Archive

Friends,

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

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.

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