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Archives - May 2010

While many of my contemporaries were scheming how to sneak candy into their summer camp duffel bags (snip the seams of a stuffed animal, pull out cotton filler, insert Fun Dip, re-sew), my mom and I were contemplating the smuggling of another contraband: a newspaper subscription.
May 15, 2010

Wade Rouse: Me, My Mother and Erma

Posted by Anonymous
Not long after singing “Delta Dawn” in my rural grade school talent contest --- a throng of Conway Twitty look-alikes laughing into their cowboy hats --- my mother told me she was proud of me. “You were true to yourself,” she said. “And that can only bring happiness.” She then bought me a little, leather journal.
Here's a list of 50 great bookstore blogs...is your local store one of them? The World Cup is just around the corner, so here's a list of soccer/football books to get you ready for the global even in South Africa!
When Bookreporter.com approached me about interviewing my mother and me for this issue, I was so flattered --- and a bit melancholy. My mother passed away in 1992. Still, I wanted to contribute to this project --- but what to do? Pull a Norman Bates and speak for my dearly departed Mom? 
Inga Wiehl was an immigrant from Denmark who learned to read English along with her young daughter Lis, whose early love of mysteries helped pave the way for a successful career in law. Did you read to your daughter as a child? What did you read?
Did you read to your daughter as a child? What did you read?
Moms are great. They carry you around in their bellies for months, give painful birth to you, and then (hopefully) spend years caring for, worrying over and nurturing you until you're (hopefully) able to do all that life stuff for yourself.
My mother, Harriett Dallas, was the literary equivalent of a stage mother. She dragged her friends to my signings, pulled my books from bookstore shelves and placed them face out for better visibility, and she often interrupted my conversations with others on politics or business or whatever to ask, “Sandra, what’s your next book about?” She was my most loyal fan. 
Pity the poor woman who tried to deny me a library card because I was only 4-years- old. “But she can read,” my mother insisted, making it clear that she would stand there until that magic license to borrow books was mine. Saving face, the librarian made up a new rule: If I could write my name, I could have a card. Mamma had won, as she always did, and I could now officially enter the sacred world of readers.
Janet Evanovich is one of the most successful and prolific authors today, writing at least two books a year. When approached to do a graphic novel adaptation of her popular Barnaby and Hooker series, she wasn’t sure how it would come together. That’s when daughter Alex stepped in, taking the lead on their forthcoming project, TROUBLEMAKER. Below, from left, Alex, Barnaby(the dog, not the character) and Janet picking apples in New Hampshire.