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The Socrates Cafe, hosted by Rick Branch, meets for thoughtful reflection on the first Wednesday each month. Drop-ins always welcome. Call or stop by for details.

Voted one of America’s Ten Best Chefs by Food & Wine and a “clairvoyant in the kitchen” by Ruth Reichl with The New York Times, Tom Valenti has created a cookbook for diabetics, their family and friends. Because 23.6 million Americans have diabetes, Valenti has taken the burden of ... (more)following a diabetic regimen into a celebration of food the whole family will enjoy. His innovations and techniques are a signature of his cuisine and his recipes are delicious, imaginative, varied and enticing showcasing a collection of dishes that will satisfy any craving.

This tale of two love affairs in mid-century Hong Kong explores colonial pretensions during World War II. An Englishman, Will Truesdale, arrives in Hong Kong in 1941 and falls into a passionate relationship with a beautiful Eurasian socialite, Trudy Liang. When the Japanese invade, Will is interned and ... (more)Trudy has to expend her energy on her own survival. After the war, Claire Pendleton, comes to Hong Kong with her British civil servant husband. She begins giving piano lessons to the daughter of a rich Chinese couple and falls in love with their driver, Will. As both stories unfold, we learn about the complex web of lies, love, politics and war in Hong Kong in the 1950’s.

New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray Love, who swore she would never marry again, fell in love with a Brazilian-born man with Australian citizenship and because of an American ruling on immigrants had to decided whether to get married or never live in the U.S. together. Gilbert ... (more)tackled her fears of marriage by delving into the topic through historical research, interviews and personal reflection. Committed to learning all she could about matrimony, compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations and divorce risks, she has written a memoir, which is a celebration of love with all of its complexities and consequences. Talk and signing at Agnes Scott College, Gaines Auditorium.

The acclaimed author of bestsellers Motherkind, Machine Dreams and Shelter, and 2009 National Book Award Finalist, visits us to begin the new year of author lectures with a long-awaited and and wonderful coming-of-age tale of grief and survival, Lark and Termite. It's a novel ... (more)The New Yorker is calling "a moving exploration of familial love." The story focuses on a week in 1959 when 17-year-old Lark and her mute brother Termite, all struggling with despair and hopelessness, confront some painful truths about their past. It's a "wrenching and suspenseful" portrait of devotion you won't soon forget.

Join us for an evening of the spoken word as we host three of Atlanta's finest poets for a reading from their work as we continue our popular series co-sponsored with Poetry Atlanta and Poets & Writers.Tara Betts is the author of the book Arc and Hue. Tara is a lecturer in creative writing at ... (more)Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She is also a Cave Canem fellow. Her poetry has appeared in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and performed her work at venues around the world.Tania Rochelle is the author of the critically acclaimed collection Karaoke Funeral and the newly released The World’s Last Bone. Rochelle is the poetry editor for Chattahoochee Review and her work has appeared in numerous journals around the country. Travis Wayne Denton is the Associate Director of Poetry at Tech as well as a McEver Chair in Poetry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the founding editor of Terminus literary magazine and his poems have appeared in journals, magazines and publications around the country. The Burden of Speech is his debut collection of poetry.

Bestselling author of The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Templar Legacy, The Venetian Betrayal and The Amber Room has written his fifth novel full of intrigue and adventure. Former U.S. Justice Department operative Cotton Malone’s billionaire Danish friend, Henrik Thorvaldsen, ... (more)is consumed with finding out who masterminded the killings outside a Mexico City courthouse two years earlier in which seven people were murdered, including his young diplomat son. When Malone learns that a wealthy British aristocrat was behind the slaughter, he becomes entangled in a conspiracy that involves an elite group of ruthless financial experts planning to destabilize the global economy, a terrorist plot to destroy a European landmark, and a legendary cache hidden by Napoleon. Malone soon finds himself in a desperate struggle to save not only his friend’s life but the lives of many other innocent people in this contemporary suspenseful novel.

The former Poet Laureate of the United States and Virginia and an award-winning poet, makes a special visit to Georgia Perimeter College. The author of many notable volumes of poetry including American Smooth, a short story collection and a novel, Rita Dove will be interviewed by Valerie Jackson ... (more)during a taping of the program "Between the Lines." Her appearance is free and sponsored by our partner the Writers Institute at GPC as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Chattahoochee Review.

