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

 

Along with Carla's family and all of Politics & Prose, I extend an extremely grateful thank-you to all of you who have emailed, called or posted tributes to Carla on our website (www.politics-prose.com/carla). The outpouring of shared sorrow has been overwhelming.  As I write this it is hard to imagine that only three weeks ago Carla and I were in Atlantic City accepting NAIBA’s Legacy Award.  You can click here to view our beloved sales rep, Ted Wedel, introducing us as well as Carla’s short acceptance speech. You can also click to revisit our conversation with E.J. Dionne which occurred only a year ago when we celebrated our 25th anniversary. It is a celebratory moment of Carla at her best.

Carla and I had a uniquely successful partnership that allowed us to work on many ventures that we enjoyed together as well as to pursue our own interests with the full support of the other.  Our partnership lasted for more than a third of our lives, and when Carla was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I told her that Politics & Prose without her was going to be a very lonely experience for me, which it is.  What I miss most about Carla is her passion for living, along with all the many pleasures which she found and shared in books, friends, family, and, yes, food. To me, the cruelest parts of Carla's illness were that, before it killed her, it sapped her energy for reading and killed her taste for food. The next time you read a book that you love - or indulge in your favorite dessert, please bookmark a page - or raise a spoon - to Carla.

When I was considering making the move from Colorado to D.C. to work at Politics & Prose, Carla told me, "Just stay at our house until you find an apartment." So I packed up two cats, a computer, and a suitcase of clothes and headed East. I knew Carla from various ABA dinners and "large store roundtables" so I knew she was well-read, intelligent, and opinionated. I would come to learn how generous and big-hearted she was. She nurtured authors as well as booksellers and shared her love of her favorite books with everyone she encountered.

Carla has had a profound impact on my life, as a mentor, a colleague, and a friend. I will miss her terribly, but I take comfort in being part of what she created. Being in the bookstore, one need only look around and see Carla in every part of it. She lived big, with overflowing generosity and unmistakable passion.

• Mark LaFramboise, Book Buyer

2010 Man Booker Prize WInner Announced!

THE FINKLER QUESTION by Howard Jacobson (Bloomsbury, $15) was just announced as the 2010Man Booker Prize Winner. Ron Charles reviewed it in The Washington Post Wednesday morning, and we have a big stack of them in the store now. Click here to order your copy now!

The Man Booker shortlist was announced on September 6. The five other Booker Finalists are also in the store now. Click these title links to read more about these books and buy them today.

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey (Knopf, $26.95)
Room by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown, $24.99)
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (Europa, $15)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26)
C by Tom McCarthy (Knopf, $25.95)

 

National Book Awards

The National Book Awards shortlist was also just announced. These are the Fiction titles under consideration.

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey (Knopf, $26.95)
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (McPherson, $25)
Great House, by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton, $24.95)
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver (Harper, $25.99)
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita (Coffee House, $19.95)

Click here for more information about these books and for the nominees in the Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature categories.

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This week please join Politics & Prose at the DCJCC, when the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival, October 17-27, presents the year's best in Jewish writing by both emerging and established authors from across the globe. This annual celebration of Jewish literature features engaging author panels, readings and talks for lovers of fiction, history, politics, humor, children's stories and much more.

This year's Festival includes acclaimed novelists Allegra Goodman and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and features Jerry Muller's provocative book, Capitalism and the Jews and Sean Wilentz's acclaimed new biography, Bob Dylan in America. It will screen the documentary on Arab-Israeli writer Sayed Kashua, welcome families with children's author Laurel Snyder, and laugh with Joel Chasnoff, author of the memoir The 188th Crybaby Brigade. Don't miss the Opening Night performance, Strangers in a Strange Land: The Lives of Jewish Immigrants or any of the Festival's14 exciting programs.

For more information and to purchase tickets go to http://washingtondcjcc.org/litfest or call (202) 777-3251.

 

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P&P will co-host these four events at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. When you pre-purchase these books from P&P, you will receive two free admission tickets. Space permitting we will also sell books with tickets at the door. Book signings and Q&A will follow each author talk. These events may sell out! Click the links below for more information and to buy your books and/or admission tickets today!

