Please go to my new blog

My blog has moved here: http://www.jkscommunications.com/blog/ Please visit me!

YouTubes that make you wanna read a book

Tonight I've been looking for YouTubes that promote books.

I've found one that is really terrific: The History Book by Humphrey Hawksley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb7hTOuYCgg

But, I've mainly found pretty boring interviews. You don't need any examples, you know what I'm talking about...public access television interview prototypes that have found their way to computer screens.

I've got to say that this John Grisham interview about Playing for Pizza posted by Barnes & Noble for its "Meet the Writers" series is good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDG8nRek19Y&feature=related




And this short promo is nice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKPyZliG3w8

What got me thinking about pairing YouTube with books? The funny video that made the rounds about 18 months ago: Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Humor can be married with book promotions on YouTube with terrific success sometime fairly soon. I have complete faith in the creative class.

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen hits SIBA best-seller list

Let's celebrate with a Dilly Bar!

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen climbed into the Southern Independent Book Association best-seller list for the week of 3/30. That just goes to show what good taste in literature the folks south of the Mason-Dixon line have!

There's a gentleman in the Northeast that is the purveyor of good taste in literary fiction (and literary non-fiction for that matter) who has committed to tell the world about this gem of a book. But, I'll save that for another post, when I've got a date to provide.

Susan Gregg Gilmore was interviewed by a journalist she has admired for years, John Siegenthaler, for the television show Word on Words, scheduled to air May 18. I was in the control room with Producer Jonathan Harwell during the taping and was impressed by how prepared his whole team was for the interview -- everybody knew the book inside out.

2008 Southern Kentucky Book Festival features Virginia Boyd and Mitch Albom

If you are within hollerin' distance of Bowling Green, KY this week-end, be sure to stop in to the Southern Kentucky Book Festival and have your funny bone tickled by Virginia Boyd. The author of One Fell Swoop will be signing books all day and will also be on a panel called Case Solved!: Murder, Mayhem & Mysteries at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. It's not just what she says, but how she says it that makes me want her to keep going every time I hear her tell a story.

Not that her book is one laugh after another, there's a bit more to it...On a hot August afternoon in 1977, Regina Clayton caught her husband with his secretary. She sent him to his Maker with the help of a Colt .45, then sent herself as well.

Everyone in Riley, North Carolina, knows the story. Everyone in Riley has a story of their own. And that, of course, is the real story.

Because in a town like Riley, the past lives close to the present and the future. And everything can change in one fell swoop.

Get her to tell you about her next novel -- I've been dying to read it (no pun intended) since she talked about it at Southern Festival of Books last fall.

The line-up of authors for this year looks terrific and includes Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie, among many other fine literary voices.

The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones - why didn't they write books like that when I was a kid?

I feel pretty certain that learning wasn't meant to be fun when I was a kid.

Ugh -- how children are coddled today!

I just KNOW that a whole generation of kids -- especially boys -- are going to know a heck of a lot more than their parents ever forgot about American history because of this one book. The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones is Holes with a whole lot of meat. That takes nothing away from Holes -- I loved the book and the movie!

There's a special promotion going on in a few select parts of the country in which history and English teachers are getting a leg up on teaching the facts by assigning this as 2008 summer reading. Then the award-winning author, Helen Hemphill is going to spend some time with these classes in the fall, talking to them about her book and the research that went into it.

Most middle schoolers are going to have to wait until October, 2008 to get swept up in the adventure -- it won't be in book stores until then. But, some librarians are going to get a chance to see the advance reader copy later this week at the Texas Library Association event.

Susan McBride's YA debut - THE DEBS

I'm so excited about the advance reader copy that arrived in my mailbox today! Susan McBride's first YA book, The Debs (Delacarte Press) is dressed in a delightful preppy pink and green cover. As frothy and delicious as the cover looks, the back warns, "The heat is on down South!" I can't wait! I'll let you know what transpires. The book doesn't go on sale to the public until just in time for school to start -- August 26, 2008.

Matter of Trust and Hair Salons help clean-up oil spills

I was having my haircut at Changes Salon in Nashville today. I saw a little poster taped in the corner of the dressing room about how Changes was helping Matter of Trust, a not-for-profit, collect human hair that is made into mats that soak up oil spills. ExcessAccess puts salons together with Matter of Trust. It made my day to see that with a little effort, our discarded hair can help suffering animals and the environment. Want to know more? Check it out:

HAIR MATS FOR OIL SPILLS

Oil Spill Hair Mats - 2000-present

Matter of Trust has collaborated with thousands of salons throughout the US and abroad to donate their hair clippings which are made into mats that soak up oil spills.

