The Hamilton Lane Library presents the 17th annual Reading & All That Jazz summer program. This series of alternating weekly Jazz performances and book reviews will entertain you all summer long on Tuesdays at noon, June through August.

2013 Summer
Book Reviews

Brown Bag Book Reviews

Bring your lunch or enjoy light refreshments, compliments of the Friends of the Lane Libraries.

Shouting Won't Help: Why I - and 50 Million Other Americans - Can't Hear You
By Katherine Bouton
Reviewer: Lori Rehm

Katherine Bouton details the frustration she experienced for over twenty years due to hearing loss. In addition, she interviews hearing specialists who explain this condition and discuss the latest treatments. Practical tips on conversing with the hearing impaired are also explored, hence the title.

The Beautiful Mystery
By Louise Penny
Reviewer: Mary Kay Fischer

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache investigates the murder of a choir director in a Quebec monastery, he uncovers a dispute between the monks who want to maintain their isolation and those who want to commercialize their beautiful music. At the heart of the controversy is the blurred line between the sacred and the secular.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
By Rachel Joyce
Reviewer: Cynthia Kelley

Harold Fry walks six hundred miles to say goodbye to Queenie Hennessy, a former co-worker. His wife, Maureen, is not pleased, even though they have been emotionally separated for many years. However, after witnessing Queenie's demise, Harold resurrects his love for Maureen and he realizes that his journey has been one of self-reflection and discovery.

Flight Behavior
By Barbara Kingsolver
Reviewer: Joan Witt

Dellarobia Turnbow's small Tennessee town is besieged by a migrating swarm of monarch butterflies. While assisting a scientist who is studying the insects, Dellarobia develops a profound concern for the environment. She emerges from this experience with wings to fly above her mundane life and to help preserve our fragile world.

A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
By Adam Makos
Reviewer: Al Wiebe

This true story begins in Germany in 1943. American B-17 pilot Charlie Brown has only one working engine when a German fighter pilot, Franz Stigler, flies up alongside him. Remarkably, Stigler salutes Brown and then flies away. This mystery would be solved, over forty years later, when Brown discovers the truth...and Stigler.

The Aviator's Wife
By Melanie Benjamin
Reviewer: Marion Thoms

This work of historical fiction chronicles the sometimes rocky marriage of legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife, Anne. Though Anne is an accomplished pilot and writer, she never escapes the shadow of her more famous husband. Her trials and disillusionment cause her to question their marriage and to long for her freedom.

The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War
By Daniel Stashower
Reviewer: Henry Cepluch

This true story examines the attempt to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Fatefully, the plot was thwarted after a famous detective, Allan Pinkerton, convinced Lincoln to cancel a planned train trip to Baltimore, where the assassination was to have taken place. Without Pinkerton's decisive action, our nation's history would have been much different.

2013 Summer
Jazz Music

Jazz Performances

Tuesday, June 11, Noon
Ricky Nye
Jazz Piano

Ricky Nye is the driving force behind the annual Blues & Boogie Piano Summit and was voted "Blues Artist of the Year 2013" in CityBeat's CEA Awards. He continues to draw crowds throughout the U.S. and Europe performing his infectious blend of American Roots Music.

BRDJB is back to share more traditional Dixieland Jazz from the 1920s-40s. Their exuberant signature style is well known at the various domestic and international Jazz festivals. Join them for an hour of crowd-pleasing, toe-tapping music.

The Cunningham brothers will entertain you with the mellow and memorable sounds of traditional Blues and Jazz.

Listen to the sweet notes of the Greenberg Trio playing a mixture of traditional and contemporary Jazz not unlike the music they play at the Blue Wisp, The Celestial, neighborhood coffee houses and at private events.

Tuesday, August 6, Noon
The Rob Allgeyer/Eric Sayer Duo
Piano and acoustic bass

The Allgeyer/Sayer Duo has been a fixture on the Cincinnati Jazz scene for over a decade. Rob and Eric will play a mix of Jazz, Brazilian-influenced Jazz and also include some Broadway favorites.

This piano based Jazz trio is led by pianist and composer, Chris Comer. The Trio has performed in many Cincinnati venues including Hamilton County Park District sites, the Fountain Square PNC Music series and the former Havana Martini Club.