Book Review Panel

As the Vice President of the Women's National Book Association, Nashville Chapter, I want to invite you to come to our next meeting on Thursday (see below). Know this is going to be a great panel! Hope to see you there.

WNBA, Nashville Chapter

Event: Come join us on Thursday, October 2nd, in the conference room located in Bronte Café at Davis-Kidd located in the Green Hills Mall, for the second program of the year. All WNBA programs are free and open to the public. We encourage members to bring guests; it is a great way to increase awareness of our amazing organization within the community. The informal pre-event gathering starts at 5:00pm at Bronte Café. For those who can make it, this is a great opportunity to meet other members and guests and enjoy the delicious fare Bronte Café offers. And please do not forget to bring your checkbook to renew your annual dues of $25.

This month’s meeting will run from 6:00-7:15pm. Jonathan Marx, former Book Editor of The Tennessean, Margaret Renkl Book Editor of Nashville Scene and Trisha Ping, Fiction Editor of BookPage, will discuss the role of the book review. It’s a timely discussion given the changes the publishing and media industries have undergone over the last decade. How are these changes impacting how consumer use book reviews and ultimately select which books to read given the proliferation in titles and increased popularity of the Internet and such programs as Oprah’s Book Club?

--Ginna F.

Reading at D-K

Local author and WNBA, Nashville Chapter member Michael Glasgow will be reading at Davis-Kidd on October 8th at 7pm. (I had a chance to hear Mike speak last year on a WNBA panel titled "True Crime, Mystery and Suspense".) You'll not want to miss it. As a lawyer who practiced for 20 years, he has an interesting perspective on the true crimes he writes about.


From the Publisher: Her Murder was Brutal and Savage, and the Nicaraguan People want Someone to Pay! In 2005, Eric Volz moved to Nicaragua to pursue his dreams. By 2006, he was living the worst nightmare of his life. Twenty-five year old Eric Volz moved to Nicaragua in 2005 in pursuit of paradise. Drawn by its pristine beaches, scenic mountains, lush rainforests, and economic potential, he quickly fell in love with the country. And when his start-up publication, EP Magazine, found success on an international level, Eric's life was taking off like a dream. Then, on November 21, 2006, Eric's ex-girlfriend, beautiful Nicaraguan Doris Ivania Jimenez, was found brutally murdered inside her clothing boutique in the Pacific coastal town of San Juan del Sur. The day he helped lay Doris to rest, Eric was arrested for her murder. His paradise quickly became his prison. Haunting and powerful, this is The Eric Volz Story.

--Ginna F.

Foodies Unite

I am a total closet foodie. More accurately, I am an aspirational cook / cooking voyeur. I love reading food related memoirs and novels. The descriptions of food and what food means to people just gets to me. Hard to explain; it's visceral. I have other friends who love reading cookbooks. Hmmm...

The Tennessean had a fun article in today's Life Section called "Read the Novel, Then Cook the Food". It referred to two of my favorites -- The Namesake and Like Water for Chocolate. Actually, I prefer Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies over the better known The Namesake but hey whatever they are both fantastic (smile). If I had written the article I would have added Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl, My Life in France by Julia Child, and The Complete Works of MFK Fisher.

From The Tennessean article

Mexican

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
(Anchor, 1989)

"Como agua para chocolate," an idiom used to describe a "hot" situation, comes from a traditional Mexican beverage that requires hot water for dissolving a chocolate candy. In LWFC, Mexican author Laura Esquivel writes passion we can taste.

EXCERPT: "Tita remembered that Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales won't get cooked. They can be heated day after day and still stay raw, because the tamales are angry. In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy; then they'll cook. Tita supposed the same thing had happened with the beans, which had witnessed her fight with Rosaura. That meant all she could do was to try to improve their mood, to sing. . . ."

DISH TO COOK:

CHURROS AND SPICED HOT CHOCOLATE

Question Girl / Smart Conversation

River Jordan, author of The Messenger of Magnolia Street, addressed an important issue in yesterday's blog entry on "A Good Blog is Hard to Find". She talks about how few questions are asked during the Q&A sessions at book readings and why this is a bad thing. As the self-anointed "Question Girl", she takes it upon herself to fill the void.

Q&A Tips from River Jordan
My questions tend to be 1) What did you parents discover you were a writer? Are they over it yet? 2) How long have you known you were different? 3) If you could only write one book, and it was the only book you would have to read for the rest of your life on a desert Island - what would it be? 4) Are you currently on medication?

Lacey G. and I are very familiar with the issue as we attend and host a good number of readings. In fact, we've designed an Evening with an Author with that very issue in mind. We have set the expectation from the beginning that the series is about "Books, Wine and Smart Conversation" with the stress being on the conversation part. We believe that community is built when people enter into lively discussions and allow themselves to be engaged by the material and by their neighbors. Once the bonds are forged between individuals, it is that much easier to address other issues facing our community like the need for more sidewalks / green spaces and better schools etc...