An astonishing, hotly anticipated new novel from the great literary fantasist and creator of Thursday Next, Jasper Fforde. As long as anyone can remember, society has been ruled by a Colortocracy. From the underground feedpipes that keep the municipal park green to the healing hues viewed to cure illness ... (more)to a social hierarchy based upon one's limited color perception, society is dominated by color. In this world, you are what you can see. Young Eddie Russett has no ambition to be anything other than a loyal drone of the Collective. With his better-than-average red perception, he could well marry Constance Oxblood and inherit the string works; he may even have enough red perception to make prefect. For Eddie, life looks colorful. Life looks good. But everything changes when he moves with his father, a respected swatchman, to East Carmine. There, he falls in love with a Grey named Jane who opens his eyes to the painful truth behind his seemingly perfect, rigidly controlled society. Curiosity--a dangerous trait to display in a society that demands total conformity--gets the better of Eddie, who beings to wonder: Why are there not enough spoons to go around? Why is everything--and everyone--barcoded? What happened to all the people who never returned from High Saffron? And why, when you begin to question the world around you, do black-and-white certainties reduce themselves to shades of grey? Part satire, part romance, part revolutionary thriller, this is the new world from the creative and comic genius of Jasper Fforde.

The Akoma Book Club (of Women Healing Women) meets at Charis Books & More on the third Saturday of each month. This book club is open to any woman seeking camaraderie with like-minded women for fun, self-empowerment and growth. Even if you haven't read the book, but are willing to talk about the principles ... (more)in the book, you can join us for a lively discussion. We have a very special treat this month because Meagan O'Nan, author Of "Creating Your Heaven on Earth," will be with us to talk about her book and share her wisdom and insight!

Michael Gates Gill, son of legendary New Yorker writer Brendan Gill, and author of How Starbucks Saved My Life presents his follow-up, How to Save Your Own Life: 15 Lessons on Finding Hope in Unexpected Places. If you cannot attend the reading and would like to purchase signed copies ... (more)of How to Save Your Own Life, you may reserve them through our website at http://www.acappellabooks.com/ev_gate...

The organized criminal gangs of the former Soviet Union are bound by what they call the thieves’ code. The first rule is this: A thief must forsake his mother, father, brothers, and sisters. He must have no family—no wife, no children—because only other criminals are his family. If any of the rules ... (more)are broken, it is punishable by death. Frank Meyer had the American dream—a wife and family he adored, a successful business—until the day a professional crew invaded his home and murdered everyone inside. The only thing out of the ordinary about Meyer was that—before the family and the business and the normal life—a younger Frank Meyer worked as a professional military contractor, a mercenary, with a man named Joe Pike. Frank was one of Pike’s guys, and they faced death together in every rotten hellhole around the world. The police think Meyer was hiding something very bad, because previous home invasions by the crew had targeted only criminals with large stashes of cash or drugs. Pike cannot believe it, and with the help of Cole, he sets out on a hunt of his own: to clear his friend, to punish the people who murdered him. A trail that at first seems relatively simple, however, very quickly becomes complicated, as the two of them find themselves entangled in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cutthroat criminality, and at the heart of it all, an act so terrible even Pike and Cole have no way to measure it.

Amy Greene. We invite you to join us for the debut of a brilliant young writer's novel. Amy Greene comes from the East Tennessee Smoky Mountains, and her first novel Bloodroot is already being hailed by critics as "the work of a born storyteller ... with a deftly conjured atmosphere ... and a ... (more)literary page-turner." The story follows one remarkable East Tennessee family from the Depression to the present with characters that will cling to your mind and prose so graceful it seems to soar. Don't miss meeting this wonderful new writer!

Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk stumbles upon a fishing trawler shipwrecked on a barrier island. The crew is missing or dead, but the boat holds a frightening cargo: a caged group of exotic animals, clearly part of a black market smuggling ring. Yet, something is wrong with these beasts, disturbing ... (more)deformities that make no sense: a parrot with no feathers, a pair of Capuchin monkeys conjoined at the hip, a jaguar cub with the dentition of a saber-tooth tiger. They also all share one uncanny trait--a disturbingly heightened intelligence. To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses, Lorna must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her, now an agent of the U.S. Border Patrol, Jack Menard. Together, the two must hunt for a beast that escaped the shipwreck while uncovering a mystery tied to fractal science and genetic engineering, all to expose a horrifying secret that traces back to mankinds earliest roots. But can Lorna stop what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden before it threatens not only the world, but also the very foundation of what it means to be human? In addition to the talk & book signing, we are asking our friends & neighbors to donate dog & cat food, for PAWS Atlanta

Steel Magnolias meets The Help in this Southern debut novel full of humor, heart, and feminine wisdom. Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt has been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, who was once their town’s Vidalia Onion Queen but is now a laughingstock in the community. When her mom ... (more)is hit by a truck and killed, CeeCee is left to fend for herself. Her unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell, takes her under her wing by whisking her away to Savannah – a new world of prosperity and Southern eccentricity; that seems to be run entirely by women. CeeCee meets an eclectic group of women who entertain and enthrall her for an entire summer helping her to move beyond her past. Hoffman’s novel explores the indomitable strengths of female friendship, giving us the story of a young girl who loses one mother and finds many others.

