The Pulpwood Queen First WEBCAM Video!

Announcing Pulpwood Queen Events and Surprise Guest Author at Next Book Club Meeting!

Dear Readers,

Tonight I will speaking at a dinner at the First United Methodist Church of Tatum, Texas then on to the luncheon event at Austin College tomorrow that is a fundraiser for Home Hospice.

Here is a snippet of a feature in the North Texas e-News today and for the full feature go to:
http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_45748.shtml

Home Hospice Auxiliary Style Show/Luncheon at Austin College to feature Kathy L. Patrick By media release Apr 30, 2008

Grab a tiara and your ticket….

Kathy L. Patrick, owner of the Beauty and the Book bookshop and beauty salon, and founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club in Jefferson, TX will be the keynote entertainment for the Home Hospice Auxiliary Style Show/Luncheon, May 1 at Austin College’s Mabee Hall. The Pulpwood Queens Book Club has been featured on Good Morning America, the Oprah Winfrey Show and in Southern Living magazine.

Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. I will be speaking at the Mobberly Baptist Church in Longview, Texas then back home to get ready for our big Pulpwood Queen Book and Lawn Sale Jefferson's Pilgrimage Weekend. Here's the lowdown on that event.

BEAUTYAND THE BOOK

KATHY L. PATRICK

The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs

Celebrate Pilgrimage in Historic Jefferson, Texas

Featuring authors,

Rosemary Poole Carter, Joyce Brooks

& Rickey Pittman

May 3rd, 2008,

9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

The Pulpwood Queens will also be hosting a Book & Lawn Sale on the grounds

608 North Polk Street

903-665-7520

Now announcing our SURPRISE author guest, (photo above) ,or our May 13th, Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club Meeting, Robert LeLeux of "Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy"!

Robert is flying in all the way from New York to talk about his book that I give 5 diamonds in the Pulpwood Queen Tiara!. Robert is our Bonus Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection of the month and I do believe that his mother is even coming to this event. You are in for a treat! Everyone is to bring an East Texas dish and remember our Book of the Month author, Paulina Porizkova of "A Model Summer" is also calling in from Los Angeles where she is currently flying in to film the her second season as a judge on the television show, "America's Top Model"! My hope is that all Pulpwood Queen members in the vicinity will come to this event. Please email me at kathy@beautyandthebook.com if your chapter is coming and to let us know what dishes you are bringing. If you don't want to bring a dish, bring $10.00 for the meal and I will make sure we have plenty.

The month of May is going to be our springboard into an exciting summer reading program. We have so far authors, Jacque Couvillion of "The Chicken Dance", and Charles Martin of "Where the River Ends" coming this summer and if that doesn't make you want to read, I just don't know what will!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,

Kathy L. Patrick

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs

P.S. Starting more Pulpwood Queen chapters than you can shake a stick at including one in Anchorage, Alaska! WOO HOO! The Pulpwood Queens are on a mission to promote reading and the word is getting out! We make reading BIG TIME FUN!

Tomorrow, I will be doing a photo journal of my recent speaking engagements with photos so stay tuned! Some of you just might be featured!

P.P.S. And just sent to me, by my friend Diane Hernandez of the Writer's League of Texas, this link:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014 from YouTube called

Leningrad Cowboys & Red Army Choir - SWEET HOME ALABAMA

The Pulpwood Queens feature Paulina Porizkova!

Dear Readers,

May is almost here so in anticipation of summer, I have selected "A Model Summer" by Paulina Porizkova to read for May.

Paulina will be calling in my book club only from Los Angeles where she is currently going to start filming another season of the television show, America's Top Model. We will meet 6:30 p.m. at Beauty and the Book, 608 North Polk Street, Jefferson, Texas, Tuesday, May 13th. Everybody is bringing an East Texas dish!

Paulina was here for our annual Girlfriend Weekend this past January. I selected her book because first of all she wrote not only a great book, but an important book. She also, I knew, would need the help of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection to get the word out that this is not just another model doing a beauty tips book. This is a book that deserves to be read and read well.

All I can say is "Don't just judge the book by the cover, read the book. Read Paulina's book." I firmly believe that if ever woman and her daughter read this book, we could change the face of modeling and fashion today.

Paulina told me if her mother had not put her on a plane to fly to Paris at fifteen to become a model she would have been a librarian. I am amazed that she wrote this book not in her first language which is Czechoslovakian, but in like her third language English. Think about that will you. The press release and Question and Answer Interview are below.

Tomorrow I will post the author who will be in attendance at our May13, Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club, meeting in Jefferson! Five stars in my Pulpwood Queen Tiara for both these authors, so read below then check in tomorrow to see who our guest author will be for May. Word has it he's bringing his mother too! Intrigued? Tune in tomorrow for the continuing story!

Tiara Wearing and Book Sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

P.S. Paulina also has an amazing interview in the May issue of Glamour Magazine! All I know is I can't wait to read her next book!

Pamela Peterson 212-456-0171

By Paulina Porizkova

“A gripping read.”

—Vogue

“Porizkova has enriched this story with details only an insider could provide. . . .

a refreshingly clear-eyed point of view.

[A Model Summer is a] vivid, cautionary coming-of-age tale.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A delicious debut novel about beauty and betrayal

inspired by the life of this former supermodel.”

—Cosmopolitan

A model from the age of fifteen, Paulina Porizkova’s appearances on the covers of Vogue and the Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue made her an international sensation. In her riveting debut novel, A MODEL SUMMER (Hyperion; April 8, 2008; Paperback; $14.95), Porizkova reveals the soaring highs and wrenching insecurities that result from the constant physical scrutiny a young model experiences. The book is a searing, introspective look behind the scenes of a glamorous world many people dream about, but few ever know.

Porizkova’s appealing narrator is Jirina, another skinny fifteen-year old with an unpronounceable name. Growing up in Sweden, Jirina (Yee-ree-na) is too dark and too foreign to be popular with her classmates. Avoiding their jeers, she spends most of her time with her baby sister, trying unsuccessfully to please her unhappy parents. Her life is ordinary verging on grim until her only friend, a fellow immigrant who aspires to be a photographer, enters photos of Jirina in a contest. The owner of a Parisian modeling agency notices something in these photos that no one—especially Jirina herself—has ever noticed in her before: beauty. He brings her to Paris for the summer to see whether she will captivate the fashion world and make it as a professional model.

Jirina’s life changes dramatically in Paris. Shaken at first by casting directors who examine her like an animal (“her jaw is a bit angular, isn’t it?”), she soon settles into tentative friendships with an established Swedish model, a gossipy makeup artist, and a journalist with a mysterious past. When magazines book her for photo shoots in Morocco and Milan, life begins to hold possibilities. She even develops a paralyzing crush on a charismatic photographer who’s just beyond her reach. But once on location, her modeling doesn’t seem to go very well. And despite her sophisticated new friends and their wild parties, Jirina remains a child, alone in a foreign city, yearning for her parents’ approval.

A MODEL SUMMER exposes the dark edges that surround a young model’s sparkling world: movie producers offering stardom—or hard cash—for sexual favors; dangerously jealous rivals; a fluid sense of self; cocaine. Porizkova writes powerfully of the factor that cancels out these risks: the intoxicating experience of being transformed by a camera. Through Jirina, the reader feels what it’s like to be injected with a visceral confidence that blocks out time and emotion. The experience is “like slipping into someone you envy and then finding it’s as good as you thought and you never want to leave.” Having tasted this freedom, Jirina realizes the lengths to which she’ll go to keep it. Her childhood is over, but her next step is uncertain. Written with a thoughtfulness and accuracy that reflect Porizkova’s first-hand knowledge, A MODEL SUMMER is the debut of a talented novelist with devastating insight into the price of beauty.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paulina Porizkova is a former political refugee, an accidental model, an occasional actress, and a life-long lover of books. Most recently, she has appeared as a judge on CW TV’s “America’s Next Top Model.” Porizkova is married to the musician Ric Ocasek, with whom she has two sons. They live in New York City.

A MODEL SUMMER

By Paulina Porizkova

Published by Hyperion Books

Publication Date: April 8, 2008

Price: $14.95 / Paperback

ISBN:1-4013-0936-7

A Conversation with

Paulina Porizkova

author of

A MODEL SUMMER

Q: Your novel A Model Summer recounts the experience of Jirina, a lonely girl from Sweden who suddenly finds herself modeling in Paris. How much of the story is autobiographical?

A: The story and all the characters are fictional; the rest is all true.

Q: How did this book come about?

A: I’ve always known that I’d write one day, but I got sidetracked first by modeling and then by acting. Besides, unlike modeling and acting, I figured writing could wait until I got old and ugly. The seed of this particular novel took hold a long time ago. I was on the phone with an old school friend, trying to describe my working day. A 15-hour trip to the Seychelles? A photo session with a famous actor who kept hitting on me although he was married and older than my father? Four hours of hair-brushing and makeup application? Posing in a hundred plus degrees in a Moroccan desert swathed in furs and woolen hose while little white scorpions crawl over your boots? How perfectly awful. Even I could tell how “bad” that sounded to someone working behind a counter flipping burgers. My complaints were other people’s dreams. My friend’s inability to understand coupled with my inability to properly explain became a challenge. I knew then what I needed to write about.

Q: Is this the book you envisioned when you started writing it, or did any of the developments surprise you?

A: Everything about this book was a surprise. I thought I had the character, the setting, and that I was about to write a cynical, gritty portrayal of the fashion biz as it had never been done. Instead, as Jirina came into existence on paper, the story became smaller, deeper, and far more intimate. When I sat down to write, it was as though she possessed my body, and used me to tell her story. I was no longer in control of what was playing out on paper. The characters took over and I watched and recorded their actions. Jirina and the rest of my characters had become so real to me that they felt like memories rather than dreams. My only regret was that I couldn’t share them with anyone, since they didn’t actually exist. There were so many times I closed my laptop at the end of the day and wanted to gossip about Jirina, Evalinda, Rob and the rest of them, and had to remind myself that I’d made them up.

Q: You are best known as a supermodel, but you’ve also acted in a number of movies. How do you think your acting experience influenced the way you wrote A Model Summer?

A: I’d often climb into the skin of one of the characters to see how they’d react to a situation, and use that experience to determine how the plot evolved. I’d laugh, cry and live in my characters, just as I would in an acting part. Quite exhausting at times!

Q: What were the best and worst parts of being a model?

A: This is the very question I hope to have answered in the 300 plus pages I have written.

Q: Are you still involved in fashion?

A: Yes, I still have to get dressed every day.

Q: What do you want your readers to take away from reading A Model Summer?

A: What the best and the worst parts of being a model are.

Q: A Model Summer shows a side of modeling that few have seen. How do you feel about the way modeling is depicted in the media today?

A: It’s not so much a question of how it’s depicted as what is depicted, and the depictions are not so much inaccurate as unusual. Quite naturally, the public only hears stories of great successes or tragedies. These account for but a tiny part of the working whole, but it’s all that the public has to go on. So, of course, when one hears the word “model,” one immediately thinks of magazine and E! channel images of unfairly gorgeous young girls in free designer clothes holding on to their famous boyfriends, or anorexic wrecks throwing up their champagne backstage before passing out on the runway. The truth is, for every supermodel you hear about, there are thousands of models you never will. And it’s not for lack of interesting lives.

Q: What makes Jirina’s modeling experience typical/atypical?

A: I tried very hard to make Jirina’s experiences as typical for their time as possible, while creating a plot that would draw the reader in. Although A Model Summer is not autobiographical, it contains quite a few “borrowed” incidents: some from my life, some from my friends, some that were simply overheard. One does not have to go far in the fashion industry to find a good story.

Q: How long did it take you to write this book?

A: My (admittedly awful) first attempt was written perhaps fifteen years ago. I wasted two hundred pages before I realized it wasn’t any good. Part of the problem was that although I was fluent in spoken English, I lagged behind in writing. English was my third language, and not having gone to school past ninth grade, I lacked basic grammar and punctuation skills even in Swedish, never mind English! I decided to put writing aside for awhile in favor of reading a million books, improving my written English, and building life experiences. But even in that first feeble attempt I found the voice of Jirina. Through the years, her voice stayed in my head, popping up occasionally to remind me she was still waiting.

