Recent Stories with tag books

It's that time of the year, again, and isn't it fantastic? The Northwest Flower and Garden Show returns with a literary theme, featuring dozens of authors and speakers, including Ed Hume, Graham Kerr, and local favorite Ciscoe Morris. Spring may still be months away, and summer only a hopeful dream, but the Northwest Flower and Garden Show can ease the pain.

Within the Washington State Convention Center, attendees can pretend that their backyard is not overrun with blackberry brambles. Or, that they have a backyard. Ah, yes, I remember the days of planting cherry tomatoes in milk jugs, lovingly tended on a tiny, apartment patio. I'm not sure which is worse: the blackberries in my current yard, or the periodic shower of used kitty litter from the apartment upstairs, back in the day.

2/21/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/21/2011 6 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Tunisia, Egypt, & Beyond: Protests, Politics, Change
Forum Discussion
Tunisian author and artist Rajaa Gharbi; Professor Olufemi Taiwo, director of Global African Studies at Seattle University; and Marwa Maziad, Fellow, Middle East Center, University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies, address the events in north Africa and the Middle East.... (more)

I'm not a big fan of Hallmark Holidays, or holidays in general, really, but if you are, well, have fun. More joy to you.

This week's readings feature a terrible dilemma: on Friday, both Maxine Hong Kingston and Connie Willis are speaking, at different venues, at the same time! Terrible, awful news! Don't Seattle's booksellers speak to each other? This is criminal scheduling, absolutely unacceptable. I protest! Moreover, I strongly protest! Rise up against the negligence of event planners, I say, rise all you bibliophiliacs; revolt against your oppressors, and make your voices heard. Vive la Révolution!

Ahem.

2/14/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/14/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

2/14/2011 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Ned Vizzini
It's Kind of a Funny Story
EBBC's Young Adult Book Group has a new regular day and time; do take note, please.

2/14/2011 6:30 p.m. West Seattle Branch Library
Seattle Opera
Don Quixote
The Opera previews Massenet's "Don Quixote."

2/14/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Kevin Young
Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels
...Being an Epic Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner Amistad, by the Africans on Board; Their Voyage and Capture Near Long Island, New York; with Phrenological Studies of Several of the Surviving Africans

2/14/2011 7 p.m. Queen Anne Books
Patrick Radden Keefe
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
QAB's monthly book club. Repeats Wednesday, February 16.

2/14/2011 8 p.m. Century Ballroom
Nick Hornsby
High Fidelity
The Bushwick Book Club presents music inspired by this dreadful lad-lit novel. Decent movie, though.... (more)

If you don't yet know who Jane McGonigal is, you are missing out. Ms. McGonigal is a game designer and theorist who claims that gaming is necessary to the survival of the human race. Her new book, Reality is Broken, is an Epic Win. Watch her on TED and then go see her live on Thursday. Buy the book. Collaborate, cooperate, live the dream...

2/7/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/7/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

2/7/2011 6:30 p.m. Queen Anne Books
Sarah Blake
The Postmistress
Ms. Blake will read and sign. QAB has chosen this as their March Book Club selection.

2/7/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Sailesh Chutani, Jessica Rothenberg Aalami, & Akhtar Badshah
Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets
Geeks save the world! "A must-read for nonprofit leaders and technologists who want to leverage the power of IT to help solve global poverty. Authors Chutani, Aalami, and Badshah have given the sector one of the best handbooks filled with stories, advice, and best practices." - Beth Kanter

2/7/2011 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Works in Progress
Open Mic
A monthly open reading series. Sign up begins at 6:30 p.m.

2/8/2011 -3/6/2011 Queen Anne Books
Book-It Theatre
Great Expectations
QAB has partnered with Book-It to promote the current production. Season ticket holders receive 15% off any title that Book-It performs. From 2/8/2011-3/6/2011, the company will be performing Dicken's overworked novel of narcissistic social climbers. Ahem.... (more)

This week, Jamie Ford is back in Seattle on another book tour for his debut novel; meanwhile, Ron Reagan fils is still on tour with his memoir of Ron Reagan pere, My Father at 100: A Memoir.

Frankly, the Reagan memoir is not that interesting. I've been trying to come up with something to say about it for a couple of weeks now, and keep butting up against the fact that President Reagan was a boring guy who had a somewhat exciting life. The Reagan family history, which takes up a good third of the memoir, could be about anyone in America, including my own near-ancestors. I'd hoped My Father would be livelier than Edmund Morris's (well-written, but ultimately soporific) Dutch, but instead, My Father is simply shorter--a kind of virtue in itself, I suppose.

And onto the calendar...

1/31/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

1/31/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Deborah Rodriguez
A Cup of Friendship
Ms. Rodriguez's last book was the memoir, Kabul Beauty School, which was entertaining, but apparently not strictly truthful. Or something. This one is listed as fiction, straight up.

