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Readers' Books

130 E. Napa St.
Sonoma, CA 95476
United States

707-939-1779; inforeadersbooks.com

New/Used: Not set

Web site: http://readersbooks.com

Events: http://readersbooks.com (updated February 14)

Description: A gathering place for booklovers of all ages. New and used books with an emphasis on fiction, food and wine, memoir, travel, spirituality and children's books. Magazines, special orders, free giftwrapping, good talk and knowledgeable booksellers.

Added by: readersbooks.  Contacted: Yes.  Venue ID: 21022

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Past events

Thirza Vallois (April 24 at 7:30pm)
Thirza Vallois.
“It all began in Paris with a riot of wisteria.” A chance meeting between the author and George and Odette residents of the Aveyron, led to Vallois’ new book, Aveyron: A Bridge to French Arcadia. Until recently, Aveyron was France at its most quintessentially rural, sealed off from the rest of ... (more)the country by a rugged terrain. Today the Aveyron is a mosaic of enchanting landscapes and astonishing contrasts. Vallois' descriptions of the place and the people put you instantly into another world. A treat for all Francophiles.
Event webpage
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John Marks (April 30 at 7:30pm)
John Marks , Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind.
In Reasons to Believe: One Man’s Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind,
John Marks has reached across sectarian lines to present the evangelical world from the inside out at a time when our country is increasingly divided over questions of faith, spirituality, morality, and the ... (more)meaning of life. A former producer for “60 Minutes” and a journalist for “US News and World Report,” Marks felt a growing tension between the secular life he was living and his evangelical past. In doing his research Marks found that over 60 million Americans claim to be evangelical Christians yet their rates of divorce, homosexuality, addiction, etc., are the same as everyone else’s. This book is an attempt to gain a better understanding of both sides. Co-sponsored by Readers' Books and the Forum Committee of the First Congregational Church. Donation $5.
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Marta Williams (May 6 at 7:30pm)
Marta Williams.
Ask Your Animal
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Louise Erdrich (May 8 at 7:00pm)
Louise Erdrich , The Plague of Doves.
A Plague of Doves
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Patricia and Walter Wells (May 10 at 4:00pm)
Patricia Wells , We've Always Had Paris...and Provence: A Scrapbook of Our Life in France.
We'll Always Have Paris... and Provence
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Susan Griffin (May 13 at 7:30pm)
Susan Griffin , Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen.
Wrestling With the Angel of Democracy
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Jonah Raskin (May 15 at 7:00pm)
Jack London , The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution.
The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution
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Robert Kourik (May 17 at 4:30pm)
Robert Kourik , Roots Demystified: Change Your Gardening Habits to Help Roots Thrive.
Roots Demystified
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Robert Alter (May 22 at 7:00pm)
Robert Alter , The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary.
The Book of Psalms
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Diana Kennedy (June 3 at 7:00pm)
Diana Kennedy , The Art of Mexican Cooking.
In The Art of Mexican Cooking, Diana Kennedy has created the definitive book on Mexican food. And it is just as invaluable to the novice eager to learn about techniques and ingredients, as it is to the aficionados interested in refining or expanding their knowledge and skills. Kennedy takes readers ... (more)from achiote and avocado leaves to hoja santa, huauzontle, and the sour tunas called xoconostles to the dizzying array of fresh and dried chiles. The book includes over 200 extraordinary recipes from all over Mexico—many unknown north of the border—as well as 50 illustrations and 150 step-by-step photographs. Kennedy’s trademark instructions, offered with her over-the-shoulder asides, make reading her almost as much fun as seeing her in person.
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Sylvia Brownrigg (June 5 at 7:30pm)
Sylvia Brownrigg , Morality Tale: A Novel.
Morality Tale is set in Northern California. and features a rather inexperienced young woman who is burdened by her husband’s ongoing negotiations with his angry ex-wife, the strains of looking after two stepchildren, and the lingering ghost of her own past betrayals. She is finding her marriage ... (more)daunting at best, when she meets a man through her work who seems to be everything her husband is not. Her fantasies about him and the friendship that develops between them casts a shadow over her marriage. This subtle and restrained comedy about modern marriage, especially second marriage, is a bittersweet delight.
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Wilford Welch (June 8 at 4:00pm)
Wilford Welch.
Wilford Welch is a former U.S. diplomat, lawyer, and an international business strategy consultant. His book The Tactics of Hope: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing the World highlights the initiatives of 27 social entrepreneurs who have identified solutions to alleviate the plight of the ... (more)extremely poor. Their stories demonstrate the business practices they have devised to bring about for social change. The book serves as a guide to individuals who want to adopt both the strategies and the tactics that have helped transform concerns into meaningful actions. Rich with insights, these initiatives address critical social and environmental challenges with solutions that support and inspire. Presented by Praxis Peace Institute and Readers' Books.
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Eleanor Coppola (June 10 at 7:00pm)
Eleanor Coppola , Notes on a Life.
In Notes on a Life, Eleanor Coppola has gathered together excerpts from 20 years of personal journals to capture the experience of being a wife, a mother, and an artist trying to find her own way in her talented family. She has expressed herself in painting, conceptual art, and in her documentary ... (more)“Hearts of Darkness,” which chronicled the creation of “Apocalypse Now," and her book Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now. This collection of memories is episodic, and artfully arranged--memories are sometimes triggered by objects, such as a pair of patent leather shoes. Come hear how a sensitive and thoughtful woman threads her way through the roles of a Hollywood wife, the mother of three trying to keep her family safe and mourning the loss of her son, and an artist determined to forge her own creative path. Presented by Sonoma Arts and Lectures. 7:00 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. reading.
Tickets $15 at Readers' Books or online at sonomacommunitycenter.org
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Alice Fiering (June 14 at 4:30pm)
Alice Feiring , The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization.
Wine blogger and journalist Alice Feiring makes an entertaining argument in The Battle for Wine and Love: Or, How I Saved the World from Parkerization for wine authenticity through adherence to the old techniques. She’s not a supporter of what she calls Big Wine, as exemplified by the UC-Davis ... (more)School of Enology and Viticulture or the wine writings of critic Robert M. Parker Jr. She pins her argument on a personal narrative of wine tours through Europe and California and uses several female characters to develop her own oenological relationships—with the specter of Mr. Big (Parker) looming over all. This book is a must for anyone interested in the business, large or small, of wine. There will of course be a tasting.
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Meredith Norton (June 19 at 7:30pm)
Meredith Norton , Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting.
