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Click here for our events calendar to preview upcoming events through the end of June.
Members always save 20% on author event books and titles included in other special promotions. Click here to register!
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Thursday, May 12
7 p.m. Lauren Myracle - Shine at the Bethesda Library
7 p.m. Alexis Madrigal - Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology
Friday, May 13
7 p.m. David Bezmozgis - The Free World
Saturday, May 14
1 p.m. Brian Till - Conversations With Power: What Great Presidents and Prime Ministers Can Teach Us about Leadership
6 p.m. Frederick Kempe - Berlin, 1961: Kennedy, Khruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
Sunday, May 15
1 p.m. Amy Stolls - The Ninth Wife
5 p.m. Marc Kaufman - First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth
Monday May 16
7 p.m. Alexandra Styron - Reading My Father: A Memoir
Tuesday, May 17
7 p.m. Michael Spence - The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World |
Wednesday, May 18
7 p.m. Roy Blount, Jr. - Alphabetter Juice: or, The Joy of Text
Thursday, May 19
10:30 a.m. Rob Scotton - Splish, Splash, Splat
7 p.m. Joel Achenbach - A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher
Friday, May 20
7 p.m. Mary Gordon - The Love of My Youth
Saturday, May 21
1 p.m. Helon Habila - Oil on Water and
Christie Watson - Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
6 p.m. Tim Harford - Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
Sunday, May 22
1 p.m. The Veterans Writing Project
5 p.m. St. Albans School - Writers in Residence: Writers Among Us
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LETTER FROM BARBARA |
Occasionally we can't resist tooting our own horn, and this week we received a nod from the New York Times Book Review in "Selling Books by Day, Writing Them by
Night," an essay by J. Courtney Sullivan on the last page. On our staff, there are (and have been) several booksellers who are published authors and poets, and one of them was featured in this article. How excited and proud we are that
Jennifer Close came to work with us, and that her novel GIRLS IN WHITE DRESSES
(Knopf, $24.95) is
due to be released August 16, 2011. We certainly hope she will squeeze us into her book tour! Keep an eye out for the book and this event.
Our Head Book Buyer Mark LaFramboise was also interviewed for the article and as a result, he received a quotable bit of praise on our Facebook page from a fan, who said,"Mark is one of the finest booksellers I have ever known. You should make him read a passage from Look Homeward, Angel to you if you ever get the chance." On Saturday, May 21, Mark will be attending the Gaithersburg Literary Festival and appear on a panel along with Gail Ross, president and founder of Washington, D.C.'s Ross Yoon Literary Agency. Ron Charles, The Washington Post's critic and fiction editor, will also be there interviewing Eleanor Brown, who recently published her debut novel, THE WEIRD SISTERS (Amy Einhorn, $24.95).
Click here for more details about the festival.
And by the way, J. Courtney Sullivan's second novel MAINE (Knopf, $24.95) will be published next month. You may have read her Commencement. She will appear at Politics & Prose on July 27.
MEMBER DISCOUNTS ON GARDENING BOOKS
Politics & Prose often will extend a special discount for members on a particular section of the store. As spring is here, we are offering 20% off on all gardening books. Click here for our suggestions! Whether instructional or inspirational, photographic or descriptive, if it's in our gardening section and you are a member, you will save 20%. And mark your calendars, our next storewide member sale is June 3-5!
COLLEGE GRADUATION GIFT BAGS
Congratulate the high school or college graduate in your life! Choose from either a basic or deluxe gift bag filled with practical and entertaining books to help your graduate into the next phase of life. Each book comes individually gift wrapped in a Politics & Prose canvas tote bag. We’re also happy to ship your gift.
Deluxe Gift Bag:
$155 – nine books plus tote bag (HS: six books, a planner, and a tote bag)
$124 – P&P membership price
Basic Gift Bag:
$105 – six books plus tote bag (HS: four books, a planner, and a tote bag)
$84 – P&P membership price
Click here to learn more about the books included and to order a gift bag.
Click here for other recommended books for graduates.
- Anna Thorn |
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TICKETED EVENTS ON SALE NOW |
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Thursday, June 2, 7 p.m.
