Saturday, April 2nd at 2:30 p.m. *
Dean Karnazes
Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night
Runner
(Tarcher / Penguin)
There are those of us whose idea
of the ultimate physical challenge is a 26.2-mile marathon. And then
there is Dean Karnazes, the ultramarathoner who has run 226.2 miles
nonstop, finished the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon across Death Valley
National Park, and the only person to complete a marathon to the South
Pole in running shoes (and probably the only person to eat an entire
pizza and a whole cheesecake while running). Karnazes captures the euphoria
and out-of-body highs of these adventures and candidly reveals how he
merges the solitary, manic, self-absorbed life of hard-core ultrarunning
with a full-time job and family. Bring your running shoes. The author
will lead a run immediately after the event!
* Please Note Time
Tuesday, April 5th at 7:30
p.m.
Richard Weinstein
The Stress Effect: Discover the Connection
Between Stress and Illness and Reclaim Your Health
(Avery)
Santa Cruz's Dr. Weinstein is
a doctor of chiropractic medicine who has specialized in treating stress-related
disorders for the past 25 years. The Stress Effect helps readers
understand the connection between chronic stress and numerous health
problems and provides effective programs for correcting physical imbalances.
It also offers suggestions for managing psychological stress, a commonsense
diet that promotes balance, and a resource guide that directs the reader
to doctors who are familiar with the range of therapies recommended.
Wednesday, April 6th at 7:30 p.m.
Allston James, Amber Coverdale Sumrall, Akasha Gloria Hull, Charles
Atkinson, Kathleen Flowers, and Gary Young
The Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets
2004
(Chatoyant)
Monterey Bay is a refuge for wildlife
both common and rare. This anthology collects the work of the rarest,
or perhaps the wildest, things in the region--its poets. Drawing from
the rich natural and human environment that surrounds their creators,
the poems collected in this volume create a vivid postcard of life in
this artistically vibrant region.
Thursday, April 7th at 7:30 p.m.
Dougall Fraser
But You Knew That Already: What a Psychic
Can Teach You About Life
(Rodale)
"Refreshing, insightful and
charmingly irreverent! Dougall Fraser gives the inside skinny on psychic
phenomenon."--Katherine Thomas. Meet America's new psychic star--he's
the Queer Guy with the Third Eye, the Psychic in the City. In his entertaining
mix of memoir, industry exposé, and psychic self-help, he'll
sort out truth from fiction, hilariously uncovering the psychic trade's
sleights of hand and mind. His irreverent humor and dead-on predictions
are destined to turn would-be skeptics into willing cosmic converts,
and his experience will teach us that we all know more than we think
we do. Fraser will do a limited number of psychic readings for audience
members!
Tuesday, April 12th at 7:30 p.m.
Philip Fradkin
The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of
1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself
(UC Press)
This gripping account of the earthquake
and its devastating fires and the city's subsequent reconstruction vividly
shows how, after the shaking stopped, humans, not the forces of nature,
nearly destroyed San Francisco by simple ineptitude and power politics.
Bolstered by previously unpublished eyewitness accounts and photographs,
this third book in the trilogy on earthquakes by Pulitzer-winning journalist
Fradkin takes us into the city's exclusive clubs, teeming hospitals,
refugee camps, and Chinatown. He traces the horrifying results of the
mayor's illegal shoot-to-kill order, and he reveals how an elite oligarchy
failed to serve the needs of ordinary people, ushering in a period of
unparalleled civic upheaval.
Thursday, April 14th at 7:30 p.m.
Dan Millman
The Journeys of Socrates
(Harper San Francisco)
This long-awaited prequel to the
bestselling Way of the Peaceful Warrior weaves another epic tale
of personal transformation while centering on the life of Socrates,
the beloved sage and gas station attendant and inspiration for Millman's
passionate ideology--one that values being conscious over being smart
and strength in spirit over strength in body. From Tsarist Russia to
America, this spellbinding novel of courage and love reveals how a boy
became a man, how a man became a warrior, and how a warrior discovered
peace.
Monday, April 18th at 7:30 p.m.
Joseph Kanon
Alibi
(Henry Holt)
From the bestselling author of
Los Alamos and The Good German comes a gripping historical
thriller, a tale of love, revenge, and moral responsibility set in postwar
Venice. As a stunned Europe begins to recover from the ravages of World
War II, Adam Miller travels to Venice to visit his widowed mother and
to try to forget the horrors he witnessed as an U.S. Army war crimes
investigator in Germany. Untouched by bombs, the city is gorgeous still,
but when Adam falls in love with a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating
war experiences, he is forced to confront another Venice, a haunted
city where everyone has been compromised by the Occupation. He finds
himself at the center of a web of deception, intrigue, and unexpected
moral dilemmas. When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt?
How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi?
Tuesday, April 19th at 7:30 p.m.
Carol Firenze
The Passionate Olive: 101 Things to Do
with Olive Oil
(Ballantine)
The olive tree is a symbol of
abundance, peace, and longevity. Olive oil, dubbed "liquid gold"
by Homer, has been used for food, medicine, magic, beauty, and divine
rituals. Baseball star Joe DiMaggio is said to have soaked his bat in
it. And while it is no longer drawn upon to treat leprosy or massage
elephants, the use of this versatile product is growing by leaps and
bounds around the world. Carol Firenze shares the myriad of legends
and practical uses of olive oil through the telling of her favorite
family stories and by offering unique formulas and recipes. From Los
Gatos, Firenze is a board member of the California Olive Oil Council
and a recipient of a Olive Oil Consultant Certificate from the Italian
Culinary Institute in New York. She will display olive oil samples for
the body and provide appetizers for the belly. Chris Banthien, producer
of Olio del Le Colline di Santa Cruz, will provide olive oil for tasting.
