Events
Book Passage Class
Eight Mondays: Sept. 13-Nov. 1, 9:30-11:15 am, $235
Corte Madera store
Register for Class
Gisella Petrone grew up in Italy. She received a Masters degree from the University of Calabria. She has taught English, Italian, Latin, Roman History, and Italian cooking.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Left Coast Writers Launch!
Osprey Orielle Lake talks about Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature ($16.95). Lake, a lifelong advocate for environmental protection and cultural transformation, weaves together history, science, culture, governance, spirituality, and the arts to map out an integrated approach to working in partnership with nature while creating a more balanced future.
Book Passage Class
Five Mondays: Sept. 13-Oct. 11, 6:30-8:30 pm, $210
Corte Madera store
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for Class
Learn the fundamental tools of narrative writing, including plot, setting, characterization, dialogue, and point of view. The lectures provide published texts as models, and writing exercises help you apply what you learn to your work. Peg Pursell started the creative writing program at the Charleston School of the Arts and taught fiction writing at the College of Charleston. She curates the “Why There Are Words Literary Reading Series” in Sausalito.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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David Burke presents "Bad Boys and Bad Girls of Literature in Paris," an illustrated talk based on his long years of literary detective work on his acclaimed book Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light ($19.95). The presentation features scandalous "boys" from the days of medieval poet, thief, priest-killer, and Master of Arts in Theology François Villon to such 20th Century shockers as Henry Miller, Jean Genet, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, and such scandalous "girls" as George Sand, Colette, and Anaïs Nin. Burke is a longtime writer/producer of television documentaries, most notably for 60 Minutes, who left New York with his director/editor wife Joanne Burke in 1986 to spend a year in Paris. They have been working there ever since.
Book Passage Book Group
Four Mondays: Sept. 13, Oct. 11, Nov. 8, Dec. 13, 7:00-9:00 pm, $60
Corte Madera
store
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for Book Group
We will discuss the impact of the variety of life changing experiences reported in these stories, and what prepared these men to be open to having them. Joe Herzberg is a Marin psychiatrist with a degree in American Studies.
Theme: Life Changing Experiences
Reading List: Sept. 13: Unfinished Business: One Man's Extraordinary Year of Trying to do the Right Things by Lee Kravitz; Oct. 11: Lighting Out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed Out West and Became Mark Twain by Roy Morris; Nov. 8: The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
by Norman Doidge; Dec. 13: TBA
TUESDAY SESSION IS NOW FULL.
You may register for the Friday session at this link.
Book Passage Book Group
Five Tuesdays: Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 9, Dec. 14 & Jan 11,
10:30-12:30 pm, $105
Corte Madera storeRegister
for Book Group
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Richard Lupoff discusses his mystery novel The Emerald Cat Killer ($25.99). Hobart Lindsey is called back to the San Francisco Bay Area for one last case. A local book publisher is being sued over a novel that might actually be the last, lost work of a novelist killed more than a year ago. Lupoff is also the author of Marblehead.
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $40
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for Class
Being interviewed is not merely about selling your book; it’s also about selling yourself. Richard Wolinsky offers tips on how to prepare for your interviews, and he discusses dos and don’ts for the interview novice. Wolinsky has been hosting radio interview programs for 30 years. He can be heard on the Bookwaves segment of Cover to Cover on KPFA FM, Thursdays at 3:30 pm.
Corte Madera store
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Elizabeth Rosner talks about her novel Blue Nude ($15.00). Born in the shadow of postwar Germany, Danzig is a once-prominent painter who now lives in San Francisco. But while he shares wisdom and technique with students, his own canvases remain mysteriously empty. When a new model poses for his class, Danzig senses that she may be the muse he has been waiting for.
Book Passage Class
Eight Wednesdays: Sept. 15-Nov. 3, 8:30-10:15 am, $235
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Gisella Petrone grew up in Italy. She received a Masters degree from the University of Calabria. She has taught English, Italian, Latin, Roman History, and Italian cooking.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Rick Bass presents his novel Nashville Chrome ($24.00). Late in 1959, the Brown siblings—Maxine, Bonnie, and Jim Ed—were enjoying international success, rivaled only by Elvis Presley. Lyrical and nuanced, this work evokes an era in American music, while presenting a wrenching meditation on the complexities of fame and family.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Steven Saylor presents Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome ($25.99). Continuing the epic story begun in his New York Times-bestselling novel Roma, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to the height of Rome’s empire. Saylor is the author of The Triumph of Caesar.
Book Passage Class
Four Wednesdays, Sept. 15-Oct. 6, 6:30-8:30 pm, $155
Register
for Class
Leslie Keenan has been in publishing for 28 years as an editor, agent, publisher, writer, and teacher. She has helped hundreds of writers find and complete their writing projects. A student wrote, “Leslie is inspiring, compassionate, and has a natural gift for creating a safe place for a writer. She’s like a living life preserver.”
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Joyce Maynard discusses The Good Daughters ($24.99). From the bestselling author of Labor Day comes a spellbinding novel about friendship, family secrets, and the strange, unexpected twists of fate that shape our lives. Maynard is the author of six novels and four books of nonfiction, including her bestselling memoir At Home in the World.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Reception 6:00 pm • Event 6:45 pm
Corte Madera store
Sponsored by Book Passage & Bank of Marin
Help us celebrate our adult student-authors. Join host Cheryl Jennings as we celebrate 25 years of the work of the Marin Literacy Program. This event is free to the public and refreshments will be served.
This inspirational evening honors the achievement of those adults who have mastered the skill of reading and have then gone even further to learn the skill of writing as well. One World, Many Voices, an anthology of student writing, will be given to guests at the event. Bank of Marin and Book Passage are proud Partners in Literacy for this event and throughout the year. The Marin Literacy Program provides adults with free student-centered instruction in reading, writing, and speaking to help them reach their full potential at work, at home, and in the community.
This book group is canceled. We will look forward to a future book group with Lawrence White.
Book Passage Book Group
Five Thursdays: Sept. 16, Oct. 14, Nov. 11, Dec. 9 & Jan. 13
6:30-8:30 pm, $105
Corte Madera storeRegister
for Book Group
Book Passage Class
Eight Fridays: Sept. 17-Nov. 5, 8:30-10:15 am, $235
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Gisella Petrone grew up in Italy. She received a Masters degree from the University of Calabria. She has taught English, Italian, Latin, Roman History, and Italian cooking.
Book Passage Book Group
Five Fridays: Sept. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 12, Dec. 17, & Jan. 14, 10:30-12:30 pm, $105
Corte Madera store
Register
for Book Group
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $105
Register
for Class
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $50
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Barbara Pope presents The Blood of Lorraine ($25.00). In the wake of murders in Aix-en-Provence, magistrate Bernard Martin moves to a town in Lorraine, along with his pregnant wife Clarie. Both are fervent about French Republican ideals. They are not there long when an infant boy is found dead, perhaps the victim of ritual sacrifice.
Corte Madera store
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Betty de Shong Meador talks about Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna ($30.00). In 2300 BCE, Sumerian high priestess Enheduanna became the first known author by signing her name to a collection of hymns written for 42 temples throughout ancient Mesopotamia. This work presents the first collection of these hymns.
$5 members/$10 non-members per meeting
Corte Madera store
“Four Debut Novelists Tell All”:
with Carolina DeRobertis, Nina LaCour, Jacqueline Luckett, Matt Stewart, and Kim Culbertson
The Marin branch of the California Writers Club meets monthly at Book Passage. Meetings are free to attend. The Marin branch was chartered in 1999 and celebrates ten years with California Writers Club and with Book Passage. CWC, a 501c educational corporation, is the nation’s oldest professional club for writers ... “educating writers of all levels of expertise in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their work.” More info at: http://www.calwriters.org.
Corte Madera store
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Mark Oldman discusses Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine ($19.95). Wine personality Oldman, known to PBS viewers as a judge on The Winemakers and winner of the Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year Award, rescues your taste buds with a groundbreaking guide to irresistible wines of moderate cost and maximum appeal. Wine will be served! Wine will be served!
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $20
Register for Workshop
Inna Segal reveals the underlying energetic, emotional, and mental causes of pain, illness ,and problems in your body. Learn how to communicate with your body and increase your intuition, based on Segal’s story of her own healing. Discover how you too can begin to heal your body and transform your life. Inna Segal is the author of The Secret Language of Your Body.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Launch Party! Sheldon Siegel presents his thriller Perfect Alibi ($26.00), the seventh installment in his bestselling, critically-acclaimed series. Beloved Bay Area author and Co-Chair of the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, Siegel returns with a dramatic new case that hits way too close to home for the law firm of Fernandez and Daley.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Yiyun Li talks about Gold Boy, Emerald Girl ($25.00). In these stories, Li, Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award-winner and acclaimed author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Vagrants, gives us exquisite fiction filled with suspense, depth, and beauty, in which history, politics, and folklore magnificently illuminate the human condition.
Book Passage Class
Seven Mondays: Sept. 20-Nov. 1
Corte Madera store, $245
Register for Class
This class will incorporate French cinema into a French conversation course. You watch the movies in the comfort of your home. In class there will be discussion and exercises about the film. The films are designed to provide a wide range of exposure to French culture. Required text: Cinema for French Conversation (Students are asked to view “Sur mes levres” (“Read My Lips”) prior to the first class.
Genevieve Blaise-Sullivan has taught French at College of Marin for over 30 years. She is a French native from Paris and graduated from the Sorbonne with degrees in French, Russian, and Bulgarian.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
David A. Kessler, M.D. talks about The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
($15.99). Dr. Kessler, the dynamic former FDA commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry, now reveals how the food industry has hijacked the brains of millions of Americans. The result? America’s number-one public health issue. Dr. Kessler cracks the code of overeating by explaining how our bodies and minds are changed when we consume foods that contain sugar, fat, and salt. For the millions of people struggling with weight as well as for those of us who simply don't understand why we can't seem to stop eating our favorite foods, Dr. Kessler’s cutting-edge investigation offers new insights and helpful tools to help us find a solution.
Kessler’s groundbreaking examination of America’s battle with overeating and obesity reveals how today’s food industry is tapping into the fact that our brains are wired to respond to sugar, fat, and salt by creating foods that literally feed this desire—foods loaded and layered with these “salient stimuli.” Through a combination of food engineering and aggressive marketing, the industry is manipulating the American public to overeat in the same way that the tobacco industry manipulated it to smoke.
So what’s the solution? In The End of Overeating, Kessler outlines how we can stop the overeating crisis—both as individuals and as a society. “People need to repeatedly hear that selling, serving, and eating food layered and loaded with sugar, fat, and salt has negative and unhealthy consequences—we need a ‘Truth’ campaign for the food industry,” says Kessler. In addition, he advocates for comprehensive labeling on packaged foods; calorie counts on all menus at restaurants; strict monitoring, regulating, and exposing of food marketing; and an overall shift in attitudes and norms.
David Kessler, M.D., served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration. A pediatrician, he has been dean of the medical schools at Yale and the UCSF.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
James Ellroy discusses his memoir The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women ($24.95). Ellroy unsparingly describes his shattered childhood, his delinquent teens, his writing life, his love affairs and marriages, his nervous breakdown, and the beginning of a relationship with an extraordinary woman. A layered narrative of time and place, emotion and insight, this work is a soul-baring revelation of self.
Book Passage Book Group
Five Mondays: Sept. 20, Oct. 18, Nov. 22, Dec. 13 & Jan.17
7:00-9:00 pm, $105
Corte Madera store
Register
for Book Group
Book Passage Class
Nine Tuesdays: Sept. 21-Nov. 23, 8:30-10:15 am, $265
(No class Nov. 9)
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Class will continue vocabulary work and the learning of basic structures. Textbook: Living Language Ultimate Italian.
Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. in Italian Literature from UCB, has been teaching Italian language, literature, and cooking since 1979. She leads a yearly Language Study Tour Program to Italy.
Book Passage Class
Eight Tuesdays: Sept. 21-Nov. 9
Corte Madera store, $235
Register for Class
For Advanced Students
This class is for students who want to gain proficiency and confidence communicating in French using nuances and idiomatic expressions. The “Litterature” book offers selections from French-speaking authors past and present. Articles from the French press will also be read and discussed in class. Required text: Schaum’s Outline of French Grammar (4th or 5th edition), Ensemble “Litterature” with CD, Comeau, Lamoureux (6th or 7th edition).
Genevieve Blaise-Sullivan has taught French at College of Marin for over 30 years. She is a French native from Paris and graduated from the Sorbonne with degrees in French, Russian, and Bulgarian.
Book Passage Book Group
Five Tuesdays: Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 23, Dec. 14 & Jan. 18, 1:00-3:00 pm, $105
Corte Madera store
Register
for Book Group
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Lisa Birnbach talks about True Prep ($19.95). “Wake up, Muffy. We’re back.” From the author of The Official Preppy Handbook, Birnbach looks at how the old guard of natural-fiber-loving, dog-worshipping preppies adapts to the new order of the Internet, cell phones, rehab, political correctness, reality TV, and polar fleece.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for young adults!
