War Bug opens a window on the riverfront town of Occoquan, Virginia, and offers glimpses of social upheaval through chapters that alternate between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries.
A book sale and signing will follow the presentation.
Henry G. Brinton is an author and a Presbyterian pastor who has written on religion and culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and Huffington Post. A frequent speaker at workshops and conferences, he has written three novels set in the historic town: City of Peace (2018), Windows of the Heavens (2021), and War Bug (2024). He is a resident of Occoquan, Virginia,
This program is appropriate for ages 13 and above.
I thought I would mention that it looks like the word “Scarry” is spelled incorrectly on your website. I’ve seen some tools to help with problems like this such as SpellAlert.com or WebsiteChecker.com. I just thought you should know!”
I tried to respond but her email came back as unavailable.
Richard Scarry was an incredibly prolific children’s author and illustrator. He created over 250 books during his career. His books were loved across the world — over 100 million were sold in many languages. But here’s something you may not have known about these classics: They’ve been slowly changing over the years. Don’t panic! They’ve been changing in a good way. Scarry started publishing books in the 1950s, when times were, well, a little different. So some of the details were quietly updated. Alan Taylor, a senior editor for the photo section of The Atlantic, noticed differences back in 2005 and decided to photograph them.
Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.
On this day, fans carry a towel with them, as described in Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to demonstrate their appreciation for the books and the author.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)
—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
See, see the old sky
Marvel at its big grey depths.
Tell me, Clyde do you
Wonder why the armadillo ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel yucky.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your qwerty facial growth
That looks like
A tofu
What’s more, it knows
Your rolf potting shed
Smells of pea.
Everything under the big old sky
Asks why, why do I even bother?
You only charm fish.
National Biographer’s Day commemorates the anniversary of the first meeting of Samuel Johnson and his biographer James Boswell in London, England on May 16, 1763, and honors all biographers.
A biography is a written account of another person’s life.
Famous poet, essayist, literary critic, editor and lexicographer, Johnson was also a biographer. According to Johnson, the best biographers were those who ate, drank and “lived in social intercourse” with those about whom they wrote. If that were true, his best biography would be An Account of the Life of Mr. Richard Savage, Son of the earl Rivers which was published in 1744.
Applying this same rule, Scots-born James Boswell met his friend Samuel Johnson at a bookshop near Covent Garden. Nearly 30 years later he published The Life of Johnson, which became the most celebrated English biography.
From one of my favorite shows, Blackadder. Dr. Samuel Johnson seeks the regent’s support for his dictionary, but when it is used for firewood, Edmund must rewrite it.
Today is the anniversary of the day when Douglas Adams suffered a spontaneous existence failure. We miss you, you silly brilliant man. (Towel Day will be on May 25)
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), The Deeper Meaning of Liff (1990), Last Chance to See (1990), and three stories for the television series Doctor Who; he also served as script editor for the show’s seventeenth season in 1979.
I first started reading Adam’s wonderfully quirky books when I was inpatient at NIH waiting for pituitary surgery…and ended up reading them all. Then, I got my son hooked on them.
It’s a Mystery Author Extravaganza! On Saturday, December 2nd, eighteen authors from the Sisters in Crime Chessie Chapter will appear at the Reston, Virginia, library, speaking about their new books and short stories published this year. If you live in Northern Virginia, DC, or the nearby Maryland burbs, this event is for you.
The following authors will be appearing: Donna Andrews, E.A. Aymar, Karen Cantwell, Mary Ann Corrigan (Maya Corrigan), Barb Goffman, Sherry Harris, Tara Laskowski, Alan Orloff, Kathryn O’Sullivan, Susan Reiss, KM Rockwood, Verena Rose, Harriette Sackler, Laura Ellen Scott, Colleen Shogan, Shawn Reilly Simmons, Art Taylor, and Robin Templeton.
Booksellers from Kathy Harig’s Mystery Loves Company bookshop will be on hand to sell books. The authors will be happy to sign them. It will be a great way to take care of your holiday book shopping. Books make great gifts for yourself and others. Book sales begin around 12:30. Speakers start at 1 p.m. We hope to see you there!
Reston Regional Library, 11925 Bowman Towne Dr, Reston, VA 20190