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Greetings From Politics and Prose! AUTHOR EVENTS with NICK HORNBY, PETER YARROW, and NEIL SHEEHAN OFFSITE EVENTS with SENATOR BARNEY FRANK and MICHAEL CHABON
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UPCOMING EVENTS - 10 DAY SUMMARY |
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PLEASE BE ADVISED: Politics & Prose is implementing major revisions to its online presence. Click here for our calendar or on the title links for descriptions and online purchase. |
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Thursday, October 1 Friday, October 2 Saturday, October 3 Sunday, October 4 Monday, October 5 |
Tuesday October 6 7 pm Andro Linklater - An Artist In Treason Wednesday October 7 Thursday October 8 Friday, October 9 For our full events calendar, click here. |
LETTER FROM CARLA & BARBARA |
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OCTOBER HAS ARRIVED UPDATED WEBSITE
(The small print: Orders may be picked up in-store, but must be paid for online. Discounts will not apply to academic titles, textbooks, membership fees, gift certificates, tickets, dinners, and similar non-discountable items at the discretion of P&P. Books listed as Subject to Availability or Between Printings may not be available.) AND SPEAKING OF ELECTRONIC The question on everybody’s minds - authors, publishers, booksellers - is how the e-book will develop and how much of the market share it will represent in, say, a decade. Publishers and agents also wonder how the new technology will affect their revenue.) First, a successful and popular electronic reader must be developed (and one that is not the solely-owned vehicle of a giant bookseller). Although we know that there are readers who devour books on their Kindles and their iPods, reports are still mixed comparing the pleasure and dexterity necessary to use e-readers. (See, for instance Nicholson Baker's recent review, "A New Page: Can the Kindle really improve on the book?" in the New Yorker.) Naturally, we think that the book – the codex – is the most perfect artifact ever invented - the most beautiful, the most convenient. We love our shelves lined with friends we have met and hope to reacquaint ourselves with on a rainy day in the future. We love being able to pass books along to friends. On the Mexican trip each year, Carla takes a bag of books and reads and shares them with fellow travelers. But we do understand the environmental argument, as well as the convenience argument for the e-reader. What we don’t know yet is how quickly people will shift, whether readers will continue to read in both ways, or whether there are some books that will work better on e-readers than others. COMING THIS WEEK TO YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE
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BARBARA'S BYLINE | |
STEPPING OUT Sometimes we get grand pleasures beyond selling books. Last Thursday evening, Mark Laframboise and I went to Carnegie Mellon auditorium as guests of Knopf's president, Sonny Mehta, for a gala dinner honoring Diane Rehm on her 30th anniversary of WAMU. The evening was very fancy, black tie, and the guest list was impressive. Here are some pictures of Mark and me arriving at the door for the dinner, Diane Rehm chatting with Sonny Mehta as she stopped by our table, Knopf publicity director Paul Bogaards, and Clinton Froscher from Kramerbooks. Back at the store Carla was hosting one of Knopf's best writers of fiction, Lorrie Moore!
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COMING NOW TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE |
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If you can’t attend a talk, but would like to reserve a signed copy, Thursday, October 1 7 p.m. What is it like to be involved with a man obsessed with a 1980s singer-songwriter? JULIET, NAKED, the sixth novel from the author of High Fidelity, explores the twin phenomena of fandom and the internet as Nick Hornby tells the story of Anne and Duncan, together for 15 years in a triangular relationship that includes the music Duncan lives for. As always, Hornby is witty and perceptive about music and its place in ordinary lives. Friday, October 2 7 p.m. Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, wrote DAY IS DONE as an anti-war song during the Vietnam era. With colorful illustrations by Melissa Sweet, the lyrics make a beautiful picture book, which comes with a CD. Yarrow will sing a few songs, greet the children, and sign his books. All ages. Saturday, October 3 1 p.m. In THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL, her latest study of adolescent girls, Rachel Simmons, founder of the Girls Leadership Institute and author of Odd Girl Out, argues that girls are more concerned with being liked than with being themselves. By struggling to conform to the unrealistic image of an always congenial, obedient, and unobtrusive person, many girls fail to communicate their real needs and grow up unhappy and poorly adjusted. Simmons offers exercises and other tools parents can use to help their daughters gain confidence. 