LETTER FROM BARBARA AND CARLA
Thanks for the Happy Sale
We enjoyed seeing you on those beautiful spring days this past weekend. Here is a happy family: each child and the mother brought their own little pile of books to the register, and we took a shot of the group beaming.
Coming This Week To Your
Neighborhood Bookstore
May 8-15
This is a great week coming up, one full of history and politics, as befits the season. We hope to see you more than once.
(All events are at 7 p.m. unless otherwise specified.)
Thursday: Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi’s third book isTHE GREAT DERANGEMENT: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire. He will appear in conversation with David Corn of The Nation. This will be taped by C-Span BookTV.
Friday: In APRIL 4, 1968, Michael Eric Dyson looks back at the day Martin Luther King, Jr., died and assesses the changes that have taken place in the 40 years since.
Saturday: 1 p.m. Gene Healy from the Cato Institute will discuss THE CULT OF THE PRESIDENCY, the perils of the imperial Presidency.Saturday: 6 p.m. On the opposite side of the political spectrum, in CRUNCH, Jared Bernstein, of the Economic Policy Institute, talks about societal decisions that need to be made to distribute resources.
Sunday: Happy Mother’s Day
Monday: 10:30 a.m., Joan Bauer, for PEELED CHILDREN’S EVENT
Monday: 7 p.m., Chris Myers Asch describes the Mississippi freedom movement in THE SENATOR AND THE SHARECROPPER. Senator Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer are those emblematic figures.
Tuesday: In WASHINGTON BURNING writer Les Standiford (Last Train to Paradise ) tells the story of L’Enfant’s bravado, vision, and hubris in his design for the capital of his adopted nation.
Wednesday: COUNSELOR, the long awaited autobiography by Ted Sorensen, includes his years with President Kennedy.
Thursday: Fareed Zakaria will discuss his view of THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD, a shift that has already taken place during the past decade, and for which Americans are unprepared.
Please see our website for all upcoming events. For the May calendar, click here.
Fun At Politics And Prose
We were so impressed when we came out of a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to find a huge number of children waiting to buy copies of THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH, by Rick Riordan. There were many kids as young as 7 and as old as 12 who were dying for the latest in the Percy Jackson books.At the same time, there were dueling poetry events upstairs. Gigi Bradford's class in contemporary women poets was adjourning early so that the winners of the Washington Post KidsPost children's contest could read their work.
Climate Action Committee This Weekend
The next meeting of the Politics and Prose Climate Action Project will be at the store Saturday, May 10, at 10:30 a.m. The group will review the latest revision of the DC Clean and Affordable Energy Act, the single most important global warming-related action that our group has been involved in. Also on the agenda are updates on ongoing initiatives including the PEPCO decoupling case, the proposed PEPCO energy efficiency promotion program, and the DC Energy Office's plans for communication and outreach.
We are proud of the group that we started two years ago. Under John MacGregor’s leadership, the committee has taken off, offering ideas and support for concrete local actions. New members are always welcome.
Special Offer
One of the most beautiful books to have come to our attention recently is MURAQQA, a catalogue of Mughal art with extraordinary reproductions. This catalogue, originally produced in Ireland from a collection at the Chester Beatty Library, accompanies a show that just opened at the Sackler Gallery this year. Click here to take a look at their website and see a little of the collection.
We will offer this $60 volume at 20% off ($48) through Memorial Day.
In his introduction, Michael Ryan, the director of the library, says, “This exhibition displays some of the finest examples of the painter’s art created for the emperors and princes of the Mughal dynasty of India…” The book is certainly one of the most striking art books that we have seen.
P&P Events on BookTour Podcast
If you missed the Jhumpa Lahiri event on April 23, or if you’re interested in hearing the talk again, you can listen to an audio podcast on npr.org. Each week, P&P and NPR.org feature an author event for BookTour. Take a look at the archives while you’re there, and check back in the future. You can always link to the BookTour page from the P&P website.
click here to download an MP3 of the Lahiri talk from NPR
I know that the election is interfering with my reading. The drama of the primary is consuming my energy and time.