1/31/2011 7 p.m. Temple De Hirsch Sinai
Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Professor Sandel challenges us to examine the ethical foundations of public issues.... (more)

Edmund Morris, who was scheduled to visit the SPL back on December 10, 2010, will finally share the third volume of his definitive biography of Theodore Roosevelt on Wednesday, 1/26.  The first volume won a Pulitzer, don'tcha know. Unfortunately, Town Hall has Sherry Turkle booked at the same time, which causes a dismaying conflict between history and modernity.

Also highly recommended this week are Stephanie Coontz at Town Hall tonight, discussing The Feminine Mystique 50-ish years later; tomorrow's lecture about dark matter by Richard Panek; and Inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander on Thursday, 1/27, at Kane Hall.

1/24/2011 12:15 p.m. UW Bookstore
City Club
A Conversation with Dr. Phyllis Wise
A public interrogation of the UW (Interim?) President; go ask about budgets, research, tuition, and curriculum.

1/24/2011 7:30 p.m. Benaroya Hall
Seattle Arts and Lectures
Elizabeth Strout
SAL presents the Pulitzer-winning author of multiple novels.

1/24/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

1/24/2011 7 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stephanie Coontz
A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s
The social historian and Evergreen State professor "analyzes the impact of Betty Friedan's groundbreaking 1963 book on the generation of white, middle-class women electrified by Friedan's argument that beneath the surface contentment, most housewives harbored a deep well of insecurity, self-doubt, and unhappiness ... Coontz contends that Friedan's great achievement was uplifting so many women out of despair even if her book ignored the problems of working women, especially blacks, and tapped into concerns people were already mulling over ... This perceptive, engrossing book provides welcome context and background to a still controversial bestseller that changed how women view themselves."- Publishers Weekly

1/24/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Susan Noyes Platt
Art and Politics Now: Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis
The local art historian and critic considers art that engages issues such as war, terrorism, and racism.... (more)

Embracing the latest release from Northwest author and Seattle Police Commander Neil Low, book lovers pushed Unreasonable Persuasion, Low's third novel, onto area top of 2010 lists. Released in September, Unreasonable Persuasion (Tigress Publishing) ended 2010 as the #3 mystery trade paperback sold in Seattle according to the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

From shady hotels to catacombs under Chinatown and real-life local murder mysteries, Low expertly weaves elements of Seattle’s colorful past into the exploits of 1940s Seattle private investigator Alan Stewart.

Since his debut novel Thick as Thieves (Tigress Publishing, 2008), Low has been receiving solid praise and attention. Noted true crime author Ann Rule strongly endorsed Low’s debut, “No one can write about cops and robbers like a real police officer. When they are good they are very, very good, and Captain Neil Low is very good as he magically captures another era in his new book.”

Thick as Thieves, the first installment in the Alan Stewart Mystery Series, ended 2008 as the Independent Mystery Bookseller Association’s #3 trade paperback sold in Seattle. Low’s follow-up novel Sign of the Dragon (Tigress Publishing, 2009) ended 2009 at the #2 position.... (more)

This week's calendar features a number of revisits from local artists, poets, and authors, so if you missed Kangas, Baskas, or Perillo last year, you have another chance this week.

For something completely different, the Seattle Public Library now offers free music downloads, via Freegal. Get it? Free and legal music downloads. Patrons can download up to three songs per week from the website; just click through to the Digital Books & Media page, scroll down past the Overdrive link, and there you go.

Also, please join The SunBreak in congratulating Susan Hildreth, head librarian of the Seattle Public Library. On December 22, 2010, the United States Senate confirmed Ms. Hildreth's appointment as Director of Museum and Library Services by President Barack Obama. She will begin her term at the end of this month. Then will begin the search for a new City Librarian... woe.

01/17/11 6 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Claire Dederer
Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses
The reading will begin at 7 p.m., after a reception with the author. "Dederer's humor is tangy and precision-aimed ... A book reviewer and social critic with bylines in The New York Times, Slate, and Vogue, Dederer acidly deconstructs hip, politically correct Seattle ... Dederer writes superbly and offers sharp insights into family dynamics as well as hatha yoga's impact on American life." – Donna Seaman, Booklist

01/17/11 6 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Thought Leaders Discussion
Cascadia: A Vision for a Restorative Future
Island Press presents a panel discussion of sustainability and change.

01/17/11 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

01/18/11 4 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Perry Moore
Hero
After School & Beyond, the EBBC Young Adult Bookgroup, will discuss this surprising and delightful story of a young, gay superhero. Highly recommended for all ages, by the way.

01/18/11 6 p.m. UW Bookstore
Michael Honey
All Labor Has Dignity
Honey has collected a group of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches that focus on economic justice.

01/18/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Cory Doctorow
Little Brother
Speculations, the EBBC SFF Bookgroup, takes on Cory's YA novel of child labor, technology, privacy, and government. Awkward when it's not overly facile, the story nonetheless resonates with anyone who's ever played Farmville or feared the Department of Homeland Security. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

01/18/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Kurt Timmermeister
Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land
The founder of Cafe Septieme wrote a book: "Timmermeister begins his enterprise with little farming know-how. As he cultivates his agrarian education (often through trial and error), he reflects on self-sufficiency, sustainability, and the industrialization of food production. While narrating over two decades of the farm's history, he describes such tasks as installing bees in a new hive, making apple cider, buying livestock, and slaughtering a pig ... Part memoir, part manual, this refreshingly candid account doesn't oversell its author or a political message." – Lisa Campbell, Library Journal

01/18/11 7 p.m. The UW Club
Naomi Sokoloff & Susan Glenn
Boundaries of Jewish Identity
This discussion of the short fiction of Sayed Kashua, an Arab citizen of Israel, will include a dessert reception.

