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Greetings from Politics & Prose!
Week of January 6, 2011
Happy New Year! Author Events with Edmund Morris, Tom Rachman, Karen Armstrong, and Parag Khanna |
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Click here for our events calendar to preview upcoming events through the end of February.
Members always save 20% on author event books and titles included in other special promotions.
Click here to register!
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Thursday, January 6
7 p.m. Edmund Morris - Colonel Roosevelt
Friday, January 7
7 p.m. Tom Rachman - The Imperfectionists
Saturday, January 8
1 p.m. Matthew Gilmore and Joshua Olsen - Foggy Bottom and the West End in Vintage Images
6 p.m. Steven Simon and Dana Allin - The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War
Sunday, January 9
5 p.m. Rachel Machacek - The Science of Single
Monday, January 10
7 p.m. Karen Armstrong - Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life at Sixth I Historic Synagogue |
Tuesday January 11
7 p.m. Rachel Polonsky - Molotov's Magic Lantern
Wednesday January 12
7 p.m. Parag Khanna - How to Run the World
Thursday, January 13
7 p.m. Brad Meltzer - The Inner Circle
Friday, January 14
7 p.m. John Quiggin - Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us
Saturday, January 15
1 p.m. Cortright McMeel - Short: "Wall Street" Meets "The Office"
6 p.m. Daniel Rasmussen - American Uprising
Sunday, January 16
5 p.m. Peter Bergen - The Longest War |
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P&P HOSTS OUT-OF-TOWN BOOKSELLERS FOR ABA WINTER INSTITUTE
This week we are mopping up from Christmas and sprucing up for a big event in the middle of this month, the Winter Institute sponsored by the American Booksellers Association. This event attracts about 500 booksellers from across the country to three days of workshops for professional development. This is the first time the Winter Institute has been held in Washington, D.C. and also it is the first time that Politics and Prose has hosted a portion of the event, so we get to show off a little to all our colleagues from around the country. In many ways we are the envy of most booksellers because of the demographics of our customer base. No other store in the country boasts such an affluent and educated clientele. Plus, no other bookstore comes close to the large number of published writers who are also our customers. On occasions such as this upcoming institute we once again are reminded of the tremendous great fortune that we have in our customers and the many pleasures that they bring us. Thank you!
BOOK GROUP NIGHT
Join us on Monday, January 31st for Book Group Night. Whether you participate in one of P&P's public book groups, have formed one with your friends and neighbors, want to recruit new members, or wish to start or find a new group, please join us for this discussion. We'll talk about starting book groups and keeping them going and will consider how to stimulate conversation and stay on the subject. We'll also trade ideas about book group experiences, pool recommendations about books, and discuss how the store can help support your group!
To assist us with seating needs, please RSVP to bookgroups@politics-prose.com
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All 2011 calendars are now 20% off.
Holiday books are 30% off.
Holiday cards are 40% off.
All sales are final on these items.
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In WHAT I EAT: Around the World in 80 Diets (Ten Speed, $40) researchers and photographers Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio (Material World, Women in the Material World, Hungry Planet, and What the World Eats) focus on the daily eating habits of a varied group of people from all over the world. Pictured with the food they typically eat in a day are a sadhu priest in India, a Chinese acrobat, a taxi driver in the U.S., a homemaker in Yemen, and a bullfighter in Spain, to name just a few. Many of the details are surprising. The head monk in a Tibetan monastery takes in an amazing 4900 calories a day while the American taxi driver eats only 2000 per day. These and other dietary facts make readers reexamine traditionally held beliefs about food, obesity, and the differences and similarities between cultures. Also included are essays by Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, and other contemporary commentators on the global effects of what we eat. The profiles, accompanied by photos, provide an interesting and nuanced look into the lives of a rich sampling of our population. - Mark LaFramboise
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LISTEN TO THIS
Signed by Alex Ross
First Editions, First Printings.
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27)
September 2010 - Hardcover.