I watch television about 1000% more than I normally do. It’s not enough to see Mark Shields and David Brooks and Washington Week in Review once a week. I have to watch Chris Matthews, and Keith Olbermann and John King’s magic map. I regret to say that I often even listen to the endless discussion.
Oh, and it’s not just television that is consuming my reading time. I read blogs praising and condemning and emails with up-to-date commentary. And I even view the videos on My Space and send them to all of my friends.
The drama is palpable – I don’t think it’s just the campaign or pundits spit. Here in one corner is the vibrant and attractive first woman candidate. Here in the other, the elegant and cool first serious African American candidate. Both are obviously intelligent and focused. Recently, the epic quality of the clash is spoofed in a satire based on Star Wars. While obviously touting Obama, the video is very clever.
In the background is the failing and flailing Presidency of George Bush. A British friend asked how the United States could elect George Bush in one election and (possibly) Barack Obama in the next. I said that maybe it is the abject failure of Bush that makes Obama possible. America can start a new chapter.
Meanwhile, the reading that I get done in preparation for introducing the authors at the store just gets me more concerned about the need for a change in direction. There are books about America’s changing place in the world and others about how we go about improving life for our citizens. Many of these are aimed at contributing to agenda setting for the new administration.
Hopefully, we can all get back to reading once the primary is over, or will it all start again with the young knight who is jousting with the battle scarred veteran?
• • •
Sorry that you missed a talk?
Politics and Prose author talks are available on CD. Click here for more information and a complete list of available talks.
• • •
Wonder which authors will be on C-Span2 this weekend?
View Book TV’s Weekend Schedule
• • •
Prefer a podcast of author events?
P&P is on npr.org’s weekly podcast, Book Tour.
• • •Contents
- Signed Book of the Week
- P&P Customers are also invited to...
- P&P Bestsellers
- From the Children's Department
- Remainder (Bargain) Books
- Music News
- Store Book Groups
• • •SIGNED BOOK OF THE WEEK• • •
Quantities are limited. See our full list of signed books here.
People’s History of American Empire: A Graphic Adaptation (Signed by the Authors)
Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki
Paperback, first edition.
Shifting from world-shattering events to one family's small revolutions, the story of America in the world is now told in vibrant comics form. This version opens with the events of 9/11 and then jumps back to explore the cycles of U.S. expansionism. ...More
••• P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO... •••
Copies of these books, provided by Politics and Prose, will be available for purchase and signing.
Thursday, May 8, 7:30 p.m
Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Avenue, Chevy Chase
MARC SANDALOW
MADAME SPEAKER (Modern Times, $25.95)
Marc Sandalow, political analyst and former Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Chronicle, will discuss his biography of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The book is based on hundreds of interviews with the Speaker herself, as well as family, friends, and colleagues. Sandalow is a political analyst on San Francisco’s CBS affiliate (KPIX-TV) and on KCBS radio. He is the co-author of Ballparks: A Panoramic History.
There is no cost for this event. Please sign up in advance by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797. Copies of the book, provided by Politics and Prose Bookstore, will be available for purchase.Monday, May 19, 7:00 pm
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
www.sixthandi.org
600 I Street NW
Closest Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
JOHN FRANCIS
PLANETWALKER (National Geographic, $26)
John Francis gave up using motorized vehicles after witnessing the effects of an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. In 1973, he took a vow of silence that lasted 17 years, during which he undertook a pilgrimage by foot across America on behalf of the environment and world peace. He recounts his years of silence in a memoir-cum-call to action: Planet Walker. A Q&A session and book signing will follow Francis’s talk. The cost of the event is $6, or get two free tickets with the purchase of the book the night of the program. Tickets may be purchased in advance here, or at the door 30 minutes prior to the start of the program. This event is co-sponsored with National Geographic. For more information or to RSVP, please call 202- 408-3100.Monday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.
Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Avenue, Chevy Chase
ELEANOR CLIFT
TWO WEEKS OF LIFE (Basic Books, $26)
Eleanor Clift, contributing editor for Newsweek, regular panelist on "The McLaughlin Group," and political analyst for the Fox News Network, will discuss Two Weeks of Life, her account of the political circus surrounding Terri Schiavo's death and the personal story of the death of her husband, Tom Brazaitis.There is no cost for this event. Please sign up in advance by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797. Copies of the book, provided by Politics and Prose Bookstore, will be available for purchase.
••• P&P BESTSELLERS ••• (Bestsellers are always 20% off for P&P members)
Jhumpa Lahiri, UNACCUSTOMED EARTH
- Junot Díaz, THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO
- Alexander McCall Smith, THE MIRACLE AT SPEEDY MOTORS
- Louise Erdrich, THE PLAGUE OF DOVES
- Geraldine Brooks, PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
- Alan Bennett, THE UNCOMMON READER
- Donna Leon, THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS
- Richard Price, LUSH LIFE
- Joanne Harris, GIRL WITH NO SHADOW
- Keith Gessen, ALL THE SAD YOUNG LITERARY MEN
- Aleksandar Hemon, THE LAZARUS PROJECT
- Gil Adamson, THE OUTLANDER
Philip Bobbitt, TERROR AND CONSENT
- Howard Fineman, THE THIRTEEN AMERICAN ARGUMENTS
- Tony Horwitz, A VOYAGE LONG AND STRANGE
- Fareed Zakaria, THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD
- Cokie Roberts, LADIES OF LIBERTY
- Joseph Persico, FRANKLIN AND LUCY
- Randy Pausch, THE LAST LECTURE
- Daniel Walker Howe, WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT
- Robert Butler, THE LONGEVITY REVOLUTION
- Tony Judt, REAPPRAISALS
- Jimmy Carter, A REMARKABLE MOTHER
- Noah Feldman, THE FALL AND RISE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE
••• FROM THE CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT •••
The Politics and Prose Children’s and Teens Department has put together an annotated list of our favorite books that have been published so far this spring. You can pick up a copy at the store or find it online on the kid's page. Please note that as more wonderful titles are published this season, we will be adding to the list so you’ll have lots of great selections for your summer reading pleasure.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 5/14)
Amanda is so mixed up. At home, her mother has asked her father to leave. At school, she is writing a fictional Civil War diary of a girl whose brothers are fighting on opposite sides. In each situation, who’s right and who’s wrong? And how does the one African American boy in the class feel about all this discussion of slavery? Since she can’t talk about things at home, through her TOTALLY MADE-UP CIVIL WAR DIARY OF AMANDA MACLEISH (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16), by Claudia Mills, Amanda tries to work out the complexities of domestic and national divisions. Ages 9-12. • Dara LaPorte
THIS WEEK’S CHILDREN’S EVENTS
Monday, May 12, 10:30 a.m.
JOAN BAUER
PEELED (Putnam, $16.99)
When a body is found in an apple orchard, the upstate New York town of Banesville goes into an uproar. Hildy Biddle, ace reporter for her high school paper, takes on the local press with courage and an honesty that isn't always appreciated. Ages 12-15.WRITING WORKSHOP
On the last Sunday of every month from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m., beginning May 25, Capitol Letters Writing Center will hold writing workshops for young adults ages 12 and up. The first session is entitled “How to Turn Your Life into Great Fiction.” Admission is free, but space is limited to 15, so please RSVP to Karen.maloy@montgomerycollege.edu. For more information visit www.capitolletters.org.
SUMMER READING LISTS
Through Labor Day, Politics and Prose offers a 10% discount on books purchased from school summer reading lists. If your school does not provide a summer reading list, check with your public library. All public libraries provide suggested reading lists and we will honor these as well with a 10% discount. Just bring your list and we will be glad to help you make selections for an enjoyable summer of reading.
