Monday, May 2nd at 7:30 p.m.
Sally Denton
Faith and Betrayal: A Pioneer Woman's
Passage in the American West
(Knopf)
In the 1850's, Denton's great-great
grandmother Jean Rio, a well-educated widower dismayed by the social
injustice around her, was moved by the promises of Mormon missionaries,
and she set out from England for Utah. Forming the basis of the book
is Rio's extraordinary chronicle of her Atlantic crossing, the treacherous
trek inland to Zion, and the jarring disillusionment that followed.
She detests the Mormons' polygamy, violence against nonbelievers, and
efforts to bury her musical skills beneath the daily rigors of farming.
We witness her seventeen-year struggle to make peace with her situation
before she, like her sons, escapes to California-to freedom, a career
as a midwife, and a new religion that fulfills her. Dramatic and powerful,
Faith and Betrayal is the moving account of one woman's gamble in
an emerging America.
Wednesday, May 4th at 7:30 p.m.
Pam Houston
Sight Hound
(Norton)
From the best-selling author of
Cowboys Are My Weakness comes the story of a woman, Rae, and
her dog, Dante, a wolfhound who teaches "his human" that love
is stronger than fear. "Sight Hound was my attempt to do
justice to one of the most important relationships I've ever had in
my life," Houston says. "It was only after I turned in the
final version that I realized [it] is actually a book about faith."
With the wit and dead-on candor we've come to expect, Pam Houston illuminates
the intangible covenant between dogs and humans, equal creatures looking
to connect and holding on for dear life when they do. "Pam Houston
is a wonder, moving with grace and humor and insight from the inner
voice and soul of human to canine to feline and back again. Sight
Hound is not only a narrative tour de force but a brilliant examination
of what it means-in the deepest sense-to be alive on this planet."-Robert
Olen Butler.
Thursday, May 5th at 7:30 p.m.
David Rothenberg
Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery
of Birdsong
(Basic Books)
Is it possible that birds sing
because they like to? Based on conversations with neuroscientists, ecologists,
and composers, this work investigates why birds sing and how, and what
effect their music has on other animals--particularly humans. Whether
playing the clarinet with the white-crested laughing thrush in Pittsburgh,
or jamming in the Australian winter breeding grounds of the Albert's
lyrebird, composer and jazz clarinetist Rothenberg journeys to the heart
and soul of bird song. Why Birds Sing offers an intimate look
at the most lovely of natural phenomena--with surprising insights about
the origin of music.
Monday, May 9th at 7:30 p.m.
Sue Monk Kidd
The Mermaid Chair
(Viking)
Like Kidd's stunning debut, The
Secret Life of Bees, her second novel evokes the same magical sense
of whimsy and poignancy. The Mermaid Chair is the soulful tale
of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman and artist, whose stifled dreams
and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island while
caring for her troubled mother. On this island where the Benedictine
monastery embraces the legend of a saint who was a mermaid before her
conversion, Jessie finds herself exploring the thin line between the
spiritual and the erotic. The Mermaid Chair is a vividly imagined
novel about the mystery of her family's troubled past, her awakening
feminine soul, and the passions of the spirit and the body.
Wednesday, May 11th at 7:30 p.m.
Dan Chaon
You Remind Me of Me
(Ballantine)
With his critically acclaimed
Among the Missing and Fitting Ends, Chaon proved himself
a master of the short story form. Now we celebrate the paperback edition
of his novel. "Beautiful, painful, and sure-footed, You Remind
Me of Me tracks the delicate connections between a handful of lost
and poignant lives, in the process giving them the radiance of a stained-glass
window....Dan Chaon is going to have a breathtaking literary career."--Peter
Straub, author of Lost Boy, Lost Girl. Chaon examines questions
of identity, fate, and circumstance, and ask why we become the people
that we are. Dan Chaon will be meeting with Book Cafe's Fiction Book
Club at 6:30pm to discuss Among the Missing; those who have read
the work are welcome to attend. The group will then attend the book
signing at 7:30pm.
