Archive
Friends,
below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
Thursday, October 21, 7:30 PM
STEPHEN O’CONNOR
Here Comes Another Lesson: Stories
In what reality do a Minotaur, an Iraq War vet, and a Professor of Atheism coexist? Stephen O’Connor, whose fiction has been published in The New Yorker, The Partisan Review, and The Quarterly, brings these disparate characters and many more together in Here Comes Another Lesson, a surprising and haunting collection ranging from the wildly inventive to the vividly realistic.O’Connor’s protagonists are all, in one way or another, idealists who cannot live according to their own ideals. They yearn for love and fulfillment, often against fantastical, semi-apocalyptic backdrops whose strangeness only serves to make these lives more familiar and deeply affecting. Reminiscent of George Saunders, David Mitchell, and Haruki Murakami, O’Connor’s short stories showcase a vibrant literary talent. The New York Times Book Review wrote that his previous collection, Rescue, had “a sense of wandering reality [that] pervades most of the startlingly inventive stories.”
In the story “Ziggurat” (which ran in The New Yorker in June 2009), the Minotaur -- the agent of all in life that is indifferent to human wishes -- is awakened to his own humanity by a computer-game-playing “new girl” who has been brought to him for supper, and then has to deal with the consequences of his own actions. In “White Fire,” the protagonist longs for the ordinary life as husband and father after he returns from the National Guard in Iraq. In “The Professor of Atheism,” the title character has his beliefs challenged when he finds himself in Paradise -- where people are granted their every wish and frolic naked without shame -- but comes to learn that the place has a dark side not far from its opposite.Here Comes Another Lesson is a compulsively readable celebration of human hopefulness and a profound lament to a sane and gentle world that cannot exist.
Stephen O’Connor is the author of three previous books: Rescue (collection of short fiction and poetry), Will My Name Be Shouted Out? (work of memoir and social analysis), and Orphan Trains (narrative history). His fiction, poetry, and journalism have appeared in The New England Review, Poetry Magazine, The New York Times, The Nation, and elsewhere. O’Connor is the recipient of the Cornell Woolrich Fellowship in Creative Writing from Columbia University, the Visiting Fellowship for Historical Research by Artists and Writers from the American Antiquarian Society, and the DeWitt Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony. He has received a BA from Columbia University and an MA from the University of California at Berkeley, both in English Literature. He currently teaches at the MFA programs of Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence, and lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.
Booksmith for YOUNG KIDS!
Saturday, October 23, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
A HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA & BENEFIT
LISA BROWN and Vampire Boy’s Good Night
Storytelling, Mask-Making, Yummy Snacks: An Afternoon of Celebration
(and Costume-Wearing)
(and All for A Good Cause: Blood Banks!)
Lisa Brown is one of our most treasured illustrators and writers. Her new picture book for children is Vampire Boy’s Good Night. When the sun goes down and everything is wonderfully cold and dark, a vampire boy and a little witch go searching for children in the night. But this is no ordinary night. It is Halloween, and what they find may surprise them.
“The lyrical, understated prose and clever outsider’s perspective on the holiday might make this a new seasonal favorite” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
What we’ll have: a specially-illustrated reading of Vampire Boy’s Good Night, mask-making, hauntingly yummy Halloween-y snacks and drinks, a costume contest, a raffle for special prizes, and face-painting! A book signing, of course. And the opportunity for adults to sign up to donate blood!
Who should attend: all children ages 3 to 7, and their adults! You’re enthusiastically invited to wear your costumes!
What’s the Benefit? Although we hear that vampires drink blood, we think it’s much more satisfying to donate blood. We’ll have information on just how to do that from the BLOOD CENTERS OF THE PACIFIC, and we’ll invite you to drop a donation into the pot for that organization’s work.
