Listen to my interview with David Limbaugh here.
Award-winning journalist and talk show host Anne Holliday interviews some of the most popular authors of the day, including Mary Higgins Clark, Joseph Finder, C.J. Box, Jeffery Deaver, Delia Ephron, Liane Moriarty, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Gardner, Steve Berry, David Baldacci, Gregory Maguire, and many more.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Coming Soon ...
Valerie Plame
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The World Wine Guys
The Uncensored History of the Food Network
The Beatles and Me on Tour
Whisk(e)y Distilled
... and much, much more!
Salt, Sweat Tears
By Adam Rackley
The Men Who Rowed the Oceans
Happy Book Birthday!
You can listen to my conversation with Adam Rackley here.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Author, Social Entrepreneur Adam Braun at Bona's
The St. Bonaventure University community will welcome social entrepreneur and author Adam Braun to campus Monday, Sept. 29. Braun’s memoir, “The Promise of a Pencil” is this year’s All Bonaventure Reads selection for new students.
Released in March, “The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change,” chronicles Braun’s journey to find his calling. Each chapter describes “one clear step that every person can take to turn your biggest ambitions into reality.” For Braun, that meant taking a leap of faith to give up a job in high finance to found PencilsofPromise.org in 2008.
Braun will address the Class of 2018 during a 7 p.m. program in the Reilly Center Arena. The talk is free and open to the public. Afterward, Braun will sign books in the University Bookstore.
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Braun’s approach that blends nonprofit idealism with for-profit business principles has led Pencils of Promise to successfully break ground on more than 200 schools in some of the poorest regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The organization has also expanded to offer scholarships for students to attend school, teacher training, and water and health programs to keep students healthy.
During his Sept. 29 campus visit, Braun will be welcomed into classrooms and small-group discussions throughout the day. He’ll talk about profit and passion with freshmen and faculty from the School of Business; writing and publishing with freshman journalism students; and global education with freshman education students and faculty.
“‘The Promise of a Pencil’ resonated with the Class of 2018 and St. Bonaventure community members, especially by Adam Braun’s literary technique of titling each chapter with a lesson he has learned,” said Jean Trevarton Ehman, director of the university’s Teaching and Learning Center and chair of the All Bonaventure Reads Committee. “We selected the title of ‘Promise’s’ epilogue as our Class of 2018 mantra: ‘Make Your Life a Story Worth Telling,’ as we thought it matched our Franciscan values plus would capture the enthusiasm of our college freshmen.”
First-year students were given copies of “The Promise of a Pencil” during summer orientation and asked to read the book prior to the start of the fall semester. Students are engaged in conversations about the book’s themes in their University 101 course and various campuswide events during the 2014-2015 academic year. University 101: Skills for the Good Journey is a one-credit course for all first-year students that helps them make the most of their freshman year. It combines specific academic topics, general study skills and content from the All Bonaventure Reads text.
Chris Brown, director of the university’s First-Year Experience program, has been struck by the way St. Bonaventure students have embraced the book’s theme to search for purpose in their lives.
“In my UNIV 101 class, many students are exploring their passion for their chosen fields and critically examining why they have decided to embark on their current journey,” Brown said. “They are embracing the importance of discovering purpose and passion while establishing the foundations for a truly happy life.”
In conjunction with the All Bonaventure Reads program, The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at the university is hosting an interactive “All Bona Reads” exhibition that addresses cross-cultural connections and how a freshman at SBU can get involved. In addition, as part of a Freshman Day of Service, incoming students brought in school supplies and assembled packs for refugee children being served by Saint’s Place in Rochester.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Chautauqua Adds CLSC Selection for 2015
In rich detail and poetic prose, Doerr’s latest work traces the paths of a blind French girl and a German boy during World War II, and how those paths intertwine and finally collide. Sherra Babcock, vice president and Emily and Richard Smucker Chair for Education, said Doerr’s deft approach to historical fiction made his book a natural selection for the week on Redefining Europe.
“World War II was so defining for Europe, and people will read this book and it will take them back to that period, without having to go back historically,” she said. “It puts you in the place.”