Eventually (and much sooner than anticipated), the day in which I was judged old and ugly arrived. I sat down to write. I had my topic: the everyday work, the thrills, the tedium, and most importantly, the kind of judgment a model is exposed to on a daily basis and the effect this has on a very young girl. My protagonist had been brewing in my head for years, I had read a million books, and my English had definitely improved. I was ready. And then I found out that reading does not necessarily a writer make. I still had lots of technical issues I hadn’t been able to soak up through reading. For example, dialogue: did one use a dash to indicate the spoken voice? The single quotation mark or the double one? Or did one simply write, “she said, he said?” I wrote my first chapter entirely without dialogue…needless to say, I soon enlisted in a writing workshop! It took me two workshops and five years to finish my novel.

Q: What are some of your favorite books/authors? Did any particular inspire you to write A Model Summer?

A: Most of the inspiration for my novel came from my job, but I have read hundreds of wonderful books (if not thousands, and yes, I’m totally bragging) and every good or great one must have put its imprint on me somehow. My favorites these days tend to be long, epic novels about foreign countries, cultures, and politics such as The Soldier of the Great War, Acts of Faith, and A Fine Balance, but I also adore fantasy novels like Cloud Atlas, A Winter’s Tale, and wonderful coming-of-age novels like The Saskiad, and Purple Hibiscus. When it comes to authors, I can list only the dead ones for an obvious reason: their life’s work is done; there will be no further surprises. In no particular order: Austen, Dickens, Balzac, Maupassant, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Fitzgerald.

The Pulpwood Queen Survives PROM!

Dear Readers,

I just got home from prom. No, I did not go. I just happened to have gone to the Bull Durham Dinner Theater and a bunch of my friends from the theater and I, sat outside after the show and watched the flurry of prom activity. You see, the Bull Durham Dinner Theater is right next door to the Jeffersonian Institute where prom was held this year.

Today began with setting my daughter's hair in pin curls. Yes, I did say setting her hair in pin curls as she was going for a retro look. One right after another girls came into my shop for one prom do right after another. I put out a table of great snack foods as I knew these girls probably would not eat a thing until their dates took them to dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party atmosphere and the fun of getting a salon treatment for their special evening.

Here are some of the photos and I think this year was superb! What fun it is to have as their theme, "An Evening of Elegance". At the same time as Jefferson' Prom please note we had a Tractor Parade as you will see photos of the tractors parked on our main street, Austin. I have to laugh, as my daughter, her date and friends all went cyber bowling after prom and then on to IHOP for an early breakfast. I figured they all will come dragging in later this morning as do note I wrote this after midnight.





























About the time they left prom, a stretch Hummer arrived and 16 young ladies and men poured out in sparkly gowns and black tuxes. I captured some of this too so again, enjoy the photos and send me your special prom remembrance. How was your date to the prom? Boy, have I got some doozies!


















Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the PulpwoodQueens

www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

The Pulpwood Queen talks about BEAUTY at Beauty and the Book!

Dear Readers,

Not a day goes by when someone asks me if I really do hair at my Hair Salon/Book Store, Beauty and the Book! The answer is of course I do! How do you think I make a living, from writing? Ha ha ha ha!

Writing is something I do because I can't stop myself. My day job is doing hair and today it's PROM! TWO PROMS! So I have attached some photos from last years prom do's as in the meantime, now it's on to transforming these girls from high schoolers to drop down dead gorgeous young ladies. Pray for me! Teenagers expect miracles!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
www.beautyandthebook.com
P.S. The blonde is our daughter Helaina and her date is John Tatum. Also featured are Nick Reisenauer (in top hat), Adam Brooks and his date, Emily Williams (in blue taffetta) and Whitney Morgan (the elegant strawberry blonde of which her mother also a hairstylist did her hair). Last photo is my husband laying down the rules for prom to our daughter's boyfriend, J.T. Photos tomorrow on prom for this year that's theme is "An Evening of Elegance"!

Intinerary and Pricing for Pulpwood Queen Literary Tour in Europe and Cruise on Queen Mary 2!

Please join us…
Anne Isham, author of
“Eat (More) Chocolate—Lose Weight (Anyway): The Chocoholic’s Survival Guide and Practical Handbook”
…and…
Kathy L. Patrick, author of
“The Pulpwood Queens’ Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide To Life”
* Ship’s registry British
Starting in New York on November 11, 2008 for our flight to
London, our Odyssey continues to Hay-On-Wye, Wales, recognized as
the premier book town of Great Britain and Europe. We’ll spend
three nights at Baskerville Hall, where we will be entertained by a
local author with stories of the hi-jinks of Welsh eccentrics, ancient
and modern, living and not so much so… And three days of
browsing the bookstores and antique shops of this ancient village.
On November 15th, after browsing the bookstores and antique shops
of Hay-On-Wye, we will travel to South Hampton, England and
board the elegant Cunard ocean liner, Queen Mary 2 for a luxurious
six-day cruise back to New York, with all the pampering for which
the QM2 is famous. During the days at sea, you’ll be treated to a
thought-provoking agenda of lively literary discussions, book
reviews and fascinating discourses on how (really!) to eat more
chocolate and lose weight anyway, even on a legendarily epicurean
cruise… Learn the secret of morphing yourself from an out-ofcontrol
indiscriminate chocoholic into a sleek, svelte, sophisticated
connoisseur of fine chocolate.
Hay-On-Wye is an ancient village in the Northeast corner of The Brecon Becons
National Park, Wales that just happens to have more bookstores, per acre, than
anywhere else on the planet. It also boasts a profusion of antique shops and over a
thousand years of history.
Baskerville Hall, where we will spend three nights, was built in 1839, was featured
in Conan Doyle’s book “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Since extensive restoration
in 1984, it has been operated as a hotel and conference center.
The Queen Mary 2 is one of the most elegant ocean liners afloat and boasts the
largest library at sea. The QM2 is famous for its impeccable service, High British Tea
and world-class chefs and all-embracing luxury.

Anne Isham, philosopher, adventurer, chocolatier
has regaled audiences across the U.S. for years, as
she dispenses the good news about chocolate.
During the cruise, in addition to her programs on the
appreciation of fine chocolate, its history and health
benefits, Anne Isham will tell how you can enjoy all the
wonders of the Queen Mary 2, including High Tea, and all
the scrumptious gourmet dinners on this elegant ocean
liner, and finish the cruise in better shape than you started.
www.chocomonkie.com Anne@chocomonkie.com
Kathy L. Patrick, author, and hairdresser to the
authors, is the witty, zany, endearingly outrageous
founder of both Beauty and the Book Beauty
Salons and The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
During the cruise, Kathy Patrick will lead lively,
enlightening book and beauty discussions.
www.beautyandthebook.com, Kathy@beautyandthebook.com
Due to the limited number of hotel rooms in Hay-On-Wye, space on this
once-in-a-lifetime tour is strictly limited. So secure your reservation for this
extraordinary adventure right away!
Deadline for securing your reservation with
a $500 per person deposit is May 15, 2008.
For further information and details, contact
Vicki Wood
Austin Travel & Tours, Inc.
512-250-5654 ext. 107
Vicki@austintravelandtours.com

November 11 - 21, 2008
November 11 Depart New York for London
November 12 Arrive London and transfer to
Baskerville Hall Hotel
November 12 - 14 Enjoy Hay-on-Wye and the
historic Baskerville Hall Hotel
November 15 - 20 Crossing on the Queen Mary 2
November 21 Arrive New York
The trip includes:
Air from New York to London
Motor coach transfers from London to Hay-on-Wye
Three nights at the Baskerville Hall Hotel with taxes
and baggage handling
Breakfast and Dinner during your stay in Hay-on-Wye
Motor coach transfers from Hay-on-Wye to the cruise
ship port in South Hampton
6 nights aboard the Queen Mary 2
Lectures and book reviews with your host authors
A copy of each host author’s book
Cabin category D4 (standard inside) $2,745
Cabin category B3 (premium balcony) $2,995
Cabin category B2 (premium balcony) $3,045
Cabin category B1 (premium balcony) $3,095
Cabin category A2 (deluxe balcony) $3,545
Price is for the full trip and varies depending on the cabin category selected on the ship. Pricing is based on double occupancy. Single
supplements start at $1,150 depending on the cabin category selected. Pricing does not include ship board gratuities of approximately $66 per
person, transfers in New York, or travel insurance. Included airline and cruise line fuel charges are subject to change, and any increases will be
added to the above cruise/tour fares. Travel insurance is highly recommended and will be quoted to you at the time of booking. A $500 per
person deposit is required to hold your reservation. The hosts reserve the right to cancel the trip if the participation is less than 30 passengers.
Cabin categories are subject to availability at the time deposit is made. Space on this trip is limited due to the limited availability of rooms in
Hay-on-Wye and will be sold on a first come first served basis.
November 11 – 21, 2008
Reservation Request
Note: A current passport is required for travel. If you are not traveling under a U.S.
Passport please ask about possible additional documentation requirements.
Passenger 1: __________________________________________
Passenger 2: __________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________
__________________________________________
Daytime phone: __________________________________________
Cabin Type Requested: D4 B3 B2 B1 A2 Other: ____________
Special needs or requests: _______________________________________________
Cancellation Penalties:
$200 after deposit until 91 days prior to departure
25% 90 days until 61 days prior to departure
50% 60 days until 31 days prior to departure
75% 30 days until 16 days prior to departure
no refund 15 or fewer days prior to departure
We highly recommend the purchase of travel insurance in case you must cancel for a
medical, emergency, or other covered reason.
A $500 per person deposit is required to reserve your space on this trip. Your deposit
may be made by check payable to Austin Travel & Tours, or by credit card.
Please enclose a check or list your credit card for deposit below:
Type: _________ Number: ________________________________
Expiration: _____________ ________________________________
Authorized Signature
Return to:
Vicki Wood
Austin Travel & Tours, Inc.
13740 Research Blvd. Bldg. H, Suite 1
Austin, Texas 78750
Phone: 512 250-5654 ext. 107 Fax 512 250-1639
Questions may be emailed to Vicki@austintravelandtours.com

Pulpwood Queen Author, Michael Tonello on the Early Show Tomorrow and Much, Much, More!

Dear Readers,

Is it just my imagination or are the books I'm picking getting featured more and more in the news.  Straight from the Shelf Awareness website today the following:

Tomorrow morning on the Early Show: Michael Tonello, author of Bringing
Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted
Handbag (Morrow, $25.95, 9780061473333/0061473332).

Now if you don't read Shelf Awareness everyday like I do, if you are a book lover you should.  Check out this story below that was also published today.  I love this story and I just have to read this book, don't you?

Books & Authors

The Art of Meeting an Author in a Cafe


Two years ago, before the Shelf had offices or employees, our mail went
to a post office box in Seattle. Once a week, my ritual was to collect
the mail, go to a café and eat lunch--just to get out and feel
social. One day at the luncheonette counter, I saw the owner of the
restaurant sidle up to a man sitting three stools down from me and say,
"Hey Garth! How's the book coming?" I glanced sideways over at the man.
He looked, well, not scary. (Okay, fine. He's spiffy.) I wondered: do I
introduce myself? Could he be the feared author who gloms on to anyone
in publishing? I took the risk. It turned out that he knew about the
Shelf and that he wasn't the glom-my type. So, about once a month we'd
meet for lunch and talk book biz. A few months later, he came to lunch
with a large box--the manuscript. Gulp.

Of course, we all have stories in this biz about loving a book, hating
the author, and vice versa. I liked Garth and his family. We were
neighbors. I really didn't want to hate his book.

I took the manuscript home and stared at it for a week. The title page
read "The Art of Racing in the Rain." Hmm. Okay. Good title. I dove in.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is told from the point of
view of a dog named Enzo who aspires to be a racecar driver like his
owner, Denny. The TV is left on during the day while Enzo's owner is
working, so he's learned a lot about the world. (He's often quite miffed
at not possessing opposable thumbs.) Through Enzo, we learn the story of
how his master fell in love with his wife, Eve, the addition of their
daughter Zoey, and how it all tragically unraveled. Have a box of
Kleenex near.

Early on in my reading, I kept trying to meld the baker from The
Godfather (the only other Enzo I've known) with the early moments of the
movie Splash where Daryl Hannah the mermaid learns to speak English from
watching TV. But I quickly learned there were no models for Enzo. He was
completely original and calming in a Zen-like way. You're totally under
the spell of a dog who's telling us his completely believable and
authentic story.

