Tuesday, July 5th at 7:30 p.m.
Craig David Forrest
Joyride: A Son's Unlikely Journey to His
Mother's Heart
(iUniverse)
Local author Craig Forrest's life
in print began when he was only five years old. His mother, Libby, wrote
a humor column in the local newspaper in America's oldest seashore resort
town, Cape May, New Jersey. The local wit and wisdom she gathered riding
about town on her three-wheeled bicycle and raising Craig and his brother
(her most popular subject) filled her column, aptly named "Joyride."
When he returned home to care for Libby as she suffered the final ravages
of Lou Gehrig's disease, Craig spent the evenings reliving his childhood
through her writings. There he found the peace he needed to stand witness
to her dwindling health and the strength he would soon call upon to
fight for his own life.
Wednesday, July 6th at 7:30 p.m.
Pete Shanks
Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for
Activists, Skeptics, and the Very Perplexed
(Nation)
The debate over human Genetic
Engineering (GE) is going mainstream. Not as a one-day wonder about
cloning or a theological disagreement about embryos, but as a major
political issue, driven in part by a grassroots movement of opposition.
Human Genetic Engineering by Santa Cruz's Shanks is a highly readable
and entertaining guide, explaining in accessible language for a popular
audience the essential questions that will arise in the future debates:
What is human GE? Will it work? What perspectives should we remember?
Who is doing what, and why?
Thursday, July 7th at 7:30 p.m.
Wayne Bernhardson
Moon Handbooks
Argentina and Buenos Aires
(Avalon)
Bernhardson first traveled to
Argentina in 1979, during a military dictatorship, and has stuck with
the country through good times and bad. He now spends five months there
every year, and owns an apartment in Buenos Aires, near the Palermo
botanical gardens. Before authoring best-selling travel guides, he taught
at UCSC, but then abandoned academia for a life on the road. From the
legendary Iguazu Falls and the Andean summit of Cerro Aconcagua to the
wildlife-packed Atlantic coastline and the dazzling city of Buenos Aires,
Bernhardson will give you the tools to create a uniquely personal experience!
Slides will be shown.
Monday, July 11th at 7:30 p.m.
SARK
Sark's New Creative Companion: How to
Free Your Creative Spirit
(Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press)
"Sark's gentle and effervescent
work is a festive, creative catalyst that throws open a wide and generous
gate."-Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way.
The zany, inspiring author of Succulent Wild Woman
and Eat Mangoes Naked now encourages you to experience yourself
as your own best creative companion. You'll find stories, poems, and
exercises that provide self-reflection and discovery, all cheerfully
handwritten in SARK's trademark style and embellished with her vibrant
illustrations. From treasuring yourself and others to living artistically
and free, she will open your heart and your mind. It is never too late
to kindle, or rekindle, the loving and creative spirit within.
Wednesday, July 13th at 7:30 p.m.
Helen Oyeyemi
The Icarus Girl
(Nan A. Talexe)
"Oyeyemi looks set to claim
her own place in a list of English-language Nigerian authors that includes
Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe and, more recently, Ben Okri." -Financial
Times.
Now a Cambridge student, Oyeyemi completed this bewitching
novel at age 18. Sensitive and whimsical, young Jess spends hours writing
haiku, reading Shakespeare, or simply hiding in the dark. As the child
of an English father and a Nigerian mother, she can't shake off the
feeling of always being alone. Believing that a change from her English
environment might be the perfect antidote to Jess's alarming mood swings,
her parents send her to Nigeria to meet her formidable grandfather and
Tilly Tilly, a ragged girl who becomes a haunting friend in a new country.
This work draws on Nigerian mythology to present a strikingly original
variation on a classic literary theme: the existence of "doubles,"
both real and spiritual, who play havoc with our perceptions and our
lives.
Saturday, July 16th at 8:00 a.m. *
Harry Potter Breakfast Party!
Start the day like the best of
wizards do--get up early, eat right, see a sorcery show and get reading!
In honor of the first day Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
can be (legally) conjured, Book Café invites all Potter fans
to enjoy breakfast treats magically created and generously donated by
The Buttery Bakery and Gayle's Bakery. Be enchanted by the hocus-pocus
arts of Jimmie from Adventure Balloons. Then, at 9:00am, witness the
thrill of Tom Noddy's Bubble Magic, a masterful display of art and theater,
science and soapy sorcery, and a whole lot of unbelievable fun! (See
www.tomnoddy.com for more enticement.)
Costumed kids, fun-loving adults, and all readers with a sense of wonder
are welcomed to attend.
All day on July 16, Harry Potter #6 will be 20% OFF. Wizards who plan
ahead get an even better deal. Pre-order and pre-pay for this title
and receive 30% OFF.
* Please Note Time.
Sunday, July 17th at 2:30 p.m. *
Susan Herrmann Loomis
Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin
(Morrow)
Loomis is an award-winning cookbook
author and owner of On Rue Tatin, a lively French cooking school
in Normandy that focuses on fresh, seasonal ingredients and providing
perspective and insight into the nuances of daily life in France. (See
www.onruetatin.com.) Now she takes
readers on a friendly and delicious tour of French home cooking, from
the refined to the rustic. Entertain like the French, get clear instruction
on the basics of simple French cooking, and be introduced to the exciting
array of multicultural cuisines that are rapidly entering the realm
of classic French.
* Please Note Time.
Monday, July 18th at 7:30 p.m.
Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng, and Judy Bertstein
They Poured Fire On Us from the Sky
(Public Affairs)
This searing memoir brings gut-wrenching
insight into the decades long Sudanese civil war. Benjamin, Alepho,
and Benson were raised among the Dinka tribe of Sudan, an insulated
community of cattle herders, and tribal councils. All that changed the
night the government-armed Murahiliin began attacking their villages.
