Click here for our events calendar and preview upcoming events through May.
 Click here for more complete descriptions and to buy signed copies online.
Members always save 20% on event books. Click here to register!

 

JEFF SHESOL - SUPREME POWER

You may remember that a month ago, Barbara wrote enthusiastically about Jeff Shesol's new book, SUPREME POWER: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court (Norton, $27.95). Well, tonight you have the opportunity to meet him as he converses with E.J. Dionne about the subject. Shesol's book, is a cogent reminder how precarious commitment to the Constitution and civil rights can be, even during the administrations of presidents who seemed to embrace them. Shesol tells in intricate detail how President Roosevelt, in a shoddy and duplicitous maneuver, attempted to manipulate the number of seats on the Supreme Court in an effort to defeat the conservative majority. The President went to great lengths to denigrate the court, tastelessly suggesting that the Gridiron Club was a more appropriate court of appeal. Shosel assesses Roosevelt’s court-packing as the work of an arrogant and delusional president, the same president that we continue to revere because of his avowed dedication to civil rights. Did that make him a bad president? Not at all. Like all great men, he had his own pockets of hypocrisy, and his surreptitious attempt to pack the Court with liberal justices painfully reminds us of the endless need to remain vigilant about our constitutional freedoms even in seemingly safe political environments. This will be fantastic discussion. Please join us!

THE BIG READ DC

This week, we will host the first of our two Big Read DC events related to the provocative and profound novel A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines. We are excited to participate in this city-wide book group and discussion; and we encourage you to visit the DC Public Library website in order to take advantage of other events at venues across Washington. As is always true with registered book groups, anyone who buys A LESSON BEFORE DYING (Vintage, $13) from us will be entitled to a 20% book group discount.

This coming Sunday, April 25th, at 5 p.m. GWU English Professor Gayle Wald (author of Shout, Sister, Shout!) will join us to lead a discussion on Faith and Doubt in "A Lesson Before Dying" Ernest Gaines’s novel takes place in the 1940s in the deep South and stages a fascinating argument between doubt and faith, redemption and resistance in the face of injustice. The principal characters are a young teacher - the narrator, Grant, his antagonist named the Reverend, Jefferson - a young man on death row for a crime he didn't commit, and the women in their lives.

On Sunday, May 2nd, 5 p.m., GWU English and African-American Studies Professor James A. Miller (author of Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial) will extend the discussion with an exploration of some of the historical precedents for The Anatomy of Justice in "A Lesson Before Dying." Ernest Gaines presented an almost clinical examination of the workings of the criminal justice system in a small Louisiana town in the late 1940s as he wrote against the backdrop of historic legal injustices such as the notorious Scottsboro Case of the 1930s. This second session will include a discussion about the historical, social, and political dimensions of the justice system in Gaines's novel.

The National Endowment for the Arts has created a radio show as an introduction to the book. You can listen to it by clicking here.  The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

 

BIG READ FREE FILM SCREENING

The movie version of A Lesson Before Dying will be shown at Regal Gallery Place Cinema on Saturday, April 24 at 11:30 a.m. There are FREE passes available at the Politics & Prose info desk or you can print passes at dclibrary.org/bigread. This is a great opportunity if you plan to join us for the discussions on April 25 or May 2.

HOURS OF OPERATION

Next week, on Wednesday, April 28, because of a staff meeting, Politics & Prose will be opening an hour later at 10 a.m. The coffeehouse will open at its usual time at 8 a.m.
On Sunday, May 2nd, the bookstore will close an hour early at 7 p.m.

FREE TICKET GIVE-AWAY

Next Thursday, April 29, travel writer and cultural observer Pico Iyer will appear at the National Geographic Society. Politics & Prose has 2 free tickets to give away. To enter this drawing, email tfatwood@politics-prose.com, with your name, telephone number, and put PICO IYER in the subject line.

 

 

TRAVEL BOOK SALE

During the month of April, all travel guidebooks, travel literature, phrasebooks, and language acquisition materials are discounted 20% to Members. In the children's department, geography books are also 20% off for Politics & Prose Members. 

