Village Books

come along and hear me read... I'm trying to work up the courage to show up in pajamas.

What about you?

Donna Milner's debut novel is about a young girl growing up in British Columbia who becomes enamored with the American draft dodger helping out on her family's farm. Acting impulsively she sets off a chain of events leading to a devastating catastrophe and estrangement from her loved ones for 35 years.
Donna ... (more)Milner raised four children, mostly as a single mother, while working at jobs ranging from waitress and nurse's aide, as well as a successful career in real estate for 25 years. A voracious reader, she was also a closet writer. When she remarried 12 years ago, her husband found one of her hidden stories and encouraged her to pursue writing. She lives with her husband Tom in Williams Lake in central British Columbia.

A cop and a hooker become a "scrivener" and an "odalisque"—a lover and a beloved, who, line by line, scene by scene, reveal their affair in a bitter script that tours the city streets, taking in actresses and immigrants, dreamers and discontents. Sexy, intriguing and expertly realized, this books raids ... (more)our auditory memory, like cultural outtakes of a dark collective unconscious, and as we listen in and watch the pieces fall perfectly into place. Mark Salerno is the author of Hate, Method, a finalist in the National Poetry Series, and So One Could Have. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, and Zyzzyva. He is also the recipient of a Fund for Poetry award.

This book is a powerful rereading of the Lord's Prayer and a call for the church to reject existing power structures by pledging allegiance to the kingdom of God and proclaiming the gospel for all. Bob Ekblad delivers a radical new reading of the Lord's Prayer by arguing that there are earthly power ... (more)structures and allegiances that prevent God's kingdom to come on earth as in heaven. Bob Ekblad is executive director of Tierra Nueva and The People’s Seminary in Burlington, Washington. A minister in the Presbyterian Church, he holds a ThD in Old Testament and is known internationally for his courses and workshops on reading the Bible.

In traditional scholarship, Native Americans have been conspicuously absent from urban history. Indians appear at the time of contact, are involved in fighting or treaties, and then seem to vanish, usually onto reservations. In Native Seattle, Coll Thrush explodes the commonly accepted notion that Indians ... (more)and cities-and thus Indian and urban histories-are mutually exclusive, that Indians and cities cannot coexist, and that one must necessarily be eclipsed by the other. Native people and places played a vital part in the founding of Seattle and in what the city is today, just as urban changes transformed what it meant to be Native. A graduate of Fairhaven College, Coll Thrush is assistant professor of history at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he teaches Aboriginal, environmental, cultural, and world history. He is currently working on two new books: an environmental and cultural history of Indigenous and newcomer food systems on the Northwest Coast and a history of London, England through the lens of Aboriginal visitors from around the world.

Award-winning sustainable design and building consultant and teacher Kathleen O'Brien offers "top picks" for each phase in the process of greening your home. Her perspective is both down-to-earth and cutting edge. She has also faced her own green home challenges and other case studies show affordable ... (more)energy-efficient green homes both old and new. Kathleen O'Brien is founder and president of O'Brien & Company, a nationally recognized leader in sustainable design-build consulting, education, and research. Her own green home has achieved the highest rating in Built Green, won the Parade of Homes Environmental Achievement Award, and has been featured on Home and Garden TV. She lives on Bainbridge Island with her husband.

In 1999 Jennifer Lowe's husband Alex Lowe died tragically in an avalanche on the Himalayan mountain Shishapangma, leaving her alone to raise three sons. Alex was widely considered one of the greatest modern climbers and the world mourned his loss—Tom Brokaw did a one-hour special for Dateline and Sting ... (more)narrated and composed music for a tribute film. Alex's best friend and longtime climbing partner, Conrad Anker, was also dealing with the loss as well as survivor's guilt. Jennifer's account takes readers inside a woman's heart and mind as she navigates her shattered life and ultimately finds transformative love through her great loss. Jennifer Lowe-Anker is a successful artist who paintings hang in the private collections of Peter Fonda, Michael Keaton, and Jeff Bridges, as well as the corporate collections of Patagonia. She is the founder of the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation and its Khumbu Climbing School, which trains Nepalese climbing and guiding skills, enabling them to work and climb in their home region.

Salal is a unique book about a commonplace plant. Part travel narrative, part literary memoir,
part "ethnography" of a plant that usually goes unnoticed, Laurie Ricou's book traces the poetry and culture of salal, while letting readers in on its secrets. Through interviews, commentary, and well-documented ... (more)research, Ricou tells the stories of salal—how it is used, its meaning to writers and artists, how it is gathered, and what the vagaries of the salal industry are all about. Laurie Ricou is a Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is a former president of the Western Literature Association, and former Editor of the journal Canadian Literature. His previous publications include Vertical Man/Horizontal World: Man and Landscape in Canadian Prairie Fiction, A Field Guide to "A Guide to Dungeness Spit," and
The Arbutus/Madrone Files: Reading the Pacific Northwest. He lives in Vancouver, BC.
"I can think of no other book that draws the sciences and the arts together into such a rich and thoughtful work, all based on one plant." — Brian Titus, Research Scientist, Canadian Forest Service

The VB Lesbian Book Group meets on the first Sunday of every month at 2:00 p.m. in the Readings Gallery. Everyone is welcome and may feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.

The May selection is Aimee & Jaguar by Erica Fisher

Well-written and brimming with a gutsy excitement that leaps off the page and straight into the imagination, this novel for young readers is an exceptional, dynamic, complex, and utterly absorbing piece of work that anyone with a true love of animals and adventure will find impossible to put down.

The VB Reads, General Lit discussion group meets the first Monday of each month at 7 pm. It is open to anyone. The book for May is The Omnivore's Dilemma.

By the Book, Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the VB Readings Gallery. Everyone is welcome and may feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.
The May selection is Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte

The book shows how poetry and ... (more)practicality, far from being mutually exclusive, reinforce each other to give every aspect of our lives meaning and direction. For anyone who wants to deepen their connection to their work-or find out what their life's work is-this book is essential to navigating the way.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Sugar Daddy comes another blockbuster contemporary romance about a Texas heiress at the crossroads of her heart and her dreams. Scenes of domestic abuse and the journey to recovery make Kleypas's modern romance anything but fluff. A Wellesley grad and daughter ... (more)of a Houston energy baron, Haven Travis is an unlikely romantic heroine until her brief but ardent encounter with a man who turns out to be Hardy Cates, the East Texas roughneck from Sugar Daddy, a self-made millionaire who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. Lisa Kleypas published her first book at the age of 21 and was also a contestant in the Miss America competition as Miss Massachusetts. Her novels have been published in 14 languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Bellingham.

Interpretive Work's poems speak of collisions of natural history, work, queerness, and family, reaching toward a moment where one finds "this unsettlement,/ this beauty applauded at last." Elizabeth Bradfield grew up in Tacoma, Washington, lived for a time on Cape Cod and in Alaska, and is currently ... (more)Wallace Stegner fellow in poetry at Stanford University. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, and her poetry been published in such journals as The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Field, and is forthcoming in The Gay and Lesbian Review and Ploughshares.
Each poem in Sean Hill's debut collection, Blood Ties & Brown Liquor, builds on the poetic landscape created from his hometown, Milledgeville, Georgia, offering a portrait of the town's black community. From a slave woman's scratchy hay-stuffed mattress to a black insurance agent's ominous patter, from sweet honey to the searing heat of brickyard kilns, these poems spread before us a sensuous world of quotidian lives punctuated by love and violence. Sean Hill has an M.F.A. from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, where he was awarded the 2003 Michener Fellowship for poetry. His poems have appeared in Callaloo, Indiana Review, lyric poetry review, Crab Orchard Review, and Gulf Coast. He was recently awarded a Travel and Study Grant from the Jerome Foundation and a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford.
Jasmine Dreame Wagner's chapbook is part of a commission on the behalf of Window Gallery in Long Island City, New York. She has published poems in journals including the Colorado Review, Indiana Review, Seattle Review, North American Review, Columbia Review, and 32 Poems. Jasmine Dreame Wagner is a graduate of Columbia University and was a writer-in-residence at The Hall Farm Center for Arts & Education in Townshend, Vermont. She also performs in the experimental folk collective Cabinet of Natural Curiosities.