The test of a good book for me is to read it, put it away, then see if I
can still hear the voices, miss the characters and wish it hadn't ended.
I said nothing to anyone about Garth's book for three weeks after I had
read it. Later as I was playing with marketing ideas for it, I knew it
was special and brilliant. (I'm still very partial to a campaign based
around "What Would Enzo Do?")

When I called Garth to tell him what I thought, he said, "Well, I'm glad
you liked it, because my agent just turned it down." Then began the
saga. During the next few months, several more agents passed on this
gem. The rejections came with explanations like, "It's not what they are
looking for." "No one knows how to market it." "Too much (or too little)
like everything else."

What the--? Hello? Did you even read it? Arrgh! I was incensed. I think
it's one of the hardest things to bear in this biz: when the good books
don't make it.

But finally, Garth found an agent who understood The Art of Racing in
the Rain. It went out, and the offers started to come in. They started
small and progressively got, well, almost other-worldly. Keep in mind
that Garth had published two other books to critical acclaim, but
without significant sales numbers.

In the end, the fine folks at HarperCollins won it for $1.2 million,
English-only rights. I saw Garth about a week after this, running along
the lake, near the neighborhood where we both live. I stopped him by
asking if he was that "rock star author Garth." He laughed and answered,
"My Mom calls me everyday lately and says, 'Really? Are you sure they
want it? Did you hear that number right?' "

The Art of Racing in the Rain will be out in mid-May. Get ready. Read
this wreckingly great novel. Meet Garth. Get him in your store.

We at the Shelf think it's going to be huge. I'm almost afraid of
walking into Target one day and seeing little stuffed movie tie-in Enzos
everywhere.

No one should begrudge Garth a smidgeon of his success. I certainly
can't. This, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that my daughter
stars in his book trailer. Ahem. Click here
 to see it.--Jenn Risko


Tiara wearing and book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

The Pulpwood Queen loves Word of Mouth!

Dear Readers,

Here are a few of the letters that I have received lately. As you can see, word of mouth, (mine, yours, and others), is the best advertisement in the world! I receive everyday hundreds of emails and letters such as these. Now you know what I do in my spare time, ha ha ha!

Tiara wearing and book sharing,
kat
The Queen
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.beautyandthebook.com

Kathy-

I just bought table for your upcoming luncheon in Sherman, Tx on May 1. My question is this...my Bunco group of girls are attending with me and I wanted to know if you wear your hot pink and leopard outfit with tiara to these events? We have matching shirts and I told them about reading your book and how you and your book group dress and wear the tiara's and they think it would be fun to do the same, but I was afraid that you might be "dressed" up for these type of events and perhaps we should wait on wearing matching outfits. Your thoughts?

Also...I wanted to tell you how I came upon your book! My Bunco girls and I went to Oklahoma City in Feb. for a craft show called Affair of the Heart and we got separated and I went to sit in the resting/eating area to wait for them. An older lady and her friend asked if they could share my table and as they sat down, one was telling the other that she has a cousin who is a friend of yours and that you wrote this book and had some problems with your family at a book signing...blah,blah,blah...but I was easdropping and hear her telling the story and she said she had not read the book, so she couldn't say if it was a smuck book or a great book, but that you were going to be featured on Oprah. I asked her the name of the book, told my girls about it, went to the mall that afternoon, found it, bought it and began to read it (I love to read!) and as I was laughing hysterically, they asked me to read aloud what I was reading....as thus they all want to read it! It is making its round thought the group as I type. When I saw that you were coming to Sherman...I immediately bought a table for 8 and called them and they all were so excited to come. Thought you might enjoy that story!!!! Never know where a loyal following will come from!hahaha

Waiting til May!

Anna


I recently bought your book for my mother and have fallen in love with it...am curious about your clubs in my area - Crockett. Can you advise me?

Shannon

PS I see a trip to Jefferson in the near future for the girls...saving my coke money for gas and prizes!

Kathy,

I spoke with you on the phone the other day after my book signing at Barron’s. I talked to the lady at windows and she said you were amazing.

Please give me your address so I can ship you the books. I would love you to tell me what you think.

Blondely,

Debbie

Dear Kathy,

Thank you, a thousand times over, for your wonderful talk last Friday at the Texas Library Association's closing luncheon. The feedback I have heard is uniformly at the top of the charts. Everyone had fun, and not a few were inspired to try something new.

One of your early comments about moving to Jefferson and becoming trailer trash reminded me of a favorite line from a musical called Cowgirls. One of the lead characters , small town and country, pleads with a country singer's catch in her voice: "Don't call me trailer trash! I live in a mobiiile home!"

Thanks again. We're all very grateful you shared a day with us.

Steve

I just signed up at your website and gave you my info. Although you asked me to select the things I was interested in, my computer did not show the list of things to check off. Can you send an email with that list? I saw your article in the Texas Living magazine and I would LOOOVE to join your book club or start one of my own - it sounds like you have lots of fun and love to read - me too!!

Dear Kathy-
>
> I'm so sorry I missed your book signing - I had intended to come and
> thank you again for the wonderful evening the North Dallas Women's
> Club Book Discussion Group spent with your club in your shop. I had
> fully intended to come and then had to go out of town.
>
> At any rate, I have just finished your book and really enjoyed it.
> Your character and goals come through loud and clear. My friendships
> are so important to me and I could relate to how you feel about your
> friends.
>
> My group said they had a great time in Jefferson and particularly at
> your meeting. The food was wonderful and we enjoyed meeting the other
> members of the club.
>
> Keep up the good work and perhaps we will see you again next year.
>
> Jo

Hi Kathy,

Half way through your book and I love it and I already want to know where the closest chapter of your book club is. I live right outside of Denver Colorado in a city called Westminster (zip code 80031). Are they any chapters nearby??

I'm back to reading :)

Best wishes,

Carol Ann

Hi Kathy,

I was at the banquet on Monday and really enjoyed your presentation.  I just now finished your book and wanted to let you know that the page that made me say "Wow" out loud was page 296...you listed Mr. Popper's Penguins in the Animal Tales.  I LOVE THAT BOOK!  You gave me a lot of smiles - thanks for sharing your adventures!  I found a LOT of common ground between us.  Super job!  Now I plan on reading your lists at the back of the book.  I LOVE LISTS!  Like I love books!

Here's a pic of you at Herschel's signing your great book for Patricia Guy, the outgoing president of the Friends of the Library.

Thanks for all you do,

Debbie

Kathy,

My name is Ginny and I have started a book club called Lit’n Lattes as a part of our new Women’s Ministry program at my church, Family Bible Fellowship in Canton Texas. I moved to the Canton area almost 4 years ago and I was surprised to find that there weren’t any book clubs in the area. It has taken me awhile but I have finally gotten to the point were instead of complaining about not having one I am starting one! Lit’n Lattes had our first organizational meeting this past Sunday and we have unanimously decided that we would like be an official Pulpwood Queens Book Club. Your book selections over the last few years and emphasis on community service projects won us over. Although we are starting out small the word is already spreading and I have had several different people express interest in joining or finding out more information about our group in the last several days. We are all very excited and beyond ready to dive in and get started!!!!

Ginny

Good morning Kathy, We’ve just started a chapter in Sulphur, Louisiana. I go to my first meeting later this month. I just finished the chapter where you are talking about Dolly. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Dollywood, but she has the house that she grew up in on the property. You take a short tour through it. She has some of her more famous outfits and wigs displayed. When you get to the last room, there is a box for donations to her literacy charity. But what impressed me was the fact that she will pay the college cost for a child of Pigeon Forge to go. The only requirement is that they go to the local school from first grade and graduate from Pigeon Forge High School. She truly is a woman that saw a need for her small town and took care of it. She also has the largest Bald Eagle Santuary in the country. Those magnificent creatures worst enemy is a human. So many of them had been wounded by guns, some with only one wing, but thriving because of her. She has definitely given back from the blessings she has received. Looking forward to being a Pulpwood Queen. I have my tiara, but nothing else. Gods blessings on your day, Hillene

Dear Kathy,

I just started reading your book, and I love it! I'm a stay at home mom, and I can identify with some of the things you wrote in your book. I was wondering if you had a chapter of your book club in Northern New Jersey? Your shop sounds amazing. It's someplace I would love to visit and get an appt.

If you have a chance, can you please let me know about the club?

Regards

Maryann

I will be moving to Romeoville, IL, this week and would like to find a Queen's club up north. Is there such a critter? If so, I would luv any information you can share. Other towns nearby are Plainfield and Bolingbrook.

Thanks!

Peggy

Kathy, I just discovered your book, and therefore the Pulwood Queens book club. I am very interested, and feel sure there is a group here in Baton Rouge. I would love to join. I am already queen of a Red Hat group called the Crawfish Queens, so I kind of have the idea "going on" already! (But that is why I would prefer not to start my own group at this time, although I will probably bring some of the Crawfish Queens into this.) And I already own a tiara and several feather boas plus a leopard purse, so I am practically properly clothed already! My daughter is a member of a book club at home in Rockwall/Heath and I loved visiting her group. She is moving back here this summer and already plans to start a book club here then, so you can tell we are hooked. I can't wait to buy your book for her. I just wish we had known about you a couple of years ago when she lived in Tyler for a year. We would definitely have been visitng Beauty and the Book. Please send me information about clubs nearby. Thanks! Pat

Kathy,
> Wow – what a book – I was truly sad when it ended. I just wanted to
> know more and more about you and the fantastic Pulpwood Queens! I
> can’t wait to try some of the recipes at the end and I love love love
> the reference to other books that related to your chapter. I can’t
> wait to read some of your suggestions. Also loved the book club helps
> at the end. Just discovered your website today too - now I know what
> I'll be doing later instead of finishing the laundry - reading up on
> your website and blogs!
> I too belong to a book club that I helped start in 2001 called the
> Literary Explorer Society with our motto being /“By words we learn
> thoughts, and by thoughts we learn life”. /Our club has had members
> come and go, but I think we’re stronger than ever. Our members include
> moms, sisters, daughters, a hair stylist (!), professionals, a
> teacher, a nurse, and one gentleman (that is currently on sabbatical
> to help plan his wedding with another member). There’s nothing that I
> enjoy much more than discussing a book (good or not so good) with
> other’s that have read the book. You find out more and more about the
> book by discussing it with others. We just finished The Namesake and
> at first I didn’t really know how I felt about it until after book
> club Monday night and learned some very interesting aspects of the
> book that I just plain missed. We rate all our books after discussion
> – Masterpiece, Toast of the Town, Worth Telling a Friend, Needs a
> Books, or yes (sorry) crappy. Very very seldom does a book get a
> crappy rating. We still give the author credit for writing it – we
> certainly have never written a book – but it just didn’t make it in
> our minds. On the other hand – it’s very difficult to rate a book a
> Masterpiece also. What is a masterpiece? Everyone has their own idea
> of that too. We have some great discussions. The part I like best is
> that we are all respectful of each others views and opinions – no one
> crams their ideas or morals down each others throats. We don’t have
> the mandatory must read rule, but seldom do we not read. If someone
> doesn’t read the book – the rest of us try to encourage them to still
> read it – even after club time.
> My daughter Emily, who is also a member of our club, has a true
> passion for books and reading who brings a passion to the book club
> that is unmatched. She “collects” books from used books stores, garage
> sales, etc., she just hates to see a book sit unloved. Anyone who
> comes over and talks about even thinking about reading – Emily goes
> upstairs and picks a book that she thinks they’ll enjoy.
> Thank you so much for your efforts to encourage literacy across
> America. I think the fact that you’re promoting reading as fun is the
> most important part of it. There are so many books out there –
> something – somewhere – there HAS to be a book out there for everyone.
> You also created a first for me. I wrote in your book! My daughter
> says that’s a sign of a truly loving a book that you feel personally
> touched by something the author wrote. I always thought it was
> disrespectful to write in a book (school mentality), but I just had to
> highlight some passages from your book – Pg 73 “A child may be lacking
> in so many of the basic needs – food, shelter, family, and love – but
> if you teach that child to read, you have given him the tools to
> educate himself.” Wow how true is that!
> Sorry I went on and on in this email, but I just wanted to “talk” to
> you and make sure you know that you are making a difference. I may
> never have a ya-ya experience while traveling with the club, but I do
> try to have a ya-ya experiences throughout my life and include the
> family and friends. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your book and
> your sharing. I am so blessed with a wonderful family that have all
> included books someway in their lives – my husband that reads
> absolutely everything he can get his hands on – except books –
> newspapers, magazines, etc. - has read books in the past, but right
> now is into the periodicals. My son, who’s favorite book is still Mr.
> Poppers Penguins and is more into his college books right now than
> reading books, but at least he’s still turning a pages. My daughter,
> who is a fourth grade teacher here in town that has a passion
> unmatched in reading and sharing - she just finished a book called
> Nick and Slim that one of her students asked her to read because it
> was her favorite. She will and has read everything. Her 2 prized
> possessions are signed books from Harper Lee and John Irving of her 2
> favorites – To Kill a Mockingbird and Prayer for Owen Meanie. And me –
> just trying to keep it all together, but still loves to get lost in a
> good book. My favorite of all time – like yours – To Kill a
> Mockingbird, but honestly – your book just made it into my top 2!! I
> would just be devastated if I lost your book, but do you think if I
> mailed you my book you could autograph is for me???
> You have inspired me to read more and more – thank you again for that.
> At our last club, we all shared our list of (unnumbered) favorite
> books – thanks to your suggestion. Some of us had the same, but it was
> so cool to hear everyone’s lists. I’m reading The Firm, by Grisham
> now, because the club couldn’t believe that I have never read him.
> I’ve seen the movie, but am certainly enjoying the book now too.
> Sorry again to ramble on – thank you for your book and making me laugh
> out loud and yet feel like crying all at the same time! I hope there’s
> a sequel!!
> Hope to hear back from you.
> Rita

Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection Author, Matt Roloff and Family to be featured on OPRAH!