In addition to Vampire Boy’s Good Night, Lisa Brown is the author and/or illustrator of a growing number of books for children, teens, and new parents, including Picture the Dead, How to Be, The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, and Baby Mix Me a Drink. She notes, “Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. There is something really magical about a night in costume: a time to try on different identities; to hide safely behind masks and hats and makeup; a chance to be as spooky as I always wanted to be. For the first seven Halloweens of my life, I dressed as a witch (often in the same exact outfit; I have never really grown). After that, I experimented a bit: ballerina-fairy-princess, for instance. But I always come crawling back to the slightly macabre. It is what I love best. When I was very young I lived in Queens, New York, and was able to Trick or Treat up and down the hallways of our apartment building. After moving to Connecticut, I was made to wear a winter coat over my costume when going door to door, which was a terrible indignity. Now I live in San Francisco, and never need to bundle up on Halloween night. I share an old Victorian house with my husband, who is rumored to beLemony Snicket, and my son, who is rumored to be in elementary school. He generally likes to dress up for Halloween as some sort of vehicle.”
Publishers Weekly had this to say about Vampire Boy’s Good Night: “Bela, a vampire with a fanged overbite, and his witch friend, Morgan, set out to look for children on Halloween night, though they aren't sure they exist ("I've heard they like to swing and climb," Bela says). But when they attend a party, they discover that the partygoers are actually children dressed in Halloween costumes. The use of speech balloons adds to the intimacy of Brown's detail-rich scenes, and the absence of parental figures contributes to an exultant mood. The lyrical, understated prose and clever outsider's perspective on the holiday might make this a new seasonal favorite.”
Monday, October 25, 7:30 PM
THE RUMPUS BOOK CLUB IN-PERSON DISCUSSION
First, The Rumpus announced its’ version of a book club – one whose members receive a hand-chosen book, for a thrilling insider’s early (before publication) look at what’s likely to be a very hot book. Club members are then invited to an online discussion with the author and with one another. (Read all about The Rumpus Book Club here.) What could be added to the mix? Why, a get-together to meet and talk with other club members in person!
We’re delighted to host these monthly gatherings this fall. Local book club members, come on in; if you’re a member from outside the Bay Area, but planning to be in our neighborhood, you come on in, too! Curious about The Rumpus and its book club? You, too!
Tonight: a discussion about Adam Levin’s The Instructions.
Tuesday, October 26, 7:00 PM
FOUND IN TRANSLATION Book Group
Broken Glass by Alain MabanckouJust in time for Halloween we travel to the seamy underbelly of an unnamed African nation reminiscent of the Congo. Very must recalling Joseph Conrad's "heart of darkness" Broken Glasshas been called "Fanon's 'wretched of the earth' updated for a new generation." It's the tale of a drunk, 64-year-old former teacher named Broken Glass and the lowlifes he hangs out with at the bar Credit Gone West. One day Broken Glass is recruited to write the history of all the regulars at Credit Gone West--a history that expands to cover the entire nation. We'll talk about Alain Mabanckou, seen by many as the wild child of African literature, as well as what the colorful tale might say (if anything) about contemporary Africa.
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 by Scott 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.
STORYTELLING FOR DARKENING DAYS:
Wednesday, October 27, 7:30 PM
KATE BERNHEIMER
My Mother She Kille Me, My Father He Ate Me - 40 New Fairy Tales
“Let’s open the door to the greenroom and peek to see who is waiting. A bevy of beauties . . . an evanescence of sprites . . . an abundance of adversaries . . . a passel of princes . . . Maybe we should have brought that bubbly; but there’s something being served here more deeply inebriating than champagne. Hush.”
—Gregory Maguire, from the Foreword
Childhood memories of princesses and ogres dominate our perception of fairy tales. Yet for many modern writers, the fairy tale is a living art form as relevant today as the tales of the Brothers Grimm were hundreds of years ago. My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, edited by Kate Bernheimer, is a celebration of this unique story form, with contributions from forty extraordinary writers. Inspired by everything from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” to fairy tales by Goethe and representing countries from China to Mexico, these stories will thrill you with worlds where the real and unreal exist side by side.
