Archive

Friends,

below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI
book signing for Poetry as Insurgent Art Tue., October 9 at 7 pm

From the groundbreaking A Coney Island of the Mind to the "personal epic" of Americus, Book I, Lawrence Ferlinghetti has, in more than 30 books over 50 years, been the poetic conscience of America. Now in the just released Poetry As Insurgent Art, he offers in prose his primer of what poetry is, could be, and should be. The result is by turns tender and furious, personal and political. If you are a reader of poetry, find out what is missing from the usual fare; if you are a poet, read at your own risk. Lawrence Ferlinghetti is not only a major American poet - he is an international icon. In 1998 he was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco. In 2005, he received the National Book Award's first Literarian Award (recognizing an individual whose life's work has enhanced the literary world as a whole). In 2006, he was named a Commander in the French Order of Arts and Letters. Ferlinghetti has read his poetry and shown his art around the world.

ROBERT ALTMAN
talk, slide show and book signing for The Sixties Wednesday, Oct 10 at 7 pm

altmanphoto.com

Timothy Leary. Allen Ginsberg. Jim Morrison. Neil Young. Abbie Hoffman. Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Janis Joplin. Ram Dass. Dennis Hopper. Jane Fonda. Ken Kesey. Hippies on Mt. Tam. The March on Washington. Anti-war demonstrations. People's Park. Berkeley. Haight Ashbury. Robert Altman's just published book, The Sixties, brings together photographs of the people, events, culture, rock stars, writers, and political figures who made the sixties the most influential decade of the century.

Robert Altman is an internationally acclaimed
photographer who studied with Ansel Adams. He is best known today as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone magazine - Cameron Crowe used many of his images in the film Almost Famous. A leader in embracing digital photography, Altman's recent work appeared in numerous publications including Entertainment Weekly, Mojo, New York Times, People, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

From: Publishers Weekly Review

Those nostalgic for the free love era will revel in this handsome, oversized collection of photographs by celebrated photographer Altman. A master at catching his subjects at the moment of emotional overload-whether they be mischief makers, war protestors or musicians-the black and white photographs collected here are pure nostalgia, making a powerful you-are-there impression that simultaneously highlights the era's distance-chronologically and otherwise-from the current moment.

In addition to period luminaries like Ken Kesey, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger, the compendium highlights lesser-known players on the scene, as well as average attendees at rallies, "be-ins" and festivals.

Altman's particular genius is best showcased in his legendary crowd scenes; what these photos occasionally lack in technical precision, they more than make up in the raw, wild feelings they've miraculously captured. Despite the book's title, images straddle the period from the late 60's to the early 70's (though none of the subjects seem to make much of the distinction), and a fun introduction by longtime Rolling Stone editor Fong-Torres reveals that Altman has always felt his purpose was to depict "the life and times that the Sixties inspired"; he succeeds beautifully with this, an impressive social document and a powerful remembrance (Oct).

WESLEY STACE
reading, a bit of ventriloquism, & booksigning for By George Thursday, October 11 at 7 pm

By George is the new novel from Wesley Stace (aka the singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding), which tells the story of two boys named George Fisher, one flesh, one wood. Weaving the boy's tale and the "memoirs" of a ventriloquist's dummy, Staces' second novel unveils the secrets of four generations of entertainers. Exquisitely tender, By George also tells the story of two boys separated by years but driven by the same desires: to find a voice, and to be loved.

Educated at Cambridge, Wesley Stace (also known as John Wesley Harding) cut short his Ph.D. studies to pursue a music career. He has released 8 solo albums and toured as the opening act for Michelle Shocked, The Mighty Lemon Drops, and Bruce Springsteen. His bestselling novel, Misfortune, was published to great acclaim in 2004.

HARRY SHEARER
reading & booksigning for Not Enough Indians Wednesday, October 17 at 8 pm The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco

Harry Shearer - the voice of the Simpson's - is an actor as well as a satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, and now author. His first novel, Not Enough Indians, is a bitingly funny satire about a down and out town that tempts fate by having themselves declared a sovereign Indian nation - and opening a casino. Funny, smart, antic and scathing, Not Enough Indians is also a hilarious send-up of the American dream. Don't miss this special event.

Harry Shearer is first and foremost an actor - as well as an author, director, satirist, musician, radio host, playwright, and multi-media artist. For nineteen years, he has enjoyed enormous success with his voice work on The Simpsons, where he plays a stable of characters including Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, and Rev. Lovejoy. He is the host of the nationally syndicated NPR program, Le Show, and helped create and also appeared in such films as This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind.

HOOKER'S BALL
Pier 23 on the Embarcadero a benefit for St. James Infirmary - Margo

PAUL DRUMMOND
reading & booksigning for Eye Mind Wednesday, October 31 at 7 pm The Booksmith, 1644 Haight St, S.F.

The 13th Floor Elevators (who for a time resided in San Francisco) released the first "psychedelic" rock album in America - and helped transform pop culture in the 1960s and beyond. Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound tells the remarkable and at times tragic story of this trailblazing band. Join us for a special Halloween event with author Paul Drummond and secret special guests.

The 13th Floor Elevators - incidentally, one of Thomas Pynchon's favorite bands - are revered as a formative influence on Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Primal Scream, R.E.M, and Z.Z. Top, among others. Musician Julian Cope called Eye Mind "One of the most exhilarating and important rock 'n' roll stories ever told." Paul Drummond is a British journalist, set designer and art director. He can be seen in the documentary, You're Gonna Miss Me: A Film About Roky Erickson.

MICK ROCK
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Psychedelic Renegades, Thursday, November 1 at 7 pm

By the time he passed permanently into the next dimension, Syd Barrett’s life had developed into something far more significant than he could ever have imagined. The man who turned his back on fame, fortune, Pink Floyd, and the entire rock music scene over thirty years ago became an involuntary legend. Was he a genius or just a madman? Mick Rock’s new book about his long-time friend, Psychedelic Renegades attempts to unravel the enigma that was Syd Barrett.

Mick Rock is one of the most widely recognized and prolific music photographers working today. His list of subjects is a virtual history of rock music. Rock’s earlier books include the just released Classic Queen, Glam! an Eyewitness Account, Raw Power: Iggy & The Stooges, and Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust.

3 NORTH BEACH ARTISTS: AGNETA FALK, GEORGE LONG, JAMES REDO

FINE PRINTING SALON, 225 7th ST (Between Howard & Folsom) MAKING IMPRESSIONS (415-621-5999) FRI. NOV 2nd OPENING RECEPTION FOR SAT: NOV. 3rd OPEN 12 TO 12 WITH MUSIC BY RENOWNED GUITARIST JONATHAN RICHMAN

THE SUMMER OF LOVE 40th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT SPECIAL KBWB-TV20 - Channel 20 - Cable 13 - San Francisco 8:00 PM Pacific Time SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4th

KHALIL BENDIB
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Mission Accomplished: Wicked Cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist Thursday, November 8 at 7 pm

In an increasingly Manichean geopolitical world, Khalil Bendib happens to be both "Us" and "Them," American and Muslim, a walking oxymoron - a "Clash of Civilizations" made flesh. He is - by many accounts - the only American political cartoonist with an in-your-face non-Eurocentric perspective. Bendib is a voice of the voiceless. Join us for a discussion and slide show for Mission Accomplished: Wicked Cartoons by America's Most Wanted Political Cartoonist

The son of survivors of the Algerian war of independence, Khalil Bendib was born in Paris during the Algerian revolution and grew up in Morocco and Algeria before coming to California at the age of 20. After an eight-year stint with Gannett Newspapers, Khalil resigned over increasing censorship of his work. His cartoons have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere.

PAUL MYERS
talk & booksigning for It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues Friday, November 9 at 7 pm

Long John Baldry is one of the little-known legends of rock n roll. Considered the father of British blues, Baldry knew, influenced, and worked with Elton John, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, John Mayall, Mick Fleetwood and others. Drawing on intimate anecdotes from Baldry's legendary friends and lovers, Paul Myers uncovers the man behind the myth. It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues traces the musician's extraordinary life from birth during the London Blitz to the musical, social and sexual upheaval of the 60s and 70s. Paul Myers' presentation will include rare film clips of Long John Baldry and other musicians.

Paul Myers is the author of Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts, Private Stories. As a broadcaster, he has appeared on American and Canadian television. His journalism has appeared in publications in the United States, Canada and England.

"COUSIN BRUCIE" MORROW
talk & booksigning for Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era Monday, November 12 at 7 pm

Join us for a special evening with the legendary NYC disc jockey "Cousin Brucie" Morrow - who will be on hand to discuss Doo Wop: The Music, the Times, the Era. This new book, which takes a look back at the tail-finned 50's and early 60's, captures the spirit of the times through spectacular visuals and informative text. Few know the subject as well as Morrow, one of the pioneering radio personalities behind doo-wop and rock n roll.

"Cousin Brucie" Morrow has been one of the most famous names in broadcasting for almost half a century. In August of 1965, he had the distinction of introducing the Beatles during their historic Shea Stadium concert. Morrow was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, among others. In 1994, part of West 52nd Street was named "Cousin Brucie Way." Today, he can be heard on Sirius Satellite Radio.

BRYAN RAY TURCOTTE
talk & booksigning for Punk Is Dead: Punk Is Everything! Friday, November 30 at 7 pm

Sure to be as successful as his 1999 bestseller, Fucked Up + Photocopied, Bryan Ray Turcotte's just published Punk Is Dead: Punk Is Everything! (hardback, $40.00) broadens its scope to expose the lasting impact of "punk" on visual culture worldwide. Described as the "last organically incubated oppositional youth movement" of the pre-MTV era, punk slipped quietly under the cultural radar before rising again to inspire new generations of creative and idealistic artists and musicians.

Bryan Ray Turcotte is a music producer and author. His Fucked Up + Photocopied is considered one of the definitive reference books on the North American Punk scene. In 2000, it won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Music.

SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
author booksignings, Saturday, December 1

Join The Booksmith at the historic Castro Theater as we celebrate the art of silent film. In between the day's three programs, we will be hosting booksignings with Anthony Slide, author of Incorrect Entertainment and Now Playing: Hand Painted Poster Art, Matthew Kennedy, author of Joan Blondell, and others. More information, including a schedule of films, is available at www.silentfilm.org

ANTHONY LAPPE & DAN GOLDMAN
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Shooting War
Monday, December 3 at 7 pm

Shooting War is the "scary-smart," "must read" online graphic novel (a bold, irreverent, unflinching spoof of the network news, the war in Iraq, and the burgeoning "citizen journalism" movement set in the near future) started by Anthony Lappé and Dan Goldman at www.smithmag.net, where it generated fantastic attention from Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, etc…. At its peak, Shooting War received over a million unique visitors a day, and was nominated for a 2007 Eisner Award for "Best Digital Comic." Now it's a book. Anthony Lappé, an executive editor at Guerilla News Network, is a journalist who produced a documentary with footage he shot while he covered the war in Iraq. Dan Goldman, artist and designer, is a founding member of the daily online comics anthology Act-i-vate, and the coauthor of the political fiction graphic novel, Everyman: Be the People.

JAMES GURNEY
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara Tuesday, December 4 at 7 pm

In the spirit of Marco Polo and Gulliver's Travels, James Gurney's new book Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara recounts the adventures of explorer Arthur Denison and dinosaur Bix through the exotic eastern realm of the imaginary land of Dinotopia. "I thought the first two books in the Dinotopia series could not be topped, but I was proved wrong. Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara takes the adventure to a whole new level and new dimensions." – Ray Harryhausen James Gurney's fantasy art has appeared on the covers of more than 70 books, and his art has appeared in National Geographic and other magazines. He is the author and illustrator of the various Dinotopia books, each of which has become a bestseller. The original, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, was a publishing sensation as a New York Times bestseller, with more than two million copies sold in eighteen languages in more than thirty countries.

DANIEL MERRIAM
talk, slideshow & booksigning for The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Eye of a Dreamer
Thursday, December 6 at 7 pm

From the brush of acclaimed artist Daniel Merriam comes The Art of Daniel Merriam: The Eye of a Dreamer, a new collection of paintings where dreams in color invite the viewer to join a journey into the imagination . . . where worlds of reality and fantasy collide in an explosion of shapes and symbolism. For more about this fantastic artist, visit www.danielmerriam.com - Born in 1963, Daniel Merriam is a much loved and much collected San Francisco artist. His work is included in the public collections of The Riverside Museum of Art in California, The Gesundheit Institute in Virginia, and the Manhattan Club in New York. His work has also been featured in The World & I, Art News, Arts & Antiques, and New Art International.

JASON BROWN
reading & booksigning for Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work
JERRY STAHL
reading & booksigning for Love Without, Friday, December 7 at 7 pm

Jason Brown's exquisitely crafted second collection of short stories, Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work, will certainly establish him as one of the most important new voices in American fiction. From Jerry Stahl, the bestselling author of the memoir Permanent Midnight and the novel I, Fatty comes Love Without, a long-awaited collection of short stories. Join us at the Booksmith as these two remarkable authors come together for a singular night of short fiction. Jerry Stahl's 1995 memoir, Permanent Midnight (detailing his life as a drug-addicted TV writer), and three novels (I, Fatty is the most recent), have won him a fan base that shares his glee for the comically deviant. Jason Brown was a Stegner Fellow and Capote Fellow at Stanford University, where he now teaches. He has been published in Best American Short Stories, 25 and Under/Fiction, Mississippi Review, Georgia Review, Story, Epoch, TriQuarterly, and DoubleTake.

LEMONY SNICKET & LISA BROWN
talk & booksigning for The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming Tuesday, December 11 at 6 pm**

Latkes are potato pancakes served at Hanukkah, and Lemony Snicket is an alleged children's author. For the first time in literary history, these two elements are combined in one book (with illustrations by Lisa Brown). A particularly irate latke is the star of The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, but many other holiday icons appear and even speak: flashing colored lights, cane-shaped candy, a pine tree. Santa Claus is briefly discussed as well. The ending is happy, at least for some. Unfortunately, elusive author Lemony Snicket is the author of a series of books whose joining title is "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Lisa Brown is an illustrator and author. Her books include How to Be and the popular "Baby Be of Use" series from McSweeney's. - **Please note special start time!

Dear friends and neighbors,

We hope that you will be able to attend:

3rd Monthly Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Peace Vigil

Place: San Francisco: Masonic between Oak and Fell

Time: Friday Dec. 21st, 6:00-8:00PM

One issue focus - end the war in Iraq. Support our troops and the Iraqi people by ending the war now.

Everybody welcome. Bring candles and signs if you have them, they will also be provided, along with cookies.

Peace, love, and cookies

TODD MCCAFFREY
reading & booksigning for Dragon Harper Tuesday, January 8 at 7 pm

Bestselling author Anne McCaffrey has dazzled audiences with her tales of the Dragonriders of Pern, one of the most popular science fiction series of all time. Recently, her son Todd McCaffrey has delved into the Pern universe with his own Pern novel and through two collaborations with his mother. Now, in Dragon Harper, Anne and Todd spin a tale of a mysterious illness that may succeed in doing what centuries of Threadfall could not: kill every last human on Pern.

Todd McCaffrey is the bestselling author of the Dragonsblood, as well as Dragon's Kin and Dragon's Fire, which he co-wrote with his mother, the legendary fantasy author Anne McCaffrey. A computer engineer, Todd currently lives in Los Angeles. Having grown up in Ireland with the epic of the Dragonriders of Pern, he is bursting with ideas for new stories of that world and its people.

ROBERT ALTMAN,
HEATHER MARX GALLERY

FORMER PHOTOGRAPHER ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, BOOK SIGNING, 77 GEARY 2nd FLOOR, SAN FRANCISCO, 415-627-9111 JAN 10th 5:30 p,m. to 7:30 p.m.

LLOYD DANGLE
talk & booksigning for Troubletown Told You So Friday, January 11 at 7 pm

Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us from this Mess is the new collection of comics from Lloyd Dangle, the nationally syndicated cartoonist whose work appears in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and other alternative newsweeklies and lefty political magazines. What’s it all about? In his introduction, columnist Dan Savage says, “Thank God there’s at least one person out there who can clearly see the lies and the malice - and he’s still got a sense of humor! This is no small comfort in Bush’s America."

Oakland, California cartoonist Lloyd Dangle grew up in Michigan, where he drew cartoons for Michael Moore’s muckraking newspaper, the Michigan Voice. He has also worked for the Village Voice, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, Utne Reader, and Wired. Lloyd was also the first cartoonist assigned to cover the Republican National Convention in New York City.

FRAY
reading & booksigning for Busted: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act Friday, January 18 at 7 pm

Fray began as a storytelling website. Since 1996, it has presented true first-person stories. Eventually, the website evolved into a series of live storytelling events. And now, Fray is evolving again this time into a quarterly series of independently produced books. Just out is Busted: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act. Guest readers to be announced.

Fray (located at http://www.fray.com) is about true, personal stories and original art. They plan to publish a themed book four times a year.

Dear friends and neighbors,

We hope that you will be able to attend:

4th Monthly Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Peace Vigil

Place: San Francisco: Masonic between Oak and Fell

Time: Friday Jan. 18th, 6-8 PM

One issue focus - end the war in Iraq. Support our troops and the Iraqi people by ending the war now.

Everybody welcome. Bring candles and signs if you have them, they will also be provided, along with cookies.

Peace, love, and cookies

ROBERT HASS
reading & booksigning for Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 Tuesday, January 22 at 7 pm

RESCHEDULED FROM NOVEMBER: Robert Hass is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force whose work is rooted in the landscapes of his native Northern California. Widely read and much honored, he has brought the kind of energy in his poetry to his work as an essayist, translator, and activist. Time and Materials: Poems 1997-2005 - his first new collection in a decade - is grounded in the beauty and dynamics of the physical world, and in the bafflement of the present moment in American culture.

Robert Hass was born in San Francisco and lives in Berkeley, where he teaches at the University of California. Hass served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. A MacArthur Fellow , a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the recent winner of the National Book Award, he has published poems, literary essays, and translations.

HEIDI JULAVITS
reading & booksigning for The Uses of Enchantment Friday, January 25 at 7 pm

In late afternoon on November 7, 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal was abducted after field hockey practice at her all-girl New England prep school. Or was she? Heidi Julavits' new novel, The Uses of Enchantment which is just out in paperback, weaves a provocative spell in which the reader sees how the extraordinary power of a young woman's sexuality, and the desire to wield it, have a devastating effect on all involved.

Heidi Julavits is the author of two previous novels, The Mineral Palace and The Effect of Living Backwards, as well as a collaborative book, Hotel Andromeda. She is a founding editor of The Believer, and her writings have appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Time, and McSweeney's. She lives in Manhattan and Maine.

WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN
reading & booksigning for Riding Toward Everywhere Thursday, February 7 at 7 pm

William T. Vollmann has investigated humanity's obsession with violence (Rising Up and Rising Down), taken a personal look into the hearts and minds of the poor (Poor People), and now turns his attentions to America, to our romanticizing of "freedom" and the ways in which we restrict the very liberties we profess to admire. Riding Toward Everywhere is the new book from the National Book Award winning author of Europe Central.

William T. Vollmann is the author of seven novels; three collections of stories; a seven-volume critique of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award); and Poor People, an examination of poverty. His most recent novel, Europe Central, won the National Book Award in 2005. He has also won the PEN Center USA West Award for Fiction, a Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize, and a Whiting Writers' Award. No other writer has appeared more often at The Booksmith as has this acclaimed California author

DINAW MENGESTU
talk & booksigning for The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Wednesday, February 13 at 7 pm

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Mengestu, is a deeply affecting novel about what it means to lose a family and a country - and what it takes to create a new home. "This first novel, by an Ethiopian-American, sings of the immigrant experience, an old American story that people renew every generation, but it sings in an existential key...His straightforward language and his low-key voice combine to make a compelling narrative." - Alan Cheuse

Dinaw Mengestu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1978. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister, joining his father, who had fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University's MFA program in fiction and the recipient of a 2006 fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts

BETH LISICK
reading & booksigning for Helping Me Help Myself Tuesday, February 19 at 7 pm

From Bay Area favorite Beth Lisick, author of Everybody into the Pool, comes Helping Me Help Myself - the engaging and often-humorous story of one skeptic (the author), ten self-help gurus (John Gray, Richard Simmons, Stephen R. Covey, Jack Canfield, etc….), and a year spent trying to improve one's self. The author doesn't think of herself as a victim of the self-help movement. But is she?

Beth Lisick, author of the New York Times bestselling book Everybody into the Pool, is also a performer and odd-jobs enthusiast. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including Best American Poetry, the Christian Science Monitor, and Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Movement. She has contributed to public radio's This American Life and is the cofounder of the monthly Porchlight storytelling series in San Francisco

CHARLES BOCK
reading & booksigning for Beautiful Children Wednesday, February 20 at 7 pm

In his debut novel, Charles Bock mixes incandescent prose with devious humor in capturing life in contemporary Las Vegas. And in doing so, the author provides a glimpse into a microcosm of modern America. Beautiful Children is an odyssey of heartache and redemption - heralding the arrival of a major new writer. "Beautiful Children careens from the seedy to the beautiful, the domestic to the epic, all with huge and exacting heart." - Jonathan Safran Foer

Charles Bock was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has an MFA from Bennington College and has received fellowships from Yaddo, UCross, and the Vermont Studio Center. He lives in New York City. Visit the author's website at:
beautifulchildren.net

CHARLES BAXTER
reading & booksigning for The Soul Thief Thursday, February 21 at 7 pm

Charles Baxter - the acclaimed author of The Feast of Love - now gives us one of his most beautifully wrought and unexpected novels. The Soul Thief is a work of fiction at once lyrical and eerie, acutely observant in its sensual and emotional detail, and audaciously metaphysical in its underpinnings. The Soul Thief is a brilliant novel - one that is certain to expand both his already-stellar reputation and ever-growing readership.

Charles Baxter is the author of eight previous works of fiction, including Saul and Patsy, The Feast of Love (nominated for the National Book Award and recently released as a film), Through the Safety Net, and Believers. He has also authored books of poetry and the art of writing.

PHILIP FRADKIN
reading & booksigning for Wallace Stegner and the American West Tuesday, February 26 at 7 pm

As a writer and novelist, as the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Angle of Repose and National Book Award winning The Spectator Bird, as a teacher and founder of the Stanford Creative Writing Program, and as an advocate of the Western landscape, Wallace Stegner has few equals. Philip Fradkin's new biography, Wallace Stegner and the American West, is the definitive account of one of the most acclaimed and admired writers, teachers, and conservationists of our time.

Philip L. Fradkin shared the Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and was western editor of Audubon magazine. He is the author of ten previous books, including The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself and Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West. He lives on the coast north of San Francisco.

Dear Friends,

Hear are photos from the Haight [Ashbury] from a friend of a friend of mine.

Enjoy

Cheers, Marliese

http://haight.tribe.net/photos

CARYL FLINN
talk & booksigning for Brass Diva
Thursday, March 6 at 7 pm

Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman tells the story of how a stenographer from Queens became the queen of the Broadway musical. Mining official and unofficial sources, including interviews with Merman's family as well as her personal scrapbooks, film historian Caryl Flinn unearths new details about Merman's life and finds that behind the high-octane personality was a remarkably pragmatic woman who never lost sight of her roots.

Caryl Flinn lives and works in Tucson, where she is a Professor at the University of Arizona. She is the author of The New German Cinema, Strains of Utopia, and Music and Cinema (co-edited).

CARA BLACK
reading & booksigning for Murder in the Rue de Paradis
Wednesday, March 12 at 7 pm

Murder in the Rue de Paradis is the vivid new novel from San Francisco writer Cara Black. In this eighth Aimée Leduc story, the intrepid investigator is determined to avenge the murder of her one-time lover, an investigative journalist. Leduc's investigation embroils her in Turkish and Kurdish politics and leads to a sleeper jihadist. "She makes Paris come alive as no one else has since Georges Simenon." - Stuart Kaminsky

Cara Black lives in San Francisco with her bookseller husband. She is the author of an acclaimed series of novels set in Paris, including Murder in the Marais, Murder in the Bastille, Murder in Belleville, Murder in the Sentier, and Murder in Clichy. The most recent book in the series, Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis, was a #1 bestseller last year.

DAVID SMAY
talk & booksigning for Swordfishtrombones
Friday, March 14 at 7 pm

Swordfishtrombones, the now legendary 1983 album by Tom Waits, was a watershed recording for the idiosyncratic artist. It not only revived his career, but signaled a significant change in the artist's personal life as well. David Smay's new book, Swordfishtrombones which is part of the 33 1/3 series, tells the story of the making of this remarkable album, once named the second best of all-time.

David Smay is a San Francisco music writer and longtime Booksmith customer whose earlier books include Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears and Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed.

MAESTRO
JAMES REDO'S ART EXHIBIT
MARCH 14th, 15th & 16th
RECEPTION SAT. MARCH 15th 7p.m.
AT - LIVE WORMS ART GALLERY
1345 GRANT STREET
BETWEEN VALLEJO & GREEN
NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO

Hora Vacuui Exhibit scheduled for Live Worms Gallery

Recent work by one of San Francisco’s most prolific iconic artists, James Redo, will be on display March 14 thru 16 at Live Worm Gallery, at 1345 Grant Avenue, between Vallejo and Green.

Called Hora Vacuui, hich translates to “fear of space,” the exhibition of four works is sponsored by the North Beach Arts Group. The exhibit will be launched with a reception, March 15, beginning at 7:00 pm.

Included in the exhibit will be Redo’s Maya Vision, Ancient Ancestors and Fusion Frisco Dreaming , which express his penchant for rendering dense, muralistic representations of the vibrant life of distant cultures evoked in his Classic and Contemporary forms.

Best known for his thoughtful and emotive work as well as the volume of his output of drawings, paintings and sculptures in various media, Redo is also a published poet, whose universal themes in various media reflects his extensive travel and his fascination with ancient cultures.

Maya Vision honors both the end and beginning of time as interpreted by the Mayan calendar, as it anticipates momentous cosmic change in 2012. Fusion Frisco is a blended anthology of Redo’s daily renderings incorporating a variety of monochromatic drawings that deal with both traditional and contemporary-technological themes.

The North Beach Arts Group has, as its mission, the celebration and promotion of the long tradition of creative expression associated with San Francisco’s legendary district.

AL YOUNG
reading & booksigning for Something About the Blues
Tuesday, March 18 at 7 pm

Like Harlem renaissance poet Langston Hughes, who first popularized the blues as a poetic form, California Poet Laureate Al Young has written about the blues, played the blues and drawn inspiration from the blues. Something About the Blues uses the form as a theme throughout 100 new and previously-published poems. These works evoke the cold, hard city, love gone wrong and blues music itself.

California Poet Laureate Al Young is the author of more than 20 books including Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990; Mingus Mingus: Two Memoirs (with Janet Coleman); Drowning in the Sea of Love: Musical Memoirs; and the novels Snakes, Who Is Angelina?, and Sitting Pretty. A popular reader and performer, Young lectures worldwide on literature, music, creativity, and African American culture.

STEPHEN ELLIOTT & CO.
reading & booksigning for Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica
Tuesday, March 25 at 7 pm

From Monica Lewinsky's stained dress to Larry Craig's bathroom tendencies, its fair to say sex and politics are inextricably commingled. In the just released anthology, Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica, Stephen Elliott brings together writers who explore the intersection of sexual desire and political belief. Along with editor Elliott, joining us for this special event will be contributors Nick Flynn, Anthony Swofford, and Michelle Richmond.

Stephen Elliott, in addition to being a former stripper, is the author of six books including Happy Baby, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lion Award. Originally from Chicago, Elliott was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, where he now teaches, and is a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. He is also the founder of the Progressive Reading Series, which helps authors raise money for and participate on behalf of progressive candidates across the country.

ANNE LAMOTT **
reading & booksigning for Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Wednesday, March 26 at 7 pm

Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, a best selling parenting memoir, and a popular guide to writing), the subject the author keeps returning to is faith, her deeply personal - "erratic" at times, she says - journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, which is just out in paperback, is her third collection of funny, smart, and prayerful essays-to-live-by.

Anne Lamott is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the bestselling author of Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, Traveling Mercies, and other books. She is a former columnist for Salon and lives in Northern California.

** This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the All Saints Church (1350 Waller St) in San Francisco. Copies of Anne Lamott's books will be available for purchase at the Booksmith table.

EDWARD DOCX
reading & booksigning for Pravda
Friday, March 28 at 7 pm

Edward Docx, the acclaimed British author of The Calligrapher, has now written Pravda, a saga of secrets and lies in a single family across the generations. Set in London, New York, Paris, and Saint Petersburg - and inspired by the author's own family history, Pravda is a haunting chronicle of suspicion and loss, love and loyalty, and the destructive legacy of deceit.

Born in England, Edward Docx has been literary editor, columnist, and associate editor of the London Express. He is the author of an earlier novel, The Calligrapher, which was named a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year. (It was also long-listed for the Mann Booker Prize.) Docx is now a freelance journalist - his work appears in the London Times, Spectator, and other periodicals.

VINCENT CARRELLA
talk & booksigning for Serpent Box
Thursday, April 3 at 7 pm

Serpent Box, a debut novel by northern California writer Vincent Carrella, brings to mind Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood. Set in post-WWII Appalachia, Serpent Box unfolds against a backdrop of snake handlers, tent revivalists, folk healers, sinners and skeptics. Powerful, compelling, and ambitiously historic, Serpent Box is a vividly rendered, uplifting coming-of-age novel.

Vincent Carrella is a writer and designer of interactive digital media who has created original adventure games and animated web serials as well as characters for DreamWorks, Warner Bros., SaturdayNightLive.com, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Darkhorse Comics. He lives in northern California.

Writer's Voices for Breast Cancer Action
Thursday, April 3, 2008 - 6:00pm - 7:30 pm

Join Breast Cancer Action and pulitzer-prize winning author Michael Chabon, internationally recognized authors Peggy Orenstein, and Ayelet Waldman, as well as Lambda award-winning novelist Jewelle Gomez as Master of Ceremonies, in BCA's biggest fundraiser of the year.

Authors will read excerpts from their current works and discuss BCA's critical role in the effort to end the breast cancer epidemic. The Booksmith will be selling the participating authors books at the event with proceeds to benefit Breast Cancer Action.

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm - War Memorial and Performing Arts Center - Green Room - 401 Van Ness Avenue - San Francisco - http://bcaction.org/index.php?page=writers-voices

1st Annual Benefit For Haight Ashbury Psychological Services
Friday, April 4, 2008, 5:00-8:00 PM (Dr. Zimbardo will speak at 6:30 PM)
The Women's Building, 3543 18th St. at Valencia, San Francisco

Guest speaker will be Dr. Philip Zimbardo, author of the best selling The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil. Dr. Zimbardo hosts the PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology and is the man behind the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Zimbardo will be signing copies of his new book after his talk. Books will be available at the event from The Booksmith. -Reception with wine and hors d'oeuvres -Live Jazz Music -Raffle & Auction

LEWIS BUZBEE & DAVE TILTON
reading & booksigning for first to leave before the sun
Monday, April 7 at 7 pm

Long-time friends Lewis Buzbee and Dave Tilton join together in first to leave before the sun, a collection of two novellas set in California's Central Valley. Buzbee contributes "First to Leave," a fictional account of his family's move from Oklahoma to Modesto in the first years of the Dust Bowl. Dave Tilton contributes "Before the Sun," a tale of growing up in Manteca in the 1960s. first to leave before the sun explores the betrayal of emigration and the emigration of betrayal through the lens of the promise of the Golden State.

Lewis Buzbee is the author of The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (a local bestseller), Fliegelman's Desire, and After the Gold Rush. He lives in San Francisco. Dave Tilton is a writer as well as a solo recording artist, and along with Jason Peri, a member of folk-jazz duo Seventh Triangle.

MARY ROACH
talk & booksigning for Bonk
Tuesday, April 8 at 7 pm

In Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, the best-selling author of Stiff and Spook turns her curiosity and wit to the most alluring subject of all: sex. Mary Roach - "the funniest science writer in the country" -- examines such varied subjects as the penis-camera, coital-imaging, transplants, implants, masturbation, the immaculate orgasm, and the eternal question can a woman find happiness with a machine."

Mary Roach is the author of the national bestsellers Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times magazine. She lives in Oakland.

SLOANE CROSLEY
reading & booksigning for I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Saturday, April 12 at 1 pm

Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Sloane Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions - or perhaps because of them. Together, the essays in I Was Told There'd Be Cake, introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.

Sloane Crosley's essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, New York Observer, the Village Voice, Playboy, Teen Vogue, Salon, Maxim, and The Believer. She is the Associate Director of Publicity at Vintage/Anchor Books in New York.

** This Booksmith co-sponsored event will take place at Orson, 508 4th Street in San Francisco.

SUSAN GRIFFIN
reading & booksigning for Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy
Wednesday, April 16 at 7 pm

In Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen, Susan Griffin -- poet, feminist, public intellectual -- blends history, cultural criticism, and memoir to discover the essence of democracy -- the essence of our democracy. From the Declaration of Independence to the war in Iraq, from Thomas Jefferson to Jelly Roll Morton, Griffin reflects upon the rise and fall of the American vision of freedom and equality

Susan Griffin has won dozens of awards for her work as a feminist writer, poet, essayist, playwright, and filmmaker. She is the author of more than twenty books including A Chorus of Stones, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the recipient of an Emmy, a MacArthur grant, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. A resident of Berkeley, she is a frequent contributor to Ms. magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and numerous other publications.

NATHANIEL RICH
reading & booksigning for The Mayor's Tongue
Friday, April 18 at 7 pm

"I read The Mayor's Tongue with ever-increasing delight, rooting with all my heart for the young protagonist on his near-mythic quest. This is an elegantly-structured, brilliantly-told novel, by turns terrifying, touching, and wildly funny, and always generous and magical. The Mayor's Tongue, is about how we talk to each other and how make-believe helps us get on with our lives; most of all, it's about love. Kudos to Nathaniel Rich, who has created a brave book, a novel brimming with brio." - Stephen King

Nathaniel Rich has published essays and criticism in The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Nation, The New Republic, and Slate. He is an editor at The Paris Review and author of San Francisco Noir.

You are cordially invited to join the monthly Haight-Ashbury Peace Vigil, this Friday night, April 18, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We will be on Masonic, between Fell and Oak, San Francisco. We have a one-issue focus--end the war in Iraq. Although our purpose is serious, our crowd has been lively. We will have signs and candles for you, but you are welcome to bring your own. Pictures from our previous vigils can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haightpeacevigil/

PATRICK MCGRATH
reading & booksigning for Trauma
Monday, April 21 at 7 pm

Admirers of Patrick McGrath's work know what to expect from his fiction. The grotesque and the macabre dominate his work. Trauma -- his new novel -- is no exception. In an unreliable first person narrative, this disturbing new novel includes aspects of mental illness and sexual obsession, and in general, a distressing ambiance. All in all, it's highly recommended and jolly good fun.

Patrick McGrath was born in London and grew up near Broadmoor Hospital, where for many years his father was medical superintendent. McGrath's work is described by some as gothic. He is the author of six novels including Spider, which was adapted for the screen in 2002; Dr Haggard's Disease; and Asylum, which was shortlisted for the 1996 Guardian Fiction Prize and is currently being made into a feature film. McGrath is the co-editor, with Bradford Morrow, of The New Gothic. He lives in New York City and London, and is married to British actress Maria Aitken.

MELANIE ABRAMS
reading & booksigning for Playing
Tuesday, April 22 at 7 pm

Melanie Abrams's debut novel is a provocative tale of love, betrayal, and how one young woman's unconventional sexual reawakening uncovers the most guarded parts of her past. Rapturous, illuminating, and emotionally charged, Playing is also an unflinching look at the irrevocable consequences of giving in to our most secret passions, and the freedom that comes with self-knowledge.

Melanie Abrams received her MFA from UNC Greensboro and teaches writing at UC Berkley. She is married to the novelist Vikram Chandra.

SUSAN JACOBY
reading & booksigning for The Age of American Unreason
Thursday, April 24 at 7 pm

Americans are dumb. We are a lazy and credulous public, prone to following ignorant political and religious leaders. In The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby dissects a culture at odds with both its heritage of Enlightenment reason and with contemporary secular knowledge and science. With wit, Jacoby surveys an anti-rationalist landscape extending from pop culture to a pseudo-intellectual universe of "junk thought." This provocative new book challenges Americans to face a painful truth about what our flight from reason has cost us as individuals and as a nation.

Susan Jacoby is the author of seven previous books, including Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, which was named a Notable Book of 2004 by the Washington Post and Times Literary Supplement. Jacoby is a frequent contributor to many publications including The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

KEITH GESSEN
reading & booksigning for All the Sad Young Literary Men
Tuesday, April 29 at 7 pm

All the Sad Young Literary Men is a charming, yet scathing portrait of young adulthood at the opening of the twenty-first century. Keith Gessen's debut novel charts the lives of Sam, Mark, and Keith as they over-think their college years, under-think their love lives, and struggle through the encouragement of the women who love and despise them to find a semblance of maturity, responsibility, and even literary fame.

Keith Gessen was born in Russia and raised in Massachusetts. A contributor to The New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, and New York magazine, he is a founding editor of the literary magazine n+1. Gessen is the translator of the NBCC Award-winning Voices from Chernobyl, the forthcoming Penguin Classics edition of Ludmila Petruskevskaya's Scary Fairy Tales, and is writing the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Mikail Bulgakov's A Dead Man's Memoir.

MARK ENGLER
talk & booksigning for "How to Rule the World"
Monday, May 5 at 7 pm

"As the world readies to heave a collective sigh of relief upon George W. Bush's exit from the White House, "How to Rule the World" is a caution against complacency. Mark Engler offers a timely reminder that before Bush's boots and bombs there was Clinton's corporate 'consensus' - more soothing perhaps but no more sustainable than the neocons' disastrous militarism. He then makes a case that there lies a third choice: democracy. Impressively researched and sharply argued, How to Rule the World is an essential handbook not for the few who do rule the world but for the many who should." - Greg Grandin, author of Empire's Workshop

Mark Engler is an analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus. He is also a New York City-based journalist. His articles have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, Dissent, In These Times, Salon.com, and MotherJones.com.

