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Click here for our online events calendar and to preview events through April.
Members always save 20% on our author event books. Click here to register!
Click the event titles for more information about each event and to purchase the book.
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Thursday, March 15
10:30 a.m. Christopher Paul Curtis - The Mighty Miss Malone (Wendy Lamb, $15.99)
7 p.m. Michael E. Mann - The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines (Columbia Univ., $28.95)
Friday, March 16
7 p.m. Elaine Pagels - Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Viking, $27.95)
Saturday, March 17
3 p.m. Robert Kanigel - On an Irish Island (Knopf, $26.95)
Sunday, March 18
2:30 p.m. eBook Information Session
5 p.m. Ellen Cassedy - We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (University of Nebraska, $19.95)
Monday, March 19, 7 p.m.
7 p.m. Guy Gugliotta - Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War (Hill & Wang, $35)
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Tuesday, March 20
7 p.m. Jonah Lehrer - Imagine: How Creativity Works (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26)
Wednesday, March 21
7 p.m. Ahmed Rashid - Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (Viking, $26.95)
Thursday, March 22
7 p.m. Anne Lamott & Sam Lamott- Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son (Riverhead, $26.95)
Friday, March 23
7 p.m. Jack Goldsmith - Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency after 9/11 (W. W. Norton, $26.95)
Saturday, March 24
1 p.m. Reem Bassiouney - Professor Hanaa (Garnet, $14.95)
6 p.m. Traci Brimhall - Our Lady of the Ruins: Poems (W. W. Norton, $15.95)
Sunday, March 25
1 p.m. Lee Stout - A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and A Few Good Women (Pennsylvania State University Libraries, $24.95)
5 p.m. David Dorsen - Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era (Harvard, $35)
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The Scoop from Brad and Lissa
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Women’s History Month
 Politics & Prose is celebrating Women’s History Month with a display of books by great women writers and important female leaders. Whether you’re in the mood for a novel, a political exegesis, a memoir, a biography, a work of history or social criticism, or a collection of poetry, we’re pleased to present an array of women-related titles that span all genres and eras, from the classic to the contemporary.
We also have three events coming up presenting books by female historians. Elaine Pagels is a professor of early Christian history on the faculty of Princeton University. Her study of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts was the basis for The Gnostic Gospels, which, in 1979, won both the National Book Award in the one-year category Religion/Inspiration and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Pagels has continued this work of making ancient texts vital by illuminating their history in such books as Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity, and The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics. In her newest book, Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Viking, $27.95), she considers John of Patmos’s response to the Roman occupation of Jerusalem in light of events in the year 66 C.E. She will visit Politics & Prose this Friday, March 16 at 7 p.m.
And this weekend, on Sunday, March 18 at 5 p.m., we will host Ellen Cassedy for her book We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (Univ. of Nebraska, $19.95), an investigation of Lithuanian history which began with her efforts to recover her mother’s and uncle’s pasts; it gradually widened to include the region’s brutal experiences under both Nazis and Russians.
Next week on Sunday, March 25 at 1 p.m. Lee Stout presents her book A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and A Few Good Women (Pennsylvania State Univ., $24.95), which documents the Nixon-era push for equality of women in the workplace. Lee Stout will be joined by Barbara Hackman Franklin, who was hired as a staff assistant to President Nixon to bring more women into the federal government. Franklin's efforts resulted in some 100 women assuming high-level executive positions, as well as increasing women’s presence on boards and commissions.
We hope you’ll enjoy these and the many other titles throughout the store worthy of attention during Women’s History Month—and for many more months to come.
Click here for more suggestions from our staff.
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Choosing a Passover Haggadah
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It was always fascinating to be included when Carla Cohen, one of the founders of Politics & Prose, and her family hosted their yearly Passover Seder. The loved sharing the food, the ritual, the discussion, and the conversation around the table. She selected a variety of haggadot - guides used to conduct the Seder - for the store, and over the years, we have added to these offerings.
Over the next few weeks we will highlight some of these. This week we refer you to an event described below, hosted by Sixth & I for Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander and their New American Haggadah (Little, Brown, $29.99). Click here for more information.
We encourage you to experiment with several Haggadot, especially if you are just starting to hold Seders. Then you will be able to make an informed choice when investing in eight, ten or twelve of the same Haggadah.