Pseudonymous Bosch talks about This Isn’t What It Looks Like ($16.99). Cass finds herself alone and disoriented, a stranger in a dream-like, medieval world. With the help of a long-lost relative, she begins to uncover clues and secrets, piecing together her family’s history as she fights her way back to the present world. Visit www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/secretseries/index.html for a cool video!
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Andres Edwards presents Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society ($17.95). This work draws a map of individuals, organizations, and communities from around the world that are committed to building an alternative future, one that strives to restore ecological health and rejuvenate our environmental, social, and economic systems.
Book Passage Class
Nine Wednesdays, Sept. 22-Dec. 1, 9:00-10:45 am, $265
(No class Nov 10 & 24)
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. in Italian Literature from UCB, has been teaching Italian language, literature, and cooking since 1979. She leads a yearly Language Study Tour Program to Italy.
Book Passage Class
Nine Wednesdays, Sept. 22-Dec. 1, 11:00-12:45 pm, $265
(No class Nov 10 & 24)
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. in Italian Literature from UCB, has been teaching Italian language, literature, and cooking since 1979. She leads a yearly Language Study Tour Program to Italy.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Tom McCarthy discusses his novel C ($25.95). Opening in England at the turn of the 20th century, this is the story of a boy named Serge, whose father spends his time experimenting with wireless communication while running a school for deaf children. Serge grows up with his brilliant but troubled older sister, Sophie.An intense sibling relationship stays with him as he heads off into the larger world.
San Francisco store
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Mae Ngai presents The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America ($26.00). A noted historian uncovers the three-generational saga of the Tape family in a sweeping story centered on patriarch Jeu Dip’s (Joseph Tape’s) self-invention as an immigration broker in post-Gold Rush, racially explosive San Francisco, and the extraordinary rise it enables.
Corte Madera store
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Anne Fortier presents her novel Juliet ($25.00). When Julie Jacobs leaves for Italy per the instructions of her late aunt’s will, she never imagines that she’ll be thrust into a centuries-old feud, not to mention one of the most legendary romances of all time. Fortier presents a sweeping novel of intrigue and identity, of love and legacy.
Book Passage Class
Nine Thursdays: Sept. 23-Dec. 2, 9:00-11:00 am, $265
(No class Nov 11 & 25)
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. in Italian Literature from UCB, has been teaching Italian language, literature, and cooking since 1979. She leads a yearly Language Study Tour Program to Italy.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Melanie Thernstrom talks about The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering ($27.00). Both a personal meditation and an intellectual exploration, this work illuminates and makes sense of the all-too-human experience of pain, and confronts with extraordinary grace and empathy its peculiar traits, its harrowing effects, and its various antidotes.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Monique Truong talks about her novel Bitter in the Mouth ($25.00). For as long as she can remember, Linda has experienced a secret sense—she can “taste” words, which have the power to disrupt, dismay, or delight. She falls for names and what they evoke: Canned peaches. Dill. Orange Sherbet. The author of The Book of Salt brings us a tale of a woman’s search for identity, as she uncovers the secrets of her past.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $60
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for Class
Alice Acheson is an independent publicist and consultant who has negotiated contracts and edited books. She is the former publicity director for Simon & Schuster and has more than 30 years’ experience promoting books.
Book Passage Class
Nine Fridays: Sept. 24-Dec. 3, 1:00-3:00 pm, $265
(No class Nov 12 & 26)
Corte
Madera store
Register
for Class
Wendy Walsh, Ph.D. in Italian Literature from UCB, has been teaching Italian language, literature, and cooking since 1979. She leads a yearly Language Study Tour Program to Italy.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $60
Register
for Class
Alice Acheson is an independent publicist and consultant who has negotiated contracts and edited books. She is the former publicity director for Simon & Schuster and has more than 30 years’ experience promoting books.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Daniel Kehlmann discusses his novel Fame: A Novel in Nine Episodes ($24.00). Fame and facelessness, truth and deception spin their way through all nine episodes of this captivating, funny, and surprising novel as paths cross and plots thicken, as characters become real people and real people morph into characters.
Book Passage Class
Sat., Sept. 25 • 10:00-5:00 pm & Sun., Sept. 26, 9:30-1:00 pm, $195
Register
for Class
Alice Acheson is an independent publicist and consultant who has negotiated contracts and edited books. She is the former publicity director for Simon & Schuster and has more than 30 years’ experience promoting books.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $40
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Mona Simpson presents her novel My Hollywood ($26.95). Simpson tells the story of two women whose lives entwine and unfold behind the glittery surface of Hollywood: Claire, a composer and a new mother, and Lola, a 52-year-old mother of five who is working in America to pay for her own children’s higher education back in the Philippines.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Susan Casey discusses The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean ($27.95). For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100 feet high or taller. Until recently, scientists dismissed these stories. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
All Over The Place(s): Photographs
Exhibit On Display Sept.-Dec.
Book Passage patrons will recognize him as their frequent author event host, but in his other lives he’s an actor, film editor…and photographer. Dana Kelly presents the best of 15 years of globe-trotting, mostly-landscape photography, from Bali, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Britain, upstate New York to Alaska, and LA to Muir Beach. From the Alexandrian ruins at Pergamum in Turkey to the canals of Venice and the blue-green ice of Glacier Bay, the theme is: there is no theme. It’s all over the place(s). Enjoy.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Michael Hiltzik presents Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century ($30.00). Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hiltzik uses the saga of the dam’s conception, design, and construction to tell the broader story of America’s efforts to come to grips with titanic social, economic, and natural forces.
Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael, CA
Not attending event? Order a signed copy
Read the review in Publishers Weekly!
Special for kids & parents!
Join us for original songs, live music, videos, onstage interview and audience Q&A with Eoin Colfer! Colfer delivers a knockout, fast-paced, and hilarious adventure in Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, the seventh book in the series. Artemis has committed his entire fortune to a project he believes will save the planet. Can it be true? Has goodness taken hold of the world’s greatest teenage criminal mastermind? Captain Holly Short is unconvinced and discovers that Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies!
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Julie Metz talks about her memoir Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal ($14.99). Metz seemed to have the perfect life—an adoring husband, a happy, spirited daughter, a lovely old house outside New York City. Then suddenly, her charismatic husband of 12 years collapsed dead on the kitchen floor. Six months after his death, Julie discovered that her husband had been unfaithful, and she is left to make sense of her newfound life.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Carolyn Rosenblatt presents The Boomer's Guide to Aging Parents ($39.95). Rosenblatt presents a comprehensive, forthright, and heartfelt resource guide for families with an aging elder. You’ll find practical step-by-step expertise on legal and health concerns that can help you feel at ease in the short term and the long term, at a time when you need it most.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Peter Lewis discusses his mystery novel Dead in the Dregs: A Babe Stern Mystery ($14.95). Wine critic Richard Wilson makes a living elevating and destroying winemakers’ reputations with the stroke of his pen. But when Wilson’s body is found floating in a vat after a tasting in Napa, a search for a killer begins.
Book Passage Class
Eight Mondays: Sept. 27-Nov. 15, 10:30-12:30 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
Anne Bishop lived and taught in France for 20 years. She has taught French language, culture, and literature at Book Passage for many years.
Book Passage Class
Eight Mondays: Sept. 27-Nov. 15, 10:30-12:30 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
A continuation of grammar and language immersion through conversation.
Graciela Pera was born in Buenos Aires and has been teaching Spanish for 35 years.
This session is sold out, but we are offering a second session Sept. 28-Nov. 16.
Sign up for that session at this link
Book Passage Class
Eight Mondays: Sept. 27-Nov. 15, 1:00-3:00 pm, $235
Corte Madera storeRegister
for Class
Graciela Pera was born in Buenos Aires and has been teaching Spanish for 35 years.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Dr. Linda Clever talks about The Fatigue Prescription: Four Steps to Renewing Your Energy, Health, and Life ($16.95). Clever provides a practical and prescriptive guide to taking care of your whole self. She includes tips, self-assessment guides, and a doctor’s best advice on how to deal with competing demands that sap your strength, deplete your energy, and can lead to illness and depression.
Speakers: N.H. Senzai, Lewis Buzbee and Emily Whitman
Corte Madera store
Kid Lit Salon Panel #22
Monday,
September 27, 2010, 7:00-9:00 pm
N.H. Senzai, Lewis Buzbee and Emily Whitman
N.H. Senzai grew up speaking
two languages, balancing life lived on the edge of two cultures. She got
on a plane for the first time at two months, in Chicago, IL, where she
was born, and has been traveling ever since. She grew up in San
Francisco, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and attended boarding school in London,
England where she was voted “most likely to lead a literary revolution”
due to her ability to get away with reading comic books in class. She's
hiked across the Alps, road-tripped through Mexico, swam with
barracudas in the Red Sea, taken a train across the Soviet Union,
floated down the Nile, eaten gumbo in New Orleans and sat in
contemplation at the Taj Mahal. Somewhere along the way she attended UC
Berkeley and Columbia University, while pursuing her passion for
writing. She's landed back home in San Francisco where she lives with
her husband, a professor of political science, her son, and a cat who
owns them. During the day she can be found working for a consulting firm
that helps companies with their inventions and patents. Shooting Kabul is her debut novel. You can find out more about her on her website www.nhsenzai.com.
Lewis Buzbee is the author of Fliegelman's Desire, After the Gold Rush, and The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop. Steinbeck's Ghost,
his first novel for younger readers, was selected as the California
Library Association's John and Patricia Beatty Award, a Smithsonian
Notable Book, a Northern California Book Award nominee, and the Northern
California Independent Booksellers Children's Book of the Year. His
next novel, The Haunting of Charles Dickens,
will be published in 2010, followed in 2011 by Mark Twain and the
Mysterious Stranger. He teaches in the MFA Program at the University of
San Francisco. http://us.macmillan.com/author/lewisbuzbee
Emily Whitman used to dream of a time travel camp to the past. Now she travels to different worlds as the author of YA novels. Her new book, Wildwing, is a time travel tale of romance, intrigue, and the wisdom of following your own heart; spending time with peregrine falcons was a research highlight. Emily’s debut novel, Radiant Darkness, was praised for its “originality and flair” by BCCB and was a #1 IndieBound Pick. A native of Boulder, Colorado, Emily attended Harvard and U.C. Berkeley. She has taught at the Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference, written for educational publishers, worked in library reference, and faced a room of 60 for toddler storytime. She lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.
When Addy is swept back in time, she couldn't be happier to leave her miserable life behind. Now she's mistaken for Lady Matilda, the pampered ward of the king. If Addy can play her part, she'll have glorious gowns, jewels, and something she's always longed for—the respect and admiration of others. But then she meets Will, the falconer's son with sky blue eyes, who unsettles all her plans.
From shipwrecks to castle dungeons, from betrothals to hidden conspiracies, Addy finds herself in a world where she’s not the only one with a dangerous secret. When she discovers the truth, Addy must take matters into her own hands. The stakes? Her chance at true love . . . and the life she's meant to live. www.emilywhitman.com
******************
Kid Lit Salon
Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Salon • Led by Lissa Rovetch
4th Monday each month • 7:00-9:00 pm • $120 per year
The Kid Lit Salon is for both established and beginning children’s book writers and illustrators. Come socialize with like-minded, creative types in your field. Our evenings include a wildly diverse array of speakers, member updates, events, conferences, and insider tips. Writer and illustrator Lissa
Rovetch is the author of Ook the
Book
and the Hot Dog
and Bob chapter book series.
She illustrated her 84 year-old mother's book There
Was a Man
Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems,
writes the "Ask Arizona" series for Highlights Magazine, and teaches at the
California College of the Arts. Vist www.lissarovetch.com.
Book Passage Book Group
Four Mondays: Sept. 27, Oct. 25, Nov. 29, Dec. 13, 7:00-9:00 pm, $95
Corte Madera store
Register
for Book Group
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Carol Cassella presents her novel Healer ($25.00). Claire is at the start of her medical career when she falls in love with Addison Boehning, a biochemist. Then, a complicated pregnancy forces Claire to drop out of her residency. Soon, Addison’s biotech start-up lands a fortune. Overnight the Boehnings are catapulted into a financial and social tier they had never anticipated.
Book Passage Class
Eight Tuesdays: Sept. 28–Nov. 16, 10:30-12:30 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
Anne Bishop lived and taught in France for 20 years. She has taught French language, culture, and literature at Book Passage for many years.
Eight Tuesdays: Sept. 28-Nov. 16, 10:30-12:30 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register for Class
In this class we are going to learn grammar and talk, talk and talk. Immersion in conversational Spanish is the best way to learn, and that is exactly what we will do. Study Guide can be purchased from the instructor the first day of class, $18.