Dear Readers,

Straight off the Shelf Awareness daily newsletter today!

Tomorrow on Oprah: the Roloff family discusses their new book, Little
Family, Big Values: Lessons in Love, Respect, and Understanding for
Families of Any Size (Fireside, $24, 9781416549109/1416549102).


Could somebody tape it for me as I will be speaking to the Carthage Book Club at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in Carthage, Texas!

Also please note, for those of you interested, I have signed First edition copies of Matt Roloff's book as he was featured last November at our Books Alive, Christian and Inspirational festival here in Jefferson, Texas!

Contact me at kathy@beautyandthebook.com or call me at 903-665-7520 if you wish to purchase a copy.

Hurrah for the Roloff family as my family adores them!  Go to www.mattroloff.com for more on the Roloff's, their farm, and their television show!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.beautyandthebook.com

Attention: Who wants to go on the ULTIMATE LITERARY ADVENTURE?

Dear Readers,

It's official! The Pulpwood Queens are headed back to Europe! Who wants to go on this ultimate literary adventure? Read the Press Release below:

Press Release for Immediate Release:

April 22, 2008

November 11 - 21, 2008
The
Bibliophiles
and
Chocolate Connoisseurs'
Fabulous Adventure
in
Hay - On - Wye, Wales
and at sea aboard
The Queen Mary 2

Please join us...
Anne Isham, author of Eat Chocolate - Lose Weight: The Chocoholic's Survival Guide and Practical Handbook" and
Kathy l. Patrick, author of "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life" for the book lovers and chocolate connoisseurs adventure of a lifetime...
Our Odyssey begins in Hay-On-Wye, Wales, recognized as the premier book town of Great Britain and Europe, for three nights at the Baskerville Hall Hotel where we will be entertained by a local author with stories of the hi-jinks of Welsh eccentrics, ancient and modern, living and not so much... And three days of browsing the bookstores and antique shops of this ancient village.
After our tour of Hay -On- Wye, we will travel to South Hampton, England and board the elegant Cunard ocean liner, Queen Mary 2 for a luxurious six-day crossing to New York, with all the pampering for which the QM@ is famous, a thought provoking agenda of lively literary discussions, book reviews, and fascinating discourses on how (really) to eat more chocolate and lose weight anyway, even on a legendarily epicurean cruise... Learn the secret of morphing yourself from an out-of-control indiscriminate chocoholic into a sleek, svelte, sophisticated connoisseur of fine chocolate.
Trip Itinerary
November 11- 21, 2008
November 11: Depart New York for London
November 12: Arrive in London and transfer to Baskerville Hall Hotel
November 12 - 14: Enjoy Hay-On-Wye and the historic Baskerville Hotel
November 15 - 20: Crossing on the Queen Mary 2
November 21: Arrive in New York
Due to the limited number of hotel rooms in Hay-On-Wye, we can take only 32 people on this once-in-a-lifetime trip.
To secure your space on this extraordinary adventure please contact:

Vicki Wood
at
Austin Travel & Tours, Inc.
512-250-5654 Ext. 107
vicki@austintraveland tours.com
for a reservation package with complete details and pricing for the trip.

Baskerville Hall was built in 1839 by Thomas Mynors Baskerville for his second wife, Elizabeth.

The Baskervilles were related to the Dukes of Normandy and first came to Britain to help William the Conqueror in 1066.

Thomas was the second son of Peter Richard Mynors from Treago near Ross-on-Wye and he inherited the Baskerville Estate from his third cousin Colonel Thomas Baskerville who died in 1818 without leaving any children.

Arthur Conan Doyle was a family friend who often came to stay here. During his many visits he learnt of the local legend of the hounds of the Baskervilles. It is reputed that on nearby Hergest Ridge he translated this into probably the most famous case for his celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes. However, at the request of his friends he set the book in Devon "to ward off tourists".

Since the First World War the house has been used as a school, then a hotel and health farm, until 1984 when the present owner David Hodby took over and undertook extensive restoration work.

The 19th-century style is reflected in many rooms. All amenities are incorporated, thus providing guests and visitors with comfortable surroundings whilst keeping alive its historical ro

With sweeping staircases, domed public rooms, full-circle promenade deck and elegant appointments, Cunard's Queen Mary 2 melds the classic grace of yesteryear's ocean liners and the ultimate in modern features. Accommodations range from standard cabins to expansive, lavish suites with private elevator access. Three-quarters of all staterooms have balconies. Dining is first-rate onboard QM2, as seven galleys service 10 restaurants, including the renowned Todd English restaurant, which overlooks the pool terrace. Kings Court offers a variety of dining alternatives in the evening. A string quartet plays in the elegant Winter Garden as afternoon tea is served with white-glove service. The 20,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub offers stress-relief treatments and wellness classes. There is a stunning array of recreation, with unique venues such as Illuminations, a planetarium that serves as a lecture hall and cinema. Queens Room houses an elegant ballroom. Fourteen bars include Golden Lion Pub and G32, a disco. Decks 12 and 13 offer sporty fun: a putting green, shuffleboard, deck games, a giant chess board, two golf simulators, basketball and table tennis. Enjoy a performance at Royal Court Theatre or gaming in the Empire Casino. Throughout the cruise, Cunard Connexions offers enriching and educational workshops and seminars.

NEW Pulpwood Queen Photo Album of Recent Events including TLA!

Dear Readers,

I need a NEW camera! I realized this when I recently downloaded photos of recent events from my daughter's hand me down one. I bought her this terrific camera that does everything thinking that we could share. NOT! Her camera is unfortunately always in use whenever I need to take a photo so she generously donated me her old one. I thought, "How kind," until I downloaded these photos.

So buy more of my book, "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life" as I need desperately a new camera!

The first photo you will see is of Beauty and Book client Cathy's Wright's walker. Please notice my book is traveling with her at all times. They say picture is worth a thousand words, need I say more.

Next up you will see three friends that I recently crowned Pulpwood Queens in my hair salon/book store, Beauty and the Book. They wanted to purchase tiaras but I was out, so Burger King crowns do work in a pinch!

Now I'm on to the Texas Library Association Convention. I ran into many, many Pulpwood Queen authors including Tim Raglin, Kathi Appelt, Pat Miller, David Dukes, Rickey Pittman, and a ton of old friends including librarians Mari Moon, Helen Thompson, Carolyn Basham. As I use to be a Children's Buyer and Manager for an independent bookstore, I had a blast perusing the publishers booths of the many, many great reads. Already I have finished reading, "In Search of Mockingbird" by Loretta Ellsworth that will definitely be a Pulpwood Queens Pinecone Book Club Selection. It will go along nicely with "I am Scout" by the Author of "Mockingbird", by Charles J. Shields. I am anxious to read "Ghostgirl" which really stood out on the shelves at the booths at TLA.
I stopped by the Henry Holt booth to check on Kimberly Willis Holt and alas she caught that dreaded flu bug but no worries, in August, I'm doing an author interview with her. She is also coming to Girlfriend Weekend, the third week in January 2009. Kathi Appelt has a new book set in East Texas, so we have to get her here. Also met a new author, Richard Trout who has this amazing series of adventure books for teenagers. I am telling you it was a treasure trove at TLA!I felt as if I hit the mother lode when I spied Tim Raglins' booth. If you have NOT discovered the wonderful illustrated books of Tim Raglin you are missing something that is noteworthy. I was screaming his praises throughout the convention.

Thursday night they held an amazing "Memoir-able" Evening with Pulpwood Queen authors, Sarah Bird, who was Master of Ceremonies, as well as, Kim Sunee' of "Trail of Crumbs, (see photos of Kim as we sat together, us Grand Central Publishing memoir authors have to stick together) and boy did she have a long line for her book signing following the event!)

Afterwards, Sarah Bird, Cynthia Hughes of Hughes Literary, and my new author friend, Janine Latus of "If I Am Missing or Dead" went to the Magnolia Hotel as they have a cookie, coffee, and tea buffet! Five Stars in my Pulpwood Queen Tiara for this idea as we snuggled in the comfy seating area, caught up and talked books.

Friday was my big day and found an entourage as I entered the vendor booths. Some girls I met on the bus on the ride back to our hotel the day before, were waiting for me. They wanted copies of my book so we headed over to Little Brown for Young Readers. Heather Scott, my contact there for Grand Central took over and was I taken care of. Grand Central has GRAND staff to take care of authors. Heather did an outstanding job for my author event even in the midst of losing her cell phone. It was found at the end of my event. Bravo, Bravo Heather! You ROCK!

You will see photos of the crowd at my author luncheon. Over 350 women came to my event and I signed for two hours after the event. Then if that was not enough, the Head of Catering and staff brought me a giant tray piled with food for me to dine. The staff joined me, as well as Heather and the TLA board members. Talk about being treated like a Queen!

Friday evening, Dallasites Pulpwood Queen Sandy Reisenauer and her husband, Dave and Timber Guy John Baribeau whisked me off for an evening at the West End for dinner and great conversation! I received congratulatory phone calls from Sandra DuBose, formerly of The Dallas Public Library who had already heard I was a hit at TLA. Timber Guy, Nelson Collier called too who use to work in my shop and is now relocated and working in Dallas. Grand Finale indeed!

Saturday I slept in at The Adolphus Hotel then spent a leisurely morning reading and answering email. The staff rolled out the incredible floral carpet for me and seriously treated me like a Queen. I bow to the feet of the staff of The Adolphus Hotel.

I headed on over to Border's (last photos) and lo and behold. Jefferson Mardi Gras King Jacques Jaubert and his wife, Lisa met me at Borders. Also author, Lynette Shirk, author of "Wild Women Throw a Party, with her husband and daughter, Zelda in tow!

I found out Lynette who is a chef is now doing cooking classes so we are in the works to bring her back to Jefferson to do just that. Lynette was a big hit at our annual Girlfriend Weekend last year. She reminds me a tad of comedian, Victoria Jackson, only younger, more hip, and can she whip up some culinary sensations!

The Jauberts invited me over to their house just around the corner, their permanent abode. They also have purchased this darling former gas station just doors down from my shop in Jefferson and attention interior decorator magazines, you have to see this place! The smallest but most unique home I have ever seen and I've seen a lot of incredible homes.

As I drove home from Dallas I pondered the week in the BIG D! I can tell you this for a fact, I hate driving in Dallas as it has the worst traffic and construction problems of any city I have ever been too! But as far as the people, the facilities, the hotels, the nightlife, and food! Again, Five Stars in my Pulpwood Queen Tiara. I had a blast in Dallas and if I could ever get to a point where I have a driver, problem solved!

