Allan Iverson is coming back to the Sixers, so now’s probably a good time to mention that his favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham.

The Phanatic, meanwhile, muses “I love to check books out from the library that detail the history of baseball. It’s fun to read about how the game has changed since its inception. Players dressed in funny looking uniforms, shared baseball gloves and teams didn’t even have mascots!”

I think it’s worth noting that I have never seen the Philadelphia Phanatic in a library, though he does appear to be the published author of five books, including The Phillie Phanatic’s Moving Day, a poignant tale of his journey from Veteran’s Stadium, across the parking lot, and into Citizen’s Bank Park.

Then there’s this:

Based on the Eagles’ performance this past weekend, I’m pretty sure Andy Reid is holding their playbook.

George Anastasia

His other books are Blood and Honor which Jimmy Breslin called it “the best gangster book ever written,” the New York Times bestseller The Summer Wind about the Thomas Capano-Anne Marie Fahey murder case; The Goodfella Tapes, and Mobfiles: Mobsters, Molls, and Murder.

His work has appeared in Penthouse, Playboy and The Village Voice. He also has been featured on several network television news magazine reports about organized crime and has worked as a consultant on projects for ABC, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and National Geographic. George was kind enough to answer a series of questions about his writing. Thank you, George!

You’ve covered the mob for over 25 years for the Philadelphia Inquirer and written four books on the mafia. What draws you to the subject?

(George Anastasia) I think Americans have always been fascinated with the outlaw – Jessie James, Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde – and that the fascination with the Mafia is an extension of that. As an Italian-American I look at the Mafia – or in America actually it’s Cosa Nostra – as the dark side of the Italian-American experience. Cosa Nostra took the positive values of my heritage, things like honor, respect and a fierce sense of family loyalty, and bastardized them to justifiy a code of conduct that is outside the law, corrupt and treacherous.

As a reporter I have always found the topic rich. The stories and the people are fascinating. For all those reasons, I suppose, I was pulled toward writing about the wiseguys. I also benefited from the fact that as a new reporter at the Inquirer in 1976 I was assigned to cover the dawn of casino gambling in Atlantic City. Part of the debate back then was would legalized gaming bring the mob. In fact, the mob already was in Atlantic City. It became part of the story I was covering and then after Angelo Bruno was killed in 1980, things careened out of control and I started to write more and more about the mob and carved out a beat that I’m still working.

I say again and again, as a writer, you can’t make this stuff up any better than it is.

How has your reporting — and coverage of the mafia in general — changed in the past 25 years? Were you ever nervous that what you were writing could provoke violence or cause your sources to stop talking to you?

(George Anastasia) Over the years I’ve gotten better sources and more people know me. In the beginning I would cover trials, arrests, criminal events and try to build off of those things. But sources – both in law enforcement and in the underworld – add another dimension. Stories are still built around those classic questions, who, what, where and when. But I think the question that gets you to the better stories is WHY. In the beginning I could ask that question, but it was very seldom answered. Now, at least some time, I can get an answer.

The only time I had a problem was when John Stanfa was the boss. He was born and raised in Sicily and there they kill prosecutors, investigators, reporters, whoever. He put a hit out on me because he didn’t like some of the things I was writing. But nothing ever came of it, thankfully. And now he’s serving five consecutive life terms. I think that was an aberration and goes back to his origins. Nicky Scarfo never liked me, but he knew that doing anything to a reporter creates more problems than it solves. In the last go around, Joey Merlino and the young guys around him seemed to enjoy the attention. They had adopted that John Gotti celebrity gangster syndrome. What’s the point of being a mobster if nobody knows who you are? It was the antithesis of Angelo Bruno. Bruno’s philosophy was make money, not headlines. Stay in the shadows. Merlino and those guys seemed to crave attention. They were accessible. I had cell phone numbers. I had lunch and dinner with them on occasion. It was a unique situation that I don’t think will ever exist again. But it helped be flesh out and frame stories in ways that I could never do before.

You grew up in South Philadelphia. Did you frequent the library? What books did you like to read when you were younger?

