Kenya's Word by Linda Trice

Sun, 09/03/2006 - 4:27pm by Tahira

Kenya doesn't listen very well in school. This leads to her making a mess of things during class. She is asked to tell the class of her favorite describing word. After a visit to the market, watching a family friend paint, and listening to her father play jazz, Kenya makes her decision. Linda Trice has written a wonderful picture book that subtly expresses the message that black is beautiful.

Time for a couple short stories before SCHOOL starts

Sat, 09/02/2006 - 7:57am by Bertha

Treat yourself to a couple short stories before the school assigned book list comes your way. Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories, with 'Jump Away' by Rene Saldana, Jr. is a good place to start. In this story, a bully rounds up half-a-dozen outsiders, weak targets, whatever you want to call them, to jump off Jenson's Bridge just because Mike, the bully, says so. The hero of the story does some thinking when he's poised ready to jump from the bridge. What he comes up with is brilliant! A few other authors in the collection are ones you'll know, Walter Dean Myers, David Lubar, and a graphic-comic in the mix by Craig Thompson.

Poets, Start Your Engines

Fri, 09/01/2006 - 10:10pm by Eartoground

Looks like prize-winning poet James Tate is among dozens of poets participating in the Wave Books Poetry Bus Tour set to start rolling Sept. 4 from Seattle. The tour is planning stops in 50 cities in 50 days, carrying poets, musicians, filmmakers and journalists. The still-under-construction web site says the poetry bus "will go more places with more poets reading more poems than was ever previously believed possible." A stop is scheduled in Ann Arbor Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at the U-M Residential College Auditorium.

Munch Masterpieces Found by Police

Thu, 08/31/2006 - 4:51pm by K.C.

Police believe they have recovered The Scream and Madonna, two modern masterpieces, by artist Edvard Munch stolen from the Munch Museum in August, 2004. Both paintings were in better-than-expected condition, police said at a news conference.

“The pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action,” said Iver Stensrud, head of the police investigation. “All that remains is an expert examination to confirm with 100 percent certainty, that these are the original paintings. We believe these are the originals,” Stensrud said. Read the rest of the AP story Police recover stolen Munch masterpieces.

Sign up for September Book Group (Gr. 9-12)

Thu, 08/31/2006 - 4:01pm by K.C.

Call 327-8301 to register for the September 11 book group and receive a free copy of Next Door Lived a Girl by Stefan Kiesbye. Read the book and meet on the 11th from 6:30-8 p.m. in the 4th floor conference room of the Downtown Library. Refreshments will be served. Meet the author, Stefan Kiesbye, 7 p.m. Tuesday, September 12 at the 2nd Tuesday presentation in the 4th Floor Board Room of the Downtown Library.

NOTE: This is the first in a series of monthly author events and related book discussions. You can receive Community Resource credits from the Ann Arbor Public Schools for participating – contact Jeff Kass at jeff@neutral-zone.org for more details.

Gerald Green, author of The Last Angry Man, has died

Thu, 08/31/2006 - 9:26am by sernabad

Gerald Green, creator of beloved Dr. Sam Abelman who railed against the “galoots” in The Last Angry Man (1956), has died.

Green’s writing accolades popped up everywhere during his more than 50-year career. In 1952, he was one of the creators of the Today show. He wrote a mini-series for NBC, Holocaust, which won an Emmy in 1978. He then penned the novelization which earned the Dag Hammarskjold International Prize in 1979.

Gerald Green was 84.

Steve Hamilton, 2006 Michigan Author Award winner

Thu, 08/31/2006 - 8:58am by sernabad

Detroit native, Steve Hamilton, has been named the 2006 Michigan Author. This award, co-sponsored by the Michigan Library Association and the Library of Michigan’s Michigan Center for the Book, is bestowed on a Michigan author for his or her “…contributions to literature based on an outstanding published body of work.”

Alex McKnight, Hamilton’s private eye character, made his first appearance in1998 in A Cold Day in Paradise, which won the Edgar in 1999 for Best First Novel. The seventh title in this series, A Stolen Season, will be released in September of this year.

Hamilton, a University of Michigan graduate and winner of a Hopwood, will receive his award at the annual Michigan Library Association Conference in October.

Plan a Michigan Wine Harvest Tour

Wed, 08/30/2006 - 4:34pm by annevm

Plenty of Ann Arborites are planning Fall trips to visit Michigan wineries - to witness the harvest and buy wine. You can plan your own midwestern oenological adventure by checking out Wineries of the Great Lakes: A Guidebook, by Joe Borrello. For complete and updated information on Michigan wineries - locations, hours, and more - go to the Michigan wine website.

Naguib Mahfouz, author of the Cairo trilogy, has died

Wed, 08/30/2006 - 11:25am by sernabad

Naguib Mahfouz, one of the Arab world’s most beloved authors, has died in Cairo. He had been hospitalized since July, after a fall seriously injured his head.

Mahfouz, the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1988), was known as the voice of reason and religious tolerance throughout the Middle East. His moderate views attracted heated opinions at both extremes – in 1994, at age 82, he was stabbed by a man inflamed by a militant cleric’s condemnation of his ideas.

One of Mahfouz’s most important works in his enormous body of work, was his Cairo trilogy. In Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), and Sugar Street (1957), he brought to life generations of middle class Egyptians in a part of the city where he lived for many years.

Raymond Stock, Mahfouz’s biographer and translator of his short story collection, The Dreams, said, “He is a great son of Egypt, a patriot in the fullest sense of the world.”

Mahfouz was 94.

New Fiction Titles on the New York Times Best Sellers List (8/27/06)

Wed, 08/30/2006 - 8:49am by Mazie

George Pelecanos has garnered great reviews and accolades from fellow mystery writers for years but has never had the sales or visibility of Michael Connelly or Ian Rankin. This time out his publisher made a big push promoting his latest murder mystery and it has paid off with a spot on this week's List.

At #3 is Crisis by Robin Cook: on the other hand, Cook's books almost sell themselves; another medical thriller involving shocking malpractices from a master of the genre.

At #8 is Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston: her first book was a step away from the usual chick lit. In Good Grief the heroine was not looking for love; she was in mourning. Her new book chronicles how infertility and infidelity can explode a marriage.

At #12 is The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos: after 20 years a serial killer may once again be loose on the mean streets of Washington, DC; as in all his best work, including his scripts for HBO's The Wire, the action is authentic and real.