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Just because you're not back in school
doesn't mean you don't need to learn. We've
got some eye-opening events this month. Stop
in and learn something.
 Thursday, September 13, 7:30pmDavid Cole, author of Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on TerrorCole's thesis is both simple and shocking: At home and abroad, the administration has cut corners on fundamental commitments of the rule of law in the name of preventing future attacks--from "waterboarding" detainees, to disappearing suspects into secret CIA prisons, to attacking Iraq against the wishes of the UN Security Council and most of the world when it posed no imminent threat of attacking us.In this brilliantly conceived critique, two
of the country's preeminent constitutional
scholars argue that the great irony is that
these sacrifices in the rule of law, adopted
in the name of prevention, have in fact made
us more susceptible to future terrorist
attacks. They conclusively debunk the
administration's claim that it is winning the
war on terror and offer an alternative
strategy in which the rule of law is an
asset, not an obstacle, in the struggle to
keep us both safe and free.
 Monday, September 24, 7:30pmLinda Perlstein discusses Tested: One American School Struggles To Make The GradeThe pressure is on at schools across America.
In recent years, reforms such as No Child
Left Behind have created a new vision of
education that emphasizes provable results,
uniformity, and greater attention for
floundering students. Schools are expected to
behave more like businesses and judged almost
solely on the bottom line: test scores.
To see if this world is producing better
students, Linda Perlstein immersed herself in
a suburban Maryland elementary school. The
resulting portrait--detailed, human, and
truly thought-provoking--is marked by the
same narrative gifts and expertise that made
her earlier book Not
Much Just Chillin' so illuminating.
With his fifth book, Out Stealing Horses, Per
Petterson has become an international
literary sensation. Out
Stealing Horses,
published by the Twin Cities' Graywolf Press,
has won International IMPAC Dublin Literary
Award, Norwegian Booksellers Prize, the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and has
been translated into 24 languages. The New
York Times calls it, "a gripping account of
such originality as to expand the reader's
own experience of life."
Out
Stealing Horses is the story of Trond, a
man who has settled into a rustic cabin in
eastern Norway to live the rest of his life
with quiet deliberation. A meeting with his
only neighbor, however, forces him out of
isolation to reflect on a fateful childhood
summer.
Magers and Quinn is proud to be the
bookseller for the Friends of the Minneapolis
Library's events. Their series, called Talk
of the Stacks, brings great authors to
our fair city. This event will be held at the
Minneapolis
Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300
Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis.
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 Michael Pollan's bestselling
book The
Omnivore's Dilemma is at last available
in paperback.Each of Pollan's four meals is a springboard
to a much larger discussion about food. Where
does it come from? What does it cost? What
does it say about our society and ourselves?
"What should you eat? Michael Pollan
addresses that fundamental question with
great wit and intelligence, looking at the
social, ethical, and environmental impact of
four different meals. Eating well, he finds,
can be a pleasurable way to change the
world."-Eric Schlosser, author of Fast
Food Nation and Reefer
Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the
American Market
Read the introduction and first chapter here
(.pdf).
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Last month, William Gibson held a
reading for his latest book, the sci-fi
thriller Spook
Country. Don't feel bad if you didn't
hear about it, though. The reading was held
in the cyberspace community known as Second Life.
Once the domain of Korean teenagers and
Scandinavian bachelors, the virtual world of
Second Life has become the new frontier for
advertisers and marketers alike. Penguin's
venture is one of the first book events
there, but it will hardly be the last.
Those of us who are still perfecting our
First Lives can watch video of the event:
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There's interesting news about publishing,
books, and Minneapolis' best independent
bookstore every day on the Magers
and Quinn blog. You can find something
interesting everyday. Folks will wonder how
you got so well-informed.
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I'm a sucker for artists who use books as
their medium. Cutting
them, soaking
them, building
forts out of them--that sort of thing. If
any of that inspires you, consider the
Minneapolis Public Library's call for artists
and submit your own altered books for an
exhibition this spring.
Submissions are due October 15. Full details
are posted at mnartists.org
and at the MPL's site (.pdf).
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The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most
unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday,
September 11. Books & Bars meets at
Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in
Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the
discussion begins at 7:00pm.
 This month's book is Theft
by Peter Carey. It's the story of two
brothers, one a painter and the other a
childlike innocent, who are set about to
steal paintings from the father-in-law of a
beautiful stranger. John Updike said of the
novel in The New Yorker, "Peter Carey
is a superb writer, whose prose is always
active, and who infuses his characters,
however eccentric, with a warmth that lets
them live in our minds."Books &
Bars is not your typical book club. We
provide a unique atmosphere for a lively
discussion of interesting authors, fun
people, good food and drinks. You're welcome
even if you haven't read the book.
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There's always something new at Magers & Quinn. Stop in today or check our inventory on our website any time. We'll be back next month with more book news.
Until then,
David Enyeart
Magers and Quinn Booksellers
Write us:
info@magersandquinn.com
Call us:
612/822-4611
Or visit our website:
http://www.magersandquinn.com
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