Come in the store to see our Passover display or click here to read more about the Haggadah selection and other Passover themed books on our website.
If you are purchasing 5 or more of the same Haggadah, you will receive a 10% discount. If you purchase 10 or more, you receive a 20% discount.
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Politics & Prose Classes
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Transport yourself to Mississippi this summer with a six-week intensive on William Faulkner: The 1930s. Taught by Joseph Fruscione, a professor at Georgetown and George Washington Universities, the course will cover three of Faulkner’s early novels: As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and The Wild Palms. Two week gaps between classes will give everyone plenty of time to read.
On four Saturday mornings, beginning April 28, author and former NPR environmental correspondent John Nielsen will teach The Thing with Feathers, a class designed for both bird enthusiasts and the merely curious, that will focus on the literature of birds. And beginning May 5, for two Saturdays at lunchtime, author and former Washington Post correspondent Marc Kaufman will teach New Worlds Unveiled, which will focus on accessible science writing and will culminate in a trip to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Also on offer this spring are:
An Egg Decorating workshop using the Ukrainian pysanky wax resist technique meets on Friday, April 6, 6-8 p.m. just in time for Easter. (Ages 10 – Adult)
For more information, click the above hyperlinks to our website. For other classes, please visit: http://www.politics-prose.com/classes/2012-classes.
Susan Coll
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Booknotes
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 Fantastic Fiction: A Classic, Reissued
What if the Reformation never happened, the Roman Catholic Church rules over the Western world, and all forms of technology save for steam engine are forbidden? Keith Roberts's Pavane (Old Earth Books, $17) depicts this alternative history through a series of six loosely interconnected stories, followed by a coda. The characters range from a heretic monk to a Lady who sets in motion a revolution. This 1968 science fiction classic has recently been reissued in a lovely deckle-edged edition and reviewed by Michael Dirda, who called it "one of the most thought-filled, a book with the glowing but somber majesty of a stained-glass window, constructed from the most disparate bits and fragments, from the tesserae of multiple lives." It is an exquisite work of fiction that transcends genre, and I would recommend it even if science fiction is not your usual fare. It is the book to read slowly, savor, and contemplate.
Read Michael Dirda’s review in The Washington Post by clicking here.
Click here for more of our staff recommendations!
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Sideline of the Week
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Honest and fair, friendly and helpful - there’s no one more reliable than a girl scout. In addition to getting America hooked on their delicious cookies, The Girl Scouts of the USA have been shaping American girls’ character for decades. To celebrate the Girl Scouts' 100 year anniversary, Chronicle Books has released Girl Scout themed journals (Choose cookies or vintage merit badges) (Chronicle Books, $9.95) and Girl Scout stationery ($8.95). Patterned in iconic Girl Scout merit badges and cookies, these journals and stationery sets are a great gift for the Girl Scout (current or retired) in your life. “Do a Good Turn Daily” and get your Girl Scout something special; they’ve been working hard selling those cookies!
Also don’t forget about these historical retrospectives on the history of the Girl Scouts:
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Bestsellers
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All Politics & Prose Weekly Hardcover Bestsellers are 20% off for Members.
Click here to see what the community is reading and the top twelve hardcover fiction and non-fiction books we are discounting this week.
These are our top two titles.
Watergate, by Thomas Mallon (Pantheon, $26.95)
With Dewey Defeats Truman, Fellow Travelers, and others, Mallon has proven himself an adept novelist of recent history. His ninth work of fiction revisits the Nixon years and, from several carefully selected perspectives, Mallon lets the scandal’s participants tell us what happened, including the fate of those erased 18 -1/2 minutes of tape.
How to Be Black, by Baratunde Thurston (HarperCollins, $24.99)
The social critic, comedian, and digital director at The Onion grew up in Washington, DC, graduated from Sidwell Friends School, and went on to earn a philosophy degree from Harvard. His funny, poignant insights into race, politics, technology, and modern culture have provoked, inspired, and entertained audiences around the world. How to Be Black, part memoir and part satirical guide to racial issues, has been called “humorous, intelligent, and audacious.”
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Coming Soon to Your Favorite Bookstore
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Click here for our online events calendar and to preview events through April.
Members always save 20% on our author event books. Click here to register!
Thursday, March 15, 10:30 a.m.
