Books

Books Rick Coates Cloud 9: New book aims to teach kids traditional values 1/24/11
By Rick Coates
At 64, Larry Kuhnke has opened a new “chapter” in his life: that of an author. After a career in the airline and banking industries Kuhnke decided to impart his wisdom unto others. But instead of writing about his observations and knowledge from his professional world, he decided on sharing his insights on how to best pursue a life of happiness. Advice that he hopes the younger generation will grasp early in life and carry with them into adulthood.
This Saturday, January 29, the Traverse City author will sign copies of his book “Cloud 9” at Horizon Books in Traverse City from 2 to 4 pm.
Kuhnke believes that it is “easier to learn while you are young than when you grow older.” He wrote “Cloud 9” with the idea that it would serve as a conversation starter between parents or grandparents and children. The 80-page book has 43 chapters, each representing an important value to live by.

Books Harley L. Sachs The eBook Revolution
By Harley L. Sachs
The electronic book has finally come into its own, and chances are you
may even have received one under the Christmas tree this year, with an
estimated 6.6 million ebook readers sold in 2010.
If you are one of the electronically challenged, an ebook is read on
a screen instead of being printed on paper. An ebook, digital magazine
or newspaper can be downloaded off the Internet to your PC, Mac,
Kindle, Nook, iPad, or any number of screen gadgets, even in some
instances to your digital phone. Not everyone wants to read a novel on
a tiny cell phone screen, but times are a-changing.

Books Rick Coates Dean Robb: An Unlikely Radical
New book covers the activist attorney’s career
By Rick Coates
Attorney Dean Robb leans back in his chair as he reviews documents at his
computer-less desk in his Suttons Bay law office. A portrait of Abe
Lincoln towers over him from behind, while on the wall next to him are
three photographs that are from pivotal moments in his life. One is from
1963 with Martin Luther King at the first ever conference of “white and
black” lawyers that Robb helped to convene, the second photograph is with
South African civil rights (anti-apartheid) leader Nelson Mandela, who
served as his country’s president from 1994-99. The third picture is of
Robb’s youngest son Matthew with President Obama.

Books Erin Crowell The Science of Santa : Flight of the Reindeer celebrates 15th anniversary edition 12/13/10
By Erin Crowell
Santa Claus is real.
We knew it when we were five and if we’re lucky, we know it now.
Being a young believer, I thought I had the answer around age five, playing in the snowy yard of my parent’s farmhouse—a few days past Christmas—when I looked up and saw a mark on the side of the chimney: a wet spot only a fat man could make brushing his snow-covered belly against the brick.
“It’s not from Santa,” my sister had said, rolling her eyes.
Despite her having three years of life experience on me, I remained confident that the Man in Red had lapsed in caution, leaving evidence of his existence (other than a trail of cookie crumbs).
It was a moment that brought the stars a little closer to earth and the magic surrounding Christmas shine a bit brighter -- and it has stuck with me to this day.
Maybe you have had one of these aha! moments...maybe you’re a doubter – a left-brained logical since birth. After all, how could one man circle the globe and deliver gifts to all the world’s children in one night?
With flying reindeer, of course.

Books Glen D. Young A Peek Inside:Mary Jane Doerr offers the keys to Bay View
By Glen Young
Bay View, An American Idea
By Mary Jane Doerr
Color Photography and Giclee Fine Art Prints by Robert Cleveland
Priscilla Press

Many locals and visitors to Northern Michigan believe they know the
story of the Bay View Association, Petoskey’s seasonal Victorian
neighbor. Regular promotion surrounds the neighborhood’s theatre,
music, and educational programs, while the Bay View Inn and the
Terrace Inn welcome guests and diners just as they have for
generations.

Books Robert Downes On the Trail of Peter Matthiessen
By Robert Downes
Author Peter Matthiessen reached a summit in his literary career years
ago during an expedition to find a rare and elusive snow leopard in
the Himalayas. A student of Buddhism, the search for the nearly
extinct cat became a metaphor for his own quest for enlightenment in
the 1978 book, “The Snow Leopard.”

Books Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli A Daughter Remembers Alice
By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
The new memoir, “I Remember Alice: A Story of Her Family, An Unusual Courtship, and Counseling of the Spirit” self-published by Palma Richardson of Traverse City, is an odd book. I was confused many times as I read it: who was who, who was related to whom, where I was in time. The book has all the problems of most self-published books, and yet I was charmed by not only the author’s voice, but the voices of family members who chimed in from time to time as if everyone sat around the family dinner table, maybe after a wake, trotting out their memories—good and bad.