(George Anastasia) I was born in South Philadelphia, but my family moved to South Jersey when I was four. We were part of that great migration to the suburbs. But I had relatives in South Philadelphia and I always had a feel for it. I read a lot of action/adventure stuff when I was young. I think I read all of the James Bond books by Ian Fleming. Then I got into Hemingway. I also read the swashbuckler stories. One of the greatest opening lines of all time was in “Scaramouche” by Rafael Sabatini: “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”

What a great lead! How could you not want to know who the hell this guy was and what he was up to?

Why do you think so many authors draw on the mafia as a source of inspiration for their own fictional work?

(George Anastasia) I was once asked to write a piece about the Sopranos for an anthology. It was Italian-American writers and their take on the show, its popularity and what it said about us and about America. One of the things I said in the piece was that if Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be writing for the Sopranos. Think about it. Whenever Shakespeare wanted to write about passion and humor and people who were a little over the top and who grabbed life with both hands and squeezed as hard as they could, he set his plays in Italy. When he was going for the morose, we got England or Scotland.

I think what Shakespeare found with Italy, many authors today find with the Mafia.

That’s not to say that the Mafia defines Italians. I get into this debate a lot with other Italian-Americans and Italian-American groups who argue that my writing about the Mafia reinforces the stereo-type and that shows like the Sopranos made all Americans think that all Italians are gangsters.

I don’t believe that for a minute. My standard response is that any ethnic group that could give America Antonin Scalia and Camille Paglia in the same generation doesn’t have to worry about Tony Soprano being its poster boy.

If you had to pick one book aside from your own for people to learn about the mafia, what book would you choose?

(George Anastasia) “The Leopard” by Giuseppe Lampedusa. It’s an historic novel about Sicily. And you can’t understand the Mafia unless you understand Sicily.

What are your favorite books to read that are not crime-related?

(George Anastasia) I love all the novels by Jorge Amado, the great Brazilian writer. I like Mario Vargas Llosa’s novels. I just read a novel “City of Thieves” by David Benioff that I thought was great.  “Corelli’s Mandolin” is another favorite. I like some of Richard Russo’s stuff, but not the more recent books. “Straight Man” are the two that I like best.

And finally…you’re stuck with one of Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, or Thomas Jefferson on a remote island. Who do you pick to spend eternity with, and how do you both get off the island?

(George Anastasia) I pick Ben Franklin. I spent some time in France and I think we’d have a lot to talk about. Also, he’d be smart enough to invent something that would get us off the island.

Thank you so much George. Once again, George is the author the author of five books, including The Last Gangster a New York Times bestseller that chronicles the demise of the Philadelphia mob.

His other books are Blood and Honor which Jimmy Breslin called it “the best gangster book ever written,” the New York Times bestseller The Summer Wind about the Thomas Capano-Anne Marie Fahey murder case; The Goodfella Tapes, and Mobfiles: Mobsters, Molls, and Murder.

Your first novel, Standing Still, is about a woman, Claire, who takes the place of her daughter during a home invasion kidnapping. I’m wondering how you came up with the idea for this and what your process for writing it was like.

I had just come from a disastrous meeting in New York with my (now former) agent– who rejected a book I’d been slaving over, a book that she’d seen and approved along the way.   She chided me to write something “closer to my life experience” and I was furious at her for that simplistic advice.  I thought “I’ll show her, dammit . . .I’ll come up with a better plot, a more personal plot, before my train even arrives back in Philadelphia!”  So I basically forced myself, on that train ride, to think of a plot that had more personal resonance, and I decided on a character who, like me and my mom and my sister, suffered from panic disorder.  Then I put her in a situation where she is forced to be brave, to overcome her panic.   (And the fact that Tom Wolfe came and sat next to me in the Amtrak holding area was a sign of some kind.  He was all dressed in white, including spats, in the middle of a snow storm, so I think he was an angel!)

I wrote the first draft, quickly, in about five months, with a real fire and fury, the kind that comes from being truly pissed off, and a little too competitive for my own good.

Your descriptions of Claire’s panic disorder are extremely realistic. What sources did you use to create that realism in your novel?