Are native plants the best choice for sustainable landscaping? Are organic products better or safer than synthetic ones? What is the best way to control weeds—fabric or mulch? Find out the surprising answers to these questions and much more. Learn Linda Chalker-Scott's discovery of ... (more)truths that originated in traditional agriculture, that, in many cases, are damaging to both plant and environmental health. Linda Chalker-Scott has spent more than 20 years as a university researcher and educator in the field of plant physiology. She is an extension urban horticulturist and associate professor at Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University and the Washington State editor of MasterGardener magazine. For six years she wrote the online column "Horticultural Myths.

The Columbia and its tributaries are rivers of conflict. Amid pitched battles over the economy, the environment, and breaching dams on the lower Snake River, the salmon that have always quickened these rivers are disappearing. On a warm day in late May, Mike Barenti entered the heart of this conflict ... (more)when he slid a whitewater kayak into the headwaters of central Idaho's Salmon River and started paddling toward the Pacific Ocean. This account of his two-month, nine-hundred-mile solo journey into the world of the Columbia Basin plunges us into the adventure of navigating these troubled waterways. Through his journey, the ecology, history, and politics of Pacific salmon unfold in fascinating detail, and with this firsthand knowledge and experience the reader gains a new and personal sense of the nature that unites and divides us. Mike Barenti is a writer and journalist who has worked as a reporter for the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Idaho Falls Post Register and has taught English and creative writing at various colleges. He has published work in the journals River Teeth and Ascent.
"Mike Barenti's Kayaking Alone carried me like a river, but this is no passive traveler's tale. Barenti's knowledge of the Northwest makes this journey as intellectually engaging and rewarding as it is physically adventurous. In taking you down the river, this beautiful book takes you deep into narratives of humanity and nature — and reminds you that they flow as one story."
—Jonathan Johnson, author of Hannah and the Mountain

Join mother and daughter, Silvana and Sondra Clark, for the first evening of VB's Children's Book Week events. Sondra Clark wrote her first book when she was eight-years-old with her mother, Silvana Clark's encouragement. Her latest book, 77 Creative Ways Kids Can Serve, is great for kids who want to ... (more)get involved in the community and parents who want to encourage them. Aimed toward 8-13-year-olds, the book includes step-by-step directions on ways kids can serve, such as: collecting old tennis balls to entertain dogs in animal shelters and putting together "Giggle Kits" to cheer up children in hospitals. A junior in high school, Sondra has traveled the world, written eight books, and was the youngest Olympic torch bearer out of 11,000 runners. Silvana Clark has written 11 books, including 12 Going on 29: Surviving Your Daughter's Tween Years with Sondra. A motivational speaker and television personaltiy, she has appeared on the FOX reality show, Trading Spouses. The Clarks live in Bellingham.

Writing the Sacred is a workshop designed for both seasoned and brand new writers. Beginning with the Hebrew Psalms, Ray McGinnis offers a splendid range of spiritual poetry from Rumi to Mary Oliver. Through step-by-step writing exercises, he invites you to have a fresh encounter with the sacred in the ... (more)ordinary. Since 1999 Ray McGinnis has taught more than 7000 participants across North America to write poems, new psalms and journal entries toward creative self-expression, healing and personal growth. He lives in Vancouver, BC. For more information visit his website at writetotheheart.com.
"Ray McGinnis…has a knack for drawing bursts of imagination out of people who might not know they had it in them…" — Douglas Todd, Spirituality writer, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, BC

In No Starling, Nance Van Winckel accomplishes what has proven to be so difficult for poets across time: a deeply satisfying balance of the spiritual and political. Moving between the singular and the communal, she explores the individual on a journey through the world and our responsibilities as a people ... (more)for the precarious state of that world. Nance Van Winckel is a professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of four books of poetry and three collections of short stories. Her numerous awards include two National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowships, a Pushcart Prize, two Washington State Artist Trust Awards, and Poetry Magazine’s Friends of Literature Award. After a Spell won the Washington State Governor’s Award for Poetry.

This is the story of a 9-year-old boy whose dream is to study hard, learn a lot, and grow up to be a great American. Joe's dream is shattered when his teacher tells him that he's a minority, a little bit different, and that he will have trouble learning. Joey and his African-American friends, Leon and ... (more)Sandy, tap into the strength, intelligence and courage of their ancestors to challenge negative stereotypes and teach us something about ethnic pride, self-reliance and what it means to be an American.Tony Robles grew up poor in a New York City housing project. His mother taught him that the keys to overcoming poverty are education and diligent work. Tony took those very important lessons and wove them into Joey Gonzalez, Great American. He showed the manuscript to local artist Jim Pryor who immediately offered to paint the illustrations. And he had a suggestion that would make the story even better; adding the Buffalo Solider which blended in so naturally it's difficult now to imagine the story without them. Tony Robles is a U.S. Navy submarine veteran and retired federal agent. Although he has always enjoyed writing, he never dreamed he would publish a children’s story. Jimmy Pryor enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 17. Years later he discovered his talent and studied art in junior college. He primarily works with oils but taught himself to paint with watercolor to illustrate Joey Gonzalez, Great American. Tony Robles and Jim Pryor both live in Bellingham.

In the Blast Zone is the first book to present a cross-pollination of literary and scientific perspectives on Mount St. Helens' history of cataclysm and renewal. Most of the contributors to this volume camped together on the mountain for four days in 2005, the 25th anniversary of the eruption, hiking, ... (more)learning the ecology, and sharing ideas. They asked the question: What can this radically altered landscape tell us about nature and how to live our lives? In the Blast Zone collects some of their answers. While introducing fascinating ecological and geological insights, it also tells compelling stories about how science informs our lives and our relationship to nature. Charles Goodrich is Program Director of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University and the author of The Practice of Home: Biography of a House. Nalini Nadkarni is a faculty member at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington. She was featured as a canopy scientist in the National Geographic television special on tropical forest canopies, titled "Heroes of the High Frontier", which won the Emmy Award for Best Documentary Film of 2001. She has published two books and numerous articles about forest canopy ecology and forest ecosystem ecology. Ann Zwinger writes extensively about the natural history of the Southwest. She has authored more than 10 books, including Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River through Grand Canyon and The Nearsighted Naturalist.

Celebrate National Bike Month with Jennifer Bradbury's debut YA novel about two friends who bike across the U.S. after their high school graduation. Before they reach Seattle, a fight causes the friends to separate. Will they ever see each other again? Find out by reading Shift. Jennifer Bradbury ... (more)and her husband took a two-month long bicycling trek from Charleston, South Carolina, to Los Angeles, California for their honeymoon, changing more than fifty flat tires along the way. She has also bike toured in Alaska and the San Juan Islands. A former English teacher, she is also a one-day winner of Jeopardy! Jennifer Bradbury lives in Burlington, Washington.

Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning new world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens in this spellbinding story of Kezi, a girl confronted with a terrible destiny. Attempting to thwart her fate, Kezi and her love, Olus — the god of wind and loneliness — embark ... (more)on a series of dangerous and seemingly impossible quests. Gail Carson Levine grew up in New York City and has been writing all her life. Her first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book. Levine's other books include Fairest; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction book Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and the picture book Betsy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated by Scott Nash. Gail, her husband, David, and their Airedale, Baxter, live in a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley of New York State.

VB Lesbian Book Group meets on the first Sunday of every month at 2:00 p.m. in the Readings Gallery. Everyone is welcome and may feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.

The June selection is Curious Wine by Katherine Forrest

Book Group #3 will be reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather. This event is free and all are welcome to attend.

