Novel

Well, Congress did it again. They waited until the end of the year and then passed a big bill that literally had everything, including the kitchen sink, in it. We are all still reading through the thousands of pages and discovering hidden gems.

Why is The Godfather so popular among conservative men?

A Mafia film with some famously violent scenes and dealing with the problems of a family of criminals? A story that ends with the underworld boss fully in control after dispatching his enemies with extreme prejudice?

True, the earnest opening lines are: “I love America. America has made my fortune.” An awesome beginning, but that’s not the reason.

Much of the reason lies with the backstory we heard about how Francis Ford Coppola came to produce and direct the film and co-author its script with Mario Puzo, who wrote the book.

Carson City Library and Nevada Center for the Book will host Laura McBride, author of the 2015 Nevada Reads selection “We Are Called to Rise” on Friday, Nov. 20, 6:30 p.m. in the Library Digitorium.
“We Are Called to Rise” is told in four distinct voices: An immigrant boy whose family is struggling to assimilate, a middle-aged housewife coping with an imploding marriage and a troubled son, a social worker at home in the darker corners of Las Vegas, and a wounded soldier recovering from an injury he can’t remember getting.

The 28th annual Nevada Writers Hall of Fame welcomes inductee, Ellen Hopkins, author of 11 bestselling novels, numerous stories and more than 20 children’s nonfiction titles. Mark Maynard, author of “Grind,” and Laura McBride, author of “We Are Called to Rise,” will be awarded with the 2015 Silver Pen.

First-time author Jake Willers was inspired to write this children’s picture book after spending the past seven years filming urban bears. He recently produced a film entitled Urban Bears: Keeping Nevada’s Bears Wild! for Washoe County Health District and has presented wildlife programs as a wildlife expert filming around the globe for the National Geographic Channel International and for UK’s Channel 5. Jake currently resides in Reno.

Writers, readers and performers from all around the country will appear at South Lake Tahoe this weekend for WordWave, a three-day festival held on the grounds of Valhalla at the Tallac Historic Site.

This literary mash-up features oral storytelling, theater performances and free readings, panels on craft, yoga, and a novel writing camp for kids.

Today, being hungry can be helpful. A benefit for fallen Deputy Carl Howell takes place today at Betsy’s Café inside Slot World with all café proceeds going to his family. This afternoon you can beat the heat and support the Western Nevada College Foundation at Yogurt Beach. If you're hungry for something a little different, try the Improv Workshop at the Brewery Arts Center. You'll be thinking outside the box in no time.

THURSDAY:

Carson City Library will show the acclaimed film, “Persepolis”, on Sunday, August 2, at 2 pm in the Library Digitorium. The film is a poignant story of a young girl coming-of age in Iran during the Islamic revolution and is based on the memoir written as a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi. The film is Rated-PG-13.

Dust off your bowler hat, lace up your high-heeled boots and join us for the first ever Tall Timber Ball. On Oct. 9 from 6-10 pm you can style it steampunk or go grunge and join us under the timber beams of Valhalla’s Grand Hall while the DJ spins from the massive stone fireplace. Cool prizes will go to the most interesting looks of the night. This event kicks off the inaugural Tahoe WordWave festival and will benefit art and culture in South Lake Tahoe.

Writers, readers and performers from all around the country will appear at South Lake Tahoe Oct. 9-11, 2015 for WordWave, a three-day festival held on the grounds of Valhalla at the Tallac Historic Site. This literary mash-up will feature oral storytelling, theater performances and free readings, panels on craft, yoga, and a novel writing camp for kids. Highlights include a one-act playwriting contest, a Maker’s Station demo with bookbinding, letterpress, drum making, and found poetry and art. Ticketed events include a steampunk ball, workshops, and even a hike.

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Poetry lovers are in for a treat on Thursday, May 7, at Western Nevada College in Carson City. Published poets Laura Wetherington and Jared Stanley are scheduled to read starting at 4 p.m. in WNC’s Main Gallery.

“I don't know how long it's been since WNC had poets read here who have actually published books, but it's been quite a while,” said Douglas Barrett, Ph.D., an English instructor at WNC, is coordinating the event.

Barrett said that Wetherington and Stanley, who teach at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, bring a contemporary style to poetry.

What if: You were an orphan at 15 and living with your 17-year old brother in a run-down motel in old downtown Reno; You have few role models, little education, occasional minimum wage jobs; you drink too much, eat lousy food; and Your brother kills a kid on a bicycle while driving drunk and comes to you for help.

"Why didn't you call the police or an ambulance?" you ask

So begins Willy Vlautin's noir novel "The Motel Life." Nevada scholar Patricia Cooper-Smith will facilitate a book discussion Thursday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m. in the Carson City Library Digitorium.

Capital City Reads is Carson City Library’s annual city-wide book club. It is a program that brings people together through the reading and discussion of a common book.

This event runs in conjunction with National Library Week (April 12-April 18); an annual celebration sponsored by the Friends of the Carson City Library.