I suffered from panic attacks for many years, as did my sister and my mother.  Claire’s reactions are based partly on my experiences and partly on those of my mother, who was truly paralyzed by the disorder, and became agoraphobic for many years because of it.  The cognitive therapy techniques Claire employs came from  my own therapy at The Beck Institute, which was life-changing.  I did a little bit of traditional research about the prevalence of panic disorder and the use of drug treatments.

You’re based here in the Philadelphia region. If you were trapped on SEPTA with only 5 books to tide you over for a major delay, what would they be and why?

Why, SEPTA is never delayed!  However, in the rare instance it would be — today, right this instant, I would grab The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald, A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving,  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold,  The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger,  and The Lovely Bones, by Jonathan Tropper.   Gatsby is one of my all-time favorites, and the others are my favorites from the last decade or so.  (If you’re going to be trapped, you may as well re-read a sure thing.)   And if anyone hasn’t heard of Tropper’s book — don’t delay.  It’s tender and almost unbearably hilarious.

You’re also a member of the Liar’s Club, a Philadelphia-based collective of authors who travel the region and support each other and independent booksellers. Can you tell me a little about your involvement in the group and where you’re going next?

We all pitch in to promote our books but also to support bookstores, libraries and reading at all levels.  For the last year, we’ve been throwing parties at independent bookstores on our own dime — free food, book giveaways, trivia games about the bookstore etc — to help shine a spotlight on the great work they do in their communities.  We’ll be at Wellington Square Books in Exton this Saturday the 5th from 12-2, and at Farley’s and Canterbury Tales in New Hope all day December 12th.   And autographed books make great gifts, hint hint.

What are you working on now?

I just finished The Bird House for Simon & Schuster, which is coming out either next fall or Spring the following year.  It’s about a grandmother and granddaughter who do a class project on the family history — and all the family secrets rise to the surface.

And lastly, you’re on a desert island with either Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman or Thomas Jefferson. Which one would you pick and how would the two of you get off the island?

Wow . . . much as I’d enjoy the company of Whitman or Poe . . .and although Betsy Ross could certainly construct a large flag that could be seen by a plane . . . .I have a feeling Ben Franklin would be able to invent some getaway contraption with scraps of things lying around.  He’s more MacGyver-y.

Thank you so much Kelly!

You can purchase Kelly Simmons’ novel Standing Still online through your your local independent bookstore through Indiebound.com, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.

World’s Longest Domino Rally with Children’s Books:

March of the Librarians:

The Bibliofiles Book Cart Drill Team:

One of the authors reading tonight is Malinda Lo. Her novel, ASH, is a reimagining of the Cinderella story centered around Ash, a teenage girl who eventually falls for a woman instead of the prince. Malinda is the former managing editor of AfterEllen.com, the largest entertainment news website for lesbians and bisexual women. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities. Malinda now lives in Northern California with her partner and their dog. Malinda was kind enough to answer these questions while in Philadelphia for both the NCTE conference and the Giovanni’s Room fundraiser. Thanks, Malinda!

1. When did you decide to write a novel and why did you pick the young adult genre?

(Malinda Lo) I’ve always loved to write and have been writing since I was a child. I wrote my first novel when I was 13, but there was a long gap after college when I didn’t write any fiction. Even though I had always wanted to be a writer, I didn’t quite believe that I could do that as a job. But when I was 28 I decided to finally go for it, so I became a freelance writer (mostly freelancing for LGBT magazines and websites; I later became managing editor of AfterEllen.com) and simultaneously began to write ASH. I did not choose to write in the young adult genre, actually; I simply wrote the book. It wasn’t until I was ready to submit it for publication that I began to think about which genre it fit into, and that’s when I realized it was a YA novel.

2. How did you decide to base Ash on the Cinderella fairy tale? What other novels/books influenced your writing?

(Malinda Lo) I chose to retell Cinderella for two reasons: it was my favorite fairy tale when I was a child, and I never read a retelling that truly spoke to me. Therefore, I decided to write the book that I wanted to read. I’ve been most influenced by Robin McKinley, who has written a number of fairy tale retellings, including Deerskin and, most famously, Beauty (a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”).

3. You were just named one of the Out 100. Did you get to meet Sarah Waters?

(Malinda Lo) Ha! I have met Sarah Waters, but not through the Out 100. I’ve interviewed her several times for my freelance work, and I met her in person for a video interview I did for AfterEllen.com after her novel The Night Watch was released. I truly admire her writing — I think her books are brilliant.

