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

 

 

GOOGLE EBOOKS ARE NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH POLITICS-PROSE.COM!

On December 6, 2010, Google Editions launched a new form of "cloud-based" digital book .  Politics & Prose is pleased to be one of the participating ABA member stores currently registered to sell these Google ebooks online.  Through our IndieCommerce website, we are now able to provide a far greater selection of ebooks to customers and reliably serve an unprecedented variety of electronic reading devices (tablets, smartphones, computers, e-ink devices, etc.). Google eBooks is compatible with most web browsers, Android phones, iPhone, iPad, and many eReaders. The open and accessible platform means that hundreds of thousands of titles are now available at competitive prices.

If you have any questions or comments about this transition, or these products, please visit our help page at http://www.politics-prose.com/gbook/help/about, scroll through our FAQ page at  http://www.politics-prose.com/gbook/help, or write to us at books@politics-prose.com.

 

CARLA COHEN MEMORIAL ON BOOKTV

Politics & Prose's tribute to Carla, held in the store on November 21, will be aired on Booktv.org this weekend, Saturday at 11 a.m.. and 7 p.m., Monday morning at 1 a.m.  Please remember that after it airs you will be able to watch it anytime in BookTV's archive, as well as watching it on Politics & Prose's website or through our Livestream-powered relationship with BeNOW.tv.

 

 

 

HOLIDAY SAVINGS CONTINUE FOR MEMBERS UNTIL DECEMBER 31 - THE P&P HOLIDAY NEWSLETTER!

We had a busy, busy time this past weekend with our member sale, but I'm concerned about the number of members who thought that they had to buy the books in our Holiday Newsletter during the member sale to receive a 20 percent discount.  These books are on sale for members during the ENTIRE MONTH of December!  The big perk of the member sale is to being able to buy any book in the store at a discount.  If there was a book you forgot to buy during the sale, use the coupon you got at the register to purchase it at a sale price. Don't waste it on titles that are in our Politics & Prose 2010 Holiday Newsletter as they're discounted 15-20% to members all month.

Click here to see and download a copy of the Holiday Newsletter and the Children and Teens' Department 2010 Book Favoritesonline!

 

 

BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED BOOKS

An important aspect of book publishing that has been entirely overlooked in the ebook vs. physical book maelstrom is the role of book design.  Books are more than bound pages with boards at each end; a significant cost to publishers is paid to book designers who make the books pleasing to the eye and the touch.  In the publishing industry, this is called "packaging," but I hate that term. There is much more to book design than just the art work: the choice of paper, type, and binding is also important.  Today's Huffington Post has an intriguing article about the 25 most attractive book covers in 2010, including the designers' philosophies in creating their artwork.   Here is how Lynn Buckley describes her design process for David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House, $26), which is, by the way, one of our aforementioned Holiday Newsletter selections!

"This historical novel focuses on the only bridge of contact Japan had with the outside world in the 18th century: trading with the extremely corrupt Dutch East India Company. I began by researching bridges depicted in the gorgeous Japanese woodcut prints from this period, and discovered that these now highly prized prints were then so commonplace, they were used as protection for shipping goods to other parts of the world. Perfect image for this book! I wrapped a book with a photocopy of a print, as if it was being shipped; and then photographed it. Unfortunately, that idea made the design much too complicated. So I used the art as is, but played with cutting the print and layering it with old woodcut type--to suggest the layers of intrigue in the novel, and to suggest the very modern way Mitchell writes. I can only hope the cover might bring new readers to David Mitchell, whom the New York Times called "a genius."

Read the whole article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/25-best-book-covers-2010-anis-shivani_b_789138.html#s192828.

 

HOLIDAY BOOK ANGELS

Our local WILSON HIGH SCHOOL is spending the year at UDC while their campus is being remodeled.  In the transition, 2500 fiction titles from their library were lost. For this year's BOOK ANGELS project, we are asking the community to help purchase new books to replenish their library.

Librarian Pamela Gardner requests fiction for grades 6-12.  Our Children and Teens' Department is ready to help you chose appropriate books and will collect your donations for Ms. Gardner.

Books purchased for Wilson High School Book Angels will be given a 20% discount.  The Book Angels Program runs through December 31, 2010. Call the Children's Department at 202--364-1919 for more information.

GIFT WRAPPING

As in past years, to make your holiday gift-giving easier, volunteers from the The Washington Literacy Council are at the store gift-wrapping packages through December 26, every day from opening until closing. This is a joint endeavor between Politics & Prose, which donates the space and wrapping papers, and The Washington Literacy Council, which recruits and supplies the volunteers. Serving the Washington community for more than 45 years, WLC provides reading education and support to District adults with the most limited reading skills, greatest needs, and fewest resources. We suggest $1 donation per item to support this WLC fundraising campaign.

