Christopher Scott Durant was a track and field champion in high school and now teaches elementary school in Mt. Vernon. He has also written three suspense thrillers, which is the subject of this entry.

Durant’s book titles are intriguing: “Equal Rights,” “My Daughter’s Keeper,” and “Grey Alien.”

And, there are local connections:

Jeff Pearlman , author of “Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboy Dynasty” (HarperCollins) which has just completed its fourth week on the New York Times Bestseller list, will be speaking Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Mahopac Public Library.

He grew up in Mahopac and graduated from Mahopac High School. He currently lives in Westchester. Pearlman is a former senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has traveled around the country writing about sports figures. “Boys Will Be Boys” is his third book and second bestseller. Copies of the book will be for sale and he will be available for autographs.

Register online at Mahopac library or call 845-628-2009, ext 100.

Earlier today, I wrote about a sports writer coming to speaking to speak in Mahopac this Saturday.  Well if that is not your fancy, here is a book-author event that is geared just for woman and their affirming their spirit.

Author Joan Anderson  will be leading the Hudson Valley Hospital Center’s “Mind, Body, Spirit Women’s Symposium” to be held this Saturday .

The event is intended to provide women with coping strategies in difficult times. Did anyone say these are unique and difficult times?

Anderson philosophy has also been discussed in her five bestselling memoirs are “A Year by the Sea,” “An Unfinished Marriage,” “A Walk on the Beach,”  “A Weekend to Change Your Life,” and the newly released, “The Second Journey: The Road Back to Yourself.”  She is also the author of 16 children’s books.

The symposium will be held at the Chalet on the Hudson in Cold Spring, from 8:15 am to 3 pm. The cost of the event, including breakfast, lunch, gift bag and door prizes, is $55 per person. The Chalet on the Hudson is located at 3250 Rte. 9D, Cold Spring. For more information, call 914-734-3794. A registration form is also available on Hudson Valley Hospital Center’s Web site .

For more information on Joan Anderson, visit her Web site.

Tony Hillerman published his first novel in 1970 and it focused on Native Americans. Since then he wrote 17 more mystery-crime novels drawing on his intimate knowledge of the lives of Navajo and Hopi tribe members and more than 10 other novels.

Hillerman died Sunday at 83 of pulmonary failure at an Albuquerue, New Mexico hopsital, reports many publications, including Bloomberg News . (Photo to the right is from his publisher, Harper Collins).

Bookish blog posts have been flooded with glowing reports of his stories and the literary loss that his death brings. His first book was “The Blessing Way” which introduced Lt. Joe Leaphorn, and his most recent was “The Shape Shifter.”

Huffingtonpost.com quotes his daughter Ann recalling her father as a natural-born storyteller who tried to stop writing in 2002 because of medical ailments and saying he was getting too old. But fortunately for his fans, he just couldn’t put his pen down. This blog’s feature is a wonderful recap of his life.

Now, I must admit I have never taken up his stories. So to gain some insight I made some calls.

The Women’s Center of Rockland Family Shelter is holding its bi-monthly poetry club, “In Celebration of Women,” this coming Monday, Oct. 27. And this is just one of two interesting programs on tap from the privately-run grassroots organization that is dedicated to ending violence against women, children and youth.

Poetry will be read, discussed and participants will have a chance to try their own hand at writing some verse and getting some constructive feedback from facilitator, Judy Davis, a poet and teacher. Poetry is a wonderful way for new writers to learn how to express themselves in words. I hope this club has a good session and anyone who wants to see their work “published” share your poems here.

On Tuesday, Oct. 28 also at 7:30 the Women’s Center will host another great-sounding session in its book club. The discussion will focus on “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” by Azar Nafisi (Random House, 2003). This New York Times bestseller published in 2003 is the story of a group of women in Iran in 1979/1980, who meet and regularly discuss Western literature, which was not an easy endeavor.

A series of series environmentally-focused programs begins tonight at the Warner Library, 121 N. Broadway, Tarrytown, reports Jenifer Ross, Director of Development.  Eco-News At Warner Library
is sponsored by the Warner Library and TEAC/Tarrytown Environmental Advisory Council.