01/18/11 7:30 p.m. Open Books Poem Emporium
Belle Randall
The Coast Starlight
The local poet shares her first collection in quite a while. Go welcome her back.

01/18/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Parag Khanna
How to Run the World
Khanna asks whether we are entering a new Enlightenment, courtesy of Bill Gates and Bono.... (more)

The literary calendar is packed this week, but snow is once again predicted for the region. Should we actually get a weather event, please call ahead to confirm that the reading event has not been canceled.

01/10/11 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

01/10/11 6:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Northwest Independent Editors Guild
Show and Tell
Guild members will also be swapping office supplies. Allegedly.

01/10/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Elsie Hulsizer
Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska
Rescheduled from November, when our little snowstorm caused the cancellation of all life in Seattle, one hopes the weather holds long enough for the local writer to finally say her piece. Or perhaps not, since the previously threatened PowerPoint presentation is still on the evening's agenda.

01/10/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Allison Stanger
One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy
This book should be required reading for the "government is too big!" crowd. Them are fightin' words, a meaningless catchphrase tossed out by the misguided, the uninformed, or those who would deliberately mislead the public for questionable purposes.

01/11/11 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Thom Ditty
Storytime
Apparently, the monorail has been wrapped into a Harry Potter billboard for the month of January, in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center exhibit. Mr. Ditty works for the Seattle Monorail. Somehow this is all supposed to make sense.

01/11/11 6 p.m. High Point Branch Library
Poetry Workshop
Get feedback on your writing from a panel of poets. (Meep!)

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Helena Norberg-Hodge
The Economics of Happiness
The author of Ancient Lessons: Learning from Ladakh will screen her documentary film about the global movement for economic localization. The showing will be followed by conversation with David Korten, John de Graaf, and Fran Korten.

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do
The Global Issues & Ethics Book Group meeting examines Wall Street, immigration, affirmative action, marriage, and religion with one of the more interesting books of political philosophy to be published in the past few years. Professor Sandel will not be on hand, unfortunately, but your neighbors will. Join them to discuss liberty and the common good.... (more)

After far too long, Michael Pollan--author of six books, numerous articles and essays, and semi-official voice of the sustainable food movement--returns to the Pacific Northwest. On January 15th, Benaroya Hall will host Mr. Pollan's talk on "In Defense of Food: The Omnivore's Solution," a cute title for a serious topic that he has been flogging since 2002.

I've been a fan of Pollan's writing since A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder was released, back in 1997. (The title was reprinted in 2008 as A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams.)

Pollan's gentle and funny memoir tells the story of his family's relocation to a place in "the country" and his efforts to build himself a modest (ahem) writing studio out back. Written in the intimate, thoughtful narrative voice that has since become his trademark, Pollan has gone on to write four more books that have increasingly focused on agriculture and sustainability.

The startling success of 2006's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals turned Pollan into a household name beyond the food-obsessed coasts, due in part to both the text's accessibility and the publisher's excellent timing. Released just a year after the inauguration of World Environment Day in 2005, and the series of sustainability conferences that accompanied it, The Omnivore's Dilemma helped to propel the concept of "locavore" out of food-geek ghettos and into the mainstream--in 2007, the Oxford English Dictionary added locavore to its lexicon. (Even my rural Mississippi parents know what the word means, now.)

Disturbing in both concept and detail, The Omnivore's Dilemma explicated the complicated and deeply irrational food system which both sustains and sickens Americans. Pollan has stayed with the topic, publishing In Defense of Food in 2008 and Food Rules: An Eater's Manual in 2009. With each new book, Mr. Pollan has built his case for eating simply and thoughtfully, a campaign which dovetails neatly into closely allied movements such as Slow Food, organic standards, GMO regulation, and food justice.... (more)

I may have taken Monday off due to poor planning. Or it may have been part of a sinister plot. I'm reaching, here, people. Not that anything happened. The rest of the week looks interesting, though.

Greg Bear is not pimping Hull Zero Three, tonight, instead signing a Halo tie-in novel at UW Bookstore. The rest of the week is heavy on poetry, both local and imported, with Ben Lerner in town from Brooklyn, and several group readings from home-grown writers.

There's also a sprinkling of sports, science, music, and dance to keep Seattleites intellectually well-rounded, if physically still rather pale and wan. Not as pale and wan as deceased honorees Gerry Garcia and Gypsy Rose Lee, but on the vampirish side, nonetheless.