4. What are you working on now?

(Malinda Lo) I’m working on another YA novel set in the world of ASH, but several hundreds of years earlier, so there are no crossover characters. It’s called HUNTRESS, and it’s my version of a hero’s quest — with lesbians. It’s due out in spring 2011.

5. Okay, last question — for the Philadelphia readers. If you were stuck on a desert island with either Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, or Betsy Ross — who would you pick, and how would you escape off the island?

(Malinda Lo) I think I’d choose to be stuck with Ben Franklin. I’d really hope he could invent some kind of communication device that would enable us to get someone to rescue us!

Thanks, Malinda. If you’d like to read more author interviews, click here. Happy reading!

One of the authors reading tomorrow night is young adult novelist Mark Hardy. Mark is the author of Nothing Pink, a novel about a teenager named Vincent struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his deeply religious childhood. Mark and his partner Jim live in Raleigh, NC where Mark teaches second grade at Creech Road Elementary School. He also works as a national literacy consultant and was kind enough to conduct this interview while waiting for his car to be repaired on the way to Philadelphia. Thank you, Mark!

When did you first conceive of the idea of writing a novel and why did you decide to write this book for a young adult audience?

(Mark Hardy) As a teacher, I came to realize that when I was a teen, I never found myself in the literature I read. Not once. Not even in gay erotica. One summer soon after this realization, I took a short story writing course with young adult author, Carolyn Coman. In order to write a story, I needed a protagonist I loved. Vincent immediately appeared. Because this was Vincent’s story, and he tells it as a young adult, the novel is categorized YA. Although, apparently the 1970s setting and theological themes make the book appealing for adults like me, who were themselves teens during that era.

In Nothing Pink, Vincent struggles to reconcile his gay identity with his Christian upbringing. How did you come up with the idea?

(Mark Hardy) Once Vincent appeared on the scene, my first job was to get to know him. As he revealed himself to me, his crisis was clearly a spiritual one. As I tried to discern the thing he most desperately wanted, it was obviously unconditional love and acceptance from God and family; freedom from the tyranny of his religious upbringing. Even though I was more than thirty years old at the time, I was in a similar crisis. As I wrote the book, Vincent and I both wrestled with and reconciled religion and sexuality.

What other young adult literature would you recommend for someone struggling with his or her sexuality? Are there any books in particular that you think are “must reads?”

(Mark Hardy) As far as great titles for YA, I would actually not recommend titles, but rather a queer YA lit blog or two. How fortunate that young people struggling with identity issues today have such a wide range of readers’ advisory tools on the internet so that they may find books that not only speak to them as young queer people, but that also appeal to their interests outside of being gay.

Try these: I’m here. I’m queer. Now, what the hell do I read?. Additionally, ALA’s roundtable on GLBTQ YA lit is worth looking at.

That said, Cameron’s SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU is awesome. And I can’t forget to mention Sanchez’s THE GOD BOX, which is similar in theme.

What kind of response did you get after Nothing Pink came out?

(Mark Hardy) My closest friends who stuck by me throughout the decade I took to write Nothing Pink rejoiced and helped me celebrate. Very few members of my family said a word. For the most part, reviewers were generous and gracious. I still weep with gratitude when I read favorable reviews. I am blessed to have personally met and corresponded with readers who have been touched and moved by NOTHING PINK. Many, many people-gay and straight, find themselves as they live Vincent’s story.

Are you working on anything now?

(Mark Hardy) I am working at teaching 2^nd grade and also on three writing projects: a second YA novel, ICED TEA SKY, a short story for submission to an anthology of micro-fiction that Persea is publishing, and a professional book for teachers of writing.

Okay, one last question. You’re stuck on a desert island, with either Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson. Who do you pick and how do the two of you get off the island?

(Mark Hardy) First of all, I would definitely leave Thomas Jefferson on the island. The hypocrisy of some of his writing angers me. So much of it is was untrue at the time written and remains untrue today. I’d have to take Betsy with me off the island. We carve needles out of fish bones and sew our clothes (and Thom’s and Ben’s) into parasails. We float naked over the ocean until we land on a nearby, inhabited island.

