books
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
books Jan. 19: Pitchapalooza at Book Passage
Posted by Gabe Meline on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 9:56 AM
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It’s hard enough sitting down and writing a 300-page novel. As for getting it published? If you don’t have the right connections (or if it’s not about vampires), forget about it. Or should you? The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully is the latest book by agents / authors Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, and in their appearance this week called Pitchapalooza, they ask for your book pitches, with the winner getting connected with an appropriate agent in New York. Likewise, anyone who buys their book gets a free consultation on their story idea when the authors appear on Wednesday, Jan. 19, at Book Passage. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 7pm. Free. 415.927.0960.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
books December 9: Bart Hopkin at Coffee Catz
Posted by Gabe Meline on Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 2:21 PM
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Pots, pans, brooms, barbed wire and fence boards might not seem to have much in common acoustically, but Bart Hopkin has built his entire career upon using everyday objects such as these as musical instruments. Hopkin published his first book, Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones: Experimental Musical Instruments, in 1996 with a foreword by Tom Waits and a CD providing examples of what each instrument sounds like. The set fit nicely in any library between John Cage and Harry Partch; lucky for us, he calls the Bay Area home. He gives a lecture at the weekly Science Buzz Cafe on the scientific principles of acoustics on Thursday, Dec. 9, at Coffee Catz, 6761 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. 6:30pm. $3 suggested donation. 707.829.6600.—Haley Sansom
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
books October 23: Robert Reich at the Dance Palace
Posted by Gabe Meline on Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:18 AM
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So from what we can gather, the Great Recession is more than just a dip in the economy that’ll bounce back to normal. There is no more “normal.” There is, in its place, an entire new set of driving economic forces to explore, and few do so more presciently than Robert Reich in his newest book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future. As a columnist on the Huffington Post, Reich sparks lively debate with his populist stance, and as an occasional contributor to the Bohemian, he’s tackled Goldman Sachs and the exploitation of financial reform. The former Secretary of Labor argues in his latest book that no stimulus package is powerful enough to address the income disparity between the super-rich and the poorer-by-the-minute masses; he appears in conversation with Peter Barnes on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Dance Palace. Fifth and B streets, Point Reyes Station. 7:30pm. $20. 415.663.1542.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
books July 25: David Herlihy's "The Lost Cyclist" at Book Passage
Posted by Gabe Meline on Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 10:05 AM
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After penning the acclaimed volume Bicycle: The History, noted cycling historian David Herlihy had nowhere to go but up. Or out. Or around—the world, as it turns out. A cross between Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City and Richard Branson’s current around-the-globe exploits, Herlihy’s latest bestseller, ‘The Lost Cyclist,’ tells the story of Frank Lenz, a determined man who in 1892 set out to be the first cyclist to bike around the world. Using Lenz’s written correspondence as well as news accounts of the day, Herlihy doesn’t just tell the story of Lenz’s mysterious disappearance, he also paints a vivid picture of the era’s cycling pioneers who geeked out on the new “safety bicycle” and all of its attendant, mostly regional gadgetry back in the formative years of the sport. Herlihy appears in discussion and signing on Sunday, July 25, at Book Passage. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 7pm. Free. 415.927.0960.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
books April 28: George Lakoff at the Throckmorton Theater
Posted by admin on Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 9:55 AM
“Energy crisis.” “Tax relief.” “Voter revolt.” These are everyday phrases that we read in newspapers and take for granted. UC Berkeley professor of linguistics and cognitive science George Lakoff doesn’t. As the author of several books on language and politics, including the excellent Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, Lakoff takes progressives to task for accepting and perpetuating the framework of language set forth by conservative think tanks. Take “tax relief,” for example—one gets relief from sickness, from disease, from exhaustion. In this single phrase, adopted during the Bush administration, conservatives were able to dictate taxes as a plague instead of a patriotic duty. Lakoff appears in conversation with Marin author Joan Ryan on Wednesday, April 28, at 142 Throckmorton Theatre. 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 7:30pm. $12–$15. 415.383.9600.Gabe Meline
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
books Feb. 5: Pat Jordan at the Hopmonk Tavern
Posted by admin on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 12:49 PM
