Events

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

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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 store
Order 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
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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
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.

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
Register for Class

Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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
Order a signed copy

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.

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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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
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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
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Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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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

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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
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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.

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. 

Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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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.

$5 members/$10 non-members per meeting
Corte Madera store

“No More Excuses—Write That Book!”:
with Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Sam Barry

Preferred seating with purchase of book
Corte Madera store
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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.

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

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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.

Speaker: Rachel Sarah, Author of Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World
Corte Madera store

Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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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!

Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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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

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.

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
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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 store
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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
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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
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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.

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
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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.

Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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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

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.

Free Event - Open to the Public
Corte Madera store
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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)

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
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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.

Free Event - Open to the Public
San Francisco store
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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

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
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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.

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.

San Francisco store
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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
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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.

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Michael 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

• 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
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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.

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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

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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.

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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?

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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
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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
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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Book Passage Class
Corte Madera store, $105
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When it’s time to write outside the box, venture out the door. From the canals of Venice to a mall near home, writing in the moment has vitality and specificity that makes readers feel they’re in the scene. Learn how to take notes and do writing on the spot, wherever you are, then transform it into engaging memoir, fiction, and articles. For all levels.

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.

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Includes a Free Knitting Class & Trunk Show of finished projects from the book! Bring light colored, smooth, worsted weight yarn, and knitting needles size 8 or 9.
Debbie Stoller discusses Stitch ‘n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics ($17.95). Writing with the clarity that makes her such an effective teacher and the attitude that inspired the S.F. Chronicle to dub her “knitting superstar,” Stoller gives readers the tools and techniques to create cool designs that put a whole new spin on knitting. Free class on beginning lace will demonstrate how yarn overs and decreases interact to produce lace.

San Francisco store
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Laura Werlin talks about Laura Werlin’s Cheese Essentials ($24.95) 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.

San Francisco store
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Special for kids! Jonathan Stroud talks about Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon ($17.99). Thousands of years before his service to the magician Nathaniel in London, Bartimaeus served as djinni to hundreds of masters, from Babylon and Ancient Egypt to the modern Middle East. History is revealed in this prequel as readers travel alongside Bartimaeus for his most exciting adventure yet!

Corte Madera store, $60
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Who says writers have to starve? When writing with passion, you should also get paid. Ying Compestine shows you how to be a productive writer, how to find the right agent and editors, and how to build a financially rewarding career. She is a successful, award-winning author of novels, picture books, cookbooks, magazine articles and online media. Her books include Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts, and Boy Dumplings.

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Randall Fleming presents Light at the Edge ($30.00). With artful images rich in visual poetry, Fleming brings the reader into the beautiful and ephemeral landscapes of Point Reyes, California. Breaking new ground in landscape photography, the images throughout this work have the power to convey the land’s beauty and the magic of experiencing it.

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Left Coast Writers Launch!
Jessica O’Dwyer talks about Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir ($16.95). At 32, O’Dwyer experiences early menopause, seemingly ending her chances of becoming a mother. Years later, married but childless, she comes across a photo of a twomonth- old girl on a Guatemalan adoption Web site—and feels an instant connection. From the get-go, Jessica and her husband face numerous obstacles.

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Thaisa Frank talks about her novel Heidegger’s Glasses ($25.00). It’s the end of WWII and the Third Reich’s strong reliance on the occult has led to the formation of an underground compound of scribes. Into this covert compound comes a letter written by eminent philosopher Martin Heidegger to his optometrist. How will the scribes answer this letter?

Corte Madera store, $45
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An imaginative writing workshop for kids 8-12 years-old who want to create poems they can take home to share. Karen Benke has inspired kids’ creative journeys in the form of poem-making for 16 years as a California Poet in the Schools and authoring a free writing guide for adults. She’s the author of Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing.

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Gary Noy & Rick Heide present The Illuminated Landscape: A Sierra Nevada Anthology ($19.95). Noy and Heide present the literary Sierra Nevada as seen by writers from Muir to Twain to Stegner and Snyder. This work collects more than 50 inspired pieces, from Indian tale to modern story.

