Archive
Friends,
below are some great events coming up at the Book Smith at 1644 Haight St. between Clayton & Cole (863-8688)
Friday, January 28
7:30 PM
RACHEL KRAMER BUSSELL and VIOLET BLUE
with Susie Hara, Dustry Horn, and Donna George Storey
Gotta Have It
69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Award-winning local writer and sexpert Violet Blue (Best Women’s Erotica 2011, Seal It With a Kiss) and New York-based erotica author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (Orgasmic, Fast Girls) join forces to bring you an evening of sexy smut! Featuring local Orgasmic contributors Susie Hara, Dusty Horn, and Donna George Storey, plus free cupcakes, this promises to be a steamy night of sensuous stories.
Every word counts in each of these stories that get right to the point. Rachel Kramer Bussel returns to The Booksmith with a plentitude of short, original erotica stories spanning every way you can "get it on" in every kind of setting, with a wild and wide variety of sexual orientation - quickie sex threesomes, sex toys, public sex, BDSM, fetishes, fantasies and MUCH more.
Rachel is Senior Editor at Penthouse Variations, hosts the In The Flesh Erotic Reading Series, writes a featured column in SexIS, and formerly wrote the "Lusty Lady" sex column for The Village Voice. She has edited the Best Sex Writing series since 2008. A prolific erotica editor, her titles include Spanked, He’s on Top, Yes, Ma'am, Crossdressing, and Bottoms Up. Rachel holds a bachelor's degree in political science and women's studies from the University of California at Berkeley and has studied at the New York University School of Law. Visit her at www.rachelkramerbussel.com.Tuesday, February 1
7:30 PM
CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND THE NEW MEDIA ECOLOGY
with PETER RICHARDSON and ROSE AGUILAR
We will always have news. The question is, will we have journalism? In 1985, 25 corporations controlled everything we read, hear, and see. Today, it's only six. Because profit is the ultimate goal, hard hitting journalism for the public good is greatly lacking. Rose Aguilar and Peter Richardson review the alternatives and propose new forms of citizen journalism that depend less on advertising and more on the recognition that political information is a public good and crucial for a healthy democracy. They also argue that a healthy media ecology needs both large media outlets and savvy fringe players to keep them honest. You are invited to join the conversation.Rose Aguilar is the host of KALW's "Your Call" and author of Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey into the Heartland. Peter Richardson is the author of the critically acclaimed A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America and teaches at San Francisco State University.
SOLD OUT:
Friday, February 4
6:30 – 9:30 PM
BOOKSMITH BOOKSWAP, LOVE EDITION
Eat, Drink, Talk, (Swap) Books
Love is everywhere in literature, but it is never simple. Love can be between people or for a thing, it can be for a hobby, a place, a game, an idea; love can be doomed, twisted, transcendent, unrequited, comedy, tragedy...or destiny. One thing is certain, love is never boring.For February's Bookswap, bring a book that contains love. We don't necessarily mean a love story in the traditional sense (though it could be); we're curious about strange, unexpected and interesting forms of love. Use your imagination…and get ready to passionately describe your choice. You’ll swap your book for someone else’s heartfelt choice. What a way to hear about books we might never stumble upon ourselves!...
As always, we'll have loads of delicious food and free flowing wine. You'll also receive a 20% off discount card!
Our very special guests this month are writers Ellen Sussman (Dirty Girls) and Rodes Fishburne (Going to See the Elephant).The Examiner notes, "The Bookswap embodies the spirit both of innovation and community and is proof that there is a strong desire for "and much to be learned from" independent bookstores in the 21st century."
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 (or phone 800-838-3006).
Tuesday, February 8
7:30 PM
TATJANA SOLI
The Lotus Eaters
Now in paperback, Tatjana Soli’s The Lotus Eaters is a unique and sweeping debut novel of an American female combat photographer in the Vietnam War, as she captures the wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of two men.
On a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor, larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen's infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh's secret keeper, boss and truest friend.
