Darienite (https://darienite.com/category/books-authors/page/6)
Events and other news about books, authors and author appearances
James Patterson, who holds the Guinness World Record for the most No. 1 New York Times bestsellers, is visiting Darien Library with his wife, Susan. The two are co-authors of a children’s book, Cuddly Critters for Little Geniuses. The visit takes place starting at 3 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 29.
Celebrate summer reading with novelist Beatriz Williams on Thursday, July 12 at Darien Library as she discusses her new blockbuster novel of the season, The Summer Wives, a postwar fable of love, class, power, and redemption set on a New England island. About The Summer Wives
In the summer of 1951, Miranda Schuyler arrives on exclusive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in the Second World War. When her mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop overlooks the famous lighthouse, Miranda is catapulted into a heady new world of pedigrees and cocktails, status and swimming pools. — an announcement from Darien Library
Yet beneath the island’s patrician surface there are really two clans: the summer families with their traditional customs and quiet obsessions, and the working class of Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries of the summer houses. As the summer winds to its end, Miranda finds herself caught in the island’s web of secrets and a catastrophe that will shatter Winthrop’s hard-won tranquility.
Where were you on the night of June 23rd? I- I- I was at CrimeCONN at Ferguson Library in Stamford, detective! I swear it! … Oh, a criminal enterprise!
The daughter of aviator-authors Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is coming to Barrett Bookstore at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 16 to speak about her new memoir, Two Lives. Reeve Lindbergh writes about the intersection of fame and privacy from her unique perspective — as the spokesperson for what was, arguably, the most famous family of the 20th century. In her new book, Lindbergh reflects on her own “two lives,” navigating her role as the public face of her family while, at the same time, leading a very quiet existence in rural Vermont. After devoting years to keeping separate her “Lindbergh life” and her everyday life on her farm, she now finds herself able to make peace with her two lives. Lindbergh takes us into the National Air and Space Museum and her own kitchen drawers with equal ease, discovering that the history-making items on display are, for her, like the memorabilia that most families keep in the attic.
Three authors who have books coming out just in time for great summer reading will be at Barrett Bookstore’s annual “Ladies of Summer” evening. All three novels are perfect to put in your beach bag or take along on vacation. The fourth annual event,with authors Lauren Weisberger, Karen White and Hannah McKinnon, will start at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 21. “It is a lot of fun to hear the authors discuss the backstory of their new novels.” said Sheila Daley, owner of Barrett Bookstore. — an announcement from Barrett Bookstore
Tickets include a glass of wine, hors d’oeuvres and a 10 percent discount on any books purchased at the event.
Christopher Buckley will be at Barrett Bookstore at on Saturday, May 19 at 6 p.m. to speak about his new novel, “The Judge Hunter.”
For many years, Buckley skewered the Washington establishment with his sharp wit, writing hilarious novels like,” No Way to Treat a First Lady, “Supreme Courtship” and “Thank You for Smoking.”
— an announcement from Barrett Bookstore
Now that the political situation has become so whacky that it defies satire, he looks to the past for material and discovers that time holds no immunity to skullduggery and outrageous behavior. Buckley’s first effort at historical fiction, “The Relic Master,” received rave reviews. The Wall Street Journal said, “We may be in 1517, but this is still a political send-up, and it’s as rascally and convivial as any that Mr. Buckley has written.”
Now in “The Judge Hunter,” Buckley takes the same bawdy, irreverent approach and spins a tale of adventure, comedy, political intrigue, and romance with real-life characters. His wit is as sharp as ever as he takes readers to 17th century London and New England as we visit the bawdy court of Charles II, Boston under the strict Puritan rule, and New Amsterdam back when Manhattan was a half-wild outpost on the edge of an unmapped continent. In a starred review, Kirkus writes,: “A witty bromance about international intrigue.
Barrett Bookstore is joining 20 Connecticut bookstores to celebrate INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY! For many of you who have trouble driving past a bookstore, here is a great opportunity to get on the road and visit as many of the unique independents scattered through the state as your time and energy permits. UPDATE:
Here’s the list of bookstores and the map:
Here’s the map. If you eliminate the five farthest flung bookstores from here (or just about, because I-95 makes everything to the south a bit “closer”) then you can take a trip east on Saturday and,when bookstore hours are shorter, a trip north on Sunday. How’s that for a strategy?