DAVID McCULLOUGH
THE GREATER JOURNEY: Americans in Paris (Simon & Schuster, $37.50)
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
One of the most esteemed and honored historians at work (two Pulitzers, two National Book Awards), McCullough combines his biographical and narrative skills to tell the stories of the ambitious Americans who went to Paris between 1830 and 1900. McCullough’s subjects here include Charles Sumner, Elizabeth Blackwell, Samuel Morse, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and many other prominent writers, artists, and thinkers.
This is a ticketed event. Tickets are $12 each in advance of the event ($15 on the day of the event and at the door), or two free admission tickets are provided with each purchase of the book from P&P.
 Thursday, June 9, 8 p.m.
Dr. NORMAN E. ROSENTHAL with David Lynch
TRANSCENDENCE: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation (Tarcher, $25.95)
at The Avalon Theatre
Rosenthal’s pioneering work on seasonal affective disorder has brought relief to millions of people. In his new book, the internationally recognized psychiatrist explains transcendental meditation, describing what it is, how it works, and letting practitioners, among them David Lynch, recount their own experiences with TM.
This is a ticketed event. Tickets are $8 each in advance of the event ($10 on the day of the event and at the door), or two free admission tickets are provided with each purchase of the book from P&P.
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BOOK NOTES |
NEW! SHOPPING ONLINE: Gift Card Payment Option for Google eBooks
Google eBooks are available through www.politics-prose.com. Our eBooks can be read on iPads, Sony Readers, Kobos, Nook, and other digital readers. Now, in response to your requests, customers also can use P&P gift cards to buy Google eBooks from Politics & Prose! Simply enter the number on the back of the card as your method of payment. As with your other shopping on our website, if there is not enough balance on the gift card to cover the eBook purchase, you will be prompted to enter a credit card as well.
While it is not yet possible to give an eBook as a gift, you now can give a P&P gift card along with a book recommendation so that your gift recipient can use the card to add the book to his or her personal electronic library. If it's not convenient to come into the store to pick up your gift card, we can generate a gift card number to use as an online gift certificate. Call us for more details!
Here are some of our bestselling books, which are also available as Google eBooks from Politics & Prose. Purchase and read any of these in minutes by clicking the titles below:
NON-FICTION
FICTION
Need help? Click here for more instructions!
 MAY GRAPHIC NOVEL RECOMMENDATIONS
Mister Wonderful: A Love Story, by Daniel Clowes (Pantheon, $19.95)
Daniel Clowes’ Mister Wonderful is a humorous and, as to be expected from Clowes, self-deprecating adventure in love. Marshall is middle-aged, divorced, soon-to-be homeless, and he hasn’t had a date in six years. While Marshall waits for his date we witness all his fears come to life, and we get a glimpse of his hopes as well. Through a series of embarrassments and misfortunes, heroism and cowardice, Marshall and Natalie get to know each other and, as far as Daniel Clowes allows, grow close. Surprisingly heartfelt and warm, while still retaining Clowes distinctive style.
 Duncan the Wonder Dog, Show One by Adam Hines (Adhouse, $24.95)
Prize-winning, long out of print, Duncan the Wonder Dog, is finally back, and yes, yes, yes, it was worth the wait. The hype was not misplaced or exaggerated. The first book of nine, Duncan takes place in a world and time very similar to our own, except that animals can talk and, not surprisingly, occupy a less than privileged place in society. The story centers around the activities of an animal terrorist organization and a loose collection of humans and animals tied together in a complicated net. Hines has set up the book with an addictive sense of pacing - drawing and writing scenes of philosophic inquiry or humorous moments with the same flare and equal attention that he gives scenes of drama and violence. This is an outrageously smart book, full of references to philosophy and a deeper sense of atmosphere and setting than I would have thought possible in a comic. The art, too, excels: from scenic nature scenes, to collages, to the somehow realistic and cartoony way he draws humans and animals. Do not miss this book!
Click here for more new graphic novel reviews.
Click here if you would like to learn about our graphic novel book group.
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ANNOUCEMENT
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Politics and Prose is looking for an energetic, dedicated Bookkeeper. This is a full-time position, available immediately.