Salons generously pay out of pocket for postage to send their swept up hair clippings to a recycling depot in California provided by St. Vincent de Paul Society. This partnership program combines reuse, micro-economy and ecological oil spill clean up. Salons have free access to the Excess Access database which catalogs the postage donations and emails receipts for the recycled hair donations.

There are over 370,000 hair salons in the US and each cut about one pound of hair a day! Matter of Trust does the outreach for the program through posters in salons and media P/R. Posters also include information about how hair is also a slow protein release and excellent fertilizer for flower growers. For more information on hair as fertilizer please see Smart Grow.

Salons and Dog Groomers, Everyone Please Join In:
Sign up is FREE for salons - but the package including the 3 posters costs a total of $10, if you want them. There is no obligation. Please sign up first, before mailing in hair, so that we have you on our database and can contact you for emergency spill hair donations or changes in addresses to send hair. In the Payment section - use the Hair Salons option for free sign up or the Pay by check or Credit card options if you do want the posters. Click on this link then scroll to the bottom BUSINESS SIGN UP to donate hair. Salons mail in hair to the address below. Please see Instructions below:

The current address to send hair, once you have signed up:

Oil Spill Hair Mats
Matter of Trust.org
1960 Williams Street
San Leandro CA 94577

Instructions:
Please line boxes (recycled shampoo supply boxes work well) with plastic garbage bags. Please no metal pins or clips (if possible, please no cigarette butts or paper cups etc.).

Yes, individuals can also mail in to this warehouse, no matter what they've done to their hair. Pet hair is ok too - but not as efficient . As if Mother Nature said "Only humans will be silly enough to spill oil. Better dangle the best solution in front of their eyes."

Yes all types and colors of hair can be donated, since everyone lays on the beaches and swims in the waters. And especially since all the hair and oil are removed as toxic waste. Our beaches have been used to hair, fur and feathers since long before oil spills.

We are also accepting clean, used, runned nylons which we double, cut and stuff with the hair to make "booms" that surround and contain as well as soak up oil spills.

® 1998-2008 Matter Of Trust, Inc. a 501(c)3 Public Charity
Drop us a line

In Durham with Lee Smith and the One Writing Group for Susan Gregg Gilmore's reading at The Regulator Bookshop

The Blue Corn Café in Durham served up delightful Mexican fare as the table of amazingly talented and gift writers shared laughs and the excitement with Susan Gregg Gilmore before one of her readings that evening. I was along for the ride earlier this week.

Beautiful and charming, Lee Smith – yes, author of On Agate Hill, The Last Girls, Saving Grace and Fair and Tender Ladies – is of course, the teacher of all the other published writers at the table. However, Susan Gregg Gilmore can claim the honor of having been Lee’s student first. Lee was Susan’s 7^th grade English teacher at Harpeth Hall in Nashville. And we were all together to celebrate Susan’s reading at The Regulator Bookshop that night during her 25+city book tour.

Pam Duncan, one of the most outrageously funny writers today and author of The Big Beautiful, Plant Life and Moon Women, had everyone in stitches. As much as you do not want her books to end, you also do not want an evening with her to end. A more generous spirit there is not.

It’s easy to see why Lynn York, author of The Sweet Life and The Piano Teacher, is a successful novelist. Her observations and view of the world is delightful and irreverent. I was fortunate to nab a seat next to her. She is as engaging as her books.

Earlier in the day I was at the marvelous McIntyre’s Bookstore in Farrington, NC and was frustrated beyond words at not being able to purchase Virginia Boyd’s most recently completed novel. She had discussed at Southern Festival of Books last fall and I’ve been dying to get my hands on it. It’s a story of two girls who drive across country with dead mother in the car. I learned during dinner that this book hasn’t actually been published yet. But I was able to have her sign her novel that arrived in stores late last year, One Fell Swoop.

Pam Duncan brought Dawn Shamp, who releases her first novel, On Account of Conspicuous Women, next month, set in Roxboro, NC during the 1920s. I can’t wait to read her book as well.