Lopsided: How Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting is an irreverent account of a battle with breast cancer that is also a riotous memoir of family, friends, and a life unusually lived. Norton had been a hymnal editor, an art restorer, a game show producer, a public school teacher, a wife, ... (more)and a mother living in Paris, when at 34 she was diagnosed with an aggressive and lethal form of breast cancer. People came out of the woodwork to console her, many bearing Lance Armstrong’s book about cancer. She found that to be a baffling form of inspiration, preferring to hear about an overweight, smoking, junior high school dropout, who managed to pull himself together, go macrobiotic, and beat the disease. The book is structured around Norton’s treatment but she meanders into comical anecdotes about friends and family life growing up in Oakland in this incredibly funny memoir.
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George Lakoff (June 22 at 4:30pm)
George Lakoff , The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain.
In The Political Mind: why You Can't Understand 21st Century American Politics with an 18th Century Brain, George Lakoff, author of Don’t Think of an Elephant and Moral Politics, suggests here that human beings are not the rational creatures we imagine ourselves to be. He compares ... (more)narratives in our minds to physical memories in our bodies, such as riding a bicycle or dancing. Getting information out of one narrative and into another, or into a new narrative, can be very hard. So as long as politicians and activists persist in believing that people use an objective system of reasoning to decide on their politics, they will lose elections. To win, we can’t fight in the frame of the opposition. Lakoff’s provocative book is for anyone interested in politics, how the mind works, how society works, and how they work together. This is part of the Sonoma Arts and Lectures series. 4:30 reception, 5:00 p.m. reading
Tickets $15 at Readers' Books or online at sonomacommunitycenter.org
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Maria Nemeth (June 24 at 7:30pm)
Maria Nemeth , Mastering Life's Energies: Simple Steps to a Luminous Life at Work and Play.
Luminous moments are the “aha” times when life seems good, safe, healthy, graceful. But often these moments are much too brief and we walk around in a fog feeling vaguely unhappy, resigned, or cynical. Dr. Nemeth, in Mastering Life's Energies isn’t one to have that happen. She wants us ... (more)all to wake up, become ourselves, and view the world with vibrant eyes. she presents a plan for allowing luminosity into life on a consistent basis which she lays out in this smart and practical book. We can extend those special moments of pleasure and well-being by asking the right questions and using her special techniques to synthesize the spiritual, sensual, and luminosity of self-discovery. Dr. Nemeth is also the author of The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment.
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Wendy Johnson (July 1 at 7:30pm)
Wendy Johnson , Gardening at the Dragon's Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World.
Gardening At the Dragon's Gate
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Michael Meyer (July 8 at 7:30pm)
Michael Meyer , The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed.
Last Days of Old Beijing
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Katie Hafner (July 10 at 7:30pm)
Katie Hafner , A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano.
A Romance on Three Legs
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Benjamin Wallace (July 16 at 7:30pm)
Benjamin Wallace , The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine.
The Billionaire's Vinegar
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Noelle Oxenhandler (July 22 at 7:30pm)
Noelle Oxenhandler , The Wishing Year: A House, a Man, My Soul A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire.
The Wishing Year
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Marianne Rogoff, Millicent Susans, Natalie Galli and Barbara Robertson (July 23 at 7:30pm)
Lucy McCauley , The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008: True Stories from Around the World (Travelers' Tales).
The contributors to Best Women's Travel Writing: True Stories from Around the World, 2008 have saved us lots of carbon miles by traveling for us this summer. They’ve discovered new people, new places, and new parts of themselves. Their storytelling and compelling narratives make us laugh, cry, and ... (more)either wish we were there, or be glad we weren’t. They have a uniquely feminine slant on life on the road. Their travels include solo journeys, romance, spiritual growth, strange foods, and strange people. A great way to take a trip in the comfort of your own hammock.
Event webpage
Interested: Dennis_David Added by booksense.
Phil Cousineau (July 31 at 7:30pm)
Phil Cousineau , Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination.
Stoking the Creative Fires
Event webpage
Interested: greggchadwick Added by booksense.
Farley's Book Club (August 19 at 6:30pm)
Haruki Murakami , Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
This month Farley's Book Club will be reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland. As usual, please meet in the back room of Farley's for stimulating discussion and light refreshments!
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Art of Racing in the Rain (August 22 at 7:00pm)
Garth Stein , The Art of Racing in the Rain.
A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting St.
ory of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.
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Jenni Ferrari-Adler and Paula Wolfert (August 24 at 4:30pm)
Jenni Ferrari-Adler.
Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant
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TNBC - The Post-Birthday World (August 28 at 7:00pm)
Lionel Shriver , The Post-Birthday World.
Safe or sexy? OK - that's a bit of a simplification of the novel, but haven't we always wondered about that decision we didn't make. How would our lives be different? Would it be better or worse? Lionel Shriver has laid out both scenarios and has come up with a fantastic read. As always, ... (more)the group is open to all comers.
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John Rothmann (September 11 at 7:30pm)
David G. Dalin , Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam.
Icon of Evil
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George Rabasa (September 16 at 7:00pm)
George Rabasa , The Wonder Singer.
Please join us at Gloria Ferrer for a very special evening of words, song, and wine. When Merce Casals, the famed Spanish diva of George Rabasa’s rich new novel,The Wonder Singer turns up dead in her bathtub in Southern California, ghostwriter Mark Lockwood goes into a frenzy. Lockwood has hundreds ... (more)of hours of tape with the diva, tales of musical triumph and failure, war and scandalous affairs. But there are huge gaps in her chronology that Lockwood must piece together, and the best-selling bio-sleazer Alonzo Baylor is trying to steal her story. Soprano Sheila Whitney will grace the evening with a selection of the Senora’s favorite arias.
Tickets $5 at Readers' Books or at the door
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Randa Jarrar (September 18 at 7:30pm)
Randa Jarrar , A Map of Home.
A Map of Home
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Peter Phillips (September 23 at 7:30pm)
Project Censored , Censored 2009: The Top 25 Censored Stories of 2007-08.
Censored, 2007-2008
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SARK (October 3 at 7:30pm)
Sark , Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It.
Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper
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Tolerance and Intolerance in Sonoma (October 5 at 3:00pm)
Alan Rosenus , General Vallejo and the Advent of the Americans.
A panel on the theme “Tolerance and Intolerance in Sonoma,” will take place at "Lachryma Montis," General Vallejo’s home on West Napa St. in Sonoma. The panel is part of Sonoma Valley’s response to the book "To Kill a Mockingbird," this year's Big Read selection. Panelists will include Zuli Baron, ... (more)Gaye Le Baron, Arthur Dawson, and Jonah Raskin. The event is co-sponsored by Readers’ Books, the Sonoma Community Center, and the State of California's Sonoma State Historic Parks.