Graciela Pera was born in Buenos Aires and has been teaching Spanish for 35 years.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Dianne Jacob talks about Will Write For Food ($15.95). In this revised, updated edition, food lovers who want to express themselves through article writing, restaurant reviewing, and cookbook writing will find the tools to get started in the incredibly popular world of food writing. Jacob is also co-author of Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas.
Book Passage Class
Five Tuesdays: Sept. 28-Oct. 26, 6:30-8:30 pm, $145
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ann Weisgarber talks about her novel The Personal History of Rachel Dupree ($25.95). Weisgarber presents a story about life on the prairie as it’s rarely been seen. When Rachel, hired help in a Chicago boardinghouse, falls in love with Isaac, the owner’s son, he makes her a bargain: he’ll marry her, but only if she gives up her 160 acres from the Homestead Act.
Preferred seating with purchase of book
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Diana Gabaldon and Hoang Nguyen present The Exile (An Outlander Graphic Novel) ($25.00). The Exile retells Gabaldon’s Outlander novel from Jamie Fraser’s point of view, revealing events never seen in the original story and giving readers a whole new insight into the Jamie-Claire relationship.
Book Passage Class
Eight Wednesdays: Sept. 29-Nov. 17, 9:00-11:00 am, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
A continuation of grammar and language immersion through conversation.
Graciela Pera was born in Buenos Aires and has been teaching Spanish for 35 years.
Book Passage Class
Six Wednesdays: Sept. 29-Nov. 3, 10:00-1:00 pm, $960
Mehri Dadgar's Studio
Register
for Class
Basic Supplies will be available for purchase in the first class. You may bring your own materials including paper, fine brushes and Gouache paint.
Mehri Dadgar was born and raised in Iran. A profound influence on her art and life was the experience of being imprisoned for five years in a political prison for passing out pro-democracy newsletters in Tehran.
Book Passage Class
Eight Wednesdays: Sept. 29-Nov. 17, 1:00-3:00 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
This class is for beginners or those who want a fresh start. The focus is on French for travel and communicating.
Anne Bishop lived and taught in France for 20 years. She has taught French language, culture, and literature at Book Passage for many years.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker discusses Promise Me: How a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer ($25.99). Brinker shares how her sister’s struggle led her to promise to raise money for research in the hopes of one day curing the disease. Brinker is the founder Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Book Passage Class
Six
Wednesdays: Sept. 29-Nov. 3, 3:00-6:00 pm, $960
Mehri Dadgar's Studio
Register
for Class
Basic Supplies will be available for purchase in the first class. You may bring your own materials including paper, fine brushes and Gouache paint.
Mehri Dadgar was born and raised in Iran. A profound influence on her art and life was the experience of being imprisoned for five years in a political prison for passing out pro-democracy newsletters in Tehran.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
John Vaillant talks about The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival ($26.95). A haunting, gripping exploration of predators and prey, and an intimate portrait of a remarkable animal increasingly threatened by interaction with humans, this work recreates the hunt for a man-eating tiger across the forbidding landscape of Russia’s Far East.
Book Passage Class
Eight Thursdays: Sept. 30-Nov. 18
Corte Madera store, $235
Register for Class
Prerequisite: Spanish I or Spanish II
Conversation will focus on Spanish and Latin American literature. There will also be a review of Spanish grammar.
Graciela Pera was born in Buenos Aires and has been teaching Spanish for 35 years.
Book Passage Class
Eight Thursdays: Sept. 30-Nov. 18, 11:15-1:15 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
Anne Bishop lived and taught in France for 20 years. She has taught French language, culture, and literature at Book Passage for many years.
Book Passage Class
Eight Thursdays: Sept. 30-Nov. 18, 2:00–4:00 pm, $235
Corte Madera store
Register
for Class
This class focuses on French for travel, basic vocabulary, expressions, grammar and pronunciation.
Anne Bishop lived and taught in France for 20 years. She has taught French language, culture, and literature at Book Passage for many years.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Editor Chandrahas Choudhury, with author Vikram Chandra, presents India: A Traveler's Literary Companion ($14.95). The latest book in the acclaimed series of literary travel guides brings
together a delightful sampling of short fiction from one of the world’s
most diverse, multicultural, and storied civilizations. India: A Traveler's Literary Companion features 14 short stories from some of
India’s best writers, collectively offering an insightful portrait of
the beauty and complexity of Indian landscape, culture, and society.
Travel to the Taj Mahal with Kunal Basu, as the humble accountant of his
story becomes, in another incarnation, the architect of one of the
world’s most resplendent monuments. Let Vikram Chandra lead readers by
the hand into the ghettos of Mumbai (Bombay), where a small-time thug
fences some gold bars he has stolen and then decides to find out what
pleasures his money can buy. Journey with Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay’s
silver-tongued salesman of medicated oil as he travels the trains
around Calcutta, the city he loves more than anything else. And Nazir
Mansuri’s Melvillian “The Whale” transports readers to a small fishing
village on the west coast of India, where an embittered sailor makes
every whale he sees the object of his fury. Stories from nine languages
and more than a dozen distinct cultures and regions—from north, south,
east, west, and even from India’s remote northeast—are brought
together in this vibrant collection.
A writer and literary critic, editor Chandrahas Choudhury is the weekly book critic of the Indian newspaper Mint Lounge, as well as numerous U.S. periodicals, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the Sunday Telegraph, the Scotsman, Himal, and Foreign Policy. He lives in Mumbai.
The author of two of the best works of fiction published in India in the last two decades—Love and Longing in Bombay (1997), and Sacred Games (2006)—Vikram Chandra mines the energy, ambition, squalor, claustrophobia, and polyglot verbal currents of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India’s most storied city. One of the marvels of Chandra’s writing is how he manages to sound classical and colloquial at the same time, inflecting a dense and lyrical English with the harsher sounds of the language of the street.
Preferred seating with purchase of book
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Sara Gruen presents her novel Ape House ($26.00). Gruen’s Water for Elephants has become one of the most beloved novels of our time. Now the author has moved from a circus elephant to a family of bonobo apes kidnapped from a language lab, and their mysterious appearance on a reality TV show.
Book Passage Book Group
Six Fridays: Oct. 1, Nov. 5, Dec. 3, Feb. 4, Mar. 4 & Apr. 1, $150
Corte Madera store
Register
for Book Group
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Deborah Fallows presents Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language ($22.00). Fallows has traveled around the world, but nothing prepared her for the surprises of learning Mandarin. Over time, she realized that her struggles in learning the language of her adopted home provided a clue to the behavior and habits of its people.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Preferred seating with purchase of the book
Dominican University of California
Angelico Hall, San Rafael, CA
Order a signed copy
Robert Reich discusses Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future ($25.00). He presents a new reading of the economic crisis—and a plan for dealing with its aftermath. Reich is one of our most trenchant and informed experts. When the nation’s economy foundered in 2008 and blame was directed at Wall Street, Reich suggested a different reason for the meltdown. He argues that the real problem is structural: it lies in the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top. He sees a perilous road ahead, as we deal with a middle class that has had to go deeply into debt to stay afloat.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Join us for a brain teaser contest!
Gary Gruber presents The World’s 200 Hardest Brain Teasers: Mind-Boggling Puzzles, Problems, and Curious Questions to Sharpen Your Brain ($12.99). Gruber is nationally recognized as the leading expert on the SAT, test-taking methods, and critical-thinking skills.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Emma Donoghue presents her novel Room ($24.99). To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it’s where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, when Old Nick visits, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Donoghue is the author of Slammerkin.
9:00 am-5:00 pm
Corte Madera store
All Hospice used books will be on sale at 50% off at Book Passage in Corte Madera. This is a chance to get some great bargains and familiarize yourself with our Hospice by the Bay used book collection.
Hospice by the Bay provides palliative care in Marin, San Francisco and Sonoma counties. Book Passage sells books from the Hospice collection in both our Marin and San Franciso stores on an ongoing basis. The sales from such books directly benefit the many Hospice programs.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $65
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Steven Kotler talks about A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life ($24.00). Spurred to move by a housing crisis in Los Angeles, Kotler and his wife bought a postage-stamp-size farm in Chimayo, New Mexico, which became Rancho de Chihuahua, the sanctuary they created for their special-needs pack of rescued dogs. This work is an an insider look at the “cult and culture” of dog rescue.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Lisa Quinn discusses Life’s Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets: Your Guide to Domestic Liberation ($18.95). Quinn, an Emmy Award-winning television host, gets real on the follies of housekeeping. Full of shortcuts and tricks for cleaning, decor, and entertaining, this wickedly funny guide helps women create the life they want without all the hard labor.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $195
Register
for Class
Karen Leland is the bestselling author of six books, a PR consultant and marketing strategist. She has placed over 500 articles in newspapers and magazines and booked hundreds of radio and television interviews in national media. Karen writes a featured column for the Huffington Post Living section.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for kids & parents!
Mark Elkin talks about Samuel’s Baby ($15.99). Samuel will be a big brother soon, and on Monday during show-and-tell he announces that he is having a baby. Before long, his kindergarten classmates join in the fun, and by Friday each of them is “expecting”—from triplets to a beagle to a stegosaurus and even a dump truck!
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Edmund de Waal discusses The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss ($26.00). Renowned ceramicist Edmund de Waal became the fifth generation to inherit his historic family’s small and exquisite collection of netsuke. Entranced by their beauty and mystery, he determined to trace the story of his family through the story of the collection.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Book signing & talk will take place at Book Passage.
Absinthe menu will be available next door at Slanted Door following the event!
Event cosponsored by Tempus Fugit Spirits
Enjoy a panel discussion on the history, production, and future of Absinthe led by photographer of "A Taste for Absinthe", Liza Gershman, featuring Absinthe experts, John Troia, Peter Schaf, and Winston Gutherie.
Liza Gershman presents A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails ($24.99). Beautifully illustrated with color photos by Gershman of classic and contemporary cocktails, this work helps to bring the Green Fairy out of hiding to its rightful place as a premium cocktail, offering choices to a new generation of absinthe drinkers in America.
After the event try four different absinthe-based cocktails from recipes contributed to the book on a special event-priced drinks menu at Slanted Door.
Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and talk with amazing local bartenders:
- Erik Adkins of Slanted Door and Heaven’s Dog
- Scott Baird and Josh Harris – the Bon Vivants of 15 Romolo
- Neyah White of Nopa
- Jason ‘Buffalo’ Lograsso of Bourbon & Branch and Quince
- Tim Stookey of the Presidio Social Club
- Ryan Fitzgerald of Beretta
- Danny Louie of DOSA
Tempus Fugit Spirits
Tempus Fugit Spirits is dedicated to importing and developing the finest spirits from around the globe to satisfy the demands of the most discerning cocktailian connoisseur. We are the Sole U.S. Agent for premium, award-winning absinthes from the historic absinthe producing regions in Switzerland and France. We are pleased to be at the forefront of this exciting and resurgent spirits category, which will shortly become a staple in any well-stocked drinking establishment or consumers’ personal spirits collection.
In addition, Tempus Fugit Spirits is rediscovering antique liquors which had been lost to the modern world, starting with our flagship and already acclaimed, Gran Classico Bitter. These precious historical spirits are being recreated by our partner distilleries in Europe, the United States and even directly by us in Northern California.
It is with great pride that we bring the ‘spirit of history’ to the American consumer. The quality of the products that we represent clearly expresses why these critically-acclaimed brands stand at the very pinnacle of their categories.
John Troia
The owner and cofounder of Tempus Fugit Spirits, Troia is a leading expert on absinthe and has been directly involved in bringing the best, award-winning absinthe to the U.S. market. In addition to developing and producing some of the finest absinthe accessories on the market, he has amassed perhaps the finest vintage absinthe poster collection in the world. Troia spends much of his time traveling throughout the United States for training and seminars for numerous distributors, bars, and restaurants.
Peter Schaf
Schaf is described by cutting edge food writer Louisa Chu as “the epicenter of the global absinthe revival” and one of the most influential behind-the-scenes players in the modern absinthe renaissance. He is a self-taught absinthe historian and 'distiller by experience'. Peter Schaf currently resides in Paris, France and travels frequently to the United States to develop ancient liquor recipes and promote absinthe and historic spirits.
Speaker: Peter Lord Goodman, Publisher, Stone Bridge Press
Corte Madera store
A Literary Salon • Led by Linda Watanabe McFerrin
1st Monday each month • 7:00-9:00 pm • $120 per year
Left Coast Writers meetings provide literary connections, support, counsel, readings, writing tips, literary chat, unabashed networking, and great fun. Many local authors are active members of this group. Meetings feature presentations by Bay Area literary figures. In addition, LCW hosts a variety of other activities to launch the books of members, to explore publishing alternatives, and to network with others in the industry.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Join us in celebration as the City reads Dave Eggers!
Dave Eggers talks about Zeitoun ($15.95). When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers’ riveting nonfiction book explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to an American who converted to Islam, and the surreal atmosphere in post-Katrina New Orleans.
