Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

The Summer We Lost Her by Tish Cohen My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is a compelling family drama that shows what can happen when a husband and wife lose their way, and how tragedy can either break them or make them stronger. Matt, a 50-something lawyer, and Elise, a 30-something Olympic-caliber equestrian, are in the Adirondacks to sell Matt's deceased grandfather's house. The trip started out badly when Matt and their 8-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy, Gracie, left NYC without Elise because she was having a problem getting her horse back from Florida and, because of that, she missed Gracie's first-ever school play. It gets even more tense as Matt reconnects with the woman next door who he lost his virginity to when they were teenagers. Matt eventually learns some things about his grandfather (who raised him after his parents died) that would mean...

Reclining Women Reading  (1939), Pablo Picasso

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I would give the first half of this book 3 stars; the next quarter, 3 1/2; the final quarter, 5. The reason is that it was billed as a thriller but there was nothing thrilling in the first half and it was only mildly suspenseful. But I was rewarded for sticking with it because the last quarter of the book had me on the edge of my seat and was so twisty I couldn't -- and didn't -- figure out who the bad guy was. The story is about Becky and Carl Gerard and their 15-year-old daughter Meghan, who has a mysterious illness. After one flare up a doctor thinks he has the answer and begins treating Meghan. But then when she develops symptoms not consistent with that illness another doctor suggests Becky may have Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and, because of that Meghan is placed in a hospital psychiatric ward for teens and her ca...

An upcoming exhibition of quilts at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts aims to comfort victims of sexual assault while focusing on the need to create safer environments for all. “Discomforters,” an exhibition of quilts by fiber artist Ruta Butkus Marino, former curator at the Quick Center, opens Monday, April 1, and runs through Thursday, April 11. A panel discussion of sexual assault featuring Marino and panelists from the university and the local community will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, at the Quick Center. The panel discussion is open to all. Words on Marino’s quilts are direct quotes taken from Project Unbreakable, a web-based photography project started in 2011 by then 19-year-old Grace Brown, the friend of a sexual assault survivor. Before disbanding the project, Brown collected more than 4,000 submissions from around the world, each photo showing a sexual-assault survivor holding a poster with a quote by his or ...

The Laughing Owl Press Co. is hosting an Interactive Art Show to benefit Kane Area School District art classes, grades K-12 at the Thomas L. Kane Memorial Chapel. Come enjoy music by The Moon Whistlers while viewing an art exhibit featuring Brooke Balliet, Sara Aiello, Cathy Sirianni, select KASD students, and other talented artists. Light hors d’ouvres will be served. Tickets are $10 and are available at the Laughing Owl Press and at the door.

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book kept my interest, but I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I suppose it could be called a character study on what grief can do to a person. It also shows what can happen if you have a few secrets that are uncovered and you never get a chance to explain. The story starts with young dentist Nick dying in a car crash, leaving behind his wife Clara and their children, 4-year-old Maisie and 4-day-old Felix. Shortly after the crash Maisie starts have nightmares, talks about a "bad man" who was following her and Nick on the day of the crash, and acts out in various ways when she sees black cars. This, and a couple of other things, lead Clara to believe Nick's crash may not have been an accident after all. She goes to the police but when the detective attempts to assure her it was, in fact, an accident and Nick's fault, she doesn't believe him and starts her own inv...

Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is an interesting character study about what grief and secrets can do to people. It starts with Allie Garvey at a funeral for a high school classmate with whom she shared a terrible secret. But, we don't know which classmate it is yet. The story then moves to 20 years ago and is told in alternating chapters by Allie, her classmates/neighbors, a new kid in town, and some of the adults in their lives. When an horrific event occurs the classmates don't tell anyone, and hope no one is able to connect them to it. But in the years that follow the event touches them all in profound ways and shapes the people they are by the time they get to the grave site. Allie is also dealing with the death of her sister from cystic fibrosis and her mother's severe depression stemming from that. One of the others in the group is a manipulative narcissist; one is a closeted homosexual; one is a ...

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner My rating: 5 of 5 stars If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. It's exquisitely written, hauntingly poignant and emotionally draining. Have tissues ready when you're reading. The story is told by Elise, who is now in her early 80s and in the early stages of Alzheimer's, as she sets out to meet her friend Mariko, who she has not seen since they were teenagers in the Crystal City, Texas, internment camp during World War II. Elise's parents were German immigrants; Mariko's were Japanese. Despite the hardships the girls and their families suffered during their internment they managed to be teenage girls and do most of the things teenage girls do, including making a promise to each other that they would move to New York City together when they were 18. They lose touch -- except for a couple of letters -- when Elise's family is sent back to Germany and, later, Mariko's is...

It's World Poetry Day. Celebrate by checking out Beth Ann Fennelly's newest book “Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs.” An excerpt: I Come From a Long Line of Modest Achievers I’m fond of recalling how my mother is fond of recalling how my great-grandfather was the very first person to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge on the second day.