CATHLEEN SCHINE
reading & booksigning for "The New Yorkers"
Tuesday, May 6 at 7 pm

Inspired by Cathleen Schine's adoption of a profoundly troubled dog named Buster, "The New Yorkers" is a novel of love, longing, and overcoming the shyness that leashes us. On a quiet block near Central Park, compelled to meet by their canine companions, five lonely city dwellers find one another. Over the course of four seasons, they emerge from their apartments in snow, rain, or glorious sunshine to make friends and sometimes even fall in love. A love letter to a city full of surprises, The New Yorkers is an enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most beloved writers.

Cathleen Schine is the author of "The Love Letter" and "Rameau's Niece," among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.

FELICIA SULLIVAN
talk & booksigning for "The Sky Isn't Visible from Here"
Wednesday, May 7 at 7 pm

Felicia Sullivan's volatile, beautiful, drug-addicted mother disappeared the night she graduated from college. In "The Sky Isn't Visible from Here" Sullivan, who grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, now looks back on her childhood lived among drug dealers, users, and substitute fathers. She became her mother's keeper, taking her to the hospital when she overdosed, withstanding her narcissistic rages, succumbing to the abuse of so-called stepfathers, and always wondering why her mother would never reveal the truth about the father she'd never met. This is a memoir brave and beautiful.

Felicia C. Sullivan is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Best American Essays notable. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Mississippi Review, and Pindeldyboz - and in such anthologies as Homewrecker: An Atlas of Illicit Loves and Money Changes Everything. Sullivan was the recipient of the 2005 Tin House memoir fellowship, and in 2001, she founded the critically acclaimed literary journal Small Spiral Notebook. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

DALE PENDELL
reading & booksigning for "Walking with Nobby"
Tuesday, May 13 at 7 pm

Norman O. Brown (1913-2002) was an American intellectual, academic, and author of wide-ranging interests and influence. In "Walking with Nobby: Conversations with Norman O. Brown," the teacher's one time student - the acclaimed ethnobotanist Dale Pendell - records a series of conversations on such topics as paganism and world religions, psychoanalysis, modern and ancient cultures, Dionysus, Marx, and Freud.

Dale Pendell is a poet, software engineer, longtime student of ethnobotany and the author of the acclaimed Pharmako trilogy - a literary, shamanic, and pharmacological study of psychoactive plants. He has led workshops on ethnobotany and ethnopoetics for the Naropa Institute and the Botanical Preservation Corps.

FARHAD MANJOO
reading & booksigning for "True Enough"
Wednesday, May 14 at 7 pm

In 2005, Stephen Colbert catapulted the word "truthiness" - the notion of an idea feeling true without any backup evidence - into the public consciousness. Salon.com writer Farhad Manjoo expands upon this concept in "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society", a perceptive analysis of the status of truth in the digital age - as well as an exploration of how biases push both liberals and conservatives to interpret news in a way that accords with their personal versions of "reality."

Farhad Manjoo manages Machinist, a daily technology news blog at Salon.com, where he also writes frequently on journalism, politics, and new media.

CHUCK PALAHNIUK **
talk & booksigning for "Snuff"
Wednesday, May 28 at 7 pm

Chuck Palahniuk's new novel, "Snuff", is the story of a gargantuan gangbang. It tells the tale of an aging porn queen who intends to put an exclamation point on her career by having sex on film with 600 men in one day. The story begins with Mr. 600. The perspective then shifts to Mr. 72, before we encounter Mr. 137. Wild, funny, and thoroughly researched - Snuff goes where no literary novel has gone before. Who else but Chuck Palahniuk would dare do such a thing?

Chuck Palahniuk is the bestselling author of seven novels: "Haunted," " Lullaby," "Fight Club" - which was made into a popular film by director David Fincher - "Diary," "Survivor," "Invisible Monsters," and "Choke" - which will be released later this year as a film starring Sam Rockwell and Angelica Houston.

** This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are on sale at The Booksmith.

TIM WINTON
reading & booksigning for "Breath"
Saturday, May 31 at 7 pm

Tim Winton is Australia's best-loved novelist. His new work, "Breath", is an extraordinary evocation of an adolescence spent resisting complacency, testing one's limits against nature, finding like-minded souls, and discovering just how far one breath will take you. It's a story of extremes sport and extreme emotions. "Breath is a coming-of-age novel written with Tim Winton's customary tenderness and vivid sense of place and psychological truth." - Colm Toibin

Tim Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, and is the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation. He has written twenty books, including the bestselling novels "Cloudstreet," "The Riders" (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), and "Dirt Music."

MIKE FARRELL
talk & booksigning for "Just Call Me Mike"
Tuesday, June 10 at 7 pm

After gaining renown for his role in the much-loved television series M*A*S*H, actor Mike Farrell embarked upon a more arduous path as a human rights advocate. "Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist" is his story. As amply demonstrated in this memoir, Farrell's celebrity has put him in the unique position to witness and participate in the efforts of peace-workers both at home and throughout the world.

Best known as an actor and for his eight years on M*A*S*H and five seasons on Providence, Mike Farrell is also a writer, director and producer. Farrell has served on human rights and peace delegations to many countries around the world. As President of Death Penalty Focus, he speaks, writes, and coordinates efforts to stop executions.

ANDREW SEAN GREER
reading & booksigning for "The Story of a Marriage"
Thursday, June 12 at 7 pm

As he demonstrated in "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," Andrew Sean Greer can spin a touching narrative based on an intriguing premise. His new book - set in San Francisco in the early 1950s - is "The Story of a Marriage". "This is a haunting book of breathtaking beauty and restraint. Greer's tone-perfect prose conjures an unforgettable woman who exists both within and somehow above the stifling class, racial and sexual constraints of 1950s America." - Dave Eggers

Andrew Sean Greer is the acclaimed, best-selling author of "The Confessions of Max Tivoli," the story collection "How It Was for Me," and the novel "The Path of Minor Planets." He lives in San Francisco, California, not far from The Booksmith.

ELLEN SUSSMAN & Co. **
talk & booksigning for "Dirty Words"
Thursday, June 12 at 7 pm

"Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex" is a witty reference, a playful take on bedroom talk, and a smart and often funny compendium of entries written by notable contemporary writers. From sexual relationships (monogamy, one-night stand, manage-a-trois) to sexual positions (doggie style, 69), from age-old practices (prostitution) to contemporary twists (cybersex), this alphabetical encyclopedia includes everything you need to know about the language of love and lust.

** Join us for an adults only evening with editor Ellen Sussman and local contributors Michelle Richmond, Meredith Maran, Helena Echlin, Stephen Elliott, and Katharine Noel. This Booksmith sponsored event will take place at the Edinburgh Castle (950 Geary Street).

RUSSELL TARG
reading & booksigning for "Do You See What I See?"
Friday, June 13 at 7 pm

"Do You See What I See?: Memoirs of a Blind Biker" is the story of a visually impaired physicist, Russell Targ, who sees beyond perception to help readers find meaning. Targ has been visually handicapped since childhood and yet has performed groundbreaking research in lasers and optics. He is grounded in the world of science and yet helped created the Cold War program that became the real X-Files - the CIA and NASA-sponsored work in "remote viewing" that has only recently been declassified. This remarkable memoir reads like a cultural history of the last half of the twentieth century as Targ befriends the likes of Ayn Rand, Alan Greenspan, Alan Alda, and brother-in-law chess champion Bobby Fisher!

Russell Targ is an American physicist and author, an ESP researcher, and pioneer in the earliest development of the laser. Currently retired, Targ enjoys motorcycling in the desert (even though legally blind) and studying Dzogchen Buddhism. He lives in Palo Alto, California.

DONNA GEORGE STOREY & LIZA DALBY
reading & booksigning
Tuesday, June 17 at 7 pm

Join us for an evening of Japanese-inspired sensual literature with local authors Donna George Storey and Liza Dalby. Inspired by Ihara Saikaku's 17th-century satiric novel of the pleasure quarters, Storey's "Amorous Woman" is the tale of an American woman's love affair with Japan that gives readers a rather intimate view of the country that few Westerners ever see. Dalby, author of "Geisha" and other books on Japanese culture, is the author most recently of "East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir through the Seasons".

Donna George Storey holds a Ph.D in Japanese literature from Stanford. She is the translator of "Child of Darkness: Yoko and Other Stories," by Furui Yoshikichi. Her erotic fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies including Best American Erotica and Best Women's Erotica. Liza Dalby is a writer and anthropologist specializing in Japanese culture. She is the acclaimed author of "Geisha" and other books, and was a consultant for Rob Marshall's film "Memoirs of a Geisha."

ED PARK
talk & booksigning for "Personal Days"
Wednesday, June 18 at 7 pm

In an unnamed company, the employees are getting restless as everything around them unravels. There's Pru, the former grad student turned spreadsheet drone; Laars, the hysteric whose work anxiety stalks him in teeth-grinding dreams; and Jack II, who distributes unwanted backrubs; a.k.a., jackrubs to his co-workers. Then, the firings begin. Rich with Orwellian doublespeak, filled with sabotage and romance, Ed Park's literary debut, "Personal Days", is a comic delight and a narrative tour de force, not to mention the Great American Novel (office edition 2008).

Ed Park is a founding editor of The Believer and a former editor of the Voice Literary Supplement. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review and many other publications. He lives in Manhattan, where he publishes The New-York Ghost.

PETER HEEHS
reading & booksigning for "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo"
Thursday, June 19 at 7 pm

Since his death in 1950, Sri Aurobindo has been known primarily as a yogi and a philosopher of spiritual evolution. His years spent in yogic retirement were preceded by nearly four decades of rich public and intellectual work. Peter Heehs, one of the founders of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, is the first to relate all the aspects of the yogi's life. The result is "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo", the most comprehensive, thorough, and balanced study to date of Sri Aurobindo Ghose's remarkable life and thought. This special event will be introduced by Esalen co-founder Michael Murphy.

Peter Heehs was born and educated in the United States but has lived in India since 1971. One of the founders of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, he is currently a member of the editorial board of the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, and has published many books and articles.

SASA STANISIC
reading & booksigning for "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone"
Friday, June 20 at 7 pm

Sasa Stanisic's sensational debut novel, "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone", is the moving story of a young child caught up in the Bosnian conflict who finds the secret to survival in language and stories. This European bestseller thrums with the joy of storytelling. "A great rattlebag of a book that's funny and heartfelt and brazen and true. Find some space on your shelf beside Aleksandar Hemon, Jonathan Safran Foer, William Vollmann, and David Foster Wallace." - Colum McCann

Sasa Stanisic was born in Visegard in Bosnia, but escaped to Germany at the age of 14 after the Serbian army invaded the city. He is the offspring of a mixed family - his mother is Muslim and his father is Serbian. His short stories have been published in anthologies and literary magazines and he won the German Ingeborg Bachmann competition for new authors.

KIARA BRINKMAN
reading & booksigning for "Up High in the Trees"
Monday, June 23 at 7 pm

Told in brief, poetic vignettes of luminious prose, "Up High in the Trees" is a moving evocation of the inner life of a most unusual boy, Sebby Lane. This remarkable debut novel (just out in softcover) also introduces an original and quietly powerful new writer, Kiara Brinkman. " . . . captures, pitch-perfectly, the voice of one eight-year old boy. That the story is also compelling, beautifully written, humorous, and heartbreaking makes it necessary reading." - Cristina Garcia.

Kiara Brinkman grew up in the Midwest and in California. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's, Pindeldyboyz, and other publications. She has been working with children and books her whole life.

JENNIFER SEY
reading & booksigning for "Chalked Up"
Tuesday, June 24 at 7 pm

Jennifer Sey began competing in gymnastics at the age of six, and went on to become 1986 National Gymnastics Champion and seven-time national team member. Now, she has authored a cautionary tale, " Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams". This is the remarkably candid true story of a gymnastics champion whose lifelong dream was to compete in the Olympics, until anorexia, injuries, and coaching abuses nearly destroyed her.

Jennifer Sey is a graduate of Stanford University, Sey was named one of the "Top 40 Marketers under 40" by Advertising Age in 2006 for her work at Levi Strauss & Co. She has also written and produced two short films. She lives with her husband and two sons in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO TAPE MUSIC CENTER **
reading & booksigning for "The San Francisco Tape Music Center"
Wednesday, June 25 at 7 pm

"The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde" tells the story of an influential group of creative artists who connected music to technology during a legendary time in California's cultural history. As an integral part of the San Francisco "scene," the San Francisco Tape Music Center developed new art forms through collaborations between composers and the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Ann Halprin Dancers' Workshop, Canyon Cinema, and others. Told through vivid personal accounts, interviews, and retrospective essays by leading scholars and artists, this work - capturing the heady experimental milieu of the sixties - is the first comprehensive history of the San Francisco Tape Music Center.

** Don't miss this historic event, which will take place at the Park Branch Library (1863 Page Street). Planned are a panel discussion, demonstration of the Tape Music Center's original Buchla Box, and a brief nostaligic performance of the "Riley Delay." Participants include Morton Subotnick, Terry Riley, Ramon Sender, Bill Maginnis, David Bernstein, and Maggi Payne. Stu Dempster will dijeridu the room. A booksigning will follow.

TODD KOMARNICKI
reading & booksigning for "War: A Novel"
Thursday, June 26 at 7 pm

A soldier is alone. He doesn't know where he is or how he got here. All he does know is that he is at war. But who is the enemy? Surrounded by a ruined city, without a compass to guide him or a clear mission to fulfill, the soldier must rely on what he has left to survive. Using only memory, his warrior's skills, and his own, suddenly fierce humanity, he will construct a map to lead him toward what he desperately hopes will be his escape. "War", the new novel by Todd Komnarnicki, is the story of one man's journey deep into the heart of violence.

Todd Komarnicki is a screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist, and the author of the "Famine." Active in Hollywood, Komarnicki was the producer of "Elf," the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy. This event marks his second appearance at The Booksmith.

MONICA FERRELL
talk & booksigning for The Answer Is Always Yes
Tuesday, July 8 at 7:30 pm

Monica Ferrell’s exuberant new novel - described as a pyrotechnic debut whose prose recalls Tom Robbins - is The Answer Is Always Yes. By turns a fierce, funny coming-of-age story and a teasing work of literary suspense this just published work traces the precipitous rise and fall of a teenage impresario at the zenith of the recent New York club scene. Will social outcast Magic Matt the Jay Gatsby of his set achieve his ambition to be accepted?

Monica Ferrell’s poems have appeared in the New York Review of Books, Paris Review, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn and is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

KATIE HAFNER
reading & booksigning for A Romance on Three Legs
Wednesday, July 9 at 7:30 pm

Glenn Gould was one of the most brilliant artists of the twentieth century as well as a musician famous for his many eccentric habits. A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano tells the story of the Gould’s greatest obsession of all, a Steinway concert grand known as CD 318. Katie Hafner’s fascinating and detailed new book is a must-read for classical music buffs, armchair musicologists, Gould fanatics, and even those rare few who never heard a note Gould played.

Katie Hafner is a correspondent for the New York Times and the author or coauthor of four books, including Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Cyberpunk, The Well, and The House at the Bridge. She lives in the Bay Area.

MICHELLE RICHMOND
talk & booksigning for No One You Know
Tuesday, July 15 at 7:30 pm

Michelle Richmond dazzled readers and critics alike with her luminous novel The Year of Fog. Now, Richmond returns with an intensely emotional, multi-layered family drama - a woman’s search for her sister’s killer that spirals into a journey of secrets, revelations, and damaged lives. No One You Know is a novel about the stories and lies that strangers, lovers and families tell - and the secrets we keep even from ourselves.

Michelle Richmond is the author of The Year of Fog, Dream of the Blue Room, and The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress. Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, Playboy, The Oxford American, and elsewhere. She has been a James Michener Fellow, and her fiction has received the Associated Writing Programs Award and the Mississippi Review Prize. A native of Mobile, Alabama, Richmond lives in San Francisco.

JENNIFER TRAIG
reading & booksigning for Well Enough Alone
Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30 pm

From Bay Area writer Jennifer Traig, the critically acclaimed author of Devil in the Details, comes a hilarious new book, Well Enough Alone. Both a first-person account of life as a hypochondriac as well as a literary tour of hypochondria past and present, Well Enough Alone is a singular book on being worried sick oops, we mean worried well, in all of its anxious, gruesome, hysterical and ultimately life-changing detail.

Jennifer Traig is the author of Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood as well as numerous craft and children's books. She is also a contributor to The Forward and McSweeney’s. Traig holds a Ph.D. in literature.

DAPHNE GOTTLIEB
reading & booksigning for Kissing Dead Girls & Fucking Daphne
Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 pm

Fusing pornography and postfeminist theory, transcript and tell-all - the playful, penetrating poems and stories found in Daphne Gottlieb’s Kissing Dead Girls reach off the page in search of what it is to be known, both to the masses and to the "other." Similarly, the author’s just published Fucking Daphne: Mostly True Stories and Fictions, an edited collection with work about the author, blurs the lines between reality and fiction and begs the question "who is the real Daphne?"

Daphne Gottlieb is a San Francisco-based performance poet and author. She is the editor of "Homewrecker: An Adultery Reader," as well as the author of the poetry book "Final Girl" (winner of the Audre Lorde Award in Poetry in 2003), "Why Things Burn" (winner of a 2001 Firecracker Alternative Book Award), and "Pelt," and the graphic novel "Jokes and the Unconscious" with artist Diane DiMassa. Her work has been translated into Turkish and Greek, and has inspired theatrical adaptations and DJ-remixes.

MICHELLE GAGNON & SIMON WOOD
talk & booksigning for Boneyard & We All Fall Down
Friday, July 18 at 7:30 pm

The Booksmith welcomes two local crime fiction writers. Michelle Gagnon is the author of Boneyard, the riveting story of the hunt for a serial killer and their copycat nemesis. Simon Wood is the author of We All Fall Down, a clever page-turner set among high-tech workers in the Bay Area. Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your seats.

Michelle Gagnon is a former modern dancer, dog walker, bartender, freelance journalist, personal trainer, model, and Russian supper club performer. To the delight of her parents, she eventually gave up all these jobs for an infinitely more stable and lucrative position as a crime fiction writer. Simon Wood was born in England and was an engineer by training. He now lives in San Francisco and writes full time. Wood is the author of four previous novels.

DEBORAH GRABIEN
reading & booksigning for Rock & Roll Never Forgets
Tuesday, July 22 at 7:30 pm

JP Kinkaid, aging guitarist for a long-lived rock band, has got more than a few things to deal with including the fact that a ruthless tabloid biographer is planning a tell-all history of his group. Murder, malfeasance and music ensue in Rock & Roll Never Forgets, the ultimate rock music mystery. Deborah Grabien San Francisco crime fiction author and rock music insider - offers readers an all-access, back-stage pass into the lives and loves of musicians in this, her latest book.

Deborah Grabien is a cook, guitar player, cat rescuer, traveler, and all-around rocker chick. She also writes a little. Grabien is the author of the Haunted Ballad mystery series and five stand-alone novels. Additionally, many of her short stories and essays have appeared in anthologies and magazines. Grabien lives in San Francisco, heads back to London and Paris whenever she can, and honestly believes you’re never too old to rock and roll.

JACK HIRSCHMAN
reading & booksigning for All That's Left
Wednesday, July 23 at 7:30 pm

The most recent volume in the San Francisco Poet Laureate Series, All That's Left, is a powerful collection of poems by street poet turned city laureate Jack Hirschman. The volume opens with the poet’s autobiographical inaugural address, which traces his career as a poet, editor, translator, and agitator for political and social causes. Along with more personal poems, All That's Left includes a homage to fallen comrades like Bob Kaufman and Jack Kerouac.

Jack Hirschman is a poet and social activist who has written more than 50 volumes of poetry. Dismissed from teaching at UCLA for anti-war activities in 1966, he moved to San Francisco in 1973, and at present is the city's poet laureate. Hirschman translates nine languages and edited the seminal Artuad Anthology.

ALAN BLACK
reading & booksigning for Kick the Balls: An Offensive Suburban Odyssey
Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 pm

When Alan Black was a child growing up in Glasgow, Scotland, soccer - or what he called fitba’ - was the be all and end all. His experience was not the little league, boys-of-summer stuff. For Black, it was life and death. Now middle-aged and living in California, the ex-pat manager of the Edinburgh Castle finds himself coaching a team of eight-year-olds in his beloved sport -and nothing is going right. Kick the Balls: An Offensive Suburban Odyssey tells the story.

Alan Black is the literary manager of San Francisco’s famous bookish venue, the Edinburgh Castle Pub. His work has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon.com, and The Christian Science Monitor. Black is cofounder of the Scottish Cultural and Arts Foundation and coeditor of Public House, an anthology. This is his first book.

JESS WINFIELD
reading & booksigning for My Name Is Will
Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 pm

Original, witty, and often laugh out loud hilarious Jess Winfield’s My Name Is Will is the tale of two Shakespeares. Separated in time and place, the lives of William and Willie begin to intersect in curious ways, from harrowing encounters with the law (and a few ex-girlfriends) to dubious experiments with mind-altering substances. Their misadventures might be dismissed as youthful folly. But wise or foolish, the choices they make will shape the Shakespeare each is destined to become.

As a founding member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Jess Winfield co-created the full-length show" The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987 and became an international sensation, leading to multiple world tours and engagements. After leaving the Reduced Shakespeare Company, Winfield spent ten years writing and producing award-winning cartoons for the Walt Disney Company. He left Disney to write this, his first novel.

BROKE-ASS STUART
talk & booksigning for Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco
Friday, August 1 at 7:30 pm

In Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco, thrifty local and cult fave Broke-Ass Stuart uncovers city secrets for the young, the beautiful, and the broke. This gritty, anecdotal and often funny guide shows locals and tourists what to do and where to stay, eat, and drink without breaking the bank. " . . . a fun read for anyone on a budget . . . both amusing and wise." - SF Bay Guardian.

Broke-Ass Stuart has been called "an SF cult hero" (SF Bay Guardian), "Best Local Writer" (SF Weekly) and "the pimp daddy of budget travel" (Everywhere magazine). He is the publisher of a popular zine, has written for Lonely Planet, and is the author of the forthcoming Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in New York.

JONATHAN EVISON
reading & booksigning for All About Lulu
Tuesday, August 5 at 7:30 pm

"Anyone who has ever experienced obsessive love - or wanted to experience obsessive love - will find themselves at home in Jonathan Evison's All About Lulu. The voice is fresh as this morning's rain, the emotions are universal. Read this book and realize you aren't the only one knocked stupid for love." - Tim Sandlin

Jonathan Evison has worked in a wide variety of jobs - from rotten tomato server to syndicated radio talk show host. His comedy show, Shaken Not Stirred, was nominated for two Peabody Awards. He has received two Silver Microphones, and two Communicators, and was frequently nominated for the Soundie Award.

SHAWN TAYLOR
talk & booksigning for Big Black Penis
Friday, August 8 at 7:30 pm

Being black and male is serious business, but its many absurd contradictions are often laugh-out loud. In Big Black Penis: Misadventures in Race and Masculinity, Bay Area writer Shawn Taylor deftly leads us on a no-holds-barred tour of his masculine development, while acknowledging some deep but often hilarious truths about black men. Unapologetic and sharply critical, Taylor brings the subject of black masculinity into the 21st century.

Shawn Taylor is the author of People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. He is a spoken-word performer and writer whose focus is gender, cultural identity, folklore, ancestry, and ritual. His solo performance, "Slower than a Speeding Bullet," was selected as the AOL.com pick of the week.

ANNA WINGER
reading & booksigning for This Must Be the Place
Thursday, August 21 at 7:30 pm

Anna Winger's debut novel, This Must Be the Place, is the moving story of friendship between neighbors in a Berlin apartment building. Walter is a fading actor and Hope is a young married woman; both are coming to terms with the past. "As smart and cosmopolitan as the twenty-first-century Berlin she chronicles so well . . . an essential love story for our confused and difficult times. Funny, touching, and unforgettable." - Gary Shteyngart

Anna Winger grew up in Kenya, Massachusetts, and Mexico as the daughter of Harvard University anthropologists. Today, she is a professional photographer and the producer of the "Berlin Stories," which is heard on NPR Worldwide. Her journalism has been published in The New York Times Magazine, and other publications.

THORINA ROSE
reading & booksigning for The Heartbreak Diet
Friday, August 22 at 7:30 pm

Thorina Rose's beautifully illustrated memoir (akin to a graphic novel) charts the unexpected dissolution of her marriage and the struggles and adventures of single life. With humor and insight, The Heartbreak Diet: A Story of Family, Fidelity, and Starting Over blossoms into a moving and entertaining meditation on fidelity, family, and finding one's way. " . . . funny, poignant, and wise." - Laura Fraser

Thorina Rose is a San Francisco-based artist whose work has been featured in the books Office Kama Sutra and Lovers' Yoga, as well as Travel & Leisure and numerous other publications. She lives not far from The Booksmith.

JOE NICK PATOSKI
talk & booksigning for Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
Tuesday, September 2 at 7:30 pm

Join Joe Nick Patoski (and special guests& outlaws*) as he discusses his exceptional new biography Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. Drawing on over 100 interviews with Willie and his family, friends and band, Patoski tells the country music icon's story from humble Depression-era roots to his musical education in Texas honky-tonks and his flirtations with whiskey, women, and weed. "Patoski has here conjured a biography . . . a book whose evocations of time, place, and spirit are as masterful as they are enthralling." - Nick Tosches

Joe Nick Patoski has written about Willie Nelson for publications including No Depression, Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, TV Guide, and the Austin American-Statesman. The co-author and author of biographies of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Selena and a contributor to the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Patoski lives in the Texas Hill Country. [Among those joining us for this special event will be Willie Nelson's harmonica player, Mickey Raphael aka "The Reader in the Band," who will talk about Willie, music and the charms of the road.]

MARC LECARD
reading & booksigning for Tiny Little Troubles
Monday, September 8 at 7:30 pm

From Marc Lecard, the critically acclaimed author of Vinnie's Head, comes a fast-paced crime story about an eccentric thug chasing after a piece of nano-technology and the scientist that created it. Set locally, Tiny Little Troubles is a fast-paced crime story (recalling Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen) in which the protagonist, a brilliant San Francisco scientist, encounters a whole world of trouble from the smallest of sources.

Marc Lecard is the author of an earlier novel, Vinnie's Head, as well as short stories published in various anthologies. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife, 3,000 books (at last count), a roomful of musical instruments, and a growing collection of obsolete computers.

JANIS IAN
talk & booksigning for Society's Child: My Autobiography
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm

Janis Ian has inspired generations of fans, and in Society's Child: My Autobiography, the Grammy Award winner shares the fascinating story of her life in music. In this moving memoir, Ian tells the story behind her controversial 1966 hit "Society's Child" (written when the musician was just 15 years old) and the equally acclaimed 1975 smash "At Seventeen," which earned two Grammys and five nominations.

Janis Ian is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction fan-turned-author. She had a highly successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, and has continued recording into the 21st century. Ian has been a regular columnist for and continuing contributor to the LGBT magazine The Advocate.

NEAL STEPHENSON
multimedia event for Anathem
Tuesday, September 9

New York Times best-selling author Neal Stephenson's new book, Anathem, is being released at a singular event in San Francisco on September 9, 2008. Presented by The Long Now Foundation, whose 10,000 Year Clock project inspired Stephenson's new work, this evening with the author will include live performances of music created for the book, readings by Neal Stephenson, conversations with Stewart Brand and Danny Hillis (founders of The Long Now Foundation), a demonstration of shovel-fu, and a chance to celebrate this new work in the Gothic splendor of The Regency. Please note: this is a ticketed event which will take place at The Regency, 1320 Van Ness @ Sutter in San Francisco. For tickets and further information, see

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/42323

Neal Stephenson is an American writer known primarily for his science fiction works in the post-cyberpunk genre (with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, cryptography, and the history of science). He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine. Neal Stephenson is the author of eight previous novels and other works, including such groundbreaking books as Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

LILY KOPPEL
reading & booksigning for The Red Leather Diary
Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm

The Red Leather Diary tells the true story of a teenage girl's discarded, Depression-era journal rescued from a dumpster in modern day Manhattan and eventually, and remarkably, reunited with its now elderly author. Found by a young writer, journalist Lily Koppel, who read its vivid entries as if letters to herself, this artifact of a forgotten time reveals the lost world of a New York teenager a young woman who dared to follow her dreams.

Lily Koppel writes for the New York Times and other publications. She lives in New York City. For more on her and her book, see

http://www.redleatherdiary.com/

TAMIM ANSARY
reading & booksigning for West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American
Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 pm

The Booksmith and One City One Book: San Francisco Reads celebrate West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American, by Tamim Ansary. This memoir of growing up in pre-Taliban Afghanistan also recounts the author's travels through North Africa and the Middle East as well as a personal journey through two cultures in conflict. Please join us for this special event.

Tamim Ansary writes and lectures about Afghanistan, Islamic history, democracy, schooling and learning, fiction and the writing process. He also directs the San Francisco Writers Workshop, the oldest continuous free writers workshop in America and the hub of a growing community of Bay Area writers.

BILL SANTIAGO
talk & booksigning for Pardon My Spanglish
Monday, September 15 at 7:30 pm

Come hear comedian Bill Santiago read from his new book, Pardon My Spanglish: One Man's Guide to Speaking the Habla, and perform some of the hilarious Spanglish standup from his Comedy Central special. Afterwards, share your own personal experiences with Spanglish (featuring twice the vocabulary and half the grammar). Porque, because laughs for Latinos and the Latino-curious are guaranteed!

Bill Santiago is a nationally known comedian who has appeared on Conan O'Brien and Comedy Central. He became a standup comic after narrowly escaping a career as a widely published journalist, facing the fact that as a comedian he was funny, but as a reporter he was a joke. Bill Santiago's latest show, The Funny of (Latin) Dance, will be premiering at the Brava Theater Center on September 20th.

LYNDA BARRY
talk & booksigning for What It Is
Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 pm

If there were a list of 1,000, or 100, or 10, or even 1 author to see before you die at the top of that list should be Lynda Barry. She is a comic book genius - a comix goddess, and one of the most delightful and inspiring author-artists you'll ever meet. Her new book, What It Is, is a deliciously drawn, insightful, and engaging take on the process of artistic creation. "Barry is not just a storyteller, she's an evangelist who urges people to pick up a pen - or a brush . . . and look at their own lives with fresh, forgiving eyes." - San Francisco Chronicle

Cartoonist, novelist, playwright and Booksmith favorite Lynda Barry is the creator of the syndicated strip "Ernie Pooks Comeek," featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Her books include Cruddy, One Hundred Demons and The Good Times Are Killing Me.

IRVINE WELSH
talk & booksigning for Crime
Friday, September 19 at 7:30 pm

In Crime, Scottish-born author Irvine Welsh brings his unique brand of literary mayhem to the glitzed-out, drugs-and-danger state of Florida. This just published novel tells the tale of Ray Lennox (a supporting character from the novel Filth) who is cast adrift in the Sunshine State and who befriends a young girl in jeopardy. Not all, however, is as it seems. Described by the author as more "an existential thriller than a police procedural crime novel," Welsh's latest is sure to keep readers riveted.

Irvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares, Ecstacy, Porno and other works. He divides his time between Florida, Ireland, and Scotland.

The Booksmith Goes to the Cole Valley Fair!

Sunday ~ September 21st, 2008 ~ 10am to 5pm
Cole Street between Carl and Grattan ( map )
N Judah stop: Carl and Cole. Bus: 43, 6, 66, 7, 71

Stop by The Booksmith's booth at the Cole Valley Fair to receive personalized recommendations from local writers and editors, watch a children's puppet show and participate in crafts, and receive 20% off all special orders placed in the booth.

The Cole Valley Fair is a free community event with booths showcasing local artists and businesses. The Fair features fine arts and crafts, food from neighborhood restaurants, live music, a display of historic Cole Valley photographs, a full block of vintage automobiles owned by neighborhood residents, events for children, and much more! Below are the highlights of Booksmith's participation at the Fair this year:

12-1pm: Discuss Literary Fiction with Michelle Richmond (No One You Know and
The Year of Fog, michellerichmond.com) and Andrew Altschul
(Lady Lazarus, http://www.andrewfosteraltschul.com/)

1-2pm: Discuss Mysteries with Louise Ure (The Fault Tree, http://www.louiseure.com/) and Michelle Gagnon (Boneyard, http://www.michellegagnon.com/)

2-3pm: Discuss Local Interest Books with Paul Madonna
(All Over Coffee, http://www.paulmadonna.com/)
and Kemble Scott (SoMa, http://www.kemblescott.com/)

3-4pm: Discuss Bay Area Literary Journals with Derek Powazek
(Fray, http://www.fray.com/) and Gravity Goldberg
(Instant City: A Literary Exploration of San Francisco, http://www.instantcity.org/)

Bring the Kids - 1pm: Puppet Show

Our kids section has been buzzing with help from Miss Martha and Miss Janine. Our children's booth will showcase a select number of titles we are excited about this year. There will also be a puppet show at 1pm and other crafts and activities throughout the day. Stop by to learn more about our new weekly storytime and other upcoming children's events.

Fair Specials

Meet the not-so-new-anymore owners of the Booksmith (Christin Evans and Praveen Madan) and find out how they are planning to create a neighborhood bookstore which is 'even more'? browser-friendly, experience-rich, community-oriented, and truly independent-minded.

Hope to see you there!

RICK WARTZMAN
talk & booksigning for Obscene in the Extreme
Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 pm

Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck's classic 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Just a month after publication, it was the nation's number one bestseller; but in Kern County, California - the Joads' newfound home - the book was burned publicly and banned from library shelves. Obscene in the Extreme, by California journalist and historian Rick Wartzman, tells the remarkable story behind this fit of censorship.

Rick Wartzman is director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University and an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He spent two decades as a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He is co-author, with Mark Arax, of the award-winning bestseller The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire.

DAPHNE BEAL
talk & booksigning for In the Land of No Right Angles
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 pm

Suspenseful, haunting and spare, In the Land of No Right Angles marks the arrival of a talented and intuitive new writer. In this, her first novel, Daphne Beal tells the story of a twenty-year-old American spending a year in Nepal who befriends a local only to be drawn into an uncertain world where the desire to save a friend is more harmful than doing nothing at all.

Daphne Beal was on the editorial staff of The New Yorker, and her writing has appeared in Vogue, McSweeney's, Open City, and The London Review of Books. Her work has been anthologized in The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers, The KGB Reader, and most recently in State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.

SEAN WILSEY
talk, screening & booksigning for State by State
Saturday, September 27 at 7:30 pm

Inspired by the WPA guides of the Thirties and Forties, 50 contemporary writers have produced original pieces of reportage and memoir that capture the 50 states in our time. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America is an American road trip in book form featuring original writing on all 50 states by 50 of our finest novelists, journalists, and essayists. Join editor Sean Wilsey and other contributors as we celebrate the publication of this new book and screen a short film on its making.

Sean Wilsey is the author of the memoir, Oh the Glory of It All, and the co-editor of The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the London Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney's quarterly, where he is the editor at large.

NEIL GAIMAN
reading for The Graveyard Book
Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 pm

The Graveyard Book is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for middle-grade readers since the internationally bestselling and universally acclaimed Coraline. And like Coraline, this book is sure to enchant and surprise young readers as well as Neil Gaiman's legion of adult fans. This exclusive San Francisco event - one of only a few around the country - will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are $28.00 and are on sale at The Booksmith.

Neil Gaiman is the author of the New York Times bestselling children's book Coraline and of the picture books The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. He wrote the script for the film MirrorMask and is also the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning novels and short stories for adults, as well as the Sandman series of graphic novels. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States.

ALSO THIS MONTH: For the second year, The Booksmith is participating in the Cole Valley Street Fair. Scheduled for September 21, the neighborhood street fair promises to be a charming and well-attended event with booths showcasing local artists and businesses. The Booksmith has invited several local authors including Paul Madonna and Michelle Gagnon to share in the fun that day; new this year, we will be hosting a second children's booth with family-friendly activities. The street fair runs 10am to 6pm and additional details about our author line-up will be available in the bookstore and on our website.

GILES MILTON
talk & booksigning for Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922
Wednesday, October 1 at 7:30 pm

Following WWI, Smyrna was a prosperous, cosmopolitan port on Turkey's Aegean coast where Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Jews and others lived in harmony. Then, the unthinkable happened. Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922 is historian Giles Milton's searingly vivid account of the city's destruction a nearly forgotten war in which a great modern city burned for four days, 100,000 people were killed, and millions more left homeless.

Giles Milton is a journalist, historian and best-selling author of five previous works of nonfiction including White Gold, The Riddle and the Knight, Big Chief Elizabeth, and Nathaniel's Nutmeg. He lives in London.

PAMELA DES BARRES
talk & booksigning for Take Another Little Piece of My Heart
Thursday, October 2 at 7:30 pm

In I'm with the Band, Pamela Des Barres chronicled her lustful liaisons with such rock legends as Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and Keith Moon. Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up is it's candid sequel. Updated to include escapades covering the last 16 years, this rollicking and sometimes heartbreaking follow-up documents Des Barres' struggles with marriage and motherhood and encounters with the likes of Bob Dylan and Sylvester Stallone. Please welcome Pamela back to the Booksmith!

Pamela Des Barres has been described as "Queen of the groupies." As a member of Frank Zappa's performance art / groupie-group The GTO's, Des Barres and her flamboyant sisters released the 1969 cult-classic album, Permanent Damage. Today, she is an Internet columnist, television personality, and the author of a handful of books. And yes, she still loves music of all kinds.

NEIL GAIMAN
reading for The Graveyard Book
Sunday, October 5 at 3:00 pm

Please join us for what promises to be the author event of the season as The Booksmith hosts bestselling author NEIL GAIMAN for a reading and talk to celebrate the release of his brand NEW BOOK for younger readers, "The Graveyard Book." And, as an added bonus at our event, we have been promised a screening of the trailer to "Coraline" - the forthcoming animated film based on Gaiman's earlier book for teens. You won't want to miss this exclusive San Francisco event!

"The Graveyard Book" is Neil Gaiman's first full-length novel for young adults since the universally acclaimed "Coraline." And like "Coraline," this book is sure to enchant and surprise. "The Graveyard Book" tells the story of an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place - he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, this special boy learns the antiquated customs of his guardians, as well as their timely ghostly teachings - like the ability to fade!

This special event - one of only a few around the country - will take place at the Sundance Kabuki Theater (1881 Post Street) in San Francisco. Tickets are on sale at The Booksmith. Further information follows:

Neil Gaiman - reading and talk
Sunday, October 5th
3:00 pm - 4:45 pm (doors open at 2:15 pm)
Sundance Kabuki Theatre (1881 Post Street at Fillmore, in San Francisco)

Ticket price includes admission to the event and a signed 1st edition copy of "The Graveyard Book,"). Tickets are available only at The Booksmith, in person, or by phone at 415-863-8688 or 800-493-7323.

