Author Event

Chicagoan TOM WEINBERG discusses the recent publication of his expedition to Central America 

Books available for purchase and signing

Register at 847-234-4420

For more than 20 years, TV producer Weinberg was obsessed with the centuries-old legend of the Lost City of the Monkey God, aka Ciudad Blanca, hidden deep in the dense Central American jungle. The book is composed of his journals written in Honduras, more than 180 stunning photographs and the author's personal thoughts and feelings about what became a world-famous 21st century discovery. 

Tom Weinberg started as a print journalist and went on to become a pioneering TV documentary and nonfiction producer for 40 years. He has achieved national acclaim for the more than 500 programs he has produced for PBS and WTTW, including winning four Emmy’s. He was executive producer of The 90’s, a breakthrough independently produced national PBS series. He created/produced the independent film and video showcase, Image Union, for ten years. He founded Fund for Innovative TV (FITV) and mediaburn.org, the video archive with 8000+ documentary and nonfiction videos and more than 16 million page views. His awards include duPont-Columbia award for documentary; Chicago Producer of the Year; Silver Circle award from TV Academy; Studs Terkel Community Media award and others. His has worked with and produced for MTV, WGN-TV, NBA on CBS, and Tokyo Broadcasting. His work has been shown in festivals and museums including Rio Cine, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, among others. He is a fourth-generation Chicagoan with lots of kids and grandchildren.

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Join us in welcoming local author Robert Kurson to celebrate the release of his new book, Rocket Men

$65 per individual includes dinner and book or $100 for couple includes 2 dinners and 1 book

Reservations are required as space is limited

Call 847-234-4420

The riveting inside story of three heroic astronauts who took on the challenge of mankind's historic first mission to the Moon, from the New York Times bestselling author of Shadow Divers. By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President Kennedy's end-of-decade deadline, and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch. With just four months to prepare--a fraction of the normal time required to plan a space mission--the agency committed to sending the first men in history to the Moon. And it would all happen at Christmas. In a year of historic violence and discord--the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago--the Apollo 8 mission would be the boldest, riskiest test of America's greatness under pressure. In this gripping insider account, Robert Kurson puts the focus on the three astronauts and their families: the commander, Frank Borman, a conflicted man on his final mission; idealistic Jim Lovell, who'd dreamed since boyhood of riding a rocket to the Moon; and Bill Anders, a young nuclear engineer and hotshot fighter pilot making his first space flight. Drawn from hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with the astronauts, their loved ones, NASA personnel, and myriad experts, and filled with vivid and unforgettable detail, Rocket Men is the definitive account of one of America's finest hours that reads like a real-life thriller. In these pages, Kurson reveals the epic dangers involved, and the singular bravery it took, for mankind to leave Earth for the first time--and arrive at a new world.

Robert Kurson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree from Harvard Law School. His award-winning stories have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Esquire, where he was a contributing editor. He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Shadow Divers, the 2005 American Booksellers Association's nonfiction Book Sense Book of the Year; Crashing Through, based on Kurson's 2006 National Magazine Award-winning profile in Esquire of the blind speed skier, CIA analyst, and entrepreneur Mike May; and Pirate Hunters. His latest book, Rocket Men, tells the story of the historic Apollo 8 mission to the Moon. He lives in Chicago.

Author photo by Matt Ferguson

Join us for an luncheon with Chloe Benjamin, recent author of The Immortalists.

$60 includes lunch and a copy of the book

Reservations required as space is limited. Call 847-234-4420

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children--four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness--sneak out to hear their fortunes. The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

Chloe Benjamin is the author of the novel The Anatomy of Dreams, which received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award and was longlisted for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. A San Francisco native, Chloe is a graduate of Vassar College and of the University of Wisconsin, where she received her MFA in fiction. She lives with her husband in Madison, Wisconsin.

 Author Photo (c) Nathan Jandl

We welcome debut author and former Lake Forest College hockey star Tim Rappleye celebrating the publication of Jack Parker's Wiseguys.

