JULY 2001

 

Tuesday, July 3 at 7:30 pm
Sam Lightner Jr.
All Elevations Unknown: An Adventure in the Heart of Borneo (Broadway)

In the spring of 1999, Sam Lightner and his rock-climbing buddy, Volker, found themselves deep in the jungles of Borneo on a mission to climb a mountain that was only rumored to exist. In their favor, they had only their climbing expertise and a copy of a little-known book titled World Within, written by Major Tom Harrison, a British World War II soldier who had been one of the first white men ever to explore Borneo's interior jungles. A captivating combination of travel-adventure memoir and historical re-creation, All Elevations Unknown charts Lightner's exhilarating quest to ascend the mountain Batu Lawi in the face of leeches, vipers, and sweat bees, and to keep his team together in one of the earth's most treacherous uncharted pockets. Along the way, Lightner reconstructs Tom Harrison's adventures in Borneo and illuminates an astonishing piece of forgotten World War II history.

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Thursday, July 5 at 7:30 pm
Paul Buhle
A Very Dangerous Citizen: Abraham Lincoln Polonsky and the Hollywood Left (University of California)

In this illuminating work on Polonsky's life struggle, Paul Buhle and co-author Dave Wagner provide both an accomplished consideration of a survivor of America's cultural cold war and a superb study of the Hollywood left. When summoned before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1951, Abraham Lincoln Polonsky--- a brilliant screenwriter who wrote such classics as "Body and Soul" and "Force of Evil"--- was labeled "a very dangerous citizen" by Harold Velde, a congressman from Illinois. The New York Times subsequently called Polonsky's backlist the single greatest loss of American film during the McCarthy era. Come celebrate a man who stood up to adversity by refusing to inform on his political associates or compromise his work.

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Saturday, July 7 at 10:45 am
Bilingual Story Time with Billie Harris and Brett Taylor

We invite children and adults alike to join us for a grand time. Billie Harris and Brett Taylor-both of KUSP fame-join us to read some delightful new tales in English and Spanish.

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Monday, July 9 at 7:30 pm
Goldberry Long
Juniper Tree Burning (Simon & Schuster)

Long's debut is a gorgeous story of homecoming and the legacy of the disenfranchised 1960's counter-culture. Part love story, part road trip and part family saga, Juniper Tree Burning follows Jennie Braverman's flight to escape her painful history and her subsequent journey home. After the news of her brother's suicide, Jennie takes her best friend, abandons the bliss and emotional terrors of newlywed life in Albuquerque, and heads for Seattle, site of her brother's mysterious death. Along the way, she visits the places and people of her childhood, when she was called Juniper Tree Burning in Arroyo al Fin, New Mexico. We can't wait to see what's next from this extraordinary new writer.

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Wednesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm
Frank Lauria
Blue Limbo and Raga Six (Frog Ltd)

Join us for a night of live music and spoken word as novelist Frank Lauria teams up with his band for a night of fun. Blue Limbo offers a hilarious send-up to horror when a power-mad bureaucrat teams up with a Haitian voodoo master. Psychic detective Dr. Orient gets involved when he is called in as a consultant for a mysterious submarine accident. Frank Lauria has cited masters like H.P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt as influences, but Blue Limbo and Raga Six remain uniquely his own in mixing the fantastic with the outrageous. Of Frank Lauria's series, William S. Burroughs says, "Hypnotically readable.... Frank Lauria has written the most believable vampire and werewolf stories I have ever read."

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Thursday, July 12 at 7:30 pm
Laura Glen Louis
Talking in the Dark: Stories (Harcourt)

In spare and precise language, Laura Glen Louis creates worlds that are layered and complete. Each story examines the underside of love-from endurance and betrayal to sacrifice, obsession and abandonment-evoking images of lowered voices and shared, intimate confessions. This is a remarkable collection from a daring new voice in American fiction.

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Monday, July 16 at 7:30 pm
Jerome Wolfe
Fighting for Your Life: How to Survive a Life-Threatening Illness (William Hamilton)

A complete guide to reversing disease, extending your life and improving its quality, Fighting for your Life is an essential guide for those with life-threatening illnesses and their caregivers, whether professionals, family, friends or loved ones. It presents a comprehensive survey of factors that affect healing and what you can do to make them work for you. With clear grace and keen insight, Wolfe's book suggests methods for tearing down emotional and physical obstacles and fighting your way back to health.

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Tuesday, July 17 at 7:30 pm
Debra Levi Holtz
Of Unknown Origin (Council Oak Books)

Of Unknown Origin tells the remarkable true story of an adopted woman's search for her reluctant and elusive birth mother. With prose reminiscent of a noir thriller, a pervasive sense of menace, and a shattering denouement, this memoir takes a long, hard look at all of the things we think we know about ourselves and our families, and all of the things that are better left unknown. Local reporter and author Claudia Sternbach introduces.

