Month: October 2012

Michigan Author Quiz – guessing closed

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I always welcome you all to come up with a guest quiz and Nise has taken me up on the offer.  When she sent it to me (without answers) I felt just like all you must you feel every week and this may lead to a kindler, gentler quizmaster 🙂  Good luck everyone and Thank you, NISE!

FIRST TIMERS ALWAYS WELCOME!

You have until noon Sunday to submit your answers as a comment.  Comment will be hidden until I post the answers.  No Googling! The person with the most points this round will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.

In 1837, Michigan and Ohio signed a truce after a brief skirmish over the hotly contested property of the Toledo Strip. Ohio might have gotten the fair city of Toledo, but in exchange Michigan got the riches of the Upper Peninsula. Stacy has quizzed us on Ohio authors so I thought I would follow her example and quiz you on Michigan Authors. See if you can identify them with these clues. Each of them has a connection to Michigan, many still do!  (Use the photo for some help)
1.     This children’s writer has twice won the Caldecott Medal. Robin Williams starred in the movie made from one of his winning books.  He was born in Grand Rapids and attended the University of Michigan. Chris Van Allsburg
2.     This Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King award-winning children’s author was born and raised in Flint, Michigan which has been used as a prominent setting in several stories including The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963  Christopher Paul Curtis
3.     This best-selling author born in  Port Huron Michigan has had her books made into movies. Her third novel met with critical success as few writers, let alone black women, were able to shift from their own sensitive feminine side to a construction working male lover like she did with Franklin and Zora.  Terry McMillan
4.     He was born in Flint and is a documentary filmmaker, nonfiction writer, Oscar-winning filmmaker, bestselling author, and vocal critic of the right.  Michael Moore
5.     This Kalamazoo author won a National Book Award for fiction for her novel that follows a handful of characters through a year of horse races in the West Virginia back country.  Jaimy Gordon
6.     In this 8th novel featuring Alex McKnight, , the 2006 Michigan Author Award winner, leads us on a suspenseful adventure in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  He was born and raised in Detroit.  Steve Hamilton
7.     This author had a successful career in the NHL as a player and then coached a Stanley Cup winning team.  He was born in Grand Rapids and raised in my hometown of Grand Haven, where he lives today.  Dan Bylsma
8.     Grand Haven plays a role in this tale of family, changes and love by this Grand Rapids author. Her latest book covers the subject of hoarding.  Kristina Riggle
9.     This author Retired from teaching and began her writing career in 2007.  She writes romance for the heart and fiction for the soul. I have a personal connection to her novel, Tender Vow.  She was born and raised in West Michigan.  Sharlene MacLaren
10.  This Chelsea resident wrote about a college student who gets into a car accident while driving with his girlfriend Nicole, who is tragically killed.  Her third novel about a woman’s survivor’s guilt from a Columbine-like event twenty years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart was made into a movie starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood in 07.  Laura Kasischke
For a bonus of 10 pts name the author, TV show, movie and book
11.  He grew up in Birmingham, MI. He began his career as a stand-up comedian.  His first book topped the New York times bestseller list propelling him into an unprecedented ‘Trifecta’—he had the #1 rated television show, the #1 box office smash hit movie, and the #1 bestselling book all in the same week in 1994.  Tim Allen, Home Improvement – The Santa Clause-Don’t Stand TO Close To A Naked Man

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

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Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An AutobiographyStories I Only Tell My Friends. Finished audio 9-28-12, rating 4.5/5, autobiography, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio read by Robe Lowe.

It’s no secret that I am a child of the 80’s and lover of the teen movies of the day.  Rob Lowe was never one of my favorites, he was just too pretty, but he starred in some great 80’s films.  I picked up the book at a library sale but then remembered that a few bloggers (maybe Mary is one?) recommended the audio so I tried that instead and the audio is definitely the way to go with this one.  Lowe’ charm and intelligence come through loud and clear and I looked forward to getting in the car and visiting with him every day because that’s what it felt like.  He was very conversational and it was just a fun and easy listen.

Lowe knew he wanted to be an actor at an early age in Dayton, Ohio, and was involved in an acting group called Peanut Butter and Jelly.  He even had a few star encounters, a favorite of mine is when he knocked on Liza Minnelli’s hotel door and was allowed in to chat!  His parents divorced, his mother remarried and her behavior became erratic.  When she moved the family of three boys to Los Angeles it was culture shock for Rob, but the perfect place to really pursue his goal of becoming an actor.

Lowe is a master name dropper.  It is amazing to me how many famous people he came in contact with at a young age.  I LOVE Cary Grant and Rob got to watch his first after school special on Cary Grant’s bed with Grant and his daughter.  So cool (and not creepy at all).  The Sheens, Janet Jackson, Ron Howard and many others all come into Rob’s orbit before his first big break, The Outsiders (1983).   The Outsiders takes up a nice percentage of the book, but we get to meet these new upstarts as Rob does, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon…

I highly recommend this for any fan of the 80’s, Hollywood memoirs, or the man himself.  You’ll feel like Hollywood insider.  I think it could have been more complete, he does choose to gloss over chunks of his life, but what is included is very entertaining and insightful.  A man who has been on both the inside and the outside of the Hollywood scene and has managed to survive with sanity intact.

After finishing the book I immediately put The Outsiders on hold at the library.  I feel like I know so much about behind the scenes that the movie will be extra fun to watch.  I think my favorite role is Sam Seaborn from the West Wing.  What’s yours?