In life, we think of milestones as birthdays or anniversaries. Children’s birthdays are celebrated with great fanfare. The house is packed with kids. There are gifts and cake galore. And the inevitable challenge of ‘how many kids will a bounce house hold’ is issued and met. Celebrations are enablers of joy, hope, and excitement. Here’s a novel idea. Wouldn’t it be cool to celebrate life achievements like kids get to celebrate birthdays?

The original idea for The Intergalactic Nemesis (a wacky live-action graphic novel performed on stage with simple scripts, a couple actors, some crazy noises), all started in a coffee shop in Austin, Texas.

It’s a whole lot bigger than that now: Enter a sound-effects genius, an emotion-wielding keyboardist, three actors voicing tons of wacky characters, with 1,200 vintage-cool illustrations projected over the stage, all telling the story like a 1930s radio play with decidedly 21st-century spins.

Tough two-span bridge still usable after severe shaking in quake engineering test
New innovative design and materials shaken at University of Nevada, Reno’s Earthquake Engineering Laboratory

Come to the Browsers Corner Book Store in Carson City to meet author Mark S. Bacon at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 8. Mr. Bacon has written for radio, TV, the web, magazines and for newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle.

He has written several business books, one of which was selected as best business book of the year by Library Journal, but “Death in Nostalgia City” is his first mystery novel.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based book publisher Vigilante Publishing Group is publishing "Bonners’ Fairy," a novel by Carson City area resident Elizabeth Patterson.

The publishing house picked up the book series that had originally been self-published. Patterson, a Carson City Support Services Specialist, has penned a series of six children's fantasy and adventure books based around the mythical land known as Bonners' Fairy.

Seventy-five budding artists from kindergarten through grade 12 entered their art work into an annual contest recently as part of Carson City's annual Silver and Snowflake Festival of Lights.

Each year, the teen board of the Carson City Library chooses a theme to coincide with the Christmas holidays. This year’s theme was “A Novel Christmas,” asking children to draw what Christmas would look like in their favorite novels.

The everyday use of a GPS device might be to find your way around town or even navigate a hiking trail, but for two physicists, the Global Positioning System might be a tool in directly detecting and measuring dark matter, so far an elusive but ubiquitous form of matter responsible for the formation of galaxies.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded $150,000 to the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center to create a new, interactive public exhibit at the Tahoe Science Center, located in Incline Village. The exhibit will merge the results of citizen science with TERC’s new, real-time monitoring network that is being installed around the lake to understand and improve the clarity and health of Lake Tahoe’s shoreline.

The Friends of the Dayton Valley Library held the first August Authors Event on Saturday, August 16 at the Dayton Valley Branch Library. There were approximately 50 attendees and the library parking lot was full. Residents of Dayton were invited to interact with five local Nevada writers, discuss their writing, purchase books and have them signed by the authors.

A 70-foot-long, 52-ton concrete bridge survived a series of 10 earthquakes in the first multiple-shake-table experiment in the University of Nevada, Reno’s new Earthquake Engineering Lab, the newest addition to the world-renowned earthquake/seismic engineering facility.

Nevada writer Ellen Hopkins has appeared at book and literary festivals around the country since the publication of her young-adult novel "Crank" 10 years ago, followed by nearly a dozen more books.

This year she asked herself, "Why not here?" meaning Carson City and a book celebration.

The Great Carson City Literary Festival is coming to town on the weekend of June 6-8 at Mills Park. The festival will have many family oriented and child activities including authors of every genre, a book nook with readings by the actual authors, Kid Chef Eliana who will be doing cooking demonstrations, a giant bounce house and obstacle course, a free kids art tent, food, and much more.

The Great Carson City Lit Fest is a three-day celebration of the arts, with the focus on books, authors and literacy. More than 50 critically acclaimed authors, poets, performance poets, memoirists and storytellers will give readings, panel talks and sign their books.

There is a new Fitness 1440 center at the north end of Carson City in the old K-Mart shopping center. What made me notice this was that I heard that artist Coeleen Lundy had painted a mural in the children’s area of the fitness center.

I love seeing art being spread throughout our city, but what is especially novel about this particular work is that it was done in barter, a word we are all hearing and seeing more and more. Barter: To trade goods and services for, well, goods and services, no CASH need.

I first saw a Smart Car in Paris. We were visiting my daughter who was studying abroad in the Fall of 2004. My wife took a photo of me standing behind the uber compact with my arms stretching from bumper to bumper. The design and size were like nothing I had seen in an automobile; it was very Euro.

My name is Dana Lee Fruend and I am the President of the 20/20 business group. I have lived in Nevada 36 years and I am a seven-year Carson City resident.

I am a business co-owner and the Executive Marketing Director for Agency 36 and the Marketing Director for the Carson HorseShoe Club. Agency 36 publishes the popular Carson Quarterly, featuring weekly and monthly events, activities, shopping, arts, restaurants and pubs.