01/04/11 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Greg Bear
Halo: Cryptum, Book One of the Forerunner Saga
The local SF legend has penned a game tie-in novel. I'm ambivalent about this. On the one hand, everybody needs to eat, right? And if anyone can write a good tie-in novel, it is Mr. Bear. But still, it makes me feel ooky. (Although, not as ooky as calling a grown man, "Mr. Bear.")

01/04/11 8 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Castalia Reading Series
Group Reading
UW folks read their work.

01/05/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Megan Snyder-Camp, Laura Shoemaker, & Sarah Steinke
Poetry Reading
EBBC hosts three local poets whose last names all start with an S. One of those odd little things that strike me as funny, what can I say?

01/05/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Doug Merlino
The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White
Back in the '80s, Seattle was trying really hard to be integrated and post-racial, with varying degrees of success. One effort was an integrated student basketball team. Merlino looked up the members, twenty years later, to gauge the results. This is a "sports" book that I will definitely be reading.

01/05/11 7:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Scribes
Group Reading
Alums from Hugo House's Scribes program read.... (more)

The publishing industry, and the attendant publicity machine, drops off the face of the planet the last week or two of every year. Everybody deserves a vacation, and those people work like dogs, so I don't begrudge them the annual vanishing act. As a result, though, the literary calendar is feather-light.

This week we've got two readings featuring local authors: Jayne Ann Krentz continues her Arcane Society novels with book number ten, and The Best Music Writing series offers the 2010 edition. Both are yummy holiday reading, suitable for making the bathtub a slightly less depressing place to hide while your relatives duke it out elsewhere.

12/28/10 12 p.m. Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Jayne Ann Krentz
In Too Deep
The first novel in a new Arcane Society set, The Looking Glass Trilogy. The book is quite good. The cover is, unfortunately, quite dreadful. I have chosen to protect you, our loyal readers, from the trauma. Don't say I never did anything for you.

12/28/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Ann Powers, Sean Nelson, Chris Estey
Best Music Writing 2010
"Best of" collections can be challenging. Occasionally, I think the editors of such volumes are brachycephalic cretins who should seek other work. Not so with the Best Music Writing series—the books have consistently featured smart, modern pieces that somehow manage to hang onto relevance (and humor) long after the original publication date.

Elliott Bay Books & Cafe was visited by a flash mob, by the way. Local choreographer Bobby Bonsey managed to get a few hundred Janet Jackson fans together on Sunday to hit Pioneer Square, University Village, and Capitol Hill. Apparently, Ms. Jackson is going on tour in 2011, but she seems to be leaving it up to fans to choose the cities she'll visit. The day's mobs were intended to encourage her to make Seattle one of her tour dates.

The video stutters, but you get the idea:... (more)

Self-publishing may be the wave of the future, but it has hazards. Just ask Phillip R. Greaves, author of The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct. Greaves was arrested in Colorado on charges issued by the Polk County, Florida sheriff's department and now faces extradition. The charges include distributing "obscene material depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct," according to CNN.

Seattle powerhouse Amazon.com briefly sold the book, despite complaints and threats of boycott from consumers. Amazon initially defended sales, telling TechCrunch , "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.  Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions," before realizing that they were being incredibly, indefensibly stupid, in addition to violating various and sundry laws. Amazon removed the title in early November.

No less disturbing to the youth of America, but not in any way illegal, Archie Comics will publish two very special issues guest-starring Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Issue #616, featuring the duo sharing a milkshake (an image that will scar me for life) comes out on Wednesday, December 22, just in time for Christmas. Issue #617 will be released on January 26, 2011. Dan Parent is the illustrator responsible for the brain-bending mash-up.

On a far less disturbing note, Brian Selznick, author of 2007's amazingly wonderful The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has written a new book. Wonderstruck tells the story of two children, Ben and Rose, respectively living in 1977 and 1927. The novel is half pictures--Rose's story--and half text--Ben's story. The book is currently scheduled for publication in September 2011.... (more)

Because nothing else is happening. Not a single reading, signing, or lecture is scheduled, so you might as well read something. Might I suggest The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Or better yet, crack open A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain to get a head start for January, specifically the Bushwick Book Club's next event.

Last night, SunBreak editor-at-large Josh Bis and I (separately) attended Seattle's Bushwick Book Club at the Can-Can. Ten or so local musicians performed music inspired by C.S. Lewis's classic children's book and it did not kill me. I was pleasantly surprised, actually, despite missing the first half-hour (Not my fault! My invite had the time listed as 9 p.m.).

The music was good, if somewhat predictable: Edmund and the Turkish Delight are central to the story, and dominated the performances. (Josh was deeply disappointed that "no real Turkish Delight [was available] on the premises," but I suffer from Applet & Cotlet-induced PTSD, and thus was happy to be spared that particular horror.)

The next Book Club will be held on January 16th at 8 p.m. The performers will have to come up with music for Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It should be a good time.

