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 Click here for more complete descriptions and to buy signed copies online.
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Two of our author events last week - with Atul Gawande (The Checklist Manifesto) and Elizabeth Gilbert (Committed) - attracted such large crowds that this may have prevented some of you from attending the events. We are very proud of our author events and encourage you to stay informed about the events and make plans early to attend.

Through Eat, Pray, Love, Liz Gilbert’s readers grew to appreciate her honesty in her life’s struggles, as she reflected thoughtfully about life and shared her self-discovery, her persistent inquiring style, her self-deprecating and witty turns of phrase, illuminated by lively characters such as Richard from Texas, and Wayan and Kekut from Bali, as well as of course, Filipe who was to become her partner and eventually her husband. Such characters are matched in Committed by people such as her niece Mimi (who insists that there has to be “the person” (and a flower girl) to make a wedding official), the officiant at the wedding Mayor Harry Furstenburger of Frenchtown, Sir William Robert Ferdinand Mount  (3rd baronet and conservative columnist for the London Sunday Times), and, of course, Officer Tom of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ms. Gilbert has a warm and engaging presence. Her remarks were thoughtful, incisive, and personable, as she addressed such questions as the future of gay marriage in the United States and compared France, where even straight couples are beginning to prefer civil unions, and America where civil unions will always be perceived, in her opinion, as second-class to marriage; offered her perspective on unions being citizens of different countries (she recommends it); and the experience of opening private aspects of her life to her readers.  Her new book, Committed, shares all of the humor and wisdom of Eat, Pray, Love this time focusing on her efforts to mentally prepare herself for institutionalization through marriage, an undertaking that she had sworn that she would never  again pursue, before the United States Department of Homeland Security got involved.

Atul Gawande has also generated a large following through his previous books (Better and Complications) about his experiences and perspectives as a surgeon. His new book, The Checklist Manifesto, is less personal in the story, but just as personal in the urgency as he details the necessity of a complete checklist to assure a safe outcome to many high-risk procedures. What he is advocating – checklists for surgeons but also for any person in a position of critical responsibility- is very important and long-past due. The book arises from the fact that 20% of all surgeons feel that they are so competent that they don’t need a checklist, even though research shows how effective checklists can be in reducing unnecessary injury and death. For any career field that deals with life-and-death situations and which requires quick responses, Dr. Gawande shows how invaluable the development of checklists is for ensuring that when an does emergency happen, there is a decreased potential of unintentional errors.

Our guest letterwriter this week is bookseller Andrew Getman.

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If you can’t attend a talk, but would like to reserve a signed copy or a recorded author talk,
click the title links to purchase online. P&P members save 20% on these author event titles.

Thursday January 14

Raj Patel - The Value Of Nothing
7 p.m. How much would something cost if the price reflected ecological, social, and other costs currently hidden? Patel, a writer, activist, and academic, discusses markets, considers new ways of describing worth, and argues that current food, climate, and economic crises stem from larger political problems.

Friday January 15

Steven Solomon - Water
7 p.m. In this history of what is arguably the world’s most essential natural resource, Solomon shows how water has been the make-or-break element in civilizations from the Roman Empire to medieval China to the modern industrial world. The future, however, promises drought and scarcity, particularly in Africa and the Middle East; the consequent struggles will require innovative reconfigurations of wealth and leadership.

Saturday January 16

Judith Martin - Miss Manners' Guide To A Surprisingly Dignified Wedding
1 p.m. Having recently been a mother-of-the-bride, Martin knows at first hand the pressures of planning a wedding. She offers advice on how to arrange a correct but comfortable event, one that avoids showing off, overspending, and exploiting friends.

Jasper Fforde - Shades Of Grey
3:30 p.m. In his latest novel, the creator of Thursday Next has imagined a color-coded world: only the elite can see the higher end of the color spectrum, whereas some see nothing but grey. A mid-level employee of the Color Control Agency, Eddie starts asking questions when he gets involved with a woman from the dark side.
If you are interested in reading and discussing the book before the author comes, our Science Fiction Book Group meets on Tuesday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m. and is reading Shades of Grey as its January selection. 

Elizabeth Kostova - The Swan Thieves
6 p.m. In her second novel, the author of the bestselling Dracula fiction, The Historian, delves into art and the unconscious. Her narrator is a psychiatrist who dabbles in painting, and whose new patient, a world-renowned artist, has vandalized a painting of Leda and the Swan in the National Gallery.

Monday January 18

Rebecca Goldstein - 36 Arguments For The Existence Of God
 7 p.m. In this smart and witty academic satire, the philosopher (Betraying Spinoza) and fiction writer (The Mind-Body Problem) blends her interests in science and religion to tell the story of Cass Seltzer, the newly-celebrated author of The Varieties of Religious Illusion. Dubbed “the atheist with a soul,” Seltzer discovers the limits of rational thinking.

Tuesday January 19

John Heilemann & Mark Halperin - Game Change
7 p.m. Heilemann, national political correspondent for New York magazine, and Haperin, senior political correspondent for Time, team up to tell their stories of the 2008 presidential campaign. With insight and humor they report on the camps of Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin, offering rich repartee and a fast-paced narrative.

Wednesday January 20

Jane Bryant Quinn - Making The Most Of Your Money Now
7 p.m. The financial advisor has updated her classic 1991 book, Making the Most of Your Money—which Consumers Union named the best personal-finance book currently on the market—to reflect the current economic climate. Offering thorough pro/con criteria for decisions about investing, credit cards, and financial planners, Quinn discusses ways to prioritize financial goals, how to get out of debt, and how to plan for long-term financial security.

Thursday January 21

Danielle Ofri - Medicine In Translation
7 p.m. Ofri has been a physician at Bellevue, New York’s oldest public hospital, for 15 years. These portraits of some of the poor, frightened, and often desperate patients she has treated offer a vivid profile of the strengths and weaknesses of our health-care system. They also illuminate issues of immigration, poverty, and tolerance of religious and racial differences.

Friday January 22

Maaza Mengiste - Beneath The Lion's Gaze
7 p.m. This debut novel is set in Ethiopia in 1974. War is about to break out, but Hailu’s family is already feeling the effects of strife. Hailu, a doctor, faces prison after treating a victim of state-sponsored violence, and his son has joined an underground resistance movement.  Mengiste, born in Addis Ababa and now residing in Brooklyn, was named “New Literary Idol” by New York magazine.

Saturday January 23

Greg Kats - Greening Our Built World
1 p.m. A recent study of 150 green buildings in eleven different countries shows that they cost just 2% more than traditional buildings to construct, yet they reduce energy use by some 33%. Kats details other results of this extensive analysis and reports on “green community development,” initiatives by faith-based organizations to build according to specifications that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Jeffrey Herf - Nazi Propaganda For The Arab World
6 p.m. Herf’s study concentrates on the little-known Nazi efforts to gain support among Arabs. Using transcriptions of the “Axis Broadcasts in Arabic” radio programs, Herf shows how the Germans selectively targeted Islamic traditions to foment anti-Semitism, and how this propaganda campaign sowed some of the seeds of current Arab-Israeli tensions.

Sunday January 24

Jim Wallis - Rediscovering Values
5 p.m. Wallis, author of The Great Awakening and God’s Politics, views the current economic downturn not as an ordeal to be endured, but as an opportunity for change. He argues that rather than restoring normality—the very circumstances that brought about the crisis—we should reassess our values and goals to create a new, more sustainable and satisfying normality, one based on community instead of competitiveness.

To see the complete schedule and to purchase any of the above books, click here.

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Politics & Prose supplies books to the following book signing events.
Reservations and tickets should be acquired from the hosting organization.
If you can’t attend a talk, but would like to purchase a signed book, call
202-364-1919 or 1-800-722-0790 or click the title links below.

Wednesday, January 20, 6:30 p.m.

Harriet’s
436 11th Street NW
STEVEN SOLOMON
WATER: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization (HarperCollins, $27.99)
Far more than oil, the control of water wealth throughout history has been pivotal to the rise and fall of great powers, the achievements of civilization, the transformations of society’s vital habitats, and the quality of ordinary daily lives. Water offers the first-ever narrative portrait of the power struggles, personalities, and breakthroughs that have shaped humanity from antiquity’s earliest civilizations, the Roman Empire, medieval China, and Islam’s golden age to Europe’s rise, the steam-powered Industrial Revolution, and America’s century. For more information about this FREE event, visit http://hooksbookevents.com.

Friday, January 22, 6:30 p.m.