So please help sustain this wonderful cause while reducing your holiday preparations and making your gift giving easier! You may also sign up as a volunteer gift wrapper by contacting Jennifer Durkin at WLCgiftwrap@gmail.com; just put "P&P Wrap" in the subject line.

CARDS AND CALENDARS

Holiday cards and 2010 calendars are disappearing quickly. When they are gone, they will not be replenished. Come visit us soon to have the best selection.

FROM OUR SHIPPING DEPARTMENT

Politics & Prose will contribute to the joys of your holiday season by providing shipping to your gift recipients. Not only will volunteers from the Washington Literacy Council giftwrap your books and packages, but our packing and shipping elves will employ the FedEx (or USPS Priority Mail when appropriate) reindeer to safely carry your packages to homes around the world. We do request that you be aware of these shipping guidelines for the following destinations to ensure the timely arrival of your holiday gifts:

December 3: Africa and South America.
December 4-10: APOs.
December 10-13: The Rest of the World.
December 17: FedEx West Coast.
December 20: First Class Mail USA (Gift Certificates etc…)
December 21: Priority Mail USA.
December 22: FedEx Local.
December 23: Priority Mail Local, Next Day Air.

 

MORE BEAUTIFUL BOOKS - (Almost) Wordless Books 
by Adam Waterreus

In celebration of the new edition of Lynd Ward: Six Novels in Woodcuts (Library of America, $70), I thought a spotlight on some new and lesser known wordless books was in order.

Why and what are wordless books? As George A. Walker states in the preface to Graphic Witness, "Free of the confines of words, books written in the universal language of pictures are understandable anywhere in the global village."  There is immediacy to a story told strictly in pictures; an urgency which is confined only by how long it takes to "read" the picture. The speed and movement of a piece is then largely dictated by the complexity of the picture. This can be seen in the difference between Brian Chippendale's frenetic and small paneled Maggots and the abstract comic art of Andrei Molotiu, whose shapes and movement (in and out of panel borders) are an interpretation wholly and exceptionally dependent on the viewer's experience of the art.  

By eliminating words from the graphic medium, the work itself becomes closer to the realm of art, and for those who decry the comic medium this is the one time where the interpretation of the reader, or viewer, is crucial and essential. How well can you pick out details? How well does the artist portray a narrative?

Click here to read more and to learn about five other wordless books.

 

 

Spaces are already being reserved for these upcoming Politics & Prose classes!

MODERN AMERICAN POETRY
Taught by Gigi Bradford
Tuesdays, January 18 - March 1 from 3 - 4:30 p.m.

How does poetry continue to console us in a world with a fractured and degraded sense of the divine? Come join our poetry circle as we discuss the work of two seminal modern American poets, Stanley Kunitz and Richard Wilbur. Between them, these two giants of American poetry have won every honor available, including three Pulitzer Prizes, two Bollingen Prizes and two National Book Awards. Each has served as U.S. Poet Laureate. For those of you in the fall group discussing Blake and Dickinson, this session will continue our conversation about how poets define paradise as human imagination. But you don’t need to have been part of the fall group to join us. All you need is to enjoy the company of others and to love words. We will meet for six Tuesdays 3 - 4:30 p.m. January until March, with one week off.

4 Tuesdays, January 18 - February 8;
One week off: no class Feb 15;
2 Tuesdays, February 22 & March 1

Syllabus:
The Collected Poems, Stanley Kunitz (W.W. Norton, $17.95)
Collected Poems 1943-2004, Richard Wilbur (Mariner, $18)

The class fee is $100 (or $80 for P&P members). Click here to register. Course books are discounted 20% off for class participants. Please provide your email address when you register so that you can receive weekly emails about the readings, .

THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN FICTION AND HISTORY
Taught by Susan Willens and Virginia Newmyer
Tuesdays, February 8 - June 7 from 1 - 3 p.m.
- OR - Wednesdays, February 9 - June 8 from 1 - 3 p.m.

From 1172 to 1947, the British flag flew across the globe, marking England's commercial and political control over subject people. English military and maritime power, language, law, and customs spread over one-quarter of the earth.

In meetings once a month from February to June, the class will discuss British imperial dominion over five colonies as shown in history and fiction.

Classes will meet from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., on the second Tuesday (except in June, see below) OR Wednesday (choose one) of each month at Politics and Prose. The assigned books will be available at a 20% discount from class participants.

