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Howdy fellow book dorks
May 1, 2013
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Give Mom a book
each month!
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Greetings!
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Talk about bring-a-book-to-the-park weather! Or the beach. And when the fog returns, you'll still need a book to snuggle into, right?
Beyond those obvious gems, to tempt you to put some pants on and get out of the house and into Green Apple, we present herein:
- the quirky Book of the Month;
- several May author events in-store; and
- more fine new book releases.
And remember: you can read digitally AND shop locally. Our partnership with Kobo allows you to read
eBooks on any device (except Kindle). Sign up here and Green Apple will forever get a cut of your eBook purchases.
Read on!
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May's Book of the Month (+ author event!)
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Our May Book of the Month, guaranteed to please, is Pacific, the latest novel from Green Apple/cult favorite Tom Drury. Here's our "shelf talker."
Tom Drury is generally under-appreciated, and he's a favorite of several Green Applers, including yours truly and my (writerly) wife. His prose is spare and precise, his characters all lovingly rendered. His latest, Pacific, is full of drive, following two distinct story lines, both edged with mystery and longing, sorrow and hope. The plot lines never totally connect, but you don't care because you so love the characters, despite (or because of?) their flaws. It's one of those books that's tough to describe. But you should just trust me and Green Apple and Yiyun Li, and buy it, and read it, and bring your questions on May 21 to ask the author. --Pete
"Reading Pacific makes me once again fall in love with Drury's words, and his perception of a world that is full of dangers and passions and mysteries and graces." -Yiyun Li
BONUS: Buy the book, save the date, and get your questions ready, as Tom Drury will be visiting Green Apple on May 21 at 7pm.
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May Events at Green Apple
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May 14: Arturo Mantecon, translator of Leopoldo Maria Panero
 Join us on Tuesday, May 14 at 7pm for an Asymptote co-sponsored reading by Arturo Mantecon, translator of the Spanish poete maudit and dissident Leopoldo Maria Panero. Panero, one of Spain's greatest living poets, has been compared to Antonin Artaud, and his work has been hailed as being as important as that of Garcia Lorca and Aleixandre. He currently lives in a mental hospital in the Canary Islands, which he entered voluntarily 38 years ago.
Like an Eye in the Hand of a Beggar (Editions Michel Eyquem, 2013) is the first comprehensive introduction to Panero's work in English.
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May 15: Brian Murphy & Brad Mangin: Never. Say. Die.  No one picked them to win. They were written off when they were down 2 games to none to the Reds in the NLDS. They came back. They were written off when they were down 3 games to 1 to the Cardinals in the NLCS. They came back. Compared to that, the World Series sweep was icing on the cake. KNBR's Brian Murphy and photographer Brad Mangin were there all season long, chronicling the improbable thrill ride that resulted in the Giants' second championship in three years. Join Green Apple Books and the 540 Club to celebrate the launch of the Murph and Mangin's NEVER. SAY. DIE., featuring The Missing Link food cart. Wednesday, May 15 at 7pm at the 540 Club, just a few doors west of Green Apple. - - - - - - - - - -  May 19: Jenny Milchman's Cover of SnowCover of Snow is "an emotional roller-coaster ride through the darkest night, with blinding twists and occasionally fatal turn" (Booklist). We are pleased to welcome author (and creator of Take Your Child To A Bookstore Day) Jenny Milchman to Green Apple. Check our her insane book tour map. She's tireless! More about the book is here. She'll be here on Sunday, May 19 at 4pm. - - - - - - - - - -
May 21: Book of the Month author Tom Drury!  Longtime GAB favorite Tom Drury will be reading from his latest novel, Pacific, in the Granny Smith Room on Tuesday, May 21 at 7pm. Drury, whose previous work includes The End of Vandalism and The Driftless Area, has long held a special place in our collective hearts, so we're very excited to have him visit the store.
Drury's work has been compared to that of Sherwood Anderson and Raymond Carver, and Pacific has already earned early praise from Bookforum, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. Bring friends and questions!
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New Books We Think You'll LIke
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Patients suspiciously die. A nurse is strongly suspected. The hospital investigates thoroughly, right? The nurse gets in trouble? Has difficulty finding work? One would think and hope so. Charles Graeber does an excellent job turning a fifteen year murder spree into a riveting tale. Particularly strong is his examination of the psychological toll the investigation took on the perpetrator's confidant and the risk assessment manager at his last stop. Highly recommended. -- Jeff (Shop Local! Buy the book or eBook.)
P.S. Still need convincing? It's the first story on a serial killer that 60 Minutes has ever done. How about this flattering New York Times review?
One time, I got home to find the front door open without seeing anyone around. My first thought wasn't "We've been robbed" or "I'll kill my roommates," it was the stomach-turning shock that my cat had escaped. (She didn't.) A similar experience is behind this charming book about Tibia, a timid cat whose unexpected perambulations led his owners to track his movement across San Francisco. The result is a delightfully illustrated ode to the pets we hold dear. -- SS (Shop Local! Buy the book or eBook). It's only April, but I'm confident in announcing that The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is one of the coolest books that has or will be published this year. Taking as his inspiration Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings, Caspar Henderson set out to investigate those seemingly too strange to be real creatures that are, in fact, alive on our strange planet. From the axolotl to the zebra fish, this book demonstrates just how wondrous biology is and how bizarre the journey to get to this point has been. -- SS (Shop Local! Buy the book).  Talk about a debut! Jamie Quatro has pulled off a remarkable feat in this collection of frank, funny, and exhilarating stories, which has already earned comparisons to the work of Flannery O'Connor, Alice Munro, and Miranda July. Covering a range of styles, Quatro proves herself worthy of the hype with a voice we're already eager to hear from again. (Shop Local! Buy the book).  Be warned: reading this book will make modern day baseball, where controversy is created in a lab and spawned on Twitter, seem dull. Achorn's immensely enjoyable tale of Chris von der Ahe's "beer and whiskey league"--a league created with the sole intention of selling more beer--offers a glimpse into a wild and often hilarious era of baseball's rowdy past. Stuffed with a colorful cast of characters and anecdotes, The Summer of Beer and Whiskey is a must for any lover of the game. (Shop Local! Buy the book.)  The Plantagents is one of those books that simply does not have a dull moment. Maybe this shouldn't be surprising given that the time in which the dynasty reigned, from the early 12th through the 15th centuries, was one in which rulers were expected to have military prowess. All figures in this book are larger than life. Call it "Kings behaving badly," if you will. This is where some of the stories behind the Game of Thrones come from--or that's what I think, at least. -- Martin (Shop Local! Buy the book). 
The second volume of Knausgaard's epic six-part memoir-cum-novel is every bit as brilliant as last year's much-lauded volume one. Continuing in the same raw and often brutally honest manner, Knausgaard further examines the intricacies of a life devoted to love, writing, and the search for meaning. (Shop Local! Buy the book.) |
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Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
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Pete et al
Green Apple Books and Music
415-387-2272
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