Christopher Paul Curtis - The Mighty Miss Malone (Wendy Lamb, $15.99)
In Curtis’s Newbery Award-winning novel Bud, Not Buddy, Bud met a girl named Deza Malone. This book is her story. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, and her teachers predict she will do great things. But the Depression hits the Malone family hard, and after Deza’s father leaves to find work, the rest of the family follow, ending up in a Michigan Hooverville. Ages 10-14
Thursday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Michael E. Mann - The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines (Columbia Univ., $28.95)
Mann was the lead author of the 2001 report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize) that documented the correlation between rising temperatures and increased use of fossil fuels. The chart resembled a hockey stick and became a focal point for climate-change deniers. In his account of the politics behind the science, Mann discusses the attacks he and other scientists have faced from business and energy interests.
Friday, March 16, 7 p.m.
Elaine Pagels - Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Viking, $27.95)
In her bestselling Reading Judas and The Gnostic Gospels, Pagels, Princeton professor of religion, made ancient texts vital by illuminating their history. Here she considers the Book of Revelation in light of events in the year 66 C.E., which included John of Patmos’s response to the Roman occupation of Jerusalem.
Saturday, March 17, 3 p.m.
Robert Kanigel - On an Irish Island (Knopf, $26.95)
Great Blasket Island, off the west coast of Ireland, was an isolated preserve of traditional ways until the last residents left in 1953. In his profile of this rugged spot, Kanigel, MIT professor of science writing emeritus, delves into the island’s history and some of the personages associated with it.
Sunday, March 18, 2:30 p.m.
eBook Information Session
www.politics-prose.com sells eBooks for most digital reading devices - Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader, iPad, Android tablet, iRiver, and now the new Kindle Fire. eBooks are easy to use and, due to contractual agreements with most major publishers, our prices are usually the same as through Barnes & Noble, iTunes, or Amazon. Come to this information session and learn how to download a Google eBook through the Politics & Prose website.
Space is limited. Sign up today by emailing your name (and type of eReader) to weborders@politics-prose.com
Click here to see some of our current digital book recommendations.
Sunday, March 18, 5 p.m.
Ellen Cassedy - We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust (Univ. of Nebraska, $19.95)
Cassedy’s investigation of Lithuanian history began with her efforts to recover her mother’s and uncle’s pasts; it gradually widened to include the region’s brutal experiences under both Nazis and Russians.
Monday, March 19, 7 p.m.
Guy Gugliotta - Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War (Hill & Wang, $35)
As the longtime Washington Post Congress reporter shows, the Capitol is indeed a rich national symbol. Union General Meigs was its lead engineer and Jefferson Davis supported it. But no sooner was ground broken for the new building than the compromise of 1850 inflamed the slavery debate; just five months after the Battle of Gettysburg, a statue called “Freedom” rose on the Capitol dome.
Tuesday, March 20, 7 p.m.
Jonah Lehrer - Imagine: How Creativity Works (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26)
In Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide, Lehrer gave fascinating glimpses into the cognitive science behind remembering and decision-making. His third book combines science and case studies for a wide-ranging look at creativity from artists like Bob Dylan to corporations like Apple.
Wednesday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Ahmed Rashid - Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (Viking, $26.95)
Four years after his Descent into Chaos, the Lahore-based Pakistani journalist reassesses the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan and offers suggestions for American foreign policy in the region. He pays particular attention to the role of the Taliban and the reliability of American allies.
Thursday, March 22, 7 p.m.
Anne Lamott & Sam Lamott- Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son (Riverhead, $26.95)
Co-written with her son Sam, subject of Operating Instructions (Anchor, $15) and a new father at age 19, Lamott here ventures into the new ground of grandmotherhood. Based on a journal she kept during her grandson's first year, this memoir is a candid and often funny chronicle of family adjustments.
Friday, March 23, 7 p.m.
Jack Goldsmith - Power and Constraint: The Accountable Presidency after 9/11 (W. W. Norton, $26.95)
While many provisions of the Patriot Act, along with detentions and military commissions, suggest that the presidency is more powerful and less subject to accountability than ever before, Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and former assistant attorney general at the Office of Legal Counsel, looks at the broader spectrum of checks and balances built into American government to argue that, in fact, the opposite is true.
