Archive
Friends,
below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
SLOANE CROSLEY
reading & booksigning for I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Saturday, April 12 at 1 pmWry, 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 pmIn 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 pmAdmirers 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 pmMelanie 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 pmAmericans 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 pmAll 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.