Tonight at 7 pm: “The Antarctic Ecosystem and Global Warming,” presented by Dr. Carol
Griffiths, Professor of Biology, Long Island University

Sat., Oct. 25/ 2 pm : Film — “March of the Penguins. ”

Sat., Nov. 29/ 10 am-4 pm : Green Gift Fair:  A vendor sale of environmentally friendly items  just in time for the holidays.

And I bet there are slew of environmentally-focused books and materials that are worthy of attention, too.

Dobbs Ferry author Tim W. Brown won’t have to travel far to get to his next book event — it’s tomorrow at the Dobbs Ferry Public Library.

He will be reading excerpts from his recent novel “Walking Man” (Bronx River Press, 2008) beginning at at 2 p.m. The library is at 55 Main St. and the event is free.

The Midwest Book Review characterized Brown’s book as “darkly humorous and thought-provoking.” It is “a must-read for those who enjoy their novels with more of an offbeat flavor,” the review said.

Sounds neat to me and his publicity material says it “satirizes so-called ‘alternative’ culture while it fondly recollects the 80s and 90s ‘zine scene.”

I am in the middle of reading Suze Rotolo’s book about her relationship with Bob Dylan and the folk-music scene, “A Freewheelin’ Time: Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” (Broadway, 2008) so for me personally, this might be a perfect follow-up and update of contemporary life tales.

Brown is the author of two earlier novels, “Deconstruction Acres” (1997) and “Left of the Loop” (2001). His latest literary effort, “American Renaissance” is a comic historical novel set in 1830s America, to be published in 2010 by Gival Press. He serves on the board of the nonprofit New York Center for Independent Publishing, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. From 1982 to 1997 he published Tomorrow Magazine, featuring the work of underground poets from all over the U.S.

Well, that said, I had to ask Brown what he is reading right now and what he would suggest to this blog’s readers. This is after all, my Friday Favorites entry.

Just got word that poet Patricia Smith of Tarrytown is a finalist for the National Book Award. The list of finalists in all categories was announced today and my previous post mentioned the fiction and non-fiction finalists.

Smith is featured in the Poetry category — and thanks to Jerri Lynn Fields, executive director of Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow, I can spread the news. Winners are announced Nov. 18, but to be in this company is a distinction in and of itself.

“Patricia is a long-time member of the Writers’ Center, has taught writing workshops and classes, has read here often and serves on our 20th Anniversary Committee!,” notes Fields with excitement.

Here is the list of poetry finalists:

Frank Bidart, “Watching the Spring Festival” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Mark Doty, “Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems” (HarperCollins)
Reginald Gibbons, “Creatures of a Day” (Louisiana State University Press)
Richard Howard, “Without Saying” (Turtle Point Press)
Patricia Smith, “Blood Dazzler” (Coffee House Press)

Smith’s collection (shown to the right) speaks to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. You can find out more about this book at Coffee House Press

The National Book Award finalists were named this morning in Chicago and now I have a perfect list of some top good reads to share with everyone.

In the fiction category the finalists are:

Aleksandar Hemon, “The Lazarus Project” (Riverhead)
Rachel Kushner, “Telex from Cuba” (Scribner)
Peter Matthiessen, “Shadow Country” (Modern Library)
Marilynne Robinson, “Home” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Salvatore Scibona, “The End” (Graywolf Press)

I just came across a fascinating book-sharing Web site called NovelAction.com.
Here’s the deal. You choose books you want from their selection, then pick an equal number from your house that you don’t want. Then you make a trade.  All you pay is for shipping and a $25 annual membership fee. A flat shipping rate for 12 paperbacks is $4.80. Shipping is described as “rapid” meaning 24 hours after an order is received. They even offer gift memberships and gift baskets for recent retirees, moms, kids or frequent travelers.

Honestly, I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds very tempting and they do offer you to purchase as a guest. Hmmm. Let me see if I have some bookshelf space.  Anyone with any experience with NovelAction, please share.

“We are changing the way book lovers share books,” reads the promotional copy.

NovelAction is a family-run business out of the Chicago area.

Today’s books included:  “Out of the Ashes” by Andrew Cockburn (HarperCollins), “Bastard Out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison, “The Eleventh Commandment” by Jeffrey Archer (HarperTorch) and “Total Control” by David Baldacci (Warner Books).

And, here’s the thing. You get a box of books you selected and in return unload some other books you don’t want to look at anymore. I think it is a neat way to share and recycle.