Doerr, a faculty member at the 2013 Chautauqua Writers’ Festival and author of the 2005 CLSC selection About Grace, was confirmed as a CLSC author for next summer shortly after Bryant Day Aug. 16.
Babcock called All the Light We Cannot See “a perfect book” for the week not just because of Doerr’s exhaustive research into the period and minutiae of the characters lives — from the inner workers of radio transistors, to seashells and the streets of Saint-Malo — but because of the characters themselves.
“Through these characters, we see the French Resistance, and the early part of the German build-up; it gives you those two really sharp divisions through a very human lens,” she said. “There are so many layers of beauty to this, and the characters were so brilliantly imagined.”
In a week on post-modern Europe and its future, Babcock said any book about contemporary Europe could potentially take the definition of the week out of Chautauqua’s hands. But with All The Light We Cannot See, readers will be able to reflect on a key part of Europe’s past.
“To some extent, some of us don’t even really think about Europe without thinking about World War II, and this is such a fresh approach to the subject,” Babcock said. “It’s a good place to be.”
The books announced on Bryant Day were “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys and the Dawn of a New America” by Gilbert King; “Native Speaker” by Chang-rae Lee; and “Someone” by Alice McDermott.
Island
By J. Edward Chamberlin
How Islands Transform the World
The premise of Professor Chamberlain's book is this: Large or small, flat or mountainous, barren or beautiful, far out at sea, or close to shore, islands are a central part of the world we live in. And since so many of our thoughts and feelings have an island counterpart, they may well define what it is to be human.You can listen to our conversation here.
Non-Fiction-Palooza Coming Up
I'll be sharing interviews with the authors of these books soon:
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Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good
Jesus on Trial
Dr. Mutter's Marvels
The Boys in the Boat
Salt, Sweat, Tears
for goodness sex
The Sense of Style
Stephen Besecker on LiveLine
In case you're curious: My favorite interview with a non-fiction writer was with Dan Barry. Do you see a theme?
Friday, September 12, 2014
Counting Down Bruce Springsteen:
His 100 Finest Songs
By Jim Beviglia
If you've ever wondered by "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" is so beloved by Springsteen's fans, or if you want to hear the story behind "Jungleland," this is the book for you. You may even gain new appreciation for and deeper understanding of some of your favorite songs. For example, I've always loved "Rosalita," but having an expert like Beviglia write about the sheer bravado Springsteen displayed in writing and recording it made me love it even more.
Wouldn't you love to have a job where you get to listen to Springsteen songs all day? *sigh*
Listen to my conversation with Jim Beviglia here.
Natchez Burning
By Greg Isles
You can hear by conversation with the fascinating Greg Isles here.
Suspicion
By Joseph Finder
Listen to my conversation with Joseph Finder here.
The 53rd Parallel
By Carl Nordgren
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Bona Grad's Novel Optioned by
Producer of 'Jack Ryan' Movies
This is an excerpt from an article in The Sun newspaper (from Orchard Park and East Aurora) about 1982 St. Bonaventure University graduate Steve Besecker and his series of novels:
Struggling socially, Besecker befriended a young Seneca Indian boy named John Wallace, who proudly displayed his heritage on a brown leather jacket. Besecker’s classmates took issue with John’s heritage, beat him into the ground and ripped apart his prized leather jacket.
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The next day at school, John returned the favor in full, pummeling his bullies every bit as bad as they got him.
A year later both John and Besecker had moved out of East Aurora, the latter to Illinois for a brief period, but their friendship left a spark in the soon-to-be writer’s imagination.
In the decades that followed, Besecker graduated from St. Bonaventure (a marketing management major), moved to Orchard Park, started a family, found well-paying work and continued to write fiction here and there.
You can read the entire article here, and you can hear my interview with Steve on Wednesday's (9-17-14) LiveLine on 1490 WESB (and online at WESB.com.
Retiring for the Genius
By Marc Freedman
Baby Boomers like me are probably thinking about retirement more and more everyday. Certified Financial Planner Marc Freedman has some great advice and helpful tips on how to make retirement work for you.
Listen here.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Accidents of Marriage
By Randy Susan Myers
You can hear my conversation with Randy Susan Myers here.
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