Feb 7 at noon: Rosa Parks, Please Keep Your Seat

In celebration of Black History Month, Pittsburgh actor Greg Kenney will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling on Tuesday, February 7 at noon perform his one man tribute to Mrs. Rosa Parks by portraying Just'n Truth, a young man who was on the bus the day Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat. Just'n will provide background to that historic day, then talk about the Civil Rights Movement that followed. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more information.

Keith Maillard's Web Site

Check out our friend's Keith Maillard's new web site. Nicely designed.

The Lunch With Books Song, featuring Yodeling Dick Brooks

Here it is: the long-awaited world premier of the Lunch With Books theme song, written and performed by our friend, the legendary yodeling Dick Brooks. Please pass the word to everyone on the planet. Let's help Yodeling Dick and Lunch With Books go viral (or at least bacterial)!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvj9nnmaQV4

January 31: Favorite Sons

Robin Yocum, former Columbus crime reporter and Brilliant Ohio native, will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling on Tuesday, January 31 at noon to discuss Favorite Sons, his debut novel about a prosecuting attorney who must deal with a mistake and cover-up from his youth. Valley towns such as Steubenville, Martins Ferry, and Mingo Junction are mentioned by name. USA Book News named Favorite Sons the 2011 Book of the Year for Mystery/Suspense. The Akron Beacon-Journal named it one of the best books of 2011. Choose to Read Ohio selected Favorite Sons as a selection for its 2013 and 2014 programs, and the Ohioana Library Association selected Mr. Yocum as a featured author for the annual Ohioana Book Festival in May. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more information.

Jan 24 at noon: Just Another Day in Wormwood

The residents of Wormwood, West Virginia, have seen their once-thriving town slip into obscurity and decay. Under the abysmal direction of the business and civic leaders, life has sunk to new lows. Of course new ideas are always welcome—as long as they line the pockets of those in charge. So most everyone has pretty much come to accept things as they are. Besides, what else could go wrong in a town with no future? Who would even bother trying to make a bigger mess of things?

Mayor Little Dick Fleming is trying to unload his methane gas-filled coal mines on the city so he can get out from under the enormous cost of fixing them, hopefully before the town goes up in flames—and he wants a convention center built in his honor in the process.Karl Lamb, a self-styled marketing guru and slaughterhouse owner, is making one last desperate attempt to stay afloat financially—by using the town's pets as the key to his demented, cost-reduction solution.

Returning home after his last employer was shut down by the FBI, private investigator Ty Svenson launches his own business from a single-wide trailer with some serious structural issues. As Ty races to solve a murder and prevent a fresh round of civic atrocities, he falls for a former high school classmate—and a twenty-something librarian. While flood waters bear down on the city, Ty's dating dilemmas are resolved on live TV.

It's just another day in Wormwood—and that's the problem.

Robert Van Kirk spent his formative years in a small West Virginia city along the Ohio River, a delightfully quirky spot that inspired this, his first novel. He is a retired investment industry executive who currently lives in New Bern, North Carolina, with his wife, Michelle, and their two dogs.

January 17: More Tales of Wheeling's Frontier Era

[PLEASE NOTE: The Lunch With Books program featuring violinist Juan Jaramillo, originally scheduled for January 10, 2012 at noon, has been POSTPONED, most likely until summer 2012. Details will be announced when confirmed. We apologize for any inconvenience. -OCPL ]

Joe Roxby will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday, January 17 at noon to discuss the new, expanded edition of The Heroic Age: More Tales of Wheeling’s Frontier Era. Co-authored by William Hintzen and illustrated by artist Anne Foreman, the new edition contains an appendix of primary source materials on Fort Henry and Lewis Wetzel, plus in depth analysis of the Foreman massacre, the sieges of 1777 and 1782, and the actual location of Fort Henry. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.