Over in the other Washington, Greg Clugston of Salem Radio Network News produced the annual White House Basement Christmas poem, proving that while the New York Times and NBC/ABC/CBS might get better space (upstairs), the White House press corps basement dwellers probably have more fun. Read it and weep:... (more)

The annual midwinter meat-feast is imminent, so cookbooks dominate the (rather slim) literary events this week. Local chefs Greg Atkinson and Ethan Stowell, and urban homesteader Amy Pennington, are appearing at local venues. Also on the calendar are the one and only Nancy Pearl, and Greg Bear, author of one of my favorite creepy-SF stories, Blood Music.

12/13/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

12/13/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
David Rohde & Kristen Mulvihill
A Rope and A Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides
"In suspenseful prose, he recounts his abduction and she describes her efforts, along with those of the Times, to secure his release ... Possibly the most informative segments of the book are the masterly observations of life with the jihadists, the chaotic Pakistani tribal areas and the topsy-turvy war itself. This potent story of love and conflict ends well, but not without making some smart and edgy commentary on terrorism, hostage negotiation, political agendas, and the human heart." – Publishers Weekly

12/14/10 11:30 a.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
ReAct Theatre
Holiday Storytime
Actors will present classic holiday stories near the castle.

12/14/10 6 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Greg Atkinson
Northwest Essentials: Cooking with Ingredients That Define a Region's Cuisine
The NW chef presents a revised and enhanced edition of his very important guide.

12/14/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Greg Bear
Hull Zero Three
SF master Greg Bear is in town to promote his widely anticipated new novel. Whee!

12/14/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Bill Shore
The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men
Why and how do some people persist despite "skepticism, doubt, and logistical and financial obstacles." Why, indeed? Promises to be an interesting talk.... (more)

And hot like a brawt: Leavenworth, WA, local ye olde favorite Christmas tourist trap is trying to bring in the young, YouTube-ing crowd with a hip-hop musical parody:

Featuring the town's nutcracker mascot, Woody Goomsba, and local hootchie dancers in dirndles, the video is very, very strange, but has indubitably "reached out to a new audience," which is the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce's expressed intent. The video was released on Saturday, December 4, with no fanfare, but received 37,000 views on YouTube in the first 24 hours.

By contrast, Tumblr went down for 24 hours and there was much ado, indeed. According to Tumblr, the company had an unplanned issue during planned maintenance and a database cluster went down. Soon after, the world exploded. Fortunately, the start-up restarted, and the universe was able to reform and go on as if nothing of consequence had happened. Whew!

The e-book wars continue, with Amazon now offering Kindle for the Web. The app lets readers use a web browser to read books! Amazing. The announcement came the day after Google announced the launch of Google eBookstore, which is also (obviously) platform-independent. Russ Grandinetti, Kindle Content VP, said that, “Kindle for the Web makes it possible for bookstores, authors, retailers, bloggers or other website owners to offer Kindle books on their websites and earn affiliate fees for doing so.” The news was announced at Google's Chrome event, since Amazon's Kindle for the Web will work on Chrome OS devices. Now that is keeping your enemies close.... (more)

This week's readings and signings are all about the gifts. History buffs will want to check out readings by Edmund Morris [CANCELED!] and James Bradley, both of whom have serious Teddy Roosevelt biographies out, or Charles Wilkinson, who opens a window on the Siletz people. Science geeks will be interested in seeing Stan Fields at Town Hall tonight, while Science Fiction geeks should head to Pilot Books for Ted Chiang and Erik Owomoyela.

If the current state of American politics raises your blood pressure and makes you froth at the mouth, or you have a Red-state relative that you really want to piss off, get a book signed by Joshua Holland, Wendell Potter, or Doug Massey, and send it off with your very best wishes. For relatives you don't loathe and despise, there is Sam Verhovek's history of the jet airplane or John Richardson's A Life of Picasso, both of which have local relevance while being non-confrontational.

Trying to lure someone you actually like to Seattle? David Volk gives the scoop on how to live in Seattle on the cheap, while The SunBreak contributor Jay Friedman shares how to eat well. Art, poetry, and music round out this week's list.

12/06/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

12/06/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
David Volk
Cheap Bastard's Guide to Seattle
It really all depends on your definition of "cheap." Or, perhaps, "bastard."

12/06/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Matthew Kangas
Burning Forest: The Art of Maria Frank Abrams
Seattle art critic and curator Kangas will discuss the work of local artist and Holocaust survivor Marina Frank Abrams.

12/06/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stan Fields
Genetic Twists of Fate
The UW professor explains that it really is all your parents' fault.

12/07/10 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Jeannie Ianelli
The Polar Express
Celebrity story-time, or so B&N claims. Who the hell is Jeannie Ianelli?

12/07/10 11:30 a.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
ReAct Theatre
Holiday Storytime
Actors will present classic holiday stories near the castle.

12/07/10 7 p.m. Bellevue Regional Library
Candace Dempsey
Murder in Italy
Not technically within my coverage zone, but our editor has a big thing for the Amanda Knox story, so I'm currying favor by including the reading.

12/07/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Christian Lander
Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle's Sweaters to Maine's Microbrews
Play a round of White Bingo during your next car trip. Fun for the whole family. (Hint: The answer is "mayonnaise.")