Thursday, May 12th at 7:30 p.m.
Kyra Davis
Sex, Murder and a Double Latte
(Red Dress Ink)
and
Denise Osborne
Evil Intentions: A Feng Shui Mystery
(Perseverance Press)
Meet two women mystery authors and their phenomenal
female protagonists. First, there's Sophie Katz, the heroine of Kyra
Davis's Sex, Murder And A Double Latte. She's sassy, hip, intelligent
and unapologetically obsessed with Starbucks. As a biracial woman living
in San Francisco, she is inherently tolerant of the alternative lifestyle
choices of those around her but she draws the line at murder. When a
filmmaker is killed in the manner of a death scene in one of his movies,
crime-novelist Sophie knows her bestseller spells out her own doom.
Denise Osborne returns for her latest Feng Shui mystery starring Salome
Waterhouse. This time she finds out that an arson fire at her home and
a questionable suicide discovered by her ex-husband are more than just
bad news for a crime-solving, Feng Shui practitioner.
Sunday, May 15th at 2:30 p.m. *
Judy Reeves
The Writer's Retreat Kit
(New World Library)
The enthusiastic writing teacher
and workshop leader who gave us A Writer's Book of Days returns
with an artfully designed kit for inspiration. This set of book and
cards with practical prompts will set that pen on fire with theme "retreats"
complete with writing exercises, inspiring quotes, art projects to fulfill
other creative urges, music suggestions, and even recipes. From writing
during business travel to sojourns in Walden Pond-like wilderness, this
kit is a veritable muse for individuals as well as writing groups.
* Please Note Time.
Monday, May 16th at 7:30 p.m.
Elizabeth Berg
The Year of Pleasures
(Random House)
Now a widow, Betta Nolan moves
to a small town after the death of her husband to pursue a dream of
a different kind of life, and she is determined to find pleasure in
the day-to-day, every day. The Year of Pleasures is about acknowledging
the solace found in ordinary things: good food, the beauty of nature,
music, friends and art. "Berg writes with humor and a big heart
about resilience, loneliness, love, and hope. And the transcendence
that redeems," said Andre Dubus III.
Tuesday, May 17th at 7:30 p.m.
Judy Norsigian and Ellen Shaffer (Boston Women's Health Book
Collective)
Our Bodies, Ourselves
(Touchstone)
With more than four million copies
sold and now completely revised for the first time in a decade, Our
Bodies, Ourselves gives women everything they need for making key
decisions about their health. Topics in this rich resource include the
rearranged food pyramid and exercise; relationships and sexual health;
reproductive choices, childbearing, support for women experiencing pregnancy
loss; complementary health practices; and assistance navigating today's
complicated health care system. Speakers include Judy Norsigian, executive
director of Our Bodies, Ourselves, and Ellen Shaffer, director
of the Center for Policy Analysis, which conducts policy research on
access to health care and on globalization and health.
Wenesday, May 18th at 7:30 p.m.
Judith Martin
Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly
Correct Behavior
(Norton)
Your niece swears that no one
expects thank-you letters anymore. Your father-in-law insists that married
women have to take their husband's name. Your guests plead that asking
them to commit to attending your party ruins the spontaneity. Who is
right? Miss Manners, of course. This freshly updated version of the
classic bestseller includes the latest letters, essays, and illustrations,
along with the laugh-out-loud wisdom of Miss Manners as she meets the
new millennium of American misbehavior head-on. This wickedly witty
guide speaks to the challenges brought about by our ever-evolving society
(from "The Itinerant Telephone" and "Googling" to
"Prebirth Manners for Parents and Others"), once again proving
that etiquette, far from being optional, is the essential currency for
the civilized world!
Thursday, May 19th at 7 p.m.