How can we give animals the best life— for them? What does an animal need to be happy? In her groundbreaking, best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her experience as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into ... (more)how animals think, act, and feel. Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life— on their terms, not ours. Knowing what causes animals physical pain is usually easy, but pinpointing emotional distress is much harder. Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals and then explains how to fulfill the specific needs of dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, zoo animals, and even wildlife. Whether it’s how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures. Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience. This is essential reading for anyone who’s ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.

New York Times bestselling author shares the anticipated sequel to The Best of Everything, spinning a tale of love, ambition and betrayal. Alicia has the perfect life! Her prayers have finally been answered and she could not be happier with her second marriage to Pastor J.T. Valentine that took ... (more)place a month ago. Her life is now complete – or so she thinks. J.T., a handsome, dynamic man of the cloth, who oversees a 5,000-plus congregation, earns hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, supports her in her writing ambitions, and gives her everything she wants. Her father, Reverend Curtis Black, however sees into the darkness of a sinner’s heart and feels her new husband can’t be trusted. Alicia doesn’t understand just how much like her dad her new husband truly is, but soon discovers that her “perfect life” is only an appearance and she must learn the hard lesson – to be careful what you wish for.

Josh Sundquist was an energetic and inquisitive nine-year-old when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma cancer that eventually claimed his left leg. In his book, he relates the journey that took him from a small southern town through many hospitalizations, high school life, and then to the mountains ... (more)– where he learned to ski. On the slopes his world opened up, and he finds the drive to become a champion skier, despite his disability. Navigating the dramas of high school and an unstable home life, he keeps his eyes on the prize – the 2006 Paralympic in Turin, Italy, where he became a member of the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team. This is the story of a boy becoming a man and of a champion realizing his greatest dreams. Sundquist is the founder of LessThanFour.org, the world’s largest online community for amputees.

William J. Morton visits us to discuss his fascinating new historical study, The Story of Georgia's Boundaries: A Meeting of History and Geography. Morton, who teaches at Emory University, writes about how history, geography and human error have all contributed to shaping our state's borders, ... (more)and how these circumstances helped create a recent drought-inspired dispute over the correct boundary between Georgia and Tennessee. Critics call the book "informative and enjoyable" and packed with interesting, little-known facts and anecdotes.

This facilitated book group meets from 7:00-8:30pm the 4th Wednesday of each month at Charis to discuss books which feature queer characters/ storylines as well as a strong attention to literary craft and style. January's selection is "A Map of Home" by Randa Jarrar, a very funny coming of age tale about ... (more)an audacious Muslim girl growing up in Kuwait, Egypt and Texas. Jarrar explores familiar adolescent ground—stifling parental expectations, precarious friendships, sensuality and first love—but her exhilarating voice and flawless timing make this a standout.

Michael Shelden, author of acclaimed biographies of Graham Greene and George Orwell, turns his attention to Mark Twain with an eagerly anticipated new book, Mark Twain: Man in white: The Grand Adventure of His Final Years. It's a deeply researched book utilizing some unpublished sources that brings ... (more)to vivid life Twain's last years, a period that found the humorist full of charm, vigor and charisma. Critics call it "a breakthrough in Twain biography" and praise the scholarship and writing ("eloquent and moving").

Local author and pyschotherapist Susanne Fincher will talk about mandalas (“sacred circle” designs) and their importance on your life’s journey toward wholeness. She will guide you in the creation of several mandalas described in her latest book, The Mandala Workbook. She'll round the evening out ... (more)with time for questions, comments, and an opportunity to share your mandalas.