Books Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli Years ago, Don Piper was pronounced dead after a horrific auto accident crushed his car. For 90 minutes he lay lifeless, with medics attending to others since he was without a pulse. It wasn’t until a friend and pastor, who happened to be in the area, stopped to pray with the dead man and sing over him, that Piper returned to life, waking to his own voice singing a much-loved hymn.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli Seeking Asylum: New book illuminates quest for mental health in Northern Michigan
By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
REVIEW:
“Northern Michigan Asylum”
By William A. Decker, M.D.
Arbutus Press, $50

“Northern Michigan Asylum: A History of the Traverse City State Hospital” by William A. Decker, M.D., is a sad story despite Dr. Decker’s attempt to keep this history to facts and figures, and keep the human equation to a minimum. I don’t mean sad in the attempts made to upgrade the care of asylum patients, but sad that we’ve come full circle, back to the lack of mental health care that the people of Michigan found unacceptable in the mid-1800s.
Built in 1885, the present-day site of Building 50 and the Grand Traverse Commons was first called the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane. Later the name was sanitized to the Traverse City State Hospital, and then Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli The Body in the Shoe Tree
The Hanging Tree
By Bryan Gruley
Simon and Schuster - $15
By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
I challenge you to read Bryan Gruley’s “The Hanging Tree” and then drive by the shoe tree on US 131 north of Kalkaska and not see a body hanging among the highest branches. As I drove passed the tree recently, there she was, Gruley’s Gracie McBride, swinging amid the sneakers and flip-flops. A truly sad and riveting image to begin a book.
In this second in Gruley’s Starvation Lake mystery series, Gus Carpenter, executive editor of the Starvation Lake Village newspaper, the Pine Country Pilot, is not only in trouble over negative stories that could cost the town a new hockey rink, but deeply involved in the mystery surrounding Gracie’s death. The verdict is suicide.
Gracie McBride used to live, over 20 years before, at Gus’ home. His mother, a sweet and caring woman, had taken the young girl in when her own mother was too involved with yet another man to look out for her own daughter. The thing is, Gus never really got along with Gracie and now there is, perhaps, a little guilt involved as Gus watches Gracie’s body swing high in the snow-covered branches. His married lover, a sheriff’s deputy, has to shut him out of the investigation or face losing her job. His newspaper has been pressuring him to tame his hockey rink stories down but Gus isn’t the kind of man who can turn his back on truth.
Quickly the people of Starvation Lake begin shouting “foul” over the verdict of suicide. Even Gus’ mom, who is growing older and having lapses of memory, still insists Gracie, a troubled girl to be sure, would never take her own life. Though she hadn’t seen her in the 18 years she’s been gone from town, his mother knows secrets that will eventually lead Gus to some hard places buried deep within the fabric of the town.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli Admissions: Novel probes a mental hospital’s past
Admissions
by Jennifer Sowle
Arbutus Press, 19.95
By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
There is something about the Old Traverse City State Hospital —
“mental hospital” it was called back when it functioned as a home for
the mentally ill, or home to the dysfunctional, or home to people
warehoused to make life more convenient for their relatives, more
convenient for abusive husbands, even business partners wanting a too
inquisitive partner quieted.

Books Anne Stanton From Rags to Great Riches
By Anne Stanton
Traverse City entrepreneur Wayne Lobdell is known as a full-throttle
kind of guy when it comes to running his empire of fast-food
franchises. But he’s been more laid back when it’s come to promoting
his autobiography, “Climb from the Cellar,” which was published in the
Spring of 2009 with sales of a couple thousand copies.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli Double Bill: Up in the Air with the Time Traveler’s Wife
By Elizabeth Buzzelli
In a true double header, the National Writers’ Series is bringing best
selling writers Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife and Her
Fearful Symmetry) and Walter Kirn (Up in the Air) to the Traverse City
Opera House on July 15, 7 p.m., to talk about their books, writing,
life, art, and inspiration.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli Book Roundup: Local authors bring out their best
By Elizabeth Buzzelli
It seems as though almost every cottage stuck back in the Northern woods harbors a writer, toiling away at a memoir, a novel, short stories, anything that can be written. I find this an exciting occurrence. I was once told it is due to the confluence, the commingling of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, with even a bit of Lake Superior thrown in, that has brought this burst of creativity to our area.
Since the lakes have been here for awhile, I don’t think that’s the real answer. Personally, I would opt for the laptop — which goes anywhere, works as long as there is electricity, and stores mountains of files. And then, of course, we have all these creative types fleeing to the woods where the biggest distraction might be a noisy woodpecker. Whatever the cause, there are lots of new ideas, new voices, writers’ groups, events and conferences. So, on to new books, writer appearances, and even one intriguing contest open to everyone.

Books Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli The wilds of Isle Royale come to life in Naked in the Stream
Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories
By Vic Foerster
Arbutus Press
$19.95
By Elizabeth Buzzelli
If you liked Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods,” you’re going to love “Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories” by Vic Foerster.
Forester’s tales of almost 30 years camping and canoeing and hiking on Isle Royale and surrounding islands is not only a captivating read, but instructive, throat-catching, and deeply knowing, the way good outdoor books should be.
In beautifully clear prose, he writes about the vagaries of weather so far north, as well as about people he’s met along the way. There are stories of encounters with animals and stories about himself—what he’s learned and how Isle Royale has made him the man he’s become.