One City One Book: San Francisco Reads is an annual citywide literary event that encourages San Franciscans to read the same book at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout the City.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
While harsh, dominance-based training methods of dogs have become popular, they are predicated on erroneous assumptions and instill fear and anxiety in our pets. Few people are more qualified to speak about the inaccuracies of these training methods or the abilities and potential of dogs than Jennifer Arnold, the founder of Canine Assistants, an organization that for the past twenty years has trained service dogs for people with physical disabilities and special needs.
In her stirring and inspiring book Through a Dog's Eyes, Arnold writes, “The dominance model for dog training is based on faulty science and is in fact dangerous for our dogs. I have witnessed and heard of acts of cruelty perpetrated in an effort to ‘establish dominance.’ It is time to let go of the whole ‘alpha’ concept. Your dog already knows you aren’t a wolf or another dog.” Through a Dog's Eyes is a stunning exploration of the intelligence, strength, and abilities of our four-legged friends and teaches dog owners how to communicate with them in a manner that is positive and effective.
Jennifer Arnold is the founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, a nonprofit organization that trains and provides service dogs for people with physical disabilities and special needs. She has been the subject of a PBS documentary. For more information on Canine Assistants, please visit www.canineassistants.org and for more information about the PBS documentary Through a Dog’s Eyes please visit www.pbs.org/dogs-eyes.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Litquake Event!
Lan Samantha Chang presents her novel All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost ($23.95). At the renowned writing school in Bonneville, every student is simultaneously terrified of and attracted to the mysterious poet and professor Miranda Sturgis, whose high standards are both intimidating and inspiring. As two students, Roman and Bernard, strive to win her admiration, the lines between mentorship and love are blurred.
Book Passage Class
Four Tuesdays: Oct. 5-26
Corte Madera store, $175
Register for Class
Bring your laptop (if you have one) and roll up your sleeves. We’re going to Create Your Buzz-Kicking Blog. In this workshop you will learn how to:
- Understand your Dashboard, Editor and How to Make Changes to Your Blog
- Write and Post Great Content Your Readers will Love
- Use Basic Design Concepts: What Your Blog Must Have and Where to Place Them
- Avoid the Common Mistakes
- Promote Your Blog without Being Pushy
Cheryl McLaughlin is the founder of The Buzz Professor and specializes in helping authors and creative professionals develop social media marketing plans that work (without being pushy!). Contact Cheryl at cheryl@cherylmclaughlin.com.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Katherine Ellison presents her memoir Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention ($24.99). Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Ellison writes about her life on the ADHD battlefront. When the author’s son Buzz entered second grade, her world began to collapse as he became more unmanageable at home and in school. As she explored a range of treatments for ADHD, she also learned more about herself.
Book Passage Class
Three Wednesdays: Oct. 6-20, 3:00-5:00 pm, $120
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
An Evening with McSweeney's!
Introduced by Kelly Corrigan, author of The Middle Place and Lift. Q&A to follow.
Darin Strauss discusses his memoir Half a Life ($22.00), a true story of how one high school outing in his father’s Oldsmobile resulted in the tragic death of a young girl. Adam Levin talks about The Instructions ($28.00), the story of a ten-year-old who grows to initiate a revolution.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Join us for a cheese tasting as Gordon Edgar presents Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge. Steve Sando will present an audio-visual essay on Heirloom Beans. Various varieties of beans will be available to sample. Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell will discuss Whoopie Pies, with delicious pies on hand to taste!
Book Passage Class
Three Thursdays: Oct. 7-21
Corte Madera store, $45
Register for Class
Join Art Historian Kerrin Meis for an in-depth study of the artists represented in this exhibit at the De Young Museum, including late works by Monet and Renoir, followed by the highly individualist style of Seurat and Signac (the so-called Neo-Impressionists). We’ll study Cezanne’s experiments with space and, in contrast to these almost scientific approaches, the highly introspective paintings of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Toulouse-Lautrec will show us Paris at night; and Henri Rousseau, a world of dreams. Gorgeous decorative panels by the Nabi painters Bonnard and Vuillard round out our virtual tour.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Pam Anderson talks about Perfect One-Dish Dinners ($32.00). Anderson shares her secret for having people over without breaking stride: make just one dish. From paella to homey stew, this volume showcases about 40 such meals, perfect for every season and occasion. Anderson is the author of The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great.
Tickets $15 ($12 members) • Call (415) 444-8000
Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael, CA
Co-presented with Litquake! • Moderated by Don Lattin
Michael Krasny discusses Spiritual Envy ($22.95), an exploration of morality, mortality, and why evil sometimes triumphs. Sylvia Boorstein talks about Happiness is an Inside Job ($13.00), drawing from the heart of Buddhism. Dani Shapiro presents Devotion ($24.99), a searching and timeless new personal account of her quest to find meaning in a constantly changing world. Don Lattin is the author of The Harvard Psychedelic Club ($24.99).
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for kids!
Caldecott-winning author David Wiesner presents Art and Max ($17.99). Max and Arthur are friends who share an interest in painting. Arthur is an accomplished painter; Max is a beginner. Max’s first attempt at using a paintbrush sends the two friends on a whirlwind trip through various artistic media with unexpected pitfalls.
Seven Fridays: Oct. 8-Nov. 19
10:00-12:00 pm, $206
Corte Madera store
Register for Class
Explore the gastronomy, wines and cheese of France through its most celebrated regions. This class will be conducted entirely in French. Nicolas Wolff grew up in Paris and studied in one of France’s top business schools. He has worked extensively across Europe and the US and has taught French at all levels. Nicolas will bring his knowledge of all things French to demystify the inner workings of French gastronomy, arts and culture. Each class will concentrate on a different region of France highlighting local customs and specialities. As well, sample itineraries will be discussed with an eye to assisting you in planning your next trip to France.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Litquake Event!
There will be a raffle for a guitar & amp!
Steve Roby and Brad Schreiber talk about Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius ($17.95). This work is the first in-depth biography of the formative years of the greatest electric guitarist of all time. Check out more reviews, videos, and news at http://www.steveroby.com. All prizes were donated by the non-profit Guitars Not Guns. Visit them on the Web at www.guitarsnotguns.org.
Author Photo:
Total value of raffle prize: $340!
Includes:
Samick MMB 1 Mailbu Mini Metallic Red Finish
A lot has changed since the early 1950s, including the performance needs of musicians. The MALIBU™ series captures the essence of those early bolt-on neck guitars, in a sleek updated package. The slightly reduced body size makes it lighter and more manageable on those extended club sets.We also made the neck pocket deeper for a superior neck to body contact. The compact, angled back headstock also provides enhanced performance, not to mention the ability to stay in tune.The angled back headstock produces greater string bearing pressure at the nut. This results in improved attack and sustain.
MMB1 FEATURES:
Mini Malibu, Double cutaway sculpted body, Maple bolt-on neck, Rosewood fingerboard, Capped tuners, Stop tailpiece, SS pickups
Retail Price: $219
Fender Frontman 10G 10W Guitar Combo Amp
Retail: $80
On Stage XCG4 Tubular Guitar Stand
Retail $21.99
Jimi Hendrix Picks Collector Tin 12 pack
Retail: $8.99
Dunlop Formula 65 Guitar Polish & Cleaner
Retail: $6.99
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $105
Register
for Class
Register for the November workshop
Book Passage Class
48-hour advance registration required
Classes limited to six students
Corte Madera store, $50
You’ve written a brilliant story and can’t wait to hear what others think. You’re stuck and need a critique. What to do? Bring your manuscript—a picture book, a chapter from a novel, or even just an idea (ten-page limit) and we’ll workshop on the spot. Amy Novesky is an independent children’s book editor, author, and experienced workshop leader.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Market to Table Event!
Rachel Saunders discusses The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook ($35.00) and presents a demo.
On Saturday mornings, chefs and cookbook authors lead free cooking demonstrations using seasonal ingredients from the Farmers Market. Join them in the CUESA kitchen (North Arcade) for tips, recipes, and a sample. We’ll be there with the books.
Corte Madera store, $45
Register for Class
Learn the art of journal keeping. Imagine that years from now someone is opening your journal and feeling inspired because of what you have written down. Phyllis Theroux’s memoir The Journal Keeper is a March Indiebound selection. “Theroux is clearly good at what she does in a setting like this, and what she does is offer an invitation to write, followed by believable words of encouragement, suggestions, and an ever-so-gentle prod to begin. The class was a pleasure and an inspiration.” – from a prior student
Later in the evening at 7:00 pm, Phyllis Theroux will present her new book in the Book Passage Events Room.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Mark Susnow presents Dancing on the River ($17.00). The author’s heartfelt stories about life and its inherent changes and challenges might inspire readers to deepen their own journey on the river of life. Susnow offers a road map that he believes will lead to self-discovery, one that’s easy to follow with profound yet simple and practical techniques.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ghita Schwarz discusses her novel Displaced Persons ($25.99). Schwarz distills the disparate experiences of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary men, women and children who lived through the cataclysm of war into a beautiful and heart-rending debut novel.
The end of World War II found some 250,000 Jewish survivors living as displaced persons—alive but without homes, families or communities to which they could return. From 1945 to 1952 these refugees lived, worked, and went to school in camps established in Allied-occupied Europe while they waited to begin lives elsewhere - with the largest numbers eventually heading to Palestine and the United Sates. By 1952 all of the refugee camps were closed and around the world their former inhabitants were building new lives, families and homelands. Until recently little has been written about this fascinating and turbulent time, and the experiences of the refugees into the ensuing decades.
Ghita Schwarz is a civil rights litigator specializing in immigrants’ rights. She grew up in a family of postwar Jewish refugees in New York City and attended Harvard College and Columbia Law School. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Ploughshares, The Believer, and The San Francisco Bay Guardian.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Phyllis Theroux talks about The Journal Keeper ($24.00). Essayist Theroux has long captivated readers with her pitch-perfect rendering of the inner lives of American women. This work is a memoir of six years in her life, covering universal topics such as love, loneliness, growing old, spiritual growth, and death.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Celebrating Litquake & Left Coast Writers!
Join us for an evening of celebration as Left Coast Writers launch their new books. Writers will present new works on a range of subjects, coinciding with Litquake 2010. Join us as we celebrate these two unique Bay Area literary institutions!
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $105
Register for Class
A Facebook Fan Page is a powerful tool you can use to Develop your Author Platform, Grow Your Community, and Promote Your Books or Business. With step-by-step tutorials and case studies, this hands-on workshop will show you:
- How Facebook Pages Work
- Examples of Cool, Customized Pages
- How to Create Your Facebook Page, Set Up Your Profile, Write Eye-Catching Updates, and Manage Your List of Fans
- Tips for Success from the Best!
Cheryl McLaughlin is the founder of The Buzz Professor and specializes in helping authors and creative professionals develop social media marketing plans that work (without being pushy!). Contact Cheryl at cheryl@cherylmclaughlin.com.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Special for babies and moms!
Susan Katz presents ABC, Baby Me! ($7.99). This work offers a new twist on a classic board book theme, using the alphabet to take babies through their busy day. Katz’s clever rhyming text and illustrator Alicia Padron’s adorable babies and toddlers will captivate and charm both young children and their caregivers.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Wayne Bernhardson talks about Moon Argentina (Moon Handbooks Argentina) ($21.95). Bernhardson provides suggestions for great trip strategies, such as the 21-Day Natural History Tour and 15 Days of Argentine Art and Architecture. Moon Argentina is complete with tips on exploring historic sites like Plaza de Mayo and the pre-Columbian ruins of Quilmes.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Book party with live music & refreshments!
Deborah Grabien presents London Calling: (#3 of the JP Kinkaid Chronicles) ($16.00). Guitarist JP Kinkaid’s and his wife Bree’s honeymoon gets sidetracked when legendary director Sir Cedric Parmeley enters his 25-year-old rockumentary into competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Chaos and danger ensue after the film creates a frenzy with an old hate group.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Steven Johnson talks about Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation ($26.95). What sparks the flash of brilliance? Answering in his infectious, culturally omnivorous style, using his fluency in fields from neurobiology to popular culture, Johnson provides the complete story of how we generate the ideas that push our society.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Left Coast Writers Launch!
Linda Watanabe McFerrin talks about her supernatural thriller Dead Love ($14.95 paperback/ $26.95 special edition hardcover).
It begins when Clément, a lovesick ghoul, falls for beautiful young
Erin. Unfortunately, she is marked for death by the Japanese mob (the
yakuza). Using secrets learned from a Haitian witchdoctor, and taking us
to Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Malaysia, Clément finds a way to rescue and
possess her—but not at all in the manner he expected!
This globalized manga turned literature is Twilight
with teeth. Vivid storytelling and unforgettable characters unite to
delight adults and younger readers with an interest in the otherworldly,
proving once and for all that that if the undead have their way, love
will never die!
Read Wendy Nelson Tokunaga's interview with McFerrin about Dead Love.