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Ariel Sabar (October 6 at 7:00pm)
Ariel Sabar reads from My Father's Paradise.
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Ariel Sabar (October 6 at 7:30pm)
Ariel Sabar , My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq.
My Father's Paradise
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Margaret Trost (October 14 at 7:30pm)
Margaret Trost.
On That Day, Everybody Ate
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An Evening with Eliezer Sobel, author of The 99th Monkey (October 16 at 7:00pm)
Eliezer Sobel reads from The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness.
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Eliezer Sobel (October 16 at 7:30pm)
Eliezer Sobel , The 99th Monkey: A Spiritual Journalist's Misadventures with Gurus, Messiahs, Sex, Psychedelics, and Other Consciousness.
99th Monkey
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Marcella Hazan (October 19 at 12:00pm)
Marcella Hazan , Amarcord: Marcella Remembers.
Amarcord
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Frances Dinkelspiel (December 4 at 7:30pm)
dinkelspielfrances , Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California.
Journalist Frances Dinkelspiel has written a groundbreaking history that features her great-great grandfather, Isaias Hellman, at the center. Hellman, a Jewish immigrant, arrived in California in 1859. He quickly learned how to multiply his capital and founded Farmers and Merchants Bank in Los Angeles, ... (more)and helped transform Wells Fargo into the West’s biggest financial institute. Hellman also had a controlling force in the wine industry in the twenty years after the 1906 earthquake. Towers of Gold traces the transformation of California from a frontier society into the state with the nation’s strongest economy.
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Clark Wolf (December 7 at 2:00pm)
Clark Wolf.
Join noted author of American Cheeses and restaurant consultant, Clark Wolf, along with a distinguished group of guest cheesemakers: Mateo Kelher from Jasper Hill, Ig Vella, Vella Cheese Company, Jennifer Bice, Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery,
Franklin Peluso from Franklin’s Teleme, and David Gremmels ... (more)from Rogue Creamery. Admission includes an American cheese plate and glass of wine. Hosted by The Epicurean Connection, $20 admission
Cosponsored by Readers’ Books and Sonoma Index Tribune. Doors open at 1 p.m., event lasts from 2-4 p.m.
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Dr. Nancy Kay (December 7 at 3:00pm)
Nancy Kay.
Bring your best friend along for this Sunday afternoon event. Nancy will be joined at this event by her friend, Sonoma vet Rhonda Stallings. According to Marty Becker, resident veterinarian on Good Morning America, with “Speaking for Spot, we finally have a book that makes sense of it all!. With experience, ... (more)warmth, wit, and candor, Dr. Nancy Kay provides an authentic, user-friendly guide for making all types of health care choices for your dog.” We’ll see you with your dog in the patio garden.
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Sheri Reynolds (December 8 at 7:00pm)
Sheri Reynolds reads from The Sweet In-Between.
Sheri Reynolds, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller and Oprah book club pick The Rapture of Canaan returns once again to her Southern roots with her unforgettable new novel, THE SWEET IN-BETWEEN.
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Sheri Reynolds (December 8 at 7:30pm)
Sheri Reynolds , The Sweet In-Between: A Novel.
Bestselling author Sheri Reynolds has written a lyrical tale about a family of misfits. The protagonist Kendra, or “Kenny,” has lost her mother to cancer and her father to prison for drug-trafficking. Kenny struggles with gender ambiguity—she binds her chest in ACE bandages and keeps her hair cropped ... (more)short—and tries to secure the love of “Aunt” Glo, her father’s girlfriend and the woman who’s taken her in. The Sweet In-Between is a beautifully written, classic coming-of-age
tale.
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Antonia Juhasz (December 10 at 7:30pm)
Antonia Juhasz , The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop It.
Antonio Juhasz returns to Readers Books with her new book, The Tyranny of Oil. Juhasz , a leading expert on corporations and globalization, impressed us last year with her book, A Game as Old as Empire. In her new book, she develops one of the most penetrating investigations of the U. S. oil industry ... (more)to date. Juhasz argues for the break-up of big oil and this book becomes an inspiring call to action for citizens interested in reining in the industry.
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Peter Laufer (January 7 at 7:30pm)
Markos Kounalakis.
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Peter Laufer and Markos Kounolakis. (January 8 at 7:30pm)
Markos Kounalakis.
The authors of Hope Is a Tattered Flag: Voices of Reason and Change for the Post-Bush Era,host a nationally syndicated radio program and write a regular feature in Washington Monthly. They have collected their most interesting interviews with a diverse selection of leaders talking about solutions to ... (more)the problems facing our country in the future. Covering politics, business and finance, culture and other subjects, they present a "satisfying and rich conversation" on the issues that both illuminates and unites.
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Tilar Mazzeo (January 9 at 7:00pm)
Tilar Mazzeo , The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It.
In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life--for the first time--the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin.
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Tilar Mazzeo (January 11 at 3:00pm)
Tilar Mazzeo , The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It.
The Widow Cliquot
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Oakland Book Group #1 meets & discusses Call Me By Your Name (January 13 at 7:00pm)
André Aciman , Call Me by Your Name: A Novel.
The Oakland Book Group #1 meets and discusses Call Me By Your Name. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Books will be available for purchase at the store.
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Robert Moss (January 13 at 7:30pm)
Robert Moss.
Dreaming is essential to survival and evolution and to creative endeavors in every field. Moss traces the strands of dreams through archival records and well-known writings, weaving remarkable yet true accounts of historical figures influenced by their dreams in The Secret History of Dreaming.
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Oakland Book Group #3 meets & discusses Unforgiving Years (January 14 at 7:00pm)
Victor Serge , Unforgiving Years.
Oakland Book Group #3 meets and discusses Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Books will be available for purchase at the store.
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Allen Edwards discusses and signs Shear Force (January 15 at 7:00pm)
Allen Edwards.
DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome local stylist & author, Allen Edwards, as he discusses and signs his new book, Shear Force: An Image-Maker's Memoir. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Beauty industry icon and hair guru Allen Edwards is an internationally renowned image-maker and business leader. ... (more)Allen has styled some of the world’s most glamorous and fashionable women and is the creator of the Farrah Fawcett layered cut, a trend that still exists today. He also engineered Assistant District Attorney Marcia Clark’s new ‘do during the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. He turned hair shows into rock venues and changed the world of beauty, armed with shears, a blow dryer and the force of his personality. With over 1000 television appearances including OPRAH and REGIS, Allen Edwards has stayed at the top of his game for over 30 years.