As the recent success of the film Alice in Wonderland illustrates, fairy tales are making a comeback, attracting attention from studios and scriptwriters who see their big screen potential. The contemporary writers whose stories fill this fabulous volume are already familiar with the power contained in fairy tales. They have mined the classic stories that thrilled us as children and lovingly transformed them into modern tales, applicable to adult lives. Those writers are Kim Addonizio, Chris Adrian, Rabih Alameddine, Naoko Awa, Aimee Bender, Francesca Lia Block, Karen Brennan, Kevin Brockmeier, Sarah Sun-Lien Bynum, Lucy Corin, Michael Cunningham, Ludmilla Petrusheyskaya, Kathryn Davis, Rikki Ducornet, Brian Evenson, Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Lily Hoang, Hiromi Ito, Shelley Jackson, Ilya Kaminsky, Jonathan Keats, Neil Labute, Kelly Link, Sabrina Orah Mark, Michael Martone, Joyelle McSweeney, Michael Mejia, Lydia Millet, Alissa Nutting, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Stacey Richter, Marjorie Sander, Timothy Schaffert, Jim Shepard, John Updike, Katherine Vaz, Kellie Wells, and Joy Williams.
The writers and stories in this unique collection represent amazing diversity. Neil Gaiman and Francesca Lia Block offer an entirely new take on Greek mythology. Naoko Awa and Hiromi Ito magically resurrect Japanese folktales. Bluebeard and his infamous castle are revived by Joyce Carol Oates and John Updike. Stacey Richter and Michael Martone reimagine lasting favorites such as “Cinderella” and “Jack and the Beanstalk.” My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me challenges us to preserve fairy tales for future generations. These, after all, are the stories that find a way to speak to everyone.
Kate Bernheimer is the founder and editor of the literary journal, Fairy Tale Review and the editor of two previous anthologies, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales and Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales. She is also the author of several books, including two novels and a children’s book. She has published stories in such journals as Tin House, Western Humanities Review, and The Massachusetts Review. Her new story collection, Horse, Flower, Bird, is also just published; Kate will talk about this book, too, this evening. Bernheimer lives in Tucson, Arizona and teaches at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.
Thursday, October 28, 7:30 PM
JEFF GREENWALD
Snake Lake
In a circular valley beneath the looming peaks of the Himalaya lies Kathmandu, Nepal. It’s a city of shimmering prayer flags, sacred cows, lavish festivals, and violent political turbulence -- and a world that journalist Jeff Greenwald has come to call home. Focused on the life-changing events that unfolded during one calamitous spring, Greenwald weaves a vivid tapestry of Buddhism, revolution, and the often serpentine paths to personal liberation.
Snake Lake unfolds during 1990's dramatic “people power” uprising against Nepal’s long-entrenched monarchy. The story follows Greenwald as he wins the friendship of a high lama who reveals the pillars of Tibetan Buddhism, embarks on a passionate romance with a spunky but curiously unlucky news photographer, and discovers what democracy means to rural Nepali citizens, all while covering the revolution for a major American newspaper. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Greenwald's brilliant but troubled younger brother descends into a deepening depression. Jeff is forced to choose between witnessing Nepal’s long-overdue revolution and reconnecting with an alienated brother in desperate need of help.
“Jeff Greenwald has always been a great travel writer, but in Snake Lake he transcends the genre by taking us on a perilous journey through the human heart. By turns poignant and hilarious, Greenwald molds the dramas of his life into teaching stories, filled with both passion and wisdom.” -- Wes Nisker, author of The Essential Crazy Wisdom
Jeff Greenwald is the author of Shopping for Buddhas and The Size of the World. His writing has appeared in print and online in such publications as National Geographic Adventure, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, Tricycle and Salon.