Visit the Dead Love Web site at http://www.deadlovebook.com/.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Rowan Jacobsen presents American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields ($25.00). Why does honey from the tupelo-lined banks of the Apalachicola River have a kick of cinnamon unlike any other? Why is king salmon from Alaska’s Yukon River the richest in the world? Why do coffee beans from a single estate in Panama sell at auction for ten times the price of any other beans in the world?
The reason is terroir, the “taste of place.” Originally used by the French to describe the way that local conditions such as soil and climate manifest themselves in the flavor of a wine, the terroir concept has since been extended to discussions of many foods that are dependent on place for their uniqueness. France long ago mapped its terroir into a network of regions that produce distinctive wines, cheeses, meats, and other foods, and other nations in Europe followed suit. America is finally catching up, and terroir is a fast-rising buzzword in the food world.
As Americans read Michael Pollan, watch documentaries like Food, Inc., and learn of the latest salmonella outbreak, they are paying more attention than ever before to the origins of their food. American Terroir will introduce them to the “flavor landscapes” of some of our most iconic foods, including apples and cider, honey, maple syrup, oysters, salmon, wild mushrooms, wine, cheese, coffee, and chocolate—and explain why all foods are not created equal. Ultimately, good eating is about romance, and American Terroir finds that romance in the farms, forests, and waters where our great foods live.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Jessica Theroux discusses Cooking with Italian Grandmothers: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany to Sicily ($40.00). American chef Theroux spent a year traveling throughout Italy, cooking and talking with Italian grandmothers. The result is a charming collection of recipes, techniques, anecdotes, and photos that celebrate Italy’s most experienced home cooks.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Joelle Charbonneau presents Skating Around the Law ($24.99). A woman is on a mission to sell the roller rink she inherited. But she doesn’t count on discovering a dead body stuffed head-first in the rink toilet! Brenda Novak discusses Killer Heat ($7.99). Seven women have been discovered in Skull Valley, Arizona. Jonah Young, a P.I., has been hired to assist in solving the murders.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Special for kids! A playful holiday treat for the whole family!
Caldecott Honor illustrator David Shannon presents It's Christmas, David! ($16.99). From wayward snowballs to the sleepless excitement of Christmas Eve, Shannon perfectly captures the joy and laughter of the Christmas season.
With Christmas just around the corner, Santa Claus is busy making his list and checking it twice. Meanwhile, David is trying to be good but he cannot seem to stay out of trouble! Freshly baked holiday cookies, delicious candy canes, and fierce snowball fights tempt a boy with a mischievous personality all his own. Will his sneaky, playful ways land him on the naughty list? Remember, David, Santa’s watching!
David Shannon is the acclaimed creator of more than 30 picture books, including No, David!, a Caldecott Honor Book, and its two sequels, David Gets in Trouble and David Goes to School. Shannon’s bestsellers include Too Many Toys; Alice the Fairy; Good Boy, Fergus!; A Bad Case of Stripes; and How I Became a Pirate.
Book Passage Class
Six Wednesdays: Oct. 13-Nov. 17
Corte Madera store, $125
Register for Class
Without knowing the religious background of a people, it is difficult to understand their history, literature, art, and politics. This course will familiarize you with the foundations of Islam, being Muslim, and sources of misconceptions about Islam through reading and discussing excerpts from the Quran.
Mehri Dadgar was born and raised in Iran. A profound influence on her art and life was the experience of being imprisoned for five years in a political prison for passing out pro-democracy newsletters in Tehran.
Course Outline:
- The definition of true Islam, religion of peace justice and freedom.
- Source of Islam, the scripture Quran.
- Terrorism cannot be justified by any religion of God.
- Misconceptions about Jihad.
- Freedom of Religion, relation with other faiths.
- Who is God or Allah according to the scripture?
- The role of prophet Mohammad.
- Who are the prophets and messengers?
- Science and Islam. Is Quran the words of God?
- Heaven and Hell in the Quran, Who is Satan, The day of judgment.
- How to study the Quran. Who is the teacher of the Quran?
- Five pillars of Islam.
This event is canceled. Due to a physical injury, Ron Chernow is cutting his tour short this time. We will look forward to an event with him in the future.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera storeOrder a signed copy
Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow discusses Washington: A Life ($40.00). Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains, for many Americans, a laconic man of granite self-control, arousing more respect than affection. In this groundbreaking work, Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Clarence Clemons presents Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales ($14.99). We all know them – Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, but what exactly are the stories behind this amazing rock sensation that took the nation by storm and reinvigorated what it meant to be American? Better question: who made up the E-Street Band and how did they become one of the most renowned reticent groups of all time? Best question: who is the giant, the “Big Man” that commanded the stage with as much ease as he did power?
The first book written by a member of the E-Street Band, Big Man is not your typical memoir. Clarence and Don set out to write a new kind of book – one that isn’t the same old story; one that tells true, unknown stories from the E-Street Band as well as captures Clarence’s larger-than-life storyteller persona in a series of hybrid fact-and-fiction stories called “Legends.”
For the first time, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons and best friend Don Reo have put their experiences to paper shedding light on the almighty E-Street Band. This is not only a compilation of honesty and outright hilarity; it is a collection of times beginning with the birth of this musical phenomenon.
Book Passage Class
Five Wednesdays: Oct. 13-Nov. 10 • 6:30-8:30 pm, $160
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Preferred seating with purchase of book
Corte Madera store
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Michael Cunningham presents his novel By Nightfall ($25.00). Peter and Rebecca are mid-forties denizens of Manhattan’s SoHo—enviable urbanites with every reason to be happy, until Rebecca’s much-younger brother shows up for a visit. Cunningham is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours.
Book Passage Class
Eight Thursdays: Oct. 14-Dec. 9
Corte Madera store, $235
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For beginners & those who have had some exposure to German. You’ll focus on conjugating verbs in the present tense, declension of nouns, articles, and simple conversations with German speakers. Required text: Living Language, Ultimate German (Beginner-Intermediate) $18.00.
Hamid Emami has an M.A. from University of Hamburg and is fluent is several languages. He has taught German for many years.
The ticket price of $55
includes lunch and a signed book
Call (415) 927-0960 ext. 1 to reserve
Corte Madera store
Not attending the event? Order a signed copy
Join Joyce Maynard for lunch as she talks about her novel The Good Daughters. They were born on the same day in the same New Hampshire town. Ruth Plank is an artist, born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, who yearns to soar beyond the confines of their town. Dana Dickerson, who was raised by a pair of drifters, is a scientist and realist who longs for stability and rootedness. Ruth and Dana share a need to make sense of who they are. Maynard’s works include At Home in the World.
Book Passage Class
Four Thursdays: Oct.14-Nov. 4, 4:00-6:00 pm, $155
Corte Madera store
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for Class
Laura Deutsch is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the N.Y. Times and S.F. Chronicle. She has taught writing at U.C. Berkeley, and she leads writing retreats from Tassajara to Tuscany.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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New York Times “A Good Appetite” columnist Melissa Clark in Conversation with San Francisco Chronicle “Working Cook” columnist Tara Duggan and Sunset Magazine food editor Margo True
Melissa Clark, with Tara Duggan and Margo True, talks about In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories about the Food You Love ($27.50). A James Beard Award winner and New York Times food writer offers an inviting, easy, and delectable collection of 150 recipes and stories behind the food readers love. Clark is the author of The Deen Bros. Cookbook: Recipes from the Road.
Margo True has been the food editor of Sunset magazine since 2006. Before Sunset, she was the executive editor at Saveur magazine, and before that, a senior editor and writer at Gourmet. Over the course of her career, Margo has won four James Beard journalism awards for her writing and has often been a guest on TV and radio programs. She lives in Menlo Park, California.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Meredith Maran discusses My Lie: A True Story of False Memory ($24.95). Maran lived a daughter’s nightmare: she accused her father of sexual abuse, then realized, nearly too late, that he was innocent. Maran unveils her family’s devastation and ultimate redemption against the backdrop of the scandals that sent hundreds of innocents to jail in the 1980s and 90s.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Peter Nichols presents Oil and Ice: A Story of Arctic Disaster and the Rise and Fall of America’s Last Whaling Dynasty ($16.00). Nichols tells an “engaging” (Kirkus Reviews) historical cautionary tale that has remarkable relevance today—the story of the rise, long dominance, and sudden collapse of the industry that once supplied most of America’s energy.
Register for Class
On Oct. 15th, we will start our itinerary in Lyon with its famous beaujolais nouveau and world renowned gastronomy. We will travel south to Avignon through the Vallée du Rhône with a stop at the Tain-L'Hermitage with the great Hermitage vineyard and at the Gorges de l'Ardéche. We will share our impressions of Avignon and the beautiful surrounding villages of the Luberon and Les Alpilles (Gordes, Roussillon, Coustellet, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Saint-Remy de Provence, Eygalieres etc...) with their exquisite lavender fields, colorful local markets and many regional culinary specialties as well as the many notable wines including, of course, the famed village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Mort Rosenblum talks about Little Bunch of Madmen: Elements of Global Reporting ($12.00). Along with rip-roaring tales and wise advice from other veteran correspondents, Rosenblum draws on 40 years of experience to bring reality into focus and guide reporters on how to get close to their stories and come back safely.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Harry Hamlin talks about Full Frontal Nudity: The Making of an Accidental Actor ($24.00). Hamlin presents a laugh-out-loud-funny memoir in which he digs deep into his past to recount the wacky experiences of his childhood, the twisted path that led to his alleged criminal behavior, and the series of fortuitous mishaps that drove him to become a Hollywood actor.
Book Passage Class
Participants are invited to bring a three-minute pitch for discussion in the class
Corte Madera store, $55
Register
for Class
This event is canceled.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Giuliana and Bill Rancic present I Do, Now What? Secrets, Stores and Advice from a Madly-in-Love Couple ($25.00), a funny, frank, and characteristically down-to-earth guide for newly married couples or those about to take the plunge—and a behind the scenes look at this glamorous couple’s real-life marriage.
America’s Sweethearts Giuliana and Bill Rancic have been charming their legion of fans with their popular real-life romantic comedy “Giuliana & Bill” on The Style Network and E! for two seasons, detailing their fairy-tale romance and long-distance marriage with wit and style.
A must-read for newly married couples or those about to take the plunge!
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Bill Barich presents Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck’s America ($25.00). In the summer of 2008, with a hotly contested election looming, and in the shadow of an economic meltdown, Barich set off on a 5,943-mile cross-country drive from New York to his old hometown in San Francisco via Route 50, a road twisting through the American heartland. This work is the result of his pilgrimage.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Lissa Rankin talks about What’s Up Down There?: Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend ($14.99). Suppose you had a wise, warm, funny best friend—who just happened to be a gynecologist? As outrageously funny as it is empowering, this book reveals how to love yourself and your body—and will have you recommending it to every woman you know.
Corte Madera store
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Join us for our Annual Friends of Book Passage Members Only Reception and Book Talk with Elaine Petrocelli.
This special annual event is very popular and shouldn’t be missed! The talk is open to current members and to those who register to become a member before or on the day of the talk. Meet us in the Gallery in Book Passage Part II in Corte Madera at 4:00 pm.
Corte Madera store
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Elizabeth Murray discusses Monet’s Passion: Ideas, Inspiration & Insights from the Painter’s Garden (Revised Anniversary Edition) ($35.00). In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first publication of Monet’s Passion, this completely revised edition of Murray’s best-selling book offers new text, new images, and new garden plans.
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $100
For teens only - 48 hours advance registration required
Register for Class
Light lunch included
Come fill your writer’s toolbox with everything you need for fiction writing. Three published authors of young adult literature will work with you on character, voice, setting, plot, and dialog. Bring laptop or pen and paper. Cheryl Renee Herbsman is the author of Breathing. Cynthia Jaynes Omololu is the author of Dirty Little Secrets. Malinda Lo is the author of Ash. These young adult authors will sign copies of their books immediately following the workshop at 3:00 pm.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Dinaw Mengestu talks about his novel How to Read the Air ($25.95). Yosef and Mariam, Ethiopian immigrants, set off on a road trip from Illinois to Tennessee, in search of a new identity as an American couple. Years later, Yosef has died and their son Jonas sets out to retrace their trip. Mengestu is the author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Kim Dower discusses Air Kissing on Mars ($18.95). Edgy and sensual, Dower’s poems are a portal to a haunting universe of everyday life wrapped into poetic reverie. Lost languages, locomotives pummeling through dreams, taxi drivers thrown by the earth’s rotation, shadows in closets, men who exfoliate—all come together in this startling collection.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Come to Paris with Book Passage!
Join Phil Cousineau and Mort Rosenblum as they share highlights for the upcoming Paris tour they are leading on June 19-30, 2011: We’ll Always Have Paris: A Peripatetic, Poetic and Sweet walking, literary, and culinary tour of Paris.
Tour Paris with Phil Cousineau &
Mort Rosenblum!
Join
us for a creative adventure into the cultural riches of Paris. This is
more than just a tour—it’s an opporunity to exercise and enhance your
creative abilities with two writers who know Paris well. You’ll be
working each day with Mort Rosenblum, an award-winning journalist and freelance writer, and Phil Cousineau, an acclaimed writer, filmmaker and dream weaver.