Angela Santomero, author of Preschool Clues: Raising Smart, Inspired, and Engaged Kids in a Screen-Filled World, will speak from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 3 at Darien Library. We’ve all heard warnings about watching too much TV and compulsively looking at our phones. Looking at children we love, we wonder about screen-time and its effects on their development. — an announcement from Darien Library
Some parents are consumed by guilt — but should they be? Like eating, media diets can be healthy or unhealthy.
Kevin Peraino, veteran foreign correspondent, will discuss the fall of Nationalist China and the triumph of Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949 on Wednesday, March 21, 2018, at the Darien Men’s Association. “It was an extraordinary political revolution that shapes East Asian politics to this day,” Peraino says. — an announcement from the Darien Men’s Association
“The events led to decades of friction with Communist China, a U.S. commitment to Taiwan, and the wars in Korea and Vietnam.”
Drawing on Chinese and Russian sources, plus CIA documents, he reveals what happened through the eyes of the key players: Mao, Truman, Secretary of State Acheson, Congressman Walter Judd and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Peraino’s latest book is titled A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman and the Birth of Modern China, 1949. The talk will start at 10:45 a.m. and is open to the public. Darien Men’s Association meetings are held at the Darien Community Association, 274 Middlesex Road, Darien.
Tickets are now on sale to the public for the OPUS for Person-to-Person Spring Luncheon, to be held on Thursday, March 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Woodway Country Club. Anna Quindlen, a critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling author, will be the guest speaker at the luncheon, which is sponsored by Barrett Bookstore. Proceeds from the OPUS Spring Luncheon will go to the Emergency Fund at Person-to-Person, which provides emergency financial assistance for security deposits, rents and utilities. Tickets are available on the OPUS website. Individual tickets are $110 per person, which includes lunch and a signed copy of Ms. Quindlen’s new book, Alternate Side.
Anya Kamenetz, the lead digital education reporter for National Public Radio, will be in Darien on Feb. 1 to talk about her new book, The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media & Real Life.’
Kamenetz will speak at 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 1 at Ox Ridge School. Her talk is sponsored by the YWCA of Darien/Norwalk. Her stop in Darien is part of the author’s tour for the book, which goes on sale Jan.
Roz Chast, a cartoonist whose works have appeared in the New Yorker and author most recently of Going Into Town, will speak at 7 p.m. (not 2 p.m., as originally announced) on Thursday, Nov. 2 at Darien Library. From the No. 1 NYT bestselling author of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Roz Chast’s new graphic memoir — a hilarious illustrated ode/guide/thank-you note to Manhattan as only she could write it.
Darien resident Richard L. Chilton Jr.’s love affair with wine began in 1976, when his parents converted an old bomb shelter on their property into a wine cellar. Over the next 40 years, he came to understand that wine expertise involves a journey, an endless stream of vintages, unique regions, and perfect pairings with different kinds of foods. Now a co-owner of Hourglass Vineyard, an award-winning winery in Napa Valley, he shares his knowledge in his engaging guide Adventures with Old Vines: A Beginner’s Guide to Being a Wine Connoisseur. On Saturday, Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m, Chilton, will be at Barrett Bookstore, 314 Heights Road, at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov.
Kyle Cassidy, author and photographer of This is What a Librarian Looks Like, will be the featured speaker at Friends of the Darien Library’s annual meeting on Saturday, Oct. 21. This is What a Librarian Looks Like is a photographic and written ode to more than 200 librarians and libraries from all 50 states and Canada, their essential value to our communities, and the importance of open access to information for all. Prior to Kyle’s presentation, learn about the year’s developments from Kevin Gasvoda, President of the Board. Election of officers and new trustee nominations for the 2017-18 year will be held.
Jeannette Walls, author of the bestselling book “The Glass Castle,” a memoir of resilience and redemption, will be the keynote speaker at Person-to-Person’s “Transforming Lives Luncheon,” a fundraising event for the organization on Oct. 26. Walls will share the story of her childhood — a turbulent, free-spirited adventure punctuated by poverty and neglect — and how it shaped her life. The second annual “Transforming Lives Luncheon” will be held on Oct. 26, a Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wee Burn Country Club, 410 Hollow Tree Ridge Road.