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Justine Toms (January 22 at 7:30pm)
Justine Willis Toms.
Small Pleasures is a collection of forty-nine short meditative essays that help readers to turn aside from their chaotic lives for a while to experience grace and possibility in the small, critically important things in life. Author Justine Toms divides the book into five sections, each with essays that ... (more)draw upon her many connections and her wealth of experiences
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Vincenza Scarpacci (January 29 at 7:00pm)
Vincenza Scarpaci.
Come enjoy appetizers from Della Santina's, as we welcome Vincenza Scarpaci for her book, The Journey of the Italians in America. Scarpaci gives a visual tour of Italians and their mark on America with over four hundred photographs, including one of Sonoma's own Richard Cuneo of the Sebastiani family. ... (more)The reader can see the influence of Italian Americans in almost all sectors of the nation's culture. Dating back to the role Italians played in the signing of the Declaration of Independence, her vivid depiction of the contributions of Italians to American culture makes their positive contribution crystal clear.
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee discusses & signs Renegade for Peace and Justice (February 1 at 3:00pm)
Barbara Lee.
DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome Congresswoman Barbara Lee as she discusses and signs her book, Renegade for Peace and Justice. ABOUT THE BOOK:
Barbara Lee's willingness to stand on principle earned her unsolicited international attention when she was the only member of Congress to ... (more)vote against a resolution giving President George Bush virtually unlimited authority to wage war against nations he personally deemed capable of terrorism. Some praised her vote as heroic and inspirational, others called for her death. But this was not her only profile in courage. In addition to being one of Congress' most vocal opponents to the war in Iraq, Lee has been a leader in promoting policies that foster international peace, security, and human rights. Her principled stands include disavowing the doctrine of preemptive war, offering legislation to create a cabinet level Department of Peace, and leading the bipartisan effort in Congress to end the ongoing genocide in the Darfur. But this autobiography is about more than politics. In this candid and self-effacing book, Lee chronicles the challenges she overcame to break the cycle of multi-generational domestic violence, and her rise from being a young, single mother of two to being one of the most progressive, respected voices in Congress. Renegade for Peace and Justice dispels the myth that all members of Congress have led gilded, charmed lives. In this book you'll learn about the work of Congress in the days that followed September 11, 2001, and you'll also be inspired by the story of an African American woman, who rose from segregation and public assistance to become a member of Congress with a deep commitment to peace and improving the lives of the underprivileged.
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Book Launch Party for George Mastras' Fidali's Way (February 5 at 7:00pm)
George Mastras.
You're invited to join DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood as we host the Book Launch Party for George Mastras and his thrilling new novel, Fidali's Way! ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
George Mastras has worked as a criminal investigator for the public defender service, a counselor at a juvenile correctional facility, ... (more)and a litigator in New York and Los Angeles. After ten years of practicing law, he quit his job, sold his belongings, and spent several years backpacking around the globe and trekking in the Himalayas, Karakorams, and Hindu Kush. Since returning to the United States, he has worked as a screenwriter and has written for several television series, including The Evidence, The Dresden Files, and currently the Emmy Award-winning drama Breaking Bad, for which he was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 2008. Born in Boston, he is a graduate of Yale, UCLA Law, and Outward Bound. He was awarded the competitive Disney-ABC Writing Fellowship for Television Drama in 2005. He lives in Los Angeles.
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Yiyun Li (February 5 at 7:30pm)
Yiyun Li , The Vagrants: A Novel.
The Vagrants is brilliant and illuminating, this astonishing debut novel by the award-winning writer Yiyun Li is set in China in the late 1970s, when Beijing was rocked by the Democratic Wall Movement, an anti-Communist groundswell designed to move China beyond the dark shadow of the Cultural Revolution ... (more)toward a more enlightened and open society. In this powerful and beautiful story, we follow a group of people in a small town during this dramatic and harrowing time, the era that was a forebear of the Tiananmen Square uprising.
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Veronica Chater (February 10 at 7:30pm)
Veronica Chater , Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family.
Growing up Catholic in a family where the reforms of Vatican II are seen as the work of Satan.
It is 1972, and Veronica Chater's parents believe that Vatican II's liberalization has corrupted the Catholic Church, inviting the Holy Chastisement--an apocalypse prophesied by three shepherds in Fatima, Portugal. ... (more)To spare his family this horror, Veronica's father quits the highway patrol, sells everything, and moves the family of eight from California to an isolated village near Fatima.
But Portugal is no Catholic utopia, and the family schleps home penniless to join the nascent Catholic counterrevolution: attending the Latin Mass in truck garages and abandoned buildings, serving meals to religious soldiers, breeding a new member of the faithful every year. As Veronica comes of age on the fringes of the American Dream, she rebels against a fanaticism that forbids anything modern--clothes, movies, or music. The story, Waiting for the Apocalypse both sad and funny, of a family torn apart by religion and brought back together in spite of the injuries it inflicted on itself.
Event webpage
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Val McDermid discusses and signs A Darker Domain (February 13 at 7:00pm)
Val McDermid , A Darker Domain: A Novel.
DIESEL, A Bookstore in BRENTWOOD is pleased to welcome New York Times-bestselling author, Val McDermid to the store as she discusses her superb new psychological thriller, A Darker Domain. If you have a book lover for a partner or spouse, this is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day, so don't miss out ... (more)on the fun! Check out these great reviews she's gotten so far:
'Absorbing modern mystery... McDermid's mix of historical and literary clues with modern detection is handled with panache' - The Times 'One of the world's leading mystery writers... Thomas Harris crossed with Agatha Christie, if you will... a great read' - Observer 'A cleverly plotted thriller. It should gain her a crowd of new fans' - Guardian 'One of her best’ - Literary Review 'A real page-turner and another McDermid triumph' - Observer 'McDermid's plot is a classic, and she pulls out all the stops to achieve a sense of mounting anguish, as her hero juggles multiple red herrings, mixed loyalties, differing police agendas and complicated family ties. Impeccable' - Guardian 'Reminiscent of one of Ruth Rendell's Barbara Vine thrillers – a few more sly, old-fashioned whodunits like this and she'll join the sturdy ranks of the queens of crime, on course to become Dame Val or Baroness McDermid' - Sunday Times
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T.C. Boyle (February 22 at 3:00pm)
T. C. Boyle , The Women.
A dazzling novel of Frank Lloyd Wright, The Women told from the point of view of the women in his life
Having brought to life eccentric cereal king John Harvey Kellogg in "The Road to Wellville" and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in "The Inner Circle," T.C. Boyle now turns his fictional sights on an even ... (more)more colorful and outlandish character: Frank Lloyd Wright. Boyle's account of Wrightas life, as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him, blazes with his trademark wit and invention. Wrightas life was one long howling struggle against the bonds of convention, whether aesthetic, social, moral, or romantic. He never did what was expected and despite the overblown scandals surrounding his amours and very public divorces and the financial disarray that dogged him throughout his career, he never let anything get in the way of his larger-than-life appetites and visions. Wrightas triumphs and defeats were always tied to the women he loved: the Montenegrin beauty Olgivanna Milanoff; the passionate Southern belle Maud Miriam Noel; the spirited Mamah Cheney, tragically killed; and his young first wife, Kitty Tobin. In The Women,/i>, T.C. Boyle's protean voice captures these very different women and, in doing so, creates a masterful ode to the creative life in all its complexity and grandeur.