Alex Ross, The New Yorker's classical-music critic, wants to break down musical barriers. In a new essay in LISTEN TO THIS (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27), he traces the chaconne's and the lamento's descending bass line across the ages, ending with blues and rock standards. His collection ranges from explorations of Mozart, Brahms, and Schubert to profiles of Björk and Radiohead, and heartfelt appreciations of the voices of Marian Anderson, Frank Sinatra, and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. After The Rest is Noise, his musical history of the 20th century, Ross collects some of his best pieces here: expeditions to China, Alaska, and the Marlboro Festival; following the St. Lawrence Quartet and Bob Dylan on the road; and essays on changing technology, and the plight of our music education (with some hopeful exceptions). Ross also has a great discography at the end (and audio and video examples on his blogs). - András Goldinger
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.
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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.
Click www.politics-prose.com/event for our author events calendar through February.
Thursday, January 6, 2011, 7 p.m.
Edmund Morris - Colonel Roosevelt
The final volume of Morris's award-winning three-part biography of Teddy Roosevelt picks up where Theodore Rex left off. Age 50, having just lost the White House to Taft, Roosevelt set out for a grand safari in Africa. As prodigious with a pen as he was with a gun, TR left a huge archive of letters, journals, and books, all of which inform this definitive life story.
Friday, January 7, 2011, 7 p.m.
Tom Rachman - The Imperfectionists
Join us for the paperback release of Rachman's witty debut novel. Turning his erstwhile journalistic career into the story of a struggling English-language newspaper in Rome, Rachman lets different reporters and editors have their say, creating a rich and funny tapestry of good intentions and mishaps. Worries about the paper's future pale with comparison to the daily trials and tribulations.
Saturday, January 8, 2011, 1 p.m.
Matthew Gilmore and Joshua Olsen - Foggy Bottom and the West End in Vintage Images
With period photographs and thoroughly researched text, the authors - both associated with the area's history discussion list and web site H-DC - recreate the factories, breweries, and gasworks that once stood where Federal office buildings, the Kennedy Center, and George Washington University are today.
Saturday, January 8, 2011, 6 p.m.
Steven Simon and Dana Allin - The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War
With co-author Dana Allin, Senior Fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Simon, a former senior official on President Clinton's National Security Council staff, focuses on the latest of the half-dozen crises the U.S. has faced in the Middle East since World War II: Iran's nuclear weapons capability. Against the backdrop of the continuing Israel-Palestine stalemate and with the possibility of a pre-emptive strike by Israel, the situation in Iran could destabilize the entire region.
Sunday, January 9, 2011, 5 p.m.
Rachel Machacek - The Science of Single
Frustrated, as so many have been, with the state of dating today, the local journalist and blogger sets out to find a more rational, even scientific, way to meet the right person. Her account of a year spent systematically exploring the available avenues for finding love is, by turns, surprising, funny, and thought-provoking.
Monday, January 10, 2011, 7 p.m.
Karen Armstrong - Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
In her many books on the history of religion (The Battle for God, The Great Transformation), Armstrong has advocated compassion as one of the greatest virtues. In her new book, she presents practical ways to practice compassion in everday life, including learning how to apply it to others and to yourself, and how to develop greater mindfulness, sympathetic joy, and concern for everyone.
This is a ticketed event. Please reserve your tickets and books online by clicking here or call us at 202-364-1919 to purchase tickets by phone.
Tuesday January 11, 2011, 7 p.m.
Rachel Polonsky - Molotov's Magic Lantern
Readers may recognize Nabokov's magic lantern in this title, but Polonsky, a British writer, did actually find one that belonged to Molotov. Living in a building formerly occupied by Stalin's henchman, and traveling from Moscow through Siberia and along the Mongolian border, Polonsky has assembled a range of observations about Russia's past and present.
Wednesday January 12, 2011, 7 p.m.
Parag Khanna - How to Run the World
Following the end of the American Century, the author of The Second World argues that today's decentralized geo-political arena amounts to a new Middle Ages, where influence is fragmented among governments, NGOs, corporations, and other institutions. Using case studies and statistics, Khanna shows how new combinations of existing organizations can apply "global resources to solve local problems."
