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Greetings From Politics and Prose! Author Events with General Tony Zinni, Senator Barbara Boxer
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UPCOMING EVENTS - 10 DAY SUMMARY |
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Thursday July 30 Monday August 3 Tuesday August 4 Wednesday August 5 Thursday August 6 |
Monday August 10 Tuesday August 11 Wednesday August 12 Thursday August 13
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LETTER FROM CARLA & BARBARA |
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On Tuesday morning, the judges for the 2009 Man Booker Prize announced their baker’s dozen titles comprising the Booker “longlist,” from which one will be chosen as the winner. Some of the titles are already available here in the United States and others will be arriving here in the early fall. Here’s the list: A.S. Byatt, THE CHILDREN’S BOOK, (Knopf, $26.95) due in October 2009 J.M. Coetzee, SUMMERTIME (Viking, $26.95) due in January 2010 Adam Foulds, THE QUICKENING MAZE Sarah Hall, HOW TO PAINT A DEAD MAN (Harper Perennial, $14.99) due in September 2009 Samantha Harvey, THE WILDERNESS, (Nan A. Talese, $24.95) now in the store James Lever, ME, CHEETA: My Life in Hollywood, (Ecco, $24.99) now in the store Hilary Mantel, WOLF HALL, (Henry Holt, $27) due in October 2009 Simon Mawer, THE GLASS ROOM Ed O’Loughlin, NOT UNTRUE AND NOT UNKIND James Sucdamore, HELIOPOLIS Colm Tóibín, BROOKLYN, (Scribner, $25) now in the store William Trevor, LOVE AND SUMMER, (Viking, $25.95) due in September 2009 Sarah Waters, THE LITTLE STRANGER (Riverhead, $26.95) now in the store The 6th book on this list, ME, CHEETA, must be one of the most unusual finalists ever selected for the Man Booker. Ostensibly written by Cheeta the Chimp, the star of 10 Tarzan motion pictures who is now 76 years old and living in Palm Springs, this insider tell-all Hollywood memoir, with all its detailed memories and stories, may soon come under the same scrutiny that sensationally unmasked James Frey for his fictitious memoir!
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CARLA COMMENTS | |
LETTER FROM MARTHA'S VINEYARD We are staying this week and next with our son and his family in his rental house on this lovely island. It’s an opportunity to catch up with our grandchildren and our reading. On the drive up, I was so enchanted by an audio version of a rediscovered book, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (Persephone, $18; audio $30). Frances McDormand reads the book, and she is spectacular. Miss Pettigrew was published in 1938 and speaks to the limited options for women before World War II. But let's not kid ourselves. This is high class chic lit. It’s a soap opera about a down-and-out governess who mistakenly answers a request for her services from a nightclub singer named (can you believe this?) Delysia LaFosse. I set David up with back issues of the newspapers, and he read and dozed while I drove for six hours straight so that I could get to the end of this absolutely charming book. Persephone Classics republished Miss Pettigrew in 2000 along with eight other neglected “between the wars” books. We have the paperbacks on display in our fiction room, but you can also browse their collection online through this link. I fully intend to read (or listen to) more! I also read Richard Russo's new book That Old Cape Magic (Knopf, $25.95). He will be at the store to read and discuss the book on August 12. As always, Russo is interested in how the sins of the fathers (and mothers) play out in the sons (and daughters). He evidently believes, as I do, that although you love your children better than your parents, it is your parents who are in your head. Russo's character Jack Griffin finds it almost impossible to shake his demanding academic parents, even after they die. Don’t forget that all Audio Books are on sale to members for two more days. Peruse more of our recommendations by clicking here, and stock up now for your August travel plans! For your other summer reading pleasure, take a look at our staff-recommended Summer Favorites 2009 either by clicking this link or by taking home a copy of our catalog when you come in the store. Many of the items in the Summer Favorites are also available in audio format, so please ask us or click the "See Other Formats" link when browsing online for those options.