Saturday, March 24, 1 p.m.
Reem Bassiouney - Professor Hanaa (Garnet, $14.95)
A successful academic but alone at age forty, Professor Hanaa wants both independence and the security of a traditional household. In her fifth novel, Bassiouney, a bestselling and award-winning Egyptian writer, explores gender and power relationships in contemporary Egypt through this portrait of a strong-minded woman professor.
Saturday, March 24, 6 p.m.
Traci Brimhall - Our Lady of the Ruins: Poems (W. W. Norton, $15.95)
After winning the 2009 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award for Rookery (Southern Illinois Univ., $14.95), Brimhall was awarded the 2011 Barnard Women Poes Prize for her second collection, described by Carolyn Forché, the contest’s judge as “poetry for the new century: awake to the world, spiritually profound, and radical with lyric intelligence.”
Sunday, March 25, 1 p.m.
Lee Stout - A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and A Few Good Women (Pennsylvania State Univ., $24.95)
A staff assistant to President Nixon, Franklin was hired to bring more women into the federal government. Her efforts resulted in some 100 women assuming high-level executive positions, as well as increasing women’s presence on boards and commissions. Based on the “A Few Good Women” oral history project at the Penn State University Libraries, this book documents the Nixon-era push for equality of women in the workplace. Lee Stout will be joined by Barbara Hackman Franklin.
Sunday March 25, 5 p.m.
David Dorsen - Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era (Harvard, $35)
In this first comprehensive biography of Friendly (1903-1986), Dorsen, a Washington-based lawyer, considers the circuit judge’s stellar record at Harvard Law School, during which time he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Brandeis; his work on the Second Circuit from 1959 to 1974; and his lasting achievements, especially in securities law.
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P&P Customers Are Also Invited To . . .
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Politics & Prose sells books at many book signing parties and events. The events below are 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.
Thursday, March 15, 7 p.m.
 Sixth & I
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Jodi Picoult
Lone Wolf (Atria/ Emily Bestler, $28)
A father is injured in a car accident and is on lifesupport. He is divorced and his son is estranged from him. He has remained close to his daughter. Who decides his fate? What are their motives for keeping him alive - or letting him go? This is the medical and moral dilemma at the heart of Picoult’s gripping new novel.
Picoult will be in conversation with Ron Charles, deputy editor and a weekly fiction critic for The Washington Post Book World. Book signing to follow.
Click here to purchase 1 book + 1 ticket for $28 OR 1 book + 2 tickets for $38. If you have questions, call 202.408.3100.
Monday, March 19, 7 p.m.
 Sixth & I
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Jonathan Safran Foer and Nathan Englander
New American Haggadah (Little, Brown, $29.99)
Read each year around the seder table, the Haggadah recounts through prayer, song, and ritual the story of Exodus, when Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to wander the desert for forty years before reaching the Promised Land.
Now, Foer has orchestrated a new way of experiencing and understanding one of our oldest and sacred stories, with a new translation of the traditional text by Nathan Englander and commentary by major Jewish writers and thinkers Jeffrey Goldberg, Lemony Snicket, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, and Nathaniel Deutsch.
Tickets are $12 or receive 2 FREE tickets with the purchase of the book through Sixth & I ($30). Purchase here. If you have questions, call 202.408.3100.
Wednesday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Sixth & I
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Jonathan Haidt
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (Pantheon, $28.95)
An investigation into the origins of morality -- which turns out to be the basis for religion and politics, the book is timely, explaining the American culture wars and refuting the "New Atheists," as well as scholarly with its integration of insights from many fields. Haidt is a professor in the Dept. of Psychology at U.Va. He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis and has presented at TED talks .
Click here for $8 tickets, or to receive 2 FREE tickets with the purchase of the book through Sixth & I ($29). Questions? Call 202-408-3100.
Saturday, March 31, 8 pm.
 Sixth & I
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Giada De Laurentiis
Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner (Clarkson Potter, $35)
The bestselling author and Food Network star comes to DC in celebration of the release of her latest cookbook. Providing a sneak peek into Giada’s day-to-day life, the book -- full of go-to recipes to get a delicious meal on the table in a flash -- is, as Giada says, “for everyone who comes home after a long day and wonders what to cook for dinner.” Giada will be interviewed by Bonnie Benwick, interim Food Editor of The Washington Post.