12/07/10 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Joshua Holland
The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy: And Everything Else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America
The editor and senior writer at AlterNet will discuss his book.

12/07/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Truman Capote
A Christmas Memory
UW Book Buyer Brad Craft will read the holiday story.

12/07/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Sam Verhovek
Jet Age
"Seattle journalist Sam Howe Verhovek, author of Jet Age, moderates a discussion with those who designed, built, sold, and flew the iconic jet airliner: Joe Sutter, legendary Boeing 707 engineer and "Father of the 747"; test pilot Brien Wygle; engineer Peter Morton; and PanAm stewardess Paula Clark. The event also features rare photographs and promotional film footage of the 707." - UW

12/07/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Feminist SF
Book Club ...

Tuesday marked the last day of Nanowrimo, also known as November to those who didn't spend the last 30 days writing. Seattle's Hydrophobic Ducks did their hometown proud, coming in first in Total Word Count for the sixth year in a row with 57,839,962 words. I'm sorry (not really) to say that in our average word count battle with the Atlanta Pandas we crushed them: Seattle came in at 3,254 more words per WriMo than A-town. Who's hot now, Hotlanta? Ssssss...

The Emerald City also brought in the most donations, once again, despite unemployment and recession. Seattle gave $10,004 to the Office of Letters and Light, our contribution to keeping Nanowrimo and the Young Writers Program going for another year. Donations are always being accepted, so consider giving in the name of the writers in your life this holiday season, or donate to Richard Hugo House. Hugo House runs year-round programs for writers, hosts readings, and provides space and facilities for youth and adults to write, connect, and learn. (/PSA)

Speaking of holidays, gifts, and being flat broke, cult crafter Twinkie Chan is in town this weekend to promote her deliciously whacked-out book Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies, available in bookstores November 2. I love this book like cooked foods, mostly because after 16 years (16!) of trying to teach my partner to crochet with zero success, Twinkie Chan managed to get her hooking within minutes, which means that I will not spend December hearing my dearly beloved shout, "Hey, can you make me a starting chain..." every time she begins another knitting project that requires basic crochet skills. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Twinkie Chan will be at Third Place Books in Ravenna at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3. December 4 at 12:00 p.m. and December 5 at 2:00 p.m., she can be found at the Urban Craft Uprising 2010 Winter Show at Seattle Center. The Fiber Gallery in Greenwood will be hosting Twinkie Chan from 4:00-6:00 p.m on Sunday, December 5. Go, pet yarn, and learn how to make a cupcake hat, because who doesn't need a cupcake hat?

In other news, Portland-based puppeteer and writer Mary Robinette Kowal has been nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2010. Shades of Milk and Honey is Ms. Kowal's first novel. She's up against Kage Baker, who sadly passed away from uterine cancer in January 2010, and Canadian SFF heavyweight Guy Gavriel Kay, among others. I think this truly is a case in which it's an honor just to be nominated.... (more)

Tomorrow is the last day of National Novel Writing Month. Seattle's team, the Hydrophobic Ducks, is still in first place with a total word count of 49,289,518. Los Angeles, Germany, London, and New York City fill out the rest of the top five. I'll have the full wrap on Wednesday, after my hands quit cramping.

In the meantime, and if you're not participating, maybe you could read a book or something.

11/29/10 3 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Carolyn Douglas
Storytime
Rescheduled due to snow. Children's stories with anchor Douglas.

11/29/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/29/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Jack Shoemaker
presenting the work of Gary Snyder
Counterpoint Press editor Shoemaker presents reissues of Snyder's work, with a screening of a documentary about the poet.

11/29/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Antonio Damasio
Self Comes to Mind: Constructing The Conscious Brain
"...my head I'd be scratchin', while my thoughts were busy hatchin', if I only had a brain."

11/30/10 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Interagency Academy with Jordan Babineaux
Poetry Reading
The Seahawks player reads poetry with students from IA. Fabu.

11/30/10 6:30 p.m. UW Campus, Kane Hall, Room 120
Wes Jackson
Consulting the Genius of the Place
Jackson will be discussing "The Need of a 50-Year Farm Bill and What it Might Look Like".

11/30/10 7 p.m. Secret Garden Books
Molly Coxe
Benjamin and Bumper to the Rescue
Ultimate Tuesday reading with the author.

11/30/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Nancy Medwell
Eternal Moments
The Seattle-based artist presents her new book of photos.

11/30/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Fen Montaigne
Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antarctica
Our friends in feathered formal-wear are in grave danger! Send help.... (more)

Billy Collins needs a new publicity photo.

As everyone who has lived in Seattle for more than one winter knows, when it snows, this city shuts down. Have you looked outside? That's not flour. Not that there is much reason to leave the house, at least on the literary front.

Billy Collins is at Town Hall tonight, which will be fun for those who got tickets before they sold out. Collins is an enthusiastic and entertaining speaker, so his appearances are always a pleasure. Tomorrow, Jared Duval will visit Town Hall to discuss open-sourcing in the context of activism, and if you're in U-Village on Saturday, doing that post-ritual sacrifice shopping thing, stop by the Barnes & Noble to unload your kids onto David, the B&N Assistant Manager who has been scapegoated to keep the wee bairns occupied for an hour or so.