Betsy Alden, known as “one of the founding mothers” of the service-learning movement and a member of the clergy at Duke University, recently was honored upon her retirement by having a prestigious award named for her: the Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award. She is the photographer behind this picture of the authors (and me). Earlier that day she had squired Susan and me all over the area giving us a tour of the Duke Chapel and taking us to lunch at A Southern Season, one of the most fun “ladies who lunch” spots in North Carolina (if you go, reserve plenty of time to browse in the shop after lunch!).

The only thing that could possibly have made for an even better evening would have been if the only member of the One Writing Group who was missing that night could have joined us, Darnell Arnoult. She rounds out the writing group of Duncan, York and Boyd…all students in one of Lee Smith’s writing classes years ago. Sufficient Grace is her page-turning novel. She now lives in Tennessee, but is an instructor at Duke and throughout the Southeast at various writing conferences and seminars.

Susan McBride certainly has created another titilating tale that is flying off the shelves of bookstores everywhere

Susan McBride, author

In college, Susan McBride was one of my favorite Pi Phi sisters because she was just so darn funny, nice, down to earth, as well as a bright journalism student. Little could I have guessed that she would go on to become a highly successful author with nearly a bookshelf full of best-selling titles to her credit!

Three weeks ago her most recent hit -- 5th in the Debutant Dropout Mystery Series (and the last) -- landed in bookstores: Too Pretty To Die (Harper Collins)

I learned today that it's gone back to press -- meaning GOBS, HORDES, LEGIONS of readers have already snatched up all of the paperback copies Harper Collins thought would satiate the appetite of Susan's many fans -- less than one month after being released!

They call them "pretty parties," and they're the latest rage among Dallas debutantes—get-togethers with light refreshments, heavy gossip, and Dr. Sonja Madhavi and her magic Botox needles. Former socialite Andy Kendricks normally wouldn't be caught dead at such an event, but she's attending as a favor to her friend Janet, a society reporter in search of a juicy story. And boy does she find one when aging beauty queen Miranda DuBois bursts into the room—drunk, disorderly, and packing a pistol.

Miranda's wrinkles have seen better days, and she blames it all on Dr. Madhavi. Luckily, Andy calms her down and gets her home to bed . . . where she's found dead the next morning. The police suspect suicide, but Andy knows that no former pageant girl would give up that easily. She's determined to find Miranda's killer herself, but she'll have to be careful. After all, Botox can make you look younger, but it can't bring you back from the grave.

Susan and her book are getting some terrific reviews including:

Gumshoe Review: "This is a marvelous series. The interaction between Andy and her mom is always worth reading. The look into the upper crust debutante world of Texas is very fun. The writing moves right along, with nary a dull moment. And the answer to the mystery is a little bit unexpected. This is a good book, and I enjoyed it. TOO PRETTY TO DIE is just too good to pass up."


Genre Go Round Reviews: TOO PRETTY TO DIE is a delightful Debutante Dropout mystery with a social message concerning the nation’s addiction to beauty at all cost. The protagonist of the humorous and charming cozy isn’t interested in beauty or her standing in society which makes her seem much more mature than many of the other characters. Susan McBride provides a fantastic amateur sleuth tale sprinkled with humor yet with a deep underlying question on wasting medical funds on the frivolous." by Harriet Klausner

Spring Break is coming -- don't forget to pick up your paperback copy before heading to the beach -- the sand and sun won't be as fun without this fast-paced mystery.

I still get a thrill when one of my children answers the phone and says, "Mom, President Roosevelt is on the phone for you!"

Usually he is in Long Island...Oyster Bay...when he calls...at or near his beloved Sagamore HIll, Teddy Roosevelt's home until he died in 1919.

But, I swear, if you meet James Foote, you'll question history or your sanity.

We were fortunate enough to be invited for an amazing week-end with "President Roosevelt" in Greensboro, North Carolina while we were house guests of one of our all-time favorite families (who shall remain anonymous because they don't like any more attention than they already naturally garner). Dinners were fascinating. Children and adults alike were rapt in every word the President uttered.

James Foote is a man who has spent his adult life immersing himself in learning every single, minute detail about our 28th President of United States of America who coined the phrase "speak softly but carry a big stick."



Of course Mr. Foote looks like Teddy, but his mannerisms, the intonation of his voice, the way he carries his body and even his haircut is so smack-on, that it will give a fan of Teddy pause.