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Speaker: Mary Mackey, author of The Year the Horses Came

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! 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.

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Join us as famed travel writers present Lonely Planet’s A Moveable Feast: Life-Changing Food Encounters Around the World ($14.99). This collection of travel tales set around the world transforms the planet into an endless all-you-can-eat buffet for mind, soul, and stomach!

Book Passage Class
Four Mondays: Nov. 15-Dec. 6
Corte Madera store, $120
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The ancient Sufis believed there are three worlds: the intellect, the senses, and a world they called the “imaginal world,” which was the place where they received visions and creative insights. As we immerse in winter’s darkness, the portals to the imaginal are more available. In this course, we employ myth, metaphor, innovative exercises, and visual imagery to explore the imaginal realm. Kim Hermanson, Ph.D. teaches at several universities and at Esalen Institute. Her most recent book is Getting Messy.

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Joel Richard Paul talks about his biography Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution ($16.00). Paul presents the story of three remarkable historical figure—Silas Deane, Caron de Beaumarchais, and Chevalier d’Eon—who successfully used espionage and sexual deception to win the American Revolution.

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Special for kids!
Kathryn Otoshi presents Zero ($17.95). As budding young readers learn about numbers and counting, they are also introduced to accepting different body types, developing social skills and character, and learning what it means to find value in one’s self and in others. Otoshi is the author of One and Simon and the Sock Monster.

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Simon Winchester discusses Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories ($27.99). Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, the author of Krakatoa and The Professor and the Madman tells the saga of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean.

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Thomas Sanders talks about The Last Good War:The Faces and Voices of World War II ($45.00). Sixty years after World War II, a young Sanders began traveling the country photographing hundreds of veterans. Veronica Kavass, a writer and interviewer with StoryCorps, joined the project and spent countless hours with these men and women, recording their vivid accounts as Sanders recorded their storied faces.

World War II magazine praises The Last Good War, "hits home like a one-two punch."

Full praise:
Nearly 12 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II; about 2 million are still with us. Here are some of their stories. With heartfelt, perceptive variety, the remarkable portraits that distinguish this book reflect the range of their subjects’ experience. The concise text recounting each veteran’s reminiscences amplifies the impact. The combo hits home like a one-two punch

Starred Review from Publishers Weekly:
"Just the cover of this book can break your heart: an aged man in closeup, every wrinkle and blemish visible, holding a U.S. Navy emblem to his forehead, and he appears above the title: The Last Good War. The veterans of that war, WWII, are captured in Sanders's debut—in their 80s and 90s, male and female, black and white. Some wear parts of their original uniforms; others hold artifacts of the time, like battalion photos, newspapers, or canteens. One sailor, dressed in white shirt and tie, still wears his cap at a jaunty angle. Oral historian Kavass has collected brief reminiscences from the veterans that don't underplay the horrors of war, from the Bataan march to the deaths of friends. But most memorable are the faces: solemn, proud, occasionally smiling, some looking directly into the camera, others looking off to the distance as if remembering the events of long ago. Anyone who is close to a member of the "greatest generation" will treasure these wizened faces captured before the entire generation is gone. (Oct.)

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SARK presents Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change Into Gifts and Opportunities ($18.95). When grief, sadness, and other strong emotions seem overwhelming, this book shows how to skillfully work with those feelings and access their significant healing power.

Book Passage Class
Four Thursdays: Nov. 18-Dec. 17 (no class Nov. 25)
Corte Madera store, $60
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What exactly was Modernism? From our vantage point a century later we shall be examining the avant-garde movements in the visual arts in Europe from 1900 to 1940. Modernism had its roots in the late nineteenth century when artists like Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh began a move toward abstraction. We will begin with the Austrian Secession; Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka and move on to Germany: The artists of Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter. We'll encounter the Fauves in France: Matisse, Derain, et al. The pioneers of Cubism: Braque and Picasso, Orphism and the Delaunays will be followed by a study of the Italian Futurists. A special emphasis on the Women artists of the Russian Avant-Garde will be followed by a study of the Surrealists whose notion of reality fell entirely outside traditional views of reality versus the artists of Neue Sachlichkeit who addressed the problems of Weimar society.