Responsibilities:
Managing the store’s accounting operations and preparing financial reports. Specific duties include: oversight of daily bookkeeping functions; bank account reconciliations; preparation of month-end and year-end reports; supervision of sales tax, licensing, and fee reporting; and participation in the hiring and training of the finance office staff.
Preferred experience:
Bachelor’s degree.
5 years or more of related retail bookkeeping experience.
High level of supervisory, communication and organizational skills.
Proficiency in spreadsheets, word processing and systems operations.
Self-starter with ability to work with senior management.
Experience with Sage ERP Accpac a plus.|
Should love books!
Please direct cover letters, resumes, salary requirements, and other correspondence to TFAtwood@politics-prose.com. |
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DAVID'S DELIBERATIONS
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FREEDOM RIDERS and BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
 Anniversaries give us a way of capturing memory. May 17 is a day I annually observe. It is the date that the Supreme Court handed down their decision on Brown v. Board of Education. I can remember as a college freshman, having just begun reading the New York Times regularly, my excitement at reading the news story and Chief Justice Warren's short opinion for the whole Court which the Times reprinted. Warren's sentence that stays with me is that: "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
This is also the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides that WETA will recognize as part of the American Experience story on May 16 at 9 p.m.
There is magnificent historical literature available on Brown and on the civil rights movement in general. These books deserve to be remembered as we fight off our propensity for historical amnesia. Here are a few essential books:
Richard Kluger's SIMPLE JUSTICE: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality (Vintage, $24) tells the rich story of the Brown decision and the brilliant strategies that, having been inspired and mentored by an earlier group of stellar African-American lawyers, Thurgood Marshall employed.
Click here for more.
- David Cohen |
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SIGNED BOOK AND PODCAST OF THE WEEK
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 THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT
signed by Louis Bayard
(Holt, $25)
First editons, first printings.
Hardcover - March 2011
Bayard’s acclaimed The Black Tower and The Pale Blue Eye were artful combinations of history and fiction; his new novel takes the blurring of truth and fabrication as its theme. The eponymous school, a secret debating club, may have counted Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe as members, and a pair of rival antiquities dealers race to uncover the truth.
Click here to listen to an audio recording of Louis Bayard speaking about his book, THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT, at Politics & Prose on April 9, 2011. We ran out of books at the event, but he came back to the store to sign more.
We record nearly every in-store author event. You can listen to our current selection of author event recordings here, or click here to browse and download more MP3s. If you would like to request a CD or MP3 recording from a past event which is not already posted, send an email to Wendy Brown.
Click here to see more signed books.
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P&P BESTSELLERS
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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
- Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks (Viking, $26.95)
- She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems, by Caroline Kennedy (Hyperion, $24.99)
- The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht (Random House, $25)
- The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel, by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon, $24.95)
- The Tragedy of Arthur, by Arthur Phillips (Random House, $26)
- The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain (Ballantine, $25)
- The Free World, by David Bezmozgis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26)
- We Had It So Good, by Linda Grant (Scribner, $25)
- The Love of My Youth, by Mary Gordon (Pantheon, $25.95)
- Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems, by Billy Collins (Random House, $24)
- Swim Back to Me, by Ann Packer (Knopf, $24.95)
- Sixkill, by Robert B. Parker (Putnam, $26.95)
Click here for our paperback fiction bestsellers.
NONFICTION
- The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution, by Francis Fukuyama (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $35)
- Bossypants, by Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur, $26.99)
- Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, by Manning Marable (Viking, $30)
- A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother, by Janny Scott (Riverhead, $26.95)
- The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, by David Brooks (Random House, $27)
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House, $27)
- Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan, by Del Quentin Wilber (Henry Holt, $27)
- To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, by Adam Hochschild (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28)
- Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House, $26)
- 1861: The Civil War Awakening, by Adam Goodheart (Knopf, $28.95)
- The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner, $30)
- The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting with the Angels Who Have Returned with My Memories: Glorious, Rufus, Gertrude Stein, Splendor, Hortensia, Agnes of God, the Gladyses & Babe: A Memoir, by Alice Walker (New Press, $21.95)
Click here for our paperback non-fiction bestsellers. |
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COMING SOON TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE |
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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 June.