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Wednesday, July 18 at 7:30 pm
John Robbins
The Food Revolution (Conari)

John Robbins, who revolutionized the way we thought about food fourteen years ago with the publication of his best-selling book, Diet for a New America, reveals the truth about today's food and its impacts on our health and the environment in his long-awaited new book. Broken down into sections on diet, the treatment of animals, the environment, and genetic engineering, The Food Revolution includes compelling new information that has come out of recent research in the fields of nutrition, medicine, and agriculture. Once again, Robbins offers a powerful argument for questioning and learning as much as we can about our food choices.

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Thursday, July 19 from 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Writing Group

Every third Thursday of the month, join Book Cafe's Wendy Mayer as she leads our writer's group. Due to the limited amount of time, the group will focus on short exercises rather than group critique.

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Friday, July 20 at 7:30 pm
Gerry Spence
Half Moon and Empty Stars (Scribner)

Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz has this to say about Gerry Spence's first fiction attempt: "A great trial lawyer must be a talented storyteller and there are few better than Gerry Spence. This richly textured page-turner kept me on the edge of my seat until the dramatic-and unexpected-conclusion. More than just a courtroom thriller, Half Moon and Empty Stars takes you on a journey into the soul of a lawyer and the 'half-breed' client he is trying to save from the gas chamber. It also provides a rare insider's look into the criminal justice system by one who has seen it up close and is willing to blow the whistle on all its participants."

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Monday, July 23 at 7:30 pm
Jane Gottesman
Game Face: What Does a Woman Athlete Look Like (Random House)

What do girls and women look like, freed from traditional feminine constraints, using their bodies in joyful and empowering ways? This extraordinary collection of photographs and rich personal stories documents the tremendous impact that sports has on the daily lives of millions of women. When Title IX was passed in 1972, only one out of twenty-seven school-age girls played sports. Now one in three does. Yet the media still largely overlooks women's expanding involvement in sports, and as a consequence, millions of young female athletes crave not only role models but also an authentic, appealing reflection of their own athleticism. Jane Gottesman, a former associate producer for ABC Sports, fills this void with a remarkable book honoring both our top female athletes and the everyday girls whose self-image is strengthened through athletic participation.

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Tuesday, July 24 at 7:30 pm
May-Lee Chai and Winberg Chai
The Girl From Purple Mountain (St. Martin's Press)

A true story of love, betrayal, and healing set against the shifting tides of 20th century China, this family history begins with the death of the Chai family matriarch, Ruth Mei-en Tsao Chai, and the discovery by her husband that she had secretly arranged to be buried alone. Over time, Ruth's family pieces together the mystery surrounding this independent woman who chose her own husband and became one of first women ever admitted to the University. In this extraordinary family epic, Ruth's first-born son, Winberg, and his daughter May-lee reconstruct Ruth's life as they seek to understand her fateful decision. Lisa See, author of Gold Mountain, calls The Girl From Purple Mountain, "an amazing story of survival and endurance, fierce love and bitter resentments, and the failures and triumphs of the human heart."

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Thursday, July 26 at 7:30 pm
Odette Larson in Conversation with Alexander Cockburn
Flying Sparks (Verso)

In Flying Sparks, Odette Larson vividly recounts her adolescence in Las Vegas before it became the immense center of family entertainment that it is today. She and her brothers would ride together on Odette's horse through the desert, meeting up with various characters---African-American cowboys, lascivious truckers, and teenage runaways--- and avoiding the restrictions of an insular community. Her rebellious story eventually leads her to the confines of Sparks, a mental institution, where she begins a long journey toward recovery. As if Boxcar Bertha met Dorothy Allison, Odette Larson reveals the underbelly of American life in the 50's and 60's with style and grace. Journalist Alexander Cockburn will join Odette in discussing her amazing life story.

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Monday, July 30 at 7:30 pm
Ellen Cutler
Food Allergy Cure (Harmony Books)

Dr. Ellen Cutler, a chiropractor and naturopath, has spent ten years studying enzyme therapy and nutrition in their relationship to allergies, asthma, immune disorders, and chronic diseases. Using methods derived from many disciplines, she has found a way to combat allergies at their root: the immune response. Her system of techniques, called BioSET, combines muscle testing, detoxification, enzyme and diet therapy and chiropractic manipulation to desensitize people permanently to every kind of allergy, not only those caused by foods. Of Dr. Cutler's work, John Gray, Ph.D. says, " (her) innovative use of natural health care cures colds, flues, coughs, food allergies, headaches, upset tummies, and more. Dr. Cutler has helped me and my family tremendously. I value her work highly."