Sacrilege: a thriller by S.J. Parris — On Monday, August 27 at 7:00 PM at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. Dr. Darcy Lockman will talk about her challenging, yet fulfilling, journey to become a psychotherapist. She received her Ph.D at Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. She is currently a practicing psychotherapist in New York where she lives with her family.

Don't let your book group miss these:

The tenderness of wolves: a novel by Stef Penney

A three dog life by Abigail Thomas

Moral disorder: stories by Margaret Atwood

The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander

Gore Vidal, the noted author, playwright and essayist has died at the age of 86 due to complications from pneumonia. Vidal was also known as an outspoken political commentator. During his long literary career he wrote some 25 novels, several screenplays, and more than 200 essays. He also appeared in several films, including the politcal satire Bob Roberts.

1876: a novel by Gore Vidal

Burr: a novel by Gore Vidal

Join the Adult Contemporary group on Monday, August 20 at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room to discuss:

A stolen life: a memoir by Jaycee Lee Dugard — In the summer of June of 1991, Jaycee Dugard was a normal 11-year old kid. Until the day her life was stolen. For 18 years she was a prisoner. She was an object for someone to use and abuse. She became a mother and was forced to be a sister. She survived an impossible situation. It's her story — in her own words, in her own way, exactly as she remembered it.

Movie and television actor Ernest Borgnine has passed away at the age of 95. His long career included many memorable roles in films such as Bad Day at Black Rock, From Here to Eternity, The Dirty Dozen, The Wild Bunch, and The Poseidon Adventure. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for his title role in the film Marty as a lovelorn butcher, and also appeared on numerous roles on television, including the lead on the comedy McHale's Navy from 1962 to 1966, and in the 1980s on the action drama Airwolf.

A fascinating look at personal correspondence throughout history:

Dear America: letters home from Vietnam by edited by Bernard Edelman for The New York Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission; [with a new introduction by Senator John McCain; foreword by William Broyles, Jr.]

The 50 greatest love letters of all time by [selected] by David H. Lowenherz

Letters of the century: America, 1900-1999 by edited by Lisa Grunwald & Stephen J. Adler

Author, screenwriter and director Nora Ephron has passed away from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 71. Ephron directed eight feature films and was credited as screenwriter on more than a dozen. She earned three Oscar nominations for writing Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and Silkwood. Perhaps her best known novel was Heartburn which was based on her marriage to reporter Carl Bernstein. She began her career in the 1960s as a reporter for the New York Post , and in the 1970s wrote columns for the magazines Esquire and New York.

Devils & Blue Dresses by Mitch Ryder.    Detroit's own, Mitch Ryder will discuss and sign his autobiography on Thursday, June 21 at 7:00p.m. at Ypsilanti District Library, 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti, MI.  Ryder will be interviewed by Martin Bandyke of Ann Arbor 107.  A Question and Answer session will follow the interview. Copies of Devils and Blue Dresses will be available for purchase.  The event is free, seating is on a first come, first serve basis.  For more information contact the Ypsilanti District Library.

England's Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year, commemorating 60 years on the British throne. Her reign is the second longest for a British monarch after Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years and 7 months. Princess Elizabeth was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey after the death of her father George VI. Although she had been proclaimed queen when her father died in February, 1952, the official ceremony was not held until after a period of mourning for the late king.

17F: the life of Ian Fleming by Donald McCormick

The dead witness: a connoisseur's collection of Victorian detective stories by edited by Michael Sims

The language of flowers [sound recording]: [a novel] by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Love me to death: a novel of suspense by Allison Brennan

Let there be Pebble: a middle-handicapper's year in America's garden of golf by Zachary Michael Jack

On Sunset Boulevard: the life and times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov

Sam Spiegel by Natasha Fraser Cavassoni

The 600th year celebration of the birth of Joan of Arc is being celebrated in 2012. Born in France in 1412, she is considered a national heroine and one of the country's patron saints. Nicknamed the "Maid of Orleans", she was a peasant girl who claimed divine guidance when leading the French army to several significant victories during the Hundred Year's War. Captured by the enemy, she was tried for heresy and burned at the stake when she was only 19. Twenty five years later the pope cleared her name and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

Joan of Arc: a Penguin life by Mary Gordon

April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the luxury liner RMS Titanic. The largest ship afloat in the world at the time — and widely believed to be "unsinkable" — the Titanic left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City on April 10. Four days later, the ship collided with an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, and sank in the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 2:20 in the morning of the 15th.