 

 

 

 

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This month we all have been busy reading and writing for our summer reading newsletter; in the process, we discover some heretofore overlooked gems.  This week I picked up Deborah Eisenberg’s COLLECTED STORIES (Picador, $22).  She has been writing fiction for nearly 25 years. After reading one of the stories, "Twilight of the Superheroes," I was so drawn to her that now I’m obsessively reading through the others.  She may be too dark for some readers, but her bleak vision is amply laced with enough humor to lighten the load.  Her world is most frequently modern Manhattan. Her characters tend to cross generations between twenty-somethings and their parents. "Existential" is the perfect adjective to describe these stories; and Eisenberg's unique voice, which emanates from all of her characters, makes her the best ventriloquist writing today.

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The author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan will present and sign his new book, which begins a new series and introduces his fans to an entirely different pantheon of gods!

Thursday, May 6, 5 p.m.
RICK RIORDAN
The Kane Chronicles, Book One: THE RED PYRAMID (Hyperion, $17.99)
Carter and Sadie Kane are working on a research experiment with their Egyptologist father when the Egyptian god Set is unleashed, banishing Dr. Kane and forcing the children to flee.  As all the gods of Egypt awake, the Kane family is set on a dangerous quest that leads them back to a secret in the time of the pharaohs.  We will close the parking lot to provide plenty of space for a rousing good time to welcome Rick Riordan and the release of this first book in his new series!

Click here for important information about advance book purchase and event details.

Wednesday, May 12, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Bistro D’Oc
518 10th St. NW
KRISTIN VAN OGTROP
JUST LET ME LIE DOWN: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom (Little, Brown, $24.99)

Join van Ogtrop, the editor-in-chief of Real Simple, and other tired, half-insane, working moms for a glass of wine, hors d’oeuvres, and an evening of commiserating about the challenges of trying to do it all.   Click here to reserve a spot, which includes a copy of the book, for $35. For more information, please call Bonnie Kogod at 202-363-7738 or email bkogod@politics-prose.com.

 

Thursday, May 13, 7 p.m.
NOURIEL ROUBINI
CRISIS ECONOMICS (Penguin Press, $27.95)
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Studying global history, statistics, mathematical models, and other evidence, Roubini, professor of economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business and co-author Stephen Mihm, an associate professor of economic history at the University of Georgia, were the first economists to predict the current downturn. The authors argue that economic crises are part of capitalism but are both foreseeable and preventable. Please note: Stephen Mihm will not be present for this event. Two author event admission tickets are free with $27.95 book purchase from P&P or are $12 each without the book. 

Click here for more information about the event and to purchase the book with tickets.

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During National Poetry Month, our bookseller selections will highlight poets' individual collections and books about poetry appreciation. Click here for more of our selections.
SAY UNCLE
by Kay Ryan
(Grove Press, $14)
Simple, beautiful, always surprising, Kay Ryan's collection of poems combine the shortness of a breath with the searing burn of a lasting phrase and powerful image. Her poems are like little miracles in twelve lines. - Lacey Dunham

LAST LOOKS, LAST BOOKS: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill
by Helen Vendler
(Princeton University, $19.95)
Helen Vendler is one of the best guides to poetry that the genre could have. In this collection of her 2007 Mellon Lectures she looks at five 20th-century American poets who, at the end of their lives, faced the ultimate personal and artistic challenge of writing about life from the perspective of imminent death. Is poetry up to the task of embracing and finding meaning in mortality? Find out here. - Laurie Greer

THE METAMORPHOSES OF OVID
by Allen Mandelbaum
(Harvest, $20)
Allen Mandelbaum's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was the funniest, raciest, most heart-achingly beautiful book I read in college. I scoffed that no novel could possibly compare. Even now, whenever I crave a decadently rich literary treat, it's the Metamorphoses I reach for first. - Elizabeth Sher
Click here for more of our booksellers' poetry recommendations!

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P&P members always save 20% on our top twelve FICTION and NON-FICTION hardcover bestsellers. To purchase these books, click the titles.