Alliance Française de Washington
2142 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
JOHN W. KISER
COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader: A Story of True Jihad (Monkfish, $28.95)

President Lincoln, Queen Victoria, Pope Pius IX, Sir Richard Burton, and French prisoners sang his praises. The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader is the story of the path to world-wide fame that turned a pious and precocious twenty-five year old Koranic scholar into a diplomatic commander of Muslim Arab resistance to French colonization in Algiers, and a figure admired around the world. Read more here. To make reservations for this English-language presentation and purchase $10 tickets ($6 for Alliance Française members), call 202-234-7911. Reservations will be accepted until 4 p.m. the day of the event. Admission will be $2 more at the door.

Friday, January 22, 8:30 a.m.

Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
ROBERT POZEN
TOO BIG TO SAVE?: How to Fix the U.S. Financial System (Wiley, $29.95)
Pozen, Chairman of MFS Investment Management and a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School, commands the respect and attention of the public and private sector. In this timely guide, he outlines his vision for the new financial future and provides actionable advice along the way.
For more information and to register, visit www.hooksbookevents.com.

Thursday, January 28, 6:45 p.m.

Smithsonian Resident Associates presents
in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
(Enter at 2100 C Street)
Photo ID required for admission.
R. DOUGLAS FIELDS
THE OTHER BRAIN:  From Dementia to Schizophrenia, How New Discoveries about the Brain Are Revolutionizing Medicine and Science (Simon & Schuster, $27)
Neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields is a leading researcher on glial cells, which integrate communication networks in the brain and control electrical activity. Fields will lecture on recent and revolutionary research on glial cells and their links to health - including cancer, schizophrenia and depression, paralysis, and brain repair following injury and stroke. Please call 202-633-3030 for tickets.
(Gen. Admission $25; SRA Members $15; Senior Members $13)

 

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We hosted two sold-out events last week, which received overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses from our customers and critics alike. Dan Pink also was featured on NPR's Talk of the Nation, Morning Edition, and The Kojo Nnamdi Show, while Liz Gilbert was interviewed on The Diane Rehm Show. Signed books are available now from both of these bestselling authors.

DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
signed by Daniel Pink
(Riverhead, $26.95)
First editions, first printings.
Hardcover - December 2009

COMMITTED: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage
signed by Elizabeth Gilbert
(Viking, $26.95)
First editions, first printings.
Hardcover-January 2010

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Jack the Ripper was—if you’ll excuse me—a distant second to William Burke and William Hare of 19th century Edinburgh. Lisa Rosner, a professor of history, has brought them and their world to life in THE ANATOMY MURDERS. (University of Pennsylavania Press, $29.95) It was a widespread practice of the time to dig up corpses in order to sell them to medical men for dissection.  Burke and Hare, with coldblooded ingenuity, realized they could simply skip the grave-digging, and in an atrocious spree murdered 16 people and delivered them to the anatomists—all in one year. Another crime novel?  Not at all.  This is a remarkably researched and riveting story of the Irish migration to Scotland, of the lives of Edinburgh’s ‘dangerous classes,’ of the medical practices of the day, of the legal system and of Burke and Hare and their very real victims. I am full of admiration for Professor Rosner.  This is a perfect book for a history buff with a slightly murderous heart. - Jeanie Teare

See more books recommended by P&P booksellers by clicking here!

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P&P members always save 20% on our top twelve FICTION and NON-FICTION hardcover bestsellers.
To see our complete bestseller lists, click on the titles below.

#1 FICTION:  NOAH'S COMPASS by Anne Tyler

#1 NONFICTION: COMMITTED by Elizabeth Gilbert

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Click FICTION or NON-FICTION  to browse a complete list of recent paperback releases.

BROTHERS  by Yu Hua

A JURY OF HER PEERS  by Elaine Showalter

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One of the graphic novels that we highlighted in the holiday catalogue was unavailable in December.  It is now back in print, and we are happy to offer it as this week’s book of the week.

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 01/20/2010)
Greta Hughes and Ben Garza introduce Julian to their secret workshop when they realize his brainpower potential, and the three form THE SECRET SCIENCE ALLIANCE AND THE COPYCAT CROOK (Bloomsbury, $10.99). Together they invent great stuff like a Stinkometer, a Locker Blocker and a Pop-Open “Kick Me” Sign. Eleanor Davis’s attention to detail makes her newest graphic novel great fun, as well as providing the fodder for many aspiring inventors.  Ages 8 up - Jory Hearst

There will be no story time on Monday, January 18 due to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.
Story time will resume again on Monday, January 25 at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday, January 31, 1:30 p.m. - 3  p.m.
MUSIC TO MY EARS

Join 826DC (formerly Capitol Letters Writing Center) for our monthly tween creative writing workshop. 