VB Reads By The Book Business Book Group meets on the first Wednesday of every month from noon - 1:30 p.m. in the Readings Gallery. Everyone is welcome and may feel free to bring a brown bag lunch.
The June selection is What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

How do two people who’ve never shared an apartment intend to survive six months in the desert with hardly more than a two-man pup tent and some trail mix? Find out in the hilarious memoir, The Cactus Eaters, as Dan and his girlfriend, two inexperienced hikers, take on the challenging ... (more)2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail – a route that stretches from Mexico to Canada, through boiling desert, snowcapped mountain passes, and bear country. Despite warnings from their loved ones, and even some nay-saying strangers, Dan and his girlfriend set out into the wilderness. When these addled adventurers find themselves deep in the American wilderness, the hardships of the trail – and one delicious-looking cactus – test the limits of love and sanity. Dan White is a journalist, explorer, and author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Backpacker magazine. He received his MFA from Columbia University and he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Candlelight offers an intimate view of spiritual direction through written narratives of spiritual direction sessions. The experiential practice is accompanied by theoretical and theological understandings that guide it. The book includes the stories of nine men and women whose stories illustrate how ... (more)the journey of Christian discipleship is helped by spiritual direction. Susan Phillips has served as Executive Director at New College Berkeley, since 1994, and prior to that was the Academic Dean. She regularly teaches for New College Berkeley, Regent College in Canada, and the Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction program at San Francisco Theological Seminary. Much of her writing, including the CHOICE Award-winning book The Crisis of Care: Affirming and Restoring Caring Practices in the Helping Professions, reinforce her concern for the ethics of care and how practices of care shape us as people.

“Susan Phillips’s thoughtful, listening intelligence incandesces in this account of her practice of spiritual direction. The process comes to vivid life in her personal narratives of sessions with directees in God’s presence. I was moved by the way Susan’s insights grew in relationship with those she met with over months and years. I felt holiness creeping into my own life.” —Luci Shaw, author, Breath for the Bones: Imagination, Art, & Spirit and Writer in Residence, Regent College.

Details coming soon.

Americans love to vote—if we're voting for American Idol. Viewers cast 74 million votes in the 2007 finale of American Idol. That's way more votes than any president got. So why don't we bother to vote in elections? Because out votes won't be counted fairly or some judge will throw ... (more)them out. And because once politicians get elected, they don't try to fix the mess our country is in. What if we could vote directly on issues like abortion, Iraq, immigration, guns, same-sex marriage? What if we could fix our country ourselves? Local author W.R Wilkerson III is a songwriter and the author of The Monk's Son, How Would You Vote If Your Were Allowed To? and The Man Who Invented Las Vegas.

When he first glimpsed the Rio Grande in 1973 in El Paso, TX Keith Bowden mistook it for a sewer drain. Years later, at a crossroads in his life, the teacher, writer and adventurer decided to become the first person to travel the entire length of the Rio as it forms the border between the United States ... (more)and Mexico. The Tecate Journals, his first book, is Bowden's fascinating account of that journey by bike, canoe, and raft. Equal parts gritty, elegant, and timely, his story touches on environmental issues, adrenalin-spiked action, and his ambivalance with his own cultural identity. Keith Bowden is fluent in Spanish and a former player in the Mexican baseball league of Texas. He has traveled extensively throughout North, Central, and South America. He lives in Laredo, Texas where he teachers writing at Laredo Community College and writes for the Laredo Morning Times.
"With more than a passing resemblance to Edward Abbey, Bowden explores the hidden corners of a mysterious river and a misunderstood line between countries and cultures. This personal quest to explore the Rio Grande's lenghth delivers a joy ride through white-water alongside a meditation on the value of nature, the cost of categorizing humanity, and our collective failure to recognize either."—Joe Kurmaski, author of Metal Cowboy and Momentum is Your Friend

Anne Broyles, a former Malibu resident, has just published Priscilla & the Hollyhocks and we're thrilled to welcome her back for a celebration party.


Priscilla is only four years old when her mother is sold to another master. All Priscilla has to remember her mother by are the hollyhocks ... (more)she planted by the cow pond. At age ten, Priscilla is sold to a Cherokee family and continues her life as a slave. She keeps hope for a better life alive by planting hollyhocks wherever she goes. At last, her forced march along the Trail of Tears brings a chance encounter that leads to her freedom. This lovely picture book is based upon a true story and includes an author's note with more details about this fascinating true story as well as instructions for making hollyhock dolls.

"Priscilla and the Hollyhocks tells a story too often ignored or overlooked — a story of how the west was not won but captured. Reading about Priscilla's remarkable life makes all our hearts a bit warmer while filling our heads with a much-needed piece of American history."
— Nikki Giovanni, poet

This story chronicles Lawrence Cheek's experiences as he sets out to build a classic wooden sailboat—a task more difficult than he imagined. While navigating his way through marine blueprints and epoxy, he struggles with issues that shape his family and personal life. In the end, his perseverance ... (more)leads to greater self-awareness and a flawed—yet wholly satisfying—wooden sailboat. His boat building adventures began with a kit, evolved to a cedar kayak, and culminated in the wooden sailboat at the heart of this memoir. Lawrence Cheek is the architecture critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and has been nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize in criticism. He has written more than 500 magazine articles ranging from architecture and urban environments to travel and lifestyle. Lawrence first took up sea kayaking when he moved to Seattle in 1995.

With liberals and conservatives alike claiming the authority of the Bible as ballast for their arguments on a wide-range of social and moral issues, the need to understand what the Bible actually says has never been more pressing. In How Would God Vote?, David Klinghoffer examines the worldview ... (more)set forth in the Bible and argues that, with some exceptions, God—as well as Moses and Jesus—would support the principles, positions, and policies of the present-day Republican Party. David Klinghoffer is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, a columnist for the Forward, and the author of Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History, The Discovery of God: Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism, and the spiritual memoir The Lord Will Gather Me In, which was a National Jewish Book Award finalist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post,
Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, and other publications. A former literary editor of National Review magazine, he is the 2006 First Place winner of the Rockower Award for journalism excellence.

In the tradition of Watership Down comes Promise of the Wolves, the first book in a dynamic new series, The Wolf Chronicles trilogy. In the Wide Valley, where ancient laws forbid humans and wolves to come together, one young wolf, Kaala, discovers she is the last in a bloodline charged with watching ... (more)over the humans to prevent them from losing touch with nature. Dorothy Hearst has conducted extensive research in the areas of wolf biology and behavior, and has also interviewed many of the top wolf and dog experts in the world. Previously a senior editor at Jossey-Bass, where she published books for nonprofit, public, and social change leaders, Dorothy Hearst lives in San Francisco.

Shadow of Power is a sharp and absorbing legal thriller that not only explores a dark chapter of our nation's past, but also its profound impact on today's highly charged, politicized society. Controversial law professor Terrance Scarborough's new book, which presents evidence that the roots of slavery ... (more)are still deeply embedded in the U.S. Constitution, is rocketing up the bestseller lists and creating a media frenzy. In the midst of his book tour he announces plans to unveil an even greater and more damaging controversy: a previously unpublished letter written by Thomas Jefferson that portends some deep secret about slavery at the nation's founding. But on the day he's to appear on national television to tell the world about this damning document, he is found beaten to death in a San Diego hotel room. Steve Martini worked as a newspaper reporter in L.A. and practiced law for 17 years before becoming a full time novelist in 1991. He has written 13 novels, including national bestseller Compelling Evidence, and New York Times bestseller Undue Influence, which was produced as a mini-series on CBS. Steve Martini has appeared on numerous television shows for commentary and interviews, including CNN's Burden of Proof, Court TV, The Crier Report, and NBC's Today Show. He lives in Bellingham.
"Steve Martini is an expert at good old-fashioned, gimmick-free storytelling. Shadow of Power is an intelligent and intriguing thriller with crisply drawn, believable characters and breathless, cross-cutting suspense. Fans, including me, have been waiting for this one. Paul Madriani has aged like a fine wine. He's a wary, battle-scarred hero with a decency that rings true. This installment in a terrific series will not disappoint." — Steve Berry, author of The Venetian Betrayal

Details coming soon.

