Ann Arbor

The Professors' Monument

While in Ann Arbor on my book tour, I finally found The Professors' Monument on UofM's campus.

The story of four short lives

 This fractured column represents lives cut short and was originally placed here to honor Douglass Houghton. He died at only 36 years old and had already accomplished more than many of us do in a lifetime!

This plaque mentions that Houghton was a medical doctor, a professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology at UofM, and the state of Michigan's first geologist. 

 One of the fascinating books I read to research my new book, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk, was 

Michigan's Columbus: the Life of Douglass Houghton, 

by Steve Lehto.

A most excellent read!

Literati Bookstore, 124 E. Washington

Last night I had a wonderful reading and signing event at Ann Arbor's newest indie, 

Literati Bookstore.

My son, Lucas, took time out of studying for his exams to attend the event.

Lucas with the map for my reading!

 Literati now has copies of my new book, so stop in to check out this lovely store and the new book.

Literati's spacious downstairs

A Snowy, Brilliant, Book Launch!

A snowy April launch week!

What a fantastic beginning to my new book tour!

I had several appearances around the Traverse City area after formally launching the book at Brilliant Books.

Brilliant Books in Traverse City hosted the formal launch 

of A 1,000-MILE GREAT LAKES WALK 

Any writer appreciates the support of friends and family,  

and I have the best!

Beach at Empire

I took some time to walk the beach 

a bit along "my lake." 

The Glen Lake Library hosted me to give 

my Great Lakes lecture at the Empire Town Hall

Wild turkeys were on the move

Signing at The Cottage Book Shop

Icy pier at Charlevoix

Near Charlevoix

Sleeping Bear Bay near Glen Haven

Always time to stop for chocolate! (Empire, MI)

Pamela Grath (owner of Dog Ears Books, Northport) 

introduces me to the crowd at Brew North 

Time to hike with my friend, Jan, on 

the new Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail

My final event of the week was at 

Great Lakes Book & Supply in Big Rapids

 Thanks to all the great indie bookstores that hosted events this first week of my new book tour! A 1000-MILE GREAT LAKES WALK is only available through select indie bookstores until June 1 when it goes into distribution nationwide. To find out where the book is currently available, go HERE.

World Book Night

The Cottage Book Shop, Glen Arbor, MI

Giver Box of Books!

My book launch week overlapped with the time to pick-up books to distribute for World Book Night!

So, I chose my pick-up point to be The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor where I had a book-signing event.

This way, I not only got to grab my books to distribute, but also got to meet other book-givers!

What is World Book Night, you ask?

Well...from their website:



"World Book Night U.S. is a celebration of books and reading held on April 23, when 25,000 passionate volunteers across America give a total of half a million books within their communities to those who don’t regularly read. In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany and saw over 80,000 people gift more than 2.5 million books."

Givers picking up their books

More Givers picking up their books

A panel of librarians and booksellers choose 30 books, then writers forgo their royalties on the special editions that publishers print for free distribution. People then apply to be a book-giver. That's it. Free books, passed hand-to-hand, person-to-person to encourage people who don't read much to read more.

The book I get to distribute is Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451, but the book-givers at this pick-up site were swapping a few of their book with others so we would all have a selection of books to give.

Some of this year's choices

Welcome to Ann Arbor!

On the corner of 
E. Washington and 
S. Fourth in Ann Arbor, a new bookstore has recently opened its doors.

Literati Bookstore, 124 E. Washington

Literati Bookstore has opened in the vacant footprint of Borders Books. Yes, Borders started in Ann Arbor, and when they vanished downtown Ann Arbor no longer had a general bookstore. The indie bookstores are filling this void and doing it with style! 

The green bookstore on the corner

Stop in at the green building on the corner and check out their great selection.

Literati Bookstore

An August Woman's Literary Club

The building where they used to meet

I recently gave a lecture about my Lake Michigan hike in Holland, Michigan.

The group there, the Woman's Literary Club of Holland, has been in existence for over a century and they currently have over 150 members who meet twice-monthly to discuss all things literary.  

They now meet in this Holland church 

This club has rich history. One woman told me that her grandmother was one of the founding members of the club.

Mimi is the president of the group 

Author visits are always followed by 

coffee, dessert, and chatting.

It was a pleasure to meet these 
literary-minded women!