••• REMAINDER (BARGAIN) BOOKS •••
“Remainders,” can be found in lower level of the store. These books are often onlyavailable for a short time, so come in soon to find what you want.
•Laurie Greer
Ted Sorensen, Special Counsel to JFK, had an insider’s perspective on Kennedy the President and Kennedy the man. His biography, KENNEDY, was first published in 1965 and detailed the 11 years the two men knew and worked with each other. Sorensen will be speaking at the store on May 14 for his new book, Counselor. In the meantime, we have this classic account. Available in hardcover, $14.98.
The ancients attributed creativity to the Muses, others have credited dreams, luck, intoxicants. For Twyla Tharp, the renowned choreographer, creativity comes from hard work and persistence. THE CREATIVE HABIT: Learn it and Use it for Life, is described as “a practical guide,” and that’s just what it is. Tharp offers suggestions about organizing time and ideas to help you make creativity a part of everyday life, whether you’re creating a work of art, a meal, a family. Available in hardcover, $6.98.
Annie Dillard, novelist, memoirist, and nature writer, has undeniably lived a creative life.
AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD, written with the verve and passion of her unforgettable Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, is her story of growing up in 1950s Pittsburgh. She accomplishes the narrative feat of combining a child’s wonder at the world with an adult’s realism. Available in paperback, $5.98.
Doris Lessing has lived a very different kind of life. WALKING IN THE SHADE: 1949 to 1962, is the second volume of her memoirs, and starts with her arrival in London. It covers the years of her enchantment and disillusion with Communism, her first novels, her experience as a single mother. Readers familiar with Lessing’s Four-Gated City and The Golden Notebook will notice many parallels between the fiction and the life. Available in paperback, $5.98.
Finally, we have THE PIANO LESSON, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama from the late playwright, August Wilson. Wilson achieved the prodigious feat of writing a play for each decade of the 20th century, and The Piano Lesson is set in 1936. When a brother and sister inherit a piano that has been in the family since a white master traded it for the siblings’ ancestors, they have to decide whether to keep or sell it—and how to deal with the past it represents. Available in paperback, $4.98.
Special Ticket Offer and Drawing: John Adams’s EL NIÑO
On Sunday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Choral Arts Society will present the D.C. premier performance of John Adams’s passionate and glorious oratorio, EL NIÑO, with soloists, chorus, and full orchestra. With a stunning libretto featuring Spanish, Latin, and English texts, the score is enhanced by a film created by renowned theater director (and long-time Adams collaborator) Peter Sellars.
Special Offer for Politics and Prose customers: get $10 off prime orchestra seats (regularly $40). Use ticket code “POLITICS” at www.choralarts.org or call 202.244.3669 (M-F,10-6) and mention this offer. (Not valid on previously purchased tickets, no exchanges or refunds, offer expires 5/15/08)
- The Choral Arts Society is also offering P&P customers a chance to win two pairs of tickets. To enter to win, please email agoldinger@politics-prose.com .
There is also a great recording of EL NIÑO (Nonesuch, 2 CDs, $28.98), featuring a dream cast of Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Willard White.
Staff Pick
GREY GARDENS, The Musical (PS Classics, $17.98)
Music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, libretto by Doug Wright
Musicals simply do not get any better than this! The music and lyrics of Grey Gardens are among the most haunting, funny, and heart-wrenching that I have ever heard. Based on the Maysles Brothers’ documentary of the same title, it tells the story of wealthy socialite matron Edith Bouvier Beale, and her daughter Edie and their Long Island home, Grey Gardens. The first act takes place in 1941, the day of Edie’s engagement party (her fiancé was Joseph Kennedy, Jr.). As the act progresses, the cracks in the prominent family’s façade begin to show and Edith’s jealousy threatens to ruin Edie’s happiness. The second act is set in the 1970s, after Grey Gardens has fallen into ruin, and mother and daughter have turned into eccentric recluses. In an appropriate contrast to the lilting 1940s pastiche of the first act, the songs are now more quirkily reminiscent of Sondheim. Christine Ebersole gives a performance of dazzling vocal variety and nuance as she portrays Edith in the first act, and grown up Edie in the second act. Other actors are similarly double-cast—all are impressive. •Alex Claudio
[Studio Theatre will present Grey Gardens, starting this November.]