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Stephen Mitchell (March 5 at 7:30pm)
Stephen Mitchell.
Enhanced by Stephen Mitchell's illuminating commentary, the next volume of the classic manual on the art of living
The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzuas Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phenomenal success ... (more)of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao, Drawn from the work of Lao-tzuas disciple Chuang-tzu and Confuciusas grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text.
This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell's renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision thatas hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck and by its heart, and really let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.
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Clive Matson discusses and signs Mainline to the Heart (March 11 at 7:00pm)
Clive Matson.
DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome Clive Matson to discuss and sign Mainline to the Heart. This event is free and all are welcome!
About the Book:
This new edition of Clive Matson’s early poems includes all of Diane di Prima’s “Poets Press” version -- 1,000 copies were sold ... (more)out in 1966-67 -- and adds significant uncollected pieces from the same period. At once obstreperous and innocent, these poems celebrate a place where emotion, sex, and religion come together with overwhelming intensity. In the 50s and 60s, Beat Generation writers were revisiting this edgy, full-blooded romantic tradition and Matson joined the exploration with youthful energy. But the quest was fraught with tension. Mainline to the Heart and Other Poems expresses a confluence of personal and historical forces. Clive Matson was coming of age at the same time the culture was at the height of its 1960s explosion. While the poems cast a sobering light on Beat exuberance, Matson’s vibrant imagery makes the personal, visionary, and sexual excitement impossible to deny.
About the Author:
Clive Matson arrived on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1960, a fresh-faced adolescent with a blank notebook under his arm. He quickly fell in with the Beat Generation – his first event was a reading at the Tenth Street Coffeehouse, where he met Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Diane di Prima. Matson and his first wife Erin Black immersed themselves in sex, hard drugs, and psychedelics of 1960s Bohemian life. Eventually Matson became overwhelmed and returned to the West Coast. He worked for Taxi Unlimited, a producers’ cooperative in Berkeley; briefly for the Free Clinic and for MOVE (men overcoming violence); and learned the craft of printing from Clifford Burke at Cranium Press. Psychotherapy, Vipassana meditation, and twelve-step programs became fixtures in his life. That Matson ultimately emerged drug-free and healthy gave him full appreciation for 1960s passion and honesty. These qualities are crucially important, he thinks, for the current era. “Coming to terms with my youthful, energetic voice has been a challenge,” he admits. “It helps that I hear, in these poems, both an urgent need to connect and full cognizance of the difficulties.” Mostly Matson writes from the itch in his body, and says he always has. He likes playing basketball, table tennis, and collecting minerals in the field. He lives in Oakland, California, where he helps bring up his eleven-year-old son, Ezra.
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Tilar Mazzeo (March 19 at 7:00pm)
Tilar J. Mazzeo.
A charming directory of Sonoma's off-the-beaten track wineries. $15 ticket includes wine tasting from the wineries themselves. Available from Readers' Books or sonomacommunitycenter.org
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Tilar Mazzeo (March 19 at 7:30pm)
Tilar J. Mazzeo.
Many wineries in Sonoma are large retail operations offering wines that you can buy just as readily on the shelves of your local store. Often, these are beautiful places, and a part of the California wine-tasting experience is sitting on marbled Italianate terraces overlooking acres of perfectly pruned ... (more)vineyards, basking in the warm sun and the intense loveliness of it all.
Just as exciting and but far more difficult to spot, however, are the small, back-lane wineries, places that the critics, industry professionals, and locals revere but that few visitors ever see. These are wineries run by the same people who grow the grapes and make the wines. The Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma is a guide to wineries where you can find excellent handcrafted wines made by on-site proprietors, often with only a local distribution and limited production, places where wine tasting gets down-to-earth-no one needs to show off how developed his or her palate is. These are often also where sustainable and organic viticulture is being pioneered. Above all, these are wines that are likely to be a new experience; amid the back-lane wineries of Sonoma, there are still discoveries to be made.
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Adair Lara (March 22 at 4:30pm)
Nafisa Haji , The Writing on My Forehead: A Novel.
A debut novel about a spirited Muslim-American woman dealing with the intersection of her family's tradition and her desire for independence.
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Raphael Cushnir (March 24 at 7:30pm)
Raphael Cushnir , The One Thing Holding You Back: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Connection.
In The One Thing Holding You Back, Raphael Cushnir, a leading voice in the world of personal and professional development, reveals that whenever people aren't living their dreams it's because they're not yet willing and able to feel specific emotions related to those dreams. Once we access and understand ... (more)these emotions, our dreams can and will come true.
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Nafisi Haji (March 26 at 7:00pm)
Nafisa Haji , The Writing on My Forehead: A Novel.
A debut novel about a spirited Muslim-American woman dealing with the intersection of her family's tradition and her desire for independence.
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Live Free and Eat Pie! says Rebecca Rule (March 28 at 10:30am)
Rebecca Rule , The Best Revenge: Short Stories (Hardscrabble Books).
If you're from 'away' you need this hilarious yet indispensable insider's guide to the Granite State. From the words we use, to our people, places and culture, Becky's got a spin on it all. Come meet an NH original and we'll serve the pie.
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William Greider (March 30 at 8:00pm)
William Greider , Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear one of the leading thinkers of our day speak about democracy. Tickets will be $15 from Praxis Peace Institute.
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Robert M. Knight (April 4 at 2:00pm)
Robert M. Knight , Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography.
In conjunction with the film Rock Prophecies:The Life and Art of Veteran Rock 'N' Roll Photographer Robert M. Knight being shown at the Sonoma Valley Film Festival, Robert Knight himself will be signing his photography collection, Rock Gods: Forty Years of Rock Photography.
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Book Group #1 meets to discuss The Charterhouse of Parma (April 7 at 7:00pm)
Stendhal , The Charterhouse of Parma.