Tonight, Thursday, October 14, 7 p.m.
DAVID GROSSMAN - TO THE END OF THE LAND(Knopf, $26.95) - Tickets and books will be available at the door
From one of Israel's most acclaimed writers, To the End of the Land is a novel about family life—the greatest human drama—and the cost of war. Evoking the ever-present intrusion of war into the daily life of Israelis, Grossman's novel tells the story of Ora, a woman whose son, Ofer, who is about to leave the army, and instead goes to the front. To endure the anxiety, Ora leaves home with an old friend, an artist turned recluse after a brutal POW experience. Together the two recall old times and slowly reaffirm the values that give their lives meaning. Grossman vividly depicts the reality and surrealism of daily life in Israel, the currents of ambivalence about war within one household, and the burdens that fall on each generation.

Monday, October 18, 7 p.m.
NICOLE KRAUSS - GREAT HOUSE (W.W. Norton, $24.95) - Available now at P&P
Like the heirloom desk at its center, this novel is intricately and sturdily composed of niches and compartments, secret drawers and histories, each of them telling its own story and contributing to a larger one. From an American novelist to a poet in Pinochet's Chile, from a woman dying in London to an antiques dealer in Jerusalem, Krauss weaves a powerful narrative of epic sweep. 

Thursday, October 21, 7 p.m.
V.S. NAIPAUL -THE MASQUE OF AFRICA: Glimpses of African Belief(Knopf, $26.95)
- Pre-purchase Now - Available Oct. 19
From Uganda to Ghana and Nigeria, around the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and on to South Africa, the Nobel laureate's latest work of travel and culture looks at the role of belief throughout the African continent. Considering native faiths based in animism as well as religions introduced from other areas of the world, Naipaul has synthesized a wide range of history, practices, and peoples to tell one more portion of the larger story of human civilization.

Wednesday, November 17, 7 p.m.
SALMAN RUSHDIE - Luka and the Fire of Life(Random House, $25)
- Pre-purchase Now - Available Nov. 16
With the same imagination that has made Salman Rushdie one of the great storytellers of our time, Luka and the Fire of Life revisits the magic-infused, intricate world he first brought to life in the modern classic Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

This new novel centers on Luka, Haroun's younger brother, who must save his father from certain doom by traveling to the Magic World and stealing the Fire of Life. Thus begins a quest full of unlikely creatures, strange alliances, and seemingly insurmountable challenges as Luka and an assortment of enchanted companions race through peril after peril, pass through the land of the Badly Behaved Gods, and reach the Fire itself, where Luka's fate, and that of his father, will be decided. Filled with mischievous wordplay and delving into themes as universal as the power of filial love and the meaning of mortality, Luka and the Fire of Life is a book of wonders for all ages.

Please note: From the day the books are released until the day of the event, ticket-holders may collect their books and tickets at P&P.  On the day of the event, books and tickets will only be available for Will Call at 6 p.m. at Sixth & I. Signed books may be shipped after the event.

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P&P Members always save 20% on our top twelve FICTION and NON-FICTION hardcover bestsellers.
Click the titles to read more about these books and to buy them from Politics & Prose.

FICTION and POETRY

1. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, by David Sedaris, illus. by Ian Falconer (Little, Brown, $21.99)
2. To the End of the Land, by David Grossman (Knopf, $26.95)
3. Great House, by Nicole Krauss (W. W. Norton, $24.95)
4. Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28)
5. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, by Danielle Evans (Riverhead, $25.95)
6. Nemesis, by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26)
7. By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25)
8. Human Chain: Poems, by Seamus Heaney (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24)
9. Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett (Dutton, $36)
10. Room, by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown, $24.99)
11. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  , by David Mitchell (Random House, $26)
12. Painted Ladies, by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $26.95)

 Click here for our fiction paperback bestsellers.

NONFICTION

1. Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow (Penguin, $40)
2. Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom, by Mary Catherine Bateson (Knopf, $25.95)
3. Obama's Wars, by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster, $30)
4. At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson (Doubleday, $28.95)
5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, by Jon Stewart  (Grand Central, $27.99)
6. Madison and Jefferson, by Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein (Random House, $35)
7. The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, by Michele Norris (Pantheon, $24.95)
8. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, $30)
9. The Grand Design, by Leonard Mlodinow, Stephen Hawking (Bantam, $28)
10. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26)
11. Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship, by Gail Caldwell (Random House, $23)
12. Ill Fares the Land, by Tony Judt (Penguin, $25.95)

Click here for our non-fiction paperback bestsellers.

 

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When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins (Back Bay, $15.99)

In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut (Europa, $15)
This finalist for the 2010 Man Booker Prize has just been released as a paperback original in the United States!