Thursday, May 12
Lauren Myracle - Shine
at the Bethesda Library
7 p.m. This mystery by the author of the IM Girls trilogy follows sixteen-year-old Cat as she tries to determine who is behind a hate crime perpetrated against her friend. To get to the truth, Cat risks the alienation of her small Southern town. Ages 14 and up.
Alexis Madrigal - Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology
7 p.m. Many of the ideas currently being considered for renewable energy sources aren’t new. As Madrigal, Atlantic senior editor, reminds us, electric cars were on the road in the 1890s, and solar-powered heaters warmed California water before World War I. In looking back, Madrigal looks forward, showing how we can learn from the past for a truly sustainable energy future.
Friday, May 13
David Bezmozgis - The Free World
7 p.m. Bezmozgis earned acclaim with his book of linked stories, Natasha, and was named one of The New Yorker’s twenty young writers to watch. His first novel is the powerful story of the Krasnaskys, Soviet Jews who leave the USSR in 1978. Each family member has his or her own set of ambivalences and fears about emigration, and as they wait in Rome to see where they will go next, Bezmozgis skillfully ratchets up the personal and political stakes.
Saturday, May 14
Brian Till - Conversations With Power: What Great Presidents and Prime Ministers Can Teach Us about Leadership
1 p.m. Inspired by leaders such as Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Vaclav Havel, Till, a young journalist and researcher at the New America Foundation, set out to meet these people. He did, and the conversations he had with them—along with many other world leaders and Nobel laureates—are illuminating looks at public life.
Frederick Kempe - Berlin, 1961: Kennedy, Khruschev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth
6 p.m. The Berlin Crisis was overshadowed by the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Kempe, former Wall Street Journal columnist and editor, argues that Berlin was more decisive in shaping later Cold War developments. Drawing on documents and extensive interviews, Kempe recreates the chilling moment when Soviet and American troops faced each other directly, just yards apart.
Sunday, May 15
Amy Stolls - The Ninth Wife
1 p.m. An accomplished author of novels for young adults, Stolls here shifts to an older age group with a story about marriage. Bess has just gotten engaged and is shocked to learn that her intended has eight former wives. Desperate to understand him, she sets out on a cross-country trip to meet each of her fiancé’s erstwhile spouses.
Marc Kaufman - First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth
5 p.m. Once thought inhospitable to living creatures, glaciers, volcanoes, and other extreme habitats in fact do harbor life, so why not the universe beyond Earth? Kaufman follows a range of scientists, from geologists and physicists to astrobiologists, explaining the challenges and theories of the search for extraterrestrial life.
Monday May 16
Alexandra Styron - Reading My Father: A Memoir
7 p.m. Styron’s biography of her father, the great novelist William Styron, is studded with famous names, book awards, and ambition. It’s also her own memoir, in which she comes to terms with the anguish and pain of living under the shadow of her father’s depression—a complement to his Darkness Visible.
The event with Jo Nesbø, originally scheduled for this date, had to be cancelled due to a conflict in the author's schedule.
Tuesday, May 17
Michael Spence - The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World
7 p.m. As the extraordinary growth of China, India, and other developing nations continues apace, the new world economy poses fresh challenges for everyone involved. Spence, the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, offers a lucid analysis of current trends and what they mean for the future.
Wednesday, May 18
Roy Blount, Jr. - Alphabetter Juice: or, The Joy of Text
7 p.m. Words have sense appeal, Blount declares. And proves. The humorist and author of Alphabet Juice has combed a range of sources, from the OED to YouTube, for language with a “sonicky” punch. Eschewing objective definitions, Blount clearly indicates his picks and his peeves, fleshing out etymologies and usage with many a crazy story.
Thursday, May 19
Rob Scotton - Splish, Splash, Splat
10:30 a.m. In his latest adventure, Splat watches while the rest of the class goes swimming. He’s alone on the sidelines—except for Spike, who is also afraid of the water. The two haven’t been friends, but now find they have something in common. Can they bolster each other’s confidence enough to jump in the pool with the others? Ages 3-6.