Last I would like to thank in a big way TLA Board member Ruth Semrau who not only had me come up a day early, she insisted I stay with her and then took me to lunch at the Zodiac room at the flagstaff Neiman Marcus store. Pulpwood Queens this is THE place to do lunch. Thank you Ruth for your treating me like a Queen and going way beyond the call. She also was coming down with this dreaded allergy stuff and still handed the whole affair with great grace and beauty! I crown you Pulpwood Queen indeed!

Enjoy the photos and now let's get to reading. Email me if you would like to see our Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection so far this year. I lost my webmaster. Yep, my husband. He took a far better paying job with U.S. Steel so for now I'm it. So come to this website everyday as this is where I am posting all the daily news and more until I can find somebody else who will work for free, ha ha ha!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

Party in the pages

Book guru shares her fun-loving philosophy in new memoir

Daniel A. Olivas / Special to the Times

Article Launched: 04/20/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

"The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life" by Kathy L. Patrick (Grand Central Publishing, $13.99 paperback).

Kathy L. Patrick of Jefferson, Texas, finally did it.

After years of promoting the literary works of others, Patrick has written her own book. The title? What else but "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life" (Grand Central Publishing, $13.99 paperback). The book is pure fun and dispenses with the idea that a life filled with books would be boring or safe.

As we learn in this combination memoir, book list, cookbook and self-help volume, Patrick was a licensed cosmetologist before becoming a publisher's representative.

When she lost her job because of industry cutbacks, she did her share of crying but never gave up. She combined a love of books with her talent for hairstyling and opened Beauty and the Book, the world's first (and only) combination beauty salon/bookstore.

From there, Patrick founded the now-famous reading group, The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas, which dared to ask the question: "Does a book club have to be snobby to be serious?" There are now about 70 chapters nationwide.

Patrick has been compared to Oprah Winfrey on more than one occasion. When I reminded her of this, she responded with the self-effacing honesty that many have come to expect from her: "First of all, that sounds crazy. She is the biggest contributor to literacy of my time."

But then she offered this: "I, too, have this burning desire to promote literacy, and it is something that I cannot stop even if I wanted to. I am driven. I consider that comparison the highest honor, but at the same time I perceive it more as Oprah started this race for literacy, and I am just one of many who have been handed the baton."

I once attended a Pulpwood Queen meeting in Los Angeles (Patrick was there in spirit) and was amazed by the energy and great humor of the participants. This was no conventional gathering of bibliophiles.

"We're the book club who puts the fun in reading," Patrick declares proudly. "The only thing stuffy about our book club is if the air conditioning breaks."

Step 1 in keeping things fun is the Pulpwood Queens' dress code: "We all come wearing our tiaras, our official T-shirts and signature look of leopard print and bling, with a dish (of food) in tow. We leave our diets at the door and throw out all the rules."

I asked Patrick if she thought writers are different from other folks.

"Yes, they are," she answered without missing a beat. "They are my people, and when I say that, I mean we read to write and write to read."

What makes her book so easy and fun to read is Patrick's "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" attitude: "If you saw me today in my full Pulpwood Queen Book Club regalia featuring hot pink, leopard skin and a diamond tiara, you might not immediately think of me as a bookseller," the book begins.

"But the truth is I am both. What you have here is my story, for better or for worse."

Patrick told me that she "can think of nothing closer (to) pure happiness than spending time with books and authors." How could you not love this woman?

For information about the Pulpwood Queens (or to take a peek at her book recommendations), see Patrick's Web site, www.beautyandthebook.com.

Daniel A. Olivas is the author of four books and editor of "Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature" (Bilingual Press, 2008). He shares blogging duties on La Bloga (http://labloga.blogspot.com) which is dedicated to all aspects of Chicano literature. His Web site is www.danielolivas.com, and he may be reached at olivasdan@aol.com.

Dear Readers,

Also check out the great feature on book clubs (The Pulpwood Queens are featured) in Expression: The Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Emerson College at http://www.emerson.edu/news/upload/ia_expression_spring_07.pdf

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,

Kathy L. Patrick

Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs

www.beautyandthebook.com

www.pulpwoodqueen.com

The Pulpwood Queen to do a booksigning at Border's in Dallas, Texas Today and more!

Dear Readers,

Still reeling from the fantabulous event yesterday at the Texas Library Association Convention. I was the final Keynote Speaking at the Closing Luncheon and was there a crowd! Librarians poured in as far as the eye could see. I know after the event I signed books for nearly two hours and thank you, thank you TLA for inviting me to this event. I had a blast meeting old friends and making new. Highlights were being taken to lunch at the flagstaff Neiman Marcus Store and treated to the incredible fare at the Zodiac Room. Pulpwood Queens we have to do lunch there and nobody does it better! I felt like I was in a movie.
To my host for that affair, Ruth Semrau and for her helping traverse the great halls at TLA. I met so many Pulpwood Queen authors there, Rickey Pittman, David Davis, Pat Miller, Sarah Bird, Kim Sunee', Tim Raglin, Kathi Appelt, and many more new author friends. Don't worry, I have them all coming our way soon!
The Memoir-able Evening Dinner with the Authors I was also treated to and sat with Kim Sunee' of "Trail of Crumbs". Our good friend Sarah Bird was the Master of Cermemonies and Cyndi Hughes of Hughes Literary Agency joined our party fun!

Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection Author Scores Film Deal!

Film Rights Sold for Unbridled Books Debut

Andrea Portes’ First Novel, HICK, to Be Feature Film

(April 18, 2008) Unbridled Books is pleased to announce that the film rights for Andrea Portes’ debut novel, HICK, have been sold to producers Christian Taylor of Taylor Lane Productions and Steven Siebert of Lighthouse Entertainment.

HICK, which Unbridled Books released in May 2007, was a Los Angeles Times paperback bestseller, a Book Sense Pick, a Book Sense Reading Group Pick, and a Midwest Connections Pick. It earned rave reviews nationwide.

HICK is the story of Luli McMullen—feisty, precocious, and out on her own at 13. Luli is running away from Nebraska to Las Vegas, where she plans to escape her disturbing present and even less hopeful future by finding herself a sugar daddy. That Luli finds trouble on the road almost immediately is no surprise. But on her perilous journey west, she learns the truth of American rootlessness and discovers both the power and the peril of her own sexual curiosity. Raw and edgy, hilarious, hopeful and heartbreaking, the novel is at once a true-to-life portrait of an inviolable spirit threatened by drugs and alcohol, sex and crime, and a stubbornly idealistic novel about growing up in America.

Taylor said of the acquisition, “"I was immediately struck by the unique voice Andrea had created in 13- year-old Luli. Films like Badlands, Paper Moon and Taxi Driver had left strong impressions on me during my own adolescence, and I was excited by the idea of bringing this kind of character to life on the big screen."

Luli’s story is loosely based on Andrea Portes’ own childhood. She grew up outside Lincoln, Nebraska, later shuffling between Illinois, Texas, Brazil, North Dakota, and North Carolina before attending Bryn Mawr College. She received her MFA in Theater from UC San Diego and became a script reader for Paramount Pictures. She lives in Los Angeles.

Portes is in negotiations with the producers to adapt the screenplay.

Unbridled Books is the independent press founded by Fred Ramey and Greg Michalson. For complete event information, a podcast with the author, and a downloadable reading group guide, please visit our website at http://www.unbridledbooks.com.

Learn more about Andrea Portes at http://www.myspace.com/andreaportes.

###

RE: Hick by Andrea Portes

ISBN-13: 978-1-932961-32-4

$14.95; 245 pages; 6 x 9; Trade Paperback Original; Fiction/First Novel

For more information, please contact:

Caitlin Hamilton Summie at 888-READ-UBB (888-732-3822), x 104 or caitlin@unbridledbooks.com

www.unbridledbooks.com

promising that rarest of pleasures, a good read

Pulpwood Queen Author for May, Paulina Porizkova to be on Early Show TODAY and MORE PULPWOOD QUEEN AUTHOR EVENTS!

Dear Readers,

Straight off of the Shelf Awareness newsletter today the following on one of our Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection Authors!

This morning on the Early Show: Paulina Porizkova, the supermodel whose
novel, A Model Summer (Hyperion, $14.95, 9781401309367/1401309364), is
now out in paperback.

Here's a photo of Paulina with Pulpwood Queen Kay Brookshire when she was the Keynote Speaker at our annual Pulpwood Queen Girlfriend Weekend held always the third weekend in January.  Notice she was wearing a our signature look, animal print!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
P.S. Check out below what is happening this week and more later on book events I am doing in Dallas tomorrow!

Party On at the Garden Café in Dallas, TX

This Thursday from 6-8 PM, the Garden Café is hosting “A Strictly-For-Fun Gathering of Smart-Mouthed Fiction Writers and One Lucky Guitar, Trading Stories, and Songs. Writers in the Round: On Fiction, Truth, and Three Chords.”

Translated: a wine and cheese reception with Austin singer/songwriter Trish Murphy, Dallas-based authors Will Clarke, Harry Hunsicker, and Melanie Wells.

from D Magazine.com - Posted on April 14th, 2008 2:03pm by Nancy Nichols
Filed under Events, Restaurant News

-\

www.thelmaandlouisegrabthekeys.com (Will and Harry are waaaaaaaaaay more fun than this photo suggests...) - mw

Hottest NEWS on the PULPWOOD QUEENS!

Dear Readers,
Lots happening in the wonderful world of The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs. First up, Queen Kay of The Pulpwood Queens of Southwest Louisiana has started her own blog page. Check it out !

Southwest Louisiana Pulpwood Queens Book Club

Book Selections

• June 2008 Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West
• May 2008 The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
• April 2008 Pulpwood Queens by Kathy Patrick

About Me

Kay Huck

View my complete profile

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

New Blog Site

My Honored Queens,

I'm not sure how this will work since I've never blogged before. Thought this might be a way for us to keep in touch between meetings, post pictures and even your own writings. Also this might be a place to post reading guides for our book selections.

Let me know what you think by posting comments.

Our next meeting will be on April 30. I've already heard from some of you that you are enjoying reading Pulpwood Queens by Kathy Patrick and are looking forward to our discussions.

Happy Reading
Queen Kay

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Pulpwood Queen Jean Wright of of our Linden, Texas chapter has received many comments on our GREAT PULPWOOD QUEEN PURSE RELEASE! See below her comments and others.

Hi girls, As you know I emailed a few people around town about the purse release Saturday. One of those was Angela Gillory, editor of the Cass County Sun. I had included the blog site and the link to You tube. She was excited about it. She had checked out the site and read the blog. She is doing an article in the Sun. If room, she will add a photo or two. She has to add the Linden twist ---which is Laura and myself. Hope other newspapers in the cities the pwq bookclub released purses also write about the event. Told Angela we were doing it again next year. She is saving her purses for us.

Have received some nice replies:

What a great idea!  If even one person got turned on to reading because of this,

it would be wonderful!  Thanks for letting me

know.

Rebecca



very interesting!



Thanks for sharing such a great story - what a great idea.


OMG - that is so cool!!!  A great opportunity for a press release - if

she hasn't already, a press release would be perfect (but knowing Kathy, I'm

sure she has already done it!)  Jinelle

Now a message in from Pulpwood Queen author, Timothy Schaffert who is the director of the Omaha Literary Festival in Nebraska!



On Monday! April 21! A live author! Live! In person! Right here in this
town you live in!!!

(downtown) omaha
lit fest, with Film Streams and the Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference,
present:

 

Novelist Scott Heim will screen the award-winning
adaptation of his cult novel "Mysterious
Skin," and will speak about the film, and about his new novel, "We Disappear," at Film Streams,
in Omaha, on
Monday, April 21, at 7 pm.



Heim is the author of three novels and a book of poetry, his short fiction has
been anthologized in "Best American Gay Fiction," and his fiction,
nonfiction, and reviews have appeared in the Village Voice, Interview, Nerve,
the James White Review, and many other publications. (He also interviewed the
notorious JT Leroy for the Abercrombie and Fitch Quarterly.)



When "Mysterious Skin" was published in 1995, The New York Times
Magazine selected him as one of the "30 Artists Under 30 Most Likely To
Change Our Culture in the Next 30 Years." The 2005 film version of
"Mysterious Skin," by director Gregg Araki, was proclaimed one of the
year's best by the New York Times: "It is about the Midwest,
about friendship, about the connections and disconnections between love and
sex, and about a great deal more, all of it handled with clarity, simplicity
and rare generosity of spirit."