Kerrin Meis taught art history at SFSU for ten years, lectured for the College of Marin, Exploritas, Dominican University, and leads study tours in France.

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Tickets $25 (plus ticket service fee)
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YOU Deserve an Evening of Fabulous Food, Wonderful Wine and LOL Laughter

Attend the MAMA MONOLOGUES!!!!!!!!

Join our nationally renowned group of mothers, The Writing Mamas, who meet monthly at Book Passage to write, whine and wine, and our very special guest, Kelly Corrigan!!!!! the New York Times best-selling author of Lift and The Middle Place. Let us entertain you with stories of REAL-life parenthood. (Otherwise known as—survival!)

Leave the kids at home, bring your special someone, your BFFS, or meet new ones during this friendly, hilarious, LOL party created just for YOU! Fabulous Puerto Rican cuisine will be lovingly prepared and donated by Sol Food, one of Marin's most popular and hippest restaurants, along with complimentary wine, red or white, maybe both? And the entertainment—OMG!!!!!

ALL profits are donated to charity. Meet Kelly—she is one very funny mama—and have her personally sign a book for you!

Cost: An amazingly low $25 (plus ticket service fee) for EVERYTHING—Food, Wine, Entertainment!!!! 
Buy now. Tickets will sell out!

Questions: Contact Writing Mamas and Mama Monologues Founder, Dawn Yun, @ dawnyun1@gmail.com, or (415) 233-2483.

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Robert Michael Pyle talks about Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year ($27.00). Part road-trip tale, part travelogue of lost and found landscapes, all good-natured natural history, this volume tracks Pyle’s journey across the United States as he races against the calendar in his search for as many of the 800 American butterfly species as he can find.

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Buddy Valastro presents Cake Boss : Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia ($25.99). Television viewers have fallen in love with Valastro, master cake maker, and his funny and fiery family, proprietors of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the smash hit television series Cake Boss. In this heartfelt memoir, Valastro tells his inspiring story.

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Adair Lara discusses Naked, Drunk, and Writing: Shed Your Inhabitions and Craft a Compelling Memoir or Personal Essay ($14.99). The material is right there in front of you. You’ve known yourself for, well, a lifetime—and you finally feel ready to share your story with the world. Yet when it actually comes time to put pen to paper, you find that you’re stumped. Enter Adair Lara—beloved writing coach.

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Ann Louise Gittleman presents Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn't Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution ($25.99). We’re being zapped: Today 84 percent of Americans own a cell phone, 89 million of us watch TV beamed in by satellite, and we can’t sip a cup of coffee at our local cafÉ without being exposed to Wi-Fi. The very electronic innovations that have changed our lives are also exposing us, in ways big and small, to an unprecedented number of electromagnetic fields. Invisible pollution surrounds us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, interrupting our bodies’ natural flow of energy. And for some, that pollution has reached the point of toxicity, causing fatigue, irritability, weakness, and even illness.

But we don’t have to simply surrender. Ann Louise Gittleman brings forth the latest research into electromagnetic fields to create this groundbreaking guide for every citizen of the wireless age. With the proactive, levelheaded approach that has made her one of our most respected health experts, she not only clarifies the risks but also offers specific, step-by-step information for how anyone can minimize them. 

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Cosponsored by Hospice by the Bay
Judith Redwing Keyssar presents Last Acts of Kindness: Lessons for the Living from the Bedsides of the Dying ($15.95). In these chronicles of a midwife to the dying, Keyssar speaks eloquently and from her heart about her extensive experience in the field of palliative care.

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Gary Kamiya presents Shadow Knights ($19.99). Kamiya reveals the exhilarating illustrated story of Britain’s secret Special Operations Executive and the everyday men and women who risked their lives to sabotage Hitler. David Talbot discusses Devil Dog ($19.99). Talbot shares the thrilling illustrated tale of Smedley Butler, a Marine who fought across the globe, restored order to Philadelphia, and foiled a plot against FDR.