Joel Achenbach - A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher
7 p.m. The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon last April set in motion an environmental disaster that posed engineering challenges of unprecedented proportions. Achenbach, Washington Post columnist and National Geographic science writer, focuses on the event’s political dimension as well as on the daunting technical aspects of plugging the burst Macondo well that lay a mile below the ocean’s surface.
Friday, May 20
Mary Gordon - The Love of My Youth
7 p.m. Adam and Miranda seemed made for each other when they were teenagers during the sixties. Then their passions turned to careers and they went their separate ways. Meeting again after 30 years, they walk around Rome and gradually relive the past. A veteran novelist, Gordon skillfully evokes her characters through a subtle range of emotions.
Saturday, May 21
Helon Habila - Oil on Water and Christie Watson - Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
1 p.m. Join us for two new novels by Nigerian writers, both set in the oil-rich and environmentally-devastated Delta region. Habila won the 2003 Commonwealth Prize, and his third novel is the story of a pair of journalists investigating the disappearance of the wife of an oil executive. Watson’s debut recounts the experiences of a mother and two children who leave Lagos for a rural village where they must do without electricity and running water, but where they find strength in some of the traditional values.
Tim Harford - Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure
6 p.m. Whether the problem at hand is personal, business-related, or on the order of new global challenges, Harford, The Undercover Economist, says that the old ways won’t cut it. Instead, we need to use adaptive trial-and-error methods, and Harford draws on recent thinking in psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to illustrate how adapting can foster innovation.
Sunday, May 22
The Veterans Writing Project
1 p.m. The Veterans Writing Project is a Washington DC-based non-profit that provides no cost writing seminars and workshops for veterans. In honor of Memorial Day, VWP staff members and seminar participants, all veterans, will read fiction, non-fiction and poetry from and about service in World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Readings by:
Kelly Kennedy, U.S. Army, Gulf War and Somalia
Jim Mathews, U.S. Air Force, Iraq
Jeff Stein, U.S. Army, Vietnam
Bob Johnson, U.S. Army, Iraq
Dario DiBattista, U.S. Marine Corps, Iraq
Steve Scuba, U.S. Army, Iraq
St. Albans School - Writers in Residence: Writers Among Us
5 p.m. Since 1983 the St. Albans Writer in Residence program has brought poets, essayists, and fiction writers to teach and continue their writing at the school. This anthology contains work from all the visiting writers; join us to hear some of the contributors read and talk about their experiences at St. Albans. See more about this book here.
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO . . .
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Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.
 National Geographic Live
National Geographic, Grosvenor Auditorium
1600 M Street, NW
ANDREW McCARTHY in conversation with DON GEORGE
A MOVABLE FEAST: Life Changing Food Adventures Around the World (Lonely Planet, $14.99)
Andrew McCarthy, the star of Anything But Love, 2B Perfectly Honest, and St. Elmo’s Fire, is also a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, and a contributor to the Best American Travel series. He was named 2010 Travel Writer of the Year by the Society of American Travel Writers. In the Lonely Planet anthology A Movable Feast, McCarthy shares his most memorable travel adventures. Traveler contributing editor Don George will join McCarthy in conversation. The event will be preceded by a reception at 6:30 p.m.
Co-sponsored with National Geographic Traveler magazine.
Click here to purchase tickets (National Geographic Members: $16 for individual tickets or $42 for 3-Part Series tickets; General public: $18 for individual tickets or $48 for 3-Part Series tickets).
Thursday, May 12, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
 Book Launch Party
1130 Connecticut Ave., NW (Lobby)
FRANCES PARK and GINGER PARK
CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE: The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop That Could (Thomas Dunne Books, $23.99)
“A real life Chocolat set in the nation's capital,” sisters Frances and Ginger Park’s memoir Chocolate Chocolate embraces sisterhood, the Great American Dream, romance, the immigrant experience, and, of course, twenty-five years of chocolate love. Please RSVP at ginger@chocolatedc.com.
Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.
 Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Avenue, Chevy Chase
SARAH PEKKANEN
SKIPPING A BEAT (Washington Square Press, $15.00)
Skipping a Beat is the moving story of a marriage and the choices we make as individuals that shape our lives forever. After Michael collapses in his office of a cardiac arrest, he survives and decides to give away his multi-million dollar fortune. His wife, Julia, isn’t ready to leave their affluent lifestyle behind and must decide if she is willing to take a leap into a new life with the man she once loved.
