THIS WEEK: JOHN JODZIO and CHELSEA MARTIN,
RUMPUS BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION, WILLIAM GIBSON,
MARKOS MOULITSAS, MELISSA STEIN!

 


Events

« March 13, 2010 - March 25, 2010 »
 
03 / 13
03 / 14
03 / 15
Foreign Crimes in Foreign Climes: CARA BLACK and DAVID CORBETT
Start: 7:30 pm

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CARA BLACK and DAVID
CORBETT

Murder in the Palais
Royal

Do They Know I’m
Running?

 

MURDER IN THE PALAIS
ROYAL is the tenth book in Cara Black’s Parisian crime series starring P.I.
Aimée Leduc. Last year’s Murder in the
Latin Quarter debuted at #1 on the San
Francisco Chronicle’s bestseller list, garnered much praise, and found
Black interviewed in the streets of Paris
for NPR’s All Things Considered. Now, with a narrative call back to her first
novel, Palais Royal is poised to be
her biggest hit yet.

 

In Murder In The Palais Royal, Aimée’s business partner, René, has
been shot, and eyewitnesses have identified Aimée as the culprit. A mysterious
deposit has been made to their firm's bank account, interesting the taxman in
their affairs. Someone seems to be impersonating Aimée; someone wants revenge.
Two murders ensue. How do they relate to the youth whom Aimée's testimony sent
to jail in the very first Aimée Leduc investigation, Murder in the Marais?       

 

“The ninth mystery in Cara Black’s irresistible series set
in Paris . . .
might well be the book we’ve been waiting for. Aimée Leduc, Black’s adorably
punkish sleuth, is in her element . . . one of this colorful series’s most
scenic itineraries.” -- New York Times Book
Review

 

Cara Black is the
author of nine other novels in the best-selling Aimée Leduc series. She lives
in San Francisco with her husband and son and
visits Paris
frequently.

 

DO THEY KNOW I’M
RUNNING? from acclaimed author David Corbett is a stunning and suspenseful
novel of a life without loyalties and the borders inside ourselves.

Roque Montalvo is wise beyond his eighteen years. Orphaned at birth, a
gifted musician, he’s stuck in a California
backwater, helping his Salvadoran aunt care for his damaged brother, an
ex-marine badly wounded in Iraq.
When immigration agents arrest his uncle, the family has nowhere else to
turn. Roque, badgered by his street-hardened cousin, agrees to bring the old
man back, relying on the criminal gangs that control the dangerous smuggling
routes from El Salvador,
through Guatemala and Mexico, to the U.S. border.
 
But his cousin has told Roque only so much. In reality, he will have to
transport not just his uncle but two others: an Arab whose intentions are
disturbingly vague and a young beauty promised to a Mexican crime lord. Roque
discovers that his journey involves crossing more than one kind of border, and
he will be asked time and again to choose between survival and betrayal -- of
his country, his family, his heart.

 

David Corbett is
the author of three critically acclaimed novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done
for a Dime, and Blood of Paradise,
nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar, and named one of the Top
Ten Mysteries and Thrillers of 2007 by the Washington
Post and a San Francisco ChronicleLas Vegas Noir, was selected for
inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2009
Notable Book. His short fiction and essays have appeared in numerous
periodicals and anthologies, and his story "Pretty Little Parasite,"
from

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Las Vegas Noir,
was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2009.

 

 

 
03 / 16
03 / 17
03 / 18
TED (Newjack) CONOVER / The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and They Way We Live Today
Start: 7:30 pm

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Roads: metaphorically and literally, they bind our modern
world into a coherent whole. From the transportation of goods, knowledge, and
disease to their hold on the imagination, the role of roads in our lives cannot
be overstated. They even permeate our language: you navigate the information
superhighway; your career is in the fast lane; you choose the high (or low)
road; you take the path less traveled. 

 

Behind every road lies a story, and in THE ROUTES OF MAN, Ted Conover 
brings his unparalleled eye to six roads around the world that have a
profound impact on the lives lived on or near them, the businesses run over
them, and the cultures that surround them.  Conover’s dispatches come from
Peru:  accompanying a trucker through the
perilous Andes, where he contemplates the threat that better infrastructure
poses to indigenous populations and surrounding rainforests; the Indian region
of Ladakh, where he follows locals down the Chaddar, a frozen river at the
bottom of a canyon and the only path in existence during winter, and considers
what the coming highway will do to Buddhist towns now untouched by the wider
world; East Africa, where he revisits a trucking route from Tanzania through
Rwanda and Burundi along which one could trace the spread of AIDS in Africa to
see what has changed over a decade; the West Bank, as he passes through
security checkpoints with both Palestinians and Israelis, seeing firsthand how
grueling and unfair the process is for both sides;China, where he paints an exuberant and frightening portrait
of the emerging car culture from Chinese roads and the rapid increases in auto sales
and highway construction; Lagos, Nigeria, describing a megacity where traffic
stalls for hours, teenage beggars run between stopped cars, and ambulances park
along the highway to wait for accidents.