FICTION

#1    The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins, $25.99)
# 2   Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (Spiegel & Grau, $24)
# 3   Solar by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese, $26.95)
# 4   The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn, $24.95)
# 5   Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (Random House, $25)
# 6   Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (Random House, $26)
# 7   Our Burden's Light by Patrick Thomas Casey (Thomas Dunne, $25.99)
# 8   Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (Riverhead, $25.95)
# 9   The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell (Knopf, $25.95)
#10  Something Red by Jennifer Gilmore (Scribner, $25)
#11  A Question of Belief by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly, $24)
#12  Pearl of China by Anchee Min (Bloomsbury, $24)

NONFICTION

#1   THE BRIDGE by David Remnick
# 2   The Big Short by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 3  13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by James Kwak and Simon Johnson (Pantheon, $26.95)
# 4   Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (HarperCollins, $27.99)
# 5   Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court by Jeff Shesol (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 6   Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben (Times Books, $24)
# 7   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26)
# 8   Oprah: A Biography by Kitty Kelley (Crown, $30)
# 9   The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (HarperCollins, $25.99)
#10  Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife by Lisa Miller (HarperCollins, $25.99)
#11  The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein (Penguin Press, $27.95)
#12  Russia Against Napoleon by Dominic Lieven (Viking, $35.95)

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These two titles were both store favorites when they were in hardcover. Click FICTION or NON-FICTION  to browse a more complete selection of recent paperback releases.

THE FIRST TYCOON:The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Vintage, $19.95)
by T.J. Stiles

OH, JOHNNY! (Random House, $15)
by Jim Lehrer

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THE DOUBLE COMFORT SAFARI CLUB: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel
Signed by Alexander McCall Smith
(Pantheon, $24.95)
9780375424502
Hardcover - April 2010
First editions, first printings.

Click here for more signed books available now.

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THE GARDEN (Oscilloscope Laboratories, $29.95)
directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy

This compelling documentary about the fight to keep an urban farm in South Central Los Angeles from being bulldozed was featured at Silverdocs in 2008 and has just been released on DVD. Its popularity has prompted me to stock more movies distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories. Oscilloscope excels at discovering and promoting socially conscious documentaries and alternative film. 

We also have the enduring favorite FLOW ($29.95), Irena Salina's examination of the world's water crisis, which explores what to do about water shortages and how to prevent them. 

NO IMPACT MAN, BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, FRONTRUNNERS, and TREELESS MOUNTAIN are also in the store! Check out our website for complete descriptions!

- Thad Ellerbe

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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 April 22

Jeff Shesol - Supreme Power (in conversation w/ E.J. Dionne)
7 p.m. Beginning in 1935, the Supreme Court made a series of decisions that overturned much of FDR’s New Deal. In 1937 Roosevelt fought back, attempting to “pack the court” by increasing its membership to 15 and thereby circumventing its conservative majority. Shesol presents this tumultuous period as transformative for the country’s political and constitutional landscape. Shesol will be in conversation with E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post.

Friday April 23

Joelle Jolivet (illustrator) - Oops
10;30 a.m. Jolivet’s bright, colorful illustrations bring to life Jean-Luc Fromental’s story of a family racing to the airport. A mishap involving a slippery bar of soap sets off a hilarious chain of events, and the suspense builds: will they be on time for takeoff? From the best-selling illustrator of 365 Penguins.  (Ages 2-6)

Anya Kamenetz - DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education
7 p.m. Dissatisfied with overpriced universities that generate more student debt than successful graduates, Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt, argues for new modes of learning. Learning networks, digital and experiential methods, and open-source models are some of the ways to harness new technology for education.

Saturday April 24

Laura Brodie - Love in a Time of Homeschooling
1 p.m. Disturbed at her ten-year-old’s increasingly unhappy experience with public school, Brodie, a professor and writer, took charge of her daughter’s education. This chronicle recounts the difficulties, joys, and lessons learned by both teacher and pupil.

Holly LeCraw - The Swimming Pool
6 p.m. A richly plotted Southern Gothic, complete with passion, murder, and mystery, LeCraw’s debut novel explores desire and guilt through the complex relations between two families. When Marcella’s marriage collapses and Cecil, her lover, is killed in a car crash, she unexpectedly finds comfort with Cecil’s son.

Sunday April 25

Chester Hartman and Gregory D. Squires - The Integration Debate
1 p.m. From “race fatigue” to “integration exhaustion,” race continues to plague American society. In their timely colloquy, Hartman, Director of Research for the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, and Squires, a professor of public policy and public administration at George Washington, explore both ongoing and emerging controversies surrounding race in education, housing, jobs, and the legal system. Joining the authors at this event will be Stefanie DeLuca, John Relman, and Roger Wilkins.