"The Lotus Eaters is a mesmerizing novel. Tatjana Soli takes on a monumental task by re-examining a heavily chronicled time and painting it with a lovely, fresh palette. The book is a true gift from a promising new writer." -- Katie Crouch, author of Girls in Trucks and Men and Dogs
"Set amid the twin infernos of Cambodia and Vietnam in the early 1970's, The Lotus Eaters draws the reader into a haunting world of war, betrayal, courage, obsession, and love. Tatjana Soli's spare, lucid prose infuses this novel with a dramatic clarity that makes us eyewitnesses to the collapse of two civilizations. More than that, The Lotus Eaters helps us to see and hear and feel the terrible human costs of that conflagration." -- Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried
Tatjana Soli was born in Salzburg, Austria, attended Stanford University and the Warren Wilson MFA Program. Her stories have appeared in The Sun, StoryQuarterly, Confrontation, Gulf Coast, Other Voices, Nimrod, Third Coast, Carolina Quarterly, Sonora Review and North Dakota Quarterly among other publications. Her work has been twice listed in the 100 Distinguished Stories in Best American Short Stories and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She was awarded the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Prize, the Dana Award, and was a finalist for the Bellwether Prize. The Lotus Eaters was named a Notable Book of 2010 by The New York Times, and Top Debut of 2010 by Kirkus.
Wednesday, February 9
7:30 PM
DAVID VANN
Caribou Island
Set against the backdrop of Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness, Caribou Island is David Vann’s dark and captivating (and thoroughly riveting) tale of a marriage pulled apart by rage and regret. With this eagerly anticipated debut novel, a masterful follow-up to his internationally bestselling short fiction anthology, Legend of a Suicide, Vann takes up the mantle of Louise Erdrich, Marilyn Robinson, and Rick Moody, delivering a powerfully wrought, enthrallingly emotional narrative of struggle and isolation.
On a small island in a glacier-fed lake on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, a marriage is unraveling. Gary, driven by thirty years of diverted plans, and Irene, haunted by a tragedy in her past, are trying to rebuild their life together. Following the outline of Gary's old dream, they're hauling logs to Caribou Island in good weather and in terrible storms, in sickness and in health, to build the kind of cabin that drew them to Alaska in the first place.
But this island is not right for Irene. They are building without plans or advice, and when winter comes early, the overwhelming isolation of the prehistoric wilderness threatens their bond to the core. Caught in the emotional maelstrom is their adult daughter, Rhoda, who is wrestling with the hopes and disappointments of her own life. Devoted to her parents, she watches helplessly as they drift further apart.
Brilliantly drawn and fiercely honest, Caribou Island captures the drama and pathos of a husband and wife whose bitter love, failed dreams, and tragic past push them to the edge of destruction. A portrait of desolation, violence, and the darkness of the soul, it is an explosive and unforgettable novel from a writer of limitless possibility.
“Vann established himself as one of the most exciting new talents to come out of America with his short-story collection Legend of a Suicide, which
was loosely based around his father’s death. This first novel, set once again in Alaska , proves it was no fluke, and that he is an extravagantly gifted
and moving writer.” -- The Sunday Times (London)“Surely one of the most eagerly anticipated novels of the year . . . Caribou Island is a scant 300 pages, and written in prose as pellucid as the rivers
he used to fish as a boy. But it says so much: about men and women, about marriage, about the desperate gap between who we want to be and who
we are.” -- The Observer (The Guardian, UK)“Caribou Island earns Vann a seat beside the masters—no longer as a student but as a peer. A+” -- San Francisco Magazine
A former National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Wallace Stegner Fellow, and John L'Heureux Fellow, David Vann has taught at Stanford, Cornell, SF
State, FSU, and is currently an Associate Professor at the University of San Francisco. He was born on Adak Island, Alaska and lives in the Bay
Area with his wife Nancy.
Friday, February 11
8:00 PM
LITERARY CLOWN FOOLERY: BOOKS MEET CLOWNS
With featured performer Thomas John and his NEW piece,
The Battle Hymn of the American Juggler
February's Cabaret also includes more amazing performers -- Tristan Cunnigham, Luz Gaxiola, Cathy Diebold, Audrey Spinazola, Texas Holly, Abraham Dover and Polina Smith -- from Circus Bella, Circus Finelli and affiliates of the San Francisco Circus Arts! There will be juggling, accordions, acrobatics, music and lots and lots of laughs!
Tickets $10 in the store or at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006 (21+, please; wines will be served)
“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” – William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night