BookPeople Events!
For questions about events, contact BookPeople Marketing Director Mandy Brooks at 512.472.4288 x 411 or mandy@bookpeople.com.
Events start at 7PM unless otherwise indicated. List updated Wednesday, December 28.
*** - denotes new event
DECEMBER
Wednesday 28 7p - Hard Word Book Club discussing Nineteen Seventy-Four: The Red Riding Quartet, Book One by David Peace
Tough stories with hard hombres and dangerous dames, where survival trumps virtue, no matter what side of the law you are on; this is what you'll find in the Hard Word Book Club. Scott and Joe will guide you along the last Wednesday of every month at 7PM. This month's book is Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace. We'll be watching the film Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Seventy-Four after the discussion, so come for a fun evening!
Wednesday 29 5:30p - Happy Hour Book Club at the Highball discussing Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
What's better than talking about a book with a group of friends? Talking about a book with a group of friends during Happy Hour at The Highball! Come hang out with Mandy and Joel the last Thursday of every month at 5:30PM where we'll discuss books over cocktails. This month's book is Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris.
Saturday 31 - BookPeople New Years Eve Hours: 9am - 8pm
JANUARY 2012
Sunday 1 11am - 11pm - CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY!
Today, nearly everything in the store is 20% off. Now you can get what you REALLY wanted for the holidays! Thank you for making 2011 an incredible year here at BookPeople. Here's to a happy, healