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| March 2008
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Schwartz Bookshops Book Club Newsletter
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Greetings,
Welcome to the Schwartz Book Club Newsletter for March. Thanks to everyone who entered our Paperback Giveaway contest last month, and congratulations to our winners! The response was wonderful. Many of you also wrote to say you liked the new format of this newsletter. Thank you for the notes of encouragement. All of us who work on bringing the newsletter to you were touched and happy to see the positive responses. On to this month: In this edition we will profile another book club, offer recommendations for your reading list, suggest author readings you and your club might enjoy attending, and more.
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Book Club Profile-The Bookies
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by Rebecca Bialek
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This month we profile The Bookies, sent to us by Cookie Anderson. (It's very hard to resist calling them Cookie and The Bookies or Cookie's Bookies, by the way. I apologize-too many rhyming stories in my childhood, apparently.)
 The group, which has been together for five years, formed when Cookie asked several of her friends to join her in reading and discussing books. They now meet once a month and sometimes, in summer, every three weeks. "We're very relaxed in how we talk about books," she said. "We try to find new ways of sharing our insights, ideas, likes and dislikes of the book we read." They seem equally relaxed when it comes to choosing which titles they'd like to try: "Someone usually has an idea." If not, they keep a list of possibilities to choose from. Their laid back approach has led to an interesting reading list which includes Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, Fyodor Doestoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and Erik Larsen's The Devil in the White City. The Bookies also recommend giving The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, and one of their favorites, Jeffery Eugenides's Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex a try in your book club.
According to Cookie, the key to a well-rounded book club reading list is to "be open to various sorts of books. Never judge a book by its title. I've been surprised several times by appreciating a book I didn't think I'd like."
Thanks to Cookie Anderson and The Bookies for participating in this month's Book Club Profile. They will receive a copy of The Book Club Companion courtesy of our friends at Penguin
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Book Club Recommendations
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These titles, all newly released in paperback, are sure to get your book club talking.
 Burning
Bright
Tracy Chevalier
Set in the waning days of eighteenth-century London, poet, artist and
printer William Blake works in obscurity as England is rocked by the shock
waves of the French Revolution. The Kellaway family has just moved in
next door to him and country boy Jem Kellaway strikes up a tentative friendship
with street-savvy Maggie Butterfield. As their stories intertwine with
Blake's, the two children navigate the path to adolescence and inspire
the poet to create the work that enshrined his genius. From the author
of The Girl with a Pearl Earring.
$14.00
 Tallgrass
Sandra Dallas
The latest from Sandra Dallas is part thriller, part historical novel,
that explores the darkest as well as the best parts of the human heart.
Thirteen-year-old Rennie Stroud has known only the predictability and
small town life of Ellis, Colorado. Her innocent existence is jolted into
harsh reality when the government opens a Japanese internment camp adjacent
to her family's farm. When a young girl is murdered, all eyes, (and
suspicions) turn on the newcomers. With this change comes a shift in Rennie's
perspective and a discovery of secrets that threaten to destroy the most
sacred of things.
$13.95
 Then We Came to the End
Joshua Ferris
"At first I thought this was just a smart-alecky (but funny and
very well-written) book about 'nothing.' Then, just when I
thought it was only a humorous look at office life, Joshua Ferris's brilliant
writing took me unexpectedly into a new phase and made me care about the
characters, their fears and insecurities. By the end, I was empathizing,
laughing and crying."-Pattie Cox, Mequon
Then We Came to the End has been praised by critics as "a
masterwork of pitch and tone," (The New Yorker), and "...painfully
real," (Redbook), and the novel is a National Book Award
Finalist for 2007.
$13.99
 Peony in Love
Lisa See
The author of the bestselling-and beloved by book clubs-Snow
Flower and the Secret Fan brings to life another time
and place where three generations of women become enmeshed in a dramatic
story. Against the backdrop of an enchanting opera and amidst an otherworldly
love, they uncover past secrets and tragedies and learn that love can
transcend death. Peony in Love is explores art, love and the
age-old desire of women to be heard.
$14.00
 Lost Men
Brian Leung
After a twenty-year estrangement Westen Chan reconnects with his father
for an emotionally charged trip to China. Award-winning author Brian Leung's
debut novel explores the tensions between fathers and sons and the lengths
to which we will go to reconnect with those we fear we have lost. A discussion
guide and behind-the-book bonus material is included in this edition.
$13.00
 Dervishes
Beth Helms
With her diplomat husband gone for long stretches, Grace and her twelve-year-old daughter Canada are stuck in the expatriate community of Ankara, Turkey in 1975. In this paperback original, the two are forced into a gossipy, isolated
community of Western ladies and wealthy Turks. Hungry for experience beyond
the embassy, each ventures out on her own, but they are soon lost in a
society they can't possibly comprehend.
$14.00
 Grace (Eventually)
Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
"Delightfully irreverent, yet faithfully steady: Grace (Eventually)
restores the contemplative, honest, soulful nature that was revealed in
Traveling Mercies. Lamott's thoughtful essays on spirituality
and life are always funny and full of heart."-Stacie Williams,
Downer Ave.
$14.00
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Book Club Field Trips
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 Schwartz Live at Alverno Presents:
Jodi Picoult · author of Change of Heart
Wednesday, March 12 · 7 p.m. · The Pitman Theatre
The bestselling novelist behind The Pact, My Sister's Keeper, (which is being adapted for the big screen by New Line Cinema), and the recently released Wonder Woman: Love & Murder written for DC Comics, returns to our Schwartz Live at Alverno Presents Series for her new novel, Change of Heart. It's a thought-provoking tale of redemption, justice and love that features the return of Ian Fletcher from Keeping the Faith. Picoult explores the nature of religion, and what it means to be tolerant through her memorable characters including a mother fighting to keep her daughter alive and a criminal searching for a final chance at salvation.
View the Change of Heart trailer.
$33 includes admission and a signed copy of Change of Heart
Event takes place at the Pitman Theatre at Alverno College, 3401 S. 39th St., Milwaukee
Purchase tickets online or by calling the box office at 414-382-6044. There is a $5 handling fee for each order placed (per order, not per ticket). A Schwartz Bookshops gift card may be requested in place of book.
 Schwartz Live at Alverno Presents Barbara Walters
Thursday, May 29 · 7 p.m. · The Pitman Theatre
Barbara Walters has interviewed an extraordinary range of people during her forty years in broadcasting from Madeline Albright, Muhammad Ali and Lance Armstrong to Boris Yeltsin, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Every president and First Lady from Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower to George and Laura Bush, heads of state from all over the world, newsmakers, singers from every musical genre, movie stars, athletes and legends of the stage-if we were talking about them Barbara Walters was talking to them. At this can't-miss event the first woman to ever co-host a network news program will share pieces from her fascinating life and her new memoir, Audition. Find out how she overcame barriers to make it in a male-dominated field, her thoughts on how the television industry has changed, and of course, about her amazing interviews.
$38 includes admission and a signed copy of Audition: A Memoir
Event takes place at the Pitman Theatre at Alverno College, 3401 S. 39th St., Milwaukee
Purchase tickets online or by calling the box office at 414-382-6044. There is a $5 handling fee for each order placed (per order, not per ticket). A Schwartz Bookshops gift card may be requested in place of book.
Live at Schwartz Bookshops
Day Away Cancelled
Meet the authors March 8th at Shorewood
 
The Reader's Day Away scheduled for March 8th at the Pfister Hotel has been cancelled due to a lack of reservations. The authors, Aryn Kyle, author of the bestselling book The God of Animals and Eileen Favorite, author of The Heroines will be appearing at our Shorewood for a reading and book signing shop at 2 p.m. on March 8 instead.
We regret any inconvenience this may have caused, but look forward to seeing you at Shorewood for this event!
 Joshilyn Jackson · author of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
Sunday, March 9 · 2 p.m. reading · Mequon
"Joshilyn Jackson's latest is set in a tidy gated community where everyone loves perfection, until death is found floating in their pool. There is a bit of Alice Hoffman magic to the story and some 'Desperate Housewives' as well. What I especially love about Jackson's novels is they aren't neatly tied up three chapters from the end; even at the last sentence I didn't want to miss anything. This definitely lives up to Gods in Alabama-I loved it!"-Morgan Egge, Mequon
 Charles Baxter · author of The Soul Thief
Friday, March 14 · 7 p.m. reading · Downer Ave.
The latest novel by the acclaimed author of Feast of Love finds Nathaniel Mason, a new graduate student in upstate New York, drawn into a tangle of relationships with people who seem to hover just out of his reach. One of those people is the cryptic Jerome Coolberg who seems to have taken parts of Nathaniel's past as his own. It's Jerome who triggers Nathaniel's total breakdown, and it's Jerome who shows up at his door thirty years later, after Nathaniel has rebuilt his life, to suggest Nathaniel's identity may not be his own.
 Mary Doria Russell · author of Dreamers of the Day
Wednesday, April 9 · 7 p.m. reading · Brookfield
"Agnes is a school teacher from Ohio, who leaves behind memories of the Great War and the Great Influenza for a trip to exotic Egypt. Her sister's connections turn a simple vacation into an eye-opening experience, when she meets T.E. Lawrence. Lawrence introduces her to Gertrude Bell and Winston Churchill, who are there for the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, at which the nations of Iraq and Jordan were created, and which laid the groundwork for the creation of Israel. It's a story that's both modern and timeless, looking at culture, history, identity, the blinders we wear, and what can happen when we take them off."-Brian Grover (who is a huge fan of Ms. Russell's previous book, The Sparrow, Brookfield
 Liam Callanan · author of All Saints
Thursday, April 10 · 7 p.m. reading · Mequon
Acclaimed Milwaukee author Liam Callanan draws you in to Emily Hamilton's world of forgotten saints and martyrs with his latest novel. Fifty-years-old and newly single, Emily is the iconoclastic and passionate theology teacher at All Saints high school. Her classroom had been her refuge, but when she discovers that it's her life that fascinates certain students most, her fragile sanctuary begins to crumble.
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Questions for clubs:
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We don't have a quiz question this time around but we do have a general question for you about your book club:
How much research, if any, do you put into the titles you choose for your book club?
We'll share your answers in the next Book Club Newsletter! Send them to rbialek@schwartzbooks.com by March 14, with Book Club Answer in the subject line.
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Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops
Milwaukee's Very Own Independent Bookshop Since 1927
Downer Ave., 2559 N. Downer Ave., 414-332-1181, ondowner@schwartzbooks.com
Bay View, 2262 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., 414-481-3401, bayview@schwartzbooks.com
Brookfield, 17145 W. Bluemound Rd., 262-797-6140, brookfield@schwartzbooks.com
Mequon, 10976 N. Port Washington Rd., 262-241-6220, mequon@schwartzbooks.com
Shorewood, 4093 N. Oakland Ave., 414-963-3111, shorewood@schwartzbooks.com
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