We've got a couple of great author visits planned for September, and the book clubs will be discussing a wide range of titles:
Author Events
As part of the North Carolina Literary Festival's Authors on the Road program, author P. T. Deutermann (Sana M. posted about him here) will make an appearance at the Headquarters Library on Tuesday, September 1. A reception and book signing with the author will kick things off at 5:30 PM, followed by a presentation at 6:30 PM.
Audience favorite Dr. Elliot Engel returns to the Headquarters Library on Tuesday, September 22, when he'll talk about Rudyard Kipling, the English novelist and Nobel Prize winner. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library, and there is a small admission fee: $10 for the public, $5 for Friends members, and $2 for students. Tickets are sold at the door, and you can join the Friends at the event. Dr. Engel's programs are always very well attended, so come early for the best seating!
Book Club Meetings
September 8:
East of the River Book Club (East Regional Library), will discuss The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, at 7:00 PM.
The McArthur Road Irregulars (North Regional Library) will be talking about Swedish author Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, also at 7:00 PM.
September 9:
North Regional's Wednesday Book Club will discuss Dr. Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture at 10:30 AM.
September 15:
The Gen-X Book Club will meet at 7:00 PM at DeDeaux's Java Shop on Ramsey Street to talk about The Help, a novel by Kathryn Stockett.
The Spring Lake Book Break Book Club gets together at 7:00 PM at the Spring Lake Branch and will discuss Ann B. Ross's Miss Julia Stands Her Ground.
September 17:
The Opened Gates Book Club will meet at the Headquarters Library at 7:00 PM. This meeting will be in conjunction with the newly formed African American Family History Study Group, and will focus on viewing and discussing an abridged version of a documentary film, Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North, which connects a Rhode Island family with their ancestors' role in the slave trade. Contact Wanda Hunter, our Local and State History Librarian and Opened Gates facilitator, for more information.
September 28:
The Great Books Discussion Group will examine The Garden of Forking Paths, a short story by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges.
Please join us for any of these events! For more information, please call the branch where the event will take place.
--Nora
Showing posts with label North Carolina authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Carolina authors. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
What's a Bug Man to Do?
Tim Downs is a graduate of Indiana University, and a former cartoonist. He has won multiple awards for his books, including the Gold Medallion, the Angel Award, and the Christy Award. He is the founder of a communication training ministry of the Campus Crusade for Christ. Downs lives in Cary with his wife Joy and their three children.
Downs’ “Bug Man” novels feature the recurring character Nick Polchak, a professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He’s an offbeat entomologist who often finds himself embroiled in crime investigations and disaster sites.
To do the research on forensic entomology, Downs signed up for a course that teaches coroners and CSI’s how to collect insect evidence at crime scenes. Every morning, the class watched slides of murder scenes, then went out to a farm where each student was assigned a “victim;” a dead pig. They had to collect maggots and label them. At the end of the course, they had a pig roast. Now those are people with strong stomachs!
The first book in the series is “Shoofly Pie.” The story is set in remote western North Carolina, where Nick helps a woman uncover the truth about the “suicide” of a long-time friend. References to Christianity are limited primarily to the elderly preacher who conducts funerals. He's treated sympathetically, and he never preaches. The message is that Christians are okay people.
“Chop Shop” is the second title. This time, Nick ends up in Pittsburg, helping a young pathologist find explanations for concealed evidence at the Coroner’s Office. A black market in transplant organs has resulted in targeted murders, and the commercial use of genetic information may be a screen for other dubious dealings. The themes of questionable medical ethics and basing human worth on one’s bank statement are thought-provoking instead of preachy.
The third book is called “First the Dead.” It is set in post-Katrina New Orleans. Nick is part of DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Response Team), which is the FEMA team assigned to recover human remains. Nick finds bodies of people who were clearly dead before the hurricane, but some officials want them classified as hurricane-related deaths. Readers looking for strong faith references won't find them here, although there are themes of good versus evil and redemption.
In his latest book, “Less Than Dead,” Nick is hired by the FBI to help solve the mystery of an ancient graveyard uncovered on the property of a U.S. Senator. While researching cadaver dogs, Downs and his wife took a tour of the Canine Enforcement Training Center in Virginia. The CETC is run by U.S. Customs & Border Protection, and it’s the facility where they train all of their drug-sniffing dogs, as well as dogs that can detect people and currency.
Downs says his faith is the reason he writes. “Jesus demonstrated the power of stories: Even people who have never read the Bible are familiar with some of the stories He told, and those stories were told two millennia ago. I think He was demonstrating a style of communication that was inherently powerful and interesting; storytelling.”
Downs is working on the next book in the series. This one will be entitled “Ends of the Earth,” and it’s scheduled for release in August. He won’t tell us a lot about the story yet, but we know that Nick is called to investigate a murder, and finds a host of strange insects that could potentially destroy the entire American agricultural industry. What’s a Bug Man to do?
-By Sana M.
Downs’ “Bug Man” novels feature the recurring character Nick Polchak, a professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He’s an offbeat entomologist who often finds himself embroiled in crime investigations and disaster sites.
To do the research on forensic entomology, Downs signed up for a course that teaches coroners and CSI’s how to collect insect evidence at crime scenes. Every morning, the class watched slides of murder scenes, then went out to a farm where each student was assigned a “victim;” a dead pig. They had to collect maggots and label them. At the end of the course, they had a pig roast. Now those are people with strong stomachs!
The first book in the series is “Shoofly Pie.” The story is set in remote western North Carolina, where Nick helps a woman uncover the truth about the “suicide” of a long-time friend. References to Christianity are limited primarily to the elderly preacher who conducts funerals. He's treated sympathetically, and he never preaches. The message is that Christians are okay people.
“Chop Shop” is the second title. This time, Nick ends up in Pittsburg, helping a young pathologist find explanations for concealed evidence at the Coroner’s Office. A black market in transplant organs has resulted in targeted murders, and the commercial use of genetic information may be a screen for other dubious dealings. The themes of questionable medical ethics and basing human worth on one’s bank statement are thought-provoking instead of preachy.
The third book is called “First the Dead.” It is set in post-Katrina New Orleans. Nick is part of DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Response Team), which is the FEMA team assigned to recover human remains. Nick finds bodies of people who were clearly dead before the hurricane, but some officials want them classified as hurricane-related deaths. Readers looking for strong faith references won't find them here, although there are themes of good versus evil and redemption.
In his latest book, “Less Than Dead,” Nick is hired by the FBI to help solve the mystery of an ancient graveyard uncovered on the property of a U.S. Senator. While researching cadaver dogs, Downs and his wife took a tour of the Canine Enforcement Training Center in Virginia. The CETC is run by U.S. Customs & Border Protection, and it’s the facility where they train all of their drug-sniffing dogs, as well as dogs that can detect people and currency.
Downs says his faith is the reason he writes. “Jesus demonstrated the power of stories: Even people who have never read the Bible are familiar with some of the stories He told, and those stories were told two millennia ago. I think He was demonstrating a style of communication that was inherently powerful and interesting; storytelling.”
Downs is working on the next book in the series. This one will be entitled “Ends of the Earth,” and it’s scheduled for release in August. He won’t tell us a lot about the story yet, but we know that Nick is called to investigate a murder, and finds a host of strange insects that could potentially destroy the entire American agricultural industry. What’s a Bug Man to do?
-By Sana M.
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