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FALL POETRY CLASS | |
Six Tuesdays, September 29—November 3, 3:00—4:30 PM. W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden generally are lauded as literary giants and poetic masters. Yeats won the Nobel and Auden the Pulitzer Prize. Each wrote some of the most beautiful poems of modern times. They also lived through and wrote about the First and Second World Wars, respectively; and they reflect in different ways the tension between a local and private world view and an increasingly impersonal and mechanized society. Come join our poetry circle as we read Yeats and Auden out loud and discuss what moves us about their poetry. This is an appreciation group, not a critical studies class, so no prior experience is necessary - just a love of words and pleasure in the company of others. Please call the store to register 202-364-1919. The course will use these editions, available at a discount at Politics & Prose.
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COMING NOW TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE |
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COMING NOW TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE We are only holding weekday events during the month of August.
Thursday, July 30 7 p.m. The Snakehead is a riveting true-crime story from Patrick Radden Keefe which focuses on the trafficking of undocumented Chinese immigrants into America. One notorious smuggler, or snakehead, is Sister Ping, a middle-aged grandmother, who ran a multi-million-dollar illegal operation until a ship carrying some 300 people ran aground off Queens in 1993. Monday, August 3 7 p.m. Blind Trust, Senator Barbara Boxer’s second novel, is a story of political integrity and dirty tricks. It centers on second-term Democratic senator Ellen Fisher, who is caught in an increasingly nasty struggle with the aggressive vice-president as she prepares to chair potentially explosive hearings on national security issues. Tuesday, August 4 7 p.m. Matthew B. Crawford left D.C. think-tanks and the Committee on Social Thought to open a motorcycle shop. In Shop Class As Soulcraft, a memoir-cum-manifesto, he suggests that knowledge work is ultimately unfulfilling, and recommends manual trades as a more engaging way to both think and do. Wednesday, August 5 7 p.m. From two of The Washington Post’s top journalists, Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson, this narrative analysis of the presidential campaign, The Battle for America 2008, covers the undercurrents of race, gender, and class as Obama and McCain battled from Iowa to the White House. Thursday, August 6 7 p.m. General Tony Zinni, retired head of CENTCOM, offers a contrarian primer on leadership, addressed to heads of commerce as well as the military, in Leading The Charge. With vertical hierarchical models flattened, leaders and their organizations must find new ways to operate and thrive by accommodating rapid changes in technology.
Monday, August 10 7 p.m. Star New York Times journalist Helene Cooper marks the paperback publication of her remarkable memoir, The House At Sugar Beach. Born and raised in one of Liberia’s elite families, she escaped the wicked regime of John Doe and came to the U.S. Cooper weaves the personal and the political into a story that is both touching and funny. Tuesday, August 11 7 p.m. Anthony Flint introduces Jane Jacobs in his biography, Wrestling With Moses. She was only one person, but she is credited with stopping the urban redevelopment king Robert Moses from remaking New York City in his image. Cities will assume greater importance now that fossil fuel is becoming scarcer and more expensive. Thus, the fiery debates of the ’60s have regained relevance. Wednesday, August 12 7 p.m. That Old Cape Magic, the latest novel from award-winning writer Richard Russo, is another masterpiece of storytelling. Griffin, the middle-aged protagonist, has achieved everything he envisioned for himself and his wife. Driving to the Cape for a wedding, he revisits the site of his honeymoon and his happy childhood summers. A year later, everything has changed. Thursday, August 13 4 p.m. From his unique perspective as a physician, former Vermont governor, and DNC chairman, Howard Dean takes on the obstacles to health care reform. Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform counters the hollow arguments and rhetorical charges of a socialist agenda and looks at rising health care costs and their impact on individuals and small businesses. For the full schedule and to purchase any of the above books, click here. |
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO... | |
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO... Politics & Prose supplies books to the following book signing events. Thursday, July 30, 10:30 a.m. Forum on Earth Observations III: The Environmental Information Revolution
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P&P BESTSELLERS | |
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#1 FICTION: A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias (signed copies available)
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NEW IN PAPERBACK | |
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SIGNED BOOKS | |
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Tracing the role that nature played in Roosevelt's storied career, Brinkley brilliantly analyzes the influence that the works of John James Audubon and Charles Darwin had on the young man who would become our twenty-sixth president. With descriptive flair, the author illuminates Roosevelt's bird watching in the Adirondacks, wildlife obsession in Yellowstone, hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, ranching in the Dakota Territory, hunting in the Big Horn Mountains, and outdoor romps through Idaho and Wyoming.