11/22/10 4 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Carolyn Douglas
Storytime
An anchor-person will "share her favorite stories with you." Hm.

11/22/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/22/10 7 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Billy Collins
Seattle Arts & Lectures
Collins served as Poet Laureate from 2001-2003, has published nine collections of poetry, and is a funny, funny guy. This might be a reason to leave the house, tonight. Alas, tickets sold out a month ago.

11/22/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Elsie Hulsizer
Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska
The local author and her husband hit the American fjords. There may be a PowerPoint presentation. You've been warned.

11/22/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stephen L. Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde
Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about our Everyday Deceptions
The founders of the field of "neuromagic" want to hack your brain.

11/22/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Jacqueline Suskin
The Collected
Poetry reading and signing.... (more)

You should be going to BlogsGiving, tonight. In other news, after last week's multiple cancellations, I feel compelled to remind readers to please call to confirm an event, before you pay for parking. 'Tis the season for canceled and delayed flights, snow storms and black ice.

11/15/10 2 p.m. Secret Garden Books
Seattle Children's Theatre
Lyle the Crocodile
The Secret Garden Bookshop teams up with Seattle Children's Theatre to bring books to life.

11/15/10 6 p.m. Columbia City Theatre
BlogsGiving
A Benefit for Northwest Harvest
If I weren't dying of the influenza, I would be here.

11/15/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/15/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Justin Spring & Wendy Moffatt
A Great Unrecorded History: A New Life of E.M. Forster / Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade
Two great books about notable and noteworthy queers; one famous, the other infamous.

11/15/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Kim O'Donnel
The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour
Vegetarian cooking for carnivores. Don't ask me, I just work here.

11/15/10 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Rose Alley Press
Group Reading
Elizabeth Austen, Lana Hechtman Ayers, Oliver de la Paz, Nashira Priester, Belle Randall, Amy Schrader, Michael Dylan Welch, and others.

11/15/10 7 p.m. UW Johnson Hall, Room 102
Steven Simon
The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War
"Exploring the three aspects of Israel-Iran-U.S. crisis, The Sixth Crisis provides the first full account of the situation since President Barack Obama took office, presenting a comprehensive look at the complex diplomacy underway to temper Iran's nuclear program and its implications on international security." - UW

11/15/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Christopher Wills
Darwinian Tourist:Viewing The World Through Evolutionary Eyes
"From the underwater life of Indonesia's Lambeh Strait to an earthquake off the island of Yap, Wills demonstrates how ecology and evolution have interacted to create our world." - Town Hall

11/15/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Caitlyn McGehee, Emily Wittenhagen, & Zac Fulton
Group Reading ...

This weeks literary events include visits from Kat Von D of High Voltage Tattoo; the revered Armistead Maupin with his newest Tale of the City; and many people talking about food. What to eat, what not to eat, why one should or should not be vegan... screw 'em all and go have a burger. Moo!

11/08/10 6 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Kat Von D
Tattoo Chronicles
Best known to sofa surfers for the Miami Ink & L.A. Ink reality shows, Kat Von D is one of the finest portrait tattooists currently working. She's also funny as hell, has terrible taste in men, and is totally hot. Ahem.

11/08/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/08/10 6:30 p.m. Secret Garden Books
Laurie Halse Anderson
Forge
The sequel to Chains.

11/08/10 7 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Andrew Lam
East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres
Mmmmm. Pho. I could totally go for some Pho, right now. Or fish ball noodle soup. That would be good. I really like the vegetarian Pho at Long Provincial, though. Pill Hill for fish balls or downtown for tofu and squid-on-a-stick? It's all so difficult.

11/08/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Mark Kurlansky
Edible Stories: A Novel in Sixteen Parts
You know you want to go: "A delicious and delectable novel by an award-winning food writer that leaves you wanting more." - Kirkus Reviews

11/08/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
William Dietrich
The Final Forest: The Battle for the Last Great Trees of the Pacific Northwest
Dietrich offers the shocking theory that national natural resource policy is messed up. No, really?... (more)

Coffee table books, especially ones on photography, are one of my favorite things. So when I heard that Seattle photographer and social artist, Chase Jarvis was due to publish his latest labor of love SEATTLE 100: Portrait of a City, (published by Peachpit, a division of Pearson) it prompted me to get in touch and arrange some time to talk about his passion for democratizing creativity. The book is available now through Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble.

The two-hundred-plus page body of work is "a curated collection of leading artists, musicians, writers, scientists, restaurateurs, DJs, developers, activists, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, and more, all of whom are defining and driving culture in Seattle." As Jarvis points out, the list is not the definitive list, but a list and one that he hopes will be expanded through future contributions on the related website.

If you have a similar interest, you’ll agree that it’s a rarity to find a book by a photographer of Jarvis's caliber for such a reasonable price. Then when you learn that Jarvis specifically negotiated the price and committed to donate his proceeds to www.4CULTURE.org , a local non-profit which provides public support of cultural programs, you just feel good about the purchase.