* Due to time constraints, Neil Gaiman will not be signing at the event.

* The event starts promptly at 3 pm.

*Additional signed copies of "The Graveyard Book," as well as signed copies of a limited number of his earlier titles will be on sale at the event.

*Japantown has two parking lots; One on Fillmore @ Post, the other is on Post @ Webster. Free secure bicycle parking in both lots. Some of the Japantown businesses will validate parking: Validated parking is $2.75 for the first 3 hours.

*Several MUNI lines serve the theater, including the 3 Jackson, 22 Fillmore and 38 Geary.

If you cannot attend the event and want a signed book, please email us at read@booksmith.com (sorry, we can't handle ticket sales via email) or phone us at 415-863-8688 or 800-493-7323. For additional details, please see
www.booksmith.com/gaiman.html
[http://cts.vresp.com/c/?TheBooksmith/9d1a8c180c/ac4f52cc97/dc5862100a]

Neil Gaiman is the author of the New York Times bestselling children's book "Coraline" and of the picture books "The Wolves in the Walls" and " The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish". He wrote the script for the film "MirrorMask," "Beowulf," and "Stardust" (based on his own novel), and is also the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning novels and short stories for adults (including "Neverwhere" and "American Gods"), as well as the Sandman series of graphic novels. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States. This event marks his third appearance at The Booksmith.

Fans of Neil Gaiman won't want to miss our October 20th event with the widely acclaimed author, Jonathan Carroll. Neil Gaiman has written: " Jonathan Carroll has the magic. He'll lend you his eyes, and you'll never see the world in quite the same way ever again." Join us at The Bookmsith on October 20 at 7:30 pm as Carroll reads from his new novel, "The Ghost in Love."

Stephen King has said that "Jonathan Carroll is as scary as Hitchcock, when he isn't being as funny as Jim Carrey." Jonathan Lethem sees Carroll as the "master of sunlit surrealism." However one regards this beguiling original, two facts are indisputable: It's tough being a ghost on an empty stomach. And "The Ghost in Love" is a triumph.

KINKY FRIEDMAN
reading & booksigning for What Would Kinky Do?
Monday, October 6 at 8:00 pm

Hailed as the "Frank Zappa of country music," Kinky Friedman's larger-than-life persona is impossible to categorize. Friedman has been a best-selling crime fiction author, an entrepreneur and an independent 2006 gubernatorial candidate in Texas "" where he polled good numbers with the campaign slogan, "Kinky Friedman for Governor: How Hard Can It Be?" Get ready to laugh as Friedman plays his uniquely Kinky songs and dishes about politics. Reserve early "" this event will sell out!

WILL DURST
talk & booksigning for The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing
Tuesday, October 7 at 7:30 pm

With the sacred cows of American politics practically begging for someone to puncture their pomposity, Will Durst hits them in the funniest places. In The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing, this equal-opportunity offender swats both parties' political piatas. Claiming to represent only those 60 percent of Americans in the middle, Durst attacks the fringe for its lack of common sense and semantic corruption. The result is side-splittingly funny.

Will Durst is a five-time Emmy nominee. He has also co-hosted a morning radio show with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and recently completed a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run of "The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing."? He has been fired by both PBS and the San Francisco Examiner, and has written for the New York Times, Esquire, San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.

ARMISTEAD MAUPIN
talk & booksigning for The Berlin Stories
Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 pm

As one of the most widely read books of its time, Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Stories inspired a Broadway musical and an Oscar-winning film, Cabaret. Now, a new edition of this classic of 20th-century fiction has been issued featuring an introduction by Armistead Maupin, the much loved San Francisco writer who not only knew Isherwood but drew inspiration for his acclaimed Tales of the City series from The Berlin Stories. Don't miss this special evening.
The Booksmith is pleased to present this event as part of the Litquake festival.

Armistead Maupin first met Christopher Isherwood in 1978. His 1985 interview with Isherwood, published in the Village Voice, was the last before the author's death. Maupin is the author of nine novels, including the six-volume Tales of the City series, Maybe the Moon, The Night Listener and, most recently, Michael Tolliver Lives. Three miniseries were made from the first three novels in the Tales series, and The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams.

LEWIS BUZBEE
reading & booksigning for Steinbeck's Ghost
Thursday, October 9 at 7:30 pm

Steinbeck's Ghost is new novel for young adults from San Francisco writer Lewis Buzbee. It tells the story of young Travis Williams, who thinks he sees a ghost in John Steinbeck's childhood home while campaigning to save the public library in Salinas. With touches of magical realism, Buzbee resurrects Steinbeck's characters and scenes to relate a beautifully told story embued with a love of books and reading. The Booksmith is pleased to present this event as part of the Litquake festival.

Well known Bay Area author Lewis Buzbee is a former bookseller and publisher's sales rep, and the author of the acclaimed adult memoir, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, which was published in 2006. A native Californian, he lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. This is his first book for children.

MARIA VAN LIESHOUT
reading & booksigning for Splash!: A Little Book About Bouncing Back
Sunday, October 12 at 1:00 pm

Splash the Seal is having a bad day. He doesn't feel like playing. He doesn't feel like doing ANYTHING. Splash feels blue. Will he EVER bounce back? In Splash!: A Little Book About Bouncing Back - a warm and wonderfully illustrated reminder that hope is always on the horizon, San Francisco children's book author Maria van Lieshout creates the perfect pick-me-up for anyone struggling to bounce back. Please join us for this special story time event kids can even bring their parents! Please join us for this special Sunday story time event.

Readers are already falling in love with Maria van Lieshout's first book, BLOOM!: A Little Book About Finding Love. Splash!: A Little Book About Bouncing Back is her second "little book."? A native of the Netherlands, Maria lives in San Francisco with her husband.

HARMON LEON
talk & booksigning for The American Dream
Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 pm

For some, the American Dream is a pre-fab house in the suburbs with 2.5 kids and a two-week vacation. For others, it's something very different. In The American Dream: Walking in the Shoes of Carnies, Arms Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers, and Christian Believers, Harmon Leon draws upon his experiences of adopting personas and disguises to infiltrate the institutions of everyday life. Funny, satirical, and ultimately poignant, The American Dream is one man's take on what it means to be an American today.

Booksmith favorite Harmon Leon is a comedian and an award-winning author, most recently of National Lampoon's Road Trip USA, a travel book commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original vacation movie.

KAREN STALLER
talk & booksigning for Runaways
Thursday, October 16 at 7:30 pm

During the 1960s and 1970s, runaways became a source of national concern. Counter cultural activists provided support to runaway youth, and private agencies began developing innovative, and sometimes controversial programs to serve them. In Runaways: How The Sixties Counterculture Shaped Today's Practices And Policies, Karen M. Staller examines the programs and policies that took shape during the period and the ways in which the alternative-services movement continue to guide our responses to at-risk youth. Joining us for this event is San Francisco Chronicle journalist C.W. Nevius.

Karen M. Staller is assistant professor of social work at the University of Michigan. She has also practiced public interest law with low-income senior citizens and at-risk adolescents in New York City.

ELIEZER SOBEL
talk & booksigning for The 99th Monkey
Friday, October 17 at 7:30 pm

The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness-Raising Experiments is an irreverent and often funny romp through the New Age era. Serving as a human guinea pig for many of the most popular and cutting-edge New Age and human potential movements, Eliezer Sobel recounts intercontinental adventures in India, Israel, Brazil, and Haiti. From Primal Therapy to the Dalai Lama, this witty analysis includes brushes with cults, wild experiments with sex and psychedelics, and encounters with visionary gurus and contemporary madmen.

Eliezer Sobel is the award-winning author of Minyan: Ten Jewish Men in a World That Is Heartbroken. His articles, short stories, and poetry have appeared in Inner Directions Journal, New Age Journal, The Village Voice, and Yoga Journal.

JONATHAN CARROLL
reading & booksigning for The Ghost in Love
Monday, October 20 at 7:30 pm

"Jonathan Carroll has the magic. He'll lend you his eyes, and you'll never see the world in quite the same way ever again." Neil Gaiman. "In The Ghost In Love Jonathan Carroll deepens his art, diving into his own obsessions with love and fate, without letting go of an ounce of the uncanny effervescent quality that has always caused readers to crave his narratives like an illegal substance. He's created a version of the world that shines like a beacon into our own." - Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Carroll's novel The Wooden Sea was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2001. He is the author of such acclaimed novels as White Apples, The Land of Laughs, The Marriage of Sticks, and Bones of the Moon. He lives in Vienna, Austria.

ED MCCLANAHAN
reading & booksigning for O the Clear Moment
Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 pm

In O the Clear Moment, Merry Prankster Ed McClanahan has assembled a gathering of what he calls "coming-of-age to coming-of-old-age" stories that are quirky and cutting - hilarious and lyrical, and all told in the inimitable voice of one of his generation's best chroniclers. In this appealing "implied autobiography," McClanahan's stories come alive as American souvenirs, enchanting readers with his signature prose in this stunning piece of "memoirabilia" (featuring a cover by the acclaimed artists Ralph Steadman).

A former Merry Prankster, Ed McClanahan is an American novelist, essayist, and professor and the author of several books, including The Natural Man and Famous People I Have Known. He has taught English and creative writing at Stanford University, Oregon State University, and the University of Kentucky.

JEFF KALISS
talk & booksigning for I Want to Take You Higher
Wednesday, October 22 at 7:30 pm

From his anthemic early hits ("I Want to Take You Higher," "Family Affair," "Dance to the Music"), through the moody meditations of "There's a Riot Going On" and beyond, Sly and the Family Stone have left an indelible mark on rock, funk, pop, and hip hop. Now, their story is told in I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly and the Family Stone. Author Jeff Kaliss scored the first face-to-face interview with the reclusive superstar in over 20 years, making this book a must-read for any fan of music. Among the special guests excepted to attend this event is Family Stone drummer Greg Errico. And who knows who else.

Jeff Kaliss has written about music, theater, film, and other forms of entertainment for over a quarter-century.

CECILIA CHANG
reading & booksigning for The Seventh Daughter
Thursday, October 23 at 6:00 pm

In 1961, when Cecilia Chiang opened her now-legendary San Francisco restaurant The Mandarin, most Chinese restaurants in the U.S. were serving Cantonese or heavily Americanized food. Chiang introduced authentic northern Chinese cuisine to America, earning the adoration of generations of diners. Her new book, The Seventh Daughter, is a classic collection of recipes framed by her gripping life story. Celebrate with Chiang at a festive Chinese banquet dinner at Mayflower Seafood Restaurant.

BILL MORGAN
talk & booksigning for The Letters of Allen Ginsberg
Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 pm

Allen Ginsberg (1926 1997) was one of the 20th century literature's greatest poets and most prolific letter-writers. The Letters of Allen Ginsberg, edited by Beat scholar Bill Morgan and featuring many letters published for the first time, showcases the poet's correspondence with a wide-range of individuals - including fellow Beat writers and the likes of Arthur Miller, Ken Kesey, Lionel Trilling, Philip Glass, Bertrand Russell and others. Allen Ginsberg gave his last ever public reading at The Booksmith, less then half-a-year before his death. Please join us for this special event.

Bill Morgan, Allen Ginsberg's literary archivist for many years, is the author of an acclaimed biography of the poet as well as editor of The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice, Ginsberg's early journals. Also recently published and edited by Morgan is The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, 1956-1991.

JEFF GOLDEN
reading & booksigning for Unafraid: A Novel of the Possible
Friday, October 24 at 7:30 pm

Two dates burn fiercely in the memory of millions of Americans: November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001. These two tragedies bracket Unafraid, a story grounded in a simple question: what if the fatal bullet fired on that sunny Dallas afternoon had veered three inches off target? "What an exciting, clever, imaginative book! And more, what an insightful, important one. This is the Great Read you've been looking for."? - Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God.

Jeff Golden's migration from the halls of Harvard to the backwoods of Oregon was chronicled in the book Watermelon Summer. He has built homes, farmed, logged, guided river adventures and served as a County Commissioner, mediator, columnist and public broadcasting producer and talk show host.

CHRISTIAN LANDER
talk & booksigning for Stuff White People Like
Saturday, October 25 at 7:30 pm

Blogger Christian Lander has written a provocative, wickedly funny "study"? of upper-middle-class white people. His new book, Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions, contains material not featured on his blog and reveals a culture that prides itself on individuality and diversity, yet also a culture that manages to express these beliefs in the exact same way! This book will make you laugh, and you'll want to come to terms with yourself and ask: "How white have I become?"

Christian Lander is the creator of the website Stuff White People Like. He is a Ph.D. dropout who was the 2006 public speaking instructor of the year at Indiana University. He has lived in Toronto, Montreal, Copenhagen, Tucson, Indiana, and now Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, Jess, a photographer who contributed many of the photos in the book.

J. OTTO SIEBOLD
reading & booksigning for Vunce Upon a Time
Sunday, October 26 at 1:00 pm

Dagmar is not like other vampires. He's shy. He's afraid of humans and . . . he's a vegetarian! But even more than vegetables, Dagmar loves candy! When he hears about all the treats he can get on Halloween, Dagmar knows he has to be brave and venture out into the world. Vunce Upon a Time is the wonderful new book from J. Otto Siebold, author & illustrator of the Olive the Other Reindeer and other classics. Please join us for this special, not-too-spooky, pre-Halloween Sunday story time event. We'll have special prizes for kids in attendence.

Bay Area resident J. Otto Seibold has written, co-written, and illustrated many children's books, including Olive, the Other Reindeer and the widely acclaimed Mr. Lunch series.

ALLISON AMEND
reading & booksigning for Things That Pass for Love
Tuesday, October 28 at 7:30 pm

Things That Pass for Love is the exceptional new book of stories - both thoughtful and entertaining - from debut writer Allison Amend. "The stories in Amend's Things that Pass for Love are such good company that I found myself reading more and more slowly so that the collection wouldn't end. Amend's voice is so compelling, easeful and polished you feel that the stories almost rise up off the page and tell themselves. And, as we all know, the hardest thing a writer can do is make it look easy."? Alison Smith

Allison Amend was born in Chicago, Illinois on a day when the Cubs beat the Mets 2-0. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. While there, she learned never to live downwind from a pig farm and how to put English on a cue ball. She lives in New York, writing and teaching fiction.

BILL KELTER & WAYNE SHELLABARGER
talk & booksigning for Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance
Wednesday, November 5 at 7:30 pm

Over the course of more than 200 years, American voters have sent a platoon of rogues, cowards, drunks, featherweights, doddering geriatrics, bigots, and atrocious spellers to Washington D.C. - only to sit one bullet, cerebral hemorrhage, or case of pneumonia away from the highest office in the land. In their first post-election event, authors Bill Kelter & Wayne Shellabarger discuss their newly released book, Veeps: Profiles in Insignificance.

Booksmith customer Wayne Shellabarger is a San Francisco-based artist and author (and customer at The Booksmith). Bill Kelter lives in Portland, Oregon.

ROSE AGUILAR
talk & booksigning for Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey Into the Heartland
Thursday, November 6 at 7:30 pm

As a San Francisco radio host grown tired of media stereotypes, Rose Aguilar packed up her van, picked up her boyfriend, and set out on a six-month road trip through the red-state West to find out what voters there really care about. Equal parts travelogue, political reportage, and personal discovery, Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey Into the Heartland challenges conventional wisdom and calls for a more thoughtful and productive dialogue between Red and Blue America.

Rose Aguilar is a journalist and political blogger, and the host of "Your Call," a daily public affairs radio show heard on KALW. Aguilar has also written for CNET, Alternet and the BBC.

OLIVER CHIN
reading & booksigning for Welcome to Monster Isle
Sunday, November 9 at 1:00 pm

A family's vacation goes bananas when a perfect storm tosses their skipper's tiny boat off course. Now seven castaways are stranded on an uncharted desert island! Whimsical, fantastic and lushly illustrated, Welcome to Monster Isle related the adventures of Finnegan, his sister, parents, and dog Howl as they venture into the wild and encounter a menagerie of colorful monsters. Can these hardy survivors befriend beasts straight from their wildest imaginations?

Oliver Chin is the author of popular children's books such as the Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series, Julie Black Belt, Timmy and Tammy's Train of Thought, and The Adventures of WonderBaby.

ALISON BECHDEL
talk, slideshow & booksigning for The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For
Monday, November 10 at 7:30 pm

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For is the collection Alison Bechdel fans have been waiting for! Gathering material from 11 earlier books, as well as 60 new strips never before published in book form, this new book from the author of the celebrated Fun Home chronicles the lives, loves, and politics of Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and others. Don't miss this special event - an author talk and slideshow with the one-and-only Alison Bechdel.

Alison Bechdel is the author of numerous collections of commix, including the national bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Fun Home (named Time Magazine's #1 Book of the Year). Since 1983 she has been chronicling the lives of various characters in the fictionalized "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip, "one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre" (Ms.). The strip is syndicated in 50 alternative newspapers, translated into multiple languages, and collected into a book series with a quarter of a million copies in print.

THERESE POLETTI
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Art Deco San Francisco
Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 pm

The Castro Theatre, the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Headquarters, 450 Sutter Medical-Dental Building - these masterpieces of San Francisco architecture are the work of one man: Timothy Pflueger. While his contemporaries looked to beaux arts traditions, Pflueger brought exotic and art deco forms to buildings ranging from simple cocktail lounges to the city's first skyscrapers. Therese Poletti tells his fascinating story in Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger.

Therese Poletti has been a journalist for nearly twenty years. She has written for the San Jose Mercury News, and currently works for MarketWatch as a technology columnist. She lives in San Francisco.

WRITERS CORP
reading & booksigning for Tell the World
Friday, November 14 at 7:30 pm

Through poetry we tell the world who we are, where we're from, what we love, what we think, how we feel, and why we hope. Tell the World is a new collection of poems by teens that have taken part in workshops run by WritersCorps, a national alliance of literary arts programs for youth. Join us for a reading by local teen poets published in this new book - their words represent the thoughts, hopes, and dreams of teens everywhere.

Writers Corps was founded in 1994 in three American urban centers - San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the Bronx - with a mission to transform lives through the written word. Since its inception, the organization has helped forty thousand children and teenagers improve their writing skills and express their ideas and experiences.

KARAN MAHAJAN
reading & booksigning for Family Planning
Monday, November 17 at 7:30 pm

Karan Mahajan's Family Planning is a hilarious debut novel set in India about a family of thirteen children that is bursting at the seems. "Mahajan is a natural - a masterful storyteller, an assured stylist, and a gentle satirist whose unblinking vision is ultimately tempered by compassion. Family Planning is an incredibly assured debut. More than a fine first novel, it's one of the best comic novels I've read in years." - Jay McInerney

Karan Mahajan is twenty-four years old and grew up in New Delhi. He holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, and is the recipient of the 2006 Joseph Henry Jackson Award for Fiction.

SYLVIA BROWNRIGG
talk & booksigning for The Delivery Room
Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30 pm

The Delivery Room is the new novel by Sylvia Brownrigg. Compelling, complex, and deeply human, it is both an engaging examination of the incomplete understandings that course between therapist and patient and a set of variations on the theme of motherhood - as well as a timely meditation on the meanings of wars fought from a distance when ordinary citizens have to measure their personal grief's against the outrages experienced by those under attack.

Sylvia Brownrigg grew up in Los Altos, California, and Oxford, England, was educated at Yale and Johns Hopkins Universities, and lived for many years in London. She is married to San Francisco radio host Sedge Thomson and lives in Berkeley, California.

LESLIE ROBERTS
talk & booksigning for The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica
Wednesday, November 19 at 7:30 pm

More than a distant continent, Antarctica is a land of the imagination, shaping and shaped by explorers, adventurers, scientists, and dreamers. In The Entire Earth and Sky, San Francisco writer Leslie Roberts conjures all these ideas and interweaves them with the experience and history of Antarctica, balancing the reality of a frigid outpost populated by a ragtag alliance of international researchers against the crystalline dreamscape of a continent at the bottom of the world.

Leslie Carol Roberts, a Fulbright Fellow at Gateway Antarctica New Zealand, teaches in the MFA programs in writing and graduate design at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. She has written hundreds of articles and essays for magazines, newspapers, and literary journals, including the Christian Science Monitor and the Sydney Morning Herald.

RACHEL RESNICK
talk & booksigning for Love Junkie: A Memoir
Thursday, November 20 at 7:30 pm

Rachel Resnick, the celebrated L.A. writer and author of Go West Young F*cked-Up Chick, returns to The Booksmith to read from her just published memoir, Love Junkie. Written with raw humor and unflinching honesty, this new book charts the author's harrowing emotional journey. This unique memoir also sheds light on one of the more elusive and pervasive modern-day compulsions - as it holds a mirror up to each of us.

Rachel Resnick is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller Go West Young F*cked-Up Chick. She has published articles, essays, and celebrity profile cover stories nationally in the Los Angeles Times, and is a contributing editor at Tin House magazine.

STEFAN KANFER
reading & booksigning for Somebody
Friday, November 21 at 7:30 pm

For everything we know about Brando as a man as well as an actor and artist, he remains a fascination. What are we to make of someone whose life, both personal and professional, hit such dazzling highs and such abysmal lows? Acclaimed film critic Stefan Kanfer answers this question in Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando. And in the process, Kafner gives us what may well be the final word on one of the most astonishing talents of the twentieth century.

Stefan Kanfer's books include The Eighth Sin, A Summer World, The Last Empire, Serious Business, Groucho, Ball of Fire, and Stardust Lost. He was a writer and editor at Time magazine for more than twenty years and was its first bylined film critic, a post he held between 1967 and 1972. He is also the primary interviewer in the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Line King and editor of an anthology of Groucho Marx's comedy, The Essential Groucho.

BUCKY SINISTER
reading & booksigning for Get Up
Monday, November 24 at 7:30 pm

As an atheist with a background in fundamentalism, Bucky Sinister was skeptical of 12-step groups when the time came for him to get sober. He was afraid of losing his artistic abilities and had big problems with the higher power concept. In spite of his hesitations, he stuck with the program and it rewarded him greatly. In Get Up: A 12-step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos, he shares the knowledge he gained on his journey, from being afraid of the 12-step philosophies to embracing them, motivating others to join him in their own efforts to get clean.

Bucky Sinister, is a spoken word artist who performs about 40 times a years at comedy clubs and theaters, primarily on the West Coast, but also around the country. He has published nine chapbooks and three full-length collections of poetry, the most recent being All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go. His first full-length CD, What Happens in Narnia, Stays in Narnia was released in 2007.OTHER AFFILIATE EVENTS

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER BOOKFEST
talks, readings & booksignings
Sunday, November 2 between 10:30 am - 7:00 pm

The Booksmith will sell books at the JCCSF BookFest on Sunday, November 2nd from 10:30am to 7pm. BookFest is an annual, one-day literary event that provides a lively and intimate view of the thriving Jewish literary scene. Bringing together some of the brightest and most inventive writers from around the world, the festival fosters interest in Jewish literature and fosters a sense of the Jewish literary community. For a full list of authors please visit: www.jccsf.org/bookfest/

FREE. No reservations required to attend festival. Tickets required for keynote and closing sessions. Order tickets today! Call 415.292.1233 or visit the Jewish Community Center BookFest Box Office at 3200 California Street in San Francisco.

GRATITUDE IS IN THE AIR
readings & booksigning
Thursday, November 20 at 7:00 pm

"Gratitude is in the Air" is the theme of a poetry event with local performers and audience members giving voice to the importance of extending kindnesses to others . . . and for being grateful for gifts we can share. Participating in this pre-Thanksgiving event are Dan Harder, Gail Mitchell, Stephen Kopel, Janine Mogannan, Armour Garland, Ana Elsner, klipschutz, Jeanne Powell and Jennifer Futernick.

The Booksmith supports this timely event and hopes poetry partisans will drop by. This Booksmith sponsored community event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the Red Vic Peace Cafe (1665 Haight St.)

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- An outstanding collection of the treasures of the State Museums of Berlin that honors the contributions of patron James Simon opened at the Legion of Honor. The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon is a case study of the history of collecting during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and features approximately 150 works from nine separate Berlin museums. This exhibition includes Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures, Old Master paintings, works on paper including eighteenth and nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock prints, art of the Silk Road, and European folk art donated by Simon for the State Museums of Berlin. The exhibition runs through January 18, 2009.

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=27541

PAPERBACK DREAMS
screening Paperback Dreams
Monday, December 1 at 7:30 pm

Are independent bookstores still relevant in the 21st century? If you've ever wondered about this question, we invite you to join us for a screening and discussion of a powerful new documentary Paperback Dreams. The film is the story of two landmark independent bookstores - Kepler's and Cody's - going back to the days of the paperback revolution. The film traces the bookstores' history as cultural institutions and explores their community relationships. It also includes interviews with several well known authors, publishers, and booksellers, including Salman Rushdie and Michael Powell.

Paperback Dreams is a co-production of Alex Beckstead, the Independent Television Service (ITVS), and KQED Public Television. Alex lives in San Francisco and is a Booksmith fan. His films have screened at the Sundance Film Festival and Public Television Stations across the US. Alex will join us for Q&A after the film screening.

JANIS BELL
talk & booksigning for Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences
Tuesday, December 2 at 7:30 pm

After thirty-five years of teaching writing, Janis Bell knows which sentences work and which sentences don't. In Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation, Bell describes grammar and usage problems in ways that make sense. Like a new year's resolution, this recently published book is a focused and entertaining guide to getting our sentences into good shape.

Janis Bell is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University, where her graduate studies in English focused on the teaching of writing. She lives in San Francisco, California.

DAVID THOMSON
talk for Have You Seen . . . ?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films
Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 pm

In 1975, David Thomson published his Biographical Dictionary of Film - few film books have enjoyed better press or such steady sales. Now, thirty-three years later, we have a companion volume, a second book of more than 1,000 pages in one voice - that of our most provocative contemporary film critic and historian. Juxtaposing the fanciful and the fabulous, the old favorites and the forgotten, Have You Seen . . . ?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films presents the films that this acclaimed film writer offers in response to the question he gets asked most often. David Thomson will also be screening clips from some of the films under discussion.

David Thomson was born in London. He is a regular contributor to publications in both Britain and the United States,and was the screenwriter on the award-winning documentary "The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind." His other books include Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick, Rosebud, and three works of fiction.

DAN PIRARO (aka the cartoonist Bizarro)
talk, slideshow & booksigning for Bizarro Buccaneers
Friday, December 5 at 7:30 pm

Ahoy, matey! Bizarro Buccaneers: Nuttin' But Pirate Cartoons is just that a collection for both wannabe plunderers and scurvy walkin' plankwalkers! Brilliant and in full color, as well as a perfect stocking stuffer (hint-hint), its captain is one Bizarro, a cartoonist whose work we've spied in that local broadsheet, the San Francisco Chronicle. Don't miss this special event, in which Bizarro will screen lantern slides, deliver a rogue-ish speech, and sign his name on the spot. . . . Sail ho me squiffy men!

Dan Piraro was born in Kansas City, grew up in Tulsa, and lived in Dallas for many years. He is a recipient of a Reuben Award for Best Single-Panel Cartoonist and his comic strip, "Bizarro," received multiple-year designations as Best Single-Panel Cartoon by the National Cartoonists Society. Locally, his work is featured in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Happy Holidays from The Booksmith!

To celebrate the season, we are hosting two special holiday events on Sunday and Monday and we invite you to join us! We are kicking off the holidays with a fundraiser to support two of our local schools. Four wonderfully-talented children's book authors/illustrators will join us Sunday morning for breakfast treats and story time. On Monday, rock-star photographer Robert M. Knight will stop by the bookstore to sign the impressive collection of his 40-year career's work from 5-6pm.

Also timed with the holidays, the bookhounds at the Booksmith have put together reviews of their favorites titles in The Booksmith's 2nd annual holiday catalog. You can now pick up a free copy in the store or view the catalog and order online. Enjoy!

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAY CELEBRATION
story time and booksigning
Sunday, December 14 from 10:00 am – 12 noon

The Booksmith presents a Children's Holiday Celebration of authors, illustrators, and books & you're invited! The event will include cider and muffins and superb local writers and illustrators including Lisa Brown (author of Sometimes You Get What You Want, The Latke Who Couldnt Stop Screaming, How to Be), Julie Downing (No Hugs Till Saturday, The Firekeepers Son), Jane Wattenberg (Mrs. Mustards Baby Faces, Never Cry Woof!, This is the Rain), and Dashka Slater (The Sea Serpent and Me, Baby Shoes, Firefighters in the Dark). Please join us for wonderfully fun story-telling for young and old(er) alike, as we welcome these terrific book-makers, whose books will, by the way, make terrific and lasting holiday gifts (and how cool to have them autographed and personalized!)

We especially welcome the Grattan Elementary School and New Traditions Elementary School communities, whose bookstore purchases on December 14 will benefit their schools.

ROBERT M. KNIGHT
booksigning for Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography
Monday, December 15 from 5:00 – 6:00 pm

Since 1968, Robert M. Knight's photographs have served as witness to the greatest moments in rock and roll history. Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography is a profuse collection of Knight's best work. This recently published volume features images of Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Green Day and every rock colossus of the last forty years. Don't miss this just added booksigning.

Robert Knight's career spans from the 1960s to the present as one of the premier photographers for the music industry, rock publications, and music equipment manufacturers. He made his mark beginning in 1968, showing up in Seattle with a single roll of film to capture shots of Jimi Hendrix. Today, Knight is best known for his "Guitar Legend" archive, having worked with Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Eric Clapton as well as many contemporary performers.

JACK MARSHALL
reading & book signing for Steel Veil
Thursday, January 8 at 7:30 pm

Introspective and engaging, Jack Marshall's new book of poetry, Steel Veil, weds timely depictions of Middle Eastern widows "behind veils heavy / as the steel / veil of empire" with timeless expressions of personal grief and political outrage. Invoking visionary possibilities of being, Marshall's distinctive voice and elegant lyrics unite this muscled, multilayered collection.

Born in 1936 to Jewish parents who emigrated from Iraq and Syria, Jack Marshall grew up in New York and now lives in California. He is the author of a memoir, From Baghdad to Brooklyn, and several poetry collections that have received the PEN Center USA Award, two Northern California Book Awards, and a nomination from the National Book Critics Circle.

RODES FISHBURNE
reading & book signing for Going to See the Elephant
Tuesday, January 13 at 7:30 pm

Rodes Fishburne's debut novel centers around a wide-eyed transplant intent on becoming the best writer in the world. Opening with an adrenaline-fueled rickshaw ride down Market Street, the book traverses present-day San Francisco from end to end. The bestselling novelist James Patterson said, “Going to See the Elephant will delight anybody who has ever written a first novel, wanted to write a first novel, and especially those who cherish reading unforgettable first novels. It is both funny and wise.”

Rodes Fishburne has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, and Forbes ASAP, where he was the editor of the acclaimed “Big Issue,” an annual magazine of literary essays from leading writers and thinkers. He is a member of the Grotto, a San Francisco writers’ collective.

LAWRENCE LESSIG
talk & booksigning for Remix
Wednesday, January 14 at 7:30 pm

In Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, Lawrence Lessig shows how we harm our children - and almost anyone who creates, enjoys, or sells any art form - with a restrictive copyright system driven by corporate interests. In this new book, the acclaimed author of Free Culture reveals the solutions to this impasse offered by a collaborative yet profitable “hybrid economy.”

Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the School’s Center for Internet and Society. In addition to the aforementioned books, he is the author of The Future of Ideas, and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, and is a columnist at Wired. He chairs the Creative Commons project, was named one of Scientific American’s Top 50 Visionaries, and has been several times listed as one of BusinessWeek’s “eBiz 25,” the magazine’s roundup of the twenty-five most influential people in electronic business.

KATHERINE POWELL COHEN
talk & book signing for San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury
Thursday, January 15 at 7:30 pm

At the turn of the 20th century, the Haight-Ashbury gained prominence as the gateway to Golden Gate Park. Six decades later, it would anchor a worldwide cultural revolution that blossomed in the 1960s. San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, by Katherine Powell Cohen, is a pictorial history of the world famous neighborhood that attracts throngs of people – everyone from runaways to tourists, while maintaining a community of families, young people, and long-timers.

Katherine Powell Cohen, Ph.D., compiled vintage images and stories for her book from individual sources, public collections, and from the interviews she has conducted as a columnist for the Haight Ashbury Beat newspaper. An English professor at San Francisco State and Golden Gate Universities, she has lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years.

MICHAEL CAPOZZOLA
talk & book signing for Cheap City
Friday, January 16 at 7:30 pm

Every week, the San Francisco Chronicle carries Michael Capozzola’s always quirky and always funny cartoon Cheap City. Like his comedy act, the cartoon includes creative problem solving for social ills as well as cheap solutions and quick fixes for life and city living. “San Francisco can always benefit from someone willing to point out daily life’s little absurdities, and Mike Capozzola does it in the tradition of our city’s best satirists,” says City Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

Michael Capozzola is a Bay Area based Stand Up Comedian & Cartoonist. Each year, he produces and hosts the Cartoon Art Museum's annual "Comics for Comix" fundraiser.

RAND RICHARDS
talk & book signing for for Mud, Blood, and Gold
Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30 pm

There have been many books on the Gold Rush, but Mud, Blood, and Gold is the first to focus on San Francisco as it was at the peak of the frenzy. With a “you are there” immediacy, Rand Richards brings to life what the city was like during the landmark year of 1849. Based on eyewitness accounts and previously overlooked records, the distinguished author and historian chronicles the explosive growth of a wide-open town rife with violence, gambling, and prostitution - each fueled by unbridled greed.

Rand Richards is a San Francisco-based historian, author, and lecturer. Two of his books are local bestsellers: Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide and Historic Walks in San Francisco: 18 Trails Through the City's Past. He has lectured before many groups, including the California Historical Society, the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, and the San Francisco History Association. The latter organization recently awarded him their Oscar Lewis Award for his contributions to knowledge of San Francisco history.

GERI SPIELER
talk & book signing for Taking Aim at the President
Thursday, January 22 at 7:30 pm

President Gerald Ford suffered two attempts on his life. One by a young woman in Charles Manson’s gang, and the other just 17 days later by a far more unlikely candidate - an average looking middle-aged mother of five named Sara Jane Moore. In Taking Aim at the President, journalist Geri Spieler sketches the bizarre life of Moore, the only woman to ever fire a bullet at a U.S. President, and her path to that fateful moment outside San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel. Joining us for this special event will be Tim Hettrich, one of the San Francisco police officers at the scene of the assassination attempt.

Geri Spieler is an investigative journalist and speaker. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Forbes. She has had a professional relationship with her subject, Sara Jane Moore, who she visited and interviewed in prison.

BLAIR KILPATRICK
talk & booksigning for Accordion Dreams
Friday, January 23 at 7:30 pm

By age thirty-nine, Blair Kilpatrick had settled into life as a practicing psychologist. Then, a chance encounter in New Orleans turned her world upside down. Accordion Dreams is a memoir filled with music set partly in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to the largest Cajun-Zydeco music scene outside the Gulf Coast. Engaging, uplifting, and illuminating a unique patch of the American cultural landscape, Accordion Dreams is also one person's account of passion, risk-taking, and change - at any age.

Blair Kilpatrick has an independent practice in psychotherapy in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also performs and records with Sauce Piquante, a traditional Cajun-Creole band she founded in the late 1990s.

ERIKA MAILMAN
reading & book signing for The Witch’s Trinity
Tuesday, January 27 at 7:30 pm

Set in 1507, The Witch’s Trinity tells the disturbing story of small town in Germany whose residents turn on themselves after a famine strikes and a friar arrives from a large city, claiming the town is under the spell of witches in league with the devil. Erika Mailman’s debut novel is both a historical work and, in the words of Khaled Hosseini, a “gripping, well-told story of faith and truth.”

Erika Mailman can trace her own roots to a Massachusetts relative who twice stood trial for witchcraft. A member of the San Francisco Writers Workshop, Mailman is a columnist and the author of earlier books on local history.

RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL
Reading & book signing for Best Sex Writing 2009
Monday, February 2 at 7:30 pm

Intelligent, upbeat, and sex-positive, the pieces in Best Sex Writing 2009 offer an in-depth look at sex the way it actually happens in America today. This anthology includes gubernatorial sex scandals, rape fantasies, "Dear John" letters, teen sexuality, purity balls, the science of screwing, bathroom sex, and other topics scrutinized by noted columnists, bloggers, and authors in pieces that are funny, informative, challenging, sexy, and serious.
Contributors and local writers Tracy Clark-Flory and Violet Blue will be among those joining Bussel for this Booksmith event.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is a columnist for the Village Voice and is senior editor at Penthouse Variations. She has written for a long list of publications including Bust, Cosmopolitan, Penthouse, Radar, San Francisco Chronicle, and Time Out New York. She has been quoted in the New York Times, USA Today, Maxim UK, and other publications, and has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, The Berman and Berman Show, NY1, and Showtime's Family Business. She has hosted In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series since October 2005, about which the New York Times' UrbanEye newsletter said she "welcomes eroticism of all stripes, spots and textures." She blogs at lustylady.blogspot.com and cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com.

SHARON DOUBIAGO
Reading & book signing for Love on the Streets
Tuesday, February 10 at 7:30 pm

Sharon Doubiago is a prolific poet who knows herself intimately and is deeply committed to her craft. On her latest collection, Love on the Streets: Selected and New Poems, she confidently states "the new poems just keep coming." Love on the Streets features selections from four of Doubiago's books of poetry, two of which are book length poems (a style for which she is noted), Hard Country and South America Mi Hija. It also includes poems from the collections Psyche Drives the Coast and Body and Soul. Among Doubiago's other work is a third book length poem, The Husband Arcane: The Arcane of O, and two short fiction collections: The Book of Seeing With One's Own Eyes, and El Nino.

Doubiago holds three Pushcart Prizes for poetry and the Oregon Book Award for Psyche Drives the Coast. She has been nominated twice for the National Book Award. Doubiago is an online mentor in Creative Writing for the University of Minnesota and a board member of PEN Oakland, a chapter of PEN Center USA, which supports the literary arts within the multicultural community.