JACK PARKER'S WISEGUYS: THE NATIONAL CHAMPION BU TERRIERS, THE BLIZZARD OF '78, AND THE MIRACLE ON ICE

University Press of New England $28.00 Released January 2, 2018

at the Store

Books available for purchase and signing

Register at 847-234-4420

Over the winter of 1977-78, anyone within shouting distance of a two-mile stretch of Boston's Commonwealth Avenue--from Fenway Park to the trolley curve at Packard's Corner--found themselves pulled into the orbit of college hockey. The hottest ticket in a sports-mad city was Boston University's Terriers, a team so tough it was said they didn't have fans--they took hostages. Eschewing the usual recruiting pools in Canada, Jack Parker and his coaching staff assembled a squad that included three stars from nearby Charlestown, then known as the "armed robbery capital of America."

Jack Parker's Wiseguys is the story of a high-flying, headline-dominating, national championship squad led by three future stars of the Miracle on Ice, the medal-round game the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team won against the heavily favored Soviet Union. Now retired, Parker is a thoughtful statesman for the sport, a revered figure who held the longest tenure of any coach in Boston sports history. But during the 1977-78 season, he was just five years into his reign--and only a decade or so older than his players. Fiery, mercurial, as tough as any of his tough guys, Parker and his team were to face the pressure-cooker expectations of four previous also-ran seasons, further heightened by barroom brawls, off-the-ice shenanigans, and the citywide shutdown caused by one of the biggest blizzards to ever hit the Northeast.

This season was to be Parker's watershed, a roller-coaster ride of nail-biting victories and unimaginable tragedy, played out in increasingly strident headlines as his team opened the season with an unprecedented twenty-one straight wins. Only the second loss of the year eliminated the Terriers from their league playoffs and possibly from national contention; hours after the game Parker's wife died from cancer. The story of how the team responded--coming back to win the national championship a week after Parker buried his wife--makes a compelling tale for Boston sports fans and everyone else who feels a thrill of pride at America's unlikely win over the Soviet national team--a victory forged on Commonwealth Avenue in that bitter, beautiful winter of '78.

When the Wiseguys of Boston University were winning their NCAA Division I hockey championship in 1978, author Tim Rappleye was part of the Lake Forest College hockey team's historic run to the Division II NCAA championship game. The Foresters won the inaugural Division II West Regional Championship in 1978, compiling 23 wins and the best winning percentage in the history of the program. Rappleye went on to cover hockey at five Olympic Winter Games, as a researcher, producer and reporter, winning two Emmy Awards in the process. His first job was as a production assistant at the Lake Placid Miracle on Ice, where four of the characters in Jack Parker's Wiseguys established themselves as national heroes.Rappleye currently lives on the other side of Lake Michigan in Traverse City, Michigan, where he referees youth hockey games when he isn't teaching elementary school. He is currently working on his latest book, In Search of Hobey Baker.

Join Lake Forest Book Store in welcoming author Keziah Frost in celebrating the release of her first novel The Reluctant Fortune Teller

Park Row Publishing  $16.00  Due March 6, 2018

Wednesday, March 7th at 6:00 pm  at Lake Forest Book Store

Refreshments will be served

Register at 847-234-4420

A retired accountant becomes the town's fortune-teller in this witty and charming debut. Norbert Zelenka has always lived life on the sidelines. It's why at seventy-three years old he's broke and alone except for the company of a Chihuahua. But when "Carlotta's Club"--three strong-willed seniors with plenty of time on their hands--decide to make Norbert their latest project, he reluctantly agrees to their scheme: establishing himself as the town's fortune-teller. Soon his life begins changing in unexpected ways.It turns out that years of observing other people make Norbert an excellent card reader. As Norbert's lonesome world expands with new friendships and a newfound self-confidence, he finally finds himself in a place where he belongs. But disaster looms on the horizon. When a troubled young woman goes missing after a bad reading, Norbert must find a strength beyond the cards to bring her home safely.A heartfelt story of coming-of-age late in life, The Reluctant Fortune Teller is a poignant reminder that we're never too old to learn new tricks.

Keziah Frost works as a psychotherapist who specializes in pet grief. She developed The Reluctant Fortune Teller while enrolled in the Faber Academy under Tom Bromley. She shares her life with five little dogs, one audacious cat, and her encouraging human family. This is her first novel.