Each morning focuses on an aspect of Parisian life, from
literature and art, to film, architecture, music, dance or cuisine. Some
highlights include: talks and tea at Shakespeare & Company; a private chocolate tasting with reticent Jacques Genin; a movable feast lunch on rue de Seine; a seminar and lunch aboard Mort Rosenblum’s teak boat docked in the center of Paris; tours of the Louvre, le Musée d’Orsay, Magnum Photo Gallery, Cinematheque Française, Père Lachaise cemetery, weekly farmer’s markets, the Marais, Victor Hugo’s home on Place des Vosges, and more. Also included are two full-day pilgrimages out of Paris to Chartres cathedral and to Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny.
But
it’s in the afternoons when the creative effort begins, as students
will work on their own stories, essays, sketches, songs, and other
activities—all of it under the tutelage of the two tour leaders. In the
evenings, the group will gather together to exchange presentations and
thoughts about the day’s work. For students, the impact of this trip
could extend well beyond the ten days spent in Paris. The goal of the
tour guides is to work with each student and help create the beginnings
of a publishable work.
More information at this link.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Joel Selvin talks about Smartass: The Music Journalism of Joel Selvin: California Rock and Roll ($19.95). From the Grateful Dead to the Beach Boys, Selvin has tracked rock and roll lore throughout California for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1970. This work brings together his finest reporting on California rock and roll—a collection of feature articles ranging in subjects from Phil Spector to Tom Waits.
Book Passage Class
Three Mondays: Oct. 18, 25 & Nov. 1, 4:00-6:00 pm, $110
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Tucker Max signs copies of his irreverent collection Assholes Finish First ($22.95). Max is a self-described “asshole” who gets excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregards social norms, indulges every whim, ignores the consequences of his actions, mocks idiots and posers, sleeps with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally acts like a jerk. And, he shares his adventures with the world.
Tickets $32 (includes a signed copy of the book)
Call (415) 927-0960, ext. 1
Dominican University of California
Guzman Lecture Hall (2nd Floor), San Rafael, CA
Can't attend the event? Order a signed copy
In Growing Up Laughing, Marlo Thomas recalls the behind-the-scenes decisions that shaped her career; her marriage to Phil Donahue; and her friendships and collaborations with an impressive list of cultural icons—from Gloria Steinem and Milton Berle to Orson Welles and Elaine May. Among her interviews and remembrances, Thomas also shares a running collection of prized jokes, both long and short, that summon up the rich chorus of voices she has brought together.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Erich Origen and Gan Golan present the graphic novel The Adventures of Unemployed Man ($14.99). Unemployed Man and his sidekick, Plan B, team up with other down-but-not-out superheroes as battle such dastardly villains as The Human Resource and The Invisible Hand.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Special for kids!
T. A. Barron presents Merlin’s Dragon, Book 3: Ultimate Magic ($19.99). Avalon is on the verge of total destruction, but Merlin is nowhere to be found. In this final book of the Merlin’s Dragon trilogy, Barron brings this saga to a thrilling—if bittersweet—end. Barron is also the author of the Great Tree of Avalon series.
Book Passage Class
Eight Tuesdays: Oct. 19-Dec. 7
Corte Madera store, $235
Register for Class
For beginners & those who have had some exposure to German. You’ll focus on conjugating verbs in the present tense, declension of nouns, articles, and simple conversations with German speakers. Required text: Living Language, Ultimate German (Beginner-Intermediate) $18.00.
Hamid Emami has an M.A. from University of Hamburg and is fluent is several languages. He has taught German for many years.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Marissa Guggiana talks about Primal Cuts: Cooking with America’s Best Butchers ($37.50). Butchery was nearly a dead art, until a recent renaissance turned progressive meat cutters into culinary cult idols. Inspired by a locally driven approach to butchery, this new wave of meat mavens is redefining the way we buy and cook our beef, pork, fowl, and game.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Bo Caldwell talks about her novel City of Tranquil Light ($25.00). Having felt a call from God, Will Kiehn travels to the vast North China Plain in the early 20th century, where he weds a fellow missionary, Katherine. Will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them as the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P’ing Ch’eng?
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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Antonya Nelson discusses her novel Bound ($25.00). The critically acclaimed author of Nothing Right delivers her much-anticipated first novel in a decade—a story of tangled lives, set in a Wichita riveted by the reemergence of the infamous serial killer known as BTK. Nelson is also the author of Female Trouble: Stories and Living to Tell.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Frank Dikotter presents Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 ($30.00). Dikötter makes clear that, far from being the program that would lift the country among the world's superpowers and prove the power of Communism, as Mao imagined, the Great Leap Forward transformed the country in the other direction. It became the site not only of "one of the most deadly mass killings of human history,"—at least 45 million people were worked, starved, or beaten to death—but also of "the greatest demolition of real estate in human history," as up to one-third of all housing was turned into rubble). The experiment was a catastrophe for the natural world as well, as the land was savaged in the maniacal pursuit of steel and other industrial accomplishments. In a powerful meshing of exhaustive research in Chinese archives and narrative drive, Dikötter for the first time links up what happened in the corridors of power-the vicious backstabbing and bullying tactics that took place among party leaders-with the everyday experiences of ordinary people, giving voice to the dead and disenfranchised. His magisterial account recasts the history of the People's Republic of China.
Corte Madera store
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Special for kids! 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. . .
Lisa Brown is the New York Times-bestselling illustrator of How To Be, Sometimes You Get What You Want, and The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming.
Register for Class
On Oct. 22nd, we will continue further South to Aix-en-Provence and then on to the Mediterranean coast from Marseille to Nice with a stop in Cassis (famous for its Calanques). We will speak about the well known seaside villages such as Bormes-les-Mimosas, Le Lavandou, Saint-Tropez, Eze, Cannes and Nice. We will discuss the rich history and many spectacular sites of this area as well as it's native Provencal authors and painters. We will focus on the regional gastronomic specialities such as bouillabaise and ratatouille and the many great rose wines from the South of France.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Launch Party!
Bay Area writer Jeff Greenwald (Shopping for Buddhas and The Size of the World) returns to Kathmandu in this memoir Snake Lake ($15.95), which unfolds during Nepal’s bloody 1990 uprising. Encounters with a Tibetan Lama and a frisky photographer enliven a tale in which he wrestles with three wildly different paths to liberation.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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Market to Table Event!
Vanessa Barrington presents DIY Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food from Scratch ($24.95) and presents a cooking demo.
On Saturday mornings, chefs and cookbook authors lead free cooking demonstrations using seasonal ingredients from the Farmers Market. Join them in the CUESA kitchen (North Arcade) for tips, recipes, and a sample. We’ll be there with the books.
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $60
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Spiritual memoir uses the raw material of your life to reveal the deeper intelligence of your soul’s journey. In this workshop we weave into words as truthfully and tenderly as possible the ongoing thread of our lives that runs through our days. The workshop provides a relaxed and nonjudgmental space in which to share your work and to receive supportive feedback. You are welcome to bring work for which you would like feedback. To unearth the content of our story, we will sharpen the tools of style, language, metaphor and imagery. Spiritual memoir can fit easily into poetry, nonfiction, fiction, or journal writing. This workshop is suitable for beginners and also for writers with some experience.
Roger Housden’s work includes the Ten Poems series, the novella Chasing Rumi, Sacred Journeys in a Modern World, Seven Sins for a Life Worth Living, and How Rembrandt Reveals Your Beautiful, Imperfect Self. His new work Saved By Beauty: Adventures of an American Romantic in Iran, will be published in June 2011. Roger is from England and now lives in the Bay Area.
Preferred seating with purchase of book
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Alexander McCall Smith presents The Charming Quirks of Others ($24.95). A couple who are old friends of Isabel’s ask for her help in a tricky situation: A successor is being sought for the headmaster position at their alma mater, and one of the finalists has a serious skeleton in the closet. Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is a Book Passage favorite.
$5 members/$10 non-members per meeting
Corte Madera store
“No More Excuses—Write That Book!”:
with Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry
Speaker: Rachel Sarah, Author of Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World
Corte Madera store
A Writing Group • Led by Dawn Yun
2nd Sunday each month • 5:00-8:00 pm. • $120 per year
The Writing Mamas is where motherhood meets writinghood and finds a happy neighborhood at Book Passage. Improve your writing! Meet great mothers who are writers! Learn to perform your work before the public! Get published! All this and more when you join the popular Writing Mamas! We will write, workshop, gab, and hear speakers. Many members have gone on to be published. Why not you? Let the other mothers/writers help you, while the speakers inspire you. This year lots of Writing Mamas are getting their books, articles, and blogs published. Inspiration is found in the fabulous speakers we have lined up. For a complete list of all speakers, go to www.writingmamas.com.
This event is now SOLD OUT.
Cooks with Books Event!
Wayfare Tavern, San Francisco
Tickets: $125 per person ($200 per couple)Reserve by phone at (415) 927-0960, ext. 1
Not attending the event? Order a signed copy
Join us for a very special evening with Tyler Florence, superstar chef, Food Network host, cookbook author, and the proprietor of Wayfare Tavern. Florence is famous for championing simplicity, freshness, and culinary honesty in the kitchen. In this new cookbook, he brings it all home to working with wholesome and locally fresh ingredients. Not only is this event a super launch for his latest cookbook but we will also be celebrating the opening of his new restaurant, Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco! The ticket price includes the meal, wine, coffee, tax, tip & a signed copy of the author’s book.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for kids!
Peter Sis discusses Madlenka Soccer Star ($16.99). Madlenka—that little girl whose city block is a world of its own—is back and ready to play! When she dribbles her new soccer ball out the door, it seems that everyone wants to get in the game —the mailbox, a dog, even a parking meter, but especially all the neighborhood cats!
Speakers: Critique Group The Revisionaries, with Maria Van Lieshout, Gianna Marino, Jim Averbeck, Karen Ehrhardt, Lynn E. Hazen, & Yuyi Morales
Corte Madera store
Members
of a 10 year-old Critique Group - The Revisionaries discuss their
work, the pros and cons of critique groups, and what makes theirs work.
Maria
Van Lieshout is the Author and Illustrator of the
Critically acclaimed “Little Book” series, TUMBLE, PEEP, BLOOM,
and SPLASH, which received starred reviews from PW
and School Library Journal. She was born and lived in Holland
until she fell head over wooden shoes in love with San Francisco, where
she currently lives in a 100-year old Victorian with her husband Peter
and their son Max.
www.mariavanlieshout.com
Gianna
Marino has been a full time illustrator and writer in
the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 20 years. After several years
in a corporate box with no windows, Gianna left for good and was soon
invited into the Revisionaries writer's group to expand her writing and
illustration. She has published numerous articles for travel magazines
and more recently, two picture books—Zoopa: An Animal Alphabet
and One Too Many (Chronicle Books).
www.giannamarino.com
Jim
Averbeck’s first book, In a Blue Room,
won a Charlotte Zolotow Honor for writing. He is the
illustrator of the serialized novel, A Long Walk to Water
by Newbery winner Linda Sue Park. His second picture book, Except
If, will be published by Atheneum in Spring 2011, OH NO!
(Atheneum, Spring 2012) and The Market Bowl.
(Charlesbridge, Fall 2012).
www.JimAverbeckBooks.com
Karen
Ehrhardt’s swinging debut, This Jazz Man,
landed on the N.Y. Public Library's list “100 Titles for Reading and
Sharing,” and is one of the "Multicultural Books Every Child Should
Know" (NEA). Featuring jazz immortals such as Louis Armstrong, this
sing-along picture book was praised by The New York Times as,
“a whole lot of fun,” and Publishers Weekly called it “just
right as an uptempo introduction for the youngest music lovers.” Karen
gives author talks and teaches writing workshops for kids.
www.ThisJazzMan.com
Lynn
E. Hazen’s young adult novel, Shifty was
chosen as VOYA’s top shelf fiction, a CCBC Choice,
and a Smithsonian Notable. Her younger books include: Mermaid
Mary Margaret (a middle grade novel which Kirkus
called “a winner”), Cinder Rabbit, The Amazing
Trail of Seymore Snail, and Buzz Bumble.
Lynn teaches classes in writing at Stanford Continued Studies.
www.LynnHazen.com
Yuyi
Morales is an award winning Illustrator/Author with such
beautiful books as Little Night, My Abuelita,
Harvesting Home, and Sand Sister. As
of right now, she is the one member of the Revisionaries who is unable
to join our panel. But we’re crossing our fingers she’ll figure out a
way to make it work!
www.yuyimorales.com
******************
Kid Lit Salon
Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Salon • Led by Lissa Rovetch
4th Monday each month • 7:00-9:00 pm • $120 per year
The Kid Lit Salon
is for both established and beginning children’s book writers and
illustrators. Come socialize with like-minded, creative types in your
field. Our evenings include a wildly diverse array of speakers, member
updates, events, conferences, and insider tips. Writer and illustrator Lissa
Rovetch is the author of Ook the
Book
and the Hot Dog
and Bob chapter book series.
