Readers enjoy authors with food and drink

If you’re worried about the future of books, you haven’t been to the Tuscan Market book club in downtown Arlington Heights.

Every month or so Debbie Smart, who works at the restaurant and wine shop and was recently elected to the Arlington Heights Library Board, convinces an author to come and sign books and chat with readers.

But that’s not a difficult chore, said Smart, who used to work for a major bookseller.

“We’re getting national authors now,” said Smart. “My phone is ringing off the hook with calls from publishers. We sell a lot of books because we don’t just sell the one we’re talking about, but we can sell authors’ previous ones, too.”

Local author Glenn Taylor will launch the paperback version of his second novel, “The Marrowbone Marble Company,” at the next meeting, which is sold out.

The book is about a young man who comes home to West Virginia after serving in World War II. Taylor thinks the historical novel is timely because as a teacher at Harper College he encounters students returning after at least a couple deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Almost immediately after the appearance Taylor will leave the suburbs to teach writing at West Virginia University, which is home.

Taylor snagged Ecco, a HarperCollins imprint, as publisher because his first novel, “The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart,” was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Tuscan Market book club is a great idea, said Taylor.

“I wish more places would do it,” he said. “It’s hard to get very many people to come to a reading unless it’s a well-known author. Serve wine and food and people will come.”

Denise Beihoffer, an Arlington Heights lawyer who has been to seven or eight sessions, attended a recent gathering for Julie Hyzy, a South Suburban mystery writer.

“I like the variety,” said Beihoffer. “Some authors have more personality than others. It’s fascinating to me to sort of query them about the writing process. Some are very chronological and some throw things against the wall and see what sticks.”

Hyzy, who writes a series about a female chef in the White House, revealed has toured the executive mansion and has a scheme that might get her a glimpse of the kitchen. But she thinks research on questions such as how to blow up the White House might have her on a Homeland Security list.

Research has also taken her to gun classes and the Cook County morgue. But she is lucky enough to have a ghost chef create recipes.

Hyzy also said a popular villain in her works is based on a long-ago boss. Another character just showed up in her mind, saying, “I’m a bomb expert, and you need me.”

The President — no matter what his or her politics — will never be the bad guy, said Hyzy, who patiently answered every question thrown at her.

Audience members who had read “State of the Onion” cheered the author for a decision she made while writing the novel.

“The princess originally was going to be my bad guy, but it was so obvious,” she said.

Only 60 tickets are sold to each author appearance, and there’s always a waiting list, said Smart. People at the event get first dibs on signing up for the next one. For $25 each attendee gets a drink and appetizers besides the time with the author.

No one is required to buy books, said Smart. Some download e-books and others borrow books from the library.

Future authors include Gillian Flynn on June 29 with “Dark Places,” a crime thriller with an ending twist, her second novel after “Sharp Objects.”

On Aug. 10 the author will be Gregg Hurwitz and his “Trust No One.” Besides writing several thrillers, the Los Angeles resident has been a consulting producer on ABC’s “V” and written screenplays, graphic novels and articles about Shakespeare.

The book club is so successful that Smart is starting a new series, “A Drink With ...” for authors of works like cookbooks that don’t fit the book club format. The only admission fee for that will be to purchase a drink, she said.

“People like our book club so much because it’s a neighborhood place where they meet new people and get new friends,” said Smart. “It’s a phenomenon, the energy of that group.”

Amy Philpott, owner of Tuscan Market, is impressed that the club has grown from 15 people.

“I really enjoy what a simple thing like reading can do for people,” she said. “They are so genuinely excited about book club.”