3:30 p.m. THE FINANCIAL LIVES OF THE POETS, Jess Walter’s third novel (Citizen Vince, The Zero), tells the story of a week in the life of Matt Prior. Prior is unemployed and in debt, his website offering financial journalism in blank verse is a failure, and his marriage is teetering on the edge. As Prior hits bottom, Walter paints a devastating and yet funny picture of the American dream struggling for its life. 6 p.m. In FIVE TO RULE THEM ALL, a portrait of the U.N. Security Council and its five permanent members, David L. Bosco, former Foreign Policy senior editor, examines the body’s notable successes as well as its failures. Bosco concludes his analysis of the Council’s inner workings with suggestions on how it can better reflect political realities. Sunday, October 4 5 p.m. World War II morphed quickly into a Cold War with a race for new and more deadly weapons. Neil Sheehan does a masterful job explaining the politics, science, and historical scenario in A FIERY PEACE IN A COLD WAR, which follows an Air Force officer named Bernard Schriever from his boyhood in Germany through his Air Force years to his responsibility for deployment of the Minuteman Missile. Monday October 5 7 p.m. David Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post correspondent, chronicles the 15-month deployment of an American infantry battalion, THE GOOD SOLDIERS, as part of the troop surge in Iraq. This powerful, raw account has all the immediacy of a firsthand report finely polished with the literary skills of a seasoned journalist. 8 p.m. @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Tuesday October 6 10:30 a.m. Fred Bowen, the weekly sports columnist for the “Kids Post” section of The Washington Post, has two new titles in his sports-books line-up, TOUCHDOWN TROUBLE and SOCCER TEAM UPSET. Both raise questions of individual responsibility, focusing on the personal desire to win, but not at the expense of good sportsmanship. For school competitors as much as for national athletes, Bowen stresses the importance of honesty, building confidence, and team spirit. Ages 7-10. 7 p.m. Andro Linklater has written the first modern biography of General James Wilkinson (1757-1825), AN ARTIST IN TREASON, tells the story of the vertiginous man who was the youngest general in the Continental Army and who exposed Benedict Arnold as a traitor - only to betray his country himself by working for the Spanish secret service. Then, turning again, in 1806 Wilkinson foiled Aaron Burr’s plot to break Wednesday October 7 7 p.m. Professor Michael J. Sandel’s course on JUSTICE is one of the most popular at Harvard. He explores with his students questions such as: what are our obligations to others as people in a free society? Should government tax the rich to help the poor? Is the free market fair? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? Is killing sometimes morally required? Is it possible, or desirable, to legislate morality? Do individual rights and the common good conflict? Sandel believes that philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions. Thursday October 8 10:30 a.m. John Feinstein’s fourth sports mystery, CHANGE UP: Mystery at the World Series, plunges Stevie and Susan Carol into a moral dilemma at the World Series. The two befriend Norbert Doyle and his teenage children, then get to do THE interview before Norbert unexpectedly opens in game two. But what if the truth the young reporters uncover differs from the previously-known story? Are they duty-bound to offer full disclosure? Ages 8-12. Friday, October 9 7 p.m. @ GW Lisner Auditorium To see the complete schedule and to purchase any of the above books, click here. |
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO... | |
Politics & Prose supplies books to the following book signing events. Thursday, October 1, 7 p.m. National Academy of Sciences Thursday, October 1, 7 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Thursday, October 8, 7 p.m. Arts Club of Washington Friday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Thursday, October 15, 2:30 p.m. University of the District of Columbia Thursday October 15, 6:30 p.m. One Washington Circle Hotel Thursday, October 15, 7:30 p.m. National Geographic Live Friday, October 16, 7:30 p.m. The GW Lisner Auditorium October 18 - 28 Washington DCJCC The Jewish Literary Festival presents the year's best in Jewish writing by both emerging and established authors from across the globe. A celebration of Jewish literature, the Festival features engaging author panels, readings, films and talks for lovers of fiction, poetry, history, humor, children’s stories and much more. This year’s Festival includes acclaimed novelists Zoë Heller, Binnie Kirshenbaum and Dara Horn and groundbreaking books on LOUIS D. BRANDEIS and HUNTING EICHMANN. Don’t miss opening night, Literary Confessions: An Evening of Philip Roth, and the closing night Gerald L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture given by historian Howard M. Sachar, Current Israeli Myths and Realities: The Way to Peace. Browse the books that will be featured at the festival here. For more information, the full schedule, and to purchase tickets, go to http://washingtondcjcc.org/litfest or call (202) 777-3251.