Amid the chaos and gunfire of civil war, five-year-old Benson and seven-year-old
Benjamin and Alepho fled. Across the Southern Sudan, thousands of other
boys did likewise, joining this stream of child refugees that became
known as the Lost Boys. Their journey would take them over one thousand
miles through landmine-sown paths and extremes of hunger, thirst, and
disease. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is an astonishing, elegant
story of human resiliency brought to us through the eyes and memories
of children.
Monday, July 18th at 6:00 p.m. *
World Affairs Book Club
They Poured Fire On Us from the Sky
(Public Affairs)
This month's selection is They
Poured Fire On Us from the Sky by Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng,
Benjamin Ajak and Judy Bernstein, described above. The book club will
be joined by three of the authors prior to their 7:30pm author event..
For more information you may email Jenn Ramage at jenn_ramage@yahoo.com
or call the store at 462-4415.
* Please Note Time and Day
Tuesday, July 19th at 7:30 p.m.
Mike Weiss
A Very Good Year: The Journey of a California
Wine from Vine to Table
(Gotham)
Award-winning San Francisco
Chronicle journalist Mike Weiss goes behind the scenes Sonoma County's
Ferrari-Carano Vineyards to tell the story of how a bottle of the 2002
Fumé Blanc is created, from the first grapes picked by the hands
of Mexican migrant workers to the vintage's initial public tasting at
the Four Seasons in New York. Weiss tells the full story of winemaking
from the delicate interaction of sun and soil, to the importance of
the bottle and label's appearance, to controversial issues such as the
environmental damage done by expanding California vineyards.
Wednesday, July 20th at 7:30 p.m.
Betsy Burton
The King's English: Adventures of an Independent
Bookseller
(Gibbs-Smith)
Betsy Burton, owner of The King's
English bookstore in Salt Lake City, has been a bookseller for nearly
thirty years, and a passionate book lover and soldier for independent
bookselling all her life. She now shares her many colorful experiences
including the amusing trials of author events, attempts at censorship,
and the complexities of staying afloat in the world of chains and superstores.
Also included are dozens of "Top 25" reading lists that she
painstakingly collected from the best independents in the country--including
Capitola Book Café, of course! Filled with wit, passion, and
a strikingly independent message, Burton's story will delight booklovers
of all kinds.
Tuesday, July 26th at 7:30 p.m.
Steve Hawk
Waves
(Chronicle)
Any ocean lover knows the transformative
power of the ocean wave and its perfect confluence of energy, water,
and light. Waves offers a mesmerizing collection of photography
that explores the many faces of the singular ocean wave. This Former
editor of Surfer magazine has selected photographs from New Zealand
to Newfoundland, from Fiji to the Aleutians, and paired them with insightful
ruminations on the science and poetry of waves. With work from world-renowned
photographers such as Art Brewer, Jeff Divine, Wayne Levin, and Joel
Meyerowitz, Waves will captivate all those with a passion for the sea.
Can't make it to the evening event at Book Café? Hear Steve Hawk
at Long Marine Lab's Seymour Center at 12:30pm.
Wednesday, July 27th at 7:30 p.m.
Mark Helprin
Freddy and Fredericka
(Penguin)
This literary great (Winter's
Tale, The Pacific and Other Stories) delivers his first novel
in over ten years. Because of the epic public relations disasters caused
by Freddy, Prince of Wales, and frivolous Fredericka, his wife, these
wayward heirs are sent, in a little-known ancient tradition, on a quest
to colonize a barbarous land: America. Parachuted into the gleaming
hell of industrial New Jersey, they hilariously make their way across
the country - riding freight trains, stealing art, and becoming ineluctably
enmeshed in the madness of a presidential campaign. As they begrudgingly
gain the dignity and humility required of great monarchs and good people,
Helprin imaginatively refashions a fairytale that upends the cynicism
of our current times.
Thursday, July 28th at 7:30 p.m.
Contributors Renee Shepard and Linda Rubio, and Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas
(now deceased)
You Can Do It!
(Chronicle)
The inspiring, fun-loving idea
of Grandcolas, who died aboard Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, this
compilation presents an engaging cast of female "mentors"
who share their expertise in activities ranging from money management
to firewalking. Tonight, learn about gardening and running your own
company from Felton's Renee Shepard (www.reneesgarden.com)
who is widely regarded as a pioneering innovator in introducing international
vegetables, flowers and herbs to home gardeners and gourmet restaurants.
And get on that horse with help from Linda Rubio who runs Miwok Livery
Stable in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. You can do it!
Saturday, July 30th at 2:30 p.m. *
Jasper Fforde
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime
(Viking)
From the infinitely imaginative
literary zealot who created the bestselling Eyre Affair and Lost
in a Good Book comes the first in a new Nursery Crime series. Nursery
celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III is found shattered to death
beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to
his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself. But Detective Inspector
Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment
not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who
are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering
Mr. Wolff.
* Please Note Time.
COMING IN AUGUST 2005...
Monday, August 8 at 7:30pm
Jody Gehrman, Tart
A Santa Cruz story by a UCSC grad!
Tuesday, August 9 at 7:30pm
A Celebration of Local California History, featuring Arcadia authors
Dennis Copeland and Jeanne McCombs, A Monterey Album: Life by the
Bay,
Kim Coventry, Monterey Peninsula AND
Sheila O'Hare & Irene Berry, Santa Cruz
Thursday, August 18 at 7:30pm
Laura Joplin, Love, Janis
Monday, August 22 at 7:30pm
Sara Halprin, Seema's Show: A Life on the Left