Thursday January 13, 2011, 7 p.m.
Brad Meltzer - The Inner Circle
Beecher White's quiet job at the National Archives becomes an adventure when he shows his girlfriend a secret room used by the president, and discovers a dictionary that once belonged to George Washington. Old secrets hidden there take on new life, and Meltzer weaves history and current politics together for a top-flight thriller.
Friday January 14, 2011, 7 p.m.
John Quiggin - Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us
Quiggin argues that the tenets of market liberalism—that market-based solutions will solve economic problems—were largely responsible for the recent financial crisis. Assumptions about the reliability of deregulation, for example, or about markets as the best gauge of value, are outdated theories that need to be replaced by fresh thinking.
Saturday January 15, 2011, 1 p.m.
Cortright McMeel - Short: "Wall Street" Meets "The Office"
A former energy trader, McMeel has turned his experience into a novel set in the high-stakes world of traders who can make and lose tens of millions of dollars in a day. His protagonist is smart, young Gallagher, who, caught up in the momentum of events, must choose between following his staid, old-school mentor or going with a maverick intent on shaking things up.
Saturday January 15, 2011, 6 p.m.
Daniel Rasmussen - American Uprising
The largest slave rebellion in American history took place in New Orleans in January 1811. Of 500 armed slaves, more than 100 were killed by federal troops and French planters, after which news of the incident was suppressed. Rasmussen's extensive research into the uprising considers the political, economic, and cultural elements surrounding the event and its aftermath.
Sunday January 16, 2011, 5 p.m.
Peter Bergen - The Longest War
CNN national security analyst and author of The Osama bin Laden I Know, Bergen is one of the foremost experts about al-Qaeda. Working from long-term knowledge of the region and extensive interviews with combatants, he argues here that mainstream Islam, not Western force, is the greatest "ideological threat" to al-Qaeda and that the U.S.'s preoccupation with Iraq has enhanced bin Laden's influence.
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Politics & Prose supplies books to book signing parties and events for other organizations. These are often open to the public; however, reservations and tickets should be acquired from the hosting organization. Please contact offsite@politics-prose.com if you are planning an event and would like us to supply the books.
Saturday, January 8, 2 p.m.
Palisades Library
4901 V St. N.W.
CHEF GEOFF TRACY
BABY LOVE: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler (Griffin, $19.99)
Is there anything more important than a happy, healthy baby? Start your children on a lifelong love of nutritious food by providing them with fresh ingredients through easy-to-make, cost-effective, environmentally conscious, and delicious meals. Geoff Tracy is an award-winning restaurant owner. Together with his wife, chief Washington correspondent and anchor for MSNBC Norah O'Donnell, he wrote this book about how to prepare quick and healthful food for your young children. Join us for this sampling, Q&A, demonstration, and discussion with Chef Geoff Tracy.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase through Politics & Prose. Please call Colleen Semitekol, Children's Librarian, at 202-282-3139 to RSVP and for more information about this FREE EVENT.
Friday January 14, 7:30 p.m.
PEN/Faulkner Reading Series
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street, S.E.
POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR, ACHY OBEJAS, & DANZY SENNA
Moderated by Yolanda Young
Three award-winning writers explore race, politics, family, and cultural dislocation, in story and conversation:
Porochista Khakpour was born in Tehran and raised in Los Angeles. Her debut novel, SONS AND OTHER FLAMMABLE OBJECTS (Grove, $14), was named a New York Times "Editor's Choice," Chicago Tribune "Fall's Best," and 2007 California Book Award winner. Other writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Village Voice, among other publications. Currently on the faculty of Fairfield University's low-residency MFA, she is also an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the College of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Achy Obejas is the author of the novel RUINS (Akashic, $15.95), three other books of fiction, and a bestselling poetry chapbook, This is What Happened in Our Other Life. Her translation, into Spanish, of Junot Díaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao /La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Óscar Wao was a finalist for Spain’s Esther Benítez Translation Prize from the national translator’s association. She is currently the Sor Juana Writer in Residence at Depaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Danzy Senna's debut novel Caucasia was awarded the Book of the Month Club Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, an Alex Award from the American Library Association, and was a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, among others. Her second novel, Symptomatic, is a psychological thriller on the complicated topic of race and identity. Danzy Senna's most recent book is the memoir WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT?: A Personal History (Picador, $14). She lives in Los Angeles, California.