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Anne Germanacos presents her novel In the Time of the Girls ($14.00). Set in Greece, this innovative debut uses discrete, telling moments to create fast-paced stories that are richly pleasurable to read. Germanacos has lived between Greece and San Francisco for thirty years. Her stories are just as strange and tragic as the Greek myths they riff on.

Catch Anne's interview with Michael Krasny on November 17, 10:30-11:00 am on KQED-FM 88.5!

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Leonard Pitt talks about Paris: A Journey Through Time ($29.95). With an array of archival and contemporary photos, Pitt peels away the layers of old Paris to document the city’s transformation. Painstakingly researched, this work is a tour through Paris, seen through the lens of photographers who witnessed ages of both demolition and construction.

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Speaker: Becky Levine, author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide: How to Give and Receive Feedback, Self-Edit, and Make Revisions

The Marin branch of the California Writers Club meets monthly at Book Passage, typically the third Sunday from 2:00-4:00 pm. Meetings are $5 for members and $10 for non-members. 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. More info at: http://www.calwriters.org.

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Ken McAdams and Marian Bingham talk about Bon Courage: Rediscovering the Art of Living in the Heart of France ($22.95). One year into their marriage, Ken and Bing head to the French countryside. When they fall in love with the village of La Montagne Noire, they find themselves buying a fixer-upper and starting all over again—but this time, in French!

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Lissa Rovetch will lead writing exercises! Bring a pen, a notebook, and an appetite for home- made goodies!

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 illustrator of There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat and Other Vile Little Poems and author of Ook the Book and the Hot Dog and Bob book series.

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Don LePan discusses his novel Animals ($13.95). More than 100 years in the future, the horrors of factory farming, combined with the widespread abuse of antibiotics, have led to mass extinctions. As paranoia about the food supply spreads, a forceful new logic takes hold. In the blink of a millennial eye, the disenfranchised have become food!

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.

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Join Book Passage President (and grandmother) Elaine Petrocelli and Children’s Book Buyer Susan Kunhardt to talk about the best new and classic children’s books. Find out about Book Passage programs to help you share books with your grandchildren or with other children no matter where they live. Share the love of reading with the next generation!

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Tim Palmer talks about Rivers of California: Natural Lifelines of the Golden State ($39.95). With 176 photos and original prose, Palmer showcases the variety, vitality, and majesty of streams large and small through all four seasons, from rainforest to desert, from high country source to the Pacific, taking us on a journey that changes the way we think about water.

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Books will be available for purchase
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Olympic speed skater and television's Dancing with the Stars winner Apolo Ohno signs copies of Zero Regrets: Be Greater Than Yesterday ($26.00). Over three consecutive Olympic games, Apolo Ohno has come to symbolize the very best of the competitive spirit—remaining equally gracious in victory and defeat, always striving to improve his performance, and appreciating the value of the hard work of training as much as any reward it might bring. In Zero Regrets, Apolo shares the inspiring personal story behind his remarkable success.

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Gerald Blaine, Lisa McCubbin, and Clint Hill talk about The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence ($28.00). The Secret Service has a single mission: to protect the president of the U.S. On November 22, 1963, this team failed—and the country would never be the same. A member of JFK’s Secret Service reveals the inside story.

Book Passage Class
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What does it take to write a book review that will get published? Former San Francisco Chronicle Book Editor and McSweeney’s publisher Oscar Villalon shows how to write a smart, entertaining book review. He explains what works best in long and brief reviews, what to keep in mind when assessing a book, and how to shape the tone of your review. Villalon’s reviews have appeared on NPR.org and on radio for KQED’s The California Report. He’s served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle and on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Corte Madera store
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Russ Baker discusses Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years ($20.00). After eight years, George W. Bush leaves office as one of the most unpopular presidents in American history. Baker goes deep behind the scenes to deliver an arresting new look at the Bush legacy.