It all started when 14-year old Hannah Salwen, idealistic but troubled by a growing sense of injustice in the world, had a eureka moment when a homeless man in her neighborhood was juxtaposed against a glistening Mercedes coupe. "You know, Dad,” she said, pointing, “If that man had a less nice car, ... (more)that man there could have a meal.” This glaring disparity led the Salwen family of four, caught up like so many other Americans in this age of consumption and waste, to follow Hannah's urge to do something, to finally just do something. And so they embarked on an incredible journey together from which there would be no turning back. They decided to sell their Atlanta mansion, downsize to a house half its size, and give half of their profits to a worthy charity. At first it was an outlandish scheme. “What, are you crazy? No way!" Then it was a challenge. “We are TOTALLY doing this.” Each week they met over dinner to discuss their plan. It would transport them across the globe and well out of their comfort zone. Along the way they would inspire so many others wrestling with the same questions: Do I give enough? How much is enough? How can I make an impact in the world? In the end the Salwens' journey would bring them closer as a family, as they discovered, together, that half could be so much more. Warm, funny, deeply moving and wholly uplifting, The Power of Half is the story of how one family slammed the door on the status quo and threw away the key.

Mullen, the author of the acclaimed novel The Last Town on Earth, and a resident of Decatur, joins us to help launch his eagerly anticipated new novel, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers. It's a rollicking, imaginative Depression-era tale complete with kidnappings, gangsters, heiresses ... (more)and speakeasies, focused on bank-robbing duo Jason and Whit, known as the Firefly Brothers. The novel is all about what happens when you get gunned down in a police shoot-out and go on to find out the truth about your mythical lives. We think it's headed for the top of best-seller lists! Join us for a reception to honor the author.

Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion, public life, faith, and politics. He is president and CEO of Sojourners, where he is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, and the author of previous books, including God's ... (more)Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It and The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. In the pages of Rediscovering Values, Wallis provides us with a moral compass for this new economy -- one that will guide us on Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street. Co-sponsored by The Georgia Center for the Book, http://www.georgiacenterforthebook.or...

Are you satisfied with your weight? Do you have enough energy to make it through the day? Do you consider yourself a happy person? All of these things are related, and your energy, mental clarity, mood and, of course, waistline are all directly connected to what you eat. In Eat Your Way to Happiness, ... (more)you'll learn that healthy eating is a lot easier than you may think, and that making a few simple changes to your diet can have amazing results. Discover: The 1,2,3 combination of breakfast foods that will keep you energized all day. Which carbs and fats to eat—and why the right ones will help elevate your mood and decrease your weight. The 12 super foods that pack an added punch for boosting mood and slimming your waistline. Nutritious foods that have been scientifically shown to tweak brain chemistry so you feel calmer, happier and more energetic—and more likely to stick to your diet. The amazing studies showing that chocolate and wine can help you live longer—and more happily. And much more!

The new book by the Salwens is a triumph of generosity and justice that will have a special meaning for Atlantans especially. Kevin is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal now on the board of Habitat for Humanity in Atlanta. Inspipred by his daughter Hannah, his family decided to downsize ... (more)their large home in the city and donate half of the profits to a worthy charity, their effort to do something positive about the widening gap between haves and have-nots. Their decision galvanized thousands of people, and you'll read about the amazing results in their new book, The Power of Half: One Family's Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.

Alex Berenson joins us with a cutting-edge novel that bring a riveting new suspense tale featuring his maverick CIA agent John Wells. The novel is The Midnight House, a story of "heart-stopping adventure" as Wells investigates who is killing the members of a secret overseas interrogation team. ... (more)A reporter for The New York Times who has covered the war in Iraq and the flooding in New Orleans, Berenson won a coveted 2007 Edgar Award for his first novel, The Faithful Spy, and also the author of another bestselling spy story, The Ghost War.

Thomas Ricks, the prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post and author of the bestselling account of the Iraq war through 2005, Fiasco, discusses his timely new book, The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-1008. General Petraeus ... (more)led what became known as "the surge," a dramatic change of strategy, in spite of opposition within and without the military establishment and the Bush administration. Ricks' conclusion is that the military still has an important role to play in Iraq for some years to come. Join us for this provocative new book discussion.

We welcome the GAH holding their 2010 annual meeting in Decatur. As part of their sessions, we are happy to host a free public program on the new book, Georgia Women: Their Lives and Their Times, published by UGA Press and featuring the editor, Dr. Ann Short Chirhart, and several other historians. ... (more)We'll have more details shortly.