Click here http://www.penfaulkner.org/reading_series.php?id=603 for more information and for $15 tickets.
Bookmark this link for future offsite events.
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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
- The Sherlockian, by Graham Moore (Twelve, $24.99)
- Luka and the Fire of Life, by Salman Rushdie (Random House, $25)
- To the End of the Land, by David Grossman (Knopf, $26.95)
- An Object of Beauty, by Steve Martin (Grand Central, $26.99)
- A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (Knopf, $25.95)
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson (Knopf, $27.95)
- 40: A Doonesbury Retrospective, by G. B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel, $100)
- The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman (Dial, $25)
- Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28)
- The Elephant's Journey, by Jose Saramago (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24)
- What Is Left the Daughter, by Howard Norman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25)
- The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman (Dial, $26)
Click here for our fiction paperback bestsellers.
NONFICTION
- Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, by Karen Armstrong (Knopf, $22.95)
- Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff (Little, Brown, $29.99)
- Colonel Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris (Random House, $35)
- Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet, by Jennifer Homans (Random House, $35)
- How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Bakewell (Other, $25)
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26)
- The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, $30)
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House, $27)
- Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage, by Hazel Rowley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27)
- The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, by John Vaillant (Knopf, $26.95)
- All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera (Portfolio, $32.95)
- 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)
Click here for our non-fiction paperback bestsellers.
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CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through January 12, 2011)
Ring in the New Year with the hairiest family, the fastest bicyclist, the shortest teenager and thousands of other record holders in GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2011 ($28.95). Chock full of fascinating and unusual information, and organized by topics like Super Stunts, Human Endeavors, Popular Culture, and Combat Sports, the Guinness world record book is a perennial favorite. All Ages - Heidi Powell
Monday, January 10, 10:30 a.m.
BearSong, the Guitar Man, resumes his weekly morning story time 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.
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Not many writers can win both a Caldecott Medal and an American Institute of Architects Medal—not to mention a MacArthur "genius" grant. David Macaulay is indeed one-of-a kind, writing books for younger readers that older ones can also learn from. Having told us The Way Things Work, now he's ready to show us THE WAY WE WORK: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body. With his co-author, Richard Walker, Macaulay vividly presents how cells, nerves, and muscles function, what the various organs do and why, what happens when we eat and breathe. This is a great reference book—as well as a wonderful adventure. Available in hardcover, $9.98.
Bill Bryson is another man who can write anything, from witty travel tales to histories of science to books on language. We're delighted to have BRYSON'S DICTIONARY FOR WRITERS AND EDITORS back in stock. This browsable, readable handbook of English usage covers points of grammar, lists easily confused words, defines terms, identifies writers, and much more. Arranged alphabetically, it's easy to use, whether you want to know when hopefully is correct or need reminding that Moby-Dick has a hyphen. Ever wonder what the first names of the Grimm Brothers were? Find out here. Available in hardcover, $6.98.
In WALLACE STEGNER AND THE AMERICAN WEST, Philip Fradkin tells the fascinating life story of one of America's most beloved writers. Born in 1909, Stegner grew up mainly in Utah. His father was a gambler and a bootlegger. He went to college at the University of Iowa, the school that would develop one of the top writing programs in the country, even as Stegner himself went on to found the Stanford Creative Writing program. Fradkin also chronicles Stegner's involvement in environmental issues. Available in hardcover, $5.98.
Click here to browse other remainders that have recently become available.
• Laurie Greer
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MILESTONES
Many greats in the world of music—some recognized, some unsung—passed away in the last twelve months.