Click FICTION or NONFICTION to see and buy more recently released paperbacks.

 

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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 October 14

Tami Lewis Brown - Soar, Elinor
10:30 a.m. In 1928, at age 17, Elinor Smith was the youngest U.S. licensed pilot. After male flyers and newspapermen ridiculed her, she decided to show them up by flying under four New York City bridges. She accomplished this feat on October 21, 1928.  Ms. Brown is a local author, librarian, and pilot.

David Grossman - To the End of the Land @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
7 p.m.  Evoking the ever-present intrusion of war into the daily life of Israelis, Grossman's novel tells the story of Ora, a woman whose son, about to leave the army, instead goes to the front. To endure the anxiety, Ora leaves home with an old friend, an artist turned recluse after a brutal POW experience. Together the two recall old times and slowly reaffirm the values that give their lives meaning.  This is a ticketed event. Tickets and books will be available at the door.

Friday October 15

Condoleezza Rice - Extraordinary, Ordinary People
3 p.m. Rice's memoir charts her trajectory from a childhood in segregated Birmingham to her academic success and on to her role on the world stage as Secretary of State. At every phase of her diverse career, she had the love and support of her family, and this book is a moving tribute from a devoted daughter to her parents.

James Zogby - Arab Voices
7 p.m. Based on a poll conducted throughout the Middle East by Zogby International, this book covers a wide range of topics. Participants were questioned about their views on American foreign policy, the Israel-Palestine peace process, and even on their favorite TV shows. The results give Western readers a direct look at often-misunderstood societies.

Saturday October 16

Joyce Hinnefeld - Stranger Here Below
1 p.m. Hinnefeld's first novel, In Hovering Flight, was a P&P favorite. In her second, this accomplished storyteller looks back to 1961 and chronicles the lives of three women who meet at Berea College in Kentucky. Amazing Grace and Mary Elizabeth have grown up in straitened circumstances and they find a mentor in Sister Georgia, a Shaker who believes in discipline, simplicity, and love.

Bruce Duffy - The World as I Found It
6 p.m. First published in 1987, and now reissued by New York Review Classics, Duffy's acclaimed novel is a fictionalized life of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The narrative traces the thinker's development from his upbringing in a wealthy but tragic Viennese family, to his academic stardom in Cambridge and his complicated relationships with colleagues, especially G.E. Moore and Bertrand Russell.

Sunday October 17

Martin Tolchin and Susan J. Tolchin - Pinstripe Patronage
1 p.m. The Tolchins' eighth book on American politics focuses on today's high-stakes political-patronage deals, which often involve billion-dollar contracts and outsource many services for which the government used to be responsible. The authors contend that this system of favors for support is running amok, especially where it affects foreign policy.

Wray Herbert - On Second Thought
5 p.m. You're facing a decision. Do you carefully weigh the pros and cons or just follow your gut reaction? Combining the latest research on cognitive functions with anecdotes and psychological studies, Herbert offers a fascinating tour of the mind and a helpful guide for knowing when to trust reason over instinct

Monday October 18

Nicole Krauss - Great House @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
7 p.m. Like the heirloom desk at its center, this novel is intricately and sturdily composed of niches and compartments, secret drawers and histories, each of them telling its own story and contributing to a larger one. From an American novelist to a poet in Pinochet's Chile, from a woman dying in London to an antiques dealer in Jerusalem, Krauss weaves a powerful narrative of epic sweep. 
This is a ticketed event. Two admission tickets are free with book purchase from P&P or are $10 each without purchase of the book.

Steven Rattner - Overhaul
7 p.m. As a former New York Times financial reporter and erstwhile executive at Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street firms, Rattner had the expertise to lead the Obama administration's efforts to restructure the auto industry and, now, to tell the full story of the crisis and how it was managed.

Tuesday October 19

Peter Sís - Madlenka, Soccer Star
10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. In his third book about Madlenka, who lives on a block with children from all over the map, Sís, a three-time Caldecott Honor Illustrator, depicts a lively little girl who wants to play soccer with everyone she meets. The artist's bright, fresh colors tell a story of friendship based  in a sport the whole world understands. (Ages 4-7)

Wednesday October 20

Jane Leavy - The Last Boy
7 p.m. Leavy grew up near Yankee Stadium, and in 1983 as a sports reporter for The Washington Post her dream came true: an interview with Mickey Mantle. By then "the Mick" was more tragic hero than golden boy, and Leavy's portrait of his rise, fall, and legend is also the story of a particular period in America.