3805 Locust St.

6pm, free.

New Yorker staff writer George Packer will read from his new essay collection, Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade. Packer is also the author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, and Blood of the Liberals. My hunch is that there will be little crossover crowd with the comedy writing lecture mentioned above.

1901 Vine Street

7:30pm, free.

Lastly, the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy is hosting young adult authors Delia Sherman and Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Murdock is the author of the Dairy Queen trilogy and the fantasy Princess Ben. Sherman is the author of Changeling, the story of the mortal changeling of Central Park. Books will be available for purchase at Big Blue Marble.

551 Carpenter Lane

7:00 pm, free.

But that’s not why I’m excited. Just look at this lineup they have! It’s like English Teacher Woodstock! Guest speakers include Julie Andrews, Junot Diaz, Joyce Carol Oates, Tracy Kidder, Brian Selznick, Lorene Cary, Nancy Pearl, Nicolas Sparks, Jeff Kinney — and my personal and absolute favorite author of all time, Gordon Korman.

I own every single one of Gordon Korman’s books published before and during my YA prime, from 1978-1995. His first book, This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall, was the first book of his that I read (in fourth grade) and was published when Gordon Korman was in 7th grade. The man wrote his first book in junior high.

Korman’s books fascinated me for two reasons: one, they were set in Canada (how exotic) and two, they took place in a boarding school. (Think Exeter.) I was a kid from South Jersey who basically didn’t leave my zip code until college. Korman’s books were funny and sharp and exotic — full of weird little characters like Elmer Drimsdale, the nerd who breeds fish in his bathtub, and Mr. Sturgeon, the exasperated headmaster who resembles a fish and doesn’t know what to do with his students, the Canadian middle-school version of Saved by the Bell’s cast.

I read Korman’s books 15 years ago and I still remember specific details. I remember the name of the all girls’ finishing school across the street, Miss Scrimmage’s Finishing School for Young Ladies. I even remember rollerblading around my house, pretending to be a hockey player at a Canadian boarding school.

Sadly, Wikipedia notes that This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall was rereleased in 2003 under a new title, This Can’t Be Happening – with both a “new look” and “updated slang.” I don’t know what that means, but I’m assuming “updated slang” means “not as awesome as the original, which didn’t need to be updated.”

If you can get your hands on a used copy of the original, I highly recommend it. I found a few at Amazon, but you might be able to spot it at a garage or library sale. Actually, now that I’m looking, all of the MacDonald Hall books appear to be out of print and/or “rereleased.” I rounded up the MacDonald Hall titles at Amazon — if you decide to buy them, make sure you go for the USED copies, as they will contain the original text. (The first folio of Korman, if you will.)

I totally lost track of my train of thought on this post. Oh yes, if you want to see Gordon Korman live and in the flesh, he’ll be speaking at 12:30 on Friday at the Convention Center. 12th and Market. English Teachers Convention. Good stuff. Be there.

Between 1886 and 1923 many towns across the country received Carnegie library funds, some 1406 towns with 1679 libraries in total. Pennsylvania had 58 such libraries, each bearing the Carnegie’s slogan about the purposes of libraries above the door: “Let There Be Light.”

Twenty-five of these libraries are in Philadelphia. Weirdly, Carnegie refused to donate to the Main Branch of the Philadelphia public library. Plan Philly has a nice overview of the remaining Carnegie libraries in the city (some have been torn down) and the Free Library has several letters from Carnegie about the libraries, including my favorite, which says

Philadelphia is slow, but even if she were a creeper like the snail, you would make her get there.

Tonight, the Kelly Writer’s House is hosting Christian Bök, a writer and creator of no one — but two – artificial languages used on TV shows.

Bök is also the author of Eunoia, a five chapter book that features and uses a different vowel in each chapter. An excerpt: “Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech.” Another: “Dutch smut churns up blushful succubus lusts.”

He also makes books out of Rubik’s Cubes, performs sound poetry, and writes deep thoughts about Legos. Bök will read from his work, followed by a discussion with members of the Penn English Department.

3805 Locust St.

6pm, free.