Literati is pleased to welcome sports reporter Tom VanHaaren who will be sharing his new book about the University of Michigan football program, The Road to Ann Arbor: Incredible Twists and Improbable Turns Along the Michigan Recruiting Trail.
About The Road to Ann Arbor:
Why did Desmond Howard spurn Nick Saban to play in Ann Arbor? How did Michigan really find All-American offensive lineman Reggie McKenzie? What did Bo Schembechler do that surprised Mark Messner and his family? And why was Tom Brady recruited so late in the process? The Road to Ann Arbor reveals how many Wolverines greats became just that. ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren takes fans back to the start and behind the scenes of the college recruiting process, showing that the path to The Big House is not always straight and narrow.
Tom VanHaaren is a college football and recruiting reporter for ESPN, which he joined in 2011.
Readings by 7 authors being published by this AADL imprint. Books include Tracy Gallup’s Paint the Night (picture book), Zac Gorman’s So Thirsty (all-ages comic), Linda Jeffries’ We Thought We Knew You (adult fiction), Brad and Kirstin Northrup’s Akeina the Crocodile (picture book), V.W. Shurtliff’s Setting the Record Straight (teen fantasy), and Tevah Platt, Willa Thiel, and Becky Grover’s Snail, I Love You (picture book).
1-3 p.m., AADL Downtown 1st fl. lobby. Free. 327-4200.
The Ann Arbor District Library and Literati Bookstore are proud to present author Mike Curato who be giving a special storytime reading of his new book Merry Christmas, Little Elliot.
About Merry Christmas, Little Elliot:
Best friends Little Elliot and Mouse are back for another adventure–and this time, they’re looking for Christmas spirit!
Little Elliot the elephant isn’t quite sure what Christmas spirit is, but he suspects he doesn’t have it. Not even a visit to Santa Claus can put Elliot in the right mood. But when chance blows a letter for Santa into Elliot and Mouse’s path, the two friends discover what Christmas is all about–and make a new friend, too. A heartfelt celebration of the season of giving! Perfect for sharing around the holidays.
Mike Curato is an illustrator who loves small treasures. He has illustrated many books for children and is the author and illustrator of Little Elliot, Big City; Little Elliot, Big Family; Little Elliot, Big Fun; and Little Elliot, Fall Friends. You can find him on any given day walking around the city, eating a cupcake (or thinking about it).
Reading by this local poet, a Neutral Zone advisor.
7 p.m. Espresso Royale, 324 S. State. $5 suggested donation. facebook.com/AnnArborPoetry.
Literati is thrilled to welcome Jospeh Fink to the lobby of the Ann Arbor District Library Downtown in support of his novel, Alice Isn’t Dead, a novel that expands the story told in the hit podcast of the same name. A signing will follow the event. A copy of Alice Isn’t Dead you wish to have signed is required to join the signing line. Literati will have copies of the book available to sale at the event, and copies will be available in the store starting when the book goes on sale on October 30th. You can also pre-order the book to pick-up at the store or the event at our website of by calling 734-585-5567. Additional event details TBA.
About the book: From the New York Times bestselling co-author of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead.
“This is not a story. It’s a road trip.”
Keisha Taylor lived a quiet life with her wife, Alice, until the day that Alice disappeared. After months of searching, presuming she was dead, Keisha held a funeral, mourned, and gradually tried to get on with her life. But that was before Keisha started to see her wife, again and again, in the background of news reports from all over America. Alice isn’t dead, and she is showing up at every major tragedy and accident in the country.
Following a line of clues, Keisha takes a job with a trucking company, Bay and Creek Transportation, and begins searching for Alice. She eventually stumbles on an otherworldly conflict being waged in the quiet corners of our nation’s highway system–uncovering a conspiracy that goes way beyond one missing woman.
Why did Alice disappear? What does she have to do with this secret war between inhuman killers? Why did the chicken cross the road? These questions, and many more will be answered in Alice Isn’t Dead.
About the author: Joseph Fink created the Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead podcasts. He lives with his wife in New York.