Aidan is poised to take his monastic vows—until a girl enters the abbey, one who hums of the number eleven. Aidan has the ability to hear the humming of numbers, a buzzing energy given off by living things. He is captivated and tormented by the mysterious girl, Lana, who has some unusual abilities ... (more)of her own. How can he become a monk when his mind is filled with impure thoughts?  Joni Sensel is the author of the middle-grade novel Reality Leak and two picture books with environmental themes she published herself with funds from a grant. Bears Barge In was awarded a Henry Bergh Children's Book Honor by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 2001. The Garbage Monster has been incorporated into community environmental education programs from Texas to Manitoba. Joni Sensel lives in Greenwater, a tiny community at the knees of Mt. Rainier in Washington. She usually has a few dogs in her house, as well as mice in her stove vent, raccoons in her tree, and elk in her yard. Visit her web site at Joni Sensel.

A young woman is found murdered ...and the clues to her death point to her spurned lover, Paul Cezanne. Exploring questions of science and religion—and the role of women in these realms—that persist even today, Cezanne's Quarry is an impressive debut mystery about life, death, love, and ... (more)art. Barbara Pope is a historian, an award-winning teacher, and the founding director of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oregon. She has lived and worked in Provence, where Cezanne's Quarry is set, and currently resides in Eugene, Oregon.

Join local author Donna Kelleher on her journey into holistic veterinary medicine. Each chapter in her book highlights a new animal and a new natural method of treatment and raises philosophical questions about animal care and welfare. In The Last Chance Dog, Donna Kelleher offers advice on ... (more)everything from vaccinations and pet-food shopping to affordable, easy-to-administer treatments for allergies, digestive problems, urinary tract infections, pain, hot spots, itchy skin, fear, and anxiety. Inspirational and nothing short of miraculous, the stories of ailing and recovering animals—and the people who love them—are as unforgettable as they are true. Donna Kelleher lives and practices holistic veterinary medicine in Bellingham. She lives in a yurt with her dogs, tortoises and husband, Dr. Jeff Blake who is also a veterinarian and acupuncturist. Her two horses still live outside in the barn. Her goal is to focus on local native herbs and help animal welfare causes in years to come and she has been working on a new book.
Visit her web site at wholepetvet.com.
"The many people now seeking alternative medicine for their own families will also find The Last Chance Dog a must-read for healing their animal companions. Donna Kelleher, D.V.M. is changing the way we practice veterinary medicine, just as Andrew Weil, M.D. has revolutionized human health care. Her holistic stories of animal illness and amazing recovery are lively, moving, and most of all, instructive." — Brenda Peterson, author of Build Me An Ark: A Life With Animals

Details soon...

Food Not Lawns combines practical wisdom on ecological design and community-building with a fresh, green perspective on an age-old subject. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help farmsteaders and city dwellers alike build fertile soil, promote ... (more)biodiversity, and increase natural habitat in their own “paradise gardens. But Food Not Lawns doesn’t begin and end in the seed bed. This joyful permaculture lifestyle manual inspires readers to apply the principles of the paradise garden—simplicity, resourcefulness, creativity, mindfulness, and community—to all aspects of life. Plant “guerilla gardens” in barren intersections and medians; organize community meals; start a street theater troupe or host a local art swap; free your kitchen from refrigeration and enjoy truly fresh, nourishing foods from your own plot of land; work with children to create garden play spaces.
Heather C. Flores, a certified permaculture designer, holds a BA degree in ecology, education, and the arts from Goddard College. She offers environmental landscape design and consultation services. She lives in Oregon.

We will be discussing "Emma" by Jane Austen.

Rhys Bowen’s mysteries have been nominated for every major mystery award, including the Edgar for best novel, and she has won seven of them. She writes three series, including the Constable Evans mysteries, set in the mountains of Wales, and the Molly Murphy Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-century New ... (more)York City and featuring a feisty Irish immigrant woman. Summer 2007 marked the launch of a new and very different series, this one about a minor royal in 1930s England. It has been described as Bridget Jones meets "Charade" as told by Nancy Mitford. Join us for the second book in this series, Her Royal Pain.

One of the main reasons why so many of us have not taken concrete action to reduce our climate impact is that we do not know where to begin. The magnitude of the problem seems so daunting that we just throw up our hands in frustration. The Climate Diet provides a quick and easy way for us to tackle ... (more)our energy use ‘demons’ and wasteful practices one step at a time.
For more information go to climatediet.com. Dr. Jonathan Harrington is an associate professor of international relations at Troy University and has been educating students and the public about environmental issues for more than 15 years. He lives on Mercer Island, Washington.
"Here's a diet that will leave us not grouchy and wanting, but happier, a little richer, and on a sweeter planet!" —Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature

Details soon.

An unforgettable debut novel about finding a home, a safe haven, and family. Deep in Oregon farm country, Edith and Earl McRae are looking down the barrel of their fiftieth anniversary with none of the joy such a milestone should hold. Instead, they are stuck in a past that holds them to heartbreak and ... (more)tragedy. Enter the mysterious and ever-so-slightly magical Mara O’Shaunessey who show them how to recognize the enchantment of their everyday lives. Gracefully capturing the strange alchemy of people and places, Kaya McLaren’s story of redemption and rediscovery will inspire readers to find the magic and power in every day shared with the people they love. Kaya McLaren teaches art and lives on the east slope of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State, with her dog, Big Cedar.

Crossing Lines is the first major anthology of poetry by men and women who grew up in the U.S. and then emigrated to Canada during the Vietnam War era. It offers surprising insights into this watershed period and explores provocative themes related to our own time. 76 poets are represented here who have ... (more)made, and continue to make, significant contributions to Canadian culture and society. A remarkable number have achieved great literary distinction, and all have powerful poetic statements in this book. Ken Klonsky, playwright, short story writer and poet, works for Dr. Carter at Innocence International to help free wrongly convicted prisoners worldwide. Susan McCaslin is a poet, essayist, and educator and the author of eleven volumes of poetry.

Lying in the remote hills of southwest Uganda, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest harbors elephants, chimpanzees, monkeys and half the world's population of endangered mountain gorillas. For two years Thor Hanson called that forest home, working with local guides and trackers to develop a gorilla tourism ... (more)program in the newly-formed Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. He helped habituate wild gorillas to the presence of humans, coming into contact with tow mountain gorilla families. His presentation combines stories, images and music to offer a rare and unforgettable glimpse into the world of mountain gorillas and the human cultures that surround them.

It’s summer and the residents of Ebb are enduring the worst drought since the Dust Bowl. The only thing left is to hope for a miracle. It’s then that former salesman and apparent miracle worker Vernon L. Moore shows up. Joined by three traveling widows with debatable and mysterious pasts, Vernon’s ... (more)come to sell some faith to Clement Tucker, a cold-hearted, mean-spirited businessman recently diagnosed with cancer. But wherever Vernon sets foot in Ebb, people beg him to pray for rain. Despite his seeming ability to work miracles after all, he’s saved the town twice already, and in the past he may or may not have raised a woman from the dead Vernon puts forth an ultimatum: to pray either for Clement’s life or for rain. George Shaffner is the author of In the Land of Second Chances and One Part Angel. He lives in Sammamish, Washington.
“Quietly inspirational, quirkily humorous. . . .An uproarious and uplifting series.” -The Seattle Times

Well June, if I could live my life over again, I wouldn't have parents. With these words Willy Velthuizen tugs at the heartstrings of young and old alike. A Kaleidoscope for June is the fictitious journal of baby boomer Willy Velthuizen's coming of age in rural Ontario Canada in the late 1950's. ... (more)Willy writes about her struggles against the strictures of an authoritarian upbringing with pathos, humor and insight. She is influenced by her education in a one room country schoolhouse, her passion for reading as well as her love of nature and augments this coming of age narrative with songs, poems and recipes of the times. Antoinette Tryssenaar Villa is a teacher who lives in Ferndale with her husband Nick.