Wednesday, April 20th at 6:30 p.m.
Book Club Meeting
Peace Like a River by Leif
Enger
(Grove Press)
In "lyrical, openhearted
prose" (Michael Glitz, The New York Post), Enger tells the
story of eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy who has reason
to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds
himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has
been controversially charged with murder. Their journey is touched by
serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and its remarkable conclusion
shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying
of enemies, the most tragic of fates. and uproarious, Halliday is an
unapologetic loose-lipped icon for the slacker in us all.
Wednesday, April 20th at 7:30 p.m.
Ayun Halliday
Job Hopper: The Checkered Career of a
Down-Market Dilettante
(Seal Press)
If it's true that the average
worker will hold an average of seven jobs in a lifetime, Halliday is
anything but average. In her brief thirty-something years, she's tried
lifeguard, library attendant, costume designer, waitress, artist's model,
professional temp, substitute teacher, party counselor, massage therapist,
mime and the costumed version of Sesame Street's Bert. Hanging onto
her true profession--acting--by a hair, Halliday's diligent avoidance
of hard work, regular paychecks, and all dress codes will appeal to
anyone who has ever served food that fell on the floor, suffered canned
lunches in sterile break rooms, or been busted copying a resume on the
job. Honest and uproarious, Halliday is an unapologetic loose-lipped
icon for the slacker in us all.
Thursday, April 21st at 7:00 p.m. *
World Affairs Book Club
The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul
of a Nation
by Sandra Mackey
(Plume)
This month's selection is The
Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation by Sandra Mackey,
a longtime scholar and journalist specializing in the Middle East. Her
past works include Lebanon: The Death of a Nation, The Saudis:
Inside the Desert Kingdom and Passion and Politics: The Turbulent
World of the Arabs. Of Mackey's sweeping history of Iran, The
Washington Post Book World writes, "A readable account of a
long and complicated history. Mackey has sensible things to say…
about the dangers inherent in the recent U.S. tendency to demonize Iran."
For more information you may email Jenn Ramage at jenn_ramage@yahoo.com
or call the store at 462-4415.
* Please Note Time
Sunday April 24th at 7:00 p.m. *
Jane Fonda
My Life So Far
(Random House)
This Event will be held at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel
Avenue
Capitola Book Cafe and Bookshop
Santa Cruz are pleased to welcome feminist, activist, and Academy Award-winning
actress Jane Fonda in honor of her new memoir. From her youth among
Hollywood's elite and her early film career, to her controversial involvement
in the Vietnam War and the on-going challenge of living authentically
while in the public eye, she reveals intimate details and universal
truths that she hopes "can provide a lens through which others
can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently."
Although she recently resumed her acting career, Ms. Fonda's primary
focus is on activism and philanthropy--particularly in the areas of
adolescent reproductive health, pregnancy prevention, school reform
through the arts, and building resiliency in today's youth by addressing
destructive gender stereotypes.
* Please Note:: This event will be off-site and ticketed. With
every purchase of My Life So Far at Capitola Book Cafe (462-4415)
or Bookshop Santa Cruz (423-0900), you will receive two free tickets
to the event. If you prefer, you may purchase individual tickets for
$15.00 each. Seating is limited.
TICKETS ON SALE APRIL 5. (No pre-orders accepted.)
Tuesday, April 26th at 7:30 p.m.
Loung Ung
Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites
with the Sister She Left Behind
(Harper)
When Loung Ung came to America
in 1980 as a ten-year-old Cambodian refugee, she had already survived
years of hunger and violence at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a story
she told in her critically acclaimed First They Killed My Father.
Now, she writes of assimilation and, in alternating chapters, gives
voice to a genocide survivor she left behind in rural Cambodia, her
older sister Chou. Loung was the lucky child, the youngest and scrappiest,
the one that Eldest Brother believed could make it in America. With
candor and enormous flair, Ung describes what it is like to survive
in a new culture while surmounting dogged memories of genocide and the
deep scars of war.Both redemptive and searing, Lucky Child highlights
the harsh realities of chance and circumstance and celebrates the indomitability
of the human spirit. Loung Ung is National Spokesperson for the "Campaign
for a Landmine Free World," a program of the Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.
Thursday, April 28th at 7:30 p.m.
Jan Goff-LaFontaine
Women in Shadow and Light : Journeys from
Abuse to Healing
(Creative Minds)
Honor Sexual Assault Awareness
Month by witnessing the power of healing and the empowering gift of
art. This collection based on the traveling photography exhibit Out
of the Shadows offers an intimate glimpse of forty women, ages 19 to
98, who found the courage to triumph over trauma. Powerful black and
white photographs, inspired by the subject answering the question "In
what part of your body did you begin to feel healing?," combine
with personal accounts to portray the essence of each woman's journey
from the violence of sexual and physical abuse to recovery and transformation.
Jan Goff-Lafontaine is a local photographer whose work has been displayed
through out the US.