New
Elvis Costello & the Imposters, MOMOFUKU (Lost Highway, $14.98)
Neil Diamond, HOME BEFORE DARK (Sony, $17.98)
Concerts
LINN BARNES & ALLISON HAMPTON, Saturday, May 10, St. Columba’s Church, 4201 Albemarle St., NW.—Linn and Allison play Celtic and Renaissance music on lute, guitar, and Celtic harp.
•András Goldinger
• • •BOOK GROUPS• • •
P&P’s book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public. Read the book and join us! Book-group titles are 20% off for attendees.
• CAPITAL JAMES JOYCE CLUB (1st Thursday, 7:30 p.m.)
6/5: TBA• CLASSICS (1st Monday, 7:30 p.m.)
6/9: Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, by Niane/Pickett•CONTEMPORARY FEMALE NOVELISTS (3rd Thursday, 7:30 p.m.)"
5/15: My Holocaust, by Reich• DAYTIME (3rd Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.)
5/21: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, by Torday• EVENING FICTION (2nd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/13: Whiteness of Bones, by Moore• FASCINATING HISTORY (4th Thursday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/22: The Spanish Inquisition, by Perez• FUTURIST (1st Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.)
6/4: Millennial Makeover, by Winograd• KNITTING CIRCLE (1st & 3rd Thursday, 2 p.m.; 2nd & 4th Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.)
• POETRY (4th Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/27: Poetry Magazine, the translation issue• PUBLIC AFFAIRS (4th Monday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/26: Winning the Race, by McWhorter• SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (2nd Thursday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/8: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Chabon• SPANISH LANGUAGE (3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/20: La Materia de Deseo, by Paz Soldan• SPIRITUALITY (3rd Sunday, 6 p.m.)
5/18: Buddhism without Beliefs, by Batchelor• TEEN (last Sunday, 3:30 p.m.)
5/25• TRAVEL (1st Tuesday, 7 p.m.)
6/3: River of Doubt, by Millard• UPPER ELEMENTARY (2nd Sunday, 5 p.m.)
5/11: TBA• WOMEN’S BIOGRAPHY (2nd Monday, 7:30 p.m.)
5/12: Feather in the Storm, by WuDates and titles are subject to change; last-minute changes may also occur.
Please call (202) 364-1919 to confirm meeting times.
For a complete listing of book-group meeting times and titles go towww.politics-prose.com/bookgroups.htm
A Politics & Prose “spin-off” discussion group, held at the Kensington Row Bookshop (3786 Howard Ave, Kensington, MD):
•MARYLAND PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL ACTION (3rd Monday, 7 p.m.)
5/19: Overthrow, by Kinzer
For more information, email rasmussen.pa@comcast.net.• • •
Do you have family and friends across the country?
TREAT THEM TO A BOOK SENSE GIFT CARD.
It's honored at over 1,200 independent bookstores across America!Politics & Prose is proud to be a Book Sense store, part of this network of
independent booksellers. We sell Book Sense gift certificates that can be
redeemed at any of the 1200 Book Sense stores in the U.S.-perfect gifts for
friends outside D.C.
-click HERE to unsubscribe from this list -
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790
Fax: (202) 966-7532www.moderntimescoffeehouse.com
www.politics-prose.com
e-mail: books@politics-prose.com
Store Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 9 a.m.-10 p.m
Sunday: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
SUMMER PICKS