adulthood, falling in love with the same lovely girl and dealing with Ray's increasingly unpredictable and violent father. Brewster is at once dark and sweet, a coming of age story that will resonate."

 Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created a special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC VIB (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.

Do You Know About The AfterNet? If Not, You Have To Come To Lodo Tattered Cover TONIGHT!!!!

Meet Jennifer Petkus, local author and creator of The AfterNet.  Tonight she will be reading from her latest book Jane, Actually, starting at 7:30 pm at our Historic Lodo store.

With the invention of the AfterNet, death isn’t quite the end to a literary career it once was, and Jane Austen, the grande dame of English literature, is poised for a comeback with the publication of Sanditon, the book she was writing upon her death in 1817. But how does a disembodied author sign autographs and appear on talk shows? With the aid of Mary Crawford, a struggling acting student who plays the role of the Regency author who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Emma and Sense and Sensibility. But Austen discovers her second chance at a literary career also gives her a second chance at happiness and possibly even … love.


Check out Petkus' other books:

 Alex Munroe hated being dead, but he hated not being a cop even more. Luckily the discovery of the afterlife means death isn't quite the disability it once was and new technology has allowed him to partner with rookie cop Linda Yamaguchi. Of course technology still can't give him a physical body or the ability to interact with the billions of other dead people, except through the Internet. But technology has allowed Alex to expand his mind and access the world of information in ways he would have never thought possible when alive, which is a useful skill when the dead start to go missing, and it's up to Alex and Linda to solve the mystery of their disappearance.

Miss Charlotte House will not admit impediments to marriage, not even when those impediments include scandal, blackmail and even a duel to the death. With the help of her particular friend Miss Jane Woodsen, she deduces all that happens in Bath—both good and ill—and together they ensure that true love’s course runs smooth, even though both friends have suffered tragedies that prevent their own happiness. These six affairs, set in Bath, England, during the Napoleonic War, are inspired by the creations of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Austen.

TC Literary Tidbit: On This Day in 1915

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" was published for the first time in the August issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

"The Shadow of the Wind is a novel for booklovers about booklovers—and the bookstores and libraries where they dwell." ~Pete

While preparing for a recent visit to Barcelona, Spain, one of the travel books I skimmed suggested reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The novel is about a young man growing up in Barcelona whose father takes him to a library of forgotten books, encouraging him to pick just one. The boy blindly grabs a book called  'The Shadow of the Wind' and loves it so much he nearly memorizes each page. But getting another copy proves difficult because a mysterious man in black is burning every copy he can get his hands on, which means the boy's copy is also in peril. Another mystery concerns the author of the book, Julian Carax, who apparently died just as the Spanish Civil War was beginning to erupt. The boy decides to try to solve the mystery of Carax and his book, and uncovers secrets upon secrets that lead to incredible adventures all within the great city of Barcelona.

The Shadow of the Wind is a novel for booklovers about booklovers—and the bookstores and libraries where they dwell. My copy even had maps in the back where all these exciting events took place. If you're going to Barcelona, and even if you're not, I strongly recommend The Shadow of the Wind. Get a copy and hold on tight. There may be someone lurking about who is very interested in what you're reading.

--Pete

Jackie Got To Sit In On A Couple Of Lighthouse Writers' Lit Fest Events This Summer

and she's finally downloaded the pictures.

Here is Andre Dubus, III, who gave a master class about creating characters.  "I'm not even a writer, but I learned so many cool things from this session.  Now I'm wishing I was closer to where Dubus teaches because I'd LOVE to be his student for awhile.  He's an amazing man." (Jackie)

 

Here is David Wroblewski with his agent, talking about the agent/writer relationship.  "David is tremendously genuine and very, very funny.  He's a Colorado treasure to be sure.  AND he's working on his next book--yipee!!!" (Jackie)

 

 

 

Want to learn more about the Lighthouse Writers Workshop?  Click HERE.

TC Tidbit: 16 Of The Best Opening Lines From Children’s Books

From the folks at BuzzFeed.