She illustrated her 84 year-old mother's book There
Was a Man
Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems,
writes the "Ask Arizona" series for Highlights Magazine, and teaches at the
California College of the Arts. Vist www.lissarovetch.com.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Larry Colton talks about No Ordinary Joes: The Extraordinary True Story of Four Submariners in War and Love and Life ($26.00). On April 23, 1943, the 70-man crew of the USS Grenadier scrambled to save their submarine—and themselves—after a Japanese torpedo sent it crashing to the ocean floor. Miraculously, the men were able to bring the sub back to the surface, only to be captured by the Japanese.
From John Strawn (www.johnstrawn.com):
Larry Colton has a new book coming out next month, one he’s worked on for almost ten years. Called No Ordinary Joes, it’s his fourth book and, unlike the others, doesn’t rely on Larry being a participant observer in the events he’s writing about to drive the narrative. No Ordinary Joes is about a group of men from his dad’s generation, the guys who fought WW II. I read an early draft, and was moved by it, and over the last couple of weeks have read the final version, which I think is superb. Continue reading
NOTE VENUE CHANGE:
This signing will now be held at Book Passage in the San Francisco Ferry Building Tues., Oct. 26 at 12:30 pm. For those attending the signing, books will be available for purchase at the Ferry Building before entering the signing line. Please purchase books there.
Can't attend the signing? Order a signed copy
San Francisco store
President Jimmy Carter signs copies of White House Diary ($30.00). The edited, annotated diary of President Carter—filled with his relationships with friends and foes, and his lasting impact on issues that still preoccupy America and the world—presents an astonishingly intimate view of his presidency.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Rosecrans Baldwin talks about You Lost Me There ($25.95). By turns funny, charming, and tragic, Rosecrans Baldwin's debut novel takes us inside the heart and mind of Dr. Victor Aaron, a leading Alzheimer's researcher at the Soborg Institute on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Victor spends his days alternating between long hours in the sterile lab and running through memories of his late wife, Sara. He has preserved their marriage as a sort of perfect, if tumultuous, duet between two opposite but precisely compatible souls.
But one day, in the midst of organizing his already hyperorganized life, Victor discovers a series of index cards covered in Sara's handwriting. They chronicle the major "changes in direction" of their marriage, written as part of a brief fling with couples counseling. Sara's version of their great love story is markedly different from his own, which, for the eminent memory specialist, is a startling revelation.
This event is canceled.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera storeOrder a signed copy
Peter Orner presents Hope Deferred ($24.00). Zimbabwe represents one of the worst humanitarian emergencies today. This book asks the question: How did a country with so much promise—a stellar education system, a growing middle class, a liberal constitution, an independent judiciary—go so wrong? Orner is the author of Esther Stories.
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for kids!
James Dashner presents The Scorch Trials ($17.99). The Gladers are far from finished with running. Instead of freedom, they find themselves faced with another trial. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them!
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell talk about Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World ($25.99). The rise of emerging economies creates vast opportunities for companies—and better living standards for us all. In this work, Cramer and Karabell tell the stories of the companies who are responding to these shifts.
Left Bank Restaurant, Larkspur
Tickets: $140 per person/ $195 per couple
Reserve by phone at (415) 927-0960 ext. 1
Not attending the event? Order a signed copy
Within a year of its opening, Michael Chiarello’s restaurant Bottega in the Napa Valley was selected as one of America’s best new restaurants by Forbes and Esquire and a top new-comer by Zagat guides. Chiarello’s signature dishes are full of big, bold Italian flavors, which draw inspiration from his Calabrese roots. Chiarello has been a fixture on Top Chef Masters, the Food Network, and PBS. Now, with Bottega, home cooks can enjoy the Bottega experience. The ticket price includes the meal, wine, coffee, tax, tip & a signed copy of the author’s book.
NOTE: This event is rescheduled to Tues., Nov. 23 at 7:00 pm. Due to the excitement & interest surrounding the Giants in the World Series Wednesday night, this event with Michael Krasny will be postponed until November.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Michael Krasny talks about Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest ($22.95). Unlike recent authors who emphatically say “No!” or “Yes!” to God, Krasny is among the millions who know they don’t know. As a radio host, professor, and scholar, he has spent decades leading conversations on every imaginable topic. He takes readers on an exploration of morality, mortality, why we do good, and why evil sometimes triumphs.
Phil Cousineau's books include Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination, The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred, and Wordcatcher: An Odyssey Into the World of Weird and Wonderful Words.
Book Passage Class
Three Thursdays: Oct. 28-Nov. 11
Corte Madera store, $45
Register for Class
Join Art Historian Kerrin Meis for an in-depth study of the artists represented in this exhibit at the De Young Museum, including late works by Monet and Renoir, followed by the highly individualist style of Seurat and Signac (the so-called Neo-Impressionists). We’ll study Cezanne’s experiments with space and, in contrast to these almost scientific approaches, the highly introspective paintings of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Toulouse-Lautrec will show us Paris at night; and Henri Rousseau, a world of dreams. Gorgeous decorative panels by the Nabi painters Bonnard and Vuillard round out our virtual tour.
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Myla Goldberg presents The False Friend ($25.95). From the bestselling author of Bee Season comes a complex psychological drama with a simple setup: two 11-year-old girls, best friends and fierce rivals, go into the woods. Only one comes out. Djuna disappeared, and for 20 years Celia blocked out how it happened.
Book Passage Class
Two Thursdays: Oct. 28 & Nov. 4, 6:30-8:45 pm, $130
Corte
Madera store, $105
Register
for Class
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ian Frazier discusses Travels in Siberia ($30.00). Frazier trains his eye for unforgettable detail on Siberia. He explores many aspects of this storied, often grim region, which takes up one-seventh of the land on earth. He writes about the geography, the resources, the native peoples, and the history. This work is also an account of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union.
(author photo credit Sigrid Estrada)
Tickets $35 ($25 members/$15 students)
Reserve at www.imow.org or by phone at (415) 543-4669, ext. 27
Schwab Center, San Francisco
Order a signed copy
Book Passage and the International Museum of Women present Ingrid Betancourt
Moderated by Jeanne Carstensen
Join us as Ingrid Betancourt discusses Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle. Betancourt tells the story of her six and one-half years of captivity in the Colombian jungle, describing her resilience, resistance, and faith. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Chained day and night for much of her captivity, she never stopped dreaming of escape. Attending as intimately to the landscape of her mind as she does to the events of her capture and captivity, this work is a meditation on the very stuff of life—fear and freedom, hope and what inspires it.
The ticket price of $55
includes lunch and a signed book
Call (415) 927-0960 ext. 1 to reserve
Corte Madera store
Isabel Allende talks about her new novel Island Beneath the Sea. This tale, set in Haiti and the southern United States during the 18th Century, follows the life of a young woman sold into slavery at age nine to the head of a large sugar plantation. Allende is the author of many internationally acclaimed novels, including House of the Spirits, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has written three memoirs, including My Invented Country, Paula, and The Sum of Our Days, as well as a trilogy of children’s novels. Her books have been translated into more than 27 languages.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Co-presented with the Marin School
In celebration of 10 years of partnership with The Marin School
Maya Khosla & Ravi Chandra talk about Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry ($24.95). The first anthology of its kind, Indivisible brings together 49 American poets who trace their roots to Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Maya Khosla received the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize for her first poetry collection, Keel Bone (Bear Star Press, 2003). Her other publications include a chapbook of poetry, Heart of the Tearing (Red Dust Press, 1996), and a collection of nonfiction, Web of Water (Golden Gate National Park Association, 1997). Her poems have appeared in the Wisconsin Review, the Seneca Review, the New Orleans Review, the Literary Review, and Permafrost, and she has received the Ludwig Vogelstein Award and residencies from the Headlands Center for the Arts and the Sanskriti Foundation in New Delhi. Having lived in Bangladesh, Burma, Bhutan, England, India, and several places in the United States, she now works as a consultant in biology and toxicology in California. She has just completed her second collection of poetry, Clingstone (working title).
Having graduated from Brown University with a degree in biology, Ravi Chandra subsequently attended Stanford Medical School. He now practices psychiatry at a community mental health clinic, where he serves predominantly an Asian and Russian immigrant population, and is also in private practice. He was awarded first prize in a poetry contest at Stanford Medical Center, which also published his poetry in its chapbook. Slam poetry then became his passion, and he was an alternate on the 2002 San Francisco Slam Team. He is involved with the biennial Asian Pacific Islander American Poetry Summit. He lives in San Francisco, where he writes a blog, “Memoirs of a Superfan,” for the International Asian American Film Festival.
Individual Ticket Price $95, Call (916) 798-9022
You are invited to join Sacramento’s prominent corporate and civic leaders for the 17th Annual Sacramento Authors Luncheon on October 30, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Each year more than 850 people are captivated by the fascinating stories, wit and humor of six (6) nationally-known authors, while enjoying a gourmet lunch. Participants have the opportunity to meet each author personally during the book signing sessions preceding and following the luncheon.
Gulstan Dart, News Anchor KCRA 3
2010 Featured Authors to Date:
Amy Krouse Rosenthal:
Duck! Rabbit!
Christopher McDougall: Born to Run
Michael Tucker & Jill Eikenberry:
Family Meals: Coming Together to Care for Aging Parents
Katherine Schwarzenegger:
Rock What You've Got: Secrets To Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty,
From Someone Who Has Been There and Back
Kelly Corrigan: Lift, The Middle Place
Zoe Ferraris: City of Veils, Finding Nouf
Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Market to Table Event!
Laura Stec talks about Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming ($24.99) and presents a cooking demo.
On Saturday mornings, chefs and cookbook authors lead free cooking demonstrations using seasonal ingredients from the Farmers Market. Join them in the CUESA kitchen (North Arcade) for tips, recipes, and a sample. We’ll be there with the books.
Book Passage Class
Corte
Madera store, $45
Register
for Class
Leslie Keenan has been in publishing for 28 years as an editor, agent, publisher, writer, and teacher. She has helped hundreds of writers find and complete their writing projects. A student wrote, “Leslie is inspiring, compassionate, and has a natural gift for creating a safe place for a writer. She’s like a living life preserver.”
Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Cosponsored by Marin Humane Society
Trainer of the First Dog, Bo Obama, Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz talks about The Love That Dog Training Program ($23.95). Sylvia-Stasiewicz draws on lessons she learned from raising three children to train dogs to be joyful, obedient, and devoted members of a family.
Corte Madera store
Speaker: Jeff Greenwald, author of Snake Lake
A Literary Salon • Led by Linda Watanabe McFerrin
1st Monday each month • 7:00-9:00 pm • $120 per year
Left Coast Writers provides literary connections, support, counsel, readings, writing tips, literary chat, unabashed networking, and great fun. Many local authors are active members of this group. Meetings feature presentations by Bay Area literary figures. LCW hosts a variety of other activities to launch the books of members, explore publishing alternatives, and network with others in the industry.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Kurt Hoelting discusses The Circumference of Home: One Man’s Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life ($25.00). After realizing the gaping hole between his convictions about climate change and his own carbon footprint, Hoelting embarked on a yearlong experiment to rediscover the heart of his own home: He traded his car and jet travel for a kayak, a bicycle, and his own two feet.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Steven Winn presents Come Back Como: Winning the Heart of a Reluctant Dog ($13.99). Based on a beloved ten-part series in the San Francisco Chronicle, Come Back, Como is a tender and hilarious story of one man’s uncommonly rich experience with a dog who wants nothing whatsoever to do with him.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
A Buddhist Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
Bodhipaksa presents Living as a River ($18.95). In this Day of the Dead presentation, Scottish-born meditation teacher Bodhipaksa will reveal that zombies are everywhere. In fact, he says, we are the living dead, often locked into habitual patterns of thought, feeling, and action. Introducing his latest book, Living as a River, Bodhipaksa will suggest how we can use mindfulness and reflection to free ourselves from our deadening emotional patterns.
Corte Madera store
Bill Pronzini talks about his thriller The Hidden ($24.00). Two couples are soon caught in a night of unrelenting terror as a series of murders along the northern California coast is being committed by an unknown killer. Marcia Muller talks about Coming Back ($24.99). San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone is shot in the head and suffers from locked-in syndrome in this latest riveting thriller by Muller.
San Francisco store
Book critic Oscar Villalon leads the discussion National Book Critics Circle: The Future of Books. Join the conversation among stakeholders in an NBCC-sponsored conversation touching on a wide range of topics, including the challenges facing publishing and the value of literature in an Internet culture.