Book Group #1 meets to discuss Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division at Lambda Rising! (April 12 at 6:30pm)
Jon Ginoli.
At the height of their career, just off their successful tour with Green Day, Pansy Division dropped by Lambda Rising’s DC bookstore, set up their instruments in our front window, and honored us and our customers with a raucous, rocking free concert. Now founding Pansy Jon Ginoli returns to Lambda ... (more)Rising to meet his fans, sign his new book, and maybe even play a song or two. Join us for this exciting event! The Inside Story of the First Openly Gay Pop-Punk Band Just a few short years ago, the stereotype for gay men involved loving disco and show tunes. Jon Ginoli decided to do something about it. Deflowered is Jon Ginoli’s journey of self-discovery, musical passion, and drive to become the founding member of Pansy Division, the first out and proud queer core punk rock band to hit the semi-big time. Set against the changing decades of music, we follow the band from their inception in San Francisco, to their search for a music label and a permanent drummer to their current status as indie rock icons. We see the highs--touring with Green Day--and the lows--homophobic fans--of striving for acceptance and success in the world of rock. Featuring behind-the-scenes photographs and replete with the requisite tales of sex, drugs, groupies, band fights and label battles, this rollicking memoir is also an impassioned account of staying true to the artistic vision of queer rock'n'roll. Jon Ginoli is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of Pansy Division, a punk rock band whose cd's include Undressed, Deflowered, Wish I'd Taken Pictures, and more. An Illinois native, he's played both dive bars and arenas, and his favorite color is purple. When not on tour with the band he lives and works in San Francisco.
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Malibu Book Group discusses Three Cups of Tea (April 15 at 7:00pm)
Greg Mortenson , Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.
Malibu Book Group meets to discuss Greg Mortenson's best-selling life-changing book Three Cups of Tea. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!
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Fran Gage (April 18 at 4:00pm)
Fran Gage.
The first book to celebrate artisinal olive oil producers with profiles of growers and sevety-five tempting recipes. We'll have an olive oil tasting with food and wine as well.
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Anthony Eglin (April 21 at 7:30pm)
Anthony Eglin.
The hunt for an ancient Chinese rose turns deadly in this Sonoma garden mystery author's latest. The Washington Post called his first mystery "one of those amiable mysteries that seek to mildly educate as well as to entertain.
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Mike Lux (April 26 at 4:30pm)
Michael Lux , The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be.
The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America CAme to Be.
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Mary Roach (April 27 at 7:30pm)
Mary Roach , Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.
Impeccably researced and hilariously funny, this is a look at the "occasionally noble, sporadically ghastly, ever surreal" world of sexual physiology research.
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Lynn Freed (April 30 at 7:00pm)
Lynn Freed , The Servants' Quarters.
The novel's unique characters, evocative South African setting and social millieu, an elegant prose combine to create a marvelous book. Tickets will be $15.
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Theresa Pulido (May 7 at 7:30pm)
Theresa Pulido , Hook, Loop 'n' Lock: Create Fun and Easy Locker Hooked Projects.
Hook, Loop, & Lock
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Jonah Raskin (May 9 at 3:00pm)
Jonah Raskin.
Field Days
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Deanne Stillman (May 12 at 7:30pm)
Deanne Stillman , Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West.
Mustang
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Siddharth Kara discusses and signs Sex Trafficking (May 13 at 7:00pm)
Siddharth Kara , Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is delighted to present Columbia University Press author and local resident Siddharth Kara to discuss and sign his new book, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. This event is free and all are welcome!About the Book:
Every year, millions of women and ... (more)children are abducted, deceived, seduced, or sold into forced prostitution, made to service hundreds if not thousands of men before being discarded. Generating huge profits for their exploiters, sex slaves form the backbone of one of the world's most profitable illicit enterprises, for unlike narcotics, which must be grown, harvested, refined, and packaged, the female body requires no such "processing" and can be repeatedly consumed. In this first-of-its-kind journey, Siddharth Kara investigates the mechanics of the global sex trafficking business across four continents and takes stock of its devastating human toll. Drawing on his background in finance and economics, Kara provides a rare business analysis of sex trafficking, focusing on the local drivers and global macroeconomic trends that gave rise to the industry after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Kara supplements his analysis with a riveting account of this unconscionable industry, sharing the moving stories of victims and revealing the shocking conditions of their exploitation. The author will donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to the organization Free the Slaves.About the Author:Siddharth Kara is a former investment banker and business executive with an MBA from Columbia University. He set aside his corporate career to pursue anti-slavery research, advocacy, and writing, and, more recently, a law degree. He currently serves on the board of directors of Free the Slaves, an organization dedicated to abolishing slavery worldwide. In 2005 he was invited to testify on contemporary slavery to the United States Congressional Human Rights Committee.
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Peter Laufer (May 14 at 7:30pm)
Peter Laufer.
The Dangerous World of Butterflies
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Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould (May 18 at 7:30pm)
Paul Fitzgerald , Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold Story.
Invisible History: Afganistan's Untold Story
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Valerie Laken (May 21 at 7:30pm)
Valerie Laken , Dream House: A Novel.
Dream House
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Susan Kuchinskas discusses and signs The Chemistry of Connection (May 27 at 7:00pm)
Susan Kuchinskas.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present local author Susan Kuchinskas as she discusses and signs her book, The Chemistry of Connection. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.About the Author:
Susan Kuchinskas was fascinated when she first read about oxytocin, because ... (more)it offered an explanation for her own difficult path to love and connection. As a journalist covering technology, science and culture, her work has appeared in a wide variety of publications from Art & Antiques to Time to Oakland Magazine and the East Bay Express. She writes the Mind Matters column for WebMD Magazine. She lives in Berkeley with her mate of 13 years, a rescue dog and a frog. She's an organic gardener and beekeeper, and loves getting her hands dirty. She blogs about oxytocin here.About the Book:When you make love, cuddle with a partner, or have coffee with close friends, a powerful brain chemical called oxytocin floods your body with feelings of contentment and trust. This natural "love drug," produced by the hypothalamus, is responsible for human bonding in both platonic and intimate relationships, and is the key to many of the psychological differences between men and women. In The Chemistry of Connection, you'll learn easy ways to increase your natural supply of oxytocin to establish deeper connections with family, friends, and romantic partners. You'll discover: The power of the "cuddle hormone" in relationships, how sex and love are deeply entwined for both women and men, the chemical differences between lust, romance, and love, and how to raise children who trust and love in a healthy way.
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Ayelet Waldman (June 4 at 12:00pm)
Ayelet Waldman , Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace.