Click here to purchase tickets (1 book + 1 ticket=$35 or 1 book + 2 tickets= $45). Questions? Call 202-408-3100.
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From the Children and Teens' Department
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 Children's Book of the Week
(20% off for everyone through March 21)
This alphabet book gone awry begins as Zebra the stage manager carefully arranges all of the characters in A-B-C order. He ushers each letter onstage, beginning with A is for Apple, then B is for Ball and C is for Cat. Suddenly, the familiar order is loudly interrupted when Moose bursts onto the page, pushing Duck away and claiming that D is for Moose. As Zebra scrambles to get Moose out of the way and resume the alphabet as it should be, Moose stubbornly refuses to disappear. Finally, Zebra has to accept that Z is for Moose (Greenwillow, $16.99) in author Kelly Bingham and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky’s wildly funny alphabet story. Ages 3-6. – Dana Chidiac
Children’s Blast from the Past
(20% off for Members through March 21)
So you think you know the story of The Three Pigs (Clarion, $16.99) by heart already? Think again. David Wiesner’s three pigs build their houses of straw, sticks, and bricks, but when the wolf comes to blow their houses in, he blows each of the pigs right out of the story instead. Suddenly, these three pigs get the chance to create their own story, traveling backstage through a world of picture books and picking up a few new friends along the way. By the time they put the final sentence in place, the pigs have ensured that they will indeed live happily ever after. Ages 4-8. – Dana Chidiac
We still have copies of Super Sized Slugger (Hyperion, $16.99), signed by Cal Ripken, Jr. Click to order or call us at the store at 202-364-1919.
Story Hour
Each Monday at 10:30 a.m., BearSong offers storytelling and guitar music for children from birth to 5 years old.
Click here to sign up to receive email updates. We will inform you of special story hours, changes, or cancellations. |
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Markdown Books
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Few in this country had heard of Irene Némirovsky before the discovery and publication of her Suite Française a few years ago. Since then many of her novels and stories have appeared in English translation, to popular and critical acclaim. While the tragic end of her life is now well known, what of the rest of it? The Life of Irene Némirovsky, by Olivier Philipponnat and Patrick Lienhardt, can fill in the gaps about this fine writer’s difficult childhood with a cold, selfish mother; her ambivalence about her ethnic and religious background; and her meteoric literary career. Available in hardcover, $6.98.
If you’ve been following the remarkable and wide-ranging commentary of Geoff Dyer over the years, or if you’ve read a little and want to read more, Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews, 1989-2010 is just what you need. This collection draws on Dyer’s work from the past quarter-century, which means it includes his thoughts on Richard Avedon, Rebecca West, W.G. Sebald, and Def Leppard; his reviews of novels from Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers to Lorrie Moore’s A Gate at the Stairs; his assessments of the 2004 Olympics, and some autobiography. His views are always informed and original, his writing lively and versatile. Available in paperback, $7.98.
Certain writers spring to mind when you think of The New Yorker’s fiction, and Ann Beattie is one of these. The New Yorker Stories gathers 48 pieces of short fiction Beattie published in the magazine between 1974 and 2006. This selection presents not just the full sweep of this writer’s career, but the changing socio-cultural scene over the decades. Beattie’s knack for characterization and her skill at drawing rich narratives from seemingly unremarkable incidents make these stories ring true every time. Available in hardcover, $7.98.
Please call us at 202-364-1919 or stop by the store to shop for these and other discounted titles.
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Music News
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L’ARPEGGIATA AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Over the last few years, Christina Pluhar’s baroque group, L’Arpeggiata, has made some of the most creative albums using period instruments, bringing in fine guest vocalists, playing with exciting improvisations, as well as tackling little-known repertoire.
This Monday, March 19, at the Library of Congress, L’Arpeggiata will make a very rare DC appearance.
I will be there selling their CDs, including their brand new Los Pájaros Perdidos, as well as some of their other titles: Monteverdi: 1610 Vespers, Via Crucis, Monteverdi: Teatro d’Amoro (all on theVirgin Classics label), and also La Tarantella (on the Alpha label).