The Year of the Flood, released in Sept. 2009, is a dystopic testament to the visionary power of Margaret Atwood, Canada's most eminent novelist and poet. The book depicts a world altered by a natural disaster. Most human life has been obliterated, and the few survivors make their way among mutant species ... (more)and a deteriorating environmental and social compact. Born in Ontario in1939, Atwood began writing poetry, short fiction, essays and novels in 1973. She is best known for her novels The Edible Woman and The Handmaid's Tale, which dissect contemporary or futuristic urban life and sexual politics. Atwood's books have been adapted for stage and screen and have received numerous awards. The lecture is free and open to the public. A book signing follows the lecture. Book sales are available by personal check and cash sales only. For more information, e-mail Georgia Lee or call 404.253.3206.

We invite you to join us for the important concluding event in Atlanta's 2009 "Big Read" program sponsored by the Atlanta History Center and its Margaret Mitchell House. This evening will feature the keynote address by acclaimed literary historian Deborah Plant, the author of Zora Neale Hurston: A ... (more)Biography of the Spirit. She'll be discussing Hurston's best-known work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was the book featured in Atlanta's "Big Read" last year.

Carol Goodman, the best-selling author of The Ninth Villa, The Ghost Orchid and The Sonnet Lover, visits us with a thrilling new novel, Arcadia Falls. Her mystery/suspense novels have made her among the most popular writers in America, and we welcome her for her first visit ... (more)to the Georgia Center for the Book. We'll have more details soon.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever known about his valiant fight against the forces of the undead. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith, author of the bestselling novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, ... (more)stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than one hundred and forty years. Using the journal as his guide, Grahame-Smith has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time - all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War, and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Kevin Young, one of America's most acclaimed young poets and in residence at Emory University, will discuss his eagerly anticipated new volume of poetry, The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing. Young, a popular reader, is the author of several notable books of poetry including For the ... (more)Confederate Dead, Jelly Roll, To Repel Ghosts, Dear Darkness and Black Maria. He'll be signing copies of his new book as well as his earlier releases.

Sarah Addison Allen, the prize-winning author of Garden Spells and The The Sugar Queen, returns with a wonderful, enchanting new novel, The Girl Who Chased the Moon. The bestselling author, who makes her home in Asheville, NC, has created an embracing story "set in a quirky small ... (more)Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon." It's a charming tale all about the unexpected in a town peopled by some of most appealing misfits you'll ever meet. We think it just may be this delightful author's best book yet!

We welcome one of the world's most popular and prolific writers of mystery and suspense, Anne Perry, for a delightful evening discussing her forthcoming mystery, The Sheen on the Silk. She is the author of dozens of books, bestsellers everywhere, including Death by Horoscope, Sherman's ... (more)Creek, A Breach of Promise, Paragon Walk and Brunswick Square.

Theda Perdue, Professor of Southern Culture at the University of North Carolina, discusses her new book Race and the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition of 1895. The book examines the world's fair held in Atlanta, where white organizers - in order to attract business to the area - hoped to demonstrate ... (more)they had solved problems of race in the city. The exposition featured American Indians, African Americans, and other racial, ethnic, and gender communities as part of the event's installations. Perdue finds that this turn-of-the-century performance of race played out in surprising ways, particularly in terms of the voice this event gave to the minorities who took part.

Joel Cohen, Emmy-winning writer for "The Simpsons," addresses the dichotomy of his role as both a "creative" and a "suit" in his speech: "The Business Tao of Homer: Lessons in Creativity and Innovation From The Simpsons." Armed with an M.B.A., Cohen gained success in the corporate world before his illogical ... (more)career move into comedy writing with "Saturday Night Live" and "Suddenly Susan." He eventually began writing for "The Simpsons," noted by Time magazine as "the greatest TV show of the 20th century." Cohen brings a unique and hilarious perspective to the roles that innovation and creativity play in both writing and business, as he draws links between maintaining a hit show and running a successful company. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, e-mail Georgia Lee or call 404.253.3206.

Joel Cohen, Emmy-winning writer for "The Simpsons," addresses the dichotomy of his role as both a "creative" and a "suit" in his speech: "The Business Tao of Homer: Lessons in Creativity and Innovation From The Simpsons." Armed with an M.B.A., Cohen gained success in the corporate world before his illogical ... (more)career move into comedy writing with "Saturday Night Live" and "Suddenly Susan." He eventually began writing for "The Simpsons," noted by Time magazine as "the greatest TV show of the 20th century." Cohen brings a unique and hilarious perspective to the roles that innovation and creativity play in both writing and business, as he draws links between maintaining a hit show and running a successful company. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, e-mail Georgia Lee or call 404.253.3206.