Bad Mother
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Vivienne Sosnowski (June 9 at 7:30pm)
Vivienne Sosnowski , When the Rivers Ran Red : How California's Legendary Vinemakers Survived Prohibition.
When the Rivers Run Red
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Cheryl Wagner discusses and signs Plenty Enough Suck to Go Around (June 11 at 7:00pm)
Cheryl Wagner , Plenty Enough Suck to Go Around.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is excited to present NPR's This American Life contributor Cheryl Wagner to the store to discuss and sign her new memoir about returning home to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Plenty Enough Suck to Go Around.The cliché "New Orleans gets into people's blood" happens ... (more)to be very true - just not always convenient. For Cheryl Wagner (along with her indie-band boyfriend, a few eccentric pals, some ne'er-do-wells, and two aging basset hounds) abandoning the city she loved wasn't an option.Plenty Enough Suck to Go Around is the story of Cheryl's disturbing surprise view from her front porch after she moved back home to find everything she treasured in shambles...and her determined, absurd, and darkly funny three-year journey of trying to piece it all back together again.
In the same heartfelt and hilarious voice that has drawn thousands of listeners to her broadcasts on public radio's This American Life, Wagner shares her unique yet universal story of rebuilding a life after it's flooded, dried, and died...and then the copper thieves moved in...
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Jaimal Yogi (June 11 at 7:30pm)
Jaimal Yogis.
Saltwater Buddha
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Amy Stewart (June 16 at 7:30pm)
Amy Stewart , Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities.
Wicked Plants
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Gregg Hurwitz discusses and signs Trust No One (June 23 at 7:00pm)
Gregg Hurwitz , Trust No One.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to present Gregg Hurwitz as he discusses and signs his new novel, Trust No One. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!About the Author:Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Tower, Minutes ... (more)to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter, Last Shot, and most recently, The Crime Writer, an instant international bestseller that was shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Writers and nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. His novels have been feature selections for all four major literary book clubs, chosen as Book Sense Picks, and translated into fifteen languages. He has written screenplays for Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Paramount Studios, MGM, and ESPN, developed TV series for Warner Studios, written Wolverine, Punisher, and Foolkiller for Marvel, and published numerous academic articles on Shakespeare. He has taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for UCLA, and for Harvard in the United States and Europe. In the course of researching his thrillers, he has sneaked onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs, swam with sharks in the Galápagos, and gone undercover into mind-control cults.Hurwitz grew up in the Bay Area. While completing a BA from Harvard and a master's from Trinity College, Oxford in Shakespearean tragedy, he wrote his first novel. He was the undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for his pole-vaulting exploits, and played college soccer in England, where he was a Knox fellow. He now lives in L.A. where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself.
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Izzy Rose (June 25 at 7:30pm)
Izzy Rose , The Package Deal: My (not-so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom.
"The Package Deal" is about today's stepfamilies, but at its heart it is also a story of modern-day love, the importance of friendships, the constant search for identity and the many ways we make a home. Izzy is the daughter of former Press Democrat co.umnist Susan Schwartz.
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Norman Ollestad discusses and signs Crazy for the Storm (June 28 at 3:00pm)
Norman Ollestad.
Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is excited to welcome Norman Ollestad to the shop to discuss and sign his book, Crazy fo the Storm: A Memoir of Survival. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!
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Vivienne Sosnowski (July 9 at 7:30pm)
Vivienne Sosnowski , When the Rivers Ran Red : How California's Legendary Vinemakers Survived Prohibition.
"When the Rivers Ran Red: An Amazing Story of Courage and Triumph in America's Wine Country," is a recounting of the epic battle that California's winemakers fought against Prohibition, and the resourcefulness that kept the industry alive through its darkest days.
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Michael Collins (July 14 at 7:30pm)
Michael J. Collins , Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon.
"Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: The Making of a Surgeon." asks how an Irish Catholic working class construction worker who spends his days building curbs and gutters and drinking beer with his pals, transform himself into a first-class surgeon? This is a no frills memoir of how hard work and brains ... (more)can make miracles happen.
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Diana Alstad and Joel Kramer (July 19 at 4:00pm)
Diana Alstad.
"The Passionate Mind Revisited: Expanding Personal and Social Awareness" is an updated version of the 1974 classic. It takes on Eastern and Western spirituality and scientific materialism at once. The result is a view more reflective of the complexity of our world and more relevant to the challenges ... (more)we face.
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Benefit for Sonoma County Book Festival (August 1 at 12:00pm)
Jonah Raskin , Field Days: A Year of Farming, Eating, and Drinking Wine in California.
This year's benefit for our very own county book festival will be held at Windrush Farm and will feature Jonah Raskin's new book, "Field Days." about eating and drinking his way through the Valley of the Moon,
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Novella Carpenter (August 2 at 4:00pm)
Novella Carpenter , Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.
"Farm City" is the story of two idealistic people who set out to create an urban farm in the middle of the Oakland ghetto. Novella Carpenter introduces pigs and goats, lime trees and vegetables Into this blighted landscape, and amazing things begin to happen. This book will change forever the way you ... (more)think about farms, cities and human potential. There will be refreshments and a city/country tasting in the Reading Garden. This will be lots of fun.
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Joyce Maynard (August 4 at 7:30pm)
Joyce Maynard , Labor Day.
"Labor Day" is a gripping psychological tale about power, domination, loneliness and love. When a single mother and her 13 year-old son are briefly taken hostage by an escaped convict, everyone comes away changed forever.
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David White (August 6 at 7:30pm)
David White.
In "Sippin' On Top of the World: Toasting Good Times and Better Days," David White explores the intersection between wine and spirituality. His book offers short, succinct essays into what it really means to be a winemaker and to pursue this particular Holy Grail.
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Rita George (September 10 at 7:00pm)
Rita George.
"Stories from the Edge: Nine Principles to Create Lasting Transformation."
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Jennifer Robin (September 12 at 3:00pm)
Jennifer Robin , Growing More Beautiful an Artful Approach to Personal Style.
"Growing More Beautiful: An Artful Approach to Personal Style
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Rob Ludlow (September 26 at 4:00pm)
Consumer Dummies , Raising Chickens For Dummies (For Dummies (Math & Science)).
"Raising Chickens for Dummies.
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Jeff Bell (September 29 at 7:30pm)
Jeff Bell.
"When in Doubt, Make Belief
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Jill Hunting (October 4 at 4:00pm)
Jill Hunting.
"Finding Pete
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Edward Espe Brown (October 13 at 7:00pm)
Edward Espe Brown , The Complete Tassajara Cookbook: Recipes, Techniques, and Reflections from the Famed Zen Kitchen.