PETER FOGTDAL
Reading & book signing for The Tsar's Dwarf
Tuesday, February 17 at 7:30 pm

Having written 12 novels in Danish, The Tsar's Dwarf is Peter Fogtdal's first book to be translated in English. In the novel, Soerine, a deformed female dwarf from Denmark, is given as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great, who is smitten by her freakishness and intellect. Against her will, the Tsar takes Soerine to St. Petersburg, where she becomes a jester in his court. There, she lives a life that both compels and repels her. The Tsar's Dwarf is a masterfully told and brilliantly translated novel about aberration, endurance, and the human condition.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark May 22, 1956, Peter Fogtdal had an obscene amount of pimples as a teenager. He studied in the US from 1977-82 at University of Florida and Cal State Fullerton, and decided that he wanted to be a writer and get laid. He succeeded on the first account. Returning to Denmark in 1982, Fogtdal worked as a freelancer for Denmark's national radio as a DJ and a satirical writer. He has written twelve novels in Danish, and in 2005, won the Francophone Literature Prize for Le Front Chantilly (Flodeskumsfronten). Fogtdal shares his time between Copenhagen, Denmark and teaching literature and writing at Portland State University in Oregon.

EUGENE MIRMAN
Reading & book signing for The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life
Friday, February 20 at 7:30 pm

No one understands the complexities of modern life better than Eugene Mirman, claims Eugene Mirman, and anyone seeking guidance from a man who has lived through everything (except the Great Depression, the Spanish-American War, and Jerry Lee Lewis's sex scandal) won't resist this charmingly hysterical guidebook. In The Will to Whatevs, Mirman advises on many of life's difficult challenges, such as: how to become ultra-popular in high school (without "putting out" -- whatever that is); discover somewhere between four and two thousand ways to overcome social anxiety (sadly, closer to four); and how to start a band, become an artist, or disappoint your parents by getting cast on a reality TV show!

Eugene Mirman is a New York City based comedian, writer and actor. He has appeared in his own half-hour special on Comedy Central, in a recurring role on HBO's Flight of the Conchords, on Conan O'Brien and Carson Daly, MTV, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Home Movies, Lucy, Daughter of the Devil and in the new Adult Swim live action series Delocated. He's released two comedy albums: The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman (voted Best of 2004 by Time Out and The Onion) and En Garde, Society! Mirman tours the US regularly with countless comedians and has also appeared with bands such as Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse, The Shins, Cake, and Tegan and Sara.

KIM ADDONIZIO
Reading & book signing for Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within
Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm

In Ordinary Genius, Kim Addonizio presents exciting new insights into the creative process, craft, and the lessons of her own creative subjects--love, loss, identity, community, along with a heady variety of writing exercises (and innovative ways to use the Internet). Chapters on gender, race, and class challenge readers to explore their creative vision more deeply. Addonizio, hailed for her passionate, award-winning poetry, shares her breakthroughs and frustrations frankly, including samples of rejection slips. She offers not only encouragement but also a wealth of knowledge about form and structure, metaphor and rhythm, revision, and that elusive goal: publishing.

Kim Addonizio is the author of four poetry collections including Tell Me, A National Book Award Finalist. Her fifth collection, Lucifer at the Starlite, will be published in October 2009. Her first novel, Little Beauties was chosen as "Best Book of the Month" by Book of the Month Club. My Dreams Out in the Street, her second novel, was released in 2007. She also has a word/music CD with poet Susan Browne, "Swearing, Smoking, Drinking, & Kissing,"; a book of stories, In the Box Called Pleasure; and the anthology Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos, coedited with Cheryl Dumesnil. Addonizio's awards include two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship,a Pushcart Prize, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal, and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award. Her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared widely in anthologies, literary journals, and textbooks, including Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, Bad Girls, Chick-Lit, Dick for a Day, Gettysburg Review, Paris Review, Penthouse, Poetry, and Threepenny Review. She teaches private workshops in Oakland, CA, and online.

VERONICA CHATER
Reading & book signing for Waiting for the Apocalypse
Friday, February 27 at 7:30 pm

Chater brings an ear for dialogue and an eye for the absurd to Waiting for the Apocalypse, a tragicomic debut memoir about coming of age in the 1970s in an ultraconservative Catholic family.

It is 1972, in San Jose, California, and 10-year-old Veronica's parents believe that Vatican II has corrupted the Catholic Church. Pitting himself against the Church and modern America, her father quits the highway patrol, sells everything, and moves the family of eight from California to an isolated village near Fatima. But Portugal is no Catholic utopia, and Veronica and her siblings run feral on the streets as their parents pray for a miracle and the family falls into poverty. Forced to return to the Bay Area broke and disappointed, they attend the Latin Mass in truck garages, backyards, and abandoned buildings, and join the Catholic counter-revolution--an underground network of warrior monks trained to think and fight like the Christian crusaders of the twelfth century. As Veronica comes of age on the fringes of the American Dream, she is forbidden to enjoy anything modern--clothes, movies, and music--but learns to think for herself through journal-writing and poetry, and ultimately rebels against a fanaticism that has long since stopped making sense.

Veronica began her writing career at the age of seven on her father's Underwood typewriter in her family's backyard. When it became clear that she would have to finance her career by working, she sought out jobs that promised to supply creative material, among them food waitress, limousine driver, airplane re-fueler, costume seamstress, convenience store cashier (graveyard shift), restaurant prep-cook, door-to-door toothbrush salesperson, criminal background check person, cocktail waitress, lost-luggage handler, housemaid, bartender, size 6 clothes model, carpenter's assistant, African hyena research assistant, theater stagehand, mail delivery person, English language tutor, wedding reception caterer, car mechanic (60's VW's only), landscape gardener, movie extra, clean-room technician, hybrid-artificial pancreas designer (California patent # 2134088), speed typist, editor's assistant, and titillating story-writer for various women's magazines, including a popular national weekly.

CARA BLACK
Reading and book signing for Murder in the Latin Quarter
Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Murder in the Latin Quarter is the 9th book in the best-selling and award-nominated Aimée Leduc Investigation series. In it, a Haitian woman arrives at the office of Leduc Detective and announces that she is Aimée’s sister. A virtual orphan since her mother’s disappearance and her father’s death, Aimée is thrilled. Her partner, René, is wary of this stranger, but Aimée embraces her and soon finds herself involved in murky Haitian politics leading to murder.

Cara Black frequents a Paris little known outside the beaten tourist track, a Paris she discovers on research trips and interviews with French police and private detectives. She is a San Francisco Library Laureate and a member of the Paris Sociéte Historique in the Marais. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, a bookseller, and their teenage son.

GRAVITY GOLDBERG AND ERIC ZASSENHAUS
With Jim Nelson, Alia Volz, Mark Jacobs, and Matt Stewart
Reading and zine signing for Instant City
Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Instant City is a literary exploration of San Francisco in zine form. Our city is as legendary for its tectonic cultural shifts as it is for its earthquakes, every decade or so becoming an epicenter for a new utopian vision. Each cultural eruption reinforces the idea of San Francisco as an instant city. This zine captures that frenetic energy in fiction, non-fiction, and art, creating a subjective, ever-changing map of the city.

Editor Gravity Goldberg received a Masters in English, concentration in Creative Writing at SFSU. She worked as festival coordinator for Litquake in 2007. Her fiction is published in Watchword, Strange Tales, Transfer, and the SF Bay Guardian lit section. She’s also written for SFGate, Morbid Curiosity, Tempe Crime Wave, Panache, SFBG, and Stretcher. She has lived in San Francisco for fourteen years.

Editor Eric Zassenhaus works with the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Before that, he worked as the Web Coordinator and Buyer for City Lights Books and Publishers, served as the Cultural Editor for Clamor magazine and was an Assistant Editor at Tikkun Magazine. He has self-published many chapbooks, ‘zines, and magazines in the past fifteen years, and his work has appeared in print, online, and on air.

The editors will be joined by contributors Jim Nelson, Alia Volz, Mark Jacobs, and Matt Stewart.

BRIAN YAEGER
Special Event with Magnolia Pub and Brewery
Reading, beer tasting, and book signing for Red, White, and Brew
Thursday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Red, White, and Brew is the ultimate beer run across the United States. From fifth-generation family-run brewing companies to first-wave microbreweries, this book is a travelogue, guide, and genealogical study of beer families and home brewers from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon. It is filled with eclectic characters and shrewd businesspeople who produce liquid philanthropy, one keg at a time.

Beer's been good to Brian Yaeger, author of Red, White, and Brew: An American Beer Odyssey. It nourished him at U.C. Santa Barbara (double bachelor degrees in religious studies and Russian), became his thesis at USC (Master of Professional Writing), and fueled his road trip around the country interviewing the people who make our brews.

Haight Street’s own Magnolia Pub and Brewery will provide beer samples.

ERIC SIMONS
Reading, slideshow and book signing for Darwin Slept Here
Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Two hundred years after Darwin was born, and 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin Slept Here is an exciting journey in the footsteps of one the fathers of modern science. In this fresh-eyed and innovative history and travelogue, Eric Simons reclaims the past of South America, and brings Charles Darwin into the future in a thrilling new look at a familiar subject.

Eric will be showing photos and telling stories about his quest to retrace Darwin’s voyage.

Eric Simons is a freelance writer, confirmed Californian, and marine life enthusiast. He has written for San Francisco magazine, California magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Sierra magazine, and Canoe & Kayak magazine, among others, and reported and produced a nationally distributed radio documentary for the National Radio Project's Making Contact. Eric is a graduate of the environmental and science writing program at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and lives in San Francisco.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Reading group meeting for Senselessness
Thursday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m.

The Booksmith’s will be launching our first ever reading group this month. Driven by our resident Italophile Julie, the group will focus on contemporary translated fiction. We're excited about this opportunity to bring more exposure to award-winning titles by authors around the world. The books discussed by the group will be available at a 15% discount.

Our first book will be Senselessness, acclaimed Salvadoran author Horacio Castallanos Moya's astounding debut in English. A Rainmaker Translation Grant winner, Senselessness explores horror with hilarity and electrifying panache. A boozing, sex-obsessed writer finds himself employed by the Catholic Church (an institution he loathes) to proofread a 1,100 page report on the army's massacre and torture of thousands of indigenous villagers a decade earlier, including the testimonies of the survivors.

Come by to pick up your copy so you can finish the book in time for our first meeting.

JON GINOLI
Reading and book signing for Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
Plus special acoustic performance!
Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Deflowered is Jon Ginoli's journey of self-discovery, musical passion, and drive to become the founding member of Pansy Division, the first openly gay punk rock band to make the national scene. We follow the band from their inception in the early '90s in San Francisco, to their search for a music label, and their current status as indie rock icons. We see the highs—touring with Green Day—and the lows—homophobic fans—of striving for acceptance and success in the world of rock. Featuring behind-the-scenes photographs and replete with the requisite tales of sex, drugs, groupies, band fights, and label battles, this rollicking memoir is also an impassioned account of staying true to their artistic vision of queer rock'n'roll.

Jon Ginoli is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of Pansy Division. An Illinois native, he's played both dive bars and arenas, and his favorite color is purple. When not on tour with the band, he lives and works in San Francisco - at Amoeba Music on Haight Street, just a few blocks from The Booksmith!

HOMELESS IN HAIGHT
Community Forum
Monday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Building on success of the event with Dr. Karen Staller last October, the Booksmith is pleased to organize the next community forum about Homelessness in Haight. This forum is aimed at creating a constructive and inclusive dialog that leads to positive changes in our neighborhood. Representatives of Larkin Street Youth Services and Homeless Youth Alliance will make a short educational presentation to the community about the services they provide in the Haight Ashbury area and issues they face. The presentations will be followed by a Question and Answer session. (Photo by Franco Folini)

DAVID EWING DUNCAN
Reading and book signing for Experimental Man
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m.

If you could, would you like to know how long you had to live? What diseases you’re susceptible to? Or, what the environment around you is doing to your overall health? Ultimately, would you want to know how you might die? In EXPERIMENTAL MAN: What One Man’s Body Reveals About His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World, Duncan takes "guinea pig" journalism to the very edge of science, building on award-winning articles he wrote for National Geographic and Wired, in which he was tested for hundreds of chemical toxins – from pesticides to plastic additives – and for millions of genetic markers associated with disease, emotions, and other traits.

David Ewing Duncan is the author of seven books including the worldwide bestseller Calendar. He is Chief Correspondent of public radio's Biotech Nation, a commentator on NPR's Morning Edition, and a contributing editor and a columnist for Conde Nast Portfolio. He has been a contributing editor to Wired, Discover and Technology Review, and has written for Harper’s, The Atlantic, Fortune, and many other publications. He is a former special correspondent and producer for ABC Nightline and a correspondent for NOVA’s ScienceNOW! He has won numerous awards including the Magazine Story of the Year from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He lives in San Francisco and is the Director of the Center of Life Science Policy at UC Berkeley.

MINAL HAJRATWALA
To be introduced by KALW radio host Sandip Roy
Launch party, reading and book signing for Leaving India with homemade Indian refreshments
Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m.

As the daughter of immigrants and the granddaughter of weavers, Minal Hajratwala grew up accustomed to crossing lines. In Leaving India, she weaves together history, memoir, and reportage to explore questions facing not only her own family but that of every migrant: Where did we come from? Why did we leave? What did we lose and gain? Traveling the world, she learns how her family, originally from India, came to be spread across five continents and nine countries over more than a century of migration — a movement that parallels the phenomenal growth of India’s diaspora.

Minal Hajratwala is a writer, performer, poet, and queer activist based in San Francisco, where she was born before being whisked off to be raised in New Zealand and suburban Michigan. Her creative work has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and theater spaces, and has received recognition and support from the Sundance Institute, among others. She was an editor and reporter at the San Jose Mercury News, and was a fellow at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 2000-01. She is a graduate of Stanford University.

Leaving India is the favorite new book of our own Praveen Madan who considers it the first really good non-fiction book that helped him understand the historical events that shaped the rise of the Indian diaspora. You can watch a short video about the book, and also order a author signed first edition copy.

CATHERINE BRADY
Reading and book signing for The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories
Monday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Catherine Brady's latest crop of short stories, set largely in San Francisco, are about what happens when the seemingly fixed coordinates of our lives abruptly give way. The characters - a college student waitressing in a remote resort in the Sierras, a devout Christian man who works in a homeless shelter, a faded Berkeley radical, a privileged young woman who canít figure out whom to blame for her discontent - share a fundamental predicament, the struggle to name and embrace some faith that can break their fall.

Catherine Brady's short stories have appeared in prominent literary journals and have been anthologized in Best American Short Stories. Her first collection, The End of the Class War, was a finalist for the 1999 Western States Book Award for Fiction, and her second, Curled in the Bed of Love, was co-winner of the 2002 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco.

LISA LUTZ
Reading and book signing for Revenge of the Spellmans
Wednesday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Isabel Spellman, the offbeat and irrepressible private eye who has been called "the love child of Dirty Harry and Harriet the Spy," is back for a third hilarious adventure in Revenge of the Spellmans. This latest installment in the bestselling series by "smart-mouthed writer" Lisa Lutz finds Izzy once again breaking the rules as she juggles court-ordered therapy, unemployment, a rather spare case load, and the usual antics of her charmingly dysfunctional family.

Lisa Lutz grew up in Southern California. She attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, although she still does not have a bachelor's degree. She spent much of the 1990s hopping from a string of low-paying jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay, "Plan B", after which she vowed she would never write another screenplay. She is calling California her home, for now.

KRIS SAKNUSSEMM
Reading, multimedia performance and book signing for Private Midnight
Friday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.

Private Midnight is a psycho-erotic noir thriller set in a gritty underworld of jazz, junkies and shadows, where shadows play tricks and secrets betray. Kirkus has said that “by the end, the word "freakish" doesn't even begin to describe the events” of Saknussemm’s novel.

This will not be your typical author reading; Saknussemm’s theatrics will be accompanied by music from the book’s eerie soundtrack. The author will transport his audience to the moody and surreal world of the novel described by PW as “James Ellroy meets David Lynch in this addictive mix of noir and supernatural horror.”

Kris Saknussemm is a cult novelist and multimedia artist. Born and educated in America, he has lived most of his life abroad, primarily in Australia and the Pacific Islands. His science fiction themed novel Zanesville was hailed by critics as a revolutionary work of surreal black comedy.

AMBER GUETEBIER AND BRENDA KNIGHT
with Bucky Sinister, Phil Cousineau, Ruth Weiss and others TBA
Reading, divination and book signing for The Poetry Oracle: Ask and Question and Find Your Fate
Monday, April 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month comes this book of classical poetry with instruction on how to use the book’s contents for divination. Poets featured in the book with read their work and then the audience will be invited to "ask the oracle" questions. All in all, a one-of-a-kind psychic poetry slam!

Amber Guetebier is a poet and a short story writer. Brenda Knight is a poet and the author of several books, including "Women of the Beat Generation," which won an American Book Award in 1997. They are both self-described "Haight girls."

ALVA NOE
Reading and book signing for Out of Our Heads
Wednesday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Our culture is obsessed with the brain—how it perceives; how it remembers; how it determines our intelligence, our morality, our likes and our dislikes. It’s widely believed that consciousness itself, that Holy Grail of science and philosophy, will soon be given a neural explanation. And yet, after decades of research, only one proposition about how the brain makes us conscious—how it gives rise to sensation, feeling, and subjectivity—has emerged unchallenged: We don’t have a clue.

In this inventive work, Noë suggests that rather than being something that happens inside us, consciousness is something we do. Debunking an outmoded philosophy that holds the scientific study of consciousness captive, Out of Our Heads is a fresh attempt at understanding our minds and how we interact with the world around us.

Alva Noë is a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also a member of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences. His previous book, Action in Perception, was published in 2004.

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN
Reading and book signing for Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!
Friday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Sure, it’s the foundation for much of Western morality and the cornerstone of world literature, but let’s face it: the Bible always needed punching up—a little more fire with that brimstone. In Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!, This American Life regular contributor Jonathan Goldstein re-imagines and recasts the Bible’s greatest stories and heroes with the depth, wit, and snappy dialogue that they’ve always needed.

Jonathan Goldstein -- the "Canadian Ira Glass" -- is the award-winning author of Lenny Bruce Is Dead. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, GQ, ReadyMade, and The New York Times. He’s a contributing editor to PRI’s This American Life, where his work is regularly featured, and he lives in Montreal and hosts his own CBC program, Wiretap.

RUSSELL HOWZE
Reading, slidshow & book signing for Stencil Nation
Tuesday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Without a doubt, stencils are the fastest, easiest, and cheapest method for painting an image on a wall, a sidewalk, or almost any object anywhere. Stencil Nation focuses on the unexpected mix of this lively, accessible medium to reveal engaging aspects of an intentionally secretive international creative community. With dynamically illustrated perspectives from diverse niches of the art form, hundreds of photographs and numerous essays have been curated by StencilArchive.org’s founder, Russell Howze.

Russell Howze saw his first stencil in 1990 in Clemson, SC. When he landed in San Francisco in 1997, he found dozens on the sidewalks of the Mission and Haight neighborhoods. He's never stopped photographing the sometimes temporary, always intriguing art form. He currently lives in San Francisco's Mission District, and is usually seen on his bike with his camera slung around his shoulder.

SHAWNA YANG RYAN
Reading & book signing for Water Ghosts
Wednesday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m.

A dreamlike haze shimmers over Ryan's debut, Water Ghosts, the tale of a real-life immigrants' enclave in early 20th-century California. In a mining town outside Sacramento, Richard Fong's Lucky Fortune casino and Poppy See's brothel provide the only entertainment for Chinese workers sending their wages back to the families they can't bring into the country. For Chloe, a white prostitute who is Richard's favorite, it's also a place to hide from her family just a few towns over.

Born in Sacramento, California, the child of parents who met during the Vietnam War when her father was stationed in Taiwan, Shawna Yang Ryan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and received an M.A. from the University of California, Davis. In 2002, she was a Fulbright scholar in Taiwan. Water Ghosts (originally published in 2007 as Locke 1928) was a finalist for the 2008 Northern California Book Award. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Reading group for Tokyo Fiancee by Amelie Nothomb
Thursday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.

Found in Translation, the Booksmith’s reading group, continues with a roster of exciting award-winning titles. Each one a contemporary work of translated fiction, the books discussed by the group will be available at a 15% discount.

Nothomb's autobiographical novel, Tokyo Fiancee, takes place in the Japanese metropolis of Tokyo in the late 80’s. Amelie is a 22-year-old Belgian woman who spent her early childhood in Japan and has returned to master the language and join the Japanese workforce. To earn some extra cash, she gives French lessons to a young man named Rinri, and the couple ends up embarking on an affair that takes them on a journey throughout the countryside of Japan.

PAUL MADONNA
Exhibit and book signing for Haight Street Art Walk
Friday, April 24 from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Over twenty businesses in Haight-Ashbury are joining forces to organize a monthly Art Walk on the last Friday of every month. The entire neighborhood will be celebrating local artists, and The Booksmith is excited to have Paul Madonna hang out with us for the evening surrounded by his art and books.

Paul Madonna's strip, All Over Coffee, appears every Sunday in the San Francisco Chronicle and on SFGate.com. Paul's drawings and prints are shown in museums, galleries, restaurants and cafes, and in 2007 a collection of All Over Coffee was published by City Lights Books. Other work can be found in various publications including the Believer Magazine, A Writer's San Francisco, and the new collection Artists Sketchbooks. In 1994 Paul received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and that same year he was the first (ever!) Art Intern at MAD Magazine, for which he proudly received no money. Paul currently lives with his wife in San Francisco.

GABRIELLE BELL AND ARIEL SCHRAG
Reading, slideshows, and book signing for Cecil and Jordan in New York and Likewise
Tuesday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Cecil and Jordan in New York, the new collection from Gabrielle Bell, represents her short comics work that has been published in various anthologies over the past five years. The surrealist title story, in which a young woman turns herself into a chair so as not to be too much of a bother to those around her, is being adapted into a short film, Interior Design, by director Michel Gondry as part of the Tokyo! trilogy released this spring.

Set in Berkeley, Ariel Schrag's Likewise takes us into the holy grail of teenagers, every bit as terrifying as it is liberating: senior year. Struggling with a major longing for her ex-girlfriend who has gone away to college, her parents' post-divorce relationship, anxiety over the future, and all the graphic details of her complicated life, Ariel sets out to document everything and everyone.

Gabrielle Bell was born in England and raised in California. In 1998, she began to collect her "Book of" miniseries (Book of Sleep, Book of Insomnia, Book of Black, etc), which resulted in When I'm Old and Other Stories. In 2001 she moved to New York and released her autobiographical series Lucky. Her work has been selected for the 2007 and 2009 Best American Comics and the Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and is working on a second volume of Lucky.

Ariel Schrag was born in Berkeley, CA. She is the author of the autobiographical graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential, and Likewise, which chronicle her four years at Berkeley High School. She was a writer for seasons three and four of the hit Showtime series, The L Word. Ariel's illustrations and comics have appeared in publications such as The San Francisco Chronicle, Jane, Paper, and The Village Voice. She divides her time between Los Angeles and New York.

BEN GREENMAN
Reading & book signing for Please Step Back
Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Please Step Back is a swirling Sixties saga of the rise and fall of Rock Foxx, whose unprecedented mixed-race/mixed gender band makes socially conscious music that takes him to the height of worldwide rock stardom. But then his music begins to darken and disappear amidst rumors of sexual debauchery and drugs and violence, even as the culture itself explodes into assassinations and riots until people ask themselves: Whatever happened to Rock Foxx?

Ben Greenman is an editor at The New Yorker and the author of the books Superbad, Superworse, A Circle is A Balloon and Compass Both, and Correspondences. His short fiction, journalism, and criticism has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney's and the Paris Review. He lives in Brooklyn.

JOHN WRAY
Reading & book signing for Lowboy
Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Lowboy is about a sixteen-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who is on a mission to stop the planet’s destruction by radical climate change. He has six hours, and the only way to do it is by losing his virginity. The Daily Beast called it the underground novel of the year. Publisher's Weekly said "Wray deploys brilliant hallucinatory visuals, including chilling descriptions of the subway system and an imaginary river flowing beneath Manhattan. In his previous works, Wray has shown that he’s not a stranger to dark themes, and with this tightly wound novel, he reaches new heights."

John Wray was born in Washington, D.C., where his parents, both scientists, were employed by the National Institute of Health. Wray majored in biology at Oberlin College, intending to become an ornithologist; in the end, he had to content himself with becoming a birdwatcher. Wray’s first novel, The Right Hand of Sleep, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and won a Whiting Award in Fiction. This past year, Granta magazine selected him as one of the best American novelists under the age of thirty-five. For the last seven years, Wray has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn, across the street from the Prospect Park Bandshell. He has no intention of moving.

TAMIM ANSARY
Reading & book signing for Destiny Disrupted
Monday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m.

In the days after 9/11, Tamim Ansary became a regular on the airwaves in the United States, asked day after day to explain what had just happened to audiences across the country. Raised in Muslim Afghanistan (he is now based in Northern California), having contributed to and edited secondary school textbooks about world history, and possessing a warm and engaging manner and an ease with the role of “cultural interpreter,” Ansary had a unique perspective on and way of explaining U.S and Middle East relations to the masses. In his new book, Destiny Disrupted, Ansary again acts as cultural interpreter, this time covering much more than the significance and consequences of a single day: here, Ansary tells the rich story of world history as the Islamic world sees it, from the time of Mohammed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and beyond, and what the Islamic world makes of the Western version of those same events.

Tamim Ansary is the author of the memoir West of Kabul, East of New York, and has been a major contributing writer to several secondary school history textbooks. Born in Afghanistan, he now lives in San Francisco, where he is director of the San Francisco Writers Workshop and writes a column for Encarta.com.

TIBET: 50 YEARS OF RESISTANCE AND EXILE
Panel discussion & screening for the 50th Anniversary of Tibet's Peaceful Resistance
Wednesday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m.

The Booksmith is pleased to host a panel of four leading thinkers from the world of Tibetan arts and culture in discussion about Tibet's 50 years of peaceful resistance to the occupation by Chinese government. This event is presented under the aegis of Booksmith's social justice platform in collaboration with the Tibetan Association of Northern California.

Guests will include Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, the first Tibetan woman poet to be published in the U.S. (Rules of the House, 2003); Topden Tsering, Berkeley-based writer, graphic artist, activist, and former Editor of The Tibetan Bulletin, the official journal of the Tibetan exile community; and Rosemary Rawcliffe, producer and director of international programs in television, film, video, and theater, including the The Women of Tibet film trilogy.

LOGAN AND NOAH MILLER
Reading, screening & book signing for Either You're In or You're In the Way
Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.

When identical twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller’s homeless father died alone in a jail cell, they vowed come hell or high water that their feature film, Touching Home, would be made as a dedication to their love for him. Either You're In or You're in the Way is the amazing story of how—without a dime to their names nor a single meaningful contact in Hollywood—they managed to write, produce, act, and direct a feature film in under a year starring actor Ed Harris. Touching Home premiered at the coveted San Francisco International Film Festival last April and has won numerous audience awards.

With an alcoholic father who lived most of the time in his truck and a single mother trying to eke out a living to raise them, the Miller twins had a tough childhood. Their talent and athletic ability helped fuel their dream of becoming professional baseball players. When that dream failed, they scraped out an existence as bingo callers, ditch diggers, and house painters, and were eventually plucked out of obscurity by a high fashion modeling scout. In a particularly hilarious episode, the ultra famous fashion photographer David LaChapelle declares his intentions to put Noah in a g-string and paint his body gold. The twins escaped from the shoot, pocketing a large portion of the food from the catering table, and never looked back. Broke but not broken, they set their sights on making the film they had always talked about with their dad.

ANDY RASKIN
Launch party, reading and book signing for The Ramen King and I With sake tastings by True Sake
Tuesday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m.

In The Ramen King and I, a "painfully humane, hilariously candid" (Publishers Weekly) memoir, Andy Raskin confronts a longtime pattern of romantic infidelity. Despair— and a bizarre series of adventures involving Japanese food—lead him to adopt Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles, as an unlikely spiritual guide. Devouring Ando's books and essays (such as "Mankind is Noodlekind"), Raskin set out to meet the food pioneer—and to find the secret to a committed relationship.

Raskin's stories have been broadcast on public radio's All Things Considered and This American Life, and published in The New York Times, Gourmet, Wired, Women's Health, CNN/Money and Playboy (the Japanese edition). A judge for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, Andy resides in San Francisco, where he's a member of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto. Sake tastings will poured by True Sake, the sake boutique in Hayes Valley.

ALEX HATCH
Discussion, slideshow, and book signing for Cracks in the Asphalt With community gardeners and beekeepers
Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Cracks in the Asphalt is a one-of-a-kind guide book to 30 of San Francisco's Community Gardens. One important aspect of the book is to let readers know that these gardens were born out of the hard work of each group of neighborhood activists whose role was to not only create a garden where there was a dumping ground, but to create a sense of community as well. Because of this the gardens are situated over looking freeways, in downtown areas, in out of the way corners and busy neighborhoods.

Alex Hatch is a native San Franciscan who believes in the preservation of open space through the development of community gardens by and for the benefit of city residents.She has been a teacher, gardener and pruner in the Bay Area for 15 years, and between occupations has traveled throughout the world as well as living in Europe and Japan. Over time Alex has observed San Francisco becoming overdeveloped where much of its green spaces are threatened. This book is an attempt to introduce the readers to the necessity as well as the charms of green and open community spaces. Alex lives in San Francisco with her life partner Emily (who wouldn't put her hands in dirt but who loves these gardens) and their two cats Pasha and Nemo.

And just in case all those goodies aren't enough, a parting gift for you. Here's the latest comic offering from our very own Sean Chiki: "I Remember Lemuria", a take on the Shaver mystery.

JOSHUA MOHR
Launch party, reading, and book signing for Some Things That Meant the World to Me
Monday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Enter Damascus, the womb-like bar in San Francisco’s Mission District, and you’ll find Rhonda, a thirty-year-old man suffering from depersonalization—a disorder allowing him to reconfigure his reality to tolerate trauma. Some Things That Meant the World to Me is the gritty tale of a band of outcasts struggling to make sense of their broken pasts in this subtly affecting, achingly poignant, and mature debut novel.

Joshua Mohr has been published in Other Voices, The Cimarron Review, Pleiades, and Gulf Coast, among others. He lives in San Francisco and teaches at a halfway house. His second novel, From a Fragile Galaxy, is forthcoming from Two Dollar Radio in June 2010.

ROB REGER, JESSICA GRUNER AND BUZZ PARKER
Slideshow, reading, and book signing for Emily the Strange: The Lost Days
Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Emily the Strange: 13 years old. Able to leap tall buildings, probably, if she felt like it. More likely to be napping with her four black cats; or cobbling together a particle accelerator out of lint, lentils, and safety pins; or rocking out on drums/ guitar/saxophone/zither; or painting a swirling feral sewer mural; or forcing someone to say "swirling feral sewer mural" 13 times fast . . . and pointing and laughing. The Lost Days is her first novel.

Rob Reger has grown Emily the Strange from an image on a few skateboards and T-shirts to an international fashion brand and publishing phenomenon. He lives in the Bay Area. A former high school English teacher, Jessica Gruner owns a clothing boutique in San Francisco. She lives in the Bay Area.

HAL NIEDZVIECKI
with Eric Zassenhaus and Gravity Goldberg of Instant City, and other guests
Panel on community and peep culture for The Peep Diaries
Monday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Join award winning cultural observer Hal Niedzviecki as he takes you on a multimedia tour of our new world: Peepville. In Peepville, Hal will show you such notable features as streets lined with surveillance cameras, daycares equipped with webcams, and citizens eagerly tracking themselves and each other via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and shared GPS.

Behind all those cameras, cell phones and profiles are real people. It’s time to meet your neighbors, the peeps of Peepville! Some of them are inexplicably revealing the intimate details of their (sex) lives online. Others have become the new enforcers of (digital) morality – digicam vigilantes who stalk everyone from bad drivers to prostitutes. Some of us just want to sit back and relax and watch other people go about their lives dying, disliking their jobs, and trying out for reality tv. Part travelogue, part diary, part meditation and social history, The Peep Diaries explores the way Peep Culture is replacing pop culture, radically changing not just the entertainment landscape, but also the firmaments of our culture and society.

Hal Niedzviecki is the founder of Broken Pencil magazine and the author of Hello I'm Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity and We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture. Called the "guru of independent/alternative creative action" by The Toronto Star, Niedzviecki and has published numerous works of social commentary and fiction. His writing has appeared in periodicals and newspapers across North America including The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, The Walrus, Adbusters, the Utne Reader and more. Hal is the subject of an upcoming documentary, "The Peep Diaries."

VIVIENNE SOSNOWSKI
Reading and book signing at Cask 17 Third Street, SF, CA Tuesday, June 9

Today, millions of people around the world enjoy California's legendary wines, unaware that 90 years ago the families who made these wines – and in many cases still do – turned to struggle and subterfuge to save the industry we now cherish. When Prohibition took effect in 1919, violence and chaos descended on Northern California. Federal agents spilled thousands of gallons of wine in the rivers and creeks, gun battles erupted on dark country roads, and local law enforcement officers, sympathetic to their winemaking neighbors, found ways to run circles around the intruding authorities. In When the Rivers Ran Red, Vivienne Sosnowski tells the inspiring storyof how ordinary people fought to protect to a beautiful and timeless culture in the lovely hills and valleys of now-celebrated wine country.

Vivienne Sosnowski has been an editorial director of newspapers, including the Washington, D.C., Examiner and the San Francisco Examiner. A gifted photographer whose portraits of wine country pioneers were the genesis of this book, she divides her time between a home in the vineyard county of Sonoma and another in Vancouver, Canada.

DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF
Reading and book signing for LIFE INC.
Tuesday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m.

According to social theorist, author, and filmmaker Douglas Rushkoff, the current financial crisis started 450 years ago. In LIFE INC: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back, Rushkoff traces the history of how we came to where we are today, a society where “community” and personal connectedness have broken down, where most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that they’re no longer even aware of it, where we have replaced our personal decisions with market-tested solutions (for everything from weight loss, to conception, to finding a date), and, now that we are fed up with corporate spending, where to go from here. Provocative and controversial, Rushkoff argues that America's economic implosion is an opportunity for us to become reconnected to our towns, to our values, and to each other.

Douglas Rushkoff is a widely known media critic and documentarian. He has written ten books, and his documentaries include Frontline’s award-winning “The Merchants of Cool” and “The Persuaders.” He teaches media studies at the New School, hosts “The Media Squat” on radio station WFMU, and serves on the board of directors of the Media Ecology Association, the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, and the National Association for Media Literacy Education. He has won the Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology and was the first winner of the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity. He lives just outside of New York City.

Eduardo Galeano on Mirrors
Friday, June 12 7:30
at Berkeley Arts & Letters @ FCCB, Berkeley, CA

Characteristic of Galeano, Mirrors looks at the world and its histories “upside down” -- “against horror, against defeat, against oblivion” as one critic put it -- recounting, in his inimitably impish and mystical way, the songs and stories of humanity that have been forgotten or condemned to posterity. This author recently made headlines when Hugo Chavez gifted his book "Open Veins" to President Obama. Tickets for this event are available for sale at The Booksmith or online at: Brown Paper Tickets.

NOVELLA CARPENTER
Launch party, reading, and book signing for Farm City
Monday, June 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Farm City is an unforgettably charming memoir about the battle between urban life and the natural world as well as a beautiful meditation on what we have given up to live the way we do. Novella Carpenter loves cities—the culture, the crowds, the energy. At the same time, she can’t shake the fact that she’s the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents’ disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Novella decides that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. If you’ve ever considered leaving it all behind to become a farmer outside the city limits or looked at the abandoned lot next door with a gleam in your eye, consider this both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action.

Novella Carpenter grew up in rural Idaho and Washington State. She studied biology and English at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she had many odd jobs, including assassin bug handler and 16-millimeter projectionist. After moving to California, she attended UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her writing has appeared in salon.com, saveur.com, sfgate.com (the San Francisco Chronicle’s Web site), and Mother Jones. Her adventures in urban agriculture began with honeybees and a few chickens, then some turkeys, until she created an urban homestead called GhostTown Farm near downtown Oakland, where she and her boyfriend, Bill, live today.

IN CONVERSATION: ADRIAN TOMINE AND SETH
A Special Off-Site Event
at the Park Branch of the SFPL
1833 Page Street
Thursday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The two New Yorker illustrators Adrian Tomine and Seth will be celebrating their own new releases--Tomine's new editions of Shortcomings and 32 Stories and Seth's new graphic novel George Sprott 1894-1975--as well as the releases of the books they have each edited and designed--Yoshihiro Tatsumi's A Drifting Life (Adrian Tomine) and The Collected Doug: Canada's Master Cartoonist (Seth). The two authors will present slide shows, chat with each other, take questions from the audience and sign books.

At 16, Adrian Tomine started writing and drawing a combination of fictional and autobiographical stories, self-publishing them in his mini-comic Optic Nerve, which he sold through local stores and mail order. Thanks to his cool, clean, and very distinctive style, Tomine quickly found himself in high demand and his work has graced numerous CD and album covers as well as magazines like The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Time. From 2004 to 2007, Tomine completed his most lengthy story arc thus far, Shortcomings, originally serialized in Optic Nerve issues #9-11, excerpted in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern #13, and published as a graphic novel in Fall 2007. The racially-charged, volatile dialogues delineated in Shortcomings are unlike anything in Tomine's previous work or, for that matter, comics in general.

As a book designer, Seth has worked on a variety of projects including the recent Penguin Classics reedition of The Portable Dorothy Parker. He is the designer of the 25 volume series The Complete Peanuts and the upcoming two volume series on Canadian master cartoonist Doug Wright. His novels, which have been translated into 8 languages, include It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, Wimbledon Green, and the illustrated memoir of his father, Bannock, Beans and Black Tea. Currently, he is serializing the story Clyde Fans. In 2007, Seth serialized the story George Sprott (1894-1975) in the New York Times Magazine in 25 installments, and has expanded the story to appear as a standalone book. As an illustrator, Seth has produced commercial works for virtually all of the major Canadian and American magazines. His work frequently appears inside and on the cover of the New Yorker. He is the subject of an upcoming National Film Board documentary, lives in Guelph, Ontario with his wife and two cats, and rarely leaves his basement.