2010 Big Read with Gayle Wald - Faith and Doubt in “A Lesson Before Dying
5 p.m. Ernest Gaines’s novel stages a fascinating argument between doubt and faith. This argument unfolds in the relation between the teacher-narrator, Grant, and his antagonist, the Reverend, but it also involves the women in the novel and the imprisoned young man, Jefferson. A community discussion of skepticism and belief, the secular and the sacred, in Gaines’s award-winning book will be lead by GWU English Professor Gayle Wald, a specialist in 20th-century African American literature and culture and author of Shout, Sister, Shout!, a 2007 biography of the gospel performer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Nick Bunker - Making Haste from Babylon
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO VOLCANO.

Tuesday April 27

Daniele Mastrogiacomo - Days of Fear
7 p.m. In his powerful memoir, Mastrogiacomoa, a foreign correspondent for La Repubblica, recounts how he and his driver were abducted by the Taliban in 2007. When Italy refused to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, their abductors executed the driver but let Mastrogiacomoa live, moving him around the country to elude detection.

Wednesday April 28

Bruce Feiler - The Council of Dads
7 p.m. Diagnosed with cancer in 2008, Feiler, author of Walking the Bible, worried that his young daughters might have to grow up without him. He asked six men who had been important in his life to stand in for him as a collective surrogate. Feiler’s memoir of this difficult time is a moving meditation on family, illness, and fatherhood.

Thursday April 29

Andrew Young and Kabir Sehgal - Walk in My Shoes
7 p.m. One of the great civil rights leaders, Young has long acted as a mentor to his godson, Kabir Sehgal. Now those lessons in leadership, along with Young’s thoughts on race, justice, and his many rich experiences, have been collected in this book which Young describes as “my attempt to humbly pass along a few anecdotes, life lessons, and insights to prepare you for the long journey ahead.” 

Friday April 30

Robert Remini - At the Edge of the Precipice
7 p.m. The latest work from the venerable scholar of American history revisits the Compromise of 1850 and focuses on Henry Clay’s pivotal role. Though it held off Southern secession and the Civil War for just a decade, the agreement was a master stroke of bipartisan politics in an unsettled and deeply divided time.

Saturday May 1

Kathryn Smith - Washington at Home
1  p.m. Smith, the founding executive director of Cultural Tourism D.C. and a past president of the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., has updated her 1988 classic. This latest edition explores 26 distinct neighborhoods including Chevy Chase, examining the folklore, social history, architecture, and character peculiar to each; the text is complemented with maps and photographs.

Warren Brown - United Cakes of America
3:30 p.m. Brown, who turned his love of baking into multiple CakeLove shops, offers his unique take on classic dessert recipes from all fifty states. And would a resident and business owner in D.C. exclude the District’s cherry trifle? Not a chance. 

David Goodwillie - American Subversive
6 p.m. Part thriller, part cultural critique, Goodwillie’s debut novel starts with a misplaced bomb, moves into an investigation of terrorism that looks back from 2010 to the Weather Underground, and along the way turns into a love story when a would-be journalist turned blogger contacts the suspected bomber, a woman radicalized by her brother’s death in the Iraq war.

Sunday May 2

Sandra Beasley - I Was the Jukebox
1  p.m. An essayist, former editor for The American Scholar, and acclaimed poet, Beasley won the 2007 New Issues Prize for her first collection of poems, Theories of Falling. Her second has now been awarded the 2009 Barnard Women Poets Prize whose judge, Joy Harjo, cited Beasley’s work as “fresh, crisp, decisive and fearless.”

2010 Big Read w/ James A. Miller
5  p.m. "The Anatomy of Justice in 'A Lesson Before Dying'"
Against the backdrop of historic legal injustices such as the notorious Scottsboro Case of the 1930s, Ernest Gaines presented an almost clinical examination of the workings of the criminal justice system in a small Louisiana town in the late 1940s.  GWU Professor of English and American Studies James A. Miller, a specialist in African American Studies and author of Remembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial, will make opening remarks at this session, which will include a community discussion about the historical, social, and political dimensions of the justice system in Gaines's novel.

To see the complete schedule and to purchase signed copies of 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.

Friday, April 16 - Saturday, April 24

(6 performances)
at Source Theater
1835 14th St. NW
The In Series presents
SEARCHING FOR GABRIELA
SELECTED POEMS OF GABRIELA MISTRAL (Univ. of New Mexico, $34.95)
Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin-American to win the Nobel Prize, and yet her magnificent work is not well known. Director Abel Lopez leads a spellbinding bilingual theatrical journey through her poetry , clothed in passionate words, movement and music. The original English storyline is by D.C. writer Sybil R. Williams.

