NOVEMBER 2002

November 4at 7:30 p.m.
Elaine Aron
The Highly Sensitive Child

The best-selling author of The Highly Sensitive Person and The Highly Sensitive Person in Love has turned her insight towards the 15% of children who are deeply reflective, sensitive to the subtle, and easily overwhelmed. These qualities can make for smart, conscientious, creative children, but may also result in shyness, fussiness, or acting out. As pioneering psychologist Elaine Aron shows, if your child seems overly inhibited or demonstrates symptoms of ADD, he might simply be highly sensitive. Aron carefully illustrates how to successfully parent and teach the child so that he thrives in a not-so-sensitive world.

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November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Les Standiford
Last Train to Paradise

This definitive account of Henry Flager's dizzying ambition to construct a railroad linking Key West to the Florida mainland meticulously captures the turn of the century period and the remarkable parable of one of man's greatest triumphs and defeats. With true-life characters and a plot that out-dazzles fiction, this is the gripping story of thousands of workers who ventured across terra incognita to execute one of the most difficult engineering projects of the last century and the "1935 collision between hubris and hurricane in the Florida Keys" (Barbara Ehrenreich). This event will include a slide show.

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November 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Christina Schwarz
All is Vanity (Doubleday)

"Conventional wisdom holds that all novelists have a novel about a writer in them. Schwarz's contribution to the genre is fearless." -- The New York Times. At once darkly comedic and moving, this witty exploration of female friendship, envy, and misguided ambition by Christina Schwarz, the author of the #1 bestseller Drowning Ruth, deliciously satirizes the desire for success and illuminates the depths of betrayal we save for our friends. Dissatisfied with her mid-thirties complacency, Margaret turns to writing for fame. Immediately humiliated by her failure, she turns for inspiration to her friend Letty who is tangled in the competitive high society world of LA. Pushing Letty to take greater risks delivers a plot to Margaret that she herself could never better, and pushes herself into the dark world of betrayal and consequences.

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November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Carolyn Grassi
Transparencies: Poems (Pantograph Press)

"In the sculpted and tender poems, Carolyn Grassi looks beyond the disturbances and incongruities of life to the beauty and glory that sustain the world. With sympathy, generosity, and emotional richness, she remembers and celebrates the sacred in people she's loved and places she's been, finding even in disappointment and loss continuing points of contact with the divine,"writes Ron Hansen. In Transparencies, a poetic journey into her past, Carolyn Grassi has created a work of intensity that speaks of life's transformations.

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November 10 at 7:30 p.m.
William Langewiesche
American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center (FSG)

We're pleased to welcome the national correspondent of the Atlantic Monthly back to our store for a groundbreaking chronicle of the recovery effort following 9/11. Langewiesche was granted exclusive and unrestricted access to the World Trade Center site just days after the attacks. He spent the next nine months "on the pile" focusing on the improbable heroes of the relief effort---the engineers, construction workers, and city officials who found themselves in the unlikely position of orchestrating the largest recovery effort in American history. Originally published as a landmark series in The Atlantic Monthly, American Ground is the story of people who responded to the destruction and the community that formed in the wake of an incredible horror. The portrait Langewiesche paints is one of both resilience and ingenuity in the face of unprecedented disaster.

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November 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Dennis Nurkse
The Fall (Knopf)

Poet Laureate of Brooklyn arrives in Santa Cruz! Though such a headline would not include his numerous other awards, six published books or publication in literary journals from the New Yorker to the Paris Review, it's just one more interesting fact about this fascinating poet. His inaugurating poem opened the National Endowment for the Arts Internet Web page and he is a founding member of Amnesty International. Inspired by"daily life, common speech, and dreams", he brings his considerable tale to the Book Cafe.

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November 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Ilene Philipson, Ph. D
Married to the Job: What We Live to Work and What and What We Can Do About It (Free Press)

Barbara Ehrenreich says, "...Married to the Job is a groundbreaking study of workaholism----and of the loneliness that ultimately nourishes it." Philipson's convinced that, more and more, life outside work seems colorless and unfulfilling for Americans, and that it is our jobs that generate feeling of self-worth and the sense that we're connected to something larger than ourselves. She argues that our national obsession with work is an increasingly urgent social problem. By sharing stories of hardship and loss---stories that ring true in the now-depressed region of Silicon Valley---Philipson asks us to reevaluate our priorities and better understand why so many of us equate our value with our employment.