EAT, DRINK, TALK AND SWAP BOOKS
An Evening at The Booksmith
Friday, June 19 at 7:00 p.m.
Price: $25

For anyone who is tired of meeting people at bars, new to the city, or simply looking to meet the other smart, creative, lit-minded souls of San Francisco, the Booksmith has put together an event for you: a book swap. If not just tempted by the good company and swell atmosphere, be tempted by delicious Bi-Rite food and free-flowing wine. Bring a book -- one you loved but can part with, and well cook up some good smart fun.

Attendees will receive a 20% discount on all purchases for the evening. There are also rumors of surprise giveaways.

CHRISTIE HERRING
Panel discussion and preview screening of THE CAMPAIGN
A documentary-in-progress about the fights against Prop 8
Monday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Award-winning director and cinematographer Christie Herring presents a sneak preview of her documentary-in-progress, THE CAMPAIGN, and activists from “No on 8” and beyond discuss the state of the movement for marriage equality today. With exclusive access to the headquarters in San Francisco, this film chronicles the daily trials and travails of the people behind the “No on 8” campaign – the largest political campaign for LGBT rights in American history.

In Conversation: ANDREW SEAN GREER
Author of The Story of a Marriage
Wednesday, June 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Andrew Sean Greer is the bestselling author of The Story of a Marriage, which The New York Times has called an “inspired, lyrical novel,” and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named a best book of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune while garnering many other coast-to-coast honors.

His first novel, The Path of Minor Planets, and his story collection, How It Was for Me, were also published to wide acclaim. His stories have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, The New Yorker, and other national publications, and have been anthologized most recently in The Book of Other People and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He is the recipient of the PEN/O’Henry Prize for Short Fiction, the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer currently lives in San Francisco and New York, at work on his next novel.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Reading group for The Naked Eye by Yoko Tawada, translated from Japanese by Susan Bernofsky
Thursday, June 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Found in Translation, the Booksmith’s reading group, continues with a roster of exciting award-winning titles. Each one a contemporary work of translated fiction, the books discussed by the group will be available at a 15% discount.

In The Naked Eye, a precocious Vietnamese high school student is invited to an International Youth Conference in East Berlin. As she is preparing to present her paper, she is abruptly kidnapped and taken to a small town in West Germany. She escapes on a train to Moscow...but mistakenly arrives in Paris. Alone, broke, and in a completely foreign land, Anh loses herself in the films of Cathrine Deneuve as her real adventures begin.

SHILPA AGARWAL
Reading and book signing for Haunting Bombay
Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Haunting Bombay is a literary ghost story set in 1960's India that tells the tale of three generations of the wealthy Mittal family who have buried a tragic history and the ghosts of the past who rise up to haunt them. In her award-winning novel Agarwal weaves together mysticism, mystery, and haunting supernatural spirits in a luminous story of power and powerlessness, voice and silence in post-colonial India. Agarwal's "stunning debut" has been reviewed as a compelling snapshot of 1960's Bombay and a ghost story that evokes both the hauntings of Poe and the hot pulse of today's vampire narratives."

Shilpa Agarwal is a Los Angeles-based writer and academic. Born in Mumbai to a family uprooted by India's Independence movement and subsequent Partition in 1947, Shilpa's early writings explored how colonialism and the chaos of dislocation shaped human interaction. As an undergraduate at Duke University, Shilpa specialized in Asian and African literatures and Women's Studies. She pursued her interest in post-colonial literatures as a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She taught at both UCLA and UCSB, including a course on South Asian diaspora, and spoke regularly on the politics and poetics of community.

PAUL KRASSNER
Reading and book signing for In Praise of Indecency
Tuesday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Paul Krassner's style of personal journalism constantly blurs the line between observer and participant. Nowhere is this more apparent than in In Praise of Indecency, a collection of essays and interviews culled from his columns at AVN Online. Whether being interviewed by Susie Bright, or imagining a conversation between Pee-Wee Herman and Pete Townshend about their busts by overzealous cops, or reminiscing about his friend Lenny Bruce, Krassner shines his keen satirical mind on the so-called taboos of todays society and breaks them down to show the hypocrisy of the worlds "culture warriors." With a biting wit and tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mr. Krassner reveals the absurdity of our oppressive social mores in this stark, funny, and ultimately thought-provoking collection.

Paul Krassner is the founder, editor and frequent contributor to the free-thought magazine The Realist. A key figure in the counterculture of the 1960s, he edited Lenny Bruce's autobiography How To Talk Dirty and Influence People. He currently writes columns for AVN Online and High Times Magazine and publishes the Disneyland Memorial Orgy poster at paulkrassner.com. In 2004 he received an ACLU Upton Sinclair Award for dedication to freedom of expression. His books include Pot Stories for the Soul, Tales of Tongue Fu, One Hand Jerking, and Confessions of a Raving Unconfined Nut. He continues to perform and lecture at college campuses, theaters and art galleries across the country.

SQUAW VALLEY WRITERS POETRY BENEFIT READING
with Cornelius Eady, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, and Evie Shockley
Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street
Friday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m.
PURCHASE TICKETS -- General Admission: $20/Students: $15

Cornelius Eady, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, and Evie Shockley will read their poetry in The Nave at Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street). This benefit reading will raise money for the Poetry Scholarship Fund at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Books donated by the poets and their publishers will be available for purchase before and after the reading, and the poets will be available to sign books after the reading.

This will mark the 18th year for this annual benefit event, and every year it is a standing room-only success. All proceeds will benefit the Poetry Workshop Scholarship Fund, enabling talented writers to attend the week-long poetry writing workshop held each year in Squaw Valley, California. It is the goal of this program to support both established and emerging writers of talent who would benefit from working with their peers at the Poetry Week at Squaw Valley. - Tickets are available from Brown Paper Tickets.

JOANNA G. HARRIS
Reading and book signing for Beyond Isadora
Monday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Beyond Isadora: Bay Area Dancing The Early Years, 1915-1965 documents the fascinating and little-known history of early 20th century dance in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a history of performers, choreographers and teachers, pioneers of today's dance community. It is also women's history, since the prime movers were almost all women. This history, offered here as short biographical and chronological sketches, seeks to detail the regional development of ballet and of modern, ethnic and folk dance, from the era of Isadora Duncan, San Francisco's dance legend, who is regarded as the pioneer revolutionary and the mother of modern dance, to the mid 1960s. After Isadora, decades of dancers, dance groups and organizations carried on and refined a new American dance.

After many years of dance training in NY with the Duncan Dance Guild, the New Dance Group, Graham, Limón and Cunningham, Joanna G. Harris came to the Bay Area to study at Mills College with Marian Van Tuyl and Eleanor Lauer. As a graduate student she worked on IMPULSE, the annual magazine of dance, and upon graduation taught at UC Berkeley where she choreographed and performed for the Department of Drama and Music, 1959-69. Joanna formed her own company, the Monday Night Group, toured California, and founded the Dance/Drama Department at UC Santa Cruz and the Creative Arts Therapy program at Lone Mountain College. She is on the faculty of OLLI Institute, Berkeley and an instructor at the Modern Dance Center, Berkeley. She also writes reviews and essays about dance for websites and print publications.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Reading group for Clash of Civilization Over an Elevator at the Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous, translated from the Italian by Ana Goldstein
Thursday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Found in Translation, the Booksmith’s reading group, continues with a roster of exciting award-winning titles. Each one a contemporary work of translated fiction, the books discussed by the group will be available at a 15% discount. The group is led by The Booksmith's own Julie Boyer.

Clash of Civilization Over an Elevator at the Piazza Vittorio, Amara Lakhous's prize-winning novel, is a social satire and murder mystery. A small culturally-mixed community living an apartment building in the center of Rome is thrown into disarray when one of the neighbors is murdered. An investigation ensues and as each of the victim’s neighbors is questioned and the reader is offered an all-access pass into the most colorful neighborhood in contemporary Rome.

SKIP HORACK
Reading and book signing for The Southern Cross
Tuesday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m.

The Southern Cross features a teenager who makes a grisly discovery while woodcock hunting; an exonerated ex-con who may not be entirely innocent; a rabbit farmer in mourning; and an earnest young mariner trying to start a new life with his wife. It features proudly Southern characters not often seen in fiction – birdwatchers, recreational hunters, beekeepers, and even marine biologists. “A knockout winner” according to author Antonya Nelson, The Southern Cross marks the arrival of a standout new voice in fiction.

Skip Horack was born and raised in Louisiana, attended Florida State University, and practiced law for five years in Baton Rouge. His work has appeared in Epoch, the Southern Review, Narrative Magazine, and other journals. Horack currently teaches at Stanford University, where he was also a Wallace Stegner Fellow. He lives in San Francisco.

MARC LESSER
Reading and book signing for LESS: Accomplishing More by Doing Less
Wednesday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m.

A certain kind of busyness is crucial to life, allowing us to earn a living, create art, and achieve success. But too often it consumes us and we become crazy busy, nonstop busy, and we expend extraneous effort that gets us nowhere. Marc Lesser's new book LESS shows us the benefits of doing less in a world that has increasingly embraced more - more desire, more activity, more things, more exhaustion. Less is about stopping, about the possibility of finding composure in the midst of activity. The ideas and practices that Lesser outlines offer a radical yet simple approach to transforming a lifestyle based on endless to-do lists into a more meaningful approach that is truly more productive in every sense.

Marc Lesser has been practicing and studying Zen for thirty years and is a Zen priest in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Marc was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for ten years and in 1983 served as director of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the West. He was founder and CEO of Brush Dance, a publishing company that creates greeting cards, journals, and calendars, for fifteen years and currently teaches and lectures in both the Zen and business environments. He holds an MBA from New York University’s Graduate School of Business and is the president of ZBA Associates, a company offering coaching and consulting services in the business and not-for-profit communities. He lives in northern California with his wife and two children.

The Cresting Wave: San Francisco Underground Comix Experience

July 10 — August 22, 2009

Electric Works
130 8th Street
San Francisco, CA
www.sfelectricworks.com
415 626 5496

Electric Works is pleased to present "The Cresting Wave: The San Francisco Underground Comix Experience," a group exhibition featuring underground comix artists from San Francisco, from the mid-'60's to the late '80's. Artists included are Mark Bode, Vaughn Bode, Guy Colwell, R. Crumb, Jay Kinney, Paul Mavrides, Dan O'Neill, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Larry Todd, Randy Vogel, and S. Clay Wilson. Culling work from private collectors and the artists themselves, guest curator, Underground Comix writer, publisher and historian, Dan Fogel, has amassed important work from each artist that spans personal drawings, well-known comix pieces, including covers and original comps, as well as other rare ephemera from the heyday of the San Francisco scene.

JIMMY CHEN, ANNE GERMANACOS, JENNY PRITCHETT AND HELEN WICKES
Reading and book signing for Best of the Web 2009
Tuesday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m.

Best of the Web 2009 is an eclectic collection of the best fiction, poetry, and non-fiction pieces from online literary journals. In the manner of other broad-ranging anthologies such as Pushcart and Best American Non-Required Reading, this is the first substantial attempt at an annual print compilation of the best of material published online.

Contributors Jimmy Chen, Anne Germanacos, Jenny Pritchett and Helen Wickes will read their work. Scott Esposito, editor of The Quarterly Conversation and the blog Conversational Reading, will host.

WILLIAM VOLLMANN
Reading and book signing for Imperial
Thursday, August 6 at 7:30 p.m.

It sprawls across a stinking artificial sea, across the deserts, date groves, and labor camps of southeastern California, right across the Mexican border. For generations of migrant workers, from Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl of the 1930s to Mexican laborers today, Imperial County had held the promise of paradise – and the reality of hell. It is a land beautiful and harsh, enticing and deadly, rich in history and heartbreak. Across the border, the desert is the same but there are different secrets. In Imperial, Vollmann takes us deep into the heart of this haunted region, and by extension into the dark soul of American imperialism.

Born in 1959, William T. Vollmann is a graduate of Cornell University. He was a recipient of a 1988 Whiting Writers Award, and in 1999 the New Yorker named him one of the twenty best writers in America under forty. He is the author of nine novels (including Europe Central, which won the 2005 National Book Award), three collections of stories, a memoir, three works of nonfiction, and a seven volume meditation on nonviolence in history, which was a finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction. Vollmann’s journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Spin, Granta, Grand Street and Outside Magazine.

BONNIE TSUI
Reading and book signing for American Chinatown
Tuesday, August 11 at 7:30 p.m.

In American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods, acclaimed travel writer Bonnie Tsui embarks on a journey to find out what Chinatown means to its inhabitants – and what it means to America at large. Tsui explores the lives, stories and struggles of those in the country’s five most famous Chinatowns: New York (the biggest), San Francisco (the oldest), Los Angeles (the film icon), Honolulu (the crossroads), and Las Vegas (the newest). Each of these Chinatowns is curiously different, tut all have a connection, a cause, and a deep insight into what Chinatown means.

Bonnie Tsui is a frequent contributor to The New York Times. A former editor at Travel + Leisure, she has written for National Geographic Adventure, Salon, and Condé Nast Traveller. She is the editor of A Leaky Tent Is a Piece of Paradise, a collection of essays on the outdoors, and is a recipient of the Radcliffe Traveling Fellowship, the Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, and the Jane Rainie Opel Award.

JOEY KRAMER OF AEROSMITH
Reading and book signing for Hit Hard
Tuesday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Joey Kramer is the legendary drummer with the most successful band in American history—Aerosmith. In Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top, Kramer reveals the true and gritty side of rock and roll fame in a moving and inspiring story.

Joey Kramer has been rocking with Aerosmith since the band began in 1970. Kramer and his partners have sold over 150 million albums, and today their multigenerational global audience is bigger than ever. In addition to the Grammys and the twenty-one multi-platinum albums, Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. The band has been the subject of several documentaries, including a film dedicated to Joey Kramer and his lasting influence called It’s About Time.

PETER COYOTE
Reading and book signing for Sleeping Where I Fall
Thursday, August 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Out of the 60's counterculture explosion came a radical street group called the Diggers, who became the heart and soul of the Haight-Ashbury experience. Named after a group of 17th century free-thinkers in England, the Diggers dedicated themselves to building a new morality in place of the money-hungry capitalistic society, cutting through the cultural propaganda via the medium of both street theater and "free" programs. They began to distribute free food, provide free medical care and sponsor free rock concerts in Golden Gate Park featuring musicians like the Grateful Dead. They burned money, left its ashes and set out to create the condition they described. Peter Coyote's memoir Sleeping Where I Fall, first published in 1998, recounts his time as one of the group's founders and beyond. He weaves his experiences into a collection of stories from his life in San Francisco to communes and gypsy years on the road becoming part of the Free Family.

Ordained practitioner of Zen Buddhism, activist, and actor, Peter Coyote began his work in street theater and political organizing in San Francisco. In addition to acting in 120 films, Coyote has won an Emmy for narrating the award-winning documentary Pacific Century, and he has cowritten, directed, and performed in the play Olive Pits, which won The Mime Troupe an Obie Award. He lives in Mill Valley, California.

HOMELESS IN THE HAIGHT
Community Forum with guests Violet Blue and Mark Bittner
Monday, August 24 at 7:30 p.m.

As residents & merchants who live with the chaos on Haight Street, our patience for the current state occasionally runs out. In our frustration, we sometimes forget that the homeless living on these streets are often struggling with challenges of their own.

According to Wikipedia, as many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year in the US alone. In a January 2007 survey conducted by the city of San Francisco, volunteers counted over 6,300 homeless within the city limits.

Who are these homeless? Why are they living on the streets? What kind of life and challenges do they face? These are some of the questions we'll grapple with at this event. Join two well-respected writers, Mark Bittner and Violet Blue, to hear their personal stories of homelessness.

This event is part of the Booksmith's series of community forums on homelessness. By understanding the homeless perspective, we hope to move a few steps closer to developing solutions to homelessness in our own backyard.

FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Reading group for The Angels Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves
Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m.

Found in Translation, the Booksmith’s reading group, continues with a roster of exciting award-winning titles. Each one a contemporary work of translated fiction, the books discussed by the group will be available at a 15% discount. The group is led by The Booksmith's own Julie Boyer.

This month, the group will be reading The Angels Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.

SEAN CHIKI
Exhibit and comic signing on the eve of the Haight Street Art Walk
Friday, August 28 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Over twenty businesses in Haight-Ashbury have joined forces to organize a monthly Art Walk on the last Friday of every month. The entire neighborhood celebrates local artists, and The Booksmith is excited to be able to feature our own Sean Chiki hang out with us for the evening surrounded by his art and brand new comic.

Sean Chiki is a cartoonist, illustrator and veteran bookseller. Trained as a commercial artist, Sean has worked as a freelance illustrator, a theater sound designer and as a musician in a number of San Francisco bands. A lifelong comics fan, Sean is pleased to celebrate the release of the first volume of his new comic, Wunderkammer.

KEMBLE SCOTT
Launch party and reading for The Sower
Monday, August 31 at 7:30 p.m.

The Sower is a twisted, page-turning thriller about a San Francisco bad boy who becomes the sole carrier of a manmade virus that appears to be the cure for all diseases. But the only way to pass the cure to others is through sex. When word gets out, he becomes the world’s most wanted man – the ultimate weapon in the culture wars, pitting him against right wing ideologies, The Roman Catholic Church, and the most famous pop star on the planet.

Kemble Scott's novel was recently released as an e-book and received wide recognition in the publishing industry. We decided to invite the author for a reading even though it doesn't have a print edition. Join us for the launch party for The Sower and Booksmith's (and possibly the entire book industry's) first ever e-author reading. There are rumors of a limited edition print version coming soon for the die-hards loyalists of print books.

Kemble Scott is the author of the bestselling novel SoMa, finalist for the national Lambda Literary Award for debut fiction. He’s the editor of San Francisco’s SoMa Literary Review and THE LIT GUIDE. An alumnus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he’s been honored with three Emmy Awards for his work in television news.

Thursday, October 1
JOSH BAZELL
Beat the Reaper
7:30 PM

What do you get when you throw a mob hit man turned doctor, a seductive viola player, a shark tank, and a fibula together? Josh Bazell’s fearless novel delivers the story of Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwa, a former hit man fed up with the body count he has accumulated. Pietro enters the Federal Witness Protection Program and tries his hand at saving lives instead of taking them. Now a medical intern known as Dr. Peter Brown, our hero is in the clear…until a patient from Peter’s former life recognizes him and threatens to blow his cover if he doesn’t save his life. Unfortunately, the patient has three months to live. If he’s lucky.

Peter races against the clock, trying desperately to keep his patient – and himself – alive, with the threat of the mob, the government, and death itself on his heels. Only time will tell if Peter Brown can Beat the Reaper.

Josh Bazell holds an MD from Columbia. He wrote Beat the Reaper while completing his internship at a hospital not at all like the one described in his novel. He lives in San Francisco.

FIRST FRIDAYS: SPECIAL EVENT
Friday, October 2
TAO LIN
Shoplifting from American Apparel
7:30 PM

“A revolutionary.” – The Stranger

“Hard to believe he’s only 24…We’ll be hearing a lot from him in the years to come.” – USA Today

“Helluvanovella.” – Daniel Handler

“Tao Lin writes from moods that less radical writers would let pass – from laziness, from vacancy, from boredom. And it turns out that his report from these places is moving and necessary, not to mention frequently hilarious.” – Miranda July

Set mostly in Manhattan -- although also featuring Atlantic City, Brooklyn, GMail Chat, and Gainesville, Florida -- this autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a cultish following, has been described by the author as “A shoplifting book about vague relationships,” “2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague relationship issues,” and “An ultimately life-affirming book about how the unidirectional nature of time renders everything beautiful and sad.”

From VIP rooms in “hip” New York City clubs to central booking in Chinatown, from New York University’s Bobst Library to a bus in someone’s backyard in a college-town in Florida, from Bret Easton Ellis to Lorrie Moore, and from Moby to Ghost Mice, it explores class, culture, and the arts in all their American forms through the funny, journalistic, and existentially-minded narrative of someone trying to both “not be a bad person” and “find some kind of happiness or something,” while he is driven by his failures and successes at managing his art, morals, finances, relationships, loneliness, confusion, boredom, future, and depression.

Tao Lin was born in 1983, and raised in Orlando, Florida. His first two works of fiction, the short story collection Bed, and the novel Eeeee Eee Eeee, were published simultaneously. Lin quickly became an underground sensation with a huge cult following. In 2008, Lin published his poetry collection, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. It has been assigned as a text book in several college level psychology courses.

Monday, October 5
ORAN CANFIELD
Long Past Stopping
7:30 PM

Hippies, circus clowns, drugs, radical thinkers, a broken family, madcap teachers, experimental music, rehab… Welcome to the life of Oran Canfield, the son of a freethinking psychologist and khaki-wearing motivational speaker Jack Canfield (yes, THAT Jack Canfield -- creator of the bestselling self-help series Chicken Soup for the Soul). A life full of adventure and mayhem, pain and reconciliation. Oran puts pen to paper to deliver a wry, edgy, and often hilarious account about his struggle to overcome a childhood dismantled by hypocrisy and an adulthood plagued by heroin addiction.

In the tradition of Augusten Burroughs, Oran Canfield grapples with the vagaries of addiction in a world as dizzling sober as it is stoned in Long Past Stopping. While Oran’s needling mother will go to any length to keep her sons from the scourges of television and traditional culture, she leaves them in the care of an anarchic school, where going to class is optional and throwing rocks at passing cars is a popular pastime. Unmoored but fiercely intelligent, Oran learns to hold his own, delivering newspapers on a unicycle, juggling for a professional circus, and somehow surviving every bewildering adult he encounters.

As an adult, he floats from menial job to menial job and plays drums in a number of fringe California bands, encountering a host of weird characters along the way: Grux, a singer and longtime devotee of obscure noise music, a deranged and paranoid roommate who wakes Oran up at knife point, and a Stanford philosophy professor who supplies him with his first hit of heroin. Even Wavy Gravy and Jerry Garcia make cameos, as Oran struggles with a crippling heroin addiction -- eventually selling off every possession and burning every bridge along the way, all to feed a drug dependency that confounds him. From Steps 1 through 12 and back again, apartment to apartment, failed safety net to safety net, Oran must boldly confront the paradoxical and confounding truths and people of his life, and find his own way through the cliché that self-help can be.

Oran Canfield, 34, was raised by his hippie psychologist mother in Central America and the San Francisco Bay area. In his early twenties, while attending the San Francisco Art Institute, he began his career as a drummer and became heavily involved in San Francisco’s flourishing underground music and art communities. Along with his involvement as a drummer for a countless number of bands in the nineties, he also owned and operated a recording studio and co-operated a music venue featuring experimental and creative jazz music. He has held jobs as a bike messenger, piano restorer, housecleaner, and limo driver. Early in 2000, after seven separate stints in rehab, he got clean after attending an experimental treatment center in the Virgin Islands. He currently lives in Brooklyn and works as a freelance art handler and audio installer for art galleries and designer Donna Karan.

Tuesday, October 6
SUMBUL ALI-KARAMALI
The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and That Veil Thing
7:30 PM

You're not alone if you've ever wondered what Muslims really believe and practice. In her new book, The Muslim Next Door, Sumbul Ali-Karamali, a Stanford-educated mom and corporate lawyer with degrees in Islamic law and English, invites you inside for a candid, witty, and surprisingly down-to-earth conversation about Muslim life in America.

Warm, funny, and yet scholarly, The Muslim Next Door reliably answers questions about Islam from an American Muslim woman's point of view, discussing subjects from the basic (is Allah different from God?) to the complex (does jihad not mean holy war?) to the borderline ridiculous ("what do you mean you can't go to the prom because of your religion?!").

Sumbul Ali-Karamali grew up in Southern California in an ethnically South Asian family. She earned her undergraduate degree in English, with Distinction, from Stanford University. After working as an editor in a publishing company, she attended law school and graduated with her J.D. from the University of California at Davis. She practiced corporate law in San Francisco for several years.

Although always a practicing Muslim, Sumbul began the formal study of Islam when she attended the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). She graduated from SOAS with her L.L.M. in Islamic Law, with Distinction. She has taught Islamic law as a teaching assistant at the University of London, worked as a research associate at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law in London, and lectured on Islam and Islamic law. She has had many articles published, both in mainstream news publications and legal journals.

Wednesday, October 7
BEN FONG-TORRES
The Grateful Dead Scrapbook: The Long, Strange Trip in Stories, Photos, and Memorabilia
7:30 PM

Grateful Dead fans are legendary for their Dead-ication to the band and its enduring legacy of freewheeling musical exploration. The Grateful Dead Scrapbook collects rare removable memorabilia and evocative images culled from the Grateful Dead Archives at the University of California, Santa Cruz, including never-before-published photos, flyers, fan letters, and other ephemera. To accompany the eye-popping visuals, renowned journalist Ben Fong-Torres draws on his personal knowledge of the San Francisco music scene in a rich text that conveys the Grateful Dead's story in a fresh way, centering each chapter on a pivotal song that encapsulates a certain era of the group's songwriting, performance, and community. An attractive slipcase and an audio CD round out the book's beautiful design, delivering a richly illustrated volume as colorful as the band itself.

Ben Fong-Torres is the author of Becoming Almost Famous: My Back Pages in Music, Writing, and Life, The Doors, Not Fade Away: A Backstage Pass to Twenty Years of Rock and Roll, and Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Graham Parsons, among other books. He began writing for Rolling Stone with its 8th issue in 1968, and his writing has been published in numerous other magazines. He contributed the main biography of Jerry Garcia for People Magazine's tribute issue on the occasion of the singer's death in 1995. Ben lives in San Francisco.

Thursday, October 8
NICK BELARDES
Random Obsessions: Trivia You Can’t Live Without
7:30 PM

Before buying that plane ticket, don’t you need to know which exotic islands still have cannibals? Wonder what it’s like to live in Hell Town at the End of the World? Are you worried about coming down with “Alien Hand Syndrome”? In Random Obsessions, historian Nick Belardes has dug into the raw source material found in historical archives, scientific studies, and libraries the world over, to give us the arcane, the bizarre, and the inexplicable – all of which is true.

Belardes’ passion and wit shine through these accounts of the surprising reality that lurks behind the things we take for granted. And who doesn’t want to read first-person interviews with people who can explain the unexplained, from the permanently puzzling Mothman conspiracy to secret Star Wars Jedi religious cults, and the charmingly eccentric reason why British aerospace engineers sent teddy bears floating out into space?

Nick Belardes is a historian turned into a TV/online journalist overnight after blogging his way to success. His articles and essays have since appeared on the homepage of CNN.com and other news sites across the country. He is the author of the first Twitter novel, Small Spaces, and you can follow his daily rants: twitter.com/nlbelardes. He lives in Bakersfield.

Friday, October 9
Eat, Drink, Talk (and Swap) Books: An Evening at the Booksmith
Note early time: 6:30 PM
Tickets $25 at Brown Paper Tickets and in the store

We’ll bring the food and wine, you bring the book—a book that intrigued or excited you, something you couldn’t put down or that you savored over months—a book you want to talk about. The evening’s activities will be full of smart fun and good cheer, culminating in a swap.

At the Booksmith, we believe that bookstores are more than a place to buy books. They are a meeting place for people who love books—all kinds—a place to bring people of like interests together. This event was created for book-lovers by book-lovers. Wine and appetizers are included in the ticket price.

October's book swap theme is Literary Fiction. We’re delighted that Michelle Richmond (No One You Know, The Year of Fog) will be our special guest this evening!

AMOEBA RECORDS & THE BOOKSMITH SPECIAL EVENT!
Saturday, October 10
STEWART COPELAND
Strange Things Happen: A Life with the Police, Polo, and Pygmies
Note time and location: 2:00 PM at Amoeba (1855 Haight Street, San Francisco)

When Stewart Copeland gets dressed, he has an identity crisis. Should he put on "leather pants, hostile shirts, and pointy shoes"? Or wear something more appropriate to the "tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater" his success has allowed him to become? This dilemma is at the heart of Copeland's vastly entertaining memoir-in-stories, Strange Things Happen. The world knows Copeland as the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful bands in rock history. But they may not know as much about his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a CIA agent. Or be aware of his film-making adventures with the Pygmies in the deepest reaches of the Congo, and his passion for polo ("Brideshead Revisited" on horses). In Strange Things Happen we move from Copeland's remarkable childhood to the formation of The Police, their rise to stardom, and the settled-down life that followed. It ends with a behind-the-scenes view of The Police's extraordinarily successful reunion tour. It's a book of amazing anecdotes, all completely true, which take us backstage in a life that is fully lived.

Reunited after twenty-three years with his bandmates in The Police when they opened the Grammy Awards on February 11, 2007, Stewart Copeland counts himself fortunate to have been a founder of the most played and successful trio of the 1980s. The Police's reunion tour, which began in Vancouver in May 2007 and ended in New York's Madison Square Garden in August 2008, went on to be the third biggest tour of all time -- grossing some 387 million dollars. Recipient of the Hollywood Film Festival's first Outstanding Music in Film Visionary Award and a 2003 inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Copeland has been responsible for some of the film world's most innovative and groundbreaking scores. His career includes the sale of more than sixty million records, which have won him five Grammys and numerous other awards. His ongoing travels in search of exotic rhythms and musical celebrations have taken him all the way around the world -- from the polo fields of Cirencester to the dives of Havana, from the steaming Congo to the remotest regions of the Hollywood jungles. Copeland is the father of seven children. He lives with his wife and three daughters.

Monday, October 12
KEVIN MEREDITH
Hot Shots: Tips and Tricks for Taking Better Pictures
7:30 PM

Today more amateur photographers than ever before have the means to create incredible pictures. This hip primer proves that whether shooting with a film or digital camera, you don't need to invest in expensive photography equipment or have an art school degree to take amazing photographs. Whether readers are tired of disappointing snapshots or have just picked up a camera for the first time, Hot Shots teaches with a friendly tone, picture-perfect advice, fun tricks, and easy-to-understand text. Author, lomographer, and Flickr.com guru Kevin Meredith has created a must-have handbook for any aspiring photographer. The folks at Flickr will offer wine and cheese this evening.

Author and photographer Kevin Meredith is known for his award-winning lomography. He lives in Brighton, England. The foreword is provided by San Franciscans Heather Champ and Derek Powazek, who co-founded JPG magazine.

While in San Francisco, Kevin will be conducting photography workshops.

Tuesday, October 13
JACK BOULWARE and SILKE TUDOR with FRANK PORTMAN
Gimme Something Better: The Profound, Progressive, and Occasionally Pointless History of Bay Area Punk from Dead Kennedys to Green Day
7:30 PM

"When punk broke in the Bay Area, with the clamor and the rage, the sex and the safety pins, the sound and the fury, you were either there or you weren’t. If you were there you’re probably in this book. If you weren’t you should read it." —Daniel Handler

Outside of New York and London, California’s Bay Area claims the oldest continuous punk rock scene in the world -- from the innovative late-70s art-damage of San Francisco’s Fab Mab in North Beach, to the still vibrant all-ages DIY ethos of Berkeley’s Gilman Street, where bands like Green Day, Rancid, and AFI got their start.

Gimme Something Better by Bay Area journalists Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor brings this outrageous and influential punk scene to life, straight from the mouths of the bands, roadies, record labels and fans.

Jack and Silke spent two years interviewing countless contributors across the Bay Area, the US and the globe. You will find first-hand accounts from Danny Furious and Penelope Houston of the Avengers, Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Davey Havok of AFI, Larry Livermore of Lookout! Records, Fat Mike of NOFX, Tim Armstrong of Operation Ivy and Rancid, members of MDC and Flipper, and editors of Maximum RocknRoll magazine, among many others.

Gimme Something Better represents the definitive chronicle of Bay Area punk music, progressive politics, social consciousness, and divine decadence. The book features black and white photographs throughout, an exhaustive who’s-who list, and an introduction by Jesse Michaels, famed singer of Operation Ivy.

Jack Boulware is the author of Sex, American Style and San Francisco Bizarro. His freelance writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Playboy, Maxim, Salon, and San Francisco Chronicle, among others. For ten years he was a columnist and features writer for SF Weekly. He is co-founder of San Francisco’s annual Litquake literary festival. Silke Tudor is a San Francisco-born writer who has contributed to the Village Voice, Spin, and Tattoo Savage. For ten years she was a columnist and nightlife editor at SF Weekly, and produced the annual SF Weekly Music Awards. She recently moved to New York and toured the world with the Billy Nayer Show. Special guest Frank Portman aka Dr. Frank is involved with the Mr. T Experience, and is the author of the fabulous young adult novels, King Dork and Andromeda Klein.

Thursday, October 15
SARAH VOWELL
The Wordy Shipmates
7:30 PM (see seating note below)

Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor for NPR’s This American Life, the voice of Violet Parr in Pixar’s The Incredibles, and a former columnist for Time, Salon.com, and SF Weekly; she has contributed to numerous publications, including Esquire, GQ, the Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice, Spin, The New York Times, and McSweeney’s, and is the author of Assassination Vacation, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Take the Cannoli, and Radio On. If that weren’t enough, she’s been called a “Madonna of Americana” (by the Los Angeles Times Book Review). Frankly, we think she’s simply one of the most fascinating, original, and perceptive storytellers we have.

What set Vowell on a journey back to our Puritan forefathers was when, in the dreadful weeks following the destruction of the World Trade Center, she found comfort in the words of the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop. In a sermon entitled “A Model of Christian Charity”, Winthrop had written what Vowell calls “one of the most beautiful sentences in the English language”: We must delight in one another, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body.

Yet the Puritans’ most enduring bequest to the future United States, Vowell observes in The Wordy Shipmates, is their unshakable vision of themselves as God’s chosen people, a beacon of righteousness that all others are to admire. With sardonic humor, awed respect, and acute insight, Vowell examines the Puritans’ dual legacy of communitarian love and missionary ardor, which continues to shape America nearly four hundred years later. “Vowell likes to explode myths and reveal hypocrisy wherever she finds it,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution once noted. “She is somehow simultaneously patriot and rebel, cynic and dreamer, and an aching secularist in search of a higher ground.”

‡ Preferred seating vouchers for this event will be offered to those purchasing a copy of The Wordy Shipmates at The Booksmith, beginning October 8 and continuing until all available seat vouchers are distributed.

Friday, October 16
GREG KOT
Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music
7:30 PM

In the mid-nineties, advances in internet and digital technology made it incredibly easy to store, play and – most significantly – “rip” and share recorded music. But for all the benefits these new mediums brought, the music industry -- which included major corporations such as Viacom, Clear Channel, and Sony -- wasn’t prepared for this big change. Instead of finding innovative ways to utilize this new technology, they wasted time, their reputation, and resources in court crippling themselves while online music sharing continued to thrive.

Greg Kot is the Chicago Tribune’s acclaimed music critic and national radio show host of Sound Opinions (“the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show”). He is well-known as a fans’ music critic who writes entertainingly about the intersection of music, technology, and business. In Ripped, Kot details how the new digital technology was bad news for major record executives and mega-selling recording artists who were capitalizing off significantly over-priced CDs, but how it was good news for fans of music and for independent promoters and artists who were struggling to be heard in the era of *NSYNC and Britney Spears. The music business was bloated, making more money than ever before, but many of its consumers felt like they weren't being served. Old school practices like payola combined with the consolidation of record companies and radio stations left the industry blissfully unaware and poised for disaster. Kot explains that the emergence of Napster was only the beginning of the fans taking control. As the web popularized bands and albums that previously would have been relegated to obscurity, forward-thinking artists such as Death Cab for Cutie and even Prince began creating alternative ways of getting their music out to fans. Kot says that “the internet provided bands an independence they never had: the ability to communicate directly with their fans in ways their predecessors never could have imagined.” Genre-bending and mash-ups caught on as never before, live music took on a more significant role and video games and commercials emerged as great places to hear new music.

Ripped is Kot’s masterful and passionate chronicle of how we went from $17.99 to $0.00 for the cost of an album in less than a decade. With first-hand access to some of the biggest artists out there – from Sheryl Crow to Metallica -- Kot tells the tale of backward thinking, forward thinking, and the significant power of music.

We’re delighted that KALW-FM is co-sponsoring, with support from Creative Commons, this evening’s talk and discussion!

A LOOSE TEETH PRESS SPECIAL EVENT!
Sunday, October 18
JOEY COMEAU
Overqualified

ZACH VANDEZANDE
Apathy and Paying the Rent
with The Loose Teeth Press publisher Mike Lecky
Please note early time: 4:30 PM

We’re delighted that Canadian writers Joey Comeau and Zach Vandezande will join us for a special reading and conversation while they’re in San Francisco for the Alternative Press Expo.

Joey Comeau:

“Overqualified's cover letters are like a slap in the face, but the slap is hilarious, and you can't stop laughing, and as soon as it’s over you want to tell all your friends about the slap. You know the kind?” -- Ryan North, Dinosaur Comics

“Joey Comeau’s Overqualified is Judy Blume’s Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret? as chewed up and spit out by J. G. Ballard. . . . A book whose melancholy is leavened by a surprising hilarity.” -- Paul Di Filippo, author of The Steampunk Trilogy and Cosmocopia

Cover letters are all the same. They’re useless. You write the same lies over and over again, listing the store-bought parts of yourself that you respect the least. God knows how they tell anyone apart, but this is how it's done.

And then one day a car comes out of nowhere, and suddenly everything changes and you don’t know if he’ll ever wake up. You get out of bed in the morning, and when you sit down to write another paint-by-numbers cover letter, something entirely different comes out.

You start threatening instead of begging. You tell impolite jokes. You talk about your childhood and your sexual fantasies. You sign your real name and you put yourself honestly into letter after letter and there is no way you are ever going to get this job. Not with a letter like this.

And you send it anyway.

Joey Comeau writes the comic A Softer World, which has appeared recently in The Guardian and been profiled in Rolling Stone, and which Publishers Weekly called “subtle and dramatic.” His self-published first novel, Lockpick Pornography, sold out its print run of 1000 books in just three months. In 2007 he published It’s Too Late to Say I'm Sorry, a collection of short stories. The A Softer World website (asofterworld.com) has been online since 2003 and has an average daily readership of 70,000 people worldwide.

Zach VandeZande:

Some nights, he would go back and forth between the wall and stereo, plucking out this song or that and putting it on a blank tape. When he was finished, he would take the tape with him and listen to it a few times, then put it in the box with the others. He never touched them again. One day he would be satisfied. For now it was missing something.