Information and tickets ($34-16) are available through http://www.inseries.org or by calling the Box Office at 202-204-7763.

Monday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Ave.
Chevy Chase, MD
ANNE KORNBLUT
NOTES FROM THE CRACKED CEILING: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win (Crown, $25)
Washington Post White House correspondent Kornblut explores the stunning twists of the 2008 election - with revelations about the Clinton and Palin campaigns - and the political landscape for women nationwide.Her bookfeatures exclusive, in-depth interviews with Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Janet Napolitano, and others. Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797.

Wednesday, April 28, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Embassy of Australia
1601 Massachusetts Ave NW
Metro: Dupont Circle
CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS
THE SLAP (Penguin, $15)
Winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize

When a man slaps another couple's child at a neighbourhood barbecue, the event sends unforeseeable shock waves through the lives of all who witness to it. Told from the points of view of eight people who were all present, Tsiolkas has created a remarkable and gripping portrait of love, sex, violence, marriage, suburban ennui, and the middle class in modern Australia.

Christos Tsiolkas's fiction has won numerous prizes, including the Commonwealth Writers Award, The Age Fiction Prize, and the Melbourne Best Writing Award. THE SLAP is his first book published in the US. 

Discussion will be followed by a reception featuring Australian food and wines. 
Strictly limited seating. RSVP essential by email: Cultural.RelationsUS@dfat.gov.au or by tel: 202 797 3025  Photo identification required for entry.

Thursday, April 29, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW 
PICO IYER 
Multiple Titles
One of our most prolific and articulate writers on globalism and the new age of travel, Pico Iyer is the author of numerous acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction, including Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, Falling off the Map, The Global Soul, and The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Iyer will be interviewed by Don George, an award-winning travel writer and Contributing Editor and Book Columnist for National Geographic Traveler, in a wide-ranging conversation on the challenges and rewards of travel in the 21st century, the nature of home, and the abiding allure of the planet’s far-flung places. Book-signing will follow.
Click here for more information and for $25 tickets ($20, NG Members)

Friday, April 30, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

The Liaison Capitol Hill
415 New Jersey Avenue, NW
MARIA BARTIROMO
THE 10 LAWS OF ENDURING SUCCESS (Crown Business, $26)
From her own insight and from interviews with a range of people – including Condoleezza Rice, Joe Torre, and Jack Welch – Bartiromo identifies ten attributes (self-knowledge, vision, and initiative) that will help you endure these hard times and re-evaluate the meaning of success. She is the anchor of CNBC’s Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo and host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated Wall Street Journal Report with Maria Bartiromo, rated as the most-watched financial news program.For more information visit hooksbookevents.com.

Friday, April 30, 8 p.m.

Discovering Stories That Need to Be Told
at Washington National Cathedral
Wisconsin & Massachusetts Aves., NW
PEN/Faulkner Presents
ISABEL ALLENDE
ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA (HarperCollins, $26.99)
LA ISLA BAJO EL MAR (Vintage, $26.95)
Chilean-American Isabel Allende is an internationally celebrated writer of novels, stories, plays, young adult fiction, articles, "recipes, and aphrodisiacs.” She has authored eighteen books. $15 tickets can be purchased at penfaulkner.org or by calling 202-544-7077. Books can be purchased by clicking here.

Monday, May 3, 7 p.m.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
MEREDITH & SOFIE JACOBS
JUST BETWEEN US: A No-Stress, No-Rules Journal for Girls and Their Moms (Chronicle, $15.95)

Meredith and Sofie Jacobs have been sharing a journal since Sofie was nine years old. This is a fun, fresh journal to help other moms and daughters get to know each other in a whole new way. Advice and thoughtful writing prompts pave the way to discussing everything from friends and school to crushes and growing up. The journal also includes pages for drawing pictures and making lists and plenty of free space for writing about whatever comes to mind. Meredith is the co-founder of ModernJewishMom.com and the host of the weekly radio show Connecting Family with Meredith Jacobs. Please RSVP for this FREE event at www.sixthandi.org. If you have questions, please call 202.408.3100.