Thursday October 21

Leslie Margolis - Girl's Best Friend
10:30 a.m. Maggie loves walking dogs after school—it makes up for the woes of middle school and having a twin brother. But then she notices that dogs are disappearing, and as she delves into the mystery, it looks like the boy she has a crush on could be involved.  (Ages 10-12)

Edwidge Danticat - Create Dangerously
7 p.m. Taking her title from an essay by Camus, the award-winning Haitian-American writer (Brother, I'm Dying) combines memoir and cultural criticism to look at the lives and work of immigrants from countries in crisis. She focuses on renowned figures, like Jean-Michel Basquiat, and on her own relatives—victims of AIDS and political violence.

V.S. Naipaul - The Masque Of Africa @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
7 p.m. From Uganda to Ghana and Nigeria, around the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and on to South Africa, the Nobel laureate's latest work of travel and culture looks at the role of belief throughout the African continent. Considering native faiths based in animism as well as religions introduced from other areas of the world, Naipaul has synthesized a wide range of history, practices, and peoples to tell one more portion of the larger story of human civilization.

V.S. Naipaul will present in conversation with his editor, George Andreou. This is a ticketed event.
Two admission tickets are free with book purchase from P&P or are $12 each without the book.

Chris Kimball - Fannie's Last Supper @ Friendship Heights Village Community Center
7 p.m. Chris Kimball is back with his own cookbook. He reexamines and updates the great American Victorian cooking of Fannie Farmer, including an extravagant 12-course Christmas dinner.  Please call 301-656-2797 to sign up.

Friday October 22

Dinaw Mengestu - How to Read the Air
7 p.m. Awarded the Guardian First Book Prize for The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, his novel of newly arrived Africans in D.C., Mengestu here expands on themes of family and belonging. Attempting to forge a future by discovering—or inventing—a past, Jonas, the adult son of Ethiopian immigrants, retraces his parents' journey to and around America.

Saturday October 23

Robert Shogan - Prelude to Catastrophe
1 p.m. In his latest historical analysis, the author of Backlash and No Sense of Decencyexamines what actions, if any, American Jews in FDR's administration took as the Nazis implemented the Final Solution. Concentrating on a few figures close to Roosevelt, Shogan looks for explanations to American Jewry's seeming indifference to the plight of Jews in Europe.

Matt Stewart - The French Revolution
3:30 p.m. The product of 3,700 tweets, Stewart's fast-paced, satirical novel is set in San Francisco and focuses on Esmerelda van Twinkle, former pastry chef, and her family. Her husband disappears, but her sons Marat and Robespierre grow up to find success in the criminal underworld and politics, respectively.

Phil Trupp - Ruthless
6 p.m. Trupp's first-hand account of auction-rate securities combines his experience as an investor with his investigative skills as a reporter. One of many investors advised in 2008 to put money in "cash equivalents" that brokers knew would fail, Trupp exposes a $336 billion scam, tells the stories of other victims, and shows how investors can band together to reclaim their assets.

Sunday October 24

Judy Pasternak - Yellow Dirt
5 p.m. Expanding on her prize-winning Los Angeles Times series, Pasternak tells the story of Monument No. 2, an extensive uranium deposit discovered in the early 1940s on the Navajo reservation. Mined heavily through the Cold War and after, with few safety measures in place, the area has suffered severe environmental damage; the adverse health effects of radioactive soil and water continue.

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

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Thursday, October 14, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
SUSAN ORLEAN
THE ORCHID THIEF (Random House, $14)
Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and many New Yorker articles, weaves stories of offbeat characters and unusual adventures—from fertility ceremonies in Bhutan to extreme origami contests in Japan. “Besides her clever descriptions and charming candor, the most salient feature of Orlean’s travel writing is her enthusiasm,” says Booklist. In dialogue with Traveler editor Don George, Orlean will offer up tales that rival the best.
The event will be preceded by a reception at 6:30 p.m. (ID required)

Click here to purchase $20 tickets (NG Members: $18).

Monday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.

Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Ave.
Chevy Chase, MD
NORAH O’DONNELL and GEOFF TRACY
BABY LOVE: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler (Griffin, $19.99)
Restaurateur and chef Geoff Tracy and MSNBC correspondent and anchor Norah O’Donnell are a married couple and the parents of three young children. Geoff Tracy is the owner and operator of Chef Geoff’s, Chef Geoff’s Downtown, Lia’s in Friendship Heights, as well as two other restaurants. Norah O'Donnell is the Chief Washington Correspondent for MSNBC. In addition, the Emmy Award-winning journalist serves as contributing correspondent for NBC's "TODAY" and is a regular on “The Chris Matthews Show.” Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Friendship Heights Village Center at 301-656-2797.

Tuesday, October 19, 7:30 p.m.

PEN/Faulkner Presents:
NOTE!! Special Location and Time!
6th and I Historic Synagogue
600 I St., NW

NICK HORNBY and BEN FOLDS
JULIET, NAKED (Riverhead, $25.95/$15) and LONELY AVENUE (Nonesuch, $24.98/$14.98)

 Join PEN/Faulkner for an exclusive evening with English novelist Nick Hornby and singer/musician Ben Folds, featuring a reading from Hornby's novel Juliet, Naked (Riverhead, $15) and songs from the newly-released album Lonely Avenue, with lyrics by Nick Hornby and music by Ben Folds.

Nick Hornby is the author of the novels Slam, A Long Way Down, How to be Good, High Fidelity, and About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. He is also the author of Songbook, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, among other works.\


A widely celebrated singer and multi-instrumentalist, Ben Folds is best known as a solo artist and as the frontman and pianist of the ‘90s trio Ben Folds Five. His solo albums include Rockin’ the Suburbs, Songs for Silverman, supersunnyspeedgraphic: the lp, and Way to Normal.

Wednesday, October 27, 7 p.m.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
MICHELLE COVE
SEEKING HAPPILY EVER AFTER: Navigating the ups and downs of being single without losing your mind (and finding lasting love along the way) (Tarcher, $16.95)
There are more single women in their thirties today than at any other time in history. Why now? Are women redefining happily ever after? Filmmaker Michelle Cove will share her documentary (running time: 80 minutes) and its companion book, in which you'll meet women eager to debunk the stereotypes that they are either desperate to get married or too career-driven to care about marriage. These women drop their guard and share the ups and downs of being single today.
Tickets are $8, or receive two (2) FREE tickets with the purchase of the book ($17) through Sixth & I. Questions? Please call 202.408.3100.

 

 

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SET TO SEA, by Drew Weing(Fantagraphics, $16.99)
When a poet is shanghaied and set to work on a ship bound for Hong Kong, his dreams are dashed. But what begins as a nightmarish case of kidnapping quickly and cleverly becomes his muse for an otherwise failed poetic life. This is an amazing debut. Comical, adventurous, drawing on the tradition of single page, single panel storytelling (often done with wood cut printing), and similar to Sammy Harkham's and Jordan Crane's shorter narratives, Set to Sea offers both whimsy and realism - with a dash of romanticism, which make it a genuine pleasure to read. Beautifully done.  

See more recommendations for recently released graphic novels by clicking here.

Click here to buy $30 tickets.

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CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 10/13/2010)
Piggie and Gerald are relaxing together when Gerald senses something amiss.  He peers out of the page and discovers someone – a reader! – staring back at him.  "WE ARE IN A BOOK!," (Hyperion, $8.99) exclaims Piggie.  Gerald is delighted when Piggie plays a trick on the reader, then is devastated when she reveals the terrible truth: the book will end.  But Piggie and Mo Willems have secret plan to keep the story going.  Ages 3-8 - Dana Chidiac

 

 

 

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

Please join us for Storytime on Mondays at 10:30 a.m., BearSong, the Guitar Man, is back after several years' hiatus, leading stories, songs, finger plays, and more for children from birth to 4 years old and their caregivers.

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

These are some of our current favorites from the PG-15 section:

The Things a Brother Knows (Wendy Lamb, $16.99) by Dana Reinhardt
Levi struggles with changed family dynamics after his older brother, completely changed, returns from fighting in Afghanistan.

Jumpstart the World (Knopf, $16.99) by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Elle is challenged to rethink the way she views other people after discovering the man she has a crush on is transgendered.

Trash (David Fickling, $16.99) by Andy Mulligan
In an unnamed Latin American country, three boys who survive by scavenging in the garbage dump discover a piece of trash, with unexpected consequences.

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story (Balzer & Bray, $16.99) by Adam Rex
Unlike the vampires in other books, 15-year old Doug "Meatball" Lee is overweight, dorky and struggling to find a girl willing to be bitten by him.

Click here to access the teen blog.

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