The coolest thing about Mr. Foote is that when he is in character and costume, he speaks with the exact words -- going on for minutes at a time -- that Roosevelt actually spoke. It's amazing how creatively Mr. Foote can answer just about any question using Roosevelt's own published words.

Mr. Foote travels more than 20,000 miles a year across the United States as President Roosevelt, he is invited to the White House for special occasions, has been on Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and he meets Presidents and President-wanna-bes (including a batch of Presidential candidates from this election cycle)on their turf -- or his -- which is Sagamore Hills.

Mr. Foote takes great joy (you can just tell) in bringing history together for regular folks -- especially school children. If you have a special event or want a living-history opportunity available to young people you know, click here to contact James Foote and for booking information...this is a big anniversary year for him, so he'll get booked quickly.

Need a little review of the Bull-Moose candidate?...

"Teddy Roosevelt was a weak, asthmatic child who grew up to be one of the most robust and ambitious U.S. presidents ever. A former New York City police commissioner, author, and hero of the Spanish-American War, he reluctantly accepted an offer to become William McKinley's vice president upon McKinley's re-election in 1900. When McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Roosevelt became the youngest man ever to become president. He served two terms, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, and strengthened the executive branch through his progressive agenda and the sheer force of his personality. He is often remembered for his policy pronouncement, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He was succeeded in 1909 by William Howard Taft.

Roosevelt was the first president to visit a foreign country, Panama, in 1906... He was the 26th U.S. president... The Rough Riders were an all-volunteer cavalry regiment organized by Roosevelt and Leonard Wood in 1898; on July 1 of that year he led the Rough Riders on successful charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Heights (better known as San Juan Hill) near Santiago, Cuba, thus cementing his fame in America," according to http://www.answers.com/topic/theodore-roosevelt.

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is taking on a life of its own!

There's Susan Gregg Gilmore eating her Dilly Bar at the Mt. Juliet Dairy Queen just like she did when her grandfather took her there after church on Sundays when she was a little girl.

Susan launched her book Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
on Tuesday night at Davis-Kidd Books in Nashville. It was cold and rainy and yet about 150 fans and friends showed up! Even some wonderful women who chose Susan's book as their next book club choice -- they drove in from the Donelson, TN area!

Bev Peery, Davis-Kidd Store Manager, who is simply THE BEST, kept bringing chairs out and welcoming more guests.

Jack Adams, who owns all of the Dairy Queen stores in Nashville brought Dilly Bars as a treat for everyone!

On Wednesday Debbie Allen hosted Susan on her new internet show that has a reach of 40 million women world wide On the Home Stretch and Susan fielded questions from around the country.



Want to read some of the great reviews?!

BookPage

Ben Steelman's review in Wilmington, NC Star News

I love Ron Wynn of the Nashville City Paper's review, but I haven't found it on line yet.

Jonathan Marx at The Tennessean did a great Q&A with Susan.

Of all the fuss and excitement of the last few days, the thing, I believe, Susan is most excited about is that Renee Graham, owner of the Mt. Juliet DQ and blogger of "Renee's Ramblings" has told Susan that her store will specially hand-dip Dilly Bars and add the Curly Q just for Susan...that's the way she remembers her favorite treat.

Friday night will be a big one in Chattanooga at Rock Point Books where there should be quite a crowd for Susan and her book! If you want to hear Susan interviewed on 102.3 The Talk Monster at 10:00 a.m.

Did I mention that I love this book?! If you want to see Susan's 20-city national tour schedule, visit www.BookTour.com

Relief is on the way to the cold and the weary!

The Founder of Do Not Disturb emailed me this week that the wonderful booties that I blogged about in "Bootylicious Do Not Disturb is keeping my toes warm this winter" are being shipped to Whole Body at the Hill Center in Nashville. Hopefully they will be here this week-end!

Mary, the Chief Relaxation Officer, of the company suggested to me that it's a great gift for Valentine's Day -- paired with a coupon to take the kids for 45 minutes or a fun book...something to make a friend or loved one enjoy a few minutes of pampering on several levels.

And, of course, for anyone else out there that is taking one day at a time in getting through the brutal cold of this winter, don't wait for someone to buy them for you!

Eggs Viennese to die for at the new Mediterranean Grill

Wonderful Lisa Ellis, Development Director of Siloam Family Health Center, a Nashvillian from the moment she arrived to town not fifteen months ago, is always introducing me to delightful, delicious secrets in Music City. This, I have to say, is the best secret she's let me in on yet...

