Author Event with Alex Hortis author of The Witch of New York

We had a wonderful time learning more about Polly Bodine’s court trials, especially the one that took place in Newburgh in the building where the book event took place. Unfortunately, the inside no longer resembles a court house, but the front of the building is original. Stay tuned for my book review.

Review: The Reservoir by David Duchovny

Goodreads Blurb

THE RESERVOIR follows an unexceptional man in an exceptional time. We see our present-day pandemic world and New York City through the eyes of a former Wall Street veteran, Ridley, as he looks back upon his life in his enforced quarantine solitude, wondering what it all means and who he really is.
Sitting and brooding night after night, gazing out his huge picture window high above the Central Park Reservoir, Ridley spots a flashing light in an apartment across the park as if a lonely quarantined person is signaling him in Morse code. His determination to find out who this mystery woman is leads him on an epic quest that will ultimately tempt him with either delusional madness or the fulfillment of his own mythic fate.
Is he a dying man going mad or an everyman metamorphosing into a hero? Or both? We accompany Ridley as he leaves the safety of his apartment window to save the Fifth Avenue femme fatale and descends into a dangerous, increasingly surreal world of global conspiracies, madness, and sickness of this viral time. As Ridley’s actions grow more and more uncharacteristic, he realizes the key to all the mysteries of now, and even all of history, seem to lie deep beneath the freezing waters of the reservoir.
The Reservoir is a twisted rom-com for our distanced time, when the merest touch could kill and conspiracy theories propagate like viruses—a contemporary union of Death in Venice, Rear Window , and The Plague .

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

COVID-19 caused fear and dread to everyone all over the world. This story hits close to home with Ridley, who lives alone in his home in NYC while the pandemic has caused everyone to stay locked away. This story is about a man who sees lights flicker from an apartment building a few blocks away. He starts obsessing about what this Morse code means and who the person trying to reach him is. He starts leaving his house at night with no face masks, trying to find this woman he believes is trying to get his attention. You start living this obsession with Ridley and do not know if this is real or a dream-like state. David’s storytelling drags you into what Ridley was feeling and going through and makes you believe it’s happening for real, only to find out he was infected and trying to fight for his life. I could feel the fear and dread Ridley experienced in the last moments on this earth.

There was a short story at the end of the book called The Scare Owl, which was another interesting story. It was a story about nature, finding acceptance, revenge, raising an animal not from the same bird breed, and trying to bring peace to someone who views them as enemies. It was a sad story at the end, but I feel that the owl thought he did the right thing and went head-on into the danger that awaited.

Author Biography

Born and raised in New York City David Duchovny earned an A.B. in English literature from Princeton University, and an ABD in English literature from Yale University. He was on the road to earning his Ph.D. when his interest in playwriting led him to acting. Subsequently, he emerged to become one of the most highly acclaimed actors in Hollywood.

Globally known for his roles in the Fox Television’s monster hit The X-Files and Showtime’s Californication, David has made his way into our pop culture lexicon. David Duchovny remains the only actor to have won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television series in both the Comedy and Drama categories.

David Duchovny has published four novels, Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale (2015), a New York Times Bestseller; Bucky F*cking Dent (2016); Miss Subways (2018) and Truly Like Lightning (2021).

Additionally, David Duchovny has completed two studio albums, Hell or Highwater (2015) and Every Third Thought (2018), and his third album is slated for release in summer 2021.

Book Signing Event

This past December, Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ, invited David to sign books for everyone. It was wonderful finally getting to meet the X-Files actor.

Downton Abbey Fans: Hugh Bonneville is Coming to Montclair, NJ

If you are a Downton Abbey fan like I am, then you don’t want to miss this fantastic opportunity to meet Hugh while he speaks about his new book which he is also signing.

Here is all the information from Succeed2gether’s.

Join us for a night of entertainment with one of today’s best-loved British actors, Hugh Bonneville, whose credits include Downton AbbeyNotting Hill, and Paddington

Hugh will be live and in person talking about his memoir Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru with CBS News senior national correspondent Jim Axelrod. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

7 p.m. In Person!

Tickets cost $35 and include a copy of the book Playing Under the Piano (value $29). Books will be signed at the event.

Here is the link to purchase your ticket https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTYwODQx

Book Signing Event with Nicholas Sparks

It was so wonderfult to finally meet Nicholas Sparks. He was super nice. The event was at Books & Greetings, Northvale, NJ. This was his first book tour location. Below is the book tour schedule.

Goodreads Blurb

1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until she meets Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce gradually shows her how much there is to love about the wind-swept beach town—and introduces her to photography, a passion that will define the rest of her life.

By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.

As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.

Author Biography

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.

Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), The Longest Ride (2013), See Me (2015), Two by Two (2016), Every Breath (2018) and The Return (2020) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His twenty-second novel, The Wish, will be published on September 28, 2021.

Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including The ChoiceThe Longest RideThe Best of MeSafe Haven (on all of which he served as a producer), The Lucky OneMessage in a BottleA Walk to Remember, The NotebookNights in RodantheDear John and The Last Song, have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars. The Notebook is also being adapted into a musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.

Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4×400 meter, in New York. The record still stands.

The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to improving cultural and international understanding through global education experiences for students of all ages was launched in 2011. Between the foundation, and the personal gifts of the Sparks family, more than $15 million dollars have been distributed to deserving charities, scholarship programs, and projects. Because the Sparks family covers all operational expenses of the foundation, 100% of donations are devoted to programs.

Jennifer Weiner Book Signing Event at Books & Greetings

Finally, an in-person event was held at a local bookstore by me. I was so excited to meet Jennifer again. She is such a sweet and funny author. They even had ice cream from Conrad’s in Westwood, NJ. I had a great time meeting new people.

Goodreads Blurb

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Summer comes another timely and deliciously twisty novel of intrigue, secrets, and the transformative power of female friendship, set on beautiful Cape Cod.

Daisy Shoemaker can’t sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful; her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she’s got it good. So why is she up all night?

While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she’s also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. While Daisy’s driving carpools, Diana is chairing meetings. While Daisy’s making dinner, Diana’s making plans to reorganize corporations. Diana’s glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy’s simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental. Who IS this other woman, and what does she want with Daisy?

From the manicured Main Line of Philadelphia to the wild landscape of the Outer Cape, written with Jennifer Weiner’s signature wit and sharp observations, THAT SUMMER is a story about surviving our pasts, confronting our futures, and the sustaining bonds of friendship.

Author Biography

Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen books, including Good in BedIn Her Shoes, and, most recently, Mrs. Everything. Her new novel, Big Summer, is out now. A graduate of Princeton University and contributor to the New York Times Opinion section, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com.

The first picture was when I met Jennifer at Book Expo 2019 and of course today’s picture is the one on the right.