Zach VandeZande was born in the same gray town as everybody else. For him it was Houston, Texas. He took his vitamins, went to college, started a band, got married, got a degree in Psychology (from Texas A&M if it matters), quit a band, and got a job. He did it all just like he was supposed to. One day he decided to stop striving for mediocrity, and so here we are. He learned to be kind of funny and he learned to write a book and he didn't learn to draw but he did it anyway, and he did these things and he'll probably do them again. Zach is currently pursuing a master's in English at Sam Houston State University, and currently losing sleep over this biography he's writing in the third person, wondering if it should be more specific or longer or something. In addition to Apathy, he’s the author of Legitimate Art: An Animals Have Problems Too Collection.

Tuesday, October 20
VICTORIA ZACKHEIM & Contributors KATHI KAMEN GOLDMARK and MARGOT DUXLER
The Face in the Mirror: Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth & The Reality of Aging
7:30 PM

When you were young and idealistic and you looked in mirror, who did you see? What were your expectations for your future? What was expected of you by your family and your community? And now that you're older and have attained such prominence as a writer, activist, celebrity, how do you feel about the person you've become and the direction your life has actually taken? Are you contented or disappointed? Do you see exciting possibilities in your future, or do you believe that you've gone as far as you can go? These are the questions posed to some of our country's most gifted authors in preparation for The Face in the Mirror. Twenty celebrated writers tackled these questions, sharing with readers the heart of soul of their lives, and a book was born. In these reflective essays, the writers explore the person they expected to become or perhaps desperately wanted to be (or feared they might be), and the person they are today. How does all of this knowledge and insight affect their writing? Their responses, which range from surprising to heart-wrenching to comical (and often hilarious) to inspiring, reflect back on the reader, who is left with the same question that these eminent writers asked themselves: "When I look in that mirror, who do I see?" Each eloquent piece is certain to captivate, and make you see the world and yourself in an entirely new way.

Victoria Zackheim spent her childhood in Los Angeles, received her BA from UCLA and MA from California State University, San Francisco. In 1990, she fulfilled a lifelong dream and went to Paris, with the intention of remaining for three months. Five years later, she returned to the San Francisco area and completed her first novel, The Bone Weaver. She is now a freelance editor and creative writing instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program, and the editor of three anthologies: The Other Woman: 21 Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal, For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, and Face in the Mirror.

Wednesday, October 21
TAMIM ANSARY
The Widow’s Husband
7:30 PM

It’s 1841: the British have invaded Afghanistan.. A hundred miles north of the capital, a mysterious beggar enters a tiny village…

The Widow’s Husband, an epic work of historical fiction, is the first novel to tell the story of British imperialism from the Afghan side. Three years after the British occupation of Kabul, news of the invasion still hasn’t reached the village of Char Bagh. Here, the biggest excitement of the season is a mysterious vagabond who has wandered onto a nearby hillside. Is he a madman? Perhaps. But he just might be a God-crazed madman, a malang, a man with the power to channel miracles. And indeed, he does soon begin to transform the lives of the villagers -- the brooding headman Ibrahim, his djinn-haunted wife Soraya, the headman’s charismatic sister-in-law, the widowed Khadija. But the isolation of Char Bagh is about to end. British officials are scouring the countryside for conspirators. They dispatch a priapic young officer to study the pilgrims streaming in and out of Char Bagh.. History is about to reach its long fingers into the heart of this remote hamlet.

From the soot-blackened kitchens of Afghan village compounds to the battle-choked streets of Kabul, from the gorgeous fortresses of Afghan tribal lords to the walled British cantonments where the chandeliers kept glowing and the proper memsahibs kept on hosting dinner parties almost to the very end, this extraordinary novel takes readers into a historical drama that eerily foreshadows events of our own time.

Tamim Ansary is the author of the memoir West of Kabul, East of New York, co-author with Farah Ahmadi of the New York Times bestseller The Other Side of the Sky, and has been a major contributing writer to several secondary school history textbooks. Ansary is director of the San Francisco Writers Workshop. He writes for Encarta.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, Alternet, Edutopia, Parade, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. His sweeping narrative history Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes illuminates how Muslims have seen the history of the world— and what western world history leaves out

SOCIAL MEDIA PHENOM NIGHT!
Friday, October 23
GARY VAYNERCHUK
Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion
7:30 PM

Tickets $22 (includes admission and copy of book) at Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006 or in the store (The Booksmith will be closed this evening at 7:00 PM; tickets are required for this event.)

Do you have a hobby you wish you could do all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night?

Meet Gary Vaynerchuk, a 33-year-old self-trained wine and social media expert who has revolutionized the wine industry. Gary’s cult-like following is the result of his unconventional, often irreverent commentary on wine, combined with his business acumen and foresight to use social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach an untapped audience. He hosts a daily webcast called “The Thunder Show” on tv.winelibrary.com that attracts over 90,000 viewers each day. Recently, his podcast become the most downloaded show on iTunes in the food category, beating out venerable names in the industry including Martha Stewart and Jamie Oliver. Called the “king of social media’, Gary is one of the first Facebook users to max out his friend limit, with over 17,000 pending friend requests. He is in the top 100 people followed on Twitter and was the keynote speaker at events like the 2009 South of Southwest Interactive conference and the New Media and Web 2.0 expos.

With Crush It! he shows how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family business from a local wine shop into a national industry leader. Then one day he turned on a video camera, and by using the secrets revealed in this book, transformed his entire life and earning potential by building his personal brand. Step-by-step, Crush It! Is the ultimate driver’s manual for modern business.

The Crush It! Tour Contest - Win a Trip on the Crush It! Cruise

At every book signing location, turn in your receipt to be entered for a chance to win a cabin for two on the Crush It! Cruise. Sailing from Ft Lauderdale, FL throughout the Caribbean from March 20 - 27, 2010, the cruise will allow you to go "beyond the book" with a week's worth of interactive business seminars led by Gary, plus entertaining wine events and much, much more! Learn more at http://crushitcruise.com.

At the conclusion of the book tour, Gary will draw one receipt for the grand prize winner

who will accompany Gary on the cruise. Drawing to be conducted live on ustream.tv

on Thursday, November 19th!

*Please note, you must purchase a book at a book tour location and give your receipt to Gary during a book signing event to be entered in the contest. One entry per receipt. Prize winner receives a standard interior stateroom for 2 valued at $899 per person. Winner is responsible for travel to and from Fort Lauderdale and any and all taxes, fees, on-board expenses, and gratuity. **We will have a special and easy sign up list for everyone who purchases a copy of Crush It! at Swig during this event; that list will suffice for purchase receipts and thus for contest entries.

Tuesday, October 27
JAMES WORKMAN
Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought
7:30 PM

In the growing consensus over global warming, we are overlooking one of the most serious consequences of all: the depletion of potable water. Journalist and water expert James Workman travels to one of the driest places on earth to see how, against all odds and under brutal government repression, an indigenous people draws on ancient wisdom to survive the extreme scarcity of life’s essential resource.

In 2002, the government of Botswana decided to clear the Kalahari Desert of its Bushmen. Tribes that had been living for centuries in some of the world’s harshest conditions were told they had to assimilate to modernity or die. Government convoys raided desert villages, destroyed water pumps that pulled water from underground aquifers, and violently put down any protests that erupted. Yet instead of leaving, the Bushmen stayed. And survived. The forced scarcity of water for them suggests the potential disaster in store for all of us. In Heart of Dryness, Jamie Workman shows us that we would do well to emulate the Bushmen.

Workman has written for the New Republic, Washington Monthly, Utne Reader, Orion, and other publications. He was a speechwriter in the Clinton administration, working closely with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, and steering the ‘dambuster’ campaign to tear down river-killing dams. Having spent two years filing monthly dispatches on water scarcity in Africa, work which formed the basis of an NPR show and documentary, he is now a water consultant to politicians, businesses, aid agencies, development institutions, and conservation organizations on four continents. He lives in the Haight Ashbury with his wife and children.

FIRST FRIDAYS: SPECIAL EVENT FOR TEEN INDIE GIRLS
Friday, November 6
KAREN MACKLIN and ARNE JOHNSON

INDIE GIRL: From Starting a Band to Launching a Fashion Company, Nine Ways to Turn Your Creative Talent Into Reality - Please note early time: - 6:00 to 7:30 PM

Are you a girl who's tired of letting the world decide what constitutes art? Want to take matters into your own hands? A fun and comprehensive guide for teenage girls (and anyone who thinks like one!), Zest Books' Indie Girl contains all of the information you'll need to start 9 independent creative ventures, from forming a rock band to creating a fashion company to making your own TV show.

At this event, local authors Arne Johnson (documentary film maker of Girls Rock!) and Karen Macklin (magazine writer and editorial director of Zest Books) will take attendees through the process of making a real, DIY zine. Participants will actually create their own zine, which will be available for collaborators to retrieve at Booksmith in the coming weeks! All supplies (and pizza) included .

FIRST FRIDAYS: SPECIAL COMEDY EVENT!
Friday, November 6
Producer of The Daily Show DAVID JAVERBAUM, G.E.D.

What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters (A Parody - ) - 8:00 PM

Written specifically for the prenatal reader, David Javerbaum's self-help guide to gestation takes its naïve readers -- many of whom weren't even born yesterday -- through the whole process, from conception until their triumphant zeroth birthday. By the last chapter, a panel discussion about birth among four newborns moderated by Regis Philbin, the reader is relaxed, focused, and ready to calmly go through the first (and some would say best) first three trimesters of their lives.

David Javerbaum, G.E.D., is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of The Daily How with Jon Stewart and one of the principal authors of America: The Book. He is a former contributor to The Onionand writer for The Late Show with David Letterman. Recently he was nominated for a 2009 Tony award for his original score of the Broadway show Cry-Baby and he wrote the lyrics for Stephen Colbert's Christmas special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All. He has won the James Thurber Award for American Humor, two Peabody Awards, and the Television Critics Awards for both Best Comedy and Best News Show. He lives in New York.

Monday, November 9
THRILLER NIGHT!
MICHELLE GAGNON, The Gatekeeper - MARK COGGINS, The Big Wakeup - 7:30 PM

Special Agent Kelly Jones returns in Michelle Gagnon's new novel. Drugged then kidnapped, a young girl wakes up to a nightmare. From the moment sixteen-year-old Madison is abducted, an unthinkable terrorist plot is set in motion, pitting Special Agent Jones against her most powerful adversary yet.

Mark Coggins, the award-winning author of The Immortal Game and Runoff and two other books featuring August Riordan, delivers The Big Wakeup, plunging PI Riordan and his sidekick Chris Duckworth into their most terrifying and anguishing case ever.

The odyssey of Eva Perón was as remarkable in death as it was in life. A few years after she succumbed to cervical cancer, her specially preserved body was taken by the military dictatorship that succeeded her deposed husband Juan. Hidden for sixteen years in Italy in a crypt under a false name, she was eventually exhumed and returned to Buenos Aires to be buried in an underground tomb said to be secure enough to withstand a nuclear attack. Or was she?

Wednesday, November 11
Progress Now's MICHAEL HUTTNER
50 WAYS YOU CAN HELP OBAMA CHANGE AMERICA - 7:30 PM

The 2008 presidential election was historic in that it reflected Americans' overwhelming call for change in the United States. Now, the millions of people who worked hard to elect Barack Obama are asking themselves, “What's next? How do we keep the momentum going?” 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America by Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman answers those questions.

In his inauguration speech, President Obama said, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Americans who want to do what it takes see a progressive agenda succeed will find an invaluable resource guide in 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America.

“This up-to-date guide for the hands-on activist is a must-have blueprint for every supporter who answered Barack Obama's phrase, `Fired up,' with `Ready to go!” -- Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, Founder, Daily Kos

“The last election was merely a first step. We must now bring that same enthusiasm and determination to bear in order to get our country back on the right track. This book is a road map for anyone looking to make a difference.” -- Senator Russ Feingold

“Electing Barack Obama to the presidency is the beginning of the journey, not the end. The real agenda is not to have a Democrat in the White House but to give ordinary Americans some say again. Huttner and Salzman show how we can do that.” -- Governor Howard Dean

“Barack Obama made public service `cool.' 50 Ways will help make it effective. Whatever your personal call to service, 50 Ways has the resources you need to make a difference.” -- Christine Pelosi, Campaign Boot Camp: Basic Training for Future Leaders

Michael Huttner is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProgressNow, a network of state-based online organizations. In 2003, Huttner started ProgressNow in the back of his Denver law firm with his list of 600 e-mail addresses. The 12 ProgressNow partner states' combined membership now exceeds 2 million individuals.

Thursday, November 12
A Very Special Event for Kids (and Their Adults)!
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS with a mini-concert and signing the new KIDS GO! - Please note early time: 4:00 PM

The Grammy award-winning alternative rock band They Might Be Giants (John Flansburgh and John Linnell) present a new sing-along book and DVD for children of all ages!

They Might Be Giants is one of the most beloved underground bands in popular music, cited as the inspiration for many popular “alternative” groups such as The Barenaked Ladies, Weezer and Harvey Danger. Together for over 25 years, childhood friends Flansburgh and Linnell continue to create.

In KIDS GO!, their new sing-along story book (which follows the success of their first kids' book, Bed, Bed, Bed, TMBG's spirit of fun and adventure invites both parents and kids to share in the pleasure of the story of two kids who learn how to move like a monkey, shake like a jumping bean, throw their hands in the air, and go, go, go.

Throughout their 25+ year career, the band has racked up several charting albums and singles, as well as two Grammy awards -- one in 2002 for their song “Boss of Me,” (the theme song for Malcolm in the Middle) and the other in 2009 for their children's album Here Come the 123s. They also wrote the theme song to “Austin Powers,” and have appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with Conan O'Brien,” NPR's “This American Life,” “Nightline,” and countless radio, print and web interviews. They continue to record albums while branching out into the realm of children's music, and have sold over 4 million records in total.

Don't miss this late afternoon super treat -- grab the kids, the neighbors, and come have a whole lot of fun with us!

Thursday, November 12
WOODY TASCH
Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money (investing as if food, farms, and fertility mattered) - 7:30 PM

Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money presents the path for bringing money back down to earth -- philosophically, strategically and pragmatically, and with an entrepreneurial spirit that is informed by the work of thousands of CEOs, investors, grant-makers, food producers and consumers who are seeding the restorative economy.

The months and years ahead will surely see a flood of books proposing micro- and macro-economic fixes to the financial crises of the day. Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money brings a different vision -- a meta-economic vision, looking above the top line and below the bottom line, a new way of seeing what is going on in the soil of the economy. This is the path towards a financial system that serves people and place as much at it serves industry sectors and markets.

JOHN BLOOM, director of Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance, and the author of the new book The Genius of Money: Essays and Interviews Reimagining the Financial World, joins Woody Tasch in discussion this evening.

Friday, November 13
Co-sponsored by Environmentalists Against War
MARK DANNER
Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War - 7:30 PM

Stripping Bare the Body is the much-anticipated new work from award-winning journalist Mark Danner, informed by his reporting from some of the world's most troubled regions -- Haiti after the fall of the Duvalier; the Balkans during the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia; and from Iraq and the US during the war on terror. The book presents a moral history of American power during the last quarter century, told in powerful narratives of politics and violence and war. Stripping Bare the Body is a chronicle of what Danner calls a “grim age, still infused with the remnant perfume of imperial dreams,” and tells the tale, from bloody ground to air-conditioned office, of the final years of the American Century.

Mark Danner has written about foreign affairs and American politics for more than two decades, covering Latin America, Haiti, the Balkans and the Middle East among other stories. He was for many years a staff writer atThe New Yorker and contributes frequently to The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine and other publications. He teaches at the University of California and at Bard College and speaksand debates widely about America's role in the world.

Later this month, we'll be presenting ROMESH RATNESAR, AMY BACH, NANI STEELE, and our final BOOKSMITH BOOKSWAPfor this year. We'll be at the JCC of San Francisco for AMOS OZ's talk, and our affiliate Berkeley Arts & Letters will be presentingORHAN PAMUK and MARY KARR in Berkeley. Stay well and keep reading!

DAVID THOMSON
THE MOMENT OF PSYCHO
Thursday, December 3 - 7:30 PM

It was made like a television movie, and completed in less than three months. It killed off its star in forty minutes. There was no happy ending. And it offered the most violent scene to date in American film, punctuated by shrieking strings that seared the national consciousness. Nothing like Psycho had existed before; the movie industry—even America itself—would never be the same. In The Moment of Psycho, film critic David Thomson situates Psycho in Alfred Hitchcock’s career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Thomson shows that Psycho was not just a sensation in film: it altered the very nature of our desires. Sex, violence, and horror took on new life. Psycho, all of a sudden, represented all America wanted from a film—and, as Thomson brilliantly demonstrates, still does.

English-American writer David Thomson is the author of many books on film, including “Have You Seen...?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films, which the New York Times called, “passionate, illuminating, rich, and eccentric”; and the massively influential Biographical Dictionary of Film called “the best book on the movies ever written in English” (The New Republic). He lives in San Francisco with his family.

FIRST FRIDAY on HAIGHT STREET
Friday, December 4 - Stop by for some hot cider and holiday cookies this evening, from 5:30 to 8.

It is quite possible you’ll encounter some zombie caroling, too.

SCHOOL BENEFIT DAY on HAIGHT STREET
Sunday, December 6

The Booksmith will donate 20% of your designated purchases today to Grattan and New Traditions elementary schools. If you haven’t received a voucher from your local schools to bring in for this benefit, just ask one of our booksellers for one!

We’re delighted that our neighbor merchants are joining this much-needed benefit this year; each is offering our neighborhood public schools a donation, so in addition to visiting The Booksmith, you may also want to check out FTC/SFO; Offbeat on Haight; Soul Patch Tattoo; Ben & Jerry’s; Ambiance; Mendel’s; Kids Only; Coco-Luxe; Amoeba Music; Haight Street Market.

JOANNA MACY and ANITA BARROWS
A YEAR WITH RILKE:
Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke
Tuesday, December 8 - 7:30 PM

One of the most widely read modern poets, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) has influenced generations of writers and served as a trusted guide for countless others on the importance of looking within to find peace in a hectic world. From The Book of Hours to hisclassic Letters to a Young Poet, his writings have only gained more relevance with time, and his observations are amazingly prescient.

Now, for the first time, A Year with Rilke provides a reading from Rilke for every day of the year. From his luminous poetry, to his piercing prose, and even his intimate letters and journals, editors Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows provide new translations in a collection that reveals the depth and breadth of Rilke’s acclaimed work.

Including the last lines found in Rilke’s journal before he died as well as the epitaph he requested be carved on his gravestone, A Year with Rilke is an intimate window on the work on an unparalleled writer, providing daily meditations on themes such as impermanence, the beauty of creation, the voice of God, and the importance of solitude.

This evening is an opportunity to hear a selection of these daily readings, and to celebrate a lovely book that will make a wonderful gift this holiday season.

News from Our Friends at The Rumpus:
December 14 at The Makeout Room, 3225 22nd St., 7pm

Please join us for a night of literature, music, and comedy featuring:

Andrew Leland from The Believer Magazine
James Nestor, author of Get High Now
Michelle Gagnon, author of The Gatekeeper
Robert Mailer Anderson, author of Boonville
Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Story of a Marriage

and The Confessions of Max Tivoli

With comedy by W. Kamau Bell
Music by Michael Mullen of The Size Queens
and a special performance by Dan Wolf from Felonious

$10, cheap! You can’t afford not to go
Also prizes, giveaways, the chance to kiss someone you’ve never met

(And we’ll be there, too!)

Hosted by Rumpus editor and author of The Adderall Diaries Stephen Elliott

NOTE: No one under 21 years old will be admitted..

 Jason Myers - THE MISSION
Tuesday, January 5 - 7:30 PM 

Wake up and do something! Kaden Norris's life is shattered when his older brother -- his best friend and hero -- is killed in Iraq. All Kaden has left of Kenny is a letter, urging him to break away from his sheltered life and to go to San Francisco to visit his cousin, James. Kaden is blown away, as James introduces him to a life filled with drugs, sex, and apathy. He goes from extreme high to extreme low, having no idea what to expect. And when Kaden uncovers secrets about his family that have been kept from him for years, his entire world comes crashing down. This may not be the trip his brother had envisioned for him, but it's one Kaden will never forget.

Jason Myers was born in 1980 and raised on a farm outside of Dysart, Iowa. After high school, he studied film at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His first novel, exit here, was published in 2007, and is in it's fifth printing. The Mission is his second novel. He lives and works in San Francisco. More information about this author and book can be found at www.jasonmyersauthor.com

Stewart Levine - GETTING TO RESOLUTION
Thursday, January 7 - 7:30 PM  

What is the greatest impediment to productive and satisfying business and personal relationships? According to empowerment guru Stewart Levine, it's inadequate conflict resolution. Levine's seven-step model integrates two skills essential for success - collaboration and conflict resolution - and emphasizes the importance of a shift in attitude, assumptions, and approaches when facing a problem.

“If you want to resolve conflict and build relationships while connecting at a profound level, read Getting to Resolution. It gives you new language and practices for transforming your communication so you can lead at a higher level.”
Victoria Halsey PhD, Vice President of Applied Learning, The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of The Hamster Revolution and The Hamster Revolution for Meetings

Stewart Levine is a lawyer, management consultant, mediator, and trainer. His clients and students include American Express, Caterpillar Corporation, Chevron, ConAgra, General Motors, Oracle, and others. He has been a partner in two law firms and served as Deputy Attorney General for the state of New Jersey. Visit www.resolutionworks.org.

Raj Patel - THE VALUE OF NOTHING: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy
Saturday, January 9 - 7:30 PM   

Naomi Klein writes, “With great lucidity and confidence in a dazzling array of fields, Patel reveals how we inflate the cost of things we can (and often should) live without, while assigning absolutely no value to the resources we all
need to survive. This is a deeply thought-provoking book about the dramatic changes we must make to save the planet from financial madness—argued with so much humor and humanity that the enormous tasks ahead feel both doable and desirable. This is Raj Patel’s great gift: he makes even the most radical ideas seem not only reasonable, but inevitable. A brilliant book.”

At the heart of THE VALUE OF NOTHING is a question: If economics is about choices, who gets to make them? Raj Patel shows how prices mislead us and how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. Part One examines the economic history that got us into this mess; by showing how land and labor originally came to be commoditized, Patel reveals the hidden costs of goods, the real price of a hamburger ($200!), and how government has been captured by corporate interests. Patel argues that in order to truly understand our current economic crisis we need not only to rethink our economic model but the very meaning of democracy. Where other books on these issues end by stating the problem, Patel goes on in Part Two to show how social organizations here in America and around the globe are already successfully reining in markets and, in doing so, creating a new kind of participatory democracy, one in which people, not simply governments, play the crucial role in deciding how we value our world and its resources..

Raj Patel, the author of Stuffed and Starved, is an activist and academic who has been hailed as “a visionary” for his prescience about the food crisis. Raj has worked for the World Bank and the WTO and has protested against them on four continents. He is currently a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, an honorary Research Fellow at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. Learn more at www.rajpatel.org. And watch the book trailer here!

  Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser - IT ALL CHANGED IN AN INSTANT: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure
Monday, January 11 - 7:30 PM

In a world where technology has shrunk our attention spans but made it easier for us to communicate, SMITH Magazine has found a medium perfectly suited for contemporary memoirists. Through www.smithmag.net, founder Larry Smith and memoir editor Rachel Fershleiser have collected all new Six-Word Memoirs, cutting to the quick in personal stories of fear, hope, excitement and reflection. In their latest collection IT ALL CHANGED IN AN INSTANT they continue to champion six-word memoirs by civilians and celebrities alike, cultivating a community of people who are empowered to write their own stories and granted access to the tales of others. More than 1750,000 people have submitted Six-Word Memoirs at SMITH Magazine and its younger cousin, SMITH Teens.

Thanks to SMITH, people around the world have been sharing terse true tales of romance, parenthood, friendship, ambition, failure, haircuts, and french fries. Thanks to the devoted admiration of writers, critics and educators alike, the six-word memoir concept has spread to classrooms, dinner tables, and tens of thousands of blogs.

Deceptively simple and surprisingly addictive, IT ALL CHANGED IN AN INSTANT contains a thousand new six-word sagas. From acclaimed authors Wally Lamb, Isabel Allende, Frank McCourt, Junot Diaz, Amy Tan and James Frey, and celebrities Ann Coulter, Yogi Berra, Melissa Etheridge, Sarah Silverman, Suze Orman, Neil Patrick Harris, Tony Hawk, Terrell Owens, Leonard Nimoy and Chelsea Handler, to ordinary folks around the world, everyone has a six-word story to tell.

That means you, too, and we invite you to enter your own six-word memoir in Booksmith’s Big Contest! Send your pithy memoir – in six words – to events@booksmith.com between now and January 8. Larry and Rachel will choose six winners, who’ll each receive an intriguing prize pack – and we’ll invite you to read your winning entries this evening!

Robin Ekiss - THE MANSION OF HAPPINESS
Tuesday, January 12 - 7:30 PM

Robin Ekiss's meditations on memory and mortality are a canary in the coal mine of imagination. With disembodied dolls, dank Parisian catacombs, the gilded interior of a Fabergé egg, and the unfathomable edge of Niagara Falls as the dominion of these poems, reading Ekiss's work is like peering into the perfectly still world of a diorama or daguerreotype: an experience both uncanny and uncompromising.

Ekiss is the recipient of a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award for Emerging Women Writers. Her poems have appeared widely, in the Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, New England Review, and elsewhere. She lives in San Francisco.

"Charmed by the curious, the miniature, and the grotesque, Robin Ekiss understands where such fascinations lead. ‘In the nautilus,’ she writes, ‘each turn of light/ leads into darkness.’ And into the dire complexities of feeling, recorded here with subtle formal intelligence and a deft control of tone that leads this poet's readers to remember that even dark enchantments are enchantments still." -- Mark Doty

"These darkly beautiful poems are unswerving in their search for a place where the inner and outer world edit one another. Robin Ekiss writes with force and elegance. The content is always there; the craft is never sacrificed. The combination makes this book a superb debut." -- Eavan Boland

David Kessler - PUTTING THE FOOD INDUSTRY ON TRIAL
Booksmith @ the SFJCC: Thursday, January 14 - 8 PM at the JCCSF
Information and tickets - http://www.jccsf.org/content_main.aspx?catid=535#3255

Don Lattin - THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB
Tuesday, January 19 - 7:30 PM

The 1950s -- a decade defined by conformity, consumerism, and conservatism --were coming to a close, and a new era of social, spiritual, sexual, and psychological revolution was beginning. By the end of the century, Americans would have a new outlook on religion and new ways of practicing medicine, and the Mind/Body/Spirit movement would make things like yoga, organic produce, and alternative medicine commonplace.

This is the story of how it all began. Three brilliant scholars and one ambitious undergrad -- widely known today as leaders in the fields of spirituality (Ram Dass), world religions (Huston Smith), hallucinogenics (Timothy Leary), and holistic medicine (Andrew Weil) -- came together in the winter of 1960-61 around the Harvard Psilocybin Project, an infamous series of experiments with psychedelic drugs. Seeking spiritual enlightenment, their research brought them together before bitterness and betrayal tore them apart, and as they forged their own paths and changed their own lives, they would also transform the culture of America.

In The Harvard Psychedelic Club takes readers into the heart of the 1960s and back into this era of “peace, love, and joy.” With cameos by some of the best known and most beloved cultural figures of the era—including John Lennon, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey, Joan Baez, Keith Richards, and Aldous Huxley—this book presents a comprehensive and compelling picture of a nation undergoing great and lasting change, and the four men who took us there.

Don Lattin is the author of Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, where he covered the religion beat for nearly two decades. Lattin has also appeared on Dateline, Good Morning America, Nightline, Anderson Cooper 360, and PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

Michael Thomas Ford - JANE BITES BACK
Wednesday, January 20  - 7:30 PM

The fiction of Jane Austen is timeless and has endured the centuries -- and now in Michael Thomas Ford’s JANE BITES BACK she herself will truly never die.

Ford’s clever, campy, and genre-bending tale opens in upstate New York, where Jane is alive and well working in a local bookstore. It’s tough to be surrounded by books while harboring your true bestselling identity, but Jane has learned how to cope after hundreds of years. The one thing that really bothers her is not getting royalty checks on the multitude of spin-offs of her work including The Jane Austen Cookbook and Austen action figures: if she was dead, she’d turn over in her grave. But Jane’s luck is about to change when she lands a new book deal --after 200 years and 116 rejection letters -- that promises to launch her career anew..

JANE BITES BACK is a contemporary comedy of manners, a witty spoof of popular culture, and just a lot of laugh-out-loud fun -- in the immortal words of Jane herself, “If a book is well written, I always find it too short.”

Join us in raising a glass of red, red wine to subject and author this evening!

“It’s impossible not to love Ford’s sharp-witted, sharp-fanged Jane Austen (and I’m not just saying that because she spares my life in Chapter Six).” --Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of numerous books, including the novels What We Remember, Suicide Notes, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It, and Last Summer.

LAUNCH PARTY!
Ethan Watters - CRAZY LIKE US: The Globalization of the American Psyche
Thursday, January 21  - 7:30 PM 

American culture is homogenizing the way the world goes mad.  Our exportation of everything from movies to junk food is a well-documented phenomenon.  But neither our golden arches nor our bomb craters represent our most troubling impact on the world: the bulldozing of the human mind itself.  In CRAZY LIKE US, leading trend-spotter and science writer Ethan Watters shows that we are  not only changing the way the world treats and understands mental illness, we are actually changing the symptoms and prevalence of the diseases themselves.

In CRAZY LIKE US, Watters reveals how:

·        American versions of depression, post traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders are spreading around the world like contagions -- and we are the ones spreading them.

·        Western trauma counselors rush to far off countries to save the day without taking into account that the psychological reactions to trauma vary dramatically from culture to culture. (What would we have thought if New Guinea shamans arrived in New Orleans to counsel Katrina survivors)?

·        Anorexia rose in Hong Kong over the last two decades not only because of western fashion and diet crazes but because we exported the idea of the illness itself!

·        Our Western biomedical conception of mental illness has been show to increase the social stigma placed on the mentally ill around the world.

·        America believes it has a rightful place as the therapist to the world.  Given the state of mental health in our culture, Watters argues it is time to rethink our generosity.

Watters travels the world to illustrate the ways in which Western influences have changed mental illness.  In Hong Kong, he meets teenagers who have learned from American culture that anorexia is the modern way to express distress, and who began refusing food after a wave of Western celebrities and researchers began raising awareness.  In Zanzibar, he witnesses a much milder and more bearable form of schizophrenia than what we have in the States.  In Sri Lanka, he sees western crisis counselors bungle the treatment of Tsunami victims and actually cause the community more distress. And in Japan, he tells the story of the drug companies selling depression itself to create a market for a new drug. 

Ethan Watters is the author of Urban Tribes, an examination of the mores of affluent “never marrieds” and the coauthor of Making Monsters, a groundbreaking indictment of the recovered memory movement.  A frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Discover, Men’s Journal, Details, Wired, and NPR, he has appeared on such national media as Good Morning America, Talk of the Nation, and CNN.

Booksmith @ the SFJCC:
Start-Up Nation: What We Can Learn From Israel's Meteoric Economic Success
with Dan Senor, Council on Foreign Relations
Thursday, January 21 - 8 PM at the SFJCC
Information and tickets: http://www.jccsf.org/content_main.aspx?catid=539#3345

Chris Farrell - THE NEW FRUGALITY: How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better
Friday, January 22 - 7:30 PM

According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, The Great Recession may technically be over. But what’s clear is that, no matter what the GDP may be, people are hurting financially. In The New Frugality, Chris Farrell, personal finance expert for American Public Media’s Marketplace Money and contributing economics editor for BusinessWeek, presents a new paradigm for surviving the greatest economic crisis in a generation.

 The embrace of what Farrell calls the New Frugality signals that half a century of people spending with abandon and borrowing as much as possible is done. Profligacy is out. Frugality is in. Also, The Great Recession comes at a time of another great crisis related to our over consumption: global climate change. This convergence of crises creates opportunities and new ways to be frugal. In everyday money decisions, it turns out that being frugal and being green are synonymous.

 Farrell suggests we should focus not only on what’s affordable in the short term, but also on what’s sustainable in the long term. If you’re thinking about getting rid of your car and buying a bike to save money, there’s no reason you should buy a two-wheeled clunker from Craigslist that needs a trip to the bike shop every other day. As Farrell demonstrates, there’s a difference between being frugal and being cheap.  We’ll still need places to live (do we buy or rent?), to save for college, and every now and then go into a little debt. How we make these choices will be as important as the choices themselves. The New Frugality offers smart, sustainable, and ultimately more fulfilling ways to approach our personal finances and get more out of spending less.

Young Writers Project Group Reading 
Sunday, January 24 - 4:00 – 6:00 PM

Come hear from some of the youngest, and most talented, budding young novelists from the Bay Area at *National Novel Writing Month's third-annual Thank Goodness It's Over Young Writers Program Reading and Celebration*. National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants writing adventure where the challenge is to pen an entire novel in the 30 days of November. Over 40 local classrooms participated in NaNoWriMo this year, and the Young Writers Program will be featuring authors from six of them.. Students from 1st grade through 12th grade will be reading from their newly-written manuscripts. Word lovers of all ages are invited to come enjoy this reading. Warning: this event might be overwhelmingly inspirational! After seeing a 4th-grade student read from the 20,000-word novel that she wrote in 30 days, you may need to write a novel next November yourself! - www.nanowrimo.org

Jeremy Adam Smith - THE COMPASSIONATE INSTINCT: The Science of Human Goodness
Monday, January 25 - 7:30 PM 

In these pages you will hear from Steven Pinker, who asks, "Why is there peace?"; Robert Sapolsky, who examines violence among primates; Paul Ekman, who talks with the Dalai Lama about global compassion; Daniel Goleman, who proposes "constructive anger"; and many others. Led by renowned psychologist Dacher Keltner, the Greater Good Science Center, based at the University of California in Berkeley, has been at the forefront of the positive psychology movement, making discoveries about how and why people do good. Four times a year the center publishes its findings with essays on forgiveness, moral inspiration, and everyday ethics in Greater Good magazine. The best of these writings are collected here for the first time. A collection of personal stories and empirical research, The Compassionate Instinct will make you think not only about what it means to be happy and fulfilled but also about what it means to lead an ethical and compassionate life.

Jeremy Smith is the editor of Greater Good magazine and the author of The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms, and Shared Parenting Are Transforming the American Family, and he will talk a bit about this work as well this evening.

Co-sponsored by the UCSF Center for Gender Equity.

Found in Translation - Book Group Meeting
Tuesday, January 26 - 7:00 PM

After a short hiatus, Booksmith’s literature-in-translation book group is ready to rock and roll again. This is an open discussion group, and, yes, you may simply show up – we’d love to see you! You’ll find descriptive flyers about the group and forthcoming books and dates in the store.

With the recent publication of Roberto Bolano: The Last Interview and Bolano's newest novel-in-translation, Monsieur Pain, the time is ripe to talk about this superstar. Join us at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, January 26, to discuss The Skating Rink, published last August. Called a "masterpiece" by The New York Times, the book centers around the murder of a beautiful ice skater in Spain. We'll get into why critics have called this detective story a forerunner of Bolano's mega-successful novel The Savage Detectives. For those new to Bolano, this makes a great starting point, and for dedicated Bolano-maniacs this book will be another great read from an author they love. Join us on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 for a rousing discussion and a chance to meet new readers.

Copies of The Skating Rink, like all other Found in Translation featured titles, are available at a 15% discount.

The Booksmith is so happy to welcome Scott Esposito and Annie Janusch as group discussion leaders. Scott and Annie's work with both the Quarterly Conversation and the Center for the Art of Translation keeps them apprised on a day-to-day basis of what's new in world lit, and they're excited to act as your "interpreters" through these uncharted literary landscapes.

Booksmith Book Swap
Friday, January 29 - 6:30 to 9:30 PM

The first Book Swap in 2010 might just be the most fun you've had at a bookstore, ever -- so don't miss it.  Join special author guests Stephen Elliott and Kevin Smokler, along with other smart, creative lit-minded souls of the city. Enjoy good company, swell atmosphere, delicious Reverie food, free-flowing wine, wise discourse and hilarious anecdotes.  Bring a book -- one you loved but can part with -- and we'll cook up some good, smart fun. You'll also receive a 20% off discount card!

Author Holly Payne says the Book Swap is "The most unique book event I’ve ever participated in."

Space is very limited -- these events sell out, so we urge you to get your tickets well in advance! As always, tickets must be purchased in advance, in the store, or at Brown Paper Tickets.

Tuesday, February 2 Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie 7:30 PM

SLOW DEATH BY RUBBER DUCK

Pollution is no longer just about belching smokestacks and ugly sewer pipes--now, it's personal. The most dangerous pollution, it turns out, comes from commonplace items in our homes and workplaces. To prove this point, for one week authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie ingested and inhaled a host of things that surround all of us. Using their own bodies as the reference point to tell the story of pollution in our modern world, they expose the miscreant corporate giants who manufacture the toxins, the weak-kneed government officials who let it happen, and the effects on people and families across the globe.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck -- the testimony of their experience -- exposes the extent to which we are poisoned every day of our lives, from the simple household dust that is polluting our blood to the toxins in our urine that are created by run-of-the-mill shampoos and toothpaste. Ultimately hopeful, the book empowers readers with some simple ideas for protecting themselves and their families, and changing things for the better.

"This book is a powerful reminder that what we do to Mother Earth, we do directly to ourselves. Read it to see why we have to change the way we live and get off our destructive path." -- David Suzuki

“Fantastically important—an indispensable guide to surviving in an industrial age..” -- Tim Flannery, author of Now or Never and The Weather Makers

Rick Smith is a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist and Executive Director of Environmental Defence Canada (since 2003), where he has established a reputation as one of the country’s leading environmental campaigners with efforts such as the high-profile Toxic Nation campaign.

A biologist by training, Rick completed his doctoral research on an endangered subspecies of freshwater harbour seal in arctic Quebec with a nearby community of Cree hunters. From 1997 to 2002 Rick was Executive Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Canadian office and acting Director of the Fund's UK office for a year. While at the Fund, Rick created high-profile and successful public efforts to end Ontario's spring bear hunt, won a groundbreaking Supreme Court of Canada ruling striking down the patenting of higher life forms and spurred the adoption of Canada's first federal Species At Risk Act.