Corte Madera storeMichael Castleman talks about his mystery novel A Killing in Real Estate ($24.00). The morning after a huge arson blaze terrorizes San Francisco’s Mission District, Rosenberg finds his friend and colleague Ryan Duffy dead! Patricia Morin discusses Mystery Montage: A Collection of Short-Story Mysteries ($14.95). These stories take place from a small village in Africa’s Maasai Mara to under the boardwalk in Atlantic City.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Kelly Valen presents The Twisted Sisterhood: Unraveling the Dark Legacy of Female Friendships ($25.00). There are many stereotypes about “mean girls” and “competitive women.” Valen talks about female relationships, discussing the findings from her survey of more than three thousand women from all walks of life.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Carlos Eire presents Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy ($26.00). In a follow-up to his 2003 National Book Award–winning Waiting for Snow in Havana, Eire describes his early years in the U.S. In 1962, he was among 14,000 children airlifted from Castro’s Cuba to Florida. Eire is a history and religious studies scholar at Yale.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Armistead Maupin talks about Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel ($25.99). Building on the success of 2007’s New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Maupin presents a new addition to the Tales of the City series that brings readers up to date on a beloved character: the woman who started it all, Mary Ann Singleton.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Christopher Kimball discusses Fannie’s Last Supper: Two Years, Twelve Courses, and Creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook ($25.99). Kimball recreates an extravagant 12-course Christmas dinner taken from Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, published in 1896. The book ties in with a PBS special airing in November.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Geoffrey Wolff discusses his biography The Hard Way Around: The Passages of Joshua Slocum ($26.95). Joshua Slocum escaped a Dickensian childhood in Nova Scotia in 1860 by becoming, at the age of 16, an ordinary seaman. In 1895 he became the first man to circumnavigate the globe solo. Wolff is the acclaimed author of The Age of Consent.
Individual Ticket Price $125, Call (415) 543-3303
You are invited to join the Bay Area's prominent corporate and civic leaders for the 22nd Annual San Francisco Authors Luncheon on November 6, 2010 at the Marriott San Francisco.
Each year more than 1200 people are captivated by the fascinating stories, wit and humor of six (6) nationally-known authors, while enjoying a gourmet lunch. Participants have the opportunity to meet each author personally during the book signing sessions preceding and following the luncheon.
Nancy Snyderman, MD
Chief Medical Editor NBC News
2010 Featured Authors to Date
Yiyun Li
The Vagrants
Mac Barnett
Guess Again
Carlos Eire
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy; Learning to Die in Miami
Michael Krasny
Spiritual Envy: An Agnostics Quest
Armistead Maupin
Tales of the City
Amanda Hesser
The Essential New York Times Cookbook
Abraham Verghese
Cutting for Stone
Phone: (415) 543-3303; Fax: (415) 543-3331
Email: infopacific@kidney.org
Web site: www.kidneynca.org
We hope that you will consider joining the National Kidney Foundation as a volunteer for this year’s 22nd Annual San Francisco Authors Luncheon on Saturday, November 6, 2010, at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco. We need volunteers to assist with various duties—including registration, book sales, book signings, centerpiece assembly, program stuffing, and door prizes.
If you would like to attend the luncheon and need to purchase an individual ticket, you will receive a volunteer discount. The regular cost of a ticket is $125—and you will pay only $60! This is a fabulous opportunity to hear internationally recognized authors speak while dining on an exquisite lunch.
For more information or volunteer please contact Katherine Hughey at katherineh@kidney.org or call (415) 543-3303.
SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE STARTING AT $2,000-$100,000
TABLES AND INDIVIDUAL TICKETS: $1,250 (Starting Sept. 1);
EARLY BUY READERS TABLE: $1,100 (Until AUG. 31);
INDIVIDUAL TICKET PRICE: $125
For 2010 San Francisco Authors Sponsorship information click here. Proceeds from this event support services for patients and families served by the National Kidney Foundation Serving Northern California. For more information on the San Francisco Authors Luncheon contact Abby Vlautin, Event Manager (916) 798-9022 or abby.vlautin@kidney.org.
Corte Madera store, Free Class
Please RSVP by phone at (415) 927-0960, ext. 1
Diana Stobo is a culinary artist and raw food educator, once weighing 247 pounds, she healed herself through food and love. Diana demystifies the complexity of the raw food lifestyle, and makes accessible foods that heal without overwhelming your life. Her new book Get Naked Fast! is available for $20.
What Attendees Learn at a Presentation:
- How to listen to your body and become more aware of how food affects it.
- The six ingredients that weigh the body down, cause disease, discomfort and excess weight.
- Simple ways of substituting ingredients to your diet that fit into your lifestyle.
- Easy and delicious food preparation, the most important tools for success.
- How Raw fuel increases strength, performance and endurance.
- The Acid/Alkaline Balance- how loving your body is the best medicine!
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $105
Register for Class
Intermediate to advanced writers, who are serious about creating fantastic, dynamic scenes in which every sentence pops, are invited to this workshop. Each participant will bring a scene from her/his current work-in-progress, with the intention of putting the scene under the microscope to discover the multitude of tiny factors that, if handled properly, create tremendous impact. Through writing exercises, discussion, and mini-critiques, we’ll talk about: where a scene begins and ends; how to track every emotional shift; what it means if we get stuck; how to interpret feedback; and how to check for the factors that should be in every scene, thus ensuring consistency. Although the workshop is designed to follow Grow a Great Character, Grow a Great Plot! on Oct. 9, in which writers learn to more fully develop their characters, all writers are welcome.
Martha Engber is an editor, and author of the novel The Wind Thief and Growing Great Characters from the Ground Up.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Margo True of Sunset magazine talks about The Sunset Cookbook ($34.95) and presents a cooking demo.
On Saturday mornings, chefs and cookbook authors lead free cooking demonstrations using seasonal ingredients from the Farmers Market. Join them in the CUESA kitchen (North Arcade) for tips, recipes, and a sample. We’ll be there with the books.
Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $60
Please register by phone at (415) 927-0960, ext. 1
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Noam Shpancer talks about his novel The Good Psychologist ($24.00). A psychologist reluctantly takes on a new client—an exotic dancer whose severe anxiety is keeping her from the stage. The psychologist, a solitary man, helps the client confront her fears. But as treatment unfolds, her struggles and secrets begin to interfere with his own life.
Corte Madera store
Special for kids! Annie Barrows hosts Ivy & Bean Day Celebration! Join us for a day of fun with the author of the Ivy & Bean series. Barrows’ Ivy & Bean books include Ivy & Bean Doomed to Dance, Bound to Be Bad, Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter, Ivy & Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go, and the latest, What’s the Big Idea?
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Li Miao Lovett presents her novel In the Lap of the Gods ($15.95). A dam rises on the Yangtze, uprooting a million lives in a government-made disaster, and a poor salvager who has lost everything finds an abandoned baby girl. Lovett presents a tale of defiance, of a lost man finding his place in modern China, and of a rich man reclaiming his soul.
Osher Marin JCC
Order a signed copy
Joseph Telushkin talks about Hillel: If Not Now, When? ($24.00). From the bestselling author of Jewish Literacy comes a provocative biography of one of the greatest rabbis of the Talmudic era and a figure of prophetic importance to today’s world. This bold new look at Hillel is certain to generate passionate discussion and debate.
Tickets available at (415) 444-8000
or online at www.marinjcc.org/performing_arts.html
Corte Madera store, $40
Register for class
Want to strengthen the practical writing you do—for school, for work, for everyday emailing? Have questions about grammar, word choice, punctuation? Here’s your chance to gain info that makes sense and stays with you. Janis Bell, author of Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences, has been teaching academic and business writing for over three decades. She’ll leave you well informed and eager to impress your teachers, clients, and email friends!
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ted Kerasote discusses Pukka: The Pup After Merle ($18.95). The author of Merle’s Door brings us stunning photos. Pukka is a love story as well as Kerasote’s take on raising a puppy. Kerasote shows how dogs thrive when treated as peers. He shows the many ways that dogs open the door to our hearts.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
40th Anniversary of Be Here Now!
Rameshwar Dass, and Ram Dass live via Skype, present Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart ($27.99). Following Be Here Now and Still Here, Rameshwar and Ram show us the way to unconditional spiritual love.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Thea Cooper talks about Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle ($24.99). It is 1919 and Elizabeth Hughes, the 11-year-old daughter of America’s most distinguished jurist and politician, Charles Evans Hughes, becomes one of the first diabetics to receive insulin injections.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Ari Berman presents Herding Donkeys ($26.00). Berman tells the improbable tale of the grassroots resurgence that transformed the Democratic Party. He chronicles Howard Dean’s visionary 50-state strategy, charting his unpredictable journey from insurgent presidential candidate to chairman and conscience of the Democratic Party.
Order a signed copy
Left Coast Writers Launch! Todd Crawshaw talks about his debut novel Exploits of the Satyr ($16.99). These are the tragic and comic chronicles of a man known as Satyr to his fans and foes who discovers he was procreated by members of a cult—marrying genetic technology with ancient artifacts—to initiate the Second Coming of Christ.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Seth Harwood discusses his mystery novel Young Junius ($14.95). Young Junius sets out to find his brother’s killer in the Boston projects. After shooting someone to protect his friend, Junius is told to run. Shocked by the violence that he’s created, yet determined to see its consequences through, he refuses. Harwood is the author of Jack Wakes Up.
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Rebecca Traister presents Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women ($26.00). Though the 2008 presidential election didn’t give us our first woman president or vice president, Traister describes how the exhilarating campaign nonetheless transformed American women and a nation.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Steve Dublanica presents Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper’s Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity ($24.99). Dublanica presents a hilarious and eye-opening follow-up to the homegrown smash-hit Waiter Rant, an irreverent, pavement-pounding exploration of a huge but neglected part of the American economy: tipping.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Special for kids!
Mac Barnett presents The Ghostwriter Secret (Brixton Brothers #2) ($14.99). Steve Brixton is fast becoming America’s top detective. After saving the U.S. in The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, he has opened his own agency. Steve gets a call to solve the case of the Fairview diamond, but it turns out to be a bigger mystery than he expected!
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy
Matt Taibbi presents Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America ($26.00). Taibbi says that the grifter class—made up of large players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding—has been growing in power, transferring wealth upward through complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers.
Dominican University of California, Angelico Hall
Receive preferred seating with purchase of any Rick Steves product
(Please
bring your receipt if you pre-purchase a book. Books will also be
available for purchase at the event.)
Browse Rick Steves' titles
Rick Steves—author of over 50 European travel guidebooks and host of the PBS-TV series, Rick Steves' Europe—believes that thoughtful travel expands our world view and shapes how we address the challenges confronting our nation politically. Having spent four months a year overseas for the last 25 years, Rick feels that travel helps us "challenge truths we were raised to think were self-evident and God-given." His classes have helped millions of Americans not only enjoy maximum travel thrills per mile, minute and euro…but become better citizens of our planet. Rick shares how the other 96 percent of humanity sees our nation and explores how his social activism has grown naturally out of his travel experiences. He's fresh back from lots of travels (including a TV production trip to Iran) and will be on hand after his talk for questions and autographs.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Mark Kurlansky discusses Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts ($16.00). Kurlansky brings a keen eye and unerring sense of humanity to these stories. And throughout, his love and knowledge of food shows just how important a role what we eat plays in our lives. Kurlansky is the author of The Last Fish Tale, Cod, and Salt.
Corte Madera store
Order a signed copy
Dennis Lehane presents his thriller Moonlight Mile ($26.99). Acclaimed mystery author Lehane delivers an explosive tale of vengeance and redemption in this sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone—heralding the long-awaited return of beloved P.I.s Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Lehane’s novels include Mystic River and Shutter Island.
San Francisco store
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Nicole Richie signs copies of her new novel Priceless ($24.99). When people think of Nicole Richie, they think of a woman who wears many hats. She’s a philanthropist, a designer, a fashionista, an actress, and a mother of two. She is also an accomplished writer.
When her first novel, The Truth About Diamonds was published in 2005, it captivated countless readers—giving them a glimpse into the rarified world of society’s young elite. Now, Richie picks up her pen again and offers Priceless, a contemporary novel that explores one woman’s search for herself and what is most important to her. In typical Richie style, Priceless is replete with vivid imagery, intelligent humor, and tantalizing scenarios. But it also plumbs the more serious topics of self-esteem, self-reliance, and finding one’s way in life.
Corte Madera store
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Linda Nathan talks about The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School ($16.00). The Boston Arts Academy comprises a diverse student body, yet 94 percent of its graduates are accepted to college. Principal Linda Nathan doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but seeks to share her insights.
How and why does a school develop a shared vision of what it stands for? What makes a great teacher, and how can a principal help good teachers improve? Why must schools talk openly about race and achievement, and what happens when they do?
Award-winning educator Linda Nathan gives insights into the process of grappling with these questions, attempting to implement solutions, and evaluating the outcomes. Stories that are inspirational as well as heartbreaking reveal the missteps, failures, and successes.
Linda Nathan consults and speaks on educational issues internationally, and teaches a graduate course at Harvard University on building democratic schools. She is also the founder of Boston Arts Academy, where 95% of the socio-economically diverse student body continues on to college.
For more information, please visit www.lindanathan.com.