Syllabus:
February 8 and 9 Ireland: Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September (Anchor, $15)
March 8 and 9 India: Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (Random House, $16)
April 12 and 13 Canada: Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock (Vintage, $14.95)
May 10 and 11 Australia: David Malouf, Harland's Half Acre(Vintage, $12)
June 7 and 8 (Note: June 7 is the first Tuesday of the month, not the second)
Nigeria: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Anchor, $11)

Click here to register - $80 for P&P members, $100 for non-members

Please indicate whether you will attend on Tuesday or Wednesday when you enroll.

 

Go back to top of email

 

December 1 - 26

ROUND HOUSE THEATRE BETHESDA
4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD
A WRINKLE IN TIME
by John Glore
from the novel by Madeleine L’Engle
directed by Casey Sams

Round House Theatre presents the area premiere of A Wrinkle in Time, a play by John Glore based on the beloved novel for young readers by Madeleine L'Engle. Children's tickets are just $10 weeknights and $15 at Fri. and Sat performances. On a dark and stormy night, the eccentric Mrs. Whatsit arrives at the home of Meg Murry, a tomboy whose scientist father vanished two years ago under mysterious circumstances. Aided by Mrs. Whatsit and her friends, Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin are transported through time and space on a mission to rescue their father from the evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet. For tickets, visit www.roundhousetheatre.org or call the Round House box office at 240-644-1100. (Recommended for age 6 and above.)

Read more about the Round House Theatre's Literary Works Project by clicking here.
Get a copy of A Wrinkle in Time (Yearling, $6.99) by Madeleine L'Engle by clicking here.

 

TERASOL - AN ARTISAN GALLERY AND CAFE

We are pleased to welcome our new neighbors across the street - in our former space at 5010 Connecticut Ave, NW! Every Friday night, starting at 6:30 p.m., Terasol hosts the very talented classical guitarist Said Tinat.  And starting this week, they are introducing a special Happy Hour menu Monday through Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Great wines, great food, all $5!!!

They also offer unique gifts, beautifully handcrafted by local artisans! Visit them at www.terasolartisans.com

 

Go back to top of emaii

 

All Politics & Prose Weekly Hardcover Bestsellers are 20% off for Members.
Click the book titles for more information about these featured books.
Bookmark www.politics-prose.com/bestsellers/hardcover-fiction and www.politics-prose.com/bestsellers/hardcover-nonfiction for our weekly discounted bestsellers.
Click here to receive the benefits of Politics & Prose membership.

FICTION

1. Lord of Misrule, by Jaimy Gordon (McPherson, $25) -  Author Event March 2011
2. Ann Beattie: The New Yorker Stories, by Ann Beattie (Scribner, $30)
3. The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman (Dial, $25) - Author Event January 7
4. The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer (Knopf, $26.95)
5. Moonlight Mile, by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow, $26.99)
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf, $27.95)
7. Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. Trans. by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Pantheon, $30)
8. By Nightfall, by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25)
9. The Sleepwalkers, by Paul Grossman (St. Martin's, $24.99)
10.  I Still Dream About You, by Fannie Flagg (Random House, $26)
11. The Charming Quirks of Others: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel, by Alexander Mccall Smith (Pantheon, $24.95)
12. The Passages of H. M.: A Novel of Herman Melville, by Jay Parini (Doubleday, $26.95)

Click here for our fiction paperback bestsellers.

NONFICTION

1. White House Diary, by Jimmy Carter (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30)
2. Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff (Little, Brown, $29.99)
3. Colonel Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris (Random House, $35) - Author Event January 6
4. Decoded, by Jay-Z (Spiegel & Grau, $35)
5. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
6. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary, by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, edited by Steve Weisman (PublicAffaris, $35)
7. 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)
8. At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, by Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf, $35)
9. Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, by Robert D. Kaplan (Random House, $28)
10. Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family, by Condoleezza Rice (Crown, $27) Signed copies still available
11. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder (Basic, $29.95)
12. First Family: Abigail and John Adams, by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf, $27.95) Signed copies still available

Click here for our non-fiction paperback bestsellers.

Go back to top of emaii

 

If you can't attend a talk, but would like to buy a signed copy or a recorded author presentation, click the title links to reserve your book online.
  P&P members save 20% on all of these event titles.
Bookmark www.politics-prose.com/event  for our author events calendar.

Thursday, December 9, 7 p.m.

OLIVER SACKS
THE MIND'S EYE(Knopf, $26.95) at Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
 
What would it be like suddenly to be unable to read? Or not to be able to recognize your children? Or, like Dr. Sacks, to lose vision to one side? In his latest collection of essays on the frighteningly fragile, amazingly resilient human brain, the neurologist and author most recently of Musicophiliaoffers case studies of people who have lost certain cognitive abilities yet who nonetheless lead fairly normal lives as their brains find ways to compensate for the damage.