Tuesday, May 4, 7:30 PM.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
GRETEL EHRLICH
IN THE EMPIRE OF ICE: Encounters in a Changing Landscape (National Geographic, $28)
For a National Geographic-supported expedition, writer Gretel Ehrlich circumnavigated the Arctic Circle to document the indigenous cultures inhabiting its starkly beautiful landscapes, as advancing climate change threatens traditional ways of life. In her new book, In the Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape, and in this presentation, she tells the story of her journey to explore the “ecology of culture.”
Click here for $18 tickets ($15, NG Members) and more information.  This is the first event in the 2-part Quest for Adventure series. Click here to purchase the book.

Thursday, May 6, 7:30 p.m.

George Washington University
Lisner Auditorium
730 21st St., NW (21st & H)
Metro: Foggy Bottom (Blue/Orange)
Smithsonian Residents Associates presents
LAURA BUSH
SPOKEN FROM THE HEART (Scribner, $30)
In this special evening, former First Lady Laura Bush is interviewed by Cokie Roberts, political analyst for ABC News and NPR. The book covers the highlights of her life as an inner-city school teacher and librarian before marrying George W. Bush. A transformational first lady, Mrs. Bush traveled to 75 countries to advocate on behalf of refugees and women's rights around the globe as well as being widely known as the founder of the Texas and National book festivals.

For more information or to purchase $28 tickets ($18 SRA Member, $16 Senior Member), please call (202) 633-3030. To purchase the book, click here.

 

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CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 04/28/2010)
No one notices when Tim’s border terrier, Herbert, falls off a boat during a violent storm.   Tim refuses to believe his dog is gone and spends the next day searching for him off the New Zealand coast.   Robyn Belton’s delightful book, HERBERT: The True Story of a Brave Sea Dog (Candlewick Press, $15.99), tells the story of an amazing dog and his exciting rescue.  The endpapers feature newspaper clippings and letters of congratulations sent to Tim as news of the rescue spread across the country. This heartwarming story keeps young readers on the edge of their seats and offers an uplifting message about the strength of love between a boy and his pet. Ages 4-7.  Amy Kane

In April, we’re celebrating Earth Day and National Poetry Month.  Come check out our wide selection of environmentally themed books and poetry collections.

Moreover, to complement the sale on travel guides for adults, the Children's Department is offering a 20% discount to Politics & Prose Members on all geography books throughout the month of April. We have created a table display of recommended books. It's the perfect time to indulge an interest in exploring the world!

Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children by clicking here.

 

NEW IN PAPERBACK FOR PG-15 (Older Teens)
These books were some of our favorites in hardcover. Check them out now that they have arrived in paperback!

Editor's Note: I scrambled the reviews for these books last week. Here are the correctly matched books and reviews! - Andrew

Two Parties, One Tux by  Steven Goldman   (Bloomsbury, $7.99)
Mitchell Wells plods through his junior year trying to fit in, and wondering if it's worth the bother. His gay best friend, David, doesn't care.

Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian (Scholastic, $8.99)
At a summer art program, Emily meets new friends with very different lifestyles, and a handsome art teacher.

King of the Screwups by K. L. Going (Graphia, $7.99)
Liam is Mr. Popular, but to his father he's a giant screwup. After getting kicked out of the house, he goes to live with "Aunt" Pete.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman (Speak, $8.99)
In her grandfather's rigid home, the only two bright spots in Vidya's life are her friend Raman, and a huge library, reserved for men, to which she secretly gains access.

Lisa Chaplin-Hobbs hosts story time for young children every Monday morning at 10:30 a.m.

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

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GREAT VOICES
Willie Nelson, COUNTRY MUSIC (Rounder, $17.98) – A recharged Willie Nelson teams up with producer T Bone Burnett (and his superb sense of song choices and backup musicians) to go back to his roots.

Rufus Wainwright, ALL DAYS ARE NIGHTS (Decca, $17.98) – Rufus Wainwright’s swoony, mesmerizing voice is up front in spare voice and piano arrangements of all new songs. There’s a song from Rufus’s opera Prima Donna, settings of some Shakespeare sonnets, and meditations on his late mother, Kate McGarrigle.

Magdalena Kozená, VIVALDI (Archiv, $18.98) – The last few years have seen a surge in recordings of Vivaldi’s vocal music, centered on the manuscripts in Turin’s Library. It’s also a time of great mezzos doing Baroque repertoire, and Ms Kožená is one of the best. Following her Handel recording, she once again teams up with the superb Venice Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Marcon. Selections from Juditha Triumphns, Orlando Furioso, Griselda, and other operas.

Click here for more reviews and news. Please call us at 202-364-1919 to order these CDs.