The Learned Owl Book Shop The Learned Owl Book Shop, March 1, 2013

Liz Says

Liz
It is with a heart full of thanks that I prepare my Liz Says column for the very last time! A lot has been said recently about my "almost thirty years" of owning The Owl, and quite frankly, that seems almost impossible to me... How could I possibly have owned the store for thirty years? (Of course, how can I possibly be 65 is the next conundrum!)

I have been cleaning the detritus of 30 years out of my office, in preparation for turning it over to Kate; and although I filled boxes of trash, I also have boxes that I am taking home, with wonderful memories attached. It is impossible for me to share all that is in my heart as I pack up this chapter of my life. Borrowing again the words of a customer, it has been a "magical adventure", and I thank you for sharing it with me. I have been truly blessed.

And so on March 15, a new chapter begins for The Owl - and for me. I'll give myself a few months off (except for being a consultant and advisor for Kate), and then turn the page to my own new chapter. Details still to come, but a new and expanded home office will contain all my Merchants of Hudson and Destination Hudson files for the time being. Email me at  [email protected] to be the first to know some of the future plans for downtown!

Party!! I hope you will join me and Kate and the staff on Saturday the 16th from 3-5 PM for a not-to-be-missed NEW CHAPTER CELEBRATION! Food, drink, music (Bill Kenney on clarinet and his cohorts on guitar and bass), and lots of giveaways all day long.
  
As always, Happy Reading,
Liz

 

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Meet the authors

Saturday, March 2, 1 PM (at The Learned Owl) 
Author, local historian, and paranormal specialist Jeri Holland with Haunted Akron

Tuesday, March 5, 7 PM (at the Hudson Library) 
Author Amanda Flower with A Plain Scandal, the second book in her Appleseed Creek Mystery series

Tuesday, March 5, 7 PM (at The Learned Owl) 
Children's author Michael Buckley (NERDS and Sisters Grimm series) will visit for an informal meet & greet/signing.

Wednesday, March 13, 7 PM (at the Stow Library) 
Local favorite Les Roberts discusses his mystery series.

Thursday, March 14, 7 PM (at The Learned Owl) 
Jenny Milchman, author of Owl favorite Cover of Snow, will visit for an informal meet & greet.

Saturday, March 16, 3-5 PM (at The Learned Owl) 
Come celebrate the new chapter of The Learned Owl! Music by the Bill Kenney trio, food, drink & lots of giveaways.

Saturday & Sunday, March 16 & 17 (at the Akron Civic Theatre) 
Author David Kirk will be autographing his Miss Spider books after the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet performances. The Owl will be providing books for purchase at this event.
New books for adults

 

Liz recommends:
Blue Monday by Nicci FrenchBlue Monday
[Penguin Books, $16.00; available March 5]
Immensely intelligent and poignantly human, Frieda Klein has captivated book critics and crime readers everywhere with her debut outing as Blue Monday's iconoclastic heroine. When five-year-old Matthew Farraday is abducted, Frieda cannot ignore the fact that his photograph perfectly matches the boy one of her patients describes from his fantasies.
Read more eBook available

 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened Mary recommends:
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
[Berkley, $16.00; available March 5]
When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.
Read more eBook available

 

Baseball as a Road to GodBaseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton

[Gotham Books, $27.50; available March 7]

A love letter to America's most beloved sport and an exploration of the deeper dimensions it reveals. For more than a decade, New York University President Sexton has used baseball to illustrate the elements of a spiritual life in a wildly popular course at NYU.

Read more 

 

Chefs Collaborative Cookbook Chefs Collaborative Cookbook: Local, Sustainable, Delicious: Recipes from America's Great Chefs
[Taunton Press, $40.00]
Translates the concepts of sustainable eating - such as organic, local, seasonal cooking, and celebrating diversity - into language every home cook can easily understand, and recipes almost anyone can make. Nothing is as persuasive as cooking delicious food to show America that eating healthy, sustainable food is not only good for us and the environment - it is also pure pleasure.
Read more
Red Hat New books for children and teens

 

Red Hat by Lita Judge

[Atheneum Books for Young Readers, $16.99; March 5]

In this almost wordless springtime picture book, an adorable crew of baby animals borrows a familiar-looking red hat and embarks on a joy-filled escapade - until all that is left is a long piece of red string! Their playful romp is gorgeously depicted in bold watercolor and complemented by humorous expressions and pitch-perfect sound effects. Ages 2-5.

Read more  

 

We recommend: 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time Chitty Chitty Bang Bang & the Race Against Time by Frank Cottrell Boyce

[Candlewick Press, $15.99; March 12]

When the Tootings return to Zobrowski Terrace at the end of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again, they find that "home" is looking a lot like Jurassic Park. Thanks to Dad's inadvertent yanking of Chitty's Chronojuster lever, the spirited car has ushered them back to prehistoric times.

For ages 9-12.

Read more Google preview eBook available   

 

How to Be a Cat How to Be a Cat 

by Nikki McClure

[Abrams, $16.95]

In cut-paper artist Nikki McClure's latest picture book, a kitten practices the basics of feline behavior over the course of a day. At times the kitten triumphantly succeeds, and at other times the kitten struggles, in vignettes that range from whimsical to profound. Ages 2-5.

Read more  

 

A Touch Menacing Local author! Signed copies available March 5!
A Touch Menacing by Leah Clifford
[Greenwillow Books, $17.99]
The haunting conclusion to the trilogy begun with A Touch Mortal, which Booklist called "an exciting tale of good and evil, strength and temptation, and love and hate." Ages 14 and up.
Read more eBook available

 

Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator Katherine recommends:
Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk  

[Ember, $8.99; available March 12]

Guy Langman can't be bothered with much. But when his friend Anoop wants Guy to join the forensics club with him in the (possibly misguided) hopes of impressing some girls, Guy thinks why not.
They certainly aren't expecting to find a real dead body on the simulated crime scene they're assigned to collect evidence from...
Meanwhile, Guy has been looking into the past of his father, a larger-than-life character who recently passed away. Could his father's past and the dead body be linked? Does Guy want to know? He's going to need all his newfound forensics skills to find out.

Ages 12 and up.  

Read more eBook available Google preview  

Thanks for supporting The Learned Owl Book Shop. Happy reading!