Film Streams is located at 14th and Webster (1340 Webster St.) in downtown Omaha. www.filmstreams.org Tickets for the
screening are $8 for adults, $6 for students, and $4 for members. Scott Heim's
visit and the screening are sponsored by Film Streams, the Nebraska Summer
Writers' Conference, and the (downtown) omaha
lit fest.
Our good friend Kacey Kowers of www.kaceykowersshow.com has this news for us:
Dear Kathy,
Greetings! This week's guest is the legendary crime writer Joseph Wambaugh. Mr. Wambaugh returned to the publishing world in 2006 with HOLLYWOOD STATION. We discus his new novel HOLLYWOOD CROWS, a hilarious romp through the world of the modern LAPD. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I hope you do too.

Peace,
Kacey
www.kaceykowars.com


1745 Ibson Dr
Powell, Ohio
43065
US

More to come and remember headed to Dallas this week as speaking at the Texas Library Association Convention followed by a booksigning at Borders on Preston Road in North Dallas on Saturday.

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com



 

View Video of Great Pulpwood Queen PURSE RELEASE!

Dear Readers,

Click on the following link to check out the video on our GREAT PULPWOOD QUEEN PURSE RELEASE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4RvdA4XLI

Tiara Wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com

Great Pulpwood Queen PURSE RELEASE TODAY!

Dear Readers,
Today Pulpwood Queen Jean Wright, Laura Smith and I did the Great Pulpwood Queen PURSE RELEASE! At our last meeting the Pulpwood Queens had collected and brought slightly used purses that we stuffed with a book, bookmark and reading group guide for our Pulpwood Queen Book of the Year "The Kabul Beauty School" by Debbie Rodriguez and a letter stating that if they found the purse, it was there's to keep. We wanted to show our community that reading was important. For more on the PURSE RELEASE program scroll down to read previous blog.
So enjoy the photos and video that we did this morning! If you find one of these "treasures" in Jefferson, remember a book is a gift that keeps on giving!
Happy reading!
Tiara Wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

P.S. For the video on today, check out The Pulpwood Queen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ4RvdA4XLI

Pulpwood Queens Meet Author, Robert Alexander!

home buy the book live book club synopsis praise & reviews author bio tour info multimedia watch the trailer contact info "the kitchen boy" site "rasputin's daughter" site			Dear Readers, I was fortunate enough to meet author, Robert Alexander, at the Midwest Bookseller's Convention last fall as we share the same literary agent, Marly Rusoff. Check out his fantabulous new webcam book club and you all let's all get together and click on to participate. I love his concept and who knows, maybe this is the beginning of something really big! So read below and see you there! Tiara wearing and Book sharing, Kathy L. Patrick Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs www.beautyandthebook.com www.pulpwoodqueen.com P.S. If per chance, you cannot view Robert's message below, go to: http://www.sitestories.com/theromanovbride/live_webcasts.html Live Book Club THE ROMANOV BRIDE Please join Robert Alexander's Live Book Club on the following dates. Each show will appear in the screen above and will last 30 minutes: Wednesday, April 16 at 1:00pm and 8:00pm EST Thursday, April 17 at 1:00pm and 8:00pm EST Friday, April 18 at 1:00pm EST Saturday, April 19 at 1:00pm EST Sunday, April 20 at 1:00pm and 8:00pm EST Join Robert Alexander's mailing list: Privacy by SafeSubscribeSM You will need to have the latest Flash player by Adobe to watch the webcast. If the webcast does not start, please click here to download and install Flash Player

© 2007 Robert Alexander. All rights reserved.
Site & multimedia features produced by SiteStories

Kathy L. Patrick Presenting at The Writer's League of Texas Agents & Editors Conference in Austin, Texas!

Conference Presenters

Visit this page often to learn about more presenters for the 2008 Conference lectures and panels.

Presenters

Chuck Sambuchino, Writer's Digest Books
Chuck Sambuchino	Chuck Sambuchino is the editor of Guide to Literary Agents and the assistant editor of Writer's Market (both Writer's Digest Books). Chuck is a former staffer of several newspapers and magazines - most notably Writer's Digest. In addition, he was recently named the founding editor of Screenwriter's and Playwright's Market, a directory and instructional resource for those who write scripts and plays (December 2008 release). Chuck is a playwright, with both original and commissioned works having been produced. He is also a freelance editor, public speaker, and award-winning journalist - with accolades from both the Kentucky Press Association and the Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalists. He teaches online instructional courses through Writers Online Workshops. Chuck is also a magazine freelancer, with recent articles appearing in Watercolor Magic, Pennsylvania Magazine, The Pastel Journal, Cincinnati Magazine, and New Mexico Magazine. Learn more about him and his upcoming speaking engagements. Sign up for his new free newsletter and read his blog.
Diane Fanning
Diane Fanning	Diane Fanning is an Edgar-nominated author with nine published books-one mystery novel, seven true crime books and one anthology. Diane has been featured on 20/20, Forensic Files, the Discovery Channel, Court TV, and local TV channels and has been interviewed on dozens of radio stations coast to coast. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, lived more than two decades in Virginia and now lives in New Braunfels, Texas.
Jerry Gross
Jerry Gross	Jerry Gross has been critiquing and line editing fiction and nonfiction for well over 40 years. Among the posts he has held: VP and Editorial Director of Warner Books, VP and Associate Editor in Chief of New American Library and Senior Editor of Dodd, Mead and Co. Since 1987, as president of Gerald Gross Associates LLC in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, he has been a freelance editor and book doctor working with agented and unagented authors, editors, agents, and publishing executives. A member of PEN, NWU, and The Authors Guild, and the founder of the IEG (Independent Editors Group), Jerry is the editor of Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do, the standard work on trade book editing, used widely at writers' conferences and in publishing and writing courses. The third, completely revised edition of Editors on Editing, published by Grove/Atlantic Monthly Press in 1993, was selected as a featured alternate of The Book-of-the Month Club and The Quality Paperback Book Club and was recommended by Writer's Digest Magazine. When not editing and critiquing, Jerry creates and presents workshops and panels on writing and editing at writers' conferences and universities. Jerry Gross's website is www.bookdocs.com.
Milton Kahn
Milton Kahn	Milton Kahn Associates, headed by Milton Kahn, is a Santa Barbara, CA-based boutique public relations company specializing in orchestrating one-on-one campaigns representing authors and publishers. Among the clients that Milton has represented is Stanley Alpert, author of the G.P. Putnam's book, The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival, which will be produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner for United Artists. Other authors include New York Times best-selling mystery writers, J.A. Jance, Margaret Coel, as well as the New York Times children's book bestseller, Stephen Huneck's Sally Goes to the Beach. Other prestigious campaigns that Milton has orchestrated include the 2006 World Almanac Book of World Records along with highly successful campaigns for unknown authors numbering Robert Shoop, Down for the Wire: The Lives of Triple Crown Champions, and former FBI agent Mark Bouton, Cracks in the Rainbow. Prior to turning his public relations focus into the world of publishing, Milton represented motion picture and television stars including Gregory Peck, Glenn Ford, Chuck Norris, Lee Grant and Michael Landon as well as filmmakers such as Roger Corman and Robert Aldrich. Milton also publicized the box office sensation, Fried Green Tomatoes, along with Oscar-winning films such as Fellini's Amarcord & Akira Kurosawa's Dersu Uzala. Milton is a graduate of Ohio University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism after transferring from Syracuse University. Milton Kahn's website is www.miltonkahnpr.com.
Kathy L. Patrick
Kathy L. Patrick	Kathy L. Patrick is the owner of Beauty and the Book, the only Hair Salon/Bookstore in the country located in historic Jefferson, Texas. She also is founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club, which is the largest "meeting and discussing" book club in the world. Kathy Patrick also founded and runs three book festivals in the Arkansas/Louisiana/Texas area including Books Alive, Girlfriend Weekend, and the International Book Club Author Extravaganza. She currently writes a Pulpwood Queen blog at www.pulpwoodqueen.com and writes a monthly column at www.southernauthors.blogspot.com and www.ReadingGroupGuides.com. She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, and other national television shows, and she has appeared in national publications such as Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. Kathy L. Patrick lives just outside of Jefferson, Texas in the piney woods with her husband, Jay, and two teenagers, Helaina and Madeleine.
Linda Rohrbough
Linda Rohrbough	Linda Rohrbough has been writing about the computer industry since 1989 and has more than 5,000 articles and seven books to her credit. She's received awards in both fiction and nonfiction, including three national awards. Her latest book Stepping Out of the Shadow of Obesity: The Comprehensive Guide to the Adjustable Gastric Band, co-authored with Robert Sewell, M.D., will be published by Marlowe & Company in 2007. Linda Rohrbough's website is www.PCbios.com.

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Recap on Last Night's Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club Meeting!

Dear Readers!

What fun we had as the glorious women of The North Dallas Women's Club joined us last night. We had a fine southern feast to compliment our southern author, Michael Lee West of "Mermaids in the Basement".



Fried chicken, BBQ brisket and turkey (well, the East Texas version of BBQ), and a divine Bloody Mary shrimp complete with olives and celery! Then for dessert we had Key Lime Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, Orange and Cranberry Cake, Applesauce Cake and Pink Sprinkled Sugar Cookies. 'm telling you the Pulpwood Queens can cook but on with the main course of authors.

First, Virginia Boyd called in from Durham, North Carolina to talk about her book "One Fell Swoop". She has the most delightful accent that lends wells to her storytelling.

Michael Lee West was next from just outside of Nashville, Tennesse. Her books are some of my absolute favorites. I have read them all from "Crazy Ladies" to "She Flew the Coop" to "Consuming Passions" to "Mad Girls in Love" to our now book club selection "Mermaids in the Basement". Her talking bout her book and telling us about how she has spent the past week trying to catch an escapee goat name Houdini had us all in stitches.

Judy Merrill Larsen rounded up the evening calling in from St. Louis Missouri to talk of her book "All the Numbers. Judy had recently run into Virginia Boyd at a book festival and were all the buzz about attending this past January's Girlfriend Weekend.

I am continually amazed at the caliber of authors we have call in to our book club meetings and attend! We kind of hit the literary jackpot last night with these three tremendous authors who tell the best stories. Be sure and check out their books and post reviews on Amazon and Barnes and Noble if you enjoy them as much as the Queens! They deserve all the help we can give them as it is getting harder and harder for the undiscovered author to get discovered in a big way!

Now the Pulpwood Queens meet every month to discuss our books but this year we wanted to kick up our literacy promoting a notch. Between four of the Pulpwood Queens, Vickie Lee, Kathy Dunlap, Jean Wright and me; we donated over 50 purses that we filled with a book, a bookmark and book discussion guide book of our book of the year, "The Kabul Beauty School" and this letter.

To the finder of this purse!

Congratulations! You have found this purse that is yours to keep compliments of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club. We have released handbags and purses all over Jefferson as a literacy promoting initiative. With this letter you will also find a book that is yours to keep and read. We wanted people in our community to recognize we are not just a book club that meets, reads, and discusses books, but also a book club that promotes literacy!

Enjoy your new treasure and I think you will find that a book is a gift that keeps on giving. We also would like you to know that the purse is because we want to show that reading can be FUN! The Pulpwood Queens talk the talk, walk the walk on promoting literacy and are giving away great books and bags to prove it!

Happy Reading!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,

Kathy L. Patrick

Founder of The Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs, the largest “meeting and discussing book club in the world as seen on Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show!

Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
www.beautyandthebook.com, our official website!
www.pulpwoodqueen.com, our official daily blog site!

We tagged too the purses with one of my book post cards that stated on the back "FREE BAG!". We were going to release the purses all over Jefferson in very public places, (for people to find such as, park benches at schools, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, doctor offices, parks, downtown businesses), this morning but last night it hailed and poured cats and dogs. As soon as it dries out, probably this weekend, we will release the purses!

We also have decided this will be a yearly tradition so for any of you reading this, if you have a slightly used purse or book that you would like to give us, we will make sure it is released next April. Please save until April as I do not have the storage for the items and will send a message out on the event.

Now this literacy initiative all stemmed from Michael Lee West's book "Mermaids in the Basement" so you will have to read the book to see where we got the idea. Enjoy the photos of us tagging the handbags and be reading "A Model Summer" by Paulina Porizkova for next month's meeting. See you then and everybody is to bring a Czech or Swedish dish! Sorry no model food for the Pulpwood Queens, we leave our diets at the door! And remember The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas meet the second Tuesday of each month, 6:30 p.m. at my Beauty and the Book, 608 North Polk, in historic Jefferson, Texas!

