 July 4 - 11 - The Richest
Season
Hi this is Betsy from Otto's.
The Richest Season by Maryann McFadden. I loved it. It's the story of a family collapsing
under the weight of the corporate rat race. It's the story of an elderly woman trying to make the most of the last
months of her life as she battles pancreatic cancer. It's the story of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and the life
of the low country marshes, and all the natural wonders that live in and near them-the egrets, the dolphins, the loggerhead
turtles. It's the story of the human inhabitants of the island who are satisfied with living the life of their parents
and making much out of what would seem like little to those on the corporate ladder. It's the story of finding your
life's goal long after you thought personal ambition had been stoked for the duration. It's a gentle read-laid
out like a patchwork quilt alternating chapters on each of the principle characters and their views of what's happening
in their lives. And it has an ending that I found as spectacular as the most exhilarating fireworks finale. The
Richest Season. You'll find it at Otto's, a booklover's paradise, in the heart of downtown
Williamsport.
 June 14 - 20 - The Translator Hi, this is Betsy from Otto's. The Translator by Daoud Hari is the kind of book I don't usually review on air because it's
too disturbing to even think about. If you don't like being disturbed, just go wa-wa-wa-wa-wa
for the next 50 seconds while I talk about this book. It's a powerful condemnation of the ongoing genocide
in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Hari saw his village attacked, his family decimated. He escaped (and
helped others escape) to Chad where they lived in a refugee settlement. With only his high school education in languages,
he found a job translating for major news agencies and took them into Darfur-again and again. He risked his
life to help others tell the world what the Sudanese government was doing. Finally he was captured along with the driver
and a reporter from the National Geographic. Prison, torture, and endless interrogation were followed by an almost miraculous
release brokered by the governor of New Mexico. The writing is simple and direct and the facts demand your
involvement, if only in prayer. The Translator. You'll find it at Otto's a booklovers'
paradise in the heart of downtown Williamsport.
  June 7 - 13 - Father's Day Golf Books Hi, this is Betsy from Otto's. For Father's Day give Dad a golfing
book that will give him a laugh and a half. In Jeff Foxworthy's How to Really Stink
at Golf, Jeff says "Embrace the fact that you do stink at golf...and that you will really stink for the
rest of your life. That, my friend, is an inner peace that surpasses all understanding." And then he takes
you hole by hole to show you how you can screw up. Or if your Dad needs some motivation along with his laughs,
try Carl Hiaasen's hilarious new book, The Downhill Lie, a Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport.
Carl remembers bonding with his father on golfing outings and he'd like to achieve the same with his sons. So after
thirty years he takes up the sport he was never good at to begin with. He buys new clubs, takes lessons, and heads out
to the links every chance he gets. He's still not that great but he has just enough good (make that lucky)
shots that the euphoria they produce keeps him from quitting again. The Downhill Lie, on the N.Y.Times
Bestseller list so it's 20% off, at Otto's, a booklover's paradise in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
May 31 – June 6 - June’s First Friday Hi, this is Betsy from Otto’s.
June’s First Friday brings us a trio of authors just about as diverse as you can get. Susan
Ross is one of the authors of Deployed, an in-depth study of the effect of the Iraq War on the
members of the Army Reserves who were called up to augment the efforts of the regular army.
She interviewed members of one unit after they returned from active duty, which in many cases, lasted almost two years.
She categorized them as adapted, struggling or resistant and showed how their experiences almost never met their expectations
and why. The subtitle of the book is How
Reservists Bear the Burden of Iraq. And then we have Ben Cramer, the editor of the 13th
edition of Pennsylvania Hiking Trails, written with the Keystone Trails Association. Each
of the hundreds of trails is described and references are given for maps and further information. And lastly,
but by no means least, we have Mary Woods, author and illustrator of a treatise on love called The Heart
of the Matter. Come meet them Friday from 5 to 8 at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise
in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
 May 24 –
30 - City of ThievesHis assignment was a 500 word biographical essay. His retired Russian-immigrant grandfather, who
was known for shooting two Germans in his youth, seemed a likely subject. Two hundred and twenty eight
pages later, we have City of Thieves.
