Book Talk: ‘Hello Cleveland’ is heartfelt portrait

“Let’s take a look at how things got so weird” is Nick Perry’s offer in “Hello Cleveland: Things You Should Know About the Most Unique City in the World,” an impolite but heartfelt portrait of his hometown. There’s no organization to the small book; the opening publisher’s note says that “we agreed on a horns-and-halos, warts-and-all history of Cleveland.” That it is. Perry affirms that Cleveland is “kinda-hick and kinda-Canadian” and picks and chooses the historical tidbits that fascinate him.

Book Talk:Former Cleveland forensic scientist launches new crime series

In 2019, a Japanese fan of the Cleveland hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony sold everything he had to buy a one-way ticket to meet his idols. His plan was to hang out on a street corner until they appeared. They did not, having moved to California; instead, he was mugged. Perry recaps the 1970 bombing of the Rodin “Thinker” sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which left the seated figure legless; some of the famous people associated with the city; the peculiar weather patterns; certain cultural institutions like the Cleveland Orchestra and Playhouse Square; and oddities like the Cargill Salt Mine and the Woollybear Festival. The illustrations are by Cleveland native Jason Look, who now lives in Atlanta.

‘Speak in Tongues’

It was there for just over seven years before closing suddenly on New Year’s Eve 2001, in a battered building owned by the Ohio Communist Party. A music venue called Speaking in Tongues hosted hundreds of punk bands and artists and became a kind of clubhouse. Cuyahoga Falls writer Eric Sandy talked to musicians and patrons to write “Speak in Tongues: An Oral History of Cleveland’s Infamous DIY Punk Venue.” The cat-urine-reeking basement was divided into a warren of rooms with drywall, creating highly illegal living quarters; one former tenant remarked: “You can live in an abandoned theater because it’s Cleveland, and there are few laws and nobody has any money.” Another contributor is Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, who remembers a projectionist showing film loops; years later, he and Dan Auerbach hired him to work on the band’s tour. Eric Sandy is the former managing editor of Scene Magazine, where he began the interviews that became the book. “Hello Cleveland” (128 pages, $12.95) and “Speak in Tongues” (192 pages, $16.95) are available in softcover from Microcosm Publishing.

‘Loyal Subject?’

The gags come almost too fast for comprehension in “Loyal Subject?” a clever but exceptionally long historical comic novel by James H. Nisenson of Rocky River. Samuel C. Horsenail arrives in Boston in 1772 after serving eight miserable years in the British Navy. He figures he has three options: reenlist; hire on a merchant ship; or remain in the Colonies. He chooses the third option. Overhearing a couple of lawyers discussing a difficult-to-unload farm north of town, Horsenail snookers them into a kind of sideways sharecropping agreement: His beloved wife Hortense and detested mother-in-law will come from England, and he will use the proceeds from the sale of the mother-in-law’s inn to guarantee the deal. After one year, if he does not produce a profit, he loses everything. The joke is on the lawyers. One of Horsenail’s crops, “wild weeds,” not only allow him to avoid paying tobacco taxes but Mama to make her popular hash brownies. Horsenail is compelled to join the Sons of Liberty, leading troops at the Battle of Breed’s Hill and becoming an officer in the Continental Army, reporting to George Washington. But being a blatant opportunist, he butters his crumpets on both sides and switches back and forth to the Tories as the prevailing wind blows. The canny Hortense takes care of things back on the home front. Nisenson plays with other modern buzzwords like vertical integration and the Consumer Price Index, endless puns, anachronisms including Federal Express, eBay and Veterans Affairs, and pop culture references, some delightfully obscure. The real-life military characters and actions are on the money. “Loyal Subject?” (512 pages, softcover) costs $28 from online retailers.

Events

Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library: Liz Moore, author of “Long Bright River,” appears in a virtual event from 9 to 10 p.m. Tuesday. Register at smfpl.org. Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow branch, 2121 Snow Road): Deanna Adams, author of “Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Venues,” gives an interactive presentation from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org. Cuyahoga County Public Library (South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch, 1876 S. Green Road, South Euclid): Kimberla Lawson Roby discusses her novel “Sister Friends Forever,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. From 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jason Mott talks about “Hell of a Book.” Register at cuyahogalibrary.org. Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Powers branch, 6996 Powers Blvd.): Jamie Ford talks about “The Many Daughters of Afong Moy,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org. Canal Fulton Public Library (154 Market St. E.): Mark Zimmerman talks about his 1946-set baseball novel “Eli: A Phenom’s Story,” 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Ilise Carter joins the Peculiar Book Club in a virtual event to talk about “The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History, 7 p.m. Thursday Register at loganberrybooks.com. The second of three Author Alley events, beginning at noon Saturday, features fiction writers including Dan Chaon, Abby Collette, Susan Petrone and Mary Turzillo. The final event will take place Aug. 20. Cuyahoga County Public Library (North Royalton branch, 5071 Wallings Road): Bette Lou Higgins talks about “Lost Restaurants of Cleveland,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org. ThirdSpace Action Lab (1464 E. 105th St., Cleveland): Ashley C. Ford joins the Writers & Readers author series to discuss her memoir “Somebody’s Daughter,” noon Saturday. Register at cpl.org. Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County (305 Wick Ave., Youngstown): Children’s author Jerry Pallotta talks about his many books, including his new “Who Would Win” series featuring duels like “Hyena vs. Honey Badger,” 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday. Register at libraryvisit.org. Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Bradley Eimer signs “Be the Dumbest Person in the Room: & Other Life Lessons From a Mid-Level Creative Schlub,” 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Wayne County Public Library (West Salem branch, 99 E. Buckeye St.): Mark Strecker talks about “Hidden History of Northeast Ohio,” 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday. Register at wcpl.info.

Western Reserve Academy (Ellsworth Dining Hall, 178 College St., Hudson): Susan Branch, author of the “Heart of the Home” lifestyle book series, signs “Distilled Genius: A Collection of Life-Changing Quotations,” 6 p.m. Monday. Call 330-653-2252 or email books@learnedowl.com to register. Advance notice for an event sure to be popular: Judy Orr James will sign “Akron Family Recipes: History and Traditions from Sauerkraut Balls to Sweet Potato Pie” at 2 p.m. Aug. 14 at Akron-Summit County Public Library. Literary Cleveland has announced the schedule for its fourth annual free Inkubator Writing Conference, to be held with virtual panel discussions Sept. 6-8 and an in-person event and book fair Sept. 9-10. Participants include David Giffels, Raechel Anne Jolie and Abby VanDiver. See the schedule at Literary Cleveland — Inkubator Conference 2022 (litcleveland.org)

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

Book Talk:‘Akron Family Recipes’ offers a taste of tradition, a taste of home

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Hello Cleveland’ is heartfelt portrait of an Ohio city