Jarvis's philosophy is broadly appealing. Local businesses Theo Chocolate and Small Lot wine distributors jumped on board with contributions to the project in the form of a special edition chocolate bar and custom blend red and white wines. Darin Williams of Small Lot commented, "It was an easy decision. We signed up for the project because of where the proceeds were going. Generally, people pay attention to where they spend their money to support local businesses that's why I love this community."... (more)

This week's big events include visits from Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post; Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos; and Ken Follett, big time writer-guy. Not to forget Ms. Nancy Pearl, America's most famous librarian, of course.

09/27/10 6 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Sebastian Mallaby
More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite
Mallaby will explain why we shouldn't light our torches and sharpen our pitchforks, but instead join the hedge fun.

09/27/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Daniel Kehlmann
Fame: A Novel in Nine Episodes
"Who would have thought contemporary Central European literature could be so fun and so funny? Daniel Kehlmann is who. The young Austrian prodigy, famous everywhere but in the United States, has given us a real beauty of a book, farcical, satiric, melancholic, and humane. Modern fame may have been invented in America, but nobody has dramatized its paradoxes and heartbreaks more entertainingly than the European Kehlmann does here." --Jonathan Franzen

09/27/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Ken Scholes
Antiphon:The Psalms of Isaak
Book three in a five book series that combines epic fantasy and post-apocalyptic SF. From niche-errific TOR books, of course, who else?

09/27/10 7 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Sara Gruen
Ape House
The author of Water for Elephants promotes her new book about bonobos and reality television. Frankly, I'm surprised this story is fiction.

09/27/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Deborah Fallows
Dreaming in Chinese
The single greatest disappointment in my life is my complete and utter failure to master a single foreign language. Do you think if I ate her brain, I could speak Mandarin Chinese?... (more)

Another terrific week for readings and signings, but there are three events that I would give four stars or five fuzzy kittens or three bookworms up, if I did that sort of thing: Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated, is in town to promote Eating Animals; writer Charles Yu is touring How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, his brilliant, genre-bending novel; and the Seattle Public Library's annual fall sale, also known as the day I need to be tranquilized in order to avoid bankruptcy, is this weekend.

09/20/10 5 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Tamam Kahn
Untold: A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad
"In a sustained act of spirited research and imagination, Tamam Kahn brings Muhammad's wives and daughters out of the shadows and into the light. The women of Untold have at last found their perfect teller, in voices so gemlike and clear that one wants to chant them aloud." -Lesley Hazleton, author of After the Prophet

09/20/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Ken Armstrong
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity
I am not qualified to comment on books about football.

09/20/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Mae Ngai
The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America
The historian and author of Impossible Subjects presents her new book on the Chinese-American immigrant experience.

09/20/10 7 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Susan Casey
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean
The editor-in-chief of O magazine (yes, that's right, O as in Oprah) writes about surfing. The mind, it boggles. Her last book, The Devil's Teeth, was about great white sharks. There's a joke in that--I leave it to the reader to fill in.... (more)

Jonathan Franzen in a really awful picture.

School has started and so has book tour season. There is a metric ton of readings and signings this week, so if you can't find something to tickle your fancy, you aren't trying hard enough.

09/13/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Beverly Olevin
The Good Side of Bad
A novel about family, crisis, and the economic meltdown, set in New York and Seattle.

09/13/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Deborah Willis
Vanishing and Other Stories
The author presents her collection of 14 short stories.

09/13/10 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Works in Progress
  Monthly open mic.

09/13/10 7:30 p.m. Open Books Poem Emporium
Norman Fischer & Emily Warn
Fischer reads from Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons and Warn reads from Shadow Architect.

09/13/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Ussama Makdisi
Faith Misplaced
The author will speak on "The Devolution of American-Arab Relations," which will mean discussing the Israel question, which inevitably will lead to shouting and vituperation, although probably not from the podium.

09/14/10 11 a.m. Borders
Maria Ross
Branding Basics for Small Business
What she said.

09/14/10 6 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Jennifer Jordan
The Last Man on the Mountain: The Death of an American Adventurer on K2
I adore stories about crazy-assed mofo's doing deeply insane shit, and this fits the bill. Also, Jordan can write.

09/14/10 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Howard Zinn
A People's History of the United States
Professor Zinn has unfortunately left us, to muddle along on our own, but he fortunately left a legacy of books and essays that should be required reading for every American. Elliott Bay's Global Issues & Ethics Book Group will be discussing A People's History, Tuesday. You should go.

09/14/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Kings
Book One of The Stormlight Archive. TOR promises nine more volumes in this fantasy series.

09/14/10 7:30 p.m. Benaroya Hall
Jonathan Franzen
On Autobiography & Fiction-Writing: An Evening with Jonathan Franzen
I will be out of the country when Franzen steps on stage. That's my excuse for not being there. What's yours?

09/14/10 8 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Eric Puchner
Model Home
Another story of families in crisis, this one the first novel by the author of Music Through the Floor, a collection of stories.... (more)