World Affairs Book Club
North Korea by Bruce Cummings
(New Press)
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. This month's selection
is North Korea by Bruce Cumings. Drawing on declassified government
reports and his own extensive knowledge of the region, Bruce Cumings
allows us to better understand the crisis of current US-North Korea
relations. North Korea provides essential information and, more
than that; it is a pleasure to read. The Financial Times calls
it "A riveting book…tart and witty".
As always, we welcome people from all backgrounds and affiliations to
participate. For more information you may email Jenn Ramage at jenn_ramage@yahoo.com
or call the store at 462-4415.
* Please Note Time
Monday, May 23rd at 7:30 p.m.
Mitch Cullin in conversation with Laurie
King
A Slight Trick of the Mind
(Nan A. Talese / Doubleday)
in conversation with Laurie King
This original portrait of literature's
most beloved detective, Sherlock Holmes, reveals the inner world of
an obsessively private man. Long-retired to Sussex, Holmes is grappling
with the diminishing powers of his razor-sharp mind when his housekeeper's
boy comes upon a case hitherto unknown. This subtle and wise work is
more than just a reimagining of a classic character. It is a profound
meditation on faultiness of memory and how, as we grow older, the way
we see the world is inevitably altered. Laurie R. King, author of the
bestselling Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series (The Game,
The Beekeeper's Apprentice) will join Mitch Cullin in a Sherlockian
conversation!
Tuesday, May 24th at 7:30 p.m.
Thomas Frank
What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives
Won the Heart of America
(Owl Books)
According to Molly Ivins, this
bestseller with a new afterword by the author is "hilariously funny
. . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided
to vote against their own economic and political interests." With
his acclaimed wit and acuity, Frank answers this maddening riddle by
examining his home state, Kansas--a place once famous for its radicalism
that now ranks among the nation's most eager participants in the culture
wars. A brilliant analysis, and funny to boot, What's the Matter
with Kansas? is a vivid portrait of an upside-down world where blue-collar
patriots recite the Pledge while they strangle their life chances; where
small farmers cast their votes for a Wall Street order that will eventually
push them off their land; and where a group of frat boys, lawyers, and
CEOs has managed to convince the country that it speaks on behalf of
the People.
Wednesday, May 25th at 7:30 p.m.
Kathy Santo
Kathy Santo's Dog Sense
(Knopf)
Whether you have a puppy or an
adult dog, whether your dog has ingrained bad manners or simply hasn't
learned any good ones yet, Kathy Santo shines a light into the dark
bedlam of life with an unruly dog. The secret of her ebullient and innovative
guide to training is this: dogs are individuals, and any dog's nature
depends far less on his breed or pedigree than most training methods
suppose. This unique interactive approach, based on the author's twenty
years of experience, not only speeds canine learning but also lifts
training from a temporary chore to an ever more gratifying relationship
for you both.
Thursday, May 26th at 7:30 p.m.
Denise Hamilton
Savage Garden
(Scribner)
"Like her creator Denise
Hamilton, Eve Diamond is smart and stylish, knows the streets of Los
Angeles from the barrio to Beverly Hills, and makes you care about the
characters whose paths she crosses. Savage Garden is an exotic
tale of murder and suspense, and Hamilton's distinctive voice brings
it vividly to life."--Linda Fairstein (The Kills). In this
fourth Eve Diamond novel, the resourceful Los Angeles Times reporter's
evening at the theater goes awry when the leading lady is missing. Denise
Hamilton brings her hometown and its multicultural tensions to life
while spinning a perfect mystery.
COMING IN EARLY JUNE 2005...
Monday, June 6
Heather Linde
If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name (Algonquin)
Wednesday, June 8
James Howard Kunstler
The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change,
and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-first Century
(Atlantic Monthly)
Thursday, June 9
Richard Louv
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit
Disorder (Algonuin)
Saturday, June 11
David Sedaris
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Back
Bay)
*Admission details for this event will be released soon.