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November 13 at 7:30 p.m.
John D. Freyer
All My Life for Sale (Bloomsbury

Fed up with his inability to quell the constant flow of objects into his apartment and determined to fit his life into the trunk of his car, John Freyer decided to sell everything he owned on the internet. John didn't let sentiment or utility stand in his way---an opened box of taco shells, half a bottle of mouthwash, almost all of his clothes, his favorite records, his sideburns (in a plastic bag), and old family photo-albums all went up for sale on eBay. Soon his belongings were sold all over the world, with a bag of Porky's BBQ Pork Skins making its way to Japan, and a chair ending up in the Museum of Modern Art. With almost all the objects at new homes, John sets off to visit them in their new homes. All my Life for sale is the archival record of John's journey. Part colorful photo-album, part traveler's diary and auction log, it stands as a beautiful testament to one man's journey and the interconnectedness of us all.

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November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Linda Chavez
An Unlikely Conservative (Basic Books)

Linda Chavez stands today as one of the most influential conservative thinkers in the U.S. and in her memoir we come to understand why she is one of the more complex women in contemporary politics. An Unlikely Conservative recounts Chavez's political journey from the Young People's Socialist League to the Reagan wing of the Republican party---and the sometimes shocking personal experiences that shaped her views. Critics have described her as a "traitor to her race" and " the most hated Hispanic in America" for her opposition to affirmative action and bilingual education. Her memoir attempts to refute these claims and paints a more detailed, nuanced picture of her life and actions. Regardless of your political affiliation, come talk with this important political actor and commentator.

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Sunday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Tea with the Kensington Ladies' Erotica Society for Sex
Death and Other Distractions (Ten Speed Press)

Older now but still kicking! The authors of the best-selling Ladies' Own Erotica and Look Homeward Erotica, the Kensington Ladies is a group of everyday Bay Area women who have been meeting clandestinely for over a quarter century to share and critique their erotic poems, essays, and stories. Surveying all that titillates via the relationships and realizations of a lifetime of experiences, the Ladies arouse our wildest desires, invoke memories and people who have shaped them, and reduces the loitering grim reaper to a mere distraction.

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Monday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Sandy Hotchkiss
Why is it Alway About You? (Simon and Schuste)

We all know people who behave as if they are the center of the universe, but somehow, even while detesting their personalities, we are still drawn into their orbit. The narcissistic person can drive others towards feelings of powerlessness and acute frustration and anguish, and Hotchkiss, professor of social work and practicing psychotherapist, helps save us from the one in our life. Accessible and direct, this is a valuable resource for mental health professionals, for those recovering from co-dependent relationships with a narcissist, and for parents and teachers who are concerned with how to build healthy self-esteem while discouraging unhealthy arrogance.

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Tuesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Lynn Peril
Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons (W. W. Norton)

What does it take to be the ideal woman? Women from the 1940s to the 1970s were coaxed to "think pink" by persuasive advertisements, and feminine perfection meant conforming to a mythical standard, one that would come wrapped in an adorable pink package, of course. With a savvy eye for the curious and wildly funny, Lynn Peril gathers the memorabilia of the era and reveals all that ladies need to attain"true feminine success". Author of Her Way, Paula Kamen writes ," Pink Think entertains and scintillates with its supreme kitsch value, but also reveals on a concrete level how society's view of womanhood change in each generation. Peril makes us appreciate how far we have come, while also arming us with critical insight to see 'pink' propaganda still present in everyday media."

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Thursday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m.
World Affairs Book Club

Last March, the Book Cafe began a new book club focusing on global current history with Graham Parsons facilitating the discussion. To date, the group has read books on Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the border dispute between India and Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Latin America. As always, we welcome people of all backgrounds and affiliations to come participate. For more information you may email Graham Parsons at parsons402@yahoo.com or call Jenn Ramage at 462-6297. Please note: The World Affairs Book Club will meet in December. The meeting will be held in the cafe at 7pm on Thursday, December 19.

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Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Poetry Santa Cruz

Poetry Santa Cruz presents poetry readings and workshops in the Santa Cruz area. This month PSC continues it's bi-monthly series of readings at Capitola Book Cafe with Lola Haskins and Mary Lou Taylor. Lola Haskins is the author of six books of poetry, the latest being The Rim Benders (Anhinga, 2001). She is also known as a wonderful performer of her poetry and has collaborated with musicians, a photographer and a dance company on books and performances. You can learn more at www.lolahaskins.com . Mary Lou Taylor is the author of The Fringes of Hollywood (Jacaranda, 2002), a collection of poems about growing up in Hollywood. She is Arts Commissioner of Saratoga, and serves on the board or as an advisor to four literary arts organizations.