Chris Crowley to speak at Prime of Life Festival

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Sarah Chain

Chris Crowley will speak at the 16th annual Prime of Life Festival in York PAHead to the York Expo Center at noon May 22 to hear NY Times best-selling author Chris Crowley speak at the Prime of Life Festival. Crowley has written two books on fitness, wellness and aging: “Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond” and “Younger Next Year for Women.”

As the keynote speaker for the Prime of Life Festival, Crowley will focus on advice for living “a full, long and happy life,” according to a press release. The “Younger Next Year” books have sold more than a million copies and have been translated into 20 languages worldwide.

The festival runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and celebrates its 16th year on Tuesday, offering informative seminars, entertainment, and events including the Fun Walk, Pet Show and free bingo. Parking and admission are free. For details, visit primeoflife.org.

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‘One Life’ by Christiaan Barnard and Curtis Bill Pepper

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Teresa Cook

Dr. Christiaan Barnard is the South African surgeon who was the first to successfully transplant a human heart from one person to another.

This book is his autobiography from his youth up through the eventful days surrounding the transplant that made history in 1967.

I happened to pick up this old book and started reading the first page. I was hooked by Barnard’s description of pumping air into the organ his mother played in church.

Barnard grew up very poor, the son of the pastor of a colored church in Beaufort West, South Africa. His mother played the organ in the white church to make extra money because her husband was paid less than the pastor of the white church.
Continue reading →

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Comic Book Wednesday: ‘Fanboys vs. Zombies’

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Bethany Fehlinger

“Fanboys vs. Zombies” was supposed to be a look into the geek mind: a group of friends go to San Diego Comic Con (otherwise known as mecca is some circles.) While there, something amazing happens around them, something most geeks discuss in length — a zombie outbreak.

But to me, the first issue felt like high school bickering, name-dropping and a bit of a mess. I am not alone.

According to Spencer Perry from shocktillyoudrop.com:

On paper, it sounds like it has potential to be one of the coolest forays into the geek lifestyle that one could think of. … ‘Fanboys vs. Zombies’ perpetuates the most ludicrous of nerd stereotypes that is almost unreadable.

Continue reading →

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‘For One More Day’ by Mitch Albom

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Rebecca LeFever

I’ve never been a big fan of audio books. I remember being in middle school and getting ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ on cassette because it was on my required reading list for that year. I listened to it in my bedroom while I put clothes away, organized my plastic ponies and laid on my bed — staring at the ceiling.

I hadn’t listened to an audio book since.

But last week I had to take the closest thing a journalist gets to a business trip. I drove twelve hours in two days to interview people for a story. And during that drive, after I listened to all my burned CDs from high school and couldn’t find any more radio stations as I drove west through Pennsylvania, I pulled out an audio book I selected from Martin Library. Continue reading →

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Author to speak on wisdom, age at OLLI lecture

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Sarah Chain

Karl PillemerPenn State York’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s (OLLI) will hold its first Founders’ Day Lecture at 11:30 a.m. May 17, with author Karl Pillemer as the featured speaker.

A professor at Cornell University, Pillemer has written “30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans.” He will speak about “his extensive experience as a gerontologist and his relationships with the mature American population,” according to a press release.

Through his Legacy Project, Pillemer spoke with older Americans nationwide to find out the most important lessons they’d learned in their many years. He then wrote “30 Lessons” based on the project and its responses, which ranged from secrets for happiness and a fulfilling career to tips on marriage and raising children.

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‘A Prayer for Owen Meany’ by John Irving

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Sarah Chain

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John IrvingJohn Irving is, apparently, a legend. A recent article in Time magazine called him “as close as one gets to a contemporary Dickens.” But the first I’d heard of him was last month through World Book Night —
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” was on the 2012 list of books.

So when I saw it in Books-A-Million the other week,
I picked it up to read the back cover. And then I couldn’t put it down. The novel tells the story of two 11-year-old best friends growing up in the early 1950s. One summer during a Little League game, one boy hits a foul ball that kills his friend’s mother.

The book opens, “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice — not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”

I was immediately hooked.

Continue reading →

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Series Sunday: ‘Destined’

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Caryn Rupert

Many books in my book queue are waiting to be read, and a common theme among them is they’re all part of a series, trilogy or saga. Each Sunday, I’ll share a book from a series. You can read along with me, or add the books to your own reading list. This week, I’ll be reviewing “Destined” the ninth book in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. The tenth book, “Hidden,” is set for release in October.

I have to say, while I love a good book series, I was uniformly disappointed by this one. The final book in the House of Night series for now was a great disappointment.

The series continues with Rephaim being allowed into the House of Night to take vampyre classes, but the student body does not accept him. Neferet brings in some more evil red fledglings (not to be confused with the group of good red fledglings Stevie Rae leads) and they cause trouble among the students.

Neferet also has a new minion, Aurox, whose soul the goddess Nyx replaced with Heath’s soul. So we get to see Heath again, if only the spirit of him. I was so tired of his annoying character, so when he died, I was kind of glad he was out of the way. Continue reading →

Posted in Book review, Fantasy, Fiction, P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast, Romance novels, Series Sunday, Teen books | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Buzz remembers reading with Mom

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Sarah Chain

Mother's Day booksBy SARAH CHAIN
Daily Record / York Sunday News

I have loved reading from the time I was young. Trips to the library were long, drawn-out adventures as my mom would take books from the shelves and slip them into our bag, pausing every so often to flip through pages.

But most of all, I remember my mom reading to me. My favorite book was “The Napping House,” by Audrey Wood. Grandma is fast asleep in her bed, but as the rhymes go on, she is joined by a sleeping child, and a sleeping dog, and cat, and mouse … and then a mischievous flea, who causes quite a commotion.

I think it was the suspense that pulled me in, as my mother and I would flip each page. I gleefully waited for the flea to upset everyone’s quiet slumber.

In honor of Mother’s Day, a few Book Buzz contributors shared their memories of the books their mothers read aloud.

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Scott Mingus to give talk on ‘Flames Beyond Gettysburg’

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Sarah Chain

Flames Beyond Gettysburg by Scott Mingus Jr.Join Manchester Township author Scott Mingus Sr. for a presentation of Jubal Early’s invasion of York County at 6:30 p.m. May 17.

Mingus’ talk will be adapted from his 2009 book, “Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Confederate Expedition to the Susquehanna River.” The book was updated and revised in 2011.

The talk will take place at Guthrie Memorial Library, 2 Library Place in Hanover. Books will be available for $20, which includes PA sales tax.

More:
– ‘Flames Beyond Gettysburg’ research brings forth fresh facts about Civil War in York County via York Town Square

Posted in Author visit, Book news, Civil War books, Library events, Local author, Local history, Nonfiction, War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Investors pay $850,000 for Batman No. 1 comic

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Bethany Fehlinger

From the Associated Press:

In this undated photo provided Thursday by Heritage Auctions, A No. 1 copy of the Batman comic book is shown. A collector has sold a Batman No. 1 comic to an investment partnership for $850,000. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)

DALLAS — A collector has sold a Batman No. 1 comic to an investment partnership for $850,000.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions arranged the private transaction and announced the sale Thursday.

Heritage vice president Ed Jaster says the collector had paid $315,000 for the comic about two years ago. The comic book cost 10 cents when it was published in 1940.

Jaster says the comic is in near-mint condition. The identities of the seller and investors were not revealed.

Jaster says Batman first appeared in Detective Comics No. 27 in 1939 and became so popular that he got his own series the next year.

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