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P&P BESTSELLERS | |
Our top twelve hardcover FICTION and NON-FICTION bestsellers are always 20% off for P&P members. For our complete lists, click on the titles below. #1 FICTION: A GATE AT THE STAIRS by Lorrie Moore
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NEW IN PAPERBACK | |
Click FICTION or NON-FICTION to browse a complete list of recent paperback releases. AMY AND ISABELLE by Elizabeth Strout THE GREEN COLLAR ECONOMY by Van Jones
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FROM THE CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT | |
BOOK OF THE WEEK
On Monday, October 12, we will open at 8 a.m. to celebrate THE RELEASE OF DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #4: DOG DAYS. We’ll provide lots of breakfast treats, a temporary Wimpy Kid tattoo with each of the first 50 books purchased, and a grand drawing for a collector’s edition Wimpy Kid t-shirt. We have even arranged for the DC schools to be closed so that you can stay home all day and read! We will have our usual Storytime on Monday, October 5 at 10:30 a.m. 25 YEARS OF CHILDREN'S FAVORITES Winnowing down this list was a very difficult process. Each of us in the department could name at For October events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here. | |
MARKDOWN BOOKS | |
The extraordinary art critic Robert Hughes is also a masterful biographer and historian, and he brings all these talents to bear on his life of GOYA. The late 18th/early 19th-century painter was involved with the church, the court, battles in the streets, and much, much more. Hughes charts the painter's artistic development and places it in the context of Goya's turbulent times; we see what he was responding to, and how a lesser artist would have chosen differently. This is a riveting narrative from beginning to end. Available in hardcover, $16.98. In SAMUEL ADAMS: A Life, the journalist and newspaper editor Ira Stoll describes Adams as such an integral player in the American revolution that he was one of two men (with John Hancock) excepted from a general amnesty the British issued in 1775 to rebels who would lay down their arms; these two were wanted, no matter what. The source of Adams's fiery patriotism was religion; he believed that God had intervened to establish a free nation, and that the cause could not be lost as long as the revolutionaries stayed true to their beliefs. Available in hardcover, $6.98. For more recently acquired remainders, click here. • Laurie Greer
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MUSIC NEWS | |
Click here for Andr�s’s reviews and Music News and to buy these albums.
Barbra Streisand, LOVE IS THE ANSWER (Columbia, $14.98)—Ms Streisand returns to her roots, singing standards with a small jazz combo led by singer and pianist Diana Krall (who also produced), with arrangements by Johnny Mandel. She even performed last Saturday night at the Village Vanguard. Anthony Tommasini interviewed her about her vocal style (and her admiration for Shirley Horn) in the last Sunday’s New York Times. Roseanne Cash, THE LIST (Manhattan, $17.98)—When she was just starting out as a singer, Rosanne Cash’s father, Johnny, gave her a list of one hundred songs he thought were the bedrock of American music. Roseanne performs a dozen of these in spare arrangements, including “Motherless Children,” “I’m Moving On,” and “Miss the Mississippi and You.” Bebel Gilberto, ALL IN ONE (Verve, $14.98)—Bebel’s updating of samba and bossa nova has proved infectious. Her previous CDs, Tanto Tempo and Momento, are standbys on the P&P sound-system rotation. On her newest, she covers “Bim Bom”—written by her father, Jo�o Gilberto—along with many originals. To read more reviews click here.
• András Goldinger
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ANNOUNCEMENTS | |
Last chance to enroll! Please call the store at 202-364-1919 to register or click here to register online.
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BOOK GROUPS | |
Politics & Prose currently hosts sixteen different book groups in the store each month. Thursday, October 1, 7:30 p.m. Monday, October 5, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 6, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 8, 7:30 p.m. Click here for more information about these and other upcoming book group meetings.
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NEWS FROM THE COFFEEHOUSE | |
Pollystyle's Rugelach named "dish of the week" The City Paper's Young and Hungry blogger Tim Carman has chosen Pollystyle's pecan and cranberry rugelach as his "dish of the week." We're so happy for Polly Brown, who has been baking and delivering her pastries to Modern Times since our first year and wish her continued success. She's gotten press and much praise for her graham crackers in the past, but I feel her mocha pound and lime chiffon cakes are the best desserts we carry. She also prepares our granola - also loaded with cranberries and pecans and perfect for that "healthy" breakfast. - Javier Read more news from the coffeehouse on 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 |