This ticketed event is expected to sell out. Copies of The Mind's Eye and a limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

Thursday, December 9, 7 p.m.

EMMA DONOGHUE
ROOM: A Novel(Little, Brown, $24.99)
Emma Donoghue is a 2010 Man Booker Prize Finalist for her new novel. She beckons us down dark alleys to a place we would never intentionally go, as she tells this unthinkable story through the irrepressible and naive voice of five-year-old Jack, who has lived his entire life in a single 11 x 11 room. His innocent depiction belies the horrid reality that exists for him and "Ma", his only friend, his teacher, and his protector from "Old Nick", who keeps them both captive in "Room".

Donoghue challenges the reader to relate to this horrifyingly tragic situation in concretely pragmatic and practical terms. The magic lies in crafting an intimate story of a mother, a son, and how they cope to survive and support each other in this confined space. Jack's narrative details the challenging process of individuation and recovery from trauma and deprivation. Donoghue's skillful storytelling reveals her characters' confusion and resilience, and she will have you caring and rooting for them as they deal with this life they never chose. - Bill Leggett

Books and tickets available to preorder now.

Monday, January 10, 2011, 7 p.m.

KAREN ARMSTRONG
TWELVE STEPS TO A COMPASSIONATE LIFE(Knopf, $22.95) at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world (The Battle for God, The Great Transformation, The Spiral Staircase) now gives us an impassioned and practical book that can help us make the world a more compassionate place. Karen Armstrong believes that, while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, by working diligently, we can cultivate it - and expand our capacity for providing it. Here, in this straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life.

 

Go back to top of email

 

WHITE HOUSE DIARIES
Signed by President JIMMY CARTER
(Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $30)
Hardcover - September 2010
First editions, first printings.

AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Signed by Maira Kalman
(Penguin, $29.95)
Hardcover - October 2010
First editions, first printings.

Click here to see more of our Signed Event Books. Also, for only $1.50 additional per book, Politics & Prose now offers an Archival Book Covering Service. Click here to add this item to your order!

 

 

Go back to top of email

Friday, December 10, 2 p.m.

Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Ave.
Chevy Chase, MD

CAROL ERON RIZZOLI
THE HOUSE AT ROYAL OAK: Starting Over & Rebuilding a Life One Room at a Time (Black Dog & Leventhal, $22.95)
In 2001, Ms. Rizzoli and her husband bought a dilapidated farmhouse in the tiny village of Royal Oak, Maryland, on the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. They spent two years transforming it into a bed and breakfast- a job that took them twice as long and cost three times as much as they had originally estimated. The book tells the amazing story of restoring a house and reinventing themselves at the same time. 

Carol Rizzoli has taught at Boston University, served as book editor for The Washington Post, and was a managing editor of publications for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  Hugo Rizzoli owned The Bookstall in Potomac for twenty years and then trained as a chef before starting a catering business and bringing his skills to the new B&B venture. 

Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797.

 

Monday, December 13, 7 p.m.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
DAMON LINKER
THE RELIGIOUS TEST: Why We Must Question the Beliefs of Our Leaders (W.W. Norton, $25.95)
The Constitution states that “no religious test” may keep a candidate from aspiring to political office. Yet, since John F. Kennedy used the phrase to deflect concerns about his Catholicism, the public has largely avoided probing candidates’ religious beliefs. Is it true that a candidate’s religious convictions should be off-limits to public scrutiny?

Damon Linker doesn’t think so, and in this book he outlines the various elements of religious belief that are incompatible with high office in a democracy. He explains the complicated interrelations between churches and states, consistently applying a political litmus test to a range of theological views. Linker urges both believers and atheists to behave better in the public sphere, and he offers a carefully charted road map for doing so. Linker will be interviewed by Frank Foer, editor of the New Republic.

Click here to purchase the book and receive 2 FREE tickets through Sixth & I, or to buy $8 tickets. Tickets at the door will be $10. Questions. Call 202.408.3100.

 

Go back to top of email

 

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through December 15, 2010)
Dinner time?  Get the kids involved.  Children can fix tasty omelettes, crunchy chicken breasts, and lots of sides and desserts using Williams-Sonoma's THE KID'S COOKBOOK(Oxmoor House, $19.95).  With a clear layout, easy to follow instructions and spiral binding this children's cookbook is one of the best available.  Come browse our cookbook selection for children of all tastes and ages.  Ages 8-12.  Dara La Porte

Story time takes a hiatus during the winter holiday season.
BearSong, the Guitar Man, leads will resume his Monday morning story time on January 10, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. with stories, songs, finger plays, and more for children from birth to 4 years old and their caregivers.

 Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children and teens by clicking here.   
For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.

Click here to access the teen blog.

Go back to top of email

Go back to top of email