 

Conover’s journeys ultimately reveal the costs and benefits
of being connected -- how roads have played a crucial role in human life, from
ancient Rome to
the present, changing man and his world for better and for worse.

 

“Ted Conover is one of the great writers of my generation,
and this may be his finest book. Fearless and compassionate, with echoes of
Conrad and Kerouac, it explores how the road, once a symbol of limitless
possibility, has become a path to annihilation. I have enormous admiration for
what Conover has achieved.” --Eric Schlosser 

 

 “Humans evolved on the road and we go on seeking
territory, survival, wealth, and even knowledge. The Odyssey, Don Quixote, On the Road, The Road, Arabian Sands,
Marco Polo on the Silk Road, wagon trains heading for California, and Latinos
at the fence between Mexico and the U.S.A -- so many of us streaming toward
vivid dreams. Buy this book and enjoy some armchair roaming (the second best
way to travel). That’s my advice.”  --  William Kittredge

 

Ted Conover is the
author of several books including Newjack:
Guarding Sing Sing (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and a
finalist for the Pulitzer Prize) and Rolling
Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America’s Hoboes. His writing has appeared
in The New York Times Magazine, The
Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and National
Geographic. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is Distinguished
Writer-in-Residence in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. Read a travel
community’s interview with Conover.

 
03 / 19
03 / 20
STORYTIME with Lauren O -- Calling All Kids
Start: 11:30 am
03 / 21
03 / 22
Tango Lessons at The Booksmith! MARIA FINN / Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home
Start: 7:30 pm

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Tango, in essence, is a way of being: it
lures you from the job that’s too staid; it beckons on a night when you’re
feeling lonely; it promises escape from the grind of daily life. Tango is a
journey for those who want their lives to change course; and for others, like
me, who believe that their lives have ended, it’s an attempt to start living
again.

Maria Finn

 

Like anyone would, Maria Finn felt anger when she learned of
her husband’s infidelity, then despair over losing him and their plans for a
life together. But she refused to become one of those women who sob into their
divorce lawyer’s answering machine late at night.

 

In Hold Me Tight
& Tango Me Home, Maria relates how she turned to Argentine tango to
cope with her pain, learn to trust again, and rediscover herself. Her
exhilarating adventure takes us from New York
to Buenos Aires
and back, exploring the fascinating culture, history, music, moves, and beauty
of this sexy, sometimes heartbreaking, yet ultimately life-affirming dance.

 

For Maria, learning tango means dealing with rejection,
criticism, and unpredictable partners -- some rude, others clumsy, and one who
earned the moniker “Ear Licker”. But it’s all made worthwhile by those
transcendent moments in which Maria joins with a dance partner and the union
transforms into what she refers to as “bliss” -- a marriage of leading and
following that seamlessly explores intrigue, melancholy, flirtation, and
passion.

 

With each new step—the embrace, the hook, the sweep, the
throw—Maria begins to connect with people in a new way. Gradually, she finds
the confidence to try romance again and discovers the strength needed to pursue
a new life.

 

Maria Finn has written for Audubon, Saveur, Metropolis, the New York Times, and the Los
Angeles Times, among many other publications. The editor of two
anthologies, Cuba in Mind and Mexico in Mind, she received an MFA in
creative writing from Sarah
Lawrence College
and her essays have been anthologized in Best
Food Writing and The Best Women’s
Travel Writing. Visit Maria – and watch these videos!

 

Celebrate with music and dancing this evening!

 

 
03 / 23
FOUND IN TRANSLATION / Book Group Meeting -- Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Start: 7:00 pm

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A surprise bestseller in two countries, The Elegance of the Hedgehog has now taken both France and the U.S.
by storm. Telling the intersecting tales of an overly educated Parisian
concierge and the precocious girl who lives in her building, this book casually
mixes musings on art, philosophy, and pop culture into a taut story. Get ready
to dig into some deep thoughts and find out more about this author who's
becoming a sensation in the U.S.