Washington, D.C.-based journalist Katherine Reynolds Lewis reads from her new book offering a theory of disciplining kids that involves building their skills to address the root causes of misbehavior.
7-8:30 p.m., AADL Downtown 1st fl. lobby. Free. 327-4200
Literati Bookstore is thrilled to welcome Lindsay-Jean Hard who will be sharing her new cookbook Cooking with Scraps: Turn Your Peels, Cores, Rinds, and Stems Into Delicious Meals
About Cooking with Scraps:
“A whole new way to celebrate ingredients that have long been wasted. Lindsay-Jean is a master of efficiency and we’re inspired to follow her lead!” –Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, cofounders of Food52
In 85 innovative recipes, Lindsay-Jean Hard shows just how delicious and surprising the all-too-often-discarded parts of food can be, transforming what might be considered trash into culinary treasure.
Here’s how to put those seeds, stems, tops, rinds to good use for more delicious (and more frugal) cooking: Carrot greens–bright, fresh, and packed with flavor–make a zesty pesto. Water from canned beans behaves just like egg whites, perfect for vegan mayonnaise that even non-vegans will love. And serve broccoli stems olive-oil poached on lemony ricotta toast. It’s pure food genius, all the while critically reducing waste one dish at a time.
“I love this book because the recipes matter…show[ing] us how to utilize the whole plant, to the betterment of our palate, our pocketbook, and our place.” –Eugenia Bone, author of The Kitchen Ecosystem
“Packed with smart, approachable recipes for beautiful food made with ingredients that you used to throw in the compost bin!” –Cara Mangini, author of The Vegetable Butcher
Lindsay-Jean Hard received her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan. Her education and passion for sustainability went on to inform and inspire her work in the garden, home, and community. The seeds of this book were planted in her Food52 column of the same name. Today she works to share her passion for great food and great communities as a marketer at Zingerman’s Bakehouse. She lives, writes, loves, and creates in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Emory University (Atlanta) English professor Michelle Wright reads from Physics of Blackness, her 2015 book about how different cultures and historical moments define blackness.
4-6 p.m., 2021C Tisch Hall, 435 S. State. Free. 763-2351
Seattle writer Sharon H. Chang reads from Hapa Tales and Other Lies, her new memoir that explores her Asian American and mixed race identity through the prism of a Hawaii vacation that turns into something more when she gets involved with the Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement. The program begins with an open mike for poets, who are welcome to read their own work or a favorite poem by another writer.
7 p.m., Bookbound, 1729 Plymouth. Free. 369-4345.
Literati Bookstore is thrilled to welcome Susan Orlean to the lobby of the Ann Arbor District Library in support of her latest, The Library Book. Copies of this new book and Orlean’s other titles will be available for sale, courtesy of Literati Bookstore.
About The Library Book: Susan Orlean, hailed as a “national treasure” by The Washington Post and the acclaimed bestselling author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief, reopens the unsolved mystery of the most catastrophic library fire in American history, and delivers a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution–our libraries.
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, “Once that first stack got going, it was Goodbye, Charlie.” The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. Investigators descended on the scene, but over thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library–and if so, who?
Weaving her life-long love of books and reading with the fascinating history of libraries and the sometimes-eccentric characters who run them, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean presents a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling story as only she can. With her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, she investigates the legendary Los Angeles Public Library fire to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives. To truly understand what happens behind the stacks, Orlean visits the different departments of the LAPL, encountering an engaging cast of employees and patrons and experiencing alongside them the victories and struggles they face in today’s climate. She also delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from a metropolitan charitable initiative to a cornerstone of national identity. She reflects on her childhood experiences in libraries; studies arson and the long history of library fires; attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and she re-examines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the library over thirty years ago. Along the way, she reveals how these buildings provide much more than just books–and that they are needed now more than ever.
Filled with heart, passion, and unforgettable characters, The Library Book is classic Susan Orlean, and an homage to a beloved institution that remains a vital part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country and culture.
About Susan Orlean: Susan Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992. She is the author of seven books, including Rin Tin Tin, Saturday Night, and The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award-winning film Adaptation. She lives with her family and her animals in upstate New York.