When you’ve fronted one of Sonoma County’s most dependable club acts and won annual awards left and right for dance-rock ditties like “Hugs Not Drugs,” what’s the next step? Become a spiritual mentor and open a rock ’n’ roll ashram? Found a chain of strip-mall Mexican restaurants? Those are all well and good, but if you’re Pat Jordan, leader of the Pat Jordan Band, you author a book and call it My Penis Is in This Book, Please Read It. Now, even if we knew what the book was about, it’s seems better to simply let the mystery hang. Maybe there’s a reference to his penis in the book. Maybe the entire story is about his penis. Maybe, good God, there’s some pulp-making process for the book’s pages that is better left unconsidered. Either way, Jordan celebrates the release of his book by singin’ and strummin’ with the Pat Jordan Band, with Partner and Tommy Rickard from Wonderbread 5 opening, on Friday, Feb. 5, at the Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 8pm. $12–$15. 707.829.7300.Gabe Meline
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
books Jan. 27: Audrey Niffenegger at Book Passage
Posted by admin on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 5:43 PM
It was a self-fulfilling prophecy that any attempt by Hollywood to adapt the complex brilliance of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel The Time Traveler’s Wife would essentially fail. How could the big screen handle such a poignant and unique story? Could it possibly, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, present alternate realities without losing its romantic wallop? In Time Traveler’s case, unfortunately, the answer was no, but that hasn’t diminished Niffenegger’s resolve. The author follows up her phenomenally popular breakthrough with Her Fearful Symmetry, set in and around London’s Highgate Cemetery, and for its release, she sits down and shares a meal—catered by Insalata’s of San Anselmo—for Book Passage’s “Literary Lunch” series on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at Book Passage. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 12pm. $50 includes lunch and signed copy of book. 415.927.0960.Gabe Meline
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
books Jan. 21: Susannah Carson at Copperfield's Books
Posted by admin on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Exactly when the glut of Jane Austen literary takeoffs utilizing bloodsucking vampires, groaning zombies, enraged pharmacists, psychotic webmasters, possessed iPhone apps or whatever ridiculous modern trendy twist comes next will end is anybody’s guess. One thing’s sure, and that’s people are still reading the original Austen books. Indispensable to the Austen fan is Susannah Carson’s magnetic anthology A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Why We Read Jane Austen, in which 33 writers from Eudora Welty and Virginia Woolf to Somerset Maugham and C. S. Lewis dwell on the majesty and details of Austen’s work. Amy Heckerling tells how she adapted Emma into the 1996 movie Clueless, while contemporary writers like Anna Quindlan extract specific plot points and character traits for an engaging portrait of Austen’s appeal. Carson discusses the book on Thursday, Jan. 21, at Copperfield’s Books. 3900a Bel Aire Plaza, Hwy. 29, at Trancas St., Napa. 7pm. Free. 707.252.8002.Gabe Meline
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
books Jan. 14: Noah Alper at Osher Marin JCC
Posted by admin on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 1:23 PM
Noah Alper knows a thing or two about business. After all, he sold the small little Berkeley bagel company that he founded, Noah’s Bagels, for $100 million. His story, of once failing at business by trying to sell Israeli products to born-again Christians to his current success, is told in Alper’s Business Mensch: Timeless Wisdom for Today’s Entrepreneur. Detailing in frank honesty his humble beginnings, his mental breakdown in college, his determination to come back stronger and, in the words of God to Abraham, to “go forth,” Alpert writes a series of chapters each with different guiding rules for business. Locals who miss the “old” Noah’s Bagels will find out why the offerings at Noah’s changed after Alper sold the business (i.e., no longer Kosher), and those looking to start their own business will find plenty of real-life advice. Alper appears to discuss the book on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. 7pm. $12–$16. 415.444.8000.Gabe Meline
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
books Dec. 17: Ethan Russell at Book Passage
Posted by admin on Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 2:14 PM
With all the focus on the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock this summer, most stayed away from the imminent shadow of Altamont, an event possibly with more cultural significance but with absolutely zero celebration. The story by now is familiar: more than 300,000 rock fans trekked to see the free concert by the Rolling Stones, only to witness the deteriorating situation with a security force supplied by the beer-fueled Hell’s Angels, who stabbed a man, Meredith Hunter, high on meth and brandishing a revolver, in front of the stage during the Stones’ set. As Hunter died, so did the hippie dream; the paradigm shift is examined in Ethan Russell’s timely new book 'Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones, Altamont, and the End of the Sixties.' Russell reads from the book, and discusses what we in the Bay Area like to forget, on Thursday, Dec. 17, at Book Passage. 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera. 7pm. Free. 415.927.0960.Gabe Meline
