New Book Release by Local Author

Local author Penny Warner has her latest book, How to Survive a Killer Seance, being released this Tuesday March 1st.

You can read an interview with Warner at http://pleasanthillbookclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/interview-with-local-authors-penny.html

Here is a preview of her book and appearance dates:

Mixing fun and fund-raising seems the perfect job for Presley Parker, which is why she started her Killer Parties event-planning business. But her previous parties pale in comparison to a spooky séance and a creepy crime…

Presley’s newest gig is a séance party at San Jose’s famous Winchester Mystery House. Her client, Jonathan Ellington, plans to use the event to unveil his new “4-D” holographic technology, which will bring former owner Sarah Winchester “back from the dead.”

But the stunt backfires when a disembodied voice accuses Ellington of infidelity in front of his wife and business associates, and the techie who’s monitoring the holograph is found murdered. Suspicion falls on Ellington, but as Presley tries to get at the truth, she doesn’t need a Ouija board to tell her someone wants to scare her to death…



Mar 2 – 7:00 pm – M is for Mystery – San Mateo



Mar 3 – 3:00 pm – Orinda Books



Mar 10 – 7:00 pm – Rakestraw Books – Danville



Mar 12 – 1:00 pm – Barnes & Noble – Stonestown



Mar 12 – 4:00 pm – Barnes & Noble - Colma



Mar 16 – 4:00 pm – Towne Center Books – Pleasanton



Mar 17 – Noon - San Ramon Valley Newcomers - Danville



Mar 24-26 – Fri-Sun - Left Coast Crime Conference – Santa Fe, NM



Mar 31 – 7:00 pm – Bay Books – San Ramon



April 6 – 7:00 pm – Clayton Library – Clayton



April 28-30 – Fri-Sun - Malice Domestic Conference – Bethesda, MD



May 13 – Fri - 8:00 am – General Federation of Women’s Clubs – San Jose



Sept 16-17 – Sat-Sun - Central Coast Writers Conference – Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo

This Week in History Reading

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/02/23/thomas-jeffersons-books-found-washington-university-library/

This is kind of old news, but the above article talks about the recent find of 69 (other sources say 74) of Thomas Jefferson's books that were believed to be lost from his second library. His first library was donated to create the Library of Congress. Apparently after donating his first library he needed to cure his book fix and compiled another 3000 book library. Coolest part of this article is how Jefferson would mark his books.

http://www.rumsfeld.com/library/

For those who want to see deeper into the behind the scenes of the Iraq War this seems to be an incredible find. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense for first several years of the war, has a new memoir out and had a website created to drum up interest. I've only begun to explore the library section, but it has thousands of declassified papers regarding the Iraq and Afghan wars. Great reading for history junkies.

Losing 'Focus'

Starting next month, the monthly Pleasant Hill Community Focus will no longer have book review contributions from the Pleasant Hill Book Club. But not to worry, they will start up again over the summer when your humble reviewer has a tad more free time.

Book of the Year Award 2010

After a very close vote...the winner of the 2010 Pleasant Hill Book Club Best Book of the Year Award goes to...

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!



The winner for Worst Book of the Year was Watership Down. Kind of sad that it has to be placed in such bad company, but it just goes to show how good a book year it was for the club for a book like Watership Down to be the worst.

Februay Book of the Month

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. In the hands of Hanna Heath, an impassioned rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo, it yields clues to its guardians and whereabouts: an insect wing, a wine stain, salt crystals, and a white hair. While readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories, Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure. A complex love story, thrilling mystery, vivid history lesson, and celebration of the enduring power of ideas, People of the Book will surely be hailed as one of the best of 2008. --Mari Malcolm

Book of the Year Award 2010

The process has begun and the ballots are ready...

Best Book of the Year
Hunger Games
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Worst Book of the Year
Room
Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Watership Down

All members agreed that trimming down the year's selection of books was very difficult. This was easily the best book year for the PHBC.

Tomorrow night the vote will commence and your champion and loser of the year will be announced!

Earth (The Book)

The review is now available at the Pleasant Hill Community Focus website...

http://ourcommunityfocus.com/view/full_story/11189078/article-Earth--The-Book--A-Visitor%E2%80%99s-Guide-to-the-Human-Race?instance=lead_story_left_column

check it out!