Entertainment First

By Tina LoTufo

January 24, 2013

January 24, 2013 Coke and Pepsi McDonald never planned on a life filled with danger and adventure, but after the thirteen-year-old twins are invited to join the Genius Files—a group with a mission to solve the world’s problems—they find themselves dodging murderous villains and outsmarting zany attempts on their lives. Unfortunately for them (but luckily for their fans), a cross-country trip with their parents isn’t going to save them. In You Only Die Twice (The Genius Files #3) by bestselling author Dan Gutman, Coke and Pepsi’s journey home begins, and the action and suspense are exceeded only by the number of nutty roadside attractions their parents make them visit. Gutman will discuss You Only Die Twice on January 29 at 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood.

YA Central?

By Tina LoTufo

December 19, 2012

December 19, 2012 This fall, four Nashville authors are no doubt hoping their new books will ride the current wave of YA popularity among adults as well as teens. Sci-fi author Myra McEntire’s Timepiece is the second installment of her “Hourglass” time-travel trilogy. In What’s Left of Me, debut novelist (and Vanderbilt undergraduate) Kat Zhang imagines an alternate reality in which “hybrid” humans suffer persecution. C. J. Redwine’s Defiance introduces fantasy-lovers to a land of dangerous creatures and bloody tyranny. And Kathryn Williams turns to the kitchen and the world of reality shows with the delightful Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous.

The Magazine at the Corner of Second and Church

By Tina LoTufo

December 10, 2012

December 10, 2012 In May 2011, Roy Burkhead was hit by a car at the intersection of Church Street and 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville. (He was not seriously injured.) In many people, such an experience might spark musings on mortality, but for Burkhead it sparked the idea for a literary journal. “This event forced me to pause and look around,” he says. “I was interested to realize just how many different aspects of Nashville were represented from this particular spot of town. Maybe it was the impact of the bumper, but I started to ponder that this specific spot could work as a great metaphor, a virtual location in this actual city.” One year later, he published the first issue of 2nd & Church.

London Calling

By Tina LoTufo

November 15, 2012

November 15, 2012 When brainy, uptight, rule-following Julia Lichtenstein sets out on her junior-year class trip to London, she can’t wait to soak up the old-world ambiance of historical sites associated with her literary heroes. But that’s before Mrs. Tennison, her teacher and chaperone, alphabetically assigns each student a buddy, and Julia is suddenly saddled with Jason Lippincott, a vulgar, arrogant, rule-breaking jerk. Of course, opposites attract and romance ensues, but as William Shakespeare himself once wrote, “The course of true love never did run smooth.” In Meant To Be, the new YA novel by Maryville native Lauren Morrill, Julia is in for a bumpy ride indeed. Lauren Morrill will discuss Meant to Be at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on November 16 at 6 p.m.

Steady as Time

By Tina LoTufo

November 13, 2012

November 13, 2012 The difficulty of finding work during the Depression drew poet and novelist James Still to Knott County, Kentucky, but it was the wild beauty of the place that kept him there. As he got to know the fiercely independent inhabitants of a harsh landscape, he began to write about their lives. In The Hills Remember, editor Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, has put together a collection of Still’s short pieces spanning more than forty years. In them Still’s own voice emerges, as clear and as pure as a dipperful of cold mountain water.

A Brain on Fire

By Tina LoTufo

October 25, 2012

October 25, 2012 Mem Fox believes passionately that a good book has the power to move a reader “profoundly, one way or another—to laughter or tears, horror or delight, disgust or dismay, fascination or fright. If a book makes children laugh, cry, squeal, shiver, or wriggle and jiggle in some way, it takes up residence in their hearts and stays there.” Inspired by decades of experience as an educator, an award-winning children’s book author, and a parent, Fox considers her most important role to be crusading for the importance of reading aloud to young children, which she believes is an absolutely essential component in a child’s healthy development. On November 5 at 6:15 p.m., Mem Fox will appear at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series. The event is free and open to the public.