Sunday’s New York Times had an article on the group (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/arts/music/larpeggiata-to-bring-its-early-music-to-carnegie-hall.html?scp=1&sq=l%27arpeggiata&st=cse )
NEW
Vijay Iyer Trio, Accellerando (ACT Records, $15.98) – Pianist Vijay Iyer’s last trio recording, Historicity, was a consensus jazz record-of-the-year in 2009. His new follow-up is equally exciting, and the accolades have already begun.
Krzysktof Penderecki & Jonny Greenwood (Nonesuch, $15.98) – Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood had a life-altering experience listening to Krzysztof Penderecki’s furious work for strings from 1960, “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima.” This album combines new recordings of two of Penderecki’s works (“Threnody” and “Polymorhia, ”conducted by the compeser himself), as well as two Greenwood compositions for strings that are tributes and responses to the Penderecki works.
Read the New York Times Magazine article on Greenwood (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/jonny-greenwood-radioheads-runaway-guitarist.html?ref=magazine ).
VOICES
Montserrat Figueras, The Voice of Emotion (Alia Vox, 2 CDs, $24.98) – The wonderful soprano Montserrat Figueras died last November. Her specialty was in the medieval and baroque repertoire, especially Catalan, Sephardic, Spanish songs. As her colleague Andrew Lawrence-King wrote in his Guardian obiturary, “Montserrats approach to all these repertoires was instinctive and intuitive, spiritual and expressive rather than academic.” She and her husband, gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall, started ensembles and a record label which explored many facets of Mediterranean music, stressing cultural interchange. The Voice of Emotion is a 2-CD compilation of some of her greatest recordings over her entire career.
Caetano & Byrne, Live at Carnegie Hall (Nonesuch, $22.98) – Brazilian and global pop music united Caetano Veloso and David Byrne; they admired each other’s music, and collaborated on special projects over the years. Each has an admirable body of songs, and each a very recognizable voice. In this concert recorded in 2004, it’s just voices and acoustic guitars (with a little percussion and cello) – letting the wonderful tunes ring out.
Renée Fleming, Pòemes (Decca, $18.98)– Songs include Ravel’s “Shéhérazade,” Messiaen’s “Poèmes pour Mi,” and Dutilleux’s “Sonnets de Jean Cassou” and “Le Temps l'horloge.” Alan Gilbert conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique d’Ile de France.
 CHICO & RITA STARTS FRIDAY
Chico & Rita plays for one week only starting this Friday at the E Street Cinema. was Nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar, it’s music-filled story bounces from Havana to New York and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The great visual look is supplied by Spanish artist Javier Mariscal, and the soundtrack is by pianist and bandleader Bebo Valdés. Listen to the fantastic soundtrack,Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita (Calle 54 Records, $15.98) —it’s a perfect introduction to Afro-Cuban jazz.
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Book Groups
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P&P's book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public.
Click here to see all of our upcoming in-store book groups.
Sunday, March 18, 6 p.m.
Spirituality Book Group
Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton
April 15 selection: Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal
Monday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.
Memoirs of Africa / Swarthmore Book Group
The Years of Childhood, by Wole Soyinka
April 16 selection: Country of My Skull, by Antjie Krog
Tuesday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.
Spanish Language Book Group
Conquistadora, by Esmeralda Santiago
April17 selection: TBA
Wednesday, March 21, 12;30 p.m.
Daytime Book Group
Mama Day, by Gloria Naylor
April 18 selection: Child of All Nations, by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Thursday, March 22, 7:30 p.m.
Fascinating History Book Group
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford
April 26 selection: Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes
Sunday, March 25, 3:30 p.m.
Teen Book Group
Double, by Jenny Valentine
April 22 selection: TBA
To receive monthly updates about suggestions for private book groups as well as book groups at Politics & Prose, click here to add "Monthly Book Group Recommendations and News" to your mailing lists!
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News from the Coffeehouse
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Here are Alexander and Yoko braving a windy day and a demanding photographer. Don't they look great sporting our new tee-shirts? You would too, I bet. You would have to explain the "treacherous imagery" of the design (drafted beautifully by our friend, Nguy�n Kh�i Nguyễn) to your jealous friends, but you can figure it out. You are customers of Modern Times Coffeehouse after all.
Available in Gold and Sea Foam Green. X-small to X-large sizes available. Ask your friendly barista.
Click here for more news from the Modern Times blog or to follow them on Twitter.
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