Tonight's Evening with an Author features Susan Gregg Gilmore at Martha's at the Plantation from 6-7pm. The reading is free and open to the public (send an email to eveningwithanauthor@yahoo.com to reserve your spot). If you would like to stay for dinner & music 7-9pm, there is a $25 per person charge (please call Martha's directly to make your reservation for dinner at 615-353-2828). Thanks and hope to see you there!

--Ginna F.

Vandy is at it again

Vanderbilt University has some great programming coming up this fall.

Elizabeth McCracken, author of An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir, is speaking on Thursday night at 7pm at Buttrick Hall. I have not read any of her books but understand that she is great!

Also, the Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences program (MLAS), which I am in and loving, is hosting the Saturday University: Lectures at the Commons this fall. This is a wonderful way to get back in the classroom and take advantage of Vanderbilt's close proximity. The professors and fellow students have impressed me to no end. See below for more details. Thanks.

SATURDAY UNIVERSITY: Lectures at the Commons

The fall series of lectures is presented in collaboration with the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). World-renowned Vanderbilt faculty will address aspects of their current research, including:

* Oct. 25: Prof. Marshall Eakin (History & CLAS) will speak on “Why Brazil Matters.”

* Nov. 1: Prof. Leonard Folgarait (History of Art) will speak on the Mexican muralist painters (Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros).

* Nov. 8: Prof. René Prieto (Spanish) will speak on Gabriel García Márquez and Latin American literature.

* Nov. 15: Prof. Arthur Demarest (Anthropology) will speak on the rise and fall of ancient Maya civilization.

* Nov. 22: Prof. Helena Simonett (CLAS and Blair) will speak on the music and culture of the Mexican borderlands.

Lectures will be held over five consecutive Saturdays in the Commons. Each session will include lecture, plus Q&A, from 9:30 until 11:00 from October 25 through November 22. Participants will only pay a $99 fee for the five lectures.

For more information and registration forms, visit the website www.vanderbilt.edu/mlas, or contact Hillery McAlpine at 615.343-3140.

--Ginna F.

Read this: We Will Be Reviewed

I'm frequently asked what books I'm reading and reviewing these days. Margaret Renkl, book editor for the Nashville Scene, is asked that question even more. Because she cares about her readers (and cares even more about keeping the Scene book page alive and breathing) she's sending out a weekly email of Scene Book & Reading Recommendations. (That's my name for it, not hers. She's way more clever.)

It's simple--just email her at mrenkl@nashvillescene.com--and straightforward--"Check out these great book reviews. Here are the links free of charge." Once a reader links to the site, he or she will find not just that week's print offering, but even more books (a whole slew of them, really) recently reviewed online by Scene writers. A great way to offer more book coverage, it's all part part of the Scene's new, ramped-up approach to book reviewing.

It's a proactive approach, something Renkl, editor Pete Kotz, and managing editor Jim Ridley understand is increasingly important in today's newspaper industry. As a Scene writer, I view it as a vote of confidence on their part. They care, both about books and the folks who write about them. Book reviews are an endangered species in many newspapers; increasing online traffic to a newspaper's book page is a great way to show the Powers-that-Be just how much readers want those reviews to stay alive and well.

So send Margaret an email (again, at mrenkl@nashvillescene.com) and sign-up for a weekly dose of smart book info. When you visit the Scene's online book page, post a comment or two. It's time to get the word out: We've got a book page. We Will Be Read.

A Bit of Whimsy

Reading the papers has become quite a drag (aka the faltering investment banking system, plummeting worldwide stock market, and devastation from Ike to name a few). So, I thought we could all use some light-heart fun and a bit of whimsy. I happen to have just the thing thanks to one of Swift Book Promotion's new clients, Maggi Margaret Turner. She wrote a delightful new children's book called I the Fly. Its pithy story and colorful illustrations by Dennas Davis are sure to bring a smile to your face. Who doesn't love dancing flies and ladybugs?! If you would like to purchase a copy, you can do so online at Providence House or pick up a copy at the Southern Festival of Books (a portion of the proceeds of books bought at the Festival benefit Humanities TN.)

From the Publisher

Whimsically written by Maggi Margaret Turner, I the Fly, unfolds the charming tale of one bright little fly’s dangerous adventures in what might just be an ordinary house. Readers see the world from the fly’s tiny perspective, with microscopic and hilarious details brought sharply to life in vivid illustrations by acclaimed artist Dennas Davis. I the Fly focuses a magical lens on events and things people take for granted, but which prove to be heroic challenges to a courageous fly.

About the Author

Maggi Margaret Turner is a published songwriter and writer who lives on Green Pastures Horse Farm in Brentwood, TN, with her husband Cal. When she’s not composing jazz and blues or singing her heart out in a church choir, Maggi supports community organizations such as the Blair School of Music, the Nashville Institute of the Arts, the Tennessee Dance Theater, and the Nashville Zoo. I the Fly began as a poem – one of the more than five hundred that Maggi has written. She’s currently developing a children’s book about how kids see the universe.

--Ginna F.