Meet Haslett author Marilyn Parmelee. Thursday July 24, 5-7pm

One of the most anticipated books of the season will be available at the first possible moment from Village Books! Breaking Dawn is the next in the Twilight Saga from Stephenie Meyer. The release date for the book is 12:01 a.m. on August 2nd. (that's one minute after Midnight of Friday, August 1)

Breaking ... (more)Dawn, the final book in the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga, will take your breath away.

Don't waste a moment. Get your copy of the book at 12:01 AM on August 2, at Village Books. (Mill Avenue side of store, the door next to the garage)

We will be discussing "The Book Thief" by Markus Zuzak.

Linda Jo Hunter was terrified of bears, but she longed for the solitude of the wilderness. Setting aside her fears, she became an expert tracker and guide and sought out the company of wild animals. As caretakers and guides at Redoubt Bay Lodge in Alaska, Hunter and her husband lived side by side with ... (more)brown bears, learning to understand their behavior and growing to miss their company when they left them behind at the end of each season. This moving account of life among bears offers new insights into bear behavior and makes a compelling case for preserving the magnificent and fascinating brown bear. Linda Jo Hunter is the lead guide and assistant manager at Redoubt Bay Lodge in Alaska and has taken thousands of people to observe brown/grizzly bears in their natural habitat. She is cofounder of the International Society of Professional Trackers and has taught human tracking for Search and Rescue. She lives in Stevenson, Washington.

2,500 years after the passing of Buddha, his message continues to resonate. Introduction to Buddhism, by the accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, explains the essential principles of the Buddhist way of life and what it means to be a Buddhist. Who ... (more)was Buddha? What is karma? How can we understand past and future lives? Everyone is welcome to attend all or part of this talk with Kelsang Norbu, a Western Buddhist monk, Resident Teacher at Dharmakirti Buddhist Center in Bellingham, and a devoted disciple of Geshe Kelsang.

Upon returning from a harrowing assignment in the Congo where she was kidnapped by rebel soldiers, Marika Vecera, an accomplished journalist, learns that a man she has long admired, Pulitzer-winning war correspondent Robert Lewis, has committed suicide. To her, Lewis always represented strength and courage ... (more)in the face of the world's worst tragedies and Marika wants—needs—to understand what could have pushed him over the edge. After deciding to abandon magazine work for a while to write his biography, she receives a curious letter: a missionary claims to have seen Lewis in the remote jungle of Papua New Guinea. Astounded Marika sets off on a journey to discover the truth in one of the world's most exotic and unknown lands. Kira Salak won the PEN Award for Journalism and appeared five times in Best American Travel Writing. She is a contributing editor for National Geographic Adventure magazine and the first woman to traverse Papua New Guinea. Her nonfiction account of the trip, Four Corners, was a New York Times Notable Book.
"With The White Mary, journalist Kira Salak makes a stunning debut as a novelist. This is a story whose beauty and power sweeps you along, like the jungle rivers that bear her heroine into the heart of New Guinea in search of a vanished American. In the tradition of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim and Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter, The White Mary is a superb adventure tale that explores the human soul, a tale of a physical journey that frames a spiritual quest for love and meaning in a world sadly deficient in both."—Philip Caputo

The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart and other books.This adaptation of Mozart’s opera contains all of the classic fairy tale elements. Prince Tamino must save Princess Pamina from her evil mother, the queen. Three beautiful ladies give him a magical flute that will charm both animal and human to help ... (more)him on his quest. With the help of his flute and his jovial friend Papageno, he overcomes the trials of silence, patience, and courage. Will he be able to win Princess Pamina’s hand in marriage?

Kyra Teis began her artistic career while majoring in folklore as an undergraduate. Drawn to symbolic and mythological imagery, she studied folktales and other stories from many different cultures. During this time, she identified that writing and illustrating children's books would be a perfect way for her to combine many of the things she loved. While she went to graduate school, she worked to build a portfolio of artwork and started getting jobs as a professional illustrator.

She learned her distinctive paper collage technique from her father, Dan Teis, who was a contemporary artist. Her father's studio was always open to her, and she had unlimited access to paper, paint, and other art supplies. In high school, Kyra sat in on many of her father's classes that he taught while serving as Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Delaware.

Now, Kyra draws inspiration from her extensive travels, her husband and young daughter. She enjoys designing creative workshops for school visits and speaking to students about making stories and images of their own. Kyra lives near Albany, New York.Book Signing: Tuesday, August 19, 11 am- 12 noon.

An unforgettable debut novel about finding a home, a safe haven, and family. Deep in Oregon farm country, Edith and Earl McRae are looking down the barrel of their fiftieth anniversary with none of the joy such a milestone should hold. Instead, they are stuck in a past that holds them to heartbreak and ... (more)tragedy. Enter the mysterious and ever-so-slightly magical Mara O’Shaunessey who show them how to recognize the enchantment of their everyday lives. Gracefully capturing the strange alchemy of people and places, Kaya McLaren’s story of redemption and rediscovery will inspire readers to find the magic and power in every day shared with the people they love. Kaya McLaren teaches art and lives on the east slope of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State, with her dog, Big Cedar.

For the better part of three decades romance comics were an American institution. Nearly 6,000 romance comics were published between 1947 and 1977, and there was a time when one of every five comics sold in the U.S. was a romance comic. This is the first book devoted entirely to the rarely studied world ... (more)of romance comics. Author Michelle Nolan examines several significant periods in the development of the romance genre, including the origins of Archie Comics and other teen romance publications. Michelle Nolan has been a newspaper and magazine feature writer for more than 40 years, working with such periodicals as Comic Buyer's Guide and Comic Book Marketplace. She lives in Bellingham.

World-renowned canopy biologist Nalini Nadkarni has climbed trees on four continents with scientists, students, artists, clergymen, musicians, activists, loggers, legislators, and Inuits, gathering diverse perspectives. In Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees, a rich tapestry of personal ... (more)stories, information, art, and photography, she becomes our captivating guide to the leafy wilderness above our heads. Nadkarni describes trees' intricate root systems, their highly evolved and still not completely understood canopies, their role in commerce and medicine, their existence in city centers and in extreme habitats of mountaintops and deserts, and their important place in folklore and the arts. She explains tree fundamentals and considers the symbolic role they have assumed in culture and religion.
Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, known as "The Queen of the Forest Canopy", is a professor at The Evergreen State College. Since 1985, she has carried out forest canopy research on four continents, mainly in Costa Rica and in Washington State, supported by the National Science Foundation. She has published 80 scientific articles and three books. Her recent awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the J. Morton Stirling Award. In 1994, she founded the International Canopy Network to foster communication among canopy researchers, educators, and conservationists. Her recent work has involved bringing her research to non-scientists in non-traditional venues, such as prisons, churches, hospitals, and rap music halls. She is currently exploring how to synthesize information across such disparate disciplines of science, music, religion, and social justice to create materials that will stimulate conservation. Her work has been featured in magazines such as Natural History, Glamour, and National Geographic, and she has appeared in numerous television documentaries.

Join Diesel Bookstore as investigative journalist & author, Nena Baker presents and signs her compelling new book, The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being.

Nena spent a quarter century in the trenches of journalism before writing THE BODY TOXIC. ... (more) She began her career in New York as a copy editor for GQ magazine, later moving on to positions at TV Guide and a jewelry trade magazine, where she exposed the illegal disposal of toxic chemicals by retail jewelers.

She also worked as a reporter and editor on the national financial desk of United Press International in New York before returning to her home state of Oregon, where, as an awrd-winning staff writer for The Oregonian, she was the first U.S. reporter to investigate deplorable conditions at Nike's Indonesian factories.

Her writing has appeared in SELF, Town & Country, Seventeen, and Mademoiselle. A graduate of Lewis & Clark College, Baker currently lives in Portland, OR, where she is a licensed private investigator specializing in interviewing, database, and public-records research.

This is the finest collection yet by a poet with a growing reputation for writing with passionate candor and exquisite finesse on matters of faith and spirituality in the tradition of Herbert, Hopkins, and Avison. Susan McCaslin has written 11 volumes of poetry, won first place in the Federation of British ... (more)Columbia Writers' 2006 poetry contest and her poems have appeared on the buses in Vancouver's Poetry in transit program as well as many literary journals across North America.