Author photo credit to Tom Davy

Come to the store for our Pop-up event and taste samples from Addie Gundry's newly released Essential Slow Cooker and Retro Recipes

St. Martin's Griffin  $20.00  Due January 9, 2018

St. Martin's Griffin  $20.00  Due January 9, 2018

Books will be available for purchase and signing

Register at 847-234-4420

A slow cooker is the ideal partner in crime when it comes to tackling dishes that can be too time- and work-intensive for every day, like French onion soup or chicken cordon bleu. And in Essential Slow Cooker Recipes: 103 Fuss-Free Slow Cooker Meals Everyone Will Love, we're going way beyond the expected soups and stews. Cutthroat Kitchen winner Addie Gundry offers up recipes for appetizers like BBQ Meatballs, breads like Slow Cooker Dinner Rolls, make-ahead breakfasts like Banana Pecan French Toast, and desserts like Pineapple Upside Down Cake, not to mention slow cooker twists on beloved recipes like Lasagna, Meatloaf, and Stuffed Peppers. Each recipe is paired with a finished-dish full-bleed color photo.

Gundry, a Food Network Cutthroat Kitchen winner and executive producer of RecipeLion, adds to her 103 Recipes series (Everyday Dinner Ideas, etc.) with Retro Recipes from the '50s and '60s: 103 Vintage Appetizers, Dinners, and Drinks Everyone Will Love. This collection of popular recipes from the 1950s and '60s contains what you might expect to find in a cookbook from the time or written on weathered index cards in grandma's recipe box. Recipes include easy beef stroganoff and a turkey tetrazzini. A book about this era couldn't overlook cocktail-party fare, and Gundry includes several options, among them a party cheese ball, crab puffs, and cream-cheese-stuffed celery. The featured desserts could only come from midcentury America, and include a creamsicle Jell-O mold, magic tomato soup cupcakes, and Harvey Wallbanger cake. There are also recipes for sweets still popular today, such as crispy rice treats, grasshopper pie, and classic peanut-butter cookies. The recipes are not always diligently researched: for example, beef Wellington rose to popularity in the 1960s, not the 1950s, and most likely thanks to Julia Child and not President Nixon (although he was famous for serving beef Wellington at nearly every state dinner he held during his presidency). Nevertheless, Gundry has made it easy for theme-party planners to find the necessary recipes all in one place.

Addie Gundry received her masters in culinary arts at Auguste Escoffier in Avignon, France. She has worked for chefs including Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Martha Stewart on management, restaurant openings, brand development, editorial, marketing, and sales. In 2015, she won Cutthroat Kitchen on The Food Network. As the executive producer for RecipeLion, Addie creates culinary content for multiple web platforms and communities. She excels at making easy recipes elegant. Her previous cookbooks include Everyday Dinner Ideas and Essential Slow Cooker Recipes.

We welcome chef and cookbook author, Heath Schecter for a presentation, discussion and demonstration of techniques

Createspace Independent Publishing Platform  $30.00 Released November 14, 2017

Wednesday, February 7th at 6:00 P.M at Lake Forest Book Store

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served.

Register at 847-234-4420

Chef Heath Schecter told his wife, in 2001, that he wanted to write a cookbook...16 years later he did. As a chef, he creates a lot of cool dishes...yet, his kids won't eat most of them...and they are missing out. This cookbook is a collection of his recipes created over the years, from starters, soups & salads, main courses, sous vide cooking, desserts, sides, sauces, seasonings and more. The recipes are very approachable and the steps are laid out to recreate them. He is very proud of this book; however, what he is most proud of, is that 25% of the proceeds will be donated to the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation (which raises money for child cancer research) in memory of his friend's daughter, the little warrior, Mia B Gurevitz.