 

Join us on the fourth Tuesday of every month at
7:00 PM in the bookstore for spirited conversation about some of the newest
writing hitting the U.S.
from all over the globe. No foreign language knowledge necessary and no
continental savvy required (but will be appreciated!)  -- just bring your
desire to read some excellent new books, hand-selected for you by the
Booksmith's knowledgeable booksellers. You'll also meet some great new people
(including Scott Esposito and Annie Janusch, who will guide each monthly
conversation. Scott and Annie's work with both The Quarterly Conversation and
the Center for the Art of Translation keeps them apprised on a day-to-day basis
of what's new in world lit, and they're excited to act as your
"interpreters" through these uncharted literary landscapes) and chat
with them about the best new fiction from around the world.

 
03 / 24
Comedy (and Economics) Night at The Booksmith! with YORAM BAUMAN and The Cartoon Introduction to Economics
Start: 7:30 pm

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If 2009 taught us anything, it’s that economics matters to
everybody. But how many American voters have a thorough understanding of how
economies really work?

 

Now, thanks to Yoram
Bauman and Grady Klein, you don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to get a grasp
on the news. Bauman, the world’s first and only stand-up economist, has teamed
up with Klein, the cartoonist behind the Lost Colony graphic novels, to take
the dismal out of the dismal science. From the optimizing individual to game
theory to price theory, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume 1:
Microeconomics lays out the fundamentals of microeconomics in brightly imagined
words and pictures, making the notoriously daunting subject accessible,
digestible, and—against all odds—something many thought it never could be: fun.

 

There is no one better suited to explain economics through
comics than Yoram Bauman. An environmental economist at the University of Washington,
Bauman is also an entertainer who has explained the economy at comedy clubs and
universities across the country (his “Principles of Economics, Translated” is a
YouTube cult classic). As an educator at both the university and high school
levels, Bauman knows how to make economics relevant to today’s students.

 

Check out these videos: “Standup Economist at
Caroline’s”, “Principles
of Economics, Translated”, and “Standup Economist on the
Financial Crisis”!

 

 

“Had Art Spiegelman
and John Maynard Keynes collaborated on a comic book on economics, they could
only have dreamed of coming up with something this good.” -- Jonathan A.
Shayne, a.k.a. Merle Hazard, country singer and founder of Shayne & Co.,
LLC

 

 
03 / 25
ALEX LEMON / Happy: A Memoir
Start: 7:30 pm

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Alex Lemon is a thirty-year-old professor, critically
acclaimed and award-winning poet, and recipient of a fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts. He’s also an ex-college baseball star,
ex-rampant partier, and a survivor of multiple strokes and seizures due to a
vascular malformation in his brain stem and an extremely dangerous surgery
designed to correct it. He tells his incredible story in HAPPY. 

 

As a freshman in college, Lemon was the hard-partying dude
everyone called “Happy.” Then he had his first stroke. For two years, he coped
with his deteriorating health by drowning himself in alcohol and drugs, his
charming and carefree exterior masking his self-destructive behavior as he
endured two more brain bleeds and overwhelming sadness. After he miraculously
survived the tremendously risky surgery, Lemon’s free-spirited mother nursed
him back to health, once again teaching him to stand on his own. 

 

HAPPY is an
electric, hypnotic self portrait of a young man confronting mortality and the
limits of his own body; it is also the deeply moving story of a mother’s
redemptive and healing powers. Like Mary Karr, Mark Doty, and Nick Flynn, Lemon
is a much lauded poet who can successfully shift between writing poetry and
memoir; and his training as a poet lends his writing a rare precision and
vividness. He is a brave and exhilarating writer whose Technicolor sentences
make the world he describes pop and sing. In intimate, unflinching prose he
writes about survival -- of the body and of the human spirit. 

 

Alex Lemon was born
in Iowa. He
is the author of three collections of poetry, Mosquito and Hallelujah
Blackout; and the forthcoming Fancy
Beasts. His poems have been selected for the Best American Poetry series
and have appeared in numerous magazines, including AGNI, BOMB, Kenyon Review, New England
Review, Open City, Pleiades and Tin
House. His awards include a 2005 Literature Fellowship in Poetry from the
National Endowment for the Arts and a 2006 Minnesota Arts Board Grant. Lemon
lives in Ft. Worth, and teaches English at Texas Christian University. 

 

Check out the New
York Times’ Stray Questions for Alex.

 

 
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