Scheer, whose profiles of and interviews with U.S. presidents have helped shape journalism history, will be presenting his newest book, THE PORNOGRAPHY OF POWER on Sunday, September 7.

In it, he takes aim at America's defense policy and bloated military budget with a pugnacious and rigorously researched ... (more)polemic, vigorously arguing that war cannot defeat terrorism.

About the Author:
Robert Scheer is currently Editor-in-Chief of Truthdig.com, 2007 Webby Award winner for best political blog.

Between 1964 and 1969, he was Vietnam correspondent, managing editor and editor in chief of Ramparts magazine. From 1976 to 1993, he served as a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, writing on diverse topics such as the Soviet Union, arms control, national politics and the military. In 1993 he launched a nationally syndicated column based at the Los Angeles Times, where he was named a contributing editor. That column ran weekly for the next 12 years and is now based at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Scheer can be heard on the political radio program Left, Right and Center on KCRW, the National Public Radio affiliate in Santa Monica, CA. He has written seven books, including With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush and Nuclear War.
He is a contributing editor for The Nation as well as a Nation Fellow. He has also been a Poynter fellow at Yale, and was a fellow in arms control at Stanford.

The Lace Reader is a mesmerizing, tale which spirals into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies and half-truths where the reader quickly finds it's nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction, but as narrator Towner Whitney points out early on in the novel, "There are no accidents." Born ... (more)and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain College in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire. She has created Brain Teaser puzzles for Smart Games and lives in Salem, Massachusetts, with her husband and their beloved golden retriever, Byzantium.

"In Barry's captivating debut, Towner Whitney, a dazed young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers, has survived numerous traumas and returned to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover. Any tranquility in her life is short-lived when her beloved great-aunt Eva drowns under circumstances suggesting foul play. Towner's suspicions are taken with a grain of salt given her history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm. The mystery enmeshes local cop John Rafferty, who had left the pressures of big city police work for a quieter life in Salem and now finds himself falling for the enigmatic Towner as he mourns Eva and delves into the history of the eccentric Whitney clan. Barry excels at capturing the feel of smalltown life, and balances action with close looks at the characters' inner worlds. Her pacing and use of different perspectives show tremendous skill and will keep readers captivated all the way through."—Publishers Weekly

Marsha Scarbrough finds herself divorced, middle-aged, living in Los Angeles with a downhill career in film production, and then is given a bad mammogram. After fruitless visits to doctors she hears of a Native American visionary and teacher in town doing private healings, one Joseph Rael, also known ... (more)as Beautiful Painted Arrow, and goes to him for treatment. When her doctors finally schedule an ultrasound, they find nothing. This is just the beginning of an apprenticeship with Beautiful Painted Arrow to learn more about these ancient ways of healing. Marsha endures a range of treatments including sweatlodges, marathon walking meditations, and a three-day dance-fast. Marsha Scarbrough spent 17 years scheduling, planning and running the sets of major feature films, prime time television series, movies of the week and network sitcoms. She has handled logistics, organization and administration for various directors including Clint Eastwood, Leonard Nimoy, and Carl Reiner.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story 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. Garth Stein is the author of How ... (more)Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets, which won a 2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award, and was a Book Sense Pick in both hardcover and paperback, and Raven Stole the Moon. After receiving his B.A. from Columbia College, and his M.F.A. in film from Columbia University, School of the Arts, Garth Stein worked as a documentary film maker for several years, and directed, produced or co-produced several award winning films. He lives in Seattle with his family and his dog, Comet.
"I savored Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain for many reasons: a dog who speaks, the thrill of competitive racing, a heart-tugging storyline, and—best of all—the fact that it is a meditation on humility and hope in the face of despair. Since finishing this engagingly unique novel, I’ve found myself staring at my own dog, thinking, Hmm, I wonder ...
— Wally Lamb, Author of I Know This Much Is True

It's been called the "musical version of Seabiscuit," a book that tells you everything you didn't know you wanted to know about . . . the relationship between a piano, a piano tuner, and the eccentric and enigmatic pianist, Glenn Gould. Katie Hafner is a former correspondent for the New York Times ... (more)and the author or coauthor of four books, including Where Wizards Stay Up Late, Cyberpunk, The Well, and The House at the Bridge. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"It isn't giving away too much to say that A Romance on Three Legs has
its share of tragedy. But you wouldn't want to miss how clearly Hafner
makes us see why Gould's eccentricities were more than just charming or
laughable. The weird chair, the odd posture, the action of CD318-all
were vital to his genius. The results were not always magical, but when
Gould was paired with the right composer, Bach especially, he could make
you wonder if he was altogether human. And reading Hafner on Gould is
sometimes as much fun as listening to him play. And that's saying a
lot."
-Malcolm Jones, Newsweek

The Sharper the Knife The Less You Cry
More details coming soon.

One of the most anticipated books of the season will be available at the first possible moment from Village Books! Be among the first to know what happens to Eragon and Saphira! You, or someone in your life, have been waiting eagerly for this book.
Brisingr is the third book in the Inheritance Cycle ... (more)from Christopher Paolini.
Join your friends on the main floor of Village Books (enter by the 11th Street front door) for a release party at 11:00 pm on Friday, September 19. We'll have refreshments and some fun and games. The book will be released at Midnight.

One of the most anticipated books of the season will be available at the first possible moment from Village Books! Be among the first to know what happens to Eragon and Saphira! You, or someone in your life, have been waiting eagerly for this book.
Brisingr is the third book in the Inheritance Cycle ... (more)from Christopher Paolini.
Pick up your copy of Brisingr at 12:01 AM on September 20. (that's one minute after Midnight of Friday, September 19 at the Mill Avenue side of store,
the door next to the garage)

Diesel Bookstore is proud to welcome back Irvine Welsh, the bestselling author of Trainspotting as he presents his newest book, Crime.

As Welsh's very first novel set in the U.S., CRIME is a shocking and gripping story about the corruption and abuse of the human soul, and the possibilities for redemption.

Drop into the deep south with all its trimmings--lightnin' bugs, heart-wrenching twisted love, bizarre burials and desperate murders--and step inside a hardcore iron gym to meet its star player, a big time, small town, steroid junkie. Author s. jaen black is a current master's world record holder in ... (more)the sport of Olympic weightlifting, and a USA Weightlifting Regionally ranked coach. She wrote Bastante, her debut novel, while managing one of the country's most infamous iron gyms. Also a musician, she is the drummer for the Buzzbombs and the duo, Dick & jaen. She lives on Orcas Island.

Part 1: 5:45 pm Information Fair begins
Part 2: 7pm Mike Farrell's talk begins

Village Books, along with a growing list of co-sponsors, is excited to announce a FREE community event featuring actor and human rights activist, Mike Farrell. Best known for his role as B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H, Mike ... (more)has spent most of his life dedicating his time, name, charm, and intelligence to human rights activism, both nationally and internationally. He is the president of the San Francisco-based Death Penalty Focus, and is the former chair of the board for Human Rights Watch. This Bellingham event marks the kick off a brief tour celebrating the paperback release of his book, Just Call Me Mike. Mike will speak about his life as activist and actor, and engage the community about related topics of interest to the audience in this interactive event.

Prior to Mike's talk, there will be an information fair in the Church lobby that highlights the co-sponsoring organizations (listed below). Community members are openly encouraged to come early early to learn about and talk with representatives from human rights and social justice organizations in our community. Doors open for the information fair at 5:45 pm.

Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. FREE. No ticket required.

Event co-sponsors include:
Board of Mission, Justice, and Social Concerns (Bellingham's First Congregational Church), Whatcom Peace and Justice Center, Community to Community Development, Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Friday Peace Vigil/Peace Zone, Pachamama Symposium Facilitators; a New Dream Emerging, Amnesty International Group 270, World Issues Forum of Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival Committee.