On the third day it was open, Lisa and I breakfasted at Mediterranean Grill at 600 West Iris Dr. in Nashville (formerly La Luna, near 100 Oaks Shopping Center and in Berry Hill).

Yanni Panagiotakis, the owner, greeted us warmly and called Lisa by name. We were the only people in there at 8:30 a.m. Lisa, I believe, had the Eggs Florentine and was delighted. I ordered the Eggs Viennese and, simply put, couldn't stop dreaming of that for weeks after. Two poached eggs on an English muffin with cream cheese and lox topped with the most heavenly homemade hollandaise. I measure a breakfast place by its Eggs Benedict (or similar menu item). Not six months ago I had wonderful Eggs Benedict for $30. This at $6.50 put the other eggs to shame.

I begged and cajoled my family to come with me to experience the wonderful atmosphere created by this Greek restaurant owner who had a ready smile and is eternally determine that every guest (yes, not customer, you're treated as a guest) has a wonderful time and delicious culinary experience.

My husband enjoyed homemade Spanokopita (fresh spinach, feta cheese, herbs and spices wrapped in a flaky filo dough) and Gyro platter ($7.50). He enjoyed every bite of the light pastry, fresh crispy Greek salad and thinly sliced lamb.

The menu is diverse and Yannis was happy to offer my daughter recommendations for a child's palette. She chose the chicken fingers and French fries. The fries were heavenly (evidently Yanni has received accolades for years for his French fries in earlier restaurants he has owned) and the chicken fingers had a unique batter that was different enough to be interesting, but traditional enough to make a kid happy.

I enjoyed a sampling of various Greek dishes including Mousaka (layers of sliced eggplant, zucchini and ground beef topped with bachamel sauce), the Spanokopita and vegetable medly. If you love Greek food, Italian cuisine, healthy choices or fresh, made-from scratch pastries, you must go meet Yannis and his staff yourself.

He has created a restaurant that can be intimate or open up to a large enclosed patio-type area.

I am looking for an excuse for another breakfast meeting soon!

FINALLY someone at Verizon Wireless who knows what he is doing!

I get the same pit in my stomach walking into a Verizon store-front as some people do walking into the dentist to have their teeth drilled. Can you relate?

Our family is stuck with Verizon because of the contract we signed when we got our cell phones when we moved to Nashville.

Trying to get an answer to what should be an easy question is always a drama at the Verizon Brentwood, TN store-front (behind Publix on Old Hickory). No matter what, no one wants to help, no one knows the answer and they look relieved when you leave the store completely bewildered.

Two weeks ago I tried to upgrade to a Blackberry. I felt like, after three trips to the store I was in a Three Stooges movie. Ugh! They gave up and flung an 800 number at me when they said they couldn't program their Blackberry to upload my email address. The IT people on the other end of the 800 Verizon number accused me of having an email account that is incompatible with their Blackberry -- it's G-MAIL for goodness sakes -- the easiest email account to use!

I returned it for a full-refund, another 20-minute drill in Brentwood. If the "trained" employees couldn't figure out how to program their own products, what are the chances that as technologically challenged as I am, that I would ever be able to use their product?

My son needed a new cell phone (he'd lost his). I broke out in a sweat, my stomach started doing flip-flops...was I getting the flu? No, it only happened when I thought of walking into a Verizon store and doing battle again.

We found a Verizon store-front on Hillsboro Pike across from Green Hills Mall. Someone actually greeted us when we walked in, took our information down and put us in the que for help! This was a whole new experience, maybe Verizon and the Schoerke family were going to be on the SAME SIDE of this battle! Could it possibly be?!

The man in front of us in line was having problems with his Blackberry. The sales consultant behind the counter, Ryan Jones, tried to fix the problem When he couldn't, he called the IT 800 Verizon number HIMSELF and worked through the issue! WOW! Then he showed the customer what he had done and how to work his Blackberry going forward! IMAGINE! A VERIZON EMPLOYEE WHO CAN FIX A PROBLEM AND PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE!! There was hope!

Our turn...Verizon was out of our first choice of a phone, but Ryan Jones solved our problem and found us an even better solution for our cell phone needs! He programmed it without having to ask us one question!

If you're tired of dealing with Verizon, wishing, hoping, counting the days until your contract with them ends, I suggest you go to the Verizon store on Hillsboro Road, request, RYAN JONES, and have the experience of being treated like a valued customer. He even gave us his card so we call him if we had more questions.