Everyone’s a critic. In this workshop, students will learn the art of writing a music review. Using basic research skills to learn biographical and contextual information on the artist, we'll brainstorm about positive and negative elements of the song, and learn a little about basic song structure (verse/chorus). At the end of the session, each student will have penned his or her own review and possibly have it posted on the music review website indierockreviews.com! This workshop is open to students ages 10-14. The workshop is free, but space is limited to 15, please RSVP to kira@capitolletters.org.

For more information about 826National and 826DC, please visit 826dc.org

For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.

 

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TROUBLESOME YOUNG MEN: The Rebels who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, Lynne Olson’s account of the end of Chamberlain’s government in 1940, has been hailed for its vivid narrative and keen insights into a period most historians have overlooked. Far from being uneventful, the months between September 1939 and May 1940 were full of strategizing and debate, as a group of Tory MP upstarts—Harold Macmillan, Robert Boothby, Leo Amery, Ronald Cartland among them—turned against Chamberlain and backed Churchill. (Note: Olson’s new book, Citizens of London, will be out in early February. She’ll be speaking at P&P on February 22.) Available in hardcover, $7.98.

An excellent storyteller with a knack for taking a familiar plot, dramatizing it with fully-realized characters, and coming up with something new and affecting, Rose Tremain is at her best with THE ROAD HOME. The story of a hard-working, lonely émigré to London from Eastern Europe, the book explores questions of identity and alienation. Lev, a widower, wants to help his mother and daughter but seemingly can do so only by leaving them. Tremain makes a powerful narrative of his life of homelessness, menial jobs, and tenuous connections to other immigrants. Available in hardcover, 6.98.

Click here to browse more remainders that have recently arrived.

 

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VOICES OF THE WORLD: CESARIA EVORA & MÁRTA SEBESTYÉN
Two voices appeared on the world music scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s whose voices were instantly identifiable, and who brought more attention to the music of their respective countries. Cesaria Evora, from Cape Verde, introduced the greater world to the melancholic song form, the morna. She is back with NHA SENTIMENTO (World Village, $18.98), and her mixes mornas with coladera dance songs; the accompaniments are, as always, infectious.

Márta Sebestyén, from Hungary, became famous with the group, Muzsikás, and also sang her haunting songs in The English Patient. In I CAN SEE THE GATES OF HEAVEN (World Village, $18.98), she sings Hungarian religious and folk songs from many regions accompanied by two great instrumentalists playing a variety of flutes, bagpipes, and zithers.

NEW
Alexandre Tharaud, CHOPIN: JOURNAL INTIME (Virgin Classics, $16.98) — Alexandre Tharaud is one of my favorite pianists; he’s put together imaginative CDs of Couperin, Bach, Ravel, and Satie. He’s also played Chopin over his entire career, and here assembles mazurkas, nocturnes, ballades, and the Fantasie-impromptu, among other pieces. Great news: Tharaud will play at the Library of Congress on March 12.

Hillary Hahn, BACH: VIOLIN & VOICE (Deutsche Grammophon, $16.98) — Hilary Hahn plays the beautiful lines of Bach’s violin passages to arias and duets from his Cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, and the Mass in B Minor. Baritone Matthias Goerne and soprano Christine Schäfer are the vocal stars.

Philippe Jaroussky, J.C. BACH: LA DOLCE FIAMMA (Virgin Classics, $16.98) — Countertenor Jaroussky explores the rarely heard operas of Johann Christian Bach.

Vampire Weekend, CONTRA (XL Records, $14.98) — Take very clever lyrics and bits of Afro-pop and other sources, and you have another cheerful and winning album from the four lads in Vampire Weekend.

ELVIS AT 75
Elvis Presley would have been 75 years old last week. There’s a great new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, “Echoes of Elvis,” in celebration. There’s also a re-mastered collection of 25 of his greatest songs, ELVIS 75 (RCA, $13.98).

Click here for more of Andrá́s’s reviews and Music News.