Thanks to Pulpwood Queens, Jean, Laura, Wendy, Kathy, Sandra and Tiajuana for helping me serve all our guests and for staying to clean up as the hail beat down on the tin roof of my shop! You all are the BEST!

Thanks to Jo Fischer who brings the North Dallas Women's Club to my shop every year and do the Pulpwood Queens love those who seriously believe in "ROAD TRIP" in the name of literacy! We love you all!

Until tomorrow!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,

Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens
www.beautyandthebook.com

P.S. What is America's most popular book?

See you tonight at T.J. Field in Longview, Texas as we caravan to hear author, Ron Hall and Denver Moore speak on their book and Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection, "same kind of different AS me"! For more on that event scroll down on previous blog! I'll be posting photos tomorrow and I'm going as I have to get my book signed. See you there!

P.P.S. The message below from Pulpwood Queen Kay Brookshire and her husband, Timber Guy, Larry Brookshire. Read it and weep! I did!

Greetings from Wine and Foie gras country,

The beauty of the French countryside and villages still amazes us. There are pansies and tulips everywhere. It seem like each village tries to out do the other.
Our farmhouse is really neat. It was built before 1641 and has been lovingly restored. We could stay here longer but the Loire awaits.
Larry in really in his element. He has a bottle of Dona Antonia port from Porto, Iberian ham from Spain, Cuban cigars and foie gras pruchased from the local farms. Not to mention the local cheese, bread,pastries and wine.

Think of yall often,

Kay and Larry

PULPWOOD QUEEN BOOK CLUB MEETING TONIGHT!

Dear Readers,

Tonight is our monthly meeting of The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club meeting, see posts below for details. Please come as not one, not two, but THREE authors are calling in to the meeting and ones that you will not want to miss.

Also note, TOMORROW night, author, Ron Hall and Denver Moore of "same kind of different as me" will be speaking at T.J. Field in Longview, Texas. This is a Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection so see the copy below. Contact me if you wish to go as our church, The First United Methodist Church, has members going and I'll be caravanning over with them in my Inferno Red Pacifica. We have to get both the authors to Jefferson so please come to this event. It's FREE!


Ron and Denver in Debbie's Chapel (from www.samekindofdifferentasme.com website)

April 9th, Wednesday, Newgate Mission in Longview, TX will host Ron Hall & Denver Moore, authors of "same kind of different As me" on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. Event will be held at the T.G. Field Auditorium, 400 N. Second St., Longview at 7:00 pm. Free admission.


It begins outside a burning plantation hut in Louisiana... and an East Texas honky-tonk... and, without a doubt, in the heart of God. It unfolds in a
Hollywood hacienda... an upscale New York Gallery... a downtown
dumpster... a Texas ranch.
Gritty with pain and betrayal and brutality, it also shines with an
unexpected, life-changing love.
Continue reading about Same Kind of Different As Me...

Much more tomorrow!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
kathy@beautyandthebook.com
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com

Reminder! Tomorrow night is our Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club Meeting!

Dear Readers!

Please note! Tomorrow night is The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club meeting!

April 8th, 2008
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk Street
Jefferson, Texas 75657
6:30 p.m

Bring a "Carolina" dish and guests welcome, (guests, $10 per person for dinner but must R.S.V.P. that they are coming so we will have enough food and chairs!)
903-665-7520 or email kathy@beautyandthebook.com for more information!

Authors, Michael Lee West of "Mermaids in the Basement,
Virginia Boyd of "One Fell Swoop" AND
Judy Merrill Larsen of "All the Numbers
are calling in for teleconferences!

The North Dallas Women's Club will be joining us too as our SPECIAL GUESTS!

We also will be doing a "PURSE RELEASE" so please bring any slightly used purses you no longer want for this literacy promoting project. See press release and book club discussion questions below in previous blogs!

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com

Invitation to Reading and Book Signing for Pulpwood Queen Author, Laura Flett!

Dear Readers!
The following is an invitation to join Pulpwood Queen Laura Flett, now author, at her booksigning in Shreveport, Louisiana! I hope Pulpwood Queens and others in the area, will turn out in droves to support one of our literacy promoting Queens!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing!
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

When: Saturday, April 12, 2008

7-9 PM

Where: All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church

9449 Ellerbe Road

Come join us for a reading and book signing

featuring

Author,Laura Flett

for her book,

"Writing Toward the Light: A Mother's Grief Journey.

(There will be food.)

Book Club Discussion Questions for March Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection and Bonus Book Club Selections!

Dear Readers and Pulpwood Queens!
Here are the book club discussion questions for our March selections as follows:

March Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection
"Mermaids in the Basement" by Michael Lee West

If you’d like Michael Lee West to chat with your reading group via phone, please contact her.

Reading Guide for Mermaids in the Basement:

1. Mermaids in the Basement is story about fathers and daughters. Renata DeChavannes returns to her family’s home in Alabama to discover the truth about her parents’ failed marriage and to reconnect with her estranged father, Louie. How did Renata and Louie drift apart? Do they reach an understanding? How does divorce impact their relationship? Why was Renata shielded from the truth? Discuss the father/daughter relationship and how it differs from mothers and daughters.


2. The novel opens and closes with faux tabloid articles; the chapters are short and each one has a “title.” Discuss the use of tabloids as a metaphor. Can ordinary lives be more outrageous than stories in the Star and Globe?


3. Honora and Gladys present Renata with a trunk that’s filled with artifacts—puzzle pieces to her parents’ tumultuous marriage and divorce, and also clues to secrets from Renata’s childhood. Discuss and how each artifact (newspaper clipping, obituary, jewelry, etc) solves a bit of the mystery.


4. After Renata returns to Alabama, she tries to reconnect with her father, but before she can make headway, she is accused of attacking his fiancé, Joie, sending the woman into a coma. Discuss how Louie and Renata became estranged. How does divorce affect the parent/child relationship?


5. Why did Renata’s mom, Shelby, conceal the truth? Who was she really protecting? What happened in her past to make her want her daughter to have a “normal” childhood? Did Shelby succeed? Should parents shield their children from painful truths?


6. The novel’s title was inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem. The title serves as a metaphor for Renata’s depression and for the hidden past, bringing the truth out of the darkness, into the light. How many secrets were hidden? Which one had the most impact?


7. Central to the novel are the relationships between the women—Renata, Honora, Gladys, and Isabella. How are the women alike and different? How do their actions define character? For example, Honora has a large collection of designer handbags that she regularly “sets free” in public places; and the flamboyant Isabella has a penchant for lacing the food with laxatives and tranquilizers. These women are capable of forgiving each other—but not the men in their lives. What is the significance of their friendship? How has it sustained the women?


8. During the course of the novel, Renata learned the true history of her family. Which “secret” did you enjoy the most? Which one had the biggest impact on her? Do you think she and Ferg will have a successful relationship?

March Bonus Book Club Selection
"One Fell Swoop" by Virginia Boyd

Book Club Questions for “One Fell Swoop”

1. Do you have a favorite character/story? Who or what is it? Explain.

2. Share your own experiences living in a small town or community. How does life in Riley relate to what you know of life in a small town?

3. Rather than a traditional novel, “One Fell Swoop” is written as a novel in stories or as a collection of linked short stories. The famous Arabian frame tale, “The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night” in which Scheherezade entertains her king with a new story every night in order to prolong her life is an early example of this type of short story collection. Can you think of other works of fiction that are constructed in a similar fashion?

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of format? Why do you think the author chose it for this particular story?

5. In what ways are these stories connected?

6. Short stories such as: folktales and fairy tales, Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.”, Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” provided inspiration for many of these stories. Do you see any that reflect a particular influence?

7. An epiphany in fiction is often described as a moment of realization experienced by a character and/or the reader. Can you pick out an epiphany in each of these stories?

8. Discuss the inherent conflict between romantic vs. real love as portrayed by these characters.

9. Did you find Regina Clayton to be a sympathetic character? What about her husband Michael? And the other woman, Cindy Worthington?

10. What do you think is the significance of the title? How many bird references can you find?

11. What is Dawn’s role in this collection? Why do you think her story comes at the end?

12. What do you believe is the ultimate message of “One Fell Swoop”?

March Bonus Book Club Selection
"All the Numbers" by Judy Merrill Larsen

1. One of the surprising moments in All the Numbers is Ellen's internal debate about organ donation. Were you surprised by her reaction when organ donation was suggested? Do you feel her reaction was realistic?

2. In the interview with Bev Marshall, Judy and Bev discuss the ending of the book. Was the ending satisfactory to you?

3. What constitutes a strong ending for a novel in your opinion? Have you been disappointed by a novel's ending in the past and how much bearing did that have on your opinion of the novel as a whole?

4. In the novel, Ellen is criticized for giving an interview to the media before the trial. Did you agree that she should have remained silent or did you feel the interview was appropriate? How influential do you feel the media is in our justice system?

5. Ellen clearly struggles with her romantic interest in Bob. Do you think she is unfair to him? Both Bob and Ellen recognize that they met because of James' death--whose argument seems more convincing to you--Bob's or Ellen's?

6. What do you think is most responsible for Ellen's change of heart regarding Ben Buchanan? Her mother's words seem to fall on deaf ears throughout most of the book--do they finally get through to her or is it seeing Ben's mom or running into Melanie? Or something else?

7. Does Ellen's position as a single mother make her more vulnerable? Does any of her anger with Ben Buchanan seem to get mixed up with her anger at Tim, her ex-husband?

8. The lake house is first introduced as Ellen's "happiest place"--and even the boys see it that way. Does that perhaps increase the horror of James' accident both for the reader and for Ellen? Do you think she would have the same desire for revenge if the accident had happened elsewhere?

9. When the defense attorneys first throw accusations at Ellen, she is stunned and mad at Bob that he didn't see it coming. Did you have any sense that she would be blamed? Do you fault her or feel that she has to bear some of the responsibility?

10. Ellen is very lucky to have good friends who have clearly sustained her over the years, and that continues with James' accident and death. What do you think their view of the trial is? Anna especially seems to stay out of the argument--do you get any hints as to whether she aggress with Ellen's mother that Ellen is being too punitive or aggressive with Ben? Do you think she is?

11. The relationship between Ellen and her son Daniel goes through some real changes--some of these would have occurred simply because of his burgeoning adolescence, others are due to James' death. How do you imagine their relationship 6 months after the final scene? How do you think he would feel about Bob and Ellen dating?

author of All the Numbers

http://www.judymerrilllarsen.com

http://notafraidofthefword.blogspot.com

http://mid-centurymodernmoms.typepad.com

Updated Press Release on Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club Meeting featuring a "PURSE RELEASE"!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Press Release on "PURSE RELEASE" our Literacy Promoting Effort in Honor of Author, Michael Lee West!

Dear Readers:

April 8, 2008, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. marks the occasion of The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas monthly meeting to be held at Beauty and the Book, 608 North Polk in historic Jefferson, Texas.

In honor of our author, Michael Lee West, of "Mermaids in the Basement", the Pulpwood Queens have been collecting all the purses they no longer carry and will stuff them with a good book. We will tag the purses, "FREE! COMPLIMENTS OF THE PULPWOOD QUEENS BOOK CLUB!". Inside will be a book with a letter stating that this purse has been released into the wild with the intention of showing that reading is FUN and reading is IMPORTANT! The next morning bright and early, The Pulpwood Queens will distribute the purses all over our community for someone to find these modern day "treasures"!
This "Purse Release" directly ties into Michael Lee West's book and as part of our literacy promoting efforts, this reading initiative will now be an annual event held each spring!
Ms. West will be calling from Tennessee for a teleconference with the Pulpwood Queens. Also calling in will be our Pulpwood Queen Bonus Book Club Selection authors, Virginia Boyd of "One Fell Swoop" from Durham, North Carolina,





and St. Louis, Missouri author, Judy Merrill Larsen of "All the Numbers"!

