Let Them Eat Cake for the Week of August 23rd

The big news this week is the release of the third Hunger Games novel, Mockingjay. The dystopian young-adult trilogy is among the best of the past two years’ YA releases. Reminiscent of early Stephen King, Suzanne Collins’ novels are gory thrill-rides set in an indeterminate future where political and economic power is wielded through gladiatorial reality-television contests. These stories are classic hero(ine)’s journey plots with contemporary set-pieces. If you want to know “what the kids are up to, these days,” the Hunger Games books are it.

08/23/10 6:30 p.m. University Bookstore, U-District
Christine Hartzler, Dave Rowley, & Matthew Simmons
Best of the Web 2010
Maybe.

08/23/10 11 p.m. University Bookstore, U-District
Release Party
Mockingjay
Go celebrate the release of Suzanne Collins’ new book with a battle to the death.

08/23/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Daniel Burton Rose
Guerilla USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground of the 1970′s
Seattleites have been raising hell and speaking truth to power for over a hundred years. Burton-Rose documents the George Jackson Brigade’s campaign against “corporate and state institutions” in the 1970s.

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08/24/10 7 p.m. University Bookstore, U-District
Terry Brooks
Bearers of the Black Staff
The ever-reliable local fantasy author touts the first book in a new Shannara series. One has to admire the man’s consistency.

08/24/10 10 a.m. Secret Garden Books
Mockingjay Release Party
SGB is celebrating the release of the third Hunger Games book with an all day party. Prizes with purchase, a raffle, and munchies promised.

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08/24/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Aldona Jonaitis
The Totem Pole: An Intercultural History
Professor, author, and director emerita of the Alaska Museum of the North, Jonaitis promotes her gorgeous and informative new book.

08/25/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Julia Holmes
Meeks
The most dystopic debut of the summer.

08/26/10 7 p.m. University Bookstore, U-District
Brent Weeks
The Black Prism
Usually, when a novel features a secret baby, it’s a category romance, circa 1970. This is not one of those, although dude, check out the cover image! That is a bodice-ripper hero if I’ve ever seen one. If there is not a horse and a scantily-clad damsel in distress in this fantasy novel, I will actually read the thing. We’ll make it a contest: convince me, and I will read and review the book on The Sunbreak. In the meantime, I will continue to judge it out of hand.

08/26/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Georgia Pellegrini
Food Heroes: Sixteen Culinary Artisans Preserving Tradition
This weekend, August 27-29th, Seattle hosts the International Food Bloggers’ Conference. Ms. Pellegrini is one of them (www.georgiapellegrini.com). My best friend is also a food blogger, and I blog about books, so I am setting my rocks down and going back into my plate-glass house. Ta.

08/27/10 5 p.m. Hotel Monaco (through 8/29)
The International Food Bloggers’ Conference
A bunch of food bloggers, writers, and hungry hanger’s-on get together to eat, talk, listen, and, I don’t know, pray or something. The event is sold out, so who cares what they are going to be doing? I’d rather squat in my basement, eating three bags of wasabi shrimp chips and watching season 2 of Reaper, anyway. (Bitter party, table for one…) Really.

08/27/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Alex Cohen & Jennifer Barbee
Down and Derby: The Insider’s Guide to Roller Derby
Members of Seattle’s own Rat City Rollergirls are expected to join L.A. Derby Dolls Alex “Axles of Fun” Cohen and Jennifer “Kasey Bomber” Barbee for this appearance.

08/28/10 1 p.m. Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Brian Thornton
The Book of Bastards: 101 Worst Scoundrels and Scandals From the World of Politics and Power
How did he narrow it down to just 101?

08/28/10 2 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
John A. Harrison
A Woman Alone: Mona Bell, Sam Hill and the Mansion on Bonneville Rock
Could Elliott Bay be more self-deprecating about this event? Do they not want people to come? Really, it’s embarrassing: “More programs on Capitol Hill (most a little more germane to Capitol Hill) to come. This meanwhile, sheds new light on an intriguing Northwest story.” Do better, kids.

08/28/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Roberta Gregory & Bruce B. Taylor
Follow Your Art: Roberta’s Comic Trips / Mountains of the Night
The local literary fixtures discuss journeys, physical and spiritual, in what promises to be a thoughtful evening.