January 31

Birthdays: Zane Grey (1872), John O’Hara (1905), Thomas Merton (1915), Norman Mailer (1923), Oe Kenzaburo (1935), Norris Church Mailer (1949), Denise Fleming (1950), Laura Lippman (1959), Patrick Gale (1962), Steven Amsterdam (1966), Daniel Tammet (1979)

Quote: “There’s always time to read. Don’t trust a writer who doesn’t read. It’s like eating food prepared by a cook who doesn’t eat.” – Laura Lippman

Norman Mailer won the Pulitzer Prize twice and the National Book Award.

Oe Kenzaburo won the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature

Daniel Tammet is an English writer and autistic savant. His 2006 memoir “Born on a Blue Day” is about his life with high-functioning autism and savant syndrome.

Laura Lippman’s novels have won the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe, and Barry awards.

I remember reading Zane Grey with my dad. He was a huge Zane Grey fan. Me, not so much, but it was the act of going to the library with him and having him read them to me that meant something. Read to your kids. It means everything.

If you like westerns, try some of The Wild Rose Press Wylder series.