Hi, this is Betsy from Ottos. You want tension, suspense, real-life
terror versus wholly unexpected guts? You want authentic historic background with barely believable heroes?
Join Lev, a scrawny teenager with a big nose, who fate has thrown together with Kolya, a 20 year old Cossack deserter,
in a quest for a dozen eggs—eggs that will save their lives.
City of Thieves, written by Lev’s grandson David Benioff, takes the reader to Leningrad during the World War II blockade by the Germans, where life and death can depend on even less
than a dozen eggs.
Turn off the TV. Unplug the phone (after you call in sick). Then
read City of Thieves. You won’t be able to put it down. You’ll find it at Otto’s,
a booklover’s paradise, in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
 May 17 – 23 - Adam the King Hi this is Betsy from Otto’s. Clement’s
Cove, a village on the rocky coast of Maine, is the setting for Adam the King, a new
novel by Jeffrey Lewis, award winning writer and producer of the TV series, Hill Street Blues. Outsider versus native,
vast wealth versus just scraping by, new money versus old money—all these themes play out in the story of a man who
feels responsible for a car accident that killed a girl many years ago, so he marries her sister. He can’t do
enough for his wife and will spend over a million dollars for a little strip of land that has a trailer on it so that he can
build a pool for his wife. Only the inhabitant of the trailer doesn’t want to sell—she doesn’t want
to disappoint her deceased father. The folks at the general store have their own opinions about the sanity or insanity
of it all but Adam bumbles his way to a heroic ending that will have them talking about him for years to come. Visit
Clement’s Cove in the book Adam the King.
You’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise in the heart of downtown Williamsport.
May 10 – 16 - Searching
for Paradise in Parker PA
Hi, this is Betsy from Otto’s. Addy Lipton
has had it! Her husband of 28 years has been collecting useless junk and storing it in their garage (which she’s christened the “Kingdom of Krap”)
and what with his job and his buddies, he never has time for her anymore and, and, and, she’s not going to take it lying
down. Well, one thing leads to another and before the book ends there’s
all out war between the fed-up wives and their bewildered husbands in the small
town of Parker PA. Searching
for Paradise in Parker, PA is the name of the new book by Kris Radish and it’s a hoot! Any woman who ever wondered what would happen if she really let go with her frustrations will be vastly
amused and just maybe inspired to take a hard look at both her husband and herself. It worked for Addy. Would it work for anyone else? Read Searching
for Paradise in Parker PA. It’s a hoot. You’ll
find it at Otto’s a Booklover’s Paradise in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
May 3 – 9 - The Soloist
Hi, this is Betsy from Otto’s. There is a new book
that will illuminate the world of the mentally ill, will inspire those who try to help them and will show how helping them can bring you
to greater self-knowledge and maturity. It’s a year in the life of Nathaniel
Ayers, a musical prodigy who lives on the streets of Los Angeles
and every day pushes his grocery cart across town to the entrance of the 2nd street
tunnel where he plays his heart out on a two string violin. It’s the story
of Steve Lopez, a reporter who heard Nathaniel’s music and thought there might be a column in it. He had no idea how that column and the ones that followed would change his own life as well as Nathaniel’s. Building a trust that could
disappear in a moment, Lopez had to fight his own resistance to walk away while Nathaniel had to do the same. It’s a true story that will stay with you through all
your own seemingly impossible life challenges. You’ll be glad you read The Soloist
by Steve Lopez. You’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise,
in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
April 19-25 - Peeled
Hi, this is Betsy from Otto’s. Getting teens to read something that
makes them eager to get involved in their town’s future (or even getting them to read a book that’s not assigned) is a challenge. May I recommend Peeled by prize-winning
author, Joan Bauer? It’s a story that inspires while it entertains. Hildy, a senior, who works on her high school newspaper,
isn’t satisfied with the kind of reporting usually required for school publications.
