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Book ahead
By Staff Reports
Published: 9/27/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 9/27/2009 4:31 AM
Although she has published three acclaimed novels — one of which, "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," was made into a film starring Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey — author Kaylie Jones is usually introduced as the daughter of novelist James Jones, author of "From Here to Eternity."
As the daughter of one of America's best-known novelists, Kaylie lived what many thought was a life of privilege and glamour — growing up in Paris and Long Island, having as family friends some of the leading writers and artists of the day.
But, as Kaylie Jones writes in her new memoir, "Lies My Mother Never Told Me," two constants defined her childhood: literature and alcohol.
"Only one word was whispered in the house, as if it were the worst insult you could call someone," she writes. " 'Alcoholic' was a word my parents reserved for the most appalling and shameful cases — drunks who made public scenes or tried to kill themselves or ended up in the street or in an institution. If you could hold your liquor and go to work, you were definitely not an alcoholic."
But alcoholics were what James and Gloria Jones were — and what their daughter became.
"Lies My Mother Never Told Me" is the story of Jones' battle with alcoholism and her struggle to flourish despite the looming shadow of a famous father and an emotionally abusive and damaged mother.
Jones will be in Tulsa to sign copies of her book at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at Steve's Sundry, Books and Magazines, 2612 S. Harvard Ave. "Lies My Mother Never Told Me" is published by William Morrow.
At the races
Tulsa resident
Anatoly "Toly" Arutunoff
has lived a storied life in the world of automobiles and auto racing — and many of those stories have found their way into the pages of his recently published book, "One Off: The Roads, The Races, The Automobiles of Toly Arutunoff."
Arutunoff will be at Steve's Sundry, Books and Magazines, 2612 S. Harvard Ave., from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of his book, which is published by TPR Inc., a firm specializing in books on motor sports and auto restoration.
Arutunoff writes that "all the car stuff I've done is a sort of cross-section of what you would have done, if you'd been young in the 1960s and had the money." That, and the talent to win national races such as the Sport Car Club of America's annual Runoff, or take part in the Targa Florio endurance race. Closer to home, Arutunoff built the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit.
Best of the Bests
The
National Book Awards
, one of this country's most prestigious literary prizes, is giving the nation a chance to have its say on one of its awards.
Until Oct. 21, visitors to the National Book Awards Web site (tulsaworld.com/nationalbook) can vote on the Best of the National Books Awards Fiction. Six titles that over the past 60 years have won the National Book Award for Fiction were chosen as finalists for this prize, which will be decided by an online vote.
The nominees are:
"The Stories of John Cheever"
"Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
"The Collected Stories of William Faulkner"
"The Complete Stories" by Flannery O'Connor
"Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon
"The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty"
It's interesting that four of the six candidates are collections of short stories. And two of the candidates were the subjects of recently published and much-acclaimed biographies: Brad Gooch's "Flannery" and "Cheever: A Life" by Oklahoma City native Blake Bailey.
Also, three of the six would likely be categorized as "Southern" writers — Faulkner, Welty and O'Connor — while Ellison, though his novel is set in New York City, was born and raised in Oklahoma City.
Saturday signings
Oklahoma novelist
Debbie Steever
will sign copies of her novel, "Family Secrets or Lies," from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Steve's Sundry. Steever's story is about two brothers, returning to their Arkansas home to oversee their father's funeral. They discover a shocking secret about the mother they never knew.
The Frugal Bookworm, 5920 S. Lewis Ave., will host a book-signing from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday for
Jena R. Pendergrass
, author of the self-published children's book "God's Love."
Tulsan
George Otey
will sign copies of his compilation of "First Presidential Messages," a self-published collection of inaugural remarks, beginning at noon Saturday at Borders, 2710 E. 21st St.
By Staff Reports
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