Authors to speak on Lewis and Clark expedition

It’s been two centuries since Meriwether Lewis and William Clark made their historic trek West. In fact, 200 years ago to the day, the expedition was in southwestern Montana, seeking – with the help of the fabled Sacagawea – help from area Indian tribes. I got that fact from the Web site www.pbs.org/lewisandclark, which has about as much information about the expedition as you could possibly want. But … if you want more, then you might consider attending the “Meet the Authors” series that will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday and Aug. 17 in River Park Square.

Jack Nisbet, author of the forthcoming book “The Mapmaker’s Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau,” will be Thursday’s first featured speaker. His talk is titled “Visualizing Rivers: How the Plateau Tribes Introduced David Thompson to the Major Drainages of the Inland Northwest.” He will be followed by Robert Carriker, professor of history at Gonzaga University and author of several books, including “The Natural History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” who will deliver a talk titled “Sergeant John Ordway’s Mysterious Salmon River.”

On Aug. 17, Corvallis, Ore., writer and filmmaker Paul Vandevelder, author of the book “Coyote Warrior: One Man, Three Tribes, And the Trial That Forged a Nation,” will give a talk titled “What Happens to Cultures when Rivers Die.”

All the presentations, which are co-sponsored by Save Our Wild Salmon and the Sierra Club, are free and open to the public and will be held at the Kress Gallery on River Park Square’s third-floor level. For further information, call 456-3413.

Being bold

State Librarian Jan Walsh, inspired by what she describes as “Bold Spirit,” has chosen a selection of books for the Washington State Library’s Summer Reading Program that, she says, “focus on courage and exemplify the willingness to take on challenges and overcome fear.”

It’s only natural, then, that the top book on Walsh’s list would be Spokane author Linda Hunt’s book “Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America.” Another Spokane author, Chris Crutcher, had his novel “Stotan!” make the young-adult list.

Other books on the list, categorized by age group, are:

Young adult – “Honey, Baby, Sweetheart,” by Deb Caletti; “Our Only May Amelia,” by Jennifer Holm.

Children – “Davy’s Dream,” by Paul Lewis Owen; “Lootas, Little Wave Eater: Adopting an Orphaned Sea Otter,” by Clare Hodgson Meeker, illustrations by C.J. Casson.

No accounting for taste

If you’re still devouring books on your summer vacation (or, for the majority of us, weekends), then you might want to know that Tango, a new magazine “dedicated to love and relationships,” did a poll of its readers. The purpose: to uncover their favorite books “on love and romance.”

Here are the results, including the percentage of votes each selection earned: 1, “The Notebook,” by Nicholas Sparks (30.6); 2, “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” by Helen Fielding (26.4); 3, “Gone with the Wind” (25.6); 4, “The Great Gatsby,” (24.8); 5, “Like Water for Chocolate,” by Laura Esquivel (20.7); 6, “Memoirs of a Geisha,” by Arthur Golden (17.4); 7, “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare (17.4); 8, “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Bronte (17.4); 9, “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” by John Gray (15.7); and 10, “Bridges of Madison County,” by Robert James Waller (14).

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Book talk

•Poetry Reading Group (747-3454), 3 p.m. today, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington (838-0206).

•Auntie’s Book Group (“Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” by Gregory Maguire), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Literary Freedom Book Group (“Colors of the Mountain,” by Da Chen), 1 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Saturday Afternoon Kids Club Reading Time, 2 p.m. Saturday, Christian Life Bookstore, 510 E. Francis Ave. (483-5338).

The reader board

•Robert H. DeMotte (“From Heaven with Love”), introductory lecture, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore. Note: This is an introduction to therapist-author DeMotte’s Saturday workshops and will be held in the store’s conference room. The seminars themselves will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays (879-0096).

•Michael Gear (“Athena Factor”), Kathleen O’Neill Gear (“It Sleeps in Me”), readings, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Ann Louise Gittleman (“Hot Times: How to Eat Well and Live Healthy”), signing, 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.