I'm a little nervous giving out this information so freely. What if the next time we need help with Verizon we walk in and there a dozen folks waiting for Ryan Jones to help them. Well, I'm being a good neighbor and passing the information along anyway.

So next time you need to upgrade or have a problem, go to Verizon at 4040 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN and ask for Ryan Jones, or call 615.385.1910. You will be so glad you did!

My evening with a man of a thousand faces

Thanks to J Moore Bannister, a master at hiring the best talent in North America, I had the privilege not so long ago to have dinner with a man that for over an hour had me enthralled more than I think I'd ever been entertained by a performance artist. But I had the prickly, uncomfortable feeling of coming to the table actually knowing less about him than I would have someone that I was seeing for the first time.

Click on the videos on these links:

Face the Music

The Mask Messenger

Rob Faust is the Executive Director of FaustWork Mask Theater and a brilliant performer. His one-man (basically) shows are highly entertaining as he changes masks and transforms instantly between a strangely double jointed ballet dancer to a creepy monster and on and on. The audience which I was a part of, is typical, Rob said of most of his audiences. We were hesitant when he came out, arms crossed, daring him to win us over. By the third "character" he had some of the most sophisticated people in the United States (not me, the other people) enthusiastically cheering. And, by the end, it was quite obvious that he has a message during his wordless show that is profound for adults just as it is for children. I won't ruin it by telling you what the message is, as no matter what your age you will be so proud of yourself by figuring out the secret (along with every single other audience member).

But, back to dinner. Because this is a man of masks...he makes the spectacular masks with his own hands, creates the characters (some it has taken more than three years to develope) and frenetically changes personalities several dozen time in the space of sixty minutes, he becomes like an empty bottle that takes on the taste of whatever is poured into it. So, I didn't know what to expect. For an hour he was whatever I wanted him to be, or more specifically, he was whatever he wanted me to think he was.

Rob is an engaging, amazingly open and curious conversationalist. He doesn't talk a lot, but what he says is thoughtful. And he is intensely curious about the people he meets. Which is refreshing to find in a performance artist -- I've had dinner with plenty after performances in which they are incredibly self-indulgent. None of that here.

He's been doing this for decades. He performs for schools, for corporate events and to the general public in large theaters. He performs anywhere and he's brilliantly easy to work with and accomodating.

If you ever have reason to book talent for an event -- a fund-raiser, special event for clients/employees, or character building event for students -- and you want to hit a home run, you've got to book this guy. And absolutely buy him dinner afterward, it will be a special treat for you. If you don't ever get a chance to have a say in hiring for an event, go out of your way to make an evening of it if you learn that Faustwork Mask Theater is coming to a venue near you!

Here's what the critics say:

"Tickles some sort of primal funny bone... hilariously hyperbolic..."
The New York Times

"Totally unique... I have never seen anything like it and neither have you. It is simply stunning."
Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes

"Inventive, magical, never less than completely absorbing..."
The Toronto Star

Quinn Dalton's Stories from the Afterlife is my guilty pleasure

I have become a voyeur. It’s Quinn Dalton’s fault. The moral ambiguity of her characters fuels my guilty pleasure of looking forward to savoring one of her short-stories each night before bed. Her latest collection, Stories from the Afterlife, does exact a high price for my voyeurism. I’m haunted by the stories and the characters. Dalton is a master at lovingly creating flawed characters that are so real you can’t help but bond with them. I wish I had more time with them when the last sentence is read.

The protagonists in each story are wildly different – young, old, black, white, gay, straight, adulterous, hilarious, angry, whatever – and yet each one is richly fleshed out and irresistibly tangible.

How I wish I didn’t care about all of these people, that I could skim over a story every now and then. But Dalton doesn’t let her reader off the hook. She doesn’t give us a respite to not care or not feel for even one brief story in the collection.

It may be because Dalton’s life is full to brimming. She wastes not a moment of her time as a mother, a professional and a writer. Since every minute of her day is scheduled and precious, she is a careful steward of the reader’s time as well. She wrote her stories so that each could be consumed at a single sitting. Yet the situations and characters will stay with you long after you close the book and turn out the light.

A vocal champion of the short-story, Dalton chose to publish Stories from the Afterlife (2007) with Press 53 in North Carolina. Her two previous books, the novel High Strung (2003) and her first short-story collection, Bullet Proof Girl (2005) were published by Simon & Schuster.