Special guest will be the North Dallas Book Club and we welcome others to come for a visit. Each Pulpwood Queen brings a covered dish with the focus this month on a "Carolina dish". There is a charge of $10.00 per person for guests for the meal that goes to our continuing literacy promoting efforts. You must call before you come to ensure we have a seat at the event for you, 903-665-7520.
The Pulpwood Queens Book Club is the largest "meeting and discussing" book club in the world. There motto is where "tiaras are mandatory and reading good books is the RULE!" There sole mission is to promote literacy, get the world reading, and to help undiscovered authors get discovered in a big way.
Please email kathy@beautyandthebook.com for more information on this event or call Beauty and the Book, 903-665-7520.
For more on Michael Lee West and her books go to: www.michaelleewest.com
For more on Virginia Boyd and her book go to: www.nelsonministryservices.com/nms/bio.asp?cid=3299 - 29k -
For more on Judy Merrill Larsen and her book go to: www.judymerrilllarsen.com

Introducing The Pulpwood Queens of Southwest Louisiana and MORE!

Dear Readers,
This photo is just in from Head Queen Kay Samec Huck of The Pulpwood Queens of Southwest Louisiana!
Since the beginning of the year during my book tour, I have had over 50 women approach me on beginning a Pulpwood Queen chapter in their hometowns and surrounding areas. I am thrilled to have you all view this amazing photo of one of our brand NEW chapters and to see just how many Kay has rounded up to join us on our literacy promoting mission. Bowing to the feet of our NEW QUEENS! Keep up the good work and Queen Kay thank you for sending in the photo and membership info! I crown you Queen for the day!
Now Head Queen Staci of The Pulpwood Queens of Warren County in Vicksburg, Mississippi was also recently featured as her NEW chapter made the news with a feature in The Vicksburg Post! We applaud her literacy efforts! Let me know what your chapter is doing too and send photos! I would love to feature you on our Pulpwood Queen blog site and try to post daily so view each day with your morning coffee. I usually have the post up bright and early.
Also here in some news that should be of interest to the Queens, see below and until tomorrow!
Tiara wearing and Book and Book Club sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com
www.KimberlyWillisHolt.com, featured this month in an interview with my friend and author, Kimberly!
P.S. Attention to all new and currently running chapters, send me a photo too and we'll feature your club's beautiful literacy promoting faces. Let's make this year we put a face to our literacy project! Be creative and let others see that to start a Pulpwood Queen Book Club chapter all you need is LOVE OF BOOKS!

Celebrate Library Week April 13th - 19th This is NOT the time to keep quiet about it! Libraries and librarians are vital in keeping our book reading alive. Julie Andrews is the Honorary Chair for National Library Week's 50th anniversary. Learn more about the VISIBLITY INITITATIVE. To all of you amazing librarians, book group expo gives a resounding "Shh!" - Thanks for supporting book groups and book lovers everywhere. And to our own Librarian-In-Residence, Lauren John, thanks for being a part of the book group expo team! If it's been a while, go visit your local city, county or private library in April! And then keep going back! Berlin in the 1970's Marcia Preston said "Standing beside the Berlin Wall in the 1970s, I saw a man who was old and alone, ranting at the East Berlin government that had walled him off from his family on the other side. His anguish was the seed that eventually became Trudy's Promise, about a mother separated from her baby by the Wall. Readers who recall the early sixties in America - the Kennedy years, the Cold War - will remember some of the events that affect Trudy's struggle." Trudy's Promise is the story of Trudy Hulst - who has no idea if her husband survived his attempted escape through the Berlin Wall. But she knows too well the consequence of his actions. Branded as the wife of a defector, she faces life in an East Berlin prison, leaving her baby without a mother or father. To protect her child she must abandon him - then fight history and politics to gain his freedom. Another book lover's resource If you haven't checked out Book Browse, the brain child of Davina Morgan-Witts, then it is time. Past time, really. In the same spirit as Reading Group Choices, Davina connects books and readers. Book Browse is a thriving and growing on-line community of booklovers. Book Browse is also an avid supporter of book group expo - and we certainly appreciate that. Thank you Paul and Davina! Books that make us think - and more! Many book groups across the country have read Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Gregory Mortenson. This is an inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia. Mortenson is one more example of how we can all make a difference, each in our own way. My way likely will not take me to Asia, but Three Cups of Tea and Gary Mortenson certainly did. An interesting companion book is What Is The What by Dave Eggers. This is a powerful story that is, well, relevant. It is sad, beautiful, horrible, real. Several articles have been written about the Lost Boys of Sudan, 60 Minutes has re-visited the story and there is a documentary as well. Dave Eggers shares a very personal story of Valention. A story that is at times absolutely heart-wrenching, only to again lift and soar with possibilities. It is an interesting "side by side read" to Three Cups of Tea. Both books share the "timeline" of September 11th. If you or your book group read them both, let us know what you think! A few new titles that we are reading at book group expo World Of Illusions by Temple H. Hernlund ... Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, a new book from Julie Andrews ... The Secret Scroll by Ronald Cutler ... and Joshua Henkins's Matrimony. Joshua has also been doing a lot of on-line groups. Jennie Shortridge, a book group expo author, has a new title called Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe. This is a story that begins in a small town on the Oregon Coast where middle-aged biology teacher Mira runs away from her perfect life, taking with her only a small singing dog named Patsy Cline and personal electrical device (rhymes with "shy dater"). She embarks on a journey of love, sex, and coffee in Fremont, Seattle - aka, the Center of the Universe. These are just a few ... and we will keep you posted on more.

What are you reading? Let us know, and let us know the authors you would like to see in our Literary Salons. Thanks for staying connected to us. We appreciate it - I appreciate it! If you know another avid reader, book group leader or librarian who would be interested in connecting with book group expo, please feel free to forward this newsletter. If you have book group news that we should know about, by all means e-mail us at connect@bookgroupexpo.com. Until then, keep those pages turning! Ann Kent, founder book group expo

THE BOOK REPORT - 4.2.8

Monthly show featuring authors of books for children and teens.

Interviews:
Kimberly Willis Holt, Piper Reed, Navy Brat (9780805081978)
Linda Sue Park, Keeping Score (9780618927999)

Elisabeth Grant-Gibson
Co-Host
The Book Report
www.thebookreport.net

produced by
Windows a bookshop
609 Park Avenue
Monroe LA 71201-4029
(318) 361-9004
www.windowsabookshop.com
Reporting Store: NYTimes & BookSense

LISTEN TO THE BOOK REPORT WEDNESDAY MORNINGS AT 8:00 CST www.thebookreport.net

March 5 - Meg Cabot, ALLIE FINKLE'S RULES FOR GIRLS; Alan Gratz, SOMETHING'S ROTTEN
March 12 - Josh Wolk, CABIN PRESSURE; Dan Koeppel, BANANA: THE FATE OF THE FRUIT THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
March 19 - Kate Torgovnik, CHEER!; Amy Sutherland, WHAT SHAMU TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE, LOVE, AND MARRIAGE
March 26 - Shirley Abbott, THE FUTURE OF LOVE; Hillary Jordan, MUDBOUND
April 2 - Kimberly Willis Holt, PIPER REED, NAVY BRAT; Linda Sue Park, KEEPING SCORE
www.thebookreport.net

Important Messages and Events from Pulpwood Queen Authors!

Dear Readers,
I am now trying to keep everybody in the know by posting daily from this blog site. Be sure and check out www.kimberlywillisholt.com, as she has featured The Pulpwood Queen herself in an interview.

Below you will also find messages and events from some of our favorite Pulpwood Queen authors.

Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
The Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com
www.ReadingGroupGuides.com

Trish Murphy, Harry Hunsicker, Will Clarke and Melanie Wells

At Garden Café

Writers in the Round: On Fiction, Truth, and Three Chords

A STRICTLY-FOR-FUN GATHERING OF SMART-MOUTHED FICTION WRITERS AND ONE LUCKY GUITAR, TRADING STORIES AND SONGS

Catch four creative souls on Thursday, April 17 6-8 p.m. at the Garden Café, 5310 Junius St. in East Dallas. Singer/songwriter Trish Murphy will join Dallas-based authors Will Clarke, Harry Hunsicker and Melanie Wells for a night of songs and stories. Admission is free. Call (214) 887-8330 for more information.

Recording artist Trish Murphy officially launched her music career after receiving a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Dallas, in Irving, and quitting her college job at The Wall Street Journal. Critically esteemed as a gender-defying songwriter who "stands toe to toe with the boys and rocks just as hard as they do," her discography includes four solo albums, three of which she released on her own label. She tours the U.S. and Europe, and the annual all-female Lilith Fair tour was a career highlight in the late 1990s. Her songs have also been recorded by fellow Texan Pat Green and CMT favorites Cross Canadian Ragweed. http://www.trishmurphy.com

Melanie Wells began her writing career by telling lies on the playground. A licensed psychotherapist and accomplished fiddle player, she is the author of When the Day of Evil Comes, The Soul Hunter, and My Soul to Keep. She lives in Dallas with her dog, Gunner, who wishes she would not spend so much time at her computer and who very much dislikes swans. http://www.melaniewells.com

Will Clarke is the author of Lord Vishnu's Love Handles: A Spy Novel (sort of) and The Worthy: A Ghost's Story. Both books have been selected as The New York Times Editors' Choice. He is also the author of the controversial essay "How to Kill A Boy That Nobody Likes" which was published in the Free Press Anthology, When I Was a Loser: True Stories of (Barely) Surviving High School. Clarke is known for using the supernatural (a psychic dot-com millionaire and the ghost of a dead frat boy) to trick the cynical eye into seeing the madness of the mundane.

Harry Hunsicker lives in Dallas where he writes crime thrillers about a private investigator named Lee Henry Oswald. His debut, Still River was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First Novel. His latest novel is entitled Crosshairs and was released in August 2007. Hunsicker, a fourth-generation native of Dallas, is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the Private Eye Writers of American, the International Association of Crime Writers, and the International Thriller Writers. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the Mystery Writers of America. http://www.harryhunsicker.com

Lisa Taylor

Dedicated to Promoting Culture

214-943-1099

Cell 214-914-1099

923 Salmon Dr.

Dallas, TX 75208

www.taylor-madepress.com

...the trees, though not fully clothed, were in that delightful state when farther beauty is known to be at hand, and when, while much is actually given to the sight, more yet remains for the imagination.

Jane Austen's Mansfield Park

Dear Kathy, 2008 may be an election year, but it's also turning out to be the year of Jane Austen. In fact, I think it's time we focus on a new candidate: Jane in '08. Masterpiece Theatre has been doing its part for Jane in '08 by rolling out new films and old favorites, from the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice mini to the latest and newest, Sense and Sensibility. If you missed the broadcast, you can always get the DVD. It's well worth watching. I'll be happy to tell why in my guest post on PBS.org's Remotely Connected. In all this fuss about the latest Austen-related movies, it's important to remember that six great novels made all that fuss possible. If your book group is looking for a lively discussion, or if you'd just like to read about why Austen's stories are still relevant today, check out my ongoing series of posts on the novels: Northanger Abbey: Austen's Coming-of-Age Story For All Ages Persuasion: Jane Austen's Story About Second Chances Mansfield Park: Jane Austen's Most Controversial Novel Pride and Prejudice: Once Upon a Time, Before There Was Colin Firth Emma; or How Jane Austen Revealed My Inner Know-It-All Masterpiece's Complete Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility Reading (or re-reading Austen) is the perfect way to welcome spring. So is planning your next vacation. Therefore, I'm pleased to announce that the fare to 1813 England has dropped significantly. Be sure to book your excursion for April 29, when Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict comes out in paperback. Just stop by here and click on the "purchase the book" button to pre-order your tickets; I mean, copies. Bon voyage! Another fun springtime activity for all you bibliophiles is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Come and see me on the panel entitled Fiction from the Heart, moderated by Connie Martinson, host of Connie Martinson Talks Books. My fellow panelists are Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman, authors of Literacy and Longing in L.A. and A Version of the Truth; and Leslie Lehr, author of Wife Goes On. Should be great fun. Panel is on Sunday, April 27, 12:00 to 1:00 PM, UCLA, Rolfe 1200. Event is free but requires a ticket. Please click here for ticket information. May this spring bring you much happiness, Laurie -- Laurie Viera Rigler laurie@janeaustenaddict.com janeaustenaddict.com BOOKS-A-MILLION FICTION BOOK PREVIEW CLUB ====================================== This week's book: FAMILY ACTS by Louise Shaffer Featured at: www.BookPreviewClub@booksamillion.com *