Skipping a Beat has received rave reviews from The Washington Post to People Magazine to Oprah Winfrey. Sarah Pekkanen writes the monthly “Domestic Disturbances” column for Bethesda Magazine, and has been published in USA Today, The New Republic, The Baltimore Sun, Reader’s Digest, and heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” She is the author of The Opposite Of Me.
This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797. Copies of the book, provided by Politics and Prose Bookstore, will be available for purchase.
Wednesday, May 11, 7 p.m.
 Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
MIKA BRZEZINSKI with Joe Scarborough
KNOWING YOUR VALUE: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth (Weinstein, $22.95)
Prompted by her own experiences as co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski set out to talk with prominent women about their career paths and achieving value in the workplace. Weaving candid stories of her own career obstacles with the latest research on equal pay, women in the boardroom, and access to start-up capital, Brzezinski offers an essential look at the worth of women in the workplace. Mika will be in conversation with Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe.
Click here to buy $12 advance tickets or receive 1 FREE ticket with the purchase of the book ($23) through Sixth & I. Tickets will be $15 on the day of the event. If you have questions, please call 202.408.3100.
Monday, May 16, 7:30 p.m.
 Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Avenue, Chevy Chase
DIANA B. HENRIQUES
THE WIZARD OF LIES: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust (Times, $30)
Ms. Henriques, a senior financial writer, has led The New York Times’s coverage of the scandal since the day the story broke. Her book on Madoff and his Ponzi scheme draws on unprecedented access and more than one hundred interviews with people at all levels and on all sides of the crime, including Madoff's first interviews for publication since his arrest.
A Polk Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Diana B. Henriques has won several awards for her coverage of the Madoff scandal and was part of the team recognized as a Pulitzer finalist for its writing of the financial crisis of 2008.
Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797.
Bookmark this link for future offsite events.
Wednesday, June 1, 12 noon
 Hay-Adams, Top of the Hay
Sixteenth & H Streets, NW
DAVID MCCULLOUGH
THE GREATER JOURNEY: Americans in Paris (Simon & Schuster, $37.50)
This event is presented as part of The Hay-Adams Author Series
Join the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author for a three-course lunch and lively discussion of his latest book (published on May 24th). He tells the sweeping story of three generations of talented young Americans -- artists, writers, architects, doctors, educators, politicians, and inventors -- who traveled to Paris in the 19th century seeking excellence, the ways they were changed, and the ways they changed their country.
The event will be held in the hotel’s new rooftop facility, Top of the Hay, directly across from the White House. It will be co-hosted by Hay-Adams President Kay Enokido and Philip Pillsbury. A book signing will follow.
Click here for more information and to buy $85 tickets (includes lunch, wine, tax and gratuity) or call (202) 220-4844.
Bookmark this link for future offsite events.
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FROM THE CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT |
KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION GIFT BAGS
Reward your favorite kindergartener with a graduation gift bag. We’ve
hand-picked some of our favorites for future voracious readers and
packed them together in a brightly-colored miniature Politics & Prose
tote. We’re also happy to ship your gift.
Click on the titles below to read more about each book.
Kindergarten Graduation – Deluxe Gift Bag includes:
Click here to buy a Kindergarten Graduation – Deluxe Gift Bag:
$93 – four books, one CD plus tote bag
$74 – P&P member price
Kindergarten Graduation – Basic Gift Bag includes:
Click here to buy a Kindergarten Graduation – Basic Gift Bag:
$65 – three books plus tote bag
$52 – P&P member price
 CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through May 18)
The BLUE CHAMELEON (Simon & Schuster, $16.99) is looking for a friend just like himself. Will it be the yellow banana, or the spotty ball, or the white page? With every turn of the page, the chameleon turns into something new, but nothing feels quite right until, just when he’s about to give up, he meets a colorful companion. Emily Gravett brings her familiar wit and whimsical colored-pencil drawings to this light reflection on being yourself. Ages 2-6 –Dana Chidiac
Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children and teens by clicking here.
