July 2010 RRPQ Meeting - Tomorrow Night!

Just a reminder that the next Red River Pulpwood Queen meeting will be Tuesday night (July 20) at6:30, Columbia Cafe in Shreveport.

We will be discussing the novel The Recipe Club. See you ladies there...with crowns on!

Lunch With The Editor - Has Been Cancelled

Lunch with the Editor event at the Ouachita Parish Public Library set for Friday (July 23, 12:00pm) has been cancelled due to Editor/Author Dr. Janet Allured ill health. She was to discuss the book Louisiana Women while guests enjoy a Cajun jambalaya lunch.

The Red River Pulpwood Queens hope Dr. Allured can make a speedy recovery so that we can visit with her at some other point in time.

Green's The Word For Pulpwood Queen Judy Christie

Red River Pulpwood Queens' own Judy Christie is on the verge of launching the second book in her Green series. First it was Gone To Green, now we have Goodness Gracious Green with a third book on the way for 2011! Visit Judy's official website to sign up for her exciting newsletter! You can pick up a copy of Judy's Green books at future Red River Pulpwood Queen meetings or at these events:

• Saturday, August 7, 10:30 a.m. -- 1 p.m., Barnes & Noble in Shreveport. Launch of “Goodness Gracious Green.”
• August 14, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Book signing, Rosewood Gifts, Stonewall, La. with Lenora Worth, inspirational romance author and dear friend!
• Keynote speaker for state 4H leaders, August 18.
• Louisiana Conference, United Methodist Church, Women Clergy, retreat leader, August 31. “Cultivating My Leadership from the Inside Out – God’s Good Way for Life & Ministry.”
• Sept. 4, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Book signing, The Book Merchant, Natchitoches, with friend and author Christa Allan.

New! Listen To Book Festival Authors

Just because the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge and the Author Author book festival in Shreveport have had to close their doors, it doesn't mean that you can't listen to some of the best recordings of the 2009 guest authors! From Rick Bragg, Charlaine Harris, Chef John Besh, and more.

Simply click on Author Audio on the top left side of the home page. Then scroll down to find the audio player that you are interested in listening to. (Sometimes the play button can be a little irritating, so be patient with it. You may need to refresh the page before going on to the next audio clip)

I hope you enjoy this new feature and if you have any audio or video you'd like to share, just send it my way!

5 Years Later, More Great Reads

Just like the Saints winning the Super Bowl or the oil spill crises, Hurricane Katrina is an event that Louisianans are not likely to ever forget. We are leading up to the 5 year anniversary of this natural AND man-made disaster this August. So it is only fitting that the Pulpwood Queens book club pays its respects by reading some of the outstanding bodies of work that capture the essence of human tragedy and rebirth.

My friend and author Tom Piazza (he is also one of the writers for the HBO post-Katrina series Treme), posted a fantastic article link on Facebook that discusses book clubs' selections for commemorating the Katrina anniversary. To be specific, the article lists some essentials of a Hurricane Katrina library:

- City of Refuge by Tom Piazza (historical fiction)

- 1 Dead In Attic by Chris Rose (non-fiction)

- Nine Lives by Dan Baum (non-fiction that reads as fiction)

- Zeitoun by Dave Eggars (the Pulpwood Queens August selection, now in paperback)

and more...

I plan to attempt to put together a full Katrina reading list for the August meeting for anyone who wants to explore the topic further.

LA Road Trips Magazine - Buzz On B&B

For the July issue of Louisiana Road Trips magazine, I decided to use my column Peculiar Jaunts to share my experience travelling across the state line to Queen Kathy Patrick's bookstore/salon Beauty and the Book. While there I met a wonderful new Southern writer Allen Whitley (see older posts) from Austin, Texas. He will soon be signing books all across Alabama and Mississippi to promote his new book Where Southern Cross the Dog. You can pick up signed copies at Beauty and the Book.

Food & Fiction: July Book Selection

The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship

by: Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel

(hardback)

Find out your food and friendship personality...Take the quiz!

THE RECIPE CLUB is a “novel cookbook,” a deliciously funny, touching story of friendship, loss, and the ties that bind—with more than 80 recipes that keep the plot cooking. Compellingly readable, this heartfelt story celebrates the resilience and power of women’s friendships. It’s a charming pastiche of e-mails, hand-written childhood letters, third-person narration, photographs, illustration, and more than 80 delicious recipes. (official website)

“Each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this meeting

that a new world is born.”

—anaïs nin