She wants to know the answers to her town’s unanswered questions. Is
the Ludlow place really haunted? Who killed the outsider in Ludlow’s
apple grove? And who’s behind the scary signs appearing all over town? Her hometown paper is more interested in using the town’s fear to sell their newspapers than
they are in investigating the truth. Even
the mayor and her school don’t think uncovering the truth is a good idea. What’s going on? Read Peeled and think about how you would respond. You’ll find it May 1st at Otto’s a booklover’s paradise in the heart of downtown
Williamsport.
 April 12 – 18 - Twenty Chickens for a Saddle Hi. This is Betsy from
Otto’s. There’s a great adventure waiting for you at Otto’s. Robyn
Scott will take you back to 1987 when she and her mother, father and two younger siblings have just arrived in Botswana. Dad
has a medical practice that sees him flying to small clinics all over the country, treating as many as 125 patients a day.
Mom is alternately studying and writing about natural cures. And the kids are exploring
their new world with the affectionate but relaxed guidance of their parents. Home schooling was their parents’
way of making education indistinguishable from recreation. When a subject came up in reading or conversation,
they were encouraged to look it up and share their findings with the family. When Robbie was ten,
she wanted a new saddle for her pony, so her father bought her twenty chickens—she could raise them and sell the eggs,
until she could buy the saddle herself. Hence, the title for her book, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle.
Humor, insight into the African cultures and a heartbreaking look at the AIDS epidemic—Twenty Chickens
for a Saddle. You’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise, in the heart
of Downtown Williamsport.. Dad has a medical
practice that sees him flying to small clinics all over the country, treating as many as 125 patients a day. Mom
is alternately studying and writing about natural cures. And the kids are exploring their new
world with the affectionate but relaxed guidance of their parents. Home schooling was their parents’
way of making education indistinguishable from recreation. When a subject came up in reading or conversation,
they were encouraged to look it up and share their findings with the family. When Robbie was ten,
she wanted a new saddle for her pony, so her father bought her twenty chickens—she could raise them and sell the eggs,
until she could buy the saddle herself. Hence, the title for her book, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle.
Humor, insight into the African cultures and a heartbreaking look at the AIDS epidemic—Twenty Chickens
for a Saddle. You’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise, in the heart
of Downtown Williamsport.
April 5 -12 - Mudbound
Hi this is Betsy from Otto’s. I just finished a powerful novel. Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan, got the Bellweather Prize for fiction that addresses social justice.
It takes place in Mississippi
in the ‘40’s and begins when Henry, a middle aged engineer, follows his dream of farming his own land. His wife, a former teacher, and their two children move into his shack (with no running water or electricity)
and care for his cantankerous, racist father. The Jacksons
are a family of black sharecroppers living on the farm and the two families help each other with the crop and with the house. Then two veterans of the 2nd world war come home, Henry’s brother
and the black man’s son, and they both find it impossible to retreat into the roles the Jim Crow South demands of them. Each chapter is told in the voice of a different character so you can get inside their
heads and see how good people can still be blind to social injustice and how a whole section of America can shrug and say
“That’s the way it is!” Mudbound—you’ll find it at Otto’s, a booklover’s paradise in the heart of downtown
Williamsport.
March 29 – April 4
- PA Mountain Vistas
“Why we hike to high places is different for each of us.
For some, it’s the exercise and effort, a desire to feel the burn from God’s own Stairmaster. Others may seek an escape from the office grind……but I think most of us hike to a magnificent
view because we seek inspiration. We wish to be in awe of nature’s handiwork.”
Hi this is Betsy from Otto’s, reading
from the introduction to the new book, Pennsylvania Mountain Vistas by Scott Brown. It tells you
how to get to seventy nine Pennsylvania mountain tops with breathtaking views. Scott gives a
picture and description of each hike with maps and information on distance, elevation change, difficulty and other things
you can enjoy along the way. And then he tells you how to take the very best pictures of
your view with all the technical jargon real photographers pay attention to. You
can meet Scott Brown this First Friday from 5 to 8 at Otto’s. If Spring
Fever hasn’t hit you yet, this book and this author will bring it on! Pennsylvania Mountain Vistas—you’ll
find it at Otto’s a booklover’s paradise, in the heart of Downtown Williamsport.
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