Monday mornings at 10:30 a.m.
STORY TIME
BearSong, the Guitar Man, leads his weekly morning story time with stories, songs, finger plays, and more for children from birth to 4 years old and their caregivers.
Our last story time before summer break is Monday, May 23 at 10:30 a.m. We will have special story times with guest musicians during the summer. Announcements about dates and times will be made through this email and posted on our web site. Regular story time will resume on Monday, September 12.
For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens’ Department, click here.
Click here to access the teen blog.
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MARKDOWN BOOKS
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As his list of publications shows, Geoff Dyer, novelist, biographer, and essayist, is a writer with many and varied enthusiasms, from travel to film to literary criticism. His recent THE ONGOING MOMENT is a history of photography. But not a conventional history, and not an academic study. Rather, Dyer focuses on recurrent themes, exploring work by a range of photographers including Stieglitz, Strand, Weston, Lange, Arbus, Eggleston, and many others. He visits the places they photographed, compares image and reality, lays similar pictures side by side to see what makes each distinct. Dyer is idiosyncratic in his judgments, but his eye and prose are always sharp and fresh. Available in hardcover, $6.98.
Sean Scully is known for his vibrant abstract paintings based on horizontal and vertical lines; he’s also a photographer of note. Not surprisingly, he’s drawn to take pictures of landscapes featuring strong horizontals and verticals. WALLS OF ARAN is a rich collection of black-and-white images of the Aran Islands’ dry-stone walls, some of which have been standing for centuries Close-up shots reveal the variety of markings worn into the individual stones over time while distanced shots revel in the walls’ complex textures. Scully isn’t alone in his fascination with these constructions. The Irish novelist Colm Tóibín has contributed text on Aran culture to complement Scully’s photos. Available in hardcover, $19.98.
For the many readers who can’t get enough of Wallace Stegner, here are his SELECTED LETTERS. Edited by his son, Page Stegner, a noted writer and historian in his own right, this volume is a gathering of the elder Stegner’s correspondence from 1933 to 1993. Ranging from personal, playful love letters to literary matters to the famous "Wilderness Letter" he wrote to David Pesonen in 1960, and which was pivotal to passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, the collection shows the many sides of this admirable man. Available in paperback, $6.98.
Click here to shop for more recently acquired remainders.
• Laurie Greer |
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MUSIC NEWS
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STAFF PICK BY DEB MORRIS: GREGORY PORTER’S WATER
When I first heard “Illusion” from Gregory Porter’s CD, WATER (Motema Records, $15.98), I was captivated. It’s a beautiful song of lost love, wonderfully rendered without any of the vocal pyrotechnics that are a part of so much modern-day singing. Porter only needs his voice to convey the beauty or the energy of a song, whether it’s a jazz standard like “Skylark,” or an original like the title song. The band featuring the likes of saxophonist James Spaulding is tight. They provide the perfect accompaniment for this singer whether he’s crooning a ballad or scatting on an upbeat number. As the noted jazz singer Jamie Cullen wrote in a review for the BBC, “Finally! A singer with chops and soul . . . .” I couldn’t agree more!
Deb Morris
NEW
Kate & Anna McGarrigle, TELL MY SISTER (Nonesuch, 3 CDs, $23.98) – When Kate McGarrigle died last year, the first two records that Kate and her sister Anna recorded—among their very best—were out of print. The 3-CD set, Tell My Sister, brings back those two albums, Kate & Anna McGarrigle (1976) and Dancer with the Bruised Knee (1977), and adds a third CD of unreleased songs and demos. Listen again to these gems.
Fresh Air had an interview with Anna this week (http://www.npr.org/2011/05/11/136141819/anna-mcgarrigle-on-life-without-her-sister ). There is also a celebration for Kate this week at Town Hall featuring her children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and friends Emmylou Harris, Antony, and Teddy Thompson.