"The Complete Tassajara Cookbook
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George Taber (October 23 at 6:00pm)
Geroge M. Taber.
"In Search of Bacchus
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Gary Vaynerchuk (October 24 at 4:00pm)
Gary Vaynerchuk , Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion.
"Crush It" This event is co-sponsored by Click Markets, the iPhone app Drync, and Wired Sonoma.
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Carmina Salcido (October 25 at 4:00pm)
Carmina Salcido , Not Lost Forever: My Story of Survival.
"Not Lost Forever" $5 donation at the door
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Michael Chabon (November 3 at 7:30pm)
Michael Chabon , Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son.
"Manhood for Amateurs
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Garth Stein (November 11 at 12:00pm)
Garth Stein , The Art of Racing in the Rain.
This book has it all: a warm, wise, rational dog as a narrator paired with a loving “master” who has improbable dreams of racing cars. Enzo (the dog) is a philosopher with a nearly human soul and he’s gained a wealth of knowledge from hours spent in front of the TV. Even if you’re not a dog person, ... (more)you’re going to love “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” $25 includes lunch catered by The Epicurean Connection. RSVP to Readers' Books.
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Kent Nerburn (November 12 at 7:30pm)
Kent Nerburn.
In "The Wolf At Twilight: An Indian Elder’s Journey Through a Land of Ghosts and Shadows,”
Kent Nerburn has found his calling assisting Native Americans in telling their stories--in their own words and with their own particular kind of humor and pain—to the rest of the world. Storytelling is an ... (more)essential aspect of Native American life; far more than entertainment, it is the means, the medium, by which culture and values are transmitted from one generation to the next. “The Wolf at Twilight” represents the fulfillment of a promise Nerburn made to himself—to complete the telling that he started years ago in his celebrated work “Neither Wolf Nor Dog,” when he first encountered the Lakota elder called Dan. It is a journey he made for Native Americans, but in fact it was a journey for us all.
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Laura Stec (November 15 at 4:00pm)
Laura Stec , Cool Cuisine: Taking The Bite Out of Global Warming.
We have good news and bad news. It turns out that when it comes to global warming, what we eat counts as much as the cars we drive. The bad news is that the standard American diet is a huge contributor to the earth’s rising temperature. The good news is that by following Laura Stec’s advice, you ... (more)can partake in a delicious solution to the problem. In “Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming.”” chef Laura Stec, along with her co-author, atmospheric scientist Eugene Cordero, explains in graphic detail how the normal American diet is akin to a Hummer on a plate. Massive amounts of meat, imported food, heavy pesticide and fertilizer use, and reliance on processed food, puts a strain on our economy as well as the planet. She goes on to show you how to reduce your carbon footprint while eating delightful local, organic and fresh foods. This is one of those win-win books you will not want to miss.
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Rebecca K. O'Connor (November 17 at 7:30pm)
Rebecca K. O'Connor , Lift.
Sometimes a chance encounter can change your life forever. When Rebecca O’Connor was a child she met a falconer’s peregrine and found it captivating. “Lift” is not simply the story of one woman’s desire to understand and control her world through the art of falconry—it is the story of holding ... (more)on, of letting go, of recognizing and allowing competing forces in our own lives to sustain and shape us. Predator and prey, what is loved and what is hated, what we must accept and what we must reject—each of these dichotomies become O’Connor’s quarry in this poignant memoir.
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Paula Wolfert (November 21 at 4:00pm)
Paula Wolfert , Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking: Traditional and Modern Recipes to Savor and Share.
In “Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking.: Traditional and Modern Recipes to Savor and Share,”
renowned chef Paula Wolfert perhaps says it best: “I’m not quite sure how it happened that I became a clay pot ‘junkie.’ Perhaps it was the different shapes and sizes, the colors and glazes, the myriad ... (more)variations on primal shapes that attracted me. Or perhaps it was just that earthenware produced such great-tasting food. And that’s where I begin this book, by asserting a simple truth: Most food—and Mediterranean food in particular—tastes better cooked in clay.” We couldn’t agree more. Come taste. Paula will be cooking and St. Francis is going to pour.
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Joan Ryan (December 1 at 7:30pm)
Joan Ryan , The Water Giver: The Story of a Mother, a Son, and Their Second Chance.
When Joan Ryan’s son suffered a traumatic brain injury, what seemed like a downwardly spiraling family tragedy turned instead into an opportunity and a second chance at motherhood. In The Water Giver: The Story of a Mother, a Son, and Their Second Chance,” Ryan writes with honesty and grace about ... (more)her son’s very slow difficult passage back to health but what sticks with you is how resilient we humans are and how the greatest gifts of life often come wrapped as our worst nightmares. This is an amazing tale told by an amazing woman.
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Claudia Pruett (December 4 at 12:00pm)
Rima Barkett , Cooking Dinner: Simple Italian Family Recipes Everyone Can Make.
Finally a cookbook has arrived that is dedicated to the true mission of every chef—to bring family members of all ages back to the kitchen. “Cooking Dinner: Simple Italian Family Recipes Everyone Can Make” is a simple, down-home tour of the very best of Italian dishes. It is loaded with recipes, ... (more)tips and ideas for encouraging everyone to join in the lost “art” of family cooking. Come and listen. Come and mangia.
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Barbara Baer (December 10 at 7:30pm)
Barbara Baer.
Rarely if ever have we read such a beautifully written tale of the misery and nostalgia that suffused the old Soviet Union. “Grisha the Scrivener” is a jewel, a prism spanning twenty-six years of one Gregory Gregorovich Samidze, an exiled Georgian journalist who knows how to keep his head down under ... (more)the iron fist of Communism while still maintaining his own identity. Baer’s intertwining tales of political intrigue, forbidden love, and the fierce bonds of family and friendship will haunt you for a long time.
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Romney Steele (December 13 at 4:00pm)
Romney Steele.
. “My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur” is part cookbook, part photography, part history and personal reminiscences, It weaves together assorted strands of magic and wonder that make the famous California restaurant perched on the cliffs of Big Sur what it is. Since its inception ... (more)Nepenthe has been a magnet for writers, artists, travelers, dancers, stage and film actors, and of course, food lovers from around the world. Nani Steele is a writer, cook and food stylist. She also happens to be the granddaughter of Bill and Lolly Forsett, the creators of Nepenthe. Her beautiful tribute comes on the sixtieth anniversary of the restaurant. Come celebrate one of the crown jewels of California. Pisoni Vineyards located in the Salinas Valley will be pouring.
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