As additional details are available, they will be posted on the Village Books website; visit the Literature Live section at www.villagebooks.com.

Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar has been a breakout bestseller ever since the authors—and born vaudevillians—Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, “The Philosophy Guys,” did their schtick on NPR’s Weekend Edition. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein pursued the usual careers ... (more)after majoring in philosophy at Harvard. Cathcart worked with street gangs in Chicago and dropped in and out of various divinity schools. Klein wrote jokes for comedians including Flip Wilson and Lily Tomlin, designed stunts for Candid Camera, and continues to pen thrillers.

Coming Through With Grace is an unusual love story about a woman's personal transformation upon discovering that she's married to a sex addict. A book of forgiveness, understanding and finding freedom after the shock of confronting painful discoveries about her life choices and her relationships. Kate ... (more)Morgan offers her experiences to help others find hope within excruciating circumstances. She has been a nurse for 17 years and a life consultant since 2003. Kate Morgan counsels men and women nationwide about the devastating affects of sex addiction. She operates her consulting practice out of La Conner, WA. Visit her web site at gracenotebooks.com.

San Juan Island is well known for its splendid vistas, saltwater shore, quiet woodlands, and orca whales. But it was also here, in 1859, that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a dead pig. Historian Mike Vouri has selected nearly 200 historical images to illustrate this final ... (more)boundary clash between two future allies. He has authored two previous works on the Pig War.

In the early 17th century, mathematicians generally agreed that it was impossible to accurately and scientifically determine the likelihood of one event occurring rather than another. Everything from the result of a dice roll to the possibility of rain was consigned to the realm of pure, unknowable chance. ... (more)In 1654, everything changed. Blaise Pascal wrote a letter to Pierre de Fermat describing a method to predict mathematical futures. Human life has never been the same. The Unfinished Game traces the history of Pascal's letter and the lives of the author and recipient while exploring the remarkable mathematical advances the men achieved. Keith Devlin explains how vital the concept of risk management is to modern life, how humanity was changed by Pascal's letter, and how radically it has caused humans to rethink the concept of the future. Keith Devlin, the "Math Guy" on NPR's Weekend Edition, is a Senior Researcher at Stanford Center for the Study of Language and Information and its Executive Director. His books include: Mathematics: The Science of Patterns, The Math Gene, and The Math Instinct. He lives in Palo Alto, CA.

In Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life, Jim Kershner explores the sources of Carl Maxey’s passions as well as the price he ultimately paid for his struggles. The result is a moving portrait of the man called a “Type-A Gandhi” by the New York Times, whose own personal misfortune spurred his lifelong, tireless ... (more)crusade against injustice. Jim Kershner is a journalist for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane and staff historian at HistoryLink.org.

From the looks of it, she has it all. A talented photographer with a book contract, the manager of a hip San Francisco art gallery, the wife of an exciting doctor who adores her. So, why is she so empty? Near Bombay’s famed, The Gateway of India, with humanity pouring like an agitated liquid ... (more)through streets of squalor and dire circumstances, Gina Bartolli focuses her camera on two beggars–one an infant, beautiful and fresh, the other barely a teen, frail and already bent by reality. The older girl is dressed in a thread-worn cotton dress and is carrying her baby sister with the stub of an amputated arm. Her other arm is outstretched, her hand open, pleading for help from rich tourists. In the time it takes Bartolli’s shutter to fall, a strange new perspective clicks deep inside, setting her off on an improbable, foolish and even dangerous quest. Sometimes the desire for a baby strips away reason and judgment. Author Jo Ann Freed Chavré, who splits her time between Utah and Whatcom County, knows the deep humility and honor that is the Indian people.

Read and discuss a variety of books exploring how to create a more civil and engaged community. Join Mary Dumas on the 3rd Wednesday of October, November and December 2008 from noon to 1:30. Meetings are in the Readings Gallery -- brown bag lunches are encouraged. Anyone interested in exploring their ... (more)role as an engaged citizen is welcome. Authors DO NOT attend.

October's selection: Emotional Intelligence
by Goleman, Daniel P.

Join Diesel Bookstore for a green event with Van Jones, author of Green Collar Economy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van ... (more)is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

He's worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America.

As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors, which include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.

He's also served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change.

In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.

In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities."

In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.

His many media appearances includes the popular Peabody award-winning show, The Colbert Report.

With her New York Times Bestseller, Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime fiction world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. Lowell and Sheridan's stories continue in this terrifying ... (more)new sequel. Author Chelsea Cain lived her first few years on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where the infamous Green River Killer was the boogeyman of her youth. She lives in Portland with her husband and daughter. She is also the author of Hippy Handbook, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, Does This Cape Make Me Look Fat?, Wild Child, and Dharma Girl.

Join Clare Langley-Hawthorne at Diesel Bookstore as she presents the second book in her fantastic new historical mystery series! Featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow, THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION is a thrilling story of scandal and betrayal that's richly detailed and ... (more)action-packed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Clare Langley-Hawthorne was raised in England and Australia. She practiced law in Melbourne until 1995 when she emigrated moved to the United States and began work as a health economist. Clare has since put her pursuit of a PhD on hold to focus on her career as a writer. She lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and twin sons. This is her second novel.

For more information, visit her web site at www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com

Details forthcoming...

Two Dudes, A Car Powered By Vegetable Oil, and a Cross-Country Trip in Search of a Greener World
When Greg first laid eyes on the 1985 Mercedes that would soon become he and his wife’s vegetable-oil fueled car, he never dreamed he’d someday set off across the country with the goal to be the first ... (more)to drive from one coast to the other in a grease guzzlin’ vehicle. Soon after proposing the idea to his college buddy Iggy, though, the two were on the road. Greasy Rider is the hilarious and insightful tale of Greg and Iggy’s trek. We follow the two from Burlington, VT to Berkeley, CA, stopping at green meccas to learn about other alternative energy along the way: the solar-powered Google headquarters, the wind turbines of southwestern Minnesota, and the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO, among others. You’ll be amazed at what is happening around the country to help Mother Nature. Greg Melville is a freelance journalist and author of 101 Best Outdoor Towns: Unspoiled Places to Visit, Live & Play. He’s written for Men’s Journal, Outside, Popular Science, and National Geographic Adventurer.

Join Newbery Award winning author, Kirby Larson, as she reads from her new book,Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival,

Bobbi and Bob Cat are the best of friends. When their hometown of New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina, many lost everything. But not Bobbi ... (more)and Bob Cat--they still had each other. Only by staying together could they survive. This is the story of their remarkable friendship.

Cascadia is remarkable for its famed mountains, evergreens, beaches and livable cities. This region, which includes Washington, Oregon and British Columbia is named after the region's "cascading" waterfalls, and is home to the least institutionally religious people on the continent. Despite resistance ... (more)to old ways of doing religion, this book argues that most of the residents of this rugged land are eclectically, informally, often deeply "spiritual," gaining a sense of sacred from the land. Fifteen leading writers, historians, scholars, economists, philosophers and poets explore this unique spirituality in Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia. Editor Douglas Todd is one of the most honoured spirituality and ethics writers on the continent. Working for the Vancouver Sun and other newspapers, he is a two-time winner of the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award. He is the author of Brave Souls: Writers and Artists Wrestle with God, Love, Death and the Things That Matter. He lives in Vancouver, BC.

Join Sarah for discussions of literary books by & about lesbians. Meetings are the 1st Sunday of every month at 2 pm.
November's selection: Bittersweet, by Nevada Barr
Award-winning author Nevada Barr reveals another side to her remarkable storytelling prowess with this heart-wrenching yet tender tale ... (more)of two women whose boundless devotion to each other is continually challenged in 19th-century America.

The Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the Village Books Readings Gallery and is facilitated by Janet Ott. Everyone is welcome. The November book is Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes by William Bridges.

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting ... (more)that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"--politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example--to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners.

Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

Reviews:
"Sweet Tea is an amazing book. Engaging from the very start, it is well written and thought provoking throughout. There were times I simply could not put it down."--E. Lynn Harris, New York Times bestselling novelist

"A variety of biases, oversights, and material circumstances have conspired to push the narratives of southern black gay lives to the margins. Sweet Tea makes a monumental achievement by getting these stories out into the world. Every subsequent, serious engagement with the topic will have to address Johnson's work. This book is certain to be consulted, referenced, and discussed for many years to come."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History and Concentration Camps on the Home Front: Japanese Americans in the House of Jim Crow

In The King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin leaves a major musical composition with Irving Berlin, but Berlin claims he never received it. Then, Joplin is found in Berlin's company offices, crouched over a blood-soaked body. Music publisher John Stark and his strong-minded daughter, Nell, need to get around ... (more)their edgy relationship to find the manuscript and exonerate Joplin. Author Larry Karp practiced perinatal medicine and wrote general nonfiction books and articles for 25 years, then, in 1994, left medical work to write mystery novels. The backgrounds and settings of Larry's stories reflect many of his interests, including musical antiques, medical-ethical issues, and ragtime music. The King of Ragtime is his sixth published mystery.

Details forthcoming.

Russell Harmon is the self-proclaimed king of his small-town Idaho dart league, but all is not well in his kingdom. Taking place in a single day, The Dart League King follows five characters at pivotal moments in their lives. Keith Lee Morris is an associate professor of English and creative writing ... (more)at Clemson University. His short stories have been published in The Sun, and the Georgia Review, among other publications. His previously published books include The Greyhound God and The Best Seats in the House.

"What a testament it is to a splendid novelist's powers to pitch-perfectly create a small-town dart league and in doing so not only illuminate the zeitgeist but some universal truths to boot. The Dart League King is a nine-darter of a novel and Keith Lee Morris is a writer whose books I have promised myself never to skip."—Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

For the past ten years, Rolf Potts has taken his keen postmodern travel sensibility into the far fringes of five continents for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, and The New York Times Magazine. This book documents his boldest, funniest, and most revealing journeys—from getting ... (more)stranded without water in the Libyan desert, to crashing the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, to learning the secrets of Tantric sex in a dubious Indian ashram. Offbeat and insightful, Marco Polo Didn't Go There is an engrossing read for students of travel writing as well as armchair wanderers. Award-winning travel writer, Rolf Potts has reported on his adventures from more than sixty countries and his essays have appeared in over twenty anthologies. Though he rarely stays in one place for more than a few weeks or months, Potts feels somewhat at home in Bangkok, Cairo, Pusan, New Orleans, and north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on thirty acres near his family. Each July he can be found in France, where he's the summer writer-in-residence at the Paris American Academy.

In Gregg Shapiro’s touching, heartfelt, and often hilarious debut book of poetry, Protection, everyday events and observations become works of art. Whether describing the afterglow of an intimate moment, the heartache of a lost love, or the joy in hearing his mother swear, Shapiro captures each moment ... (more)like a snapshot. If David Sedaris wrote poetry, this is what it might sound like. Gregg Shapiro's interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional GLBT publications and websites, and his poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous outlets.

Read and discuss a variety of books exploring how to create a more civil and engaged community. Join Mary Dumas on the 3rd Wednesday of October, November and December 2008 from noon to 1:30. Meetings are in the Readings Gallery -- brown bag lunches are encouraged. Anyone interested in exploring their ... (more)role as an engaged citizen is welcome.
Authors DO NOT attend.
November's selection: Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time, by Margaret J. Wheatley

Finding Our Way, by bestselling author and renowned speaker Margaret Wheatley is a collection of articles written to support the practices of people and leaders in many different types of organizations, communities, and cultures.

Please join us for a special reading by poet/writer David Lovelace as he describes the mountainous highs and crushing lows of living with mental illness in, "Scattershot: A Memoir of My Bipolar Family".

Set in Finland, the historical novel, Sunpath, follows a ten-year-old boy's struggles for survival. To escape Russian invaders during WWll, he and thousands of Finnish children were sent to Sweden as part of one of the greatest exoduses of children in recorded history. Created from personal accounts ... (more)and local research, Sunpath explores a harrowing period in history, and is an uplifting saga of a remarkable child whose tenacity for life reflects the best of the human spirit. Author Michael Maryk has been a stage and screen actor, motion-picture producer, and screen writer. He and his wife Margaretha, a professional photographer, live in Bellingham.

The Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the Village Books Readings Gallery and is facilitated by Janet Ott. Everyone is welcome. The December book is No BS Marketing to the Affluent by Dan Kennedy.

Betrayed by oilmen’s promises in the 1970s, the people of Prince William Sound, Alaska, awaken on March 14, 1989, to the nation’s largest oil spill. Not One Drop is an extraordinary tale of ordinary lives and an exceptional ecosystem ripped apart by disaster, and of environmental recovery and community ... (more)healing through forging trust-based relationships on the path from despair to hope. This story offers critical lessons for a society traumatized by political divides and facing the looming catastrophe of global climate change.
A commercial salmon "fisherma'am," Dr. Riki Ott (PhD in marine biology) experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill—and chose to do something about it. Ott retired from fishing and founded three nonprofit organizations to deal with lingering harm. Her previous book on the spill is Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$. She lives in Cordova, Alaska.
This event is co-sponsored by The Women's Maritime Association and North Sound Baykeeper, a project of RE Sources.

Join us for a taping of the Chuckanut Radio Hour at the Museum of Radio & Electricity. Mystery author, J.A. Jance, will be our guest and we'll be joined by the Marinus Jazz Trio. Alan Rhodes will be there with one of his inimitable essays and, no show would be complete without an episode of The Bellingham ... (more)Bean. Tickets are $7.50, with one free with the purchase of Cruel Intent.

Details coming soon.

In the wake of his mother's death, as his body-building father and brethren pump themselves to Hulkish proportions, weak-eyed vegetarian William Miller stops growing altogether--until his father remarries a relentlessly kind grief counselor, delivering Will a troubled stepsister who soon becomes his ... (more)confessor, companion, and heart's only desire. But when Lulu inexplicably pushes him away, Will must look elsewhere for meaning.
Author Jonathan Evison is at work on the forthcoming novel, West of Here. He has worked as a syndicated talk radio host, a rotten tomato sorter, and a captive bear feeder. He lives on Bainbridge Island.

Details coming soon...

This is the first definitive and accessible technological history of the invention of the airplane. In it Jay Spenser celebrates the contributions of ingenious, courageous visionaries who dedicated their lives to making flying an everyday reality, and he also offers a preview of the technology now being ... (more)introduced by the ultra-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Jay Spenser has spent a lifetime studying aviation as a curator at the National Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Flight, and more recently as an aerospace industry writer. He is the coauthor of 747 and lives in Seattle.

The Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the Village Books Readings Gallery and is facilitated by Janet Ott. Everyone is welcome. The January book is A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink.

Details coming soon...

Details coming soon...

The Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the Village Books Readings Gallery and is facilitated by Janet Ott. Everyone is welcome. The February book is The Answer by John Assaraf and Murray Smith.

Details forthcoming...

The Business Book Group meets the first Wednesday of each month at Noon in the Village Books Readings Gallery and is facilitated by Janet Ott. Everyone is welcome. The February book is Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow by Chip Conley.

Daniel James Brown will discuss interesting facts and myths about the Donner Party and read passages from his new book--The Indifferent Stars Above.

Zack Hara is dead inside, devoid of passion, hate, love, any sustained emotion. The twenty-something technical writer trudges through each day in LA like a zombie, until he leaves his job, part-time lover, and antique Chevy pick-up truck to travel to Japan. There, searching for an emotional life, Zack ... (more)becomes entwined with a tragic poet, a sensual but disillusioned woman, and young people who form suicide clubs -- all propelling him down a dangerous path. TODD SHIMODA is the author of two novels: 365 Views of Mt. Fuji (Stone Bridge Press, 1998) and The Fourth Treasure (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002), which was listed as a 2002 Notable Book by the Kiriyama Prize. It also won first place in the fiction category of the 2003 New York Book Show.