Chris Thile & Michael Daves, SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN (Nonesuch, $15.98) –Vocal duets have a long tradition in country and bluegrass – they took close-harmony singing to new levels. Now a new generation of virtuosos continue in the tradition. Mandolinist Chris Thile (from the Punch Brothers) and guitarist Michael Daves are both pickers with plenty of attitude, and they mix traditional songs with tunes associated with Flatt and Scruggs, and the Louvins Brothers. Check out their video of “Rabbit in the Log” (http://www.nonesuch.com/media/videos/chris-thile-michael-daves-rabbit-in-the-log ) and others on the Nonesuch site.
You’ll also hear “Rabbit in the Log” (this time titled “Have a Feast Here Tonight”) on DUETS: LIVE 1963-1980 (Smithsonian Folkways, $16.98), sung by two pioneers: the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, and guitar legend Doc Watson, recorded at various folk and bluegrass festivals. The pair reach back to the pre-bluegrass repertoire of the Monroe Brothers (Bill and Charlie), and include great tunes like “Soldier’s Joy” and “Foggy Mountain Top.”
 COMPOSER-LED ENSEMBLES
Do-it-yourself ensembles led by composers burst on the scene in the late sixties and early seventies; two pioneers were Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Now their example is the norm in contemporary music.
The Now Ensemble includes flute, clarinet, electric guitar, bass, piano, and three composers (Judd Greenstein, Patrick Burke, and Mark Dancigers); listen to their new CD, AWAKE (New Amsterdam Records, $11.99).
Composer Missy Mazzoli’s ensemble, Victoire, combines strings, clarinets, keyboards and lo-fi electronics. Their 2010 album, CATHEDRAL CITY (New Amsterdam Records, $13.99) was on the best-of list of the New York Times. The Washington Post had a profile of Ms Mazzoli last Sunday (http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/missy-mazzoli-has-a-different-take-on-classical-music--and-people-are-listening/2011/05/03/AFxMPV9F_story.html ).
These two ensembles will perform as part of Library of Congress music season at the Atlas Center on H Street, this Saturday, May 14.
SPECIAL ORDER: THE COMPLETE SHOSTAKOVICH STRING QUARTETS
Wendy Lesser has a new book, MUSIC FOR SILENCED VOICES: Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets (Yale University Press, $28), that absolutely needs musical accompaniment.
Two recommended performances of the complete Shostakovich string quartets: the Emerson String Quartet’s COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS (Deutsche Grammophone, 5 CDs, $39.98) and the Shostakovich String Quartet’s COMPLETE STRING QUARTETS (Musical Concepts, 5 CDs, $24.98) are available to special order. Please email me at: agoldinger@politics-prose.com
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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BOOK GROUPS |
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Politics & Prose currently hosts a variety of 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.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Group
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
June 9 selection: The City and the City, by China Mieville
Sunday, May 15, 6 p.m.
Spirituality Book Group
The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists, and Meditation Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life, edited by Barry Boyce
June 19 selection: TBA
Monday, May 16, 7:30 p.m.
Swarthmore Book Group - Legacies of American Exceptionalism
The Holder of the World, by Bharati Mukherjee
The Swarthmore Book Group will be on hiatus this summer and will return in the fall with the theme Memoirs of Africa.
Tuesday, May 17, 7:30 p.m.
Spanish Language Book Group
La Isla de los Amores Infinitos, par Daina Chaviano
June 21 selection: TBA
Wednesday, May 18, 12:30 p.m.
Daytime Book Group
The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paolo Giordano
June 15 selection: Beowulf, A New Verse Translation, translated by Seamus Heaney
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.
Veterans Book Group - NEW GROUP
The Wrong War by Bing West
June 16 selection: TBA
Click here to learn more about participating in these or other Politics & Prose book groups and to see the entire month of upcoming meetings.
All book-group titles are discounted 20% to participants. Please join us!
REGISTER YOUR BOOK GROUP TITLES ONLINE
Registering your book group titles with P&P allows your participants to receive a 20% discount on the books you are reading. You can now register your group's books online!
Registering online is quick and easy. All you need is your group's name, the date of the meeting, the title and author of the book, the number of people you expect will purchase the book in our store, and a way for us to contact you if we have any questions regarding your order.
To register your books online visit this link. You can bookmark the page for repeated visits.
As always, you're welcome to register your books by calling the store at 202-364-1919, by e-mailing your requests to bookgroups@politics-prose.com, or by visiting us in person.
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