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FROM THE CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT | |
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BOOK OF THE WEEK For more recommendations for kids from our staff, pick up a copy of the Children and Teens’ Favorites Summer 2009 in the store or browse our summer selections for children and teens on the website by clicking here. SUMMER READING LISTS Through Labor Day, Politics and Prose offers a 10% discount on books purchased from school summer reading lists. If your school does not provide a summer reading list, check with your public library. All public libraries provide suggested reading lists and we will also honor them with a 10% discount. Just bring your list, and we will be glad to help you make selections for an enjoyable summer of reading. Children’s Book-a-Month Gift Program
Sign a child up by contacting Jory Hearst (jhearst@politics-prose.com), the gift program’s coordinator for children’s books, or call us at the store 202-364-1919 and ask for the Children’s Department. CAPITAL LETTERS WRITING WORKSHOP
Monday Morning Storytime Storytime is on hiatus and will resume on September 14 after Labor Day.
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MARKDOWN BOOKS | |
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Among the many great books in this section you’ll find: “We know by what we create,” says E.L. Doctorow, author of Ragtime, The March, and a long list of other novels. In CREATIONISTS: Selected Essays 1993-2006, Doctorow considers literature not as a critic or an academic might, but as a fellow inventor. This is an invaluable inside look at what can generate fiction, and what the fiction writer has to consider in turning a vision into a finished work. Authors on Doctorow’s reading list include Melville, Poe, Kafka, and Sebald. His readings are by turns celebrations, assessments, and explorations of the imagination. Available in hardcover, $5.98. ALFRED AND EMILY, by the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, is at once a novel, a memoir, and a love letter from a daughter to her parents. In the fictional portion of the book Lessing rewrites her parents’ lives so that her father does not lose a leg in World War I, and her mother has a career - and no children! In her frank and sympathetic commentary on this novella, Lessing explains her fictional decisions by delving into her parents’ biographies and recounting her own memories of growing up in Africa. Through imagination and empathy, she achieves a deep understanding of what disappointment and frustration did to Alfred and Emily, and she portrays them without resentment or harsh judgment. Available in hardcover, $5.98.
For more recently acquired remainders, click here. | |
MUSIC NEWS | |
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Click here for András’s reviews and Music News and to buy these albums. •András Goldinger | |
BOOK GROUPS | |
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P&P's book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public. Book-group titles are 20% off for participants. These are the selections for the next week. Read the book and join us!
Tuesday, August 4, 7 p.m. FUTURIST (1st Wednesday) Thursday, August 6, 7:30 p.m.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS | |
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Win 2 free lawn tickets! Sunday August 16 Route 29 Revue featuring Old Crow Medicine Show • Levon Helm • Iron and Wine • Grace Potter and the Nocturnals • The Felice Brothers • Justin Jones
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NEWS FROM THE COFFEEHOUSE | |
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"The Coolest Beans: The District's Top Iced Coffee" The Washington Post Express wrote an article on the merits of cold-brewed coffee, naming our concoction in their list of the best places for iced coffee! Rather than simply chilling the leftovers of the day's hot-brewed coffee (which many places do, exacerbating bitter flavors and acid), we steep Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans overnight in cold water to produce a low-acidic coffee that is smooth and slightly sweet. Click here to read the article! EXHIBIT CLOSING This is the closing week of Matthew Davis's show in the coffeehouse. Be sure to check out this popular show and his many affordable pieces before it leaves at the end of this week. EXHIBIT OPENING Next month's featured artist Patrick Donnelly produces original silk screen prints blurring the lines between the digital arts and painterly process. The prints capture moments from his life, transcribed into stylized illustrations, then combined into a new compositions that captures the emotions of those events. For samples of his work and updates about an opening reception event, visit the Modern Times blog.
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Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20008 (202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790 Fax: (202) 966-7532 |
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William Butler Yeats and W.H. Auden
Andrew Winston 
Do you know a child or teen to whom you’d love to send books each month? Our expert staff -members will hand-select a book every month for the young person in your life based on their age, reading level and interests; and then gift wrap and mail the books. It’s a gift that keeps on giving to readers from newborn to age 18. More information about the service (which we also provided for adults) can be found online through this 