  The National Comedy Center in Jamestown will be preserving a piece of comedy history. Legendary producer, director, writer and actor Carl Reiner today announced an initiative to digitally preserve his extensive personal collection of production-used scripts from "The Dick Van Dyke Show." The scripts for all 158 episodes, which are heavily annotated in Reiner's own handwriting, have been stored away since the series ended in 1966 and have never before been made available to a cultural institution for conservation or exhibition. The announcement came on Reiner's 97th birthday. https://comedycenter.org/dick-van-dyke-show-archives/

Young Lady Reading by Mary Cassatt

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin My rating: 5 of 5 stars Beautifully written with prose that made me feel the rain, hear the gunshots, taste the moonshine. I love Dixie Clay's spirit. She married -- way too young -- a man who was handsome, charming, and well-to-do. But things aren't exactly what they seem with Jessie. At one point, after she learns he's a successful moonshiner, she talks him into letting her help him with the business. And she's very good at it. But the revenuers are after Jessie. Ham and Ingersoll are both very likable and quirky. Dixie Clay, who lost a baby of her own, ends up with someone else's baby. That whole series of events is sad, lovely, funny, and heart-wrenching all at the same time. All of this is set against the backdrop of the Mississippi River flood of 1927. Parallels can be made with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria because of the devastation they caused and the government response. Co-author...

My #MondayMotivation is that the sooner I can get my work done the sooner I can get home and continue reading "The Last Year of the War" by Susan Meissner. By Keith Larson

Blood Oath by Linda Fairstein My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is not related to the novel but whenever I read an Alexandra Cooper book I picture Olivia Benson from Law & Order SVU. I know Coop is a blonde lawyer, not a brunette cop but I can't help it. Every time Mike calls Coop "blondie," I get confused for a nano second. Anyway ... Alexandra Cooper is back at work full-strength after her kidnapping and the shooting death of her boss, and she's dealing with a few seemingly unrelated cases: A 10-year-old cold case involving 20-something Lucy Jenner; Judge Bud Corliss and his wife's domestic abuse claims; and her friend Francie Fain who mysteriously collapses and falls into a coma. Lucy was sexually assaulted when she a teenager by someone who is involved in law enforcement in NYC, but it takes hours and hours of interviews and persuasion before Coop can get her to give up the man's name. The fact that Lucy is a habitual lia...

By John Robertson

Join us at the Corner Bar & Restaurant for a weekend of celebrating St. Paddy's Day. Music by 2 Guys Drinking Beer & DJ Benzo . $5 Irish Car Bombs, Jello Shots, also Budlight/Miller Lite Pounders $3.25!!! Come down and get your jig on or Riverdance the night away!!

March 2019   |  2019 Season   |  Accommodations   |  Plan a Visit   |  Make a Donation #CHQ2019 announcements: Judy Collins and Madeleine Peyroux on Opening Night, Dawes on Aug. 16, plus free Sunday entertainment We're thrilled to confirm our Opening Night acts, as the iconic Judy Collins and acclaimed jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux share a double-billing — a stirring start for our 2019 season — while popular folk band Dawes is confirmed to join us on Aug. 16. Read on for more information on these and other exciting additions to our concert lineup. ...

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra clarinetist and saxophonist Sal Andolina will be accompanied by six of his BPO colleagues when he returns to St. Bonaventure University Monday, March 25, for an evening performance as part of the university’s Martine Performing Arts Series. The concert, “Sal Andolina’s Mixed Bag,” will be presented at 7 p.m. in Rigas Theater of the university’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Admission is free for St. Bonaventure students and employees. For others, a limited number of $5 general admission tickets are available and may be purchased by calling the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494. “Our audiences have been treated to the virtuosity of Sal Andolina over the past couple of seasons, in concerts featuring jazz as well as French and Italian café music,” said Dr. Les Sabina, professor of music and chair of the university’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts, which plans and executes the annual Martine series. “Now, we will hear him in a classica...

The St. Bonaventure University theater program will present “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” a contemporary comedy, next week at the university’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Nightly performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, through Saturday, March 23. “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” by American playwright Sarah Ruhl, is the story of Jean and her accidental involvement with a cell phone, its deceased owner and his very odd family. “The play combines absurd humor, magical realism and romance to spin a very 21st century story about goodness, loneliness, bad business and the desire to connect,” said Dr. Ed. Simone, professor of theater, theater program director, and director for this production. “The laughs in this play are fresh and sharp. Sarah Ruhl looks at our lives and how we try to connect, to find the goodness in people. We have a fabulous ensemble of actors and technicians who bring genuine energy to the comedy, the action and the romance as well.” Th...

Saw them last night in Bradford. AMAZING!