Jazz & Latin:
Ed Thigpen, drummer; Herb Ellis, guitarist; Jamil Nasser, bassist; Hank Jones, pianist; Fred Anderson, saxophonist, AACM co-founder, club owner; Bill Dixon, trumpeter and educator; Benny Powel, trombonist; Willem Breuker, Dutch bandleader and saxophonist; Abbey Lincoln, iconic vocalist, composer, actress; Buddy Collette, flutist and saxophonist; Marion Brown, saxophonist; James Moody, saxophonist; Dr. Billy Taylor, pianist, jazz educator and ambassador.
Pop:
Willie Mitchell, soul/R&B producer; Teddy Pendergrass, R&B singer; Carl Smith, country singer; Kate McGarrigle, singer/songwriter/matriarch; Alex Chilton, Box Tops and Big Star vocalist; Keith “Guru” Elam, rapper from Gang Starr; “Little Benny” (Anthony Harley), go-go master, Rare Essence, Little Benny and the Masters; Ari Up, Slits vocalist; Solomon Burke, soul singer; Jerry Bock, Broadway composer (Fiddler on the Roof); “Captain Beefheart” (Don Van Vliet), rock musician.
Classical:
Earl Wild, classical pianist; Bernard Coutaz, founder of the Harmonia Mundi label; David Soyer, cellist of the Guarneri Quartet; Philip Langridge, English tenor; Yvonne Loriod, classical pianist and teacher; Charles Mackerras, conductor; Joan Sutherland, soprano; Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano; Henryk Gorecki, composer; Hugues Cuénod, French tenor.
Global:
Lhasa de Sala, singer-songwriter; Graciela Peréz-Gutierrez, pioneering Afro-Cuban singer; Francisco Aguabella, conguero; David Fanshawe, composer (African Sanctus), ethnomusicologist; Paulo Moura, Brazilian clarinetist and composer.
In Other Realms:
Charlie Gillett, BBC world music DJ; Malcolm McLaren, punk and pop music impresario; Mike Zwerin, jazz critic and musician; Gene Lees, jazz writer; Mitch Miller, record producer and TV personality; Herman Leonard, jazz photographer; Irving Silber, folk activist and Sing Out! editor.
Click here for news and reviews. Please call us at 202-364-1919 or email me at agoldinger@politics-prose.com to order these CDs.
• András Goldinger
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Politics & Prose currently hosts sixteen different book groups in the store each month.
P&P's book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public.
These are the selections for the next week. Click the titles to read more about these books.
Click here to learn more about participating in a Politics & Prose book group and to see the entire month of upcoming meetings.
Book-group titles are discounted 20% to participants. Please join us!
Thursday, January 6, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Capital James Joyce Book Group
Ulysses, by James Joyce, Chapter 18 (Vintage, $21)
February 3: Chapter 19
Monday, January 10, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Women's Biography Book Group
Bad Girls Go Everywhere, by Jennifer Scanlon (Penguin, $16)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Evening Fiction Bookgroup
All The Names, by José Saramago (Mariner, $14)
February 8: Man Gone Down, by Michael Thomas
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Science Fiction & Fantasy Bookgroup
Reading the Bones, edited by Sheree R. Thomas (Aspect, $24.99)
February 10: Blackout, by Connie Willis
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The Perils of Photographing in Yemen, and elsewhere
This month Modern Times Coffeehouse displays 15 portraits from Yemen and Egypt. Photographer James O'Gara writes, "Yemen is one of the most beautiful places imaginable for a photographer. The air is clear, the light is even and pure, and the average adult male is more distinguished looking than Alec Guinness. Yemenis are remarkably hospitable, and fairly laid back about photography, but there are limits. There will be no photographs of women, who are almost universally veiled (with the niqab: just a slit for the eyes)."
Photographing Egypt's zabaleen garbage collectors presents its own set of opportunities and challenges: "Eking out a living in the collapsing splendor of Cairo is no mean feat; more remarkable still is the way illiterate peasant migrants from the countryside have found steady work in sorting, cleaning, melting, and otherwise recycling garbage, all done with machinery that would cause an OSHA inspector to faint."
The show will be on display until the end of January.
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