Texas Pages

Nancy Horan will discuss "Loving Frank" 7 p.m. Friday for Late Night at the DMA. I saw her speak last summer in New York, and I can endorse this event for casual fans of Frank Lloyd Wright's work. She spoke extensively of the real-life basis for her novel and the years of research she spent pulling it together.

The book has one of the more extensive Web sites I've seen. And Joy Tipping reviewed the book when it came out in August.

Judy Alter sends in this report on her experience:

"I bought a Kindle about a month ago, thinking ahead to a spring trip to Scotland and not wanting to travel without books yet not wanting to fill my suitcase with them. So far, I've only read one short book (How to Publish on Kindle) but I find it user-friendly. The screen is easy to read, pages easy to turn, whole thing is fairly easy for a non-tech person like me to navigate. I won't give up hard copies but I plan to use the Kindle for weekend visits to grandchildren, etc. Meantime, I'm hoarding the new Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky titles on it, saving them for Scotland."

Following up on our previous post ...

Dallas author Nicholas "Nick" Redfern will give a free chat this Saturday on Texas paranormal phenomena (including the lady of White Rock Lake and the Stephenville UFOs) at the Dallas Public Library downtown at 2 p.m.

Get in some face-time, ask your most thought-provoking questions about "what's out there" and pick up a signed copy of Redfern's new book: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter: A Five-Year Journey in Search of the Unknown, which is filled with plenty of Texas tid-bits.

We'll see you there.

“Weird Mysteries of Texas” with author Nick Redfern, Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. at The Dallas Public Library, 1515 Young St. in The Studio, located on the third floor Humanities Division. Free.

Here's a title that floated across my desk that, if you are seen reading it, is guaranteed to prevent you from having a Valentine's date. Ever.

"Captain Kirk's Guide to Women," by John "Bones" Rodriguez, is just what it says. Allow me to quote from the blurb:

"Captain Kirk's status as an interstellar stud is proven by his ability to seduce any woman, in any situation, in any part of the galaxy. From high-society princesses to unbalanced Orion slave girls, from gender-switching shape-shifters to emotion-deprived androids – they all swoon, acquiesce, and malfunction from just one kiss. But a single question remains in the minds of Star Trek fans aboard Starship Earth: How does he do it?"

If this book actually helps anyone -- well, you and your new starmate deserve each other.

I can't actually think of anyone less likely to offer useful advice on dating ... unless, of course, it would be Mr. Spock.

George Weigel's "Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism" tops the January bestseller list of the Catholic Book Publishers Association. For the full list, click here.

The "Good Reads" panel had a brief sidebar about couples who love books -- and the potential for clashes therein. Soon after, I got an e-mail from a reader who mentioned how a book played a role in his own courtship.

But in the spirit of the holiday, today I'm soliciting your tales of how books helped you find your loved one. I don't necessarily want to hear about how "The Game" worked for you on your last visit to Ghostbar. I was thinking of something perhaps more permanent than one night.

A book figures prominently in your Humble Books Editor's courtship of Mrs. Humble Books Editor. At least, we think it was the book that caught her eye that day 22 years ago in the dorm common area -- we know it wasn't my fashion sense. (Because unlike great literature, cutoffs and "Garfield" T-shirts do actually go out of style.)

Your own story -- and certainly, your own book -- is certainly much more sophisticated and interesting.