Bruce Lourie is an influential leader and thinker in Canada's environment sector. His 20 year career is built on creating collaborative solutions to challenges facing non-profits, government and the private sector. Bruce is President of Ivey Foundation, a private charitable foundation focusing on environmental policy change. He is a Director of the Ontario Power Authority and a Director of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, one of Canada's largest community funding agencies. He is Chair of the Board of Environmental Defence Canada.

Wednesday, February 3 Carol Sklenicka 7:30 PM

RAYMOND CARVER: A Writer’s Life (One of The New York Times’ Top 10 of 2009)

Raymond Carver was the most beloved American short-story writer of the late twentieth century. Two decades after his death, this definitive biography tells the story of Carver's uncanny ambition, legendary life, and enduring work.

When Raymond Carver died at age fifty, readers lost a distinctive voice in its prime. Carver was, the Times of London said, "the Chekhov of middle America." His influence on a generation of writers and on the short story itself has been widely noted. Not so generally known are how Carver became a writer, how he suffered to achieve his art, and how his troubled and remarkable personality affected those around him.

Carol Sklenicka's meticulous and absorbing biography re-creates Carver's early years in Yakima, Washington, where he was the nervous, overweight son of a kindly, alcohol-dependent lumbermill worker. By the time he was nineteen, Ray had married his high school sweetheart, Maryann Burk. From a basement apartment where they were raising their first child and expecting their second, they determined that Ray would become a writer. Despite the handicaps of an erratic education and utter lack of financial resources, he succeeded.

Maryann's belief in Carver's talent was unshakable, as was her willingness to support the family and see her experiences transformed in his fiction. Sklenicka reveals the entwined histories of this passionate, volatile marriage and Carver's career. She describes his entry into the literary world via "little magazines" and the Iowa Writers' Workshop; his publication by Esquire editor Gordon Lish and their ensuing relationship; his near-fatal alcoholism, which worsened even as he produced many of the unforgettable stories collected in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Sklenicka examines Carver's warmhearted friendships with scores of writers, including Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff, John Gardner, Joy Williams, Al Young, William Kittredge, Leonard Michaels, Chuck Kinder, and Hayden Carruth; she shows how his stories about unemployment, drinking, marital trauma, divorce, troubled children, and suburban malaise, dubbed "minimalist" by critics, won readers with their precise and humane portrayal of ordinary lives. She examines the dissolution of his first marriage and his partnership with poet Tess Gallagher, who helped him enjoy the full measure of his success. Ever grateful that he'd been able to renounce alcohol, Carver shunned pity and considered himself a "lucky man" as he faced death from lung cancer in 1988.

Carol Sklenicka draws on hundreds of interviews with people who knew Carver, prodigious research in libraries and private collections, and all of Carver's poems and stories for Raymond Carver, which took ten years to write. Her portrait is generous and wise and shows how Carver's quintessentially American life fostered the stories that knowing readers have cherished from their first publication until the present day.

Tuesday, February 9 Jim Powell 7:30 PM

SUBSTRATE

Poet Jim Powell’s first collection in twenty years examines the indigenous habitat of Northern California, treating history as a kind of sediment. Powell, fascinated by the first person, turns to eyewitness historical accounts and primary witnesses to create a portrait assembled of samples from twenty-five ‘strata’ in the ‘substrate’ of the region.

Largely narrative, Powell’s poems embrace the tradition, borrowing tools from prose and contemporary oral narration. His title poem summons twenty-five witnesses from oral and documentary history, ethnology, archeology, ethnobotany and linguistics, all providing a composite cultural history of California. Substrate is a vivid, multifaceted volume dazzling in its lush imagery and its linguistic richness.

Jim Powell is the author of It Was Fever That Made the World and the translator ofThe Poetry of Sappho and Catullan Revenants. He received a CCLM Younger Poets Prize in 1986 and a MacArthur Fellowship (1993-1198), and was the Sherry Poet and Lecturer at the University of Chicago in 2005. He is a fourth generation California native and lifelong resident of the Bay Area.

See David Ulin’s Los Angeles Times’ review.

Wednesday, February 10 Christine Carter 7:30 PM

RAISING HAPPINESS: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents

“This is THE parenting book. This is the one to read over and over. So much wisdom and empathy, all based in real science. My children owe Christine Carter big time.” -- Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place

“The learning curve for all parents is in failure analysis—where and how we went off course—and how we can do better the next go round. Enter Raising Happiness, a compendium of ideas and suggestions on how to do better and how to increase happiness and joy in all families. Read it, enjoy, and most importantly, put it into practice.” -- Mike Riera, Ph.D., author Field Guide to the American Teenager andRight From Wrong

“Raising Happiness is an elegant, funny, and rigorous handbook for the humbling task of raising joyful children. Brimming with brilliantly distilled science, poignant stories from her family, and what parents so urgently seek – clear, practical, and informed guidance – it is an encyclopedia of wisdom for raising children in today’s multitasking, multimedia world.” -- Dacher Keltner, author Born To Be Good: The Science of A Meaningful Life, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

Christine Carter Ph.D., a sociologist, Executive Director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and mother of two young children herself, reveals ten simple principles, distilled from years of fascinating research, to help parents foster the skills, habits, and mindsets that will set the stage for positive emotions now and into their adolescence and beyond.

Psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists study happiness through single focus lenses, but when you put together their disparate research -- as Carter does at the Greater Good Science Center -- you see proof that happiness is a skill; it is a muscle any parent can help their child build and maintain. In her new book, Carter covers the day-to-day pressure points of

Parenting -- how best to discipline, get kids to school and activities on time, and get dinner on the table -- as well as the more elusive issues of helping children build healthy friendships and develop emotional intelligence.

Bring your questions and observations and join the discussion this evening!

Christine Carter is a regular on ABC's “View from the Bay” talk show, has been profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle and quoted in dozens of national publications including The New York Times, the Boston Globe, American Baby, and Parenting.

Thursday, February 11 Sara Houghteling 7:30 PM

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

A Finalist in Fiction for the National Jewish Book Awards

Set in a Paris darkened by World War II, Sara Houghteling's sweeping and sensuous debut novel (just now in paperback) tells the story of a son's quest to recover his family's lost masterpieces, looted by the Nazis during the occupation.

Born to an art dealer and his pianist wife, Max Berenzon is forbidden from entering the family business for reasons he cannot understand. He reluctantly attends medical school, reserving his true passion for his father's beautiful and brilliant gallery assistant, Rose Clement. When Paris falls to the Nazis, the Berenzons survive in hiding. They return in 1944 to find that their priceless collection has vanished: gone are the Matisses, the Picassos, and a singular Manet of mysterious importance. Madly driven to recover his father's paintings, Max navigates a torn city of corrupt art dealers, black marketers, Resistants, and collaborators. His quest will reveal the tragic disappearance of his closest friend, the heroism of his lost love, and the truth behind a devastating family secret.

Written with tense drama and a historian's eye for detail, Houghteling's novel draws on the real-life stories of France's preeminent art-dealing families and the forgotten biography of the only French woman to work as a double agent inside the Nazis' looted art stronghold. Pictures at an Exhibition conjures the vanished collections, the lives of the artists and their dealers, the exquisite romance, and the shattering loss of a singular era. It is a work of astonishing ambition and beauty from an immensely gifted new novelist.

"In times like this, one turns to books like "Pictures at an Exhibition" for their exhilarating sense of wonder and ambition. No other book I have read in a long time has such depth of history and intelligence, setting art as antidote for suffering, and love as both a cause and remedy for pain." -- Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Story of a Marriage and The Confessions of Max Tivoli

""Pictures at an Exhibition" is remarkably self-assured, astute, worldly, and well-informed; in fact, it does not look like a first novel at all. Its subject-matter-stolen paintings, and Nazis, and the insatiable hunger for beauty-requires both erudition and brilliance, and Sara Houghteling has plenty of both, along with a sense of humor and a warm heart." -- Charles Baxter, author of The Soul Thief

Sara Houghteling graduated from Harvard College in 1999 and received her master's in fine arts from the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to Paris, first prize in the Avery and Jules Hopwood Awards, and a John Steinbeck Fellowship. She currently lives in California, where she teaches high school English.

Amoeba Records joins The Booksmith in presenting Thursday, February 18 7:30 PM

Yvonne Prinz THE VINYL PRINCESS with live music from Matthew Edwards

Sixteen-year-old Allie, a self-professed music geek, has her dream job working at Berkeley’s independent record store, Bob and Bob’s Records. It’s shaping up to be a summer like never before, what with her mother starting to date again after the divorce, business at Bob and Bob’s getting dangerously slow, Allie crushing on a handsome stranger and, biggest of all, her new blog, The Vinyl Princess, which seems to be gaining interest one vinyl junkie at a time…

THE VINYL PRINCESS is a love letter to music, and the perfect companion for readers who walk through life with their earphones in, heads nodding to the rhythm of song, dreaming of all the great things that are to come.

Yvonne Prinz has written three books in the Clare series; Still There, Clare was was nominated for an IPPY Award (an Independent Publisher Award) and a Red Cedar Award. Not Fair, Clare was recently shortlisted for the Red Maple Award. A Canadian living in San Francisco, Prinz founded the famed independent music store Amoeba Records (our neighbor!) with her husband. There, she keeps her finger on the pulse of hip teen culture. You can read the blog of The Vinyl Princess at www.thevinylprincess.com

Matthew Edwards, the driving force behind The Music Lovers, will play a short acoustic set this evening; his song, “The Former Miss Ontario” is on the CD mix that accompanies Yvonne’s book. Be prepared for some cool giveaways, too!

Monday, February 22 7:30 PM Tara Austen Weaver

THE BUTCHER & THE VEGETARIAN: One Woman’s Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis

Food writer and blogger Tara Austen Weaver shares her uproarious, firsthand account of what happens when a lifelong vegetarian enters the mysterious world of Chateaubriands, London Broils, and osso buco style cuts... and the men who spend their days working with them.

Growing up in a family that kept jars of bean sprouts on its windowsill before such things were desirable or hip, Weaver never thought she'd stray from vegetarianism. But as an adult, she found herself in poor health, and, having tried cures of every kind, a doctor finally ordered her to eat meat. Warily, she ventured into the butcher shop, and as the man behind the counter wrapped up her first-ever chicken, she found herself charmed. Eventually, he dared her to cook her way through his meat counter. As Tara navigates through this new world -- grass-fed beef vs. grain-fed beef; finding chickens that are truly free-range -- she's tempted to give up and go back to eating tempeh. The more she learns about meat and how it's produced, and the effects eating it has on the human body and the planet, the less she feels she knows. She embarks upon a sometimes hilarious, sometimes frightening whirlwind tour that takes her from slaughterhouse to chef's table, from urban farm to the hearthside of cow wranglers. Along the way, she meets an unforgettable cast of characters who all seem to take a vested interest in whether she opts for turnips or T-bones.

Tara Austen Weaver is an award-winning writer whose work focuses on the themes of food, travel, art, and adventure. Her writing has been published in Edible San Francisco, on Chow.com, and in numerous anthologies. Her food blog, Tea and Cookies, was selected by the Times of London as one of the top food blogs in the world.

Tuesday, February 23 7:00 PM Found in Translation Book Group Meeting: Elias Khoury’s YALO

Everyone wants to know more about the Middle East, and Yalo is an excellent chance to find out.. Set in Beirut during Lebanon's civil war, this is the bracing story of a man falsely picked up by the police for terrorism and tortured into a false confession. Written by one of the Arab world's leading authors, Yalo is a great book for discussion. We'll try to unwind this complex plot and see what we can learn from this book about the Middle East world.

Join us on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM in the bookstore for spirited conversation about some of the newest writing hitting the U.S. from all over the globe. No foreign language knowledge necessary and no continental savvy required (but will be appreciated!) -- just bring your desire to read some excellent new books, hand-selected for you by the Booksmith's knowledgeable booksellers. You'll also meet some great new people (including Scott Esposito and Annie Janusch, who will guide each monthly conversation. Scott and Annie's work with both The Quarterly Conversation and the Center for the Art of Translation keeps them apprised on a day-to-day basis of what's new in world lit, and they're excited to act as your "interpreters" through these uncharted literary landscapes) and chat with them about the best new fiction from around the world.

Thursday, February 25 7:30 PM Marisa Matarazzo DRENCHED: Stories of Love and Other Deliriums

Two lovers accidentally create a love potion while making a batch of Jell-O. An apartment is filled with water as an act of gravity-defying devotion to an acrobat. At turns blissful, absurd, sexy, and devastating, Marisa Matarazzo’s stories don’t just push the boundaries of love – they show how very boundless it is.

These interconnected shorts take love to a new level, another world, where a sex fever can sweep a town and where sex acts are performed while tied to the raised mast of a sailboat. Falling into love, swimming, and drowning in it, Matarazzo’s characters often exist in places where land and water collide: a girl without hands is rescued from the sea by an oil-rig worker; a boy transplants a fish into the body of a menacing neighbor; a woman on the rebound has an unexpected encounter with an otherworldly water engineer…

Fusing magical realism and fantastical elements with the heart of here and now, Drenched is a celebration of the fluid sorcery of love – in its ardor, its ugliness, all of its uncanny and magnificent manifestations.

Saturday, February 27 1:00 – 7:30 PM MAGAZINE DAY

Piles of unread magazines falling to the floor and tormenting you?

Never again!

Join Booksmith and local writer Kevin Smokler for the First Ever celebration of Magazine Day, a nationwide holiday dedicated to magazines and catching up on the ones you haven't read yet. On the afternoon of February 27, Booksmith will convert itself into a giant magazine reading room. Bring your own unread magazines, share then with others when you’re done with them, and pick over Booksmith's magazine racks with impunity (but without coffee stains…)

At 6 PM, we’ll convene a group of magazine publishers and aficionados to talk about the state of magazine publishing today. All speakers will be announced soon; the group will include Derek Powazek (Fray) and Jen Angel (formerly of clamour)

$5 gets you an all-afternoon reading pass, wine and snacks, and take-home mags from the communal already-read pile. And more: presentations and giveaways by local magazine publishers and discussion groups will happen throughout the day. Tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006 and in the store.

Magazine Day: Because the unread deserve a day too.

Tuesday, March 2 7:30 PM ERIC PUCHNER

Model Home: A Novel

"Eric Puchner's Model Home is 1980s California in a nutshell: bright and frantic, giddy and broke, desperate and strong and always, always moving." – Daniel Handler, author of Adverbs

Eric Puchner’s Music Through the Floor was one of the best-received story collections in years. His debut novel, a sweeping yet intimate story of the American dream in remission, viewed through the microscope of a single family, proves yet again just “how exhilarating it is to come across a young writer as technically gifted and emotionally insightful as Eric Puchner” (The New York Times Book Review)

The Zillers – Warren, Camille, and their three children – live the good life in a gated Southern California neighborhood, but the sun-bright veneer hides a starker reality. As Warren desperately tries to conceal a failing real estate venture, his family falls prey to secrets and misunderstandings, both hilarious and painful that open fault lines in their intimacy. Their misguided attempts to recover their former closeness, or find it elsewhere, lead them into late-night burglary, improbably romance, and strange acts of betrayal. When tragedy strikes, the Zillers are forced to move to one of the houses in Warren’s abandoned development in the desert. By turns tender and disturbing, irreverent and profound, Model Home is a masterful display of Eric Puchner’s prodigious gifts and penetrating insight – both into the American family and into the imperfect ways we try to connect.

Check out Puchner’s Living with Music piece in the New York Times.

Eric Puchner’s short stories have appeared in Zoetrope: All Story, Chicago Tribune, The Sun, The Missouri Review, Best New American Voices, and many other journals and anthologies. A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant, he is an assistant professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Katharine Noel, and their daughter.

Wednesday, March 3 7:30 PM HELENE JORGENSEN

Sick and Tired: How America’s Health Care System Fails Its Patients

As an active person, Helene Jorgensen decided to enjoy a hike in the mountains one afternoon while attending a conference in Montana. Warned by friends to beware of bears, Jorgensen was attacked by a creature much more menacing -- the Rocky Mountain wood tick. SICK AND TIRED is the story of Jorgensen’s subsequent illness and her descent into the quagmire that is the American health care system.

Returning home from her trip, Jorgensen is quickly debilitated by a mysterious illness and sets out to find a diagnosis and cure. Along the way, she is seen by countless doctors, none of whom seems to be able to diagnose her accurately. She undergoes two surgeries, is forced to quit her job as a labor economist, and is saddled with countless bills and denied payment for claims. Jorgensen quickly learns that the health care system does not work; finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, she struggles for years to receive proper medical treatment.

Based on the author’s notes and observations, statistics, and survey data, SICK AND TIRED details the health care system’s failings and lays out arguments to fix it. As an economist, Jorgensen takes a critical look at conflicts of interest between doctors, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic laboratories, and insurance companies that restrict treatment options and increase patient charges.

While millions of Americans negotiate the health care system, and try to make sense of health care reform, Helene Jorgensen’s saga will prove an important consideration in the national debate. Her voice will bring hope as she provides advice about how to seek better and more affordable medical care from physicians, health plans, and elected officials.

Thursday, March 4 7:30 PM JOE HILL

Horns

Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke the next morning with a headache, put his hands to his temples and felt something unfamiliar, a pair of knobby, pointed protuberances. He was so ill—wet-eyed and weak—he didn’t think anything of it at first, was too hungover for thinking or worry. But when he was swaying over the toilet, he glanced at himself in the mirror above the sink and saw he had grown horns while he slept.

The second son of a renowned musician and doting mother, Ig Perrish has a privileged life and expectations of a bright future with his childhood sweetheart, Merrin Williams. But life takes an unexpected dark turn when Merrin is brutally killed and suspicion falls hard on Ig.

A year passes, but Ig is nowhere near over his grief or his rage . . . feelings that come to a head in a lost evening of alcohol and hate. When he wakes the next morning he discovers that he has undergone a surreal transformation, and is in possession of an incredible power. It isn’t long before he turns his terrible new abilities towards vengeance. Unfortunately Ig is about to learn thatwhen it comes to revenge, the devil is in the details . . .

Joe Hill’s debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, was an instant New York Times bestseller, hit national lists including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and garnered praise from sources as diverse as the Washington Post, Locus, Romantic Times, and James Rollins. It also won the Bram Stoker Award and the International Thriller Writers Award for best first novel. In Entertainment Weekly, Neil Gaiman named Craddock McDermott, the “vengeful ghost that came with the suit in Heart-Shaped Box,” one of the Top 10 New Classic Monsters. Hill’s collection of macabre short stories, 20th Century Ghosts, received the Bram Stoker Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the International Horror Guild Award for Best Collection. In addition, various individual stories from the collection have won awards, including the World Fantasy Award for the novella “Voluntary Committal.”

Joe talks about Horns at Comic-Con. Read notes, interviews, and more on Joe’s website.

Friday, March 5 6:30 – 9:30 PM BOOKSWAP:EAT, DRINK, TALK (and SWAP BOOKS!)

Our second Book Swap in 2010 might just be the most fun you've had at a bookstore, ever -- so don't miss it. Join special author guests tba and tba, along with other smart, creative lit-minded souls of the city. Enjoy good company, swell atmosphere, delicious Reverie food, free-flowing wine, wise discourse and hilarious anecdotes. Bring a book -- one you loved but can part with -- and we'll cook up some good, smart fun. You'll also receive a 20% off discount card!

Author Holly Payne says the Book Swap is "The most unique book event I’ve ever participated in."

Space is very limited -- these events sell out, so we urge you to get your tickets well in advance! As always, tickets must be purchased in advance, in the store, or at Brown Paper Tickets.

Sunday, March 7 4:00 PM ELIF SHAFAK

The Forty Rules of Love

Critically acclaimed Turkish novelist Elif Shafak’s second novel in English, THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE, a huge bestseller in her native Turkey, is lyrical, exuberant and sure to please fans of The Bastard of Istanbul, which was described byUSA Today as a “Turkish version of The Joy Luck Club” and by The Nation as a “brave, ambitious book.”

Deftly weaving two parallel narratives together, through employing the structure of a novel within a novel, THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE tells the story of an American housewife by the name of Ella Rubinstein who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. She takes a job as a reader for a literary agent and finds her life transformed after becoming engrossed in her first project: reading and reporting on a work of fiction describing the three year encounter (1244-1247) between the mystic Sufi poet Rumi and the controversial whirling dervish Shams of Tabriz. As Ella reads the manuscript (and the reader follows along with her), her relationship with the author -- a novelist by the name of Aziz Zahara, who lives in Holland -- soon begins to mirror that of Rumi and Shams.

For Ella, the spirit of Shams lives in Zahara and as the two fall in love, she is guided not only by her own heart, but by Sham’s lessons, or rules, which are directly taken from the ancient philosophy of Sufism. The basis of Sufism is unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As the fortieth rule states: “A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is.”

Elif Shafak was born in France and spent her teenage years in Spain before returning to Turkey. She holds a Master of Science degree in Gender and Women’s Studies and earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Middle East Technical University. She has been a visiting scholar in the US and has been featured widely in the press both in the US and abroad. Shortly before the publication in America of her most recent novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, Shafak was brought to trial by nationalist lawyers in Turkey who accused her of insulting Turkish identity for comments that some of the fictional characters made in the book. The case attracted worldwide attention and she was eventually acquitted. She lives in Istanbul with her husband and two children. Read The Independent (UK)’s interview with Shafak.

Monday, March 8 7:30 PM CAMILLE ROSE GARCIA

Alice goes goth in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Since its publication in 1865, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has delighted the world with a wildly imaginative and unforgettable journey, inspiring readers of all ages to suspend disbelief and follow Alice into her fantasy worlds. Camille Rose Garcia brings a bold reinterpretation with a dark yet whimsical style that has won her resounding praise and an international cult following.

One of literature’s most recognized and beloved characters, Alice has already been the subject of numerous films and television specials. Her likeness has appeared on everything from toys to playing cards to Christmas ornaments and has been used in ads to sell products (Wonder Bread, Philco refrigerators, and so on) for many decades. Garcia brings Alice to life like never before in a glorious book whose publication coincides with this month’s release of Tim Burton’s film version of Alice.

Camille Rose Garcia was born in 1970 in Los Angeles, and grew up in the generic suburbs of Orange County, visiting Disneyland and going to punk shows with the other disenchanted youth of that era. Her paintings of creepy cartoon children living in wasteland fairy tales are critical commentaries on the failures of capitalist utopias, blending nostalgic pop culture references with a satirical slant on modern society. Her work has been displayed internationally and featured in numerous magazines including Juxtapoz, Rolling Stone, and Modern Painter. In 2008, a retrospective of her work, entitled TragicKingdom, was on display at the San Jose Museum of Art, accompanied by a catalog of the same name. She has also written and illustrated a children’s book, The Magic Bottle. The recipient of the Stars of Design award from the Pacific Design Center, she recently moved to the Pacific Northwest after 38 years in Los Angeles. Watch Camille’s movie here!

FOREIGN CRIMES IN FOREIGN CLIMES Monday, March 15 7:30 PM CARA BLACK and DAVID CORBETT

Murder in the Palais Royal Do They Know I’m Running?

MURDER IN THE PALAIS ROYAL is the tenth book in Cara Black’s Parisian crime series starring P.I. Aimée Leduc. Last year’s Murder in the Latin Quarter debuted at #1 on the San Francisco Chronicle’s bestseller list, garnered much praise, and found Black interviewed in the streets of Paris for NPR’s All Things Considered.. Now, with a narrative call back to her first novel, Palais Royal is poised to be her biggest hit yet.

In Murder In The Palais Royal, Aimée’s business partner, René, has been shot, and eyewitnesses have identified Aimée as the culprit. A mysterious deposit has been made to their firm's bank account, interesting the taxman in their affairs. Someone seems to be impersonating Aimée; someone wants revenge. Two murders ensue. How do they relate to the youth whom Aimée's testimony sent to jail in the very first Aimée Leduc investigation, Murder in the Marais?

“The ninth mystery in Cara Black’s irresistible series set in Paris . . . might well be the book we’ve been waiting for. Aimée Leduc, Black’s adorably punkish sleuth, is in her element . . . one of this colorful series’ most scenic itineraries.” -- New York Times Book Review

Cara Black is the author of nine other novels in the best-selling Aimée Leduc series. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son and visits Paris frequently.

DO THEY KNOW I’M RUNNING? from acclaimed author David Corbett is a stunning and suspenseful novel of a life without loyalties and the borders inside us.

Roque Montalvo is wise beyond his eighteen years. Orphaned at birth, a gifted musician, he’s stuck in a California backwater, helping his Salvadoran aunt care for his damaged brother, an ex-marine badly wounded in Iraq. When immigration agents arrest his uncle, the family has nowhere else to turn. Roque, badgered by his street-hardened cousin, agrees to bring the old man back, relying on the criminal gangs that control the dangerous smuggling routes from El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the U.S. border.

But his cousin has told Roque only so much. In reality, he will have to transport not just his uncle but two others: an Arab whose intentions are disturbingly vague and a young beauty promised to a Mexican crime lord. Roque discovers that his journey involves crossing more than one kind of border, and he will be asked time and again to choose between survival and betrayal -- of his country, his family, his heart.

David Corbett is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime, and Blood of Paradise, nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, and named one of the Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington Post and a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book. His short fiction and essays have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, and his story "Pretty Little Parasite," from Las Vegas Noir, was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2009..

Thursday, March 18 7:30 PM TED CONOVER

The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and The Way We Live Today

Roads: metaphorically and literally, they bind our modern world into a coherent whole. From the transportation of goods, knowledge, and disease to their hold on the imagination, the role of roads in our lives cannot be overstated. They even permeate our language: you navigate the information superhighway; your career is in the fast lane; you choose the high (or low) road; you take the path less traveled.

Behind every road lies a story, and in THE ROUTES OF MAN, Ted Conover brings his unparalleled eye to six roads around the world that have a profound impact on the lives lived on or near them, the businesses run over them, and the cultures that surround them. Conover’s dispatches come from Peru: accompanying a trucker through the perilous Andes, where he contemplates the threat that better infrastructure poses to indigenous populations and surrounding rainforests; the Indian region of Ladakh, where he follows locals down the Chaddar, a frozen river at the bottom of a canyon and the only path in existence during winter, and considers what the coming highway will do to Buddhist towns now untouched by the wider world; East Africa, where he revisits a trucking route from Tanzania through Rwanda and Burundi along which one could trace the spread of AIDS in Africa to see what has changed over a decade; the West Bank, as he passes through security checkpoints with both Palestinians and Israelis, seeing firsthand how grueling and unfair the process is for both sides;

China, where he paints an exuberant and frightening portrait of the emerging car culture from Chinese roads and the rapid increases in auto sales and highway construction; Lagos, Nigeria, describing a megacity where traffic stalls for hours, teenage beggars run between stopped cars, and ambulances park along the highway to wait for accidents.

Conover’s journeys ultimately reveal the costs and benefits of being connected -- how roads have played a crucial role in human life, from ancient Rome to the present, changing man and his world for better and for worse.

“Ted Conover is one of the great writers of my generation, and this may be his finest book. Fearless and compassionate, with echoes of Conrad and Kerouac, it explores how the road, once a symbol of limitless possibility, has become a path to annihilation. I have enormous admiration for what Conover has achieved.” --Eric Schlosser

“Humans evolved on the road and we go on seeking territory, survival, wealth, and even knowledge. The Odyssey, Don Quixote, On the Road, The Road, Arabian Sands, Marco Polo on the Silk Road, wagon trains heading for California, and Latinos at the fence between Mexico and the U.S.A -- so many of us streaming toward vivid dreams. Buy this book and enjoy some armchair roaming (the second best way to travel). That’s my advice.” -- William Kittredge

Ted Conover is the author of several books including Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) and Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America’s Hoboes. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and National Geographic. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Read a travel community’s interview with Conover.

A TANGO LESSON IN THE BOOKSTORE? Yes! Monday, March 22 7:30 PM MARIA FINN

Hold Me Tight & Tango Me Home

Tango, in essence, is a way of being: it lures you from the job that’s too staid; it beckons on a night when you’re feeling lonely; it promises escape from the grind of daily life. Tango is a journey for those who want their lives to change course; and for others, like me, who believe that their lives have ended, it’s an attempt to start living again. - Maria Finn

Like anyone would, Maria Finn felt anger when she learned of her husband’s infidelity, then despair over losing him and their plans for a life together. But she refused to become one of those women who sob into their divorce lawyer’s answering machine late at night.

In Hold Me Tight & Tango Me Home, Maria relates how she turned to Argentine tango to cope with her pain, learn to trust again, and rediscover herself. Her exhilarating adventure takes us from New York to Buenos Aires and back, exploring the fascinating culture, history, music, moves, and beauty of this sexy, sometimes heartbreaking, yet ultimately life-affirming dance.

For Maria, learning tango means dealing with rejection, criticism, and unpredictable partners -- some rude, others clumsy, and one who earned the moniker “Ear Licker”. But it’s all made worthwhile by those transcendent moments in which Maria joins with a dance partner and the union transforms into what she refers to as “bliss” -- a marriage of leading and following that seamlessly explores intrigue, melancholy, flirtation, and passion.

With each new step—the embrace, the hook, the sweep, the throw—Maria begins to connect with people in a new way. Gradually, she finds the confidence to try romance again and discovers the strength needed to pursue a new life.

Maria Finn has written for Audubon, Saveur, Metropolis, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among many other publications. The editor of two anthologies, Cuba in Mind and Mexico in Mind, she received an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and her essays have been anthologized in Best Food Writing and The Best Women’s Travel Writing. Visit Maria – and watch these videos!

Celebrate with music and dancing this evening!

Tuesday, March 23 7:00 PM Found in Translation Book Group Meeting

COMEDY NIGHT AT THE BOOKSMITH (about economics?)

Wednesday, March 27 7:30 PM YORAM BAUMAN

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics (Volume 1: Microeconomics)

If 2009 taught us anything, it’s that economics matters to everybody.. But how many American voters have a thorough understanding of how economies really work?

Now, thanks to Yoram Bauman and Grady Klein, you don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to get a grasp on the news. Bauman, the world’s first and only stand-up economist, has teamed up with Klein, the cartoonist behind the Lost Colony graphic novels, to take the dismal out of the dismal science. From the optimizing individual to game theory to price theory, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume 1: Microeconomics lays out the fundamentals of microeconomics in brightly imagined words and pictures, making the notoriously daunting subject accessible, digestible, and—against all odds—something many thought it never could be: fun.

There is no one better suited to explain economics through comics than Yoram Bauman. An environmental economist at the University of Washington, Bauman is also an entertainer who has explained the economy at comedy clubs and universities across the country (his “Principles of Economics, Translated” is a YouTube cult classic). As an educator at both the university and high school levels, Bauman knows how to make economics relevant to today’s students.

Check out these videos: “Standup Economist at Caroline’s”, “Principles of Economics, Translated”, and “Standup Economist on the Financial Crisis”!

“Had Art Spiegelman and John Maynard Keynes collaborated on a comic book on economics, they could only have dreamed of coming up with something this good.” -- Jonathan A. Shayne, a.k.a. Merle Hazard, country singer and founder of Shayne & Co., LLC

Thursday, March 25 7:30 PM ALEX LEMON

Happy: A Memoir

Alex Lemon is a thirty-year-old professor, critically acclaimed and award-winning poet, and recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He’s also an ex-college baseball star, ex-rampant partier, and a survivor of multiple strokes and seizures due to a vascular malformation in his brain stem and an extremely dangerous surgery designed to correct it. He tells his incredible story in HAPPY.

As a freshman in college, Lemon was the hard-partying dude everyone called “Happy.” Then he had his first stroke. For two years, he coped with his deteriorating health by drowning himself in alcohol and drugs, his charming and carefree exterior masking his self-destructive behavior as he endured two more brain bleeds and overwhelming sadness. After he miraculously survived the tremendously risky surgery, Lemon’s free-spirited mother nursed him back to health, once again teaching him to stand on his own..

HAPPY is an electric, hypnotic self portrait of a young man confronting mortality and the limits of his own body; it is also the deeply moving story of a mother’s redemptive and healing powers. Like Mary Karr, Mark Doty, and Nick Flynn, Lemon is a much lauded poet who can successfully shift between writing poetry and memoir; and his training as a poet lends his writing a rare precision and vividness. He is a brave and exhilarating writer whose Technicolor sentences make the world he describes pop and sing. In intimate, unflinching prose he writes about survival -- of the body and of the human spirit.

Alex Lemon was born in Iowa. He is the author of three collections of poetry, Mosquito and Hallelujah Blackout; and the forthcoming Fancy Beasts. His poems have been selected for the Best American Poetry series and have appeared in numerous magazines, including AGNI, BOMB, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Open City, Pleiades and Tin House. His awards include a 2005 Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2006 Minnesota Arts Board Grant. Lemon lives in Ft. Worth, Texas and teaches English at Texas Christian University.

Check out the New York Times’ Stray Questions for Alex.

Tuesday, March 30 7:30 PM ARTHUR PHILLIPS

The Song is You

Each song on Julian’s iPod, “that greatest of all human inventions,” is a touchstone. There are songs for the girls from when he was single, there’s the one for the day he met his wife-to-be, there’s one for the day his son was born. But when Julian’s family falls apart, even music loses its hold on him.

Until one snowy night in Brooklyn, when his life’s soundtrack -- and life itself -- start to play again. Julian stumbles into a bar and sees Cait O’Dwyer, a flame-haired Irish rock singer, performing with her band, and a strange and unlikely love affair is ignited. Over the next few months, Julian and Cait’s passion plays out, though they never meet. What follows is a heartbreaking dark comedy, the tenderest of love stories, and a perfectly observed tale of the way we live now.

Arthur Phillips is the internationally bestselling author of Angelica, The Egyptologist, and Prague, which was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.

“Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think, and for those of us who try to think and feel, The Song Is You captures the flip sides of life at middle age pretty much perfectly. Arthur Phillips is that rare thing among fiction writers, a wise guy who’s also wise.” -- Kurt Andersen

“Impossible to put down.” -- New York Times Book Review

Read Phillips on music in The Believer. Check out Phillips’ playlist for the New York Times Living with Music.

A Dear friend, James Redo, is participating in a group art show this May 1 through May 22. Hope everyone can come to the artists' reception on Thursday, May 6 (5-9pm). All the artists are from North Beach and include, Mery Bernard, Agneta Falk and George Long. Thank you and Love & Blessings, Marliese

North Beach Fine Art Exhibit

James Redo, Mery Bernard, George Long, Agneta Falk

The Fine Art Painters of North Beach

May 1-22, 2010

Location: 850 Greenwich Street, San Francisco, CA
Time: Thursday, 06 May 2010 17:00
Facebook Event Page

Maya Vision by James Redo

Tuesday, June 1, 7:30 PM
ALAN BLACK with PO BRONSON
The Glorious World Cup: A Fanatic’s Guide

The global frenzy has already begun for the historic World Cup starting on June 11 in Johannesburg, South Africa. With the frenzy comes the competition, the trash-talk, the strategy, the high hopes, the dedication, and the downright madness that accompanies the once-every-four-years tournament. The Glorious World Cupbrings everything World cup, with a solid dose of humor.

For one month, billions of people are glued to TV sets, radios, and sports pages, waiting with bated breath for their teams’ advancement. There are tears of elation and sorrow. Pints are drunk. Knuckles are bruised. Noses are broken. And it’s all in the name of a universal love of the biggest game on the planet.

Alan Black and co-writer David Henry Sterry take the piss from past to present: filled with tall tales, stats, photos, hilarity, famous-player profiles, hooligans, maniacs, commentary from famous fans, a look back at the greatest World Cup Finals, and so much more. It’s the ultimate fan guide for what’s certain to be the biggest, ballsiest, most epic World Cup yet. Begin the countdown to June 11 with Alan, contributor Po Bronson, and us this evening!

Alan Black, as a kid, wrote his first book on the sidewalk with chalk. It was a bestseller with feet. He writes for various platforms, some low and some high. He is a columnist at www.goal.com, the web’s leading soccer site. He’s a featured blogger atwww.sfgate.com, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. His most recent book is Kick the Balls: A Bruising Season in the Life of a Suburban Soccer Coach.

Wednesday, June 2, 7:30 PM
LUCY JANE BLEDSOE
The Big Bang Symphony

When novelist and adventurer Lucy Jane Bledsoe writes about the savage beauty of Antarctica, and the emotional intensity of life at the end of the world, she knows what she’s talking about.

She’s journeyed to Antarctica three times and has stayed at all three American Stations, trekking out to the Ross Ice Shelf, skiing in the shadow of Mount Erebus, and living in the remote field camps where scientists are studying penguins, climate change, and the Big Bang. She’s written about these travels in the memoir The Ice Cave and in two children’s books about the frozen continent.

In The Big Bang Symphony, Bledsoe delivers a keenly observed novel of emotional suspense and relationships forged in the harshest of conditions. Beginning with a bang – literally – as a cargo plane bound for McMurdo Station crash lands, the intertwined stories of three women – a scientist, a galley cook, and a composer – the barren landscape itself becomes another character, bonding them together in love and friendship, offering the elusive promise of transcendence even as it tests their endurance and pushes them to the breaking point.

“Lucy Jane Bledsoe knows that the people who go to Antarctica move to a heightened existence, as if to the roof of the universe, where they are stripped to their essences under a surreal sun. A beautiful novel about living in that extreme space, vivid and suspenseful” – Kim Stanley Robinson

Lucy Jane Bledsoe sea kayaks, backpacks, and skis when she’s not writing. She has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award. Her books include Biting the Apple, Sweat, Working Parts, and This Wild Silence.

LAUNCH PARTY!
Thursday, June 3, 7:30 PM
LAURA FRASER
All Over the Map

Laura Fraser has the kind of life many women daydream about. Crisscrossing the globe as a travel writer, she has amassed a catalog of exotic adventures and met scores of captivating people, with more than a few exciting and sexy romances along the way. Yet as she entered her forties, Laura found herself wondering if her wanderlust had kept her from what she secretly longed for: to be safe, settled, and loved.

In her new memoir ALL OVER THE MAP, the follow-up to her New York Timesbestselling An Italian Affair, Laura searches for answers on several different continents. While grappling with uncertainty, loneliness, and a traumatic experience in Samoa, she tangos in Buenos Aires, seeks wisdom from an Amazonian shaman, reports on the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, and redefines her relationship with the Professor (a primary and beloved character in An Italian Affair). Ultimately, although she doesn’t have the life she anticipated, Laura learns to create the life she wants, realizing that the only way to become wise is by taking a lot of wrong turns.
“Brave, honest, and compulsively readable. It truly made me laugh and cry.”
-- Mary Roach, author of Stiff

Laura Fraser has written for Salon.com, Vogue, Glamour, Mother Jones, Self, The San Francisco Examiner, Gourmet, and Health, among other publications. She has taught magazine writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco, where she is a resident of and teacher at the San Francisco Writers Grotto.