I am taking a Political Science class at Yale, Greek Mythology at Washington University and Experimental Molecular Biology: Biotechnology at MIT

I am taking a Political Science class at Yale, Greek Mythology at Washington University and Experimental Molecular Biology: Biotechnology at MIT, all while doing a load of laundry. How do I do it?
I’m taking Open Courses at each school from the comfort of my laptop at home. And it’s FREE!
As far as my explorations have taken me, Yale has the most user-friendly and the best video lectures of any I’ve come across so far – but I’d love to know if there are other good sites!
Check out these links to find any one of at least 1,800 classes that may pique your interest. The OpenCourseWare movement was started in 2002 by MIT. And, evidently people with an intellectual curiosity from Darfur to Antartica have logged on and started learning from the crème de la crème.
Of course, these classes aren’t for credit and there are some drawbacks (such as you don’t get any feedback from your professor). But, hey, this is a great option and opportunity for anybody from a highschool student wanting to get ahead (Duke TIP is on line too!-but not free) to a retired person whose mind would like to do elder-hostel education, but his or her body or pocket-book isn’t up for the travel. Or, it’s just perfect for restless people like me that would rather do this than watch re-runs on tv during the writer’s strike.
“MIT's initiative began with the idea of giving faculty at other universities access to how professors at MIT approached teaching a subject. But after the OCW project went online, the school quickly realized it had two other huge constituencies: students at other colleges, who wanted to augment what they were learning, and "self learners," those not pursuing a formal education but interested in increasing their knowledge,” according to “How to go to MIT for free” in the Christian Science Monitor article dated Jan. 7, 2007.

http://open.yale.edu/courses/index.html
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/openuw/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

bootylicious Do Not Disturb is keeping my toes warm this winter

For more than 25 years I have battled Raynaud's Phenomenon -- a strange circulatory problem that causes people's arties to constrict which in turns causes fingers and toes to turn blue when they get cold.

And getting cold equals pain for somebody with Raynaud's.

Heating pads and electric blankets have helped at night over the years, but about a month ago I came across a product that has totally changed my life.

Do Not Disturb, a company that markets it's products for home spa treatments, has the most amazing booties and mitts that are soft. You stick them in the microwave for one minute and then stick them on your feet and/or hands and it melts the cold away throughout your body. It's not the intense heat that traditionally comes from contraptions you put in the microwave and then drape across some part of your body. It creates a deep warmth down to your bones that lasts at least an hour.

It's a treat for most people, but it's a must-have for people like me. If you just can't get warm, buy a pair of these booties. It's the best $40 I've spent in decades!

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is my 2008 pick for a great read

Susan Gregg Gilmore/a>'s Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is the must-read book as far as this bibliophile is concerned! It doesn't hit stores until Feb. 12 (but you can pre-order on about any website that sells books). I got to read the galley in advance and all I can say is that Lee Smith is right -- Smith's 7th grade student at Harpeth Hall grew up to be a terrific writer and her first attempt at fiction is a winner!

Lee says:

This is a tightly-plotted, well-structured novel – I really zipped through it! If I had to make a comparison, I would compare Susan Gregg Gilmore to Fannie Flagg, but Gilmore more than holds her own. This is an unusually engaging novel by a very fine writer who knows exactly what she is doing.

Chances are, no matter where you live, Gilmore will be making an appearance near you. GO! You'll love meeting the author as much as reading her book. For book tour dates and more information, visit her website: www.susangregggilmore.com

Here's the skinny on the book:

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
Susan Gregg Gilmore
Shaye Areheart Books | Hardcover | February, 2008 | $23.00 | 978-0-307-39501-6

CATALOG HANDLE

For readers of Fannie Flagg and Sheri Reynolds, here is a witty and unforgettable debut novel about a young Southern girl caught between two worlds, and coming of age in the space therein.

DESCRIPTION

It’s the early 1970's. The town of Ringgold, Georgia has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. Daughter of Ringgold’s Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.

Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving behind her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she’s always imagined. But before long, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home and, as personal events alter her perspective—and change grips Ringgold—she begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began.

Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen is an inspirational debut from a talented new literary voice.

AUTHOR BIO

A resident of Nashville, Tennessee. SUSAN GREGG GILMORE has written for the Chattanooga Free Press, the Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. This is her first novel.

Happy reading!