November 27, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 9 Ramsey Borough man is finalist in USA Best Book Awards Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of USA Book News, has announced that former Ramsey mayor Richard Muti’s fourth book, “Essays for My Father: A Legacy of Pas- sion, Politics, and Patriotism in Small-Town America,” is a finalist in the non-fiction- anthology category of The 2013 USA Best Book Awards. Keen said more than 1,500 books were entered in this year’s compe- tition in 100 categories covering print, e- books, and audio books. Muti also achieved this honor in The 2012 USA Best Book competition with his true crime thriller, “The Charmer,” which was co-authored with Charles Buckley. “This has to be one of the high points of my writing career,” Muti said. “I was fairly confident that ‘The Charmer’ would do well in the competition, but I wasn’t sure ‘Essays for My Father’ would have the same appeal for the judges. It is a more personal book that speaks to my Italian-American heritage and that gives my no-holds-barred take on state and national politics.” “Essays for My Father” is a collection of Muti’s essays about Governor Chris Christie and Jersey-style politics, unneces- sary wars, wrongheaded government, rare displays of political courage, and an Ital- ian-American heritage shared by 17 million Americans. Many of the pieces in the book first appeared as op-ed articles in the media, including The New York Times. The book also includes extensive original material. Muti is a former Navy pilot, former assistant county prosecutor, and former mayor of Ramsey. He teaches American government and politics at Fairleigh Dick- inson University and serves on the Ramsey Board of Education. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Harvard Business School, and Rutgers Law School. The USA Books Awards judges are not the first to find merit in the writing skills of Richard Muti. Best-selling author Linda Fairstein said, “Richard Muti’s essays are smart and provocative,” and she called his latest book a “fascinating journey across America’s cultural landscape.” Screen- writer David Klass (“Kiss the Girls” and “Emperor”) called Muti “a superb writer with a fresh voice.” He has also earned praise from famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who put cult leader Charles Manson behind bars and wrote “Helter Skelter,” and from Ken Auletta, a best-selling author and col- umnist for The New Yorker. Muti is in the midst of a five-state, 39- stop book tour. His schedule is available at www.richardmuti.com. Esteemed guest Nonagenarian Verna G. Smith, former member of the First Presbyterian Church, was on hand to sign her latest book, ‘Walking with God through Grief,’ during a recent Fellowship Hour. In her latest book, she uses a creative mixture of scripture, poetry, simple spiritual exercises, and prayer. Smith received a master’s in education from Seton Hall University with certifica- tion in school psychology. While earning her certificate in the art of spiritual direction at San Francisco Theological Seminary, she conducted a three-year series of spiritual formation groups in the Ramsey church, for which she developed her own curriculum. In the Presbytery of the Palisades, she conducted workshops for pastors and lay leaders on spiritual direction and on seven different ways to pray. She met with grieving support groups in her special study of ways to help those who are grieving use spiritual resources. Standing: MeeLon Yee and Audrey Talarico. Seated: Claudia Monteith and Verna Smith.