August 2003

Please let us know at least 7 days in advance if you would like an autographed copy. This will allow us sufficient time to have enough copies of the book in stock. Thank You.

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Tuesday, August 5at 7:30 p.m.
Paul Martin
One Man's Leg: A Memoir

As a child growing up in a working-class Massachusetts city, Paul Martin took part in athletic competition to provide some relief from an otherwise difficult childhood and from time in a foster home. He wound his way through his early 20s with determination, humor and uncertainty, working in construction, going to college and eventually starting a career. But it wasn't until the age of 25, when he lost the lower half of his left leg in a car accident, that Paul Martin looked in the mirror and made a true commitment to his life and his future--and went on to become a world champion triathlete and Paralympic competitor. Come hear an amazing story from a true American hero.

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Sunday, August 10th at 7:30 p.m.
Elizabeth George
A Place of Hiding (Bantam)

The author of eleven novels and one short story collection, New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth George has firmly established herself as a gifted novelist able to eloquently portray the powerful and often murderous, passions of the heart. Now, in her twelfth novel, George again masterfully probes the darker landscapes of human relationships. The novel begins as forensic scientist Simon St. James and his wife Deborah travel to the solitary island of Guernsey in the English Channel, where an old friend of Deborah's is accused of killing the island's wealthiest benefactor. This is an island where the specter of World War II shadows the inhabitants and nearly everyone has a secret to hide. Riveting, suspenseful and heart wrenching, A Place of Hiding is a gripping tale of betrayal and devotion, love and loss, war and remembrance, showcasing George's incomparable storytelling gifts.

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Monday, August 11th at 7:30 p.m.
Roger King
A Girl From Zanzibar
(Helen Marx Books)

Zanzibar in the early 1980's--Marcella D' Souza---a young, beautiful business-minded woman on mixed heritage--yearns to escape the stultifying, closeted world of the East African island. Soon after she meets a United Nations development official, Geoffrey Sutton, she discovers the true source of her alienation and longing turns to desperation. She leaves with Geoffrey, determined never to look back on her previous life. In this remarkable debut which was the winner of the Bay Area Book Reviewer's Association Award for fiction 2003, British-born novelist Roger King weaves a mesmerizing story of what it's like to be from everywhere---and nowhere. It is a tale of modern-day immigration in a globalized world fed by fear and greed.

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Wednesday, August 13th at 7:30 p.m.
Lauren Kessler
Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley and the Dawn of the McCarthy Era
(HarperCollins)

Lauren Kessler brings us the definitive, dramatic biography of the Soviet spy turned FBI informant who ushered in the McCarthy era and became one of the most controversial figures in the history of espionage in America. Her code name was "Clever Girl," but to the New York City tabloids in the late 1940s, she was the "Red Spy Queen." She ferried secret documents from covert Communists in the federal government to her Russian lover, a KGB operative. She recruited informants and debriefed agents. During the "golden age" of Soviet espionage, Elizabeth Turrill Bentley, the well-bred, Vassar-educated descendant of Puritan clergy, ran two of the most productive spy rings in America. And then, one day in 1945, she "turned"-- and started naming names. When she finished, she had exposed scores of Communist agents in the government, pinpointed spies in top administrative positions, and started the Rosenbergs on their way to execution. Her disclosures and accusations-the repercussions of which historians have debated for decades-put a halt to Russian spying for years and helped set the tone of American political life for nearly a decade.

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Wednesday, August 20th at 7:30 p.m.
David Corbett
Done for a Dime
(Ballantine)

David Corbett's first book, The Devil's Redhead, was hailed by critics as a searing work of suspense. Now, one of the hottest new names in modern crime fiction is back with a riveting and soulful new noir. Back in the day, Raymond "Strong" Carlisle made his mark as an ace sideman blowing baritone sax alongside all the biggest names in R&B. Now he lies in the grass outside his home, shot dead from behind and pelted by the heedless rain that mingles with his own blood. He is the first official casualty of a dirty war being lethally waged for control of Rio Mirada: a low-rent, "city in transition" of clashing subcultures at the northern tip of the San Francisco Bay, beset by drug dealers, arsonists, squatters . . . and now murder.

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Wednesday, August 20th at 6:30 p.m.
Book Club
Happiness by Will Ferguson

In the late 1990's, with their cups running over with billions of Silicon Valley dollars, a new generation of super rich mounted an invasion of their unsuspecting neighbors in California's wine country. Napa Valley was overrun quickly, but Sonoma was resisting, and thus was born a fierce debate over the visions of an ideal community - a paradise for wealthy newcomers or rural eccentrics? Acclaimed Vanity Fair journalist Deutschman has penned a rich story of wine and the characters that make it and covet it, and asks provocative questions concerning the preservation of our remaining natural spaces.

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Thursday, August 21st at 7:00 pm *
Unholy Wars
John K. Cooley

This group meets every month to discuss a book relevant to current event(s) around the world. To date, we have examined books focusing on a variety of events in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe. As always, we welcome people from all backgrounds and affiliations to participate. This month, we will discuss the important book Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism by award-winning journalist John Cooley. Internationally renowned scholar Edward Said has described Unholy Wars as a "masterpiece of reportorial thoroughness, painstaking research, and serious reflection." For more information you may email Graham Parsons at parsons402@yahoo.com or call the store at 462-4415.

* Please Note Time