Chef Heath Schecter has worked in restaurants for over 25 years, covering every position from the bottom up. He has a bachelor's degree in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and attended culinary school at the Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, AZ. He was contracted to write (published) recipes for a sous vide company, and has worked with celebrity chef Beau Macmillan at the Sanctuary Resort in Paradise Valley, AZ. Heath currently works as a corporate executive chef within the food manufacturing business, where he has created sauces, spice blends, and ready-to-eat deli salad. Heath also spends time in Lake Forest, IL with his friend, a James Beard house nominee, Chef Dominic Zumpano of The Gallery restaurant. Heath is currently a co-chef at The Gallery. Heath is available for private chef services. You can visit his website at www.chefheath.com

Lake Forest Book Store welcomes local author Tyler Smith celebrating his new book:

Friday, March 2nd at 6:00 P. M. at Lake Forest Book Store

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

Register at 847-234-4420

Called for Traveling is a pro basketball journey that spans four continents, seven countries and twelve teams over eleven hilarious and adventurous years. After playing his college ball at Penn State, Tyler Smith had a path in mind of where he wanted his pro basketball career to lead. Bringing his own toilet paper to away games, courts made of concrete, and fully-geared riot police at every stadium were not part of his original dream. Where were all the big contracts people talked about? Would he even have a job next season—or next week? And would he be playing for free this month because the team didn’t feel like paying him? In this highly unstable and unorthodox overseas lifestyle as a professional basketball player, Smith draws readers in quickly with his humor and ability to share his clever stories that seem outrageous, but are 100 percent true. His attitude and faith are tested relentlessly through bounced paychecks, injuries, and the seemingly endless frustrating reality of people around him speaking a language he could not understand. From Italy to Japan to Uruguay, and even the NBA, the challenges and adventures only accelerate as Tyler’s wife and kids are added to the overseas equation. His unique story is highly engaging whether or not you’re a basketball junkie. Called for Traveling is an honest and entertaining inside look at one man’s journey playing pro basketball around the world.

Tyler Smith, former Lake Forest Scout, three-year starter on the men's basketball team at Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and Academic All-American played a key role during PSU's run to the 2001 NCAA Sweet 16 when they defeated North Carolina en route to PSU's best season in almost fifty years. Following his graduation from PSU, Smith played professional basketball for eleven years in the US and overseas. He now lives in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Cara and daughters Hannah, Lexi, and Tori.

Author Photo Credit to John Patishnock

Join Lake Forest Book Store in welcoming author John U. Bacon celebrating the publication of his account of the tragic explosion of the munitions ship Mont-Blanc during World War I.

Wednesday, March 14th at 6:00 P.M. at Lake Forest Book Store

Books available for purchase and signing

Refreshments will be served

Register at 847-234-4420

The riveting, tick-tock account of the largest manmade explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb, and the equally astonishing tales of survival and heroism that emerged from the ashes, from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon. After steaming out of New York City on December 1, 1917, laden with a staggering three thousand tons of TNT and other explosives, the munitions ship Mont-Blanc fought its way up the Atlantic coast, through waters prowled by enemy U-boats. As it approached the lively port city of Halifax, Mont-Blanc's deadly cargo erupted with the force of 2.9 kilotons of TNT--the most powerful explosion ever visited on a human population, save for HIroshima and Nagasaki. Mont-Blanc was vaporized in one fifteenth of a second; a shockwave leveled the surrounding city. Next came a thirty-five-foot tsunami. Most astounding of all, however, were the incredible tales of survival and heroism that soon emerged from the rubble. This is the unforgettable story told in John U. Bacon's The Great Halifax Explosion a ticktock account of fateful decisions that led to doom, the human faces of the blast's 11,000 casualties, and the equally moving individual stories of those who lived and selflessly threw themselves into urgent rescue work that saved thousands. The shocking scale of the disaster stunned the world, dominating global headlines even amid the calamity of the First World War. Hours after the blast, Boston sent trains and ships filled with doctors, medicine, and money. The explosion would revolutionize pediatric medicine; transform U.S.-Canadian relations; and provide physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who studied the Halifax explosion closely when developing the atomic bomb, with history's only real-world case study demonstrating the lethal power of a weapon of mass destruction. Mesmerizing and inspiring, Bacon's deeply-researched narrative brings to life the tragedy, bravery, and surprising afterlife of one of the most dramatic events of modern times.

John U. Bacon is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including Three and Out; Fourth and Long; and Endzone. He appears often on NPR and national television, and teaches at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and the University of Michigan. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and son.

Author Photo credited to John Schultz

Join Lake Forest Book Store in welcoming author Georgia Hunter and the paperback release of We Were the Lucky Ones.

$40 includes lunch and book

Space is limited, register at 847-234-4420

It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety. As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere. An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.