Monday, June 7, 7:30 PM
DAN ARIELY
The Upside of Irrationality:
The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home

You hear him frequently on public radio – now meet the incomparable Dan Ariely when he introduces his new book The Upside of Irrationality!

The 2008 economic crisis taught us that irrationality is an influential player in financial markets. But it is often the case that irrationality also makes it way into our daily lives and decision-making -- in slightly different and vastly more subtle ways. In this enthralling follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational,Dan Ariely shows how irrationality is an inherent part of the way we function and think, and how it affects our behavior in all areas of our lives, from our romantic relationships to our experiences in the workplace to our temptations to cheat.

Blending everyday experience with groundbreaking analysis and new research into our how we actually make decisions, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. Using data from original experiments, he draws invaluable conclusions about how -- and why -- we behave the way we do, and reflects on ways we can make ourselves and our society better. Dan explores the truth about:

• What we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy;
• How we learn to love the ones we are with;
• Why online dating doesn’t work, and how we can improve on it;
• Why learning more about people makes us like them less;
• Why large bonuses can make CEOs less productive;
• How to really motivate people at work;
• Why bad directions can help us;
• How we fall in love with our ideas;
• How we are motivated by revenge;
• What motivates us to cheat.

Drawing on the same experimental methods that made Predictably Irrational one ofthe most talked about bestsellers, Ariely emphasizes the important role that irrationality plays in our day-to-day decision-making -- not just in our financial marketplace, but in the most intimate aspects of our lives.

“A marvelous book that is both thought provoking and highly entertaining, ranging from the power of placebos to the pleasures of Pepsi. Ariely unmasks the subtle but powerful tricks that our minds play on us, and shows us how we can prevent being fooled.” -- Jerome Groopman, New York Times bestselling author of How Doctors Think

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, with appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Department of Economics. He has also held a visiting professorship at MIT’s Media Lab. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Marketplace. He lives in Durham, NC, with his wife and two children.

Wednesday, June 9, 7:30 PM
JOSHUA BRAFF
Peep Show

The adult entertainment industry and the world of Hasidic Jews couldn’t be more different. Or could they? Here’s novel evidence that all the world really is a stage — it’s only a matter of which costume you wear.

David Arbus will be graduating from high school in the spring of 1975. His divorced parents offer two options: embrace his mother’s Hasidic sect or go into his father’s line of work, running a porn theater in the heart of New York’s Times Square. What else would a healthy seventeen-year-old with an interest in photography do? He joins the family business. But he didn’t think it would mean giving up his sister and mother altogether.

Peep Show is the story of a young man torn between a mother trying to erase her past and a father struggling to maintain his dignity in a less-than-savory business. As David peeps through the spaces in the screen that divides the men and the women in Hasidic homes, we can’t help but think of his father’s Imperial Theatre, where other men are looking at other women through the peep holes. As entertaining as it is moving, Peep Show looks at the elaborate ensembles and rituals, assumed names, and fierce loyalties of two secret worlds, pulling away the curtains of both.

“Whether he’s writing about religion, pornography, or the family ruined by both in this smart, funny, heartbreaking novel, Braff does it with authority, wit, and an unflagging compassion for his hopelessly broken characters.” – Jonathan Tropper, author ofThis Is Where I Leave You

Joshua Braff is the author of The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green. He lives in Oakland with his wife and two children.

Thursday, June 10, 7:30 PM
JIM WOODRING
Weathercraft

For over 20 years now, Jim Woodring has delighted, touched, and puzzled readers around the world with his lush, wordless tales of “Frank.”

Weathercraft is Woodring’s first full-length graphic novel set in this world — indeed, Woodring’s first graphic novel, period! — and it features the same hypnotically gorgeous linework and mystical iconography.

As it happens, Frank has only a brief supporting appearance in Weathercraft, which actually stars Manhog, Woodring’s pathetic, brutish everyman (or everyhog), who had previously made several appearances in “Frank” stories (as well as a stunning solo turn in the short story “Gentlemanhog”).

After enduring 32 pages of almost incomprehensible suffering, Manhog embarks upon a transformative journey and attains enlightenment. He wants to go to celestial realms but instead altruistically returns to the unifactor to undo a wrong he has inadvertently brought about: The transformation of the evil politician Whim into a mind-destroying plant-demon who distorts and enslaves Frank and his friends. The new and metaphysically expanded Manhog sets out for a final battle with Whim...

Weathercraft also co-stars Frank’s cast of beloved supporting characters, including Frank’s Faux Pa and the diminutive, mailbox-like Pupshaw and Pushpaw; it is both a fully independent story that is a great introduction to Woodring’s world, and a sublime addition to, and extension of, the Frank stories.

“The ancient myths and folk tales of all cultures which have been preserved for so many centuries have meaning for us today because the fantastic elements in them are rooted in immutable reality. The Frank stories belong to this class of literature.” – Francis Ford Coppola

Jim Woodring was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California and enjoyed an exciting childhood full of poetry and paranoia among the snakes, rats and tarantulas of that enchanted realm. He eventually grew into an inquisitive bearlike man who has had three exciting careers; garbage collector, merry-go-round-operator and cartoonist. His work has been collected in several books and in various toys, fabrics, prints and urban legends.

Woodring’s cartoons chart a course through some of the most surreal imagery ever seen in any artistic medium, drawing visions from the realms of the subconscious to create a graphic world of dreams. But while his work may speak in the language of dreams, Woodring’s life has often led him into nightmare territory.

As a child, Woodring was plagued by both schoolmates and by waking nightmares accompanied by “voices” — a condition which would haunt him through childhood and much of his adult life. After enduring drug and alcohol abuse and homelessness, he worked as an animator for several major studios.

At the same time, Woodring worked on his own cartoon visions, self-publishing them in minicomic format. In the mid-’80s, Woodring was introduced to publisher Gary Groth by mutual friend Gil Kane (who worked with Woodring at Ruby-Spears), and Groth agreed to publish Woodring's work. In 1987, Woodring quit animation and moved with his wife Mary and son Max to Seattle, where they live to this day. In addition to his critically acclaimed comics and books, Woodring also works in canvas painting and 3-dimensional objects, many of which have been featured in gallery exhibitions from Seattle to New York.

“Woodring is fantastic... his stuff will outlast all but one in a thousand of his peers. His stuff is a revelation.” – Scott McCloud

“I promise to spare you all my worst visions.” – Jim Woodring

Friday, June 11, 7:30 PM
SASHA POLAKOW-SURANSKY
The Unspoken Alliance:
Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa

A senior editor at Foreign Affairs considers how Israel’s booming arms industry and apartheid South Africa’s international isolation led to a secretive military partnership between two seemingly unlikely allies.

Prior to the Six-Day War, Israel was a darling of the international left: socialist idealists like David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir vocally opposed apartheid and built alliances with black leaders in newly independent African nations. South Africa, for its part, was controlled by a regime of Afrikaner nationalists who had enthusiastically supported Hitler during World War II.

But after Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the country found itself estranged from former allies and threatened anew by old enemies. As both states became international pariahs, their covert military relationship blossomed: they exchanged billions of dollars’ worth of extremely sensitive material, including nuclear technology, boosting Israel’s sagging economy and strengthening the beleaguered apartheid regime.

By the time the right-wing Likud Party came to power in 1977, Israel had all but abandoned the moralism of its founders in favor of close and lucrative ties with South Africa. For nearly twenty years, Israel denied these ties, claiming that it opposed apartheid on moral and religious grounds even as it secretly supplied the arsenal of a white supremacist government.

Polakow-Suransky reveals the previously classified details of countless arms deals conducted behind the backs of Israel’s own diplomatic corps and in violation of a United Nations arms embargo. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive interviews with former generals and high-level government officials in both countries,The Unspoken Alliance tells a troubling story of Cold War paranoia, moral compromises, and Israel’s estrangement from the left. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Israel’s history and its future.

Sasha Polakow-Suransky is a senior editor at Foreign Affairs and holds a doctorate in modern history from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar from 2003 to 2006. His writing has appeared in The American Prospect, the International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, and Newsweek. He lives in Brooklyn.

WRITERS & READERS VIP TOUR:
Monday, June 14, 7:30 PM
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE PARIS REVIEW
An Evening with Managing Editor CAITLIN ROPER
And Summer Issue Contributors JEFF ANTEBI and MATTHEW ZAPRUDER

Whether you’re a published writer, a would-be writer, or simply an avid reader, you have a rare opportunity to see the inner workings of a literary magazine. The Paris Review’s managing editor, Caitlin Roper, talks about submissions, editing, curation, how art is chosen, how production works, the review’s redesigned website (debuting this month), author interviews (so wonderfully collected in the four volume Paris Review Interviews series), and the effect of The Paris Review’s use of Twitter. Roper’s look at what one critic called “one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world” gives us unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to this cultural institution.

Joining Caitlin Roper this evening are photographer Jeff Antebi, whose portfolio of photos taken in Haiti is featured in the Summer 2010 issue of The Paris Review, who will show slides and talk about his experience of shooting in that country, and poet Matthew Zapruder, who has a long poem featured in the Summer 2010 issue, will offer a short reading.

Founded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review began with a simple editorial mission: “Dear reader,” William Styron wrote in a letter in the inaugural issue, “The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines and putting it pretty much where it belongs, i.e., somewhere near the back of the book. I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good”

Decade after decade, the Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones, and Rick Moody. Selections from Samuel Beckett's novel Molloy appeared in the fifth issue, one of his first publications in English. The magazine was also among the first to recognize the work of Jack Kerouac, with the publication of his short story, “The Mexican Girl,” in 1955. Other milestones of contemporary literature, now widely anthologized, also first made their appearance in The Paris Review: Italo Calvino's Last Comes the Raven, Philip Roth's Goodbye Columbus, Donald Barthelme's Alice, Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries, Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga, Jeffrey Eugenides’s Virgin Suicides, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.

In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review’s Writers at Work interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan, and Lorrie Moore.

CALLING ALL WRITERS!
Tuesday, June 15, 7:30 PM
KATHI KAMEN GOLDMARK AND SAM BARRY
Write That Book Already!
The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now
"How do I get my book published?"

Good question. Lucky for you, publishing insiders Sam Barry and Kathi Kamen Goldmark have laid out the blueprint for what you want -- your book. From transforming an idea into a manuscript to finding an agent to working with an editor to marketing your book, BookPage's Author Enablers are here to assist you every step of the way. And they've brought some backup with original insight from literary superstars like Stephen King, Amy Tan, Rita Mae Brown, and more.

It's everything you would ever want -- and need -- to know about the industry from the inside out.

Sam Barry is a marketing and promotions manager at HarperOne as well as an author and musician. Barry offers advice to aspiring writers as one half of BookPage's Author Enablers team, and tours the country as a member of the Rock Bottom Remainders. He is also the author of How to Play the Harmonica and Other Life Lessons.

Kathi Kamen Goldmark has worked "on the inside" of publishing as a media escort and publicist for nearly every major publisher. She's also the other half of the Author Enablers column and the founding member of the Rock Bottom Remainders. She is also the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You.

"[T]he joy they promise in their prose makes me glad that I and other writers have been willing to make good writing our aim, and even great writing our dream." – from the Foreword by Maya Angelou

Wednesday, June 16, 7:30 PM
PIPER KERMAN
Orange is the New Black:
My Year in a Woman’s Prison

When Piper Kerman was sent to prison for a ten-year-old crime, she barely resembled the reckless young woman she’d been when, shortly after graduating Smith College, she’d committed the misdeeds that would eventually catch up with her. Happily ensconced in a New York City apartment, with a promising career and an attentive boyfriend, she was suddenly forced to reckon with the consequences of her very brief, very careless dalliance in the world of drug trafficking.

Kerman spent thirteen months in prison, eleven of them at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, where she met a surprising and varied community of women living under exceptional circumstances. In Orange Is the New Black, Kerman tells the story of those long months locked up in a place with its own codes of behavior and arbitrary hierarchies, where a practical joke is as common as an unprovoked fight, and where the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailer is constantly and unpredictably recalibrated.

Revealing, moving, and enraging, Orange Is the New Black offers a unique perspective on the criminal justice system, the reasons we send so many people to prison, and what happens to them when they’re there.

“Don’t let the irreverent title mislead: This is a serious and bighearted book that depicts life in a women’s prison with great detail and—crucially—with empathy and respect for Piper Kerman’s fellow prisoners, most of whom did not and do not have her advantages and options. With its expert reporting and humane, clear-eyed storytelling, Orange Is the New Black will join Ted Conover’s Newjack among the necessary contemporary books about the American prison experience.” -- Dave Eggers, author of Zeitoun and co-author of Surviving Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated

“I loved this book, to a depth and degree that caught me by surprise. Of course it’s a compelling insider’s account of life in a women’s federal prison, and of course it’s a behind-the-scenes look at America’s war on drugs, and of course it’s a story rich with humor, pathos and redemption: All of that was to be expected. What I did not expect from this memoir was the affection, compassion, and even reverence that Piper Kerman demonstrates for all the women she encountered while she was locked away in jail. That was the surprising twist: that behind the bars of women's prisons grow extraordinary friendships, ad hoc families, and delicate communities. In the end, this book is not just a tale of prisons, drugs, crime, or justice; it is, simply put, a beautifully told story about how incredible women can be, and I will never forget it.” --Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Piper Kerman is vice president of a Washington, D.C.–based communications firm that works with foundations and nonprofits. A graduate of Smith College, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband Larry Smith (editor of the “Six-Word Memoir” website and books).

Monday, June 21, 7:00 PM
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
Book Group Meeting
Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra

A prizewinning sensation in Chile, Bonsai is the lightest, yet also the most complex, 90 pages you will read this year. Part story of a love affair (yet on the very first page Zambra informs us "in the end she dies and he remains alone"), part metafictional game (the protagonist eventually starts to write a novel suspiciously similar to the one we're reading), and part meditation on how books are like bonsai trees (they both rely on containers to make sense), this book is perfect for a lengthy discussion.Bonsai has more metaphors and aphorisms than most books twice its length, and we'll have a great time discussing this book that had all of Chile reading.

Please note: this has been rescheduled from Tuesday, June 22.

Join us on the fourth Tuesday (usually!) of every month for spirited conversation about some of the newest writing hitting the U.S. from all over the globe. No foreign language knowledge necessary and no continental savvy required (but will be appreciated!) -- just bring your desire to read some excellent new books, hand-selected for you by the Booksmith's knowledgeable booksellers. You'll also meet some great new people and chat with them about the best new fiction from around the world.

Writing About the News…While It’s Still Being Made
Tuesday, June 22, 7:30 PM
MARTHA McPHEE
Dear Money

In this Pygmalion tale of a novelist turned bond trader, National Book Award Finalist Martha McPhee brings to life the greed and riotous wealth of New York during the heady days of the second gilded age.

A few years ago, when a legendary bond trader claimed he could transform her into a booming Wall Street success, McPhee toyed with the notion. She considered the money, the tangible success -- but declined the offer and wrote Dear Money instead, using fiction to explore what might have been. This ambitious novel encapsulates a moment in America's recent history, the moment just before the current collapse of the economy.

Dear Money is a deadly serious, yet deftly witty book in the great American tradition of Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Theodore Dreiser. McPhee adroitly tackles the age-old issues of wealth, ambition and social status with aplomb. With a light-handed irony that is by turns as measured as Claire Messud and as biting as Tom Wolfe, Martha McPhee tells the classic American story of people reinventing themselves, unaware of the price they must pay for their transformation.

Martha McPhee is the author of the novels Bright Angel Time, Gorgeous Lies, andL'America. Her work has been honored with fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2002 she was nominated for a National Book Award. Her novels have been Best Books of The Year on New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune lists. Her essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Newark Star Ledger, Vogue, More,Harper's Bazaar, Self, Traveler, Travel & Leisure, among many others. She lives in New York City with her children and husband, the poet and writer Mark Svenvold. Martha teaches writing at Hofstra University.

This evening, she’ll be talking about the writing process, writing about money, its challenges, and its pleasures. Writers, would-be writers, and simply readers are all welcome to join this discussion!

Wednesday, June 23, 7:30 PM
JACOB PAUL
Sarah / Sara

An engrossing meditation on the meaning of faith in the modern world, Sarah/Sara is the story of a young Orthodox Jewish woman who undertakes a solo kayaking journey across the Arctic Ocean after her parents are killed and she is disfigured by a terrorist bomb in a Jerusalem café. Haunted by her parents' death, and in particular by memories of her father, a 9/11 survivor whose dream was to kayak through the Arctic, Sarah embarks on her expedition unprepared for the strenuous physical and emotional trial that lies ahead. What begins as a series of diary entries on her struggle with faith ends in a fight for survival, as Sarah slowly comes to realize that she is lost in the Arctic wilderness, the ice closing in around her.

“This solo kayak adventure along the coast of Alaska becomes the perfect cauldron for this ardent, introspective young woman with two names. Everywhere there is danger and grace. In the trials of her past, the rigors of her faith; and in the icy world as it unfolds before her, there are promises of redemption. Jacob Paul offers us in this powerful novel Sarah's many layered season of discovery.” -- Ron Carlson, author of Five Skies and The Signal

Jacob Paul teaches creative writing at the University of Utah, where he earned a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing. A 9/11 World Trade Center survivor, he won the 2008 Utah Writers' Contest, and the 2007 Richard Scowcroft Prize. Sarah/Sara is his first novel. Read more about him here.

Thursday, June 24, 7:30 PM
KATE WALBERT
A Short History of Women

A Short History of Women spans more than one hundred years and five generations of women—beginning with the death by starvation of a suffragette in England and ending with a playdate on the Upper West Side. Filled with humor and rage, it is a complex, compact novel that claims England and America in its epic scope -- from the politicization of women for the vote in the early 20th century to the free-floating, un-nameable anxiety of mothers and daughters in the early 21st century. The novel looks backward and forward, each century a striation of rock, each character defined by the pressures and weather of her particular moment; through this layering the characters react in lively and unpredictable ways to what came before, furthering the ambitious woman’s ongoing argument with history. Named one of the 10 Best Books of 2009 by the New York Times Book Review, A Short History of Women is this talented novelist’s most audacious and ambitious work yet.

“A Short History of Women is an accomplished, absorbing, and ferociously graceful work…. The novel’s technical grace is remarkable, Walbert’s prose masterful.” -- Laura Van Den Berg, The Rumpus

Kate Walbert is the author of Where She Went, a New York Times notable book of 1998, The Gardens of Kyoto, winner of the Connecticut Book Award for best fiction in 2002, and Our Kind, finalist for the National Book Award in 2004. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories and numerous other publications. She lives in New York City and Connecticut with her family.

Author photographs and book jacket images available upon request.

Wednesday, July 7, 7:30 PM
WILLOW WILSON
The Butterfly Mosque:
A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam

Twenty-seven-year-old G. Willow Wilson has already established herself as an accomplished writer on modern religion and the Middle East in publications such asThe Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine. In her memoir, The Butterfly Mosque, she tells her remarkable story of converting to Islam and falling in love with an Egyptian man in a turbulent post–9/11 world.

When Willow leaves her atheist parents in Denver to study at Boston University, she enrolls in an Islamic Studies course, hopeful that it will help her to understand her inchoate spirituality. As she reads through the teachings and events of the Quran, Willow is astounded and comforted by how deeply this fourteen-hundred-year-old document speaks to who she is, and decides to risk everything to convert to Islam and embark on a fated journey across continents and into an uncertain future.

She settles in Cairo where she teaches English and attempts to submerge herself in a culture based on her adopted religion. And then she meets Omar, a passionate young man with a mild resentment of the Western influences in his homeland. They fall in love, entering into a daring relationship that calls into question the very nature of family, belief, and tradition. Torn between the secular West and Muslim East, Willow -- identifiably Western with her shock of red hair, shaky Arabic, and candor -- records her intensely personal struggle to forge a “third culture” that might accommodate her own values without compromising them or the friends and family on both sides of the divide.

Part travelogue, love story, and memoir, The Butterfly Mosque is a brave, inspiring story of faith -- in God, in each other, in ourselves, and in the ability of relationships to transcend cultural barriers and exist above the evils that threaten to keep us apart.

Willow Wilson was born in New Jersey in 1982 and raised in Colorado. Shortly after graduating from Boston University, Willow moved to Cairo, where she converted to Islam. She divides her time between Cairo and Seattle. Wilson is also the author of the graphic novel Cairo.

Monday, July 12. 7:30 PM
HENRY LEE
Presumed Dead:
A True Life Murder Mystery

Computer genius Hans Reiser married beautiful Russian pediatrician Nina Sharanova, moved with her to his native Oakland, and had two children. But bliss soon soured, and in the middle of a contentious divorce Nina simply vanished. One month later, Hans was charged with her murder. But that was just the beginning...

Henry Lee is a crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and writes the “Crime Scene” blog at sfgate.com. Lee takes a thorough look at the entirety of the Hans Reiser case, from the exclusive vantage point of a long-time, on-the-ground field reporter.

Wednesday, July 14, 7:30 PM
LARRY DOYLE
Go, Mutants!

It came to earth . . . and now its’ kids go to high school.

The author of I Love You, Beth Cooper returns with another hilarious novel, this time with heroes and villains straight from classic sci-fi and teen movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

What if the movies that glowed from drive-in screens from the 50s and 60s weren’t fantasies but really happened? In Go, Mutants!, Larry Doyle has created a world populated with the monsters, aliens, and mutants of B-movie legend, with all the beach parties, dances, fist fights and hotrod races of classic teen dramas. An unforgettable era of pop culture is brought to life in an uproarious mash-up filled with Romance! Danger! Intergalactic Conspiracy! Molting!

Earth has survived alien invasions, attacks by hordes of atomic mutants and the ravages of dinosaurs brought back to life. Now we’re in the blissful future. The grass is always green, freshly mowed by famous robots. Carhops in jetpacks deliver burgers and fries to your atomic coupe. And automatic sidewalks can take you anywhere: the Watch the Skies Drive-in, Crater Cove, and Manhattan High, where everybody roots for the Mutants.

J!m, the son of the alien who nearly destroyed the planet, is a brooding blue-skinned rebel with an enormous forehead and exceptionally oily skin. Along with Johnny, a leather-jacketed radioactive ape, and Jelly, a gelatinous mass passing as a fat kid, J!m navigates a scary adolescence in which he really is as alienated as he feels, the world might actually be out to get him, and true love is complicated by misunderstanding and incompatible parts. As harmless school antics escalate into explosive events with tragic consequences, J!m makes a discovery that will alter the course of civilization, though it may help his dating life.

Larry Doyle, a former writer for The Simpsons, works in showbiz and writes funny things for The New Yorker. He is the author of I Love You, Beth Cooper, which won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor and was made into a major motion picture. He lives outside Baltimore with his wife, Becky, and their three children.

Friday, July 16, 7:30 PM
SQUAW VALLEY COMMUNITY OF WRITERS BENEFIT POETRY READING
in honor of Lucille Clifton

With KAZIM ALI, author of The Far Mosque, The Fortieth Day, and Bright Felon;BRENDA HILLMAN, author of Pieces of Air in the Epic and Practical Water;FORREST GANDER, author of Eye Against Eye and A Faithful Existence; EVIE SHOCKLEY, author of A Half-Red Sea; and DEAN YOUNG, author of Primitive Mentor and Embryoyo. This annual gala reading benefits the Poetry Scholarship Fund.

First Unitarian Universalist, 1187 Franklin at Geary, San Francisco
Tickets $15-$30 at Brown Paper Tickets (or call 800-838-3006)

More information: squawpoet@ureach.com or 877-537-8073
The Booksmith is a supporter of this event, as are Hotel Rex, Rev. Audrey Gonzalez, and Deborah and Leo Ruth.

Wednesday, July 21, 7:30 PM
KATE VEITCH
Trust

What does it take to be a good woman – and what does it take from you?

Susanna Greenfield has given her all to being a good daughter, sister, wife and mother. Somehow, she’s maintained her profession as a college art teacher, as well as rearing two headstrong teenagers and nurturing a twenty-year marriage to Gerry, a confident, ambitious architect. She’s also the eternal peacemaker between her pretty younger sister, a single mother and former junkie turned born-again Christian, and their strong-willed mother. Just as Susanna is about to revive her long delayed creative artistic career, the unthinkable happens, ripping apart the fabric of her world, and revealing secrets which threaten to destroy both a marriage and a life.

Kate Veitch is a journalist and writer who grew up in Melbourne, Australia. She now divides her time between San Francisco (in our neighborhood!) and New South Wales, Australia. Her debut novel, Without a Backward Glance, received international praise, and was a bestseller in Australia and Germany.

“Similar to Anne Tyler in her wry affection for her characters and to Anita Shreve in her aptitude for creating compulsively readable plotlines…with its brisk pacing and compassionate take on human failing, this absorbing novel is sure to win many fans.” – Booklist

“Warm and always honest, Veitch manages to capture the ebb and flow of sibling dynamics and illuminate the mixed bag of emotions that comes with family life.” – Vogue (Australia)

Visit her at kateveitch.com.

THE AUTHOR OF CLOUD ATLAS RETURNS TO THE BOOKSMITH:
Thursday, July 22, 7:30 PM
DAVID MITCHELL
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

A postmodern visionary, linguistic virtuoso, and sage of deep human feeling, David Mitchell has rightly earned international acclaim, a fireplace mantle of prizes, and a slavishly devoted readership. His fiction overflows with ecstatically rich language, dry humor, cliff hangers, plot twists, extraordinary characters, and imagination. All those pleasures and more await you in Mitchell’s long-awaited, hotly-anticipated new novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

Mitchell has spent the past four years in Japan and Holland researching and writing this novel, so it is no surprise that it is chockablock full of gorgeous historical detail intertwined with his boundless imagination. Set in the mysterious, atmospheric coastal Japan of 1799, this tale follows an earnest, nerdy Dutch accountant fresh off the boat as he loses himself in a swirling, silken world of Japanese intrigue and danger – dangers that only grow stronger and more ethereal as the novel unfolds.

With superstitions, samurai and swamp fever, kimonos, crocodiles and courtesans, the brutal but dazzling world of feudal Japan is brought to life, as are Dutch ships, the royal court, forests, temples, and shrines. As with all Mitchell novels, fates intertwine, human choices and mistakes shift the course of events in unexpected ways, and delicate questions of identity, foreignness, and interconnectedness are raised.

David Mitchell is a two-time Booker Prize finalist, a Time magazine 100 Most Influential People, and a Granta Best Young British Novelist. His first novel,Ghostwritten, was awarded the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for the best book by a writer under 36 and a Guardian First Book Award finalist. His second novel, Number9Dream, was a finalist for the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His third novel Cloud Atlas was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was an international bestseller. His most recent novel, Black Swan Green, was long-listed for the Booker Prize and named a Times Best Book of the Year. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children. It is our great pleasure to welcome David Mitchell back to The Booksmith.

Preferred seating vouchers available with the purchase of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet at The Booksmith, beginning June 29. There are a limited number of seating vouchers; we suggest purchasing your copy early if you would like one.

Tuesday, July 27, 7:00 PM
FOUND IN TRANSLATION Book Group
Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac

In July we're going classic with a novel by Honoré de Balzac, one of France's most important writers and a major influence on Proust, Dostoyevsky, Faulkner, and others. Eugénie Grandet's father is a rich miser, making life unbearably dull for the young lady. One day she discovers salvation in her dashing, orphaned cousin Charles, but there's one catch: Charles is penniless, and he needs a fortune to satisfy Eugénie's father. So off to the West Indies for Charles . . . We'll be discussing Romanticism, fraught love, the origins of the novel, and Balzac's epic, 100-book series Comédie humaine, an immense panorama of post-Napoleon France--of which Eugénie Grandet forms one of the most important, most acclaimed, parts.

Join us on the fourth Tuesday of every month for spirited conversation about some of the newest writing hitting the U.S. from all over the globe. No foreign language knowledge necessary and no continental savvy required (but will be appreciated!) -- just bring your desire to read some excellent new books, hand-selected for you byScott Esposito, of the Center for the Art of Translation and The Quarterly Conversation, who also fearlessly leads the discussion, brilliantly.. You'll also meet some great new people and chat with them about the best new fiction from around the world.

Saturday, July 31, 7:30 PM
TONY O’NEILL
Sick City

“Tony O’Neill is a man who has taken the term rock & roll poet to its furthest edges…” – The Guardian

The latest page-turning romp from Tony O’Neill, author of Down and Out on Murder Mile and Hero of the Underground, Sick City is an outrageous adventure of one legendary sex tape, two desperate dope fiends, and all the trouble in the world.

Jeffrey has nowhere to go when his sugar-daddy boyfriend, Bill, croaks. But before Jeffrey sets off into the glare of LA, he grabs a few parting mementos: two grand in cash; a handgun; Bill’s police badge; a wild assortment of drugs; and a film canister that contains a treasure greater than all the rest combined: a reel featuring Steve McQueen, Mama Cass, Yul Brynner, and Sharon Tate in a never-before-see, drug-fueled orgy.

Randal is the fallen scion of a great Hollywood family. His drug addiction and his rehab bills have been long overlooked by his indulgent father; however, with him no dead and gone, Randal’s left to the zealous sanctimony of his younger brother who has admitted him to Clean and Serene, a celebrity treatment center run by TV personality Dr. Mike, which is where Randal meets Jeffrey.

Together the new friends scramble to unload the sex tape before their pasts, and a killer, catch up with them. Sick City rollicks in the absurdities of celebrity culture, entertains from first to last, and reads as if Elmore Leonard co-opted the métier of Irvine Welsh.

Tony O’Neill’s books include Digging the Vein, Down and Out on Murder Mile, andHero of the Underground. He is also the co-author of Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by Cherie Currie. O’Neill’s essays, poems, and short stories have appeared extensively online and in print. He is a survivor of heroin addition, crack abuse, rehab, fatherhood, and stints in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Kenickie, and Marc Almond’s band. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

"Sick City is a disturbingly twisted ride through Hollywood's underbelly with a degenerate cast of colorfully interwoven characters. I loved the whole fucked up journey." -- Slash, rock'n'roll legend

"Sick City is fun, twisted and brutal. One of the best books written about LA in a long time. O'Neill could be our generation's Jim Thompson." -- James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, Bright Shiny Morning

"…this ensemble of grotesques stumbles through skid-row L.A. like a Robert Altman film scripted by Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs … the characters are unforgettable; they live and breathe, and you sure as hell wouldn't want them to breathe on you. Sick City is appealing in its unsentimentalism, disgusting in its details—and almost unbelievably funny." -- Booklist

Monday, August 2, 7:30 PM
MICHAEL SCOTT MORRE
Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, with Some Unexpected Results

While living in Germany, travel adventurer, journalist, and surfer Michael Scott Moore unexpectedly stumbled upon a vibrant German surf scene. Surprised, he set out to uncover how an obscure tribal sport from pre-colonial Hawaii (and associated mostly with his home state of California) managed to spread so far across the planet. Moore chronicles his quest to answer that question in his new book Sweetness and Blood.

Moore’s journey took him beyond Germany to some of the sport’s other unlikely destinations, including the Gaza Strip, Northern England, Japan, Morocco, and more. In explaining how surfing made its way across the globe, Moore masterfully weaves in the complicated political and cultural histories that have played key roles in the spread of the sport -- uncovering the sometimes “sweet,” sometimes “bloody” forces that shaped both surf culture and that of the places it traveled. His exploration goes far beyond surfer dudes and stereotypes -- it’s a thrilling, moving, and revealing look at a subject we only think we know.

Michael Scott Moore is a novelist and journalist who has written on politics and travel for publications such as The Atlantic, Slate, The Financial Times, among others. He lives in Berlin, Germany.

The New York Times’ Paper Cuts interview - The Atlantic Monthly on Munich’s surf scene

Thursday, August 5, 7:30 PM
JOHN BIEWEN
Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound with THE KITCHEN SISTERS

Over the last few decades, the radio documentary has developed into a strikingly vibrant form of creative expression. Millions of listeners hear arresting, intimate storytelling from an ever-widening array of producers on programs including This American Life, StoryCorps, and Radio Lab; online through such sites as Transom, the Public Radio Exchange, Hearing Voices, and Soundprint; and through a growing collection of podcasts.

Reality Radio celebrates today’s best audio documentary work by bringing together some of the most influential and innovative practitioners from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In these twenty essays, documentary makers tell -- and demonstrate, through stories and transcripts -- how they make radio the way they do, and why. Contributors include Jad Abumrad, Jay Allison,damali ayo, John Biewen, Emily Botein, Chris Brookes, Scott Carrier, Katie Davis, Sherre DeLys, Lena Eckert-Erdheim, Ira Glass, Alan Hall, Natalie Kestecher, The Kitchen Sisters, Maria Martin, Karen Michel, Rick Moody, Joe Richman, Dmae Roberts, Stephen Smith, and Sandy Tolan.

Whether the contributors to the volume call themselves journalists, storytellers, even audio artists -- and although their essays are just as diverse in content and approach -- all use sound to tell true stories, artfully.

John Biewen is audio program director at the Center for Documentary Studies atDuke University, where he teaches and produces documentary work for NPR, PRI,American Public Media, and other public radio audiences. Joining him in discussion this evening are NIKKI SILVA and DAVIA NELSON, radio’s superbThe Kitchen Sisters.

“A powerful and illuminating anthology about our most powerful and intimate medium.Reality Radio is a must-read for anyone who feels called to make documentary work or whose imagination and heart are stirred by the sounds of nonfiction storytelling on the radio. A wonderful book!”—Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps and Sound Portraits Productions

“Reality Radio is a fabulous book I wish I could have read when I started at NPR in 1974. It would have shaved 10–15 years off the learning curve in discovering how to make great radio.”—Bob Edwards, host of The Bob Edwards Show on Sirius XM Radio

“The essays in this book were written by people thinking with their ears.”—Rick Moody, from the foreword

Monday, August 9, 7:30 PM
A Special Community Forum:

THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF LOCAL JOURNALISM
A Panel Discussion with The Bay Citizen’s LISA FRAZIER, Mission Local’s LYDIA CHAVEZ, and SF Public Press’ MICHAEL STOLL

It’s an exciting time in the landscape of San Francisco journalism as we see tectonic changes take place before our eyes. There have recently been some enticing examples of citizen-funded journalism, including quality investigative reports on the over-budget Bay Bridge project and the proposed development of Treasure Island. This evening we bring some key players in public-interest reporting to The Booksmith to discuss the emerging models which will compete and compliment the incumbents bringing us Bay Area news.

As the San Francisco Chronicle continues to struggle and cuts reporting budgets, these new players are increasingly our source for original local news reporting.
They are nimble, tech savvy, and experimenting with new methods for delivering the news.

Lisa Frazier is the President and CEO of The Bay Citizen; Lydia Chavez is the Managing Editor of Mission Local; Michael Stoll is the Executive Director of SF Public Press. We'll discuss the sustainability of their models, what career opportunities they are providing for aspiring and seasoned journalists, and the ways in which they are distributing their content through new media and traditional print.

Christin Evans, co-owner of the Booksmith and a self-proclaimed news junkie, will moderate this panel. She has dabbled in citizen reporting through her contributions to the Huffington Post and will ask the tough questions about what we can expect from local journalism in the years ahead.

Friday, August 13, 6:30 – 9:30 PM
THE BACK TO SCHOOL BOOKSWAP!

With special guests Caroline Paul, author of East, Wind, Rain, and SF Writers’ Grotto resident, and Justine Sharrock, author of Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things..

For our Back to School special edition Bookswap, bring a book that moved you at some point in your education. Maybe your third grade teacher read it to you, maybe it was the first novel you read, or something assigned to you in high school or college. Whatever it was, it deepened your love for books somehow. Now it’s time to share it! As always, we'll have delicious food, free-flowing wine, fantastic company and lots of laughter. We look forward to celebrating the end of the summer with you!

Booksmith Bookswaps sell out quickly. To purchase your tickets, visit Brown Paper Tickets or call 800-838-3006. (Ages 21+, please.)

Tickets are $25. and include not only drink and food, but a coupon for you to receive 20% off your purchases this evening or in the several weeks following the Swap!

Tuesday, August 24, 7:00 PM
FOUND IN TRANSLATION Book Group
The Accordionist's Son by Bernardo Atxaga

The Guardian (London) once wrote that Bernardo Atxaga is "not just a Basque novelist, but the Basque novelist: a writer charged . . . with exporting a threatened culture." Indeed, Atxaga himself has said that the Basque language has only produced 100 books in the last 400 years . . . If Atxaga is indeed the world emissary of Basque culture, then The Accordionist's Son, just published in paperback last spring, is the book to read: called his masterpiece by many, it's an epic tale of the Basque country in the 20th century, both during the dictator Francisco's Franco's rule and after, as ETA terrorists battled with the democratic Spanish government in a struggle to preserve the Basque identity. We'll travel to the bucolic villages of theBasque country (as well as California) and read an author who is quite possibly his language's greatest writer, hopefully on a hot August night reminiscent of Mediterranean Spain.

Join us on the fourth Tuesday of every month for spirited conversation about some of the newest writing hitting the U.S. from all over the globe. No foreign language knowledge necessary and no continental savvy required (but will be appreciated!) -- just bring your desire to read some excellent new books, hand-selected for you byScott Esposito, of the Center for the Art of Translation and The Quarterly Conversation, who also fearlessly leads the discussion, brilliantly.. You'll also meet some great new people and chat with them about the best new fiction from around the world.

HUMOR

Welcome to the Twilight Zone aka the Axis of Evil

Republican essentials:

1. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of taxes, homosexuals and Hillary.

2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush 41 attacked him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to the spirit of international harmony.

4. The U S should get out of the U N, but our highest national priority is enforcing U N resolutions against Iraq.

5. A woman can't be trusted to make decisions about her own body, but multinational drug corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

7. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

8. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

9. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism. HMO's and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but Intelligent Design should be taught in schools.

11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

12. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

14. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host; then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

15. Supporting "Executive Privilege" for every Republican ever born, who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity).

16. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960's is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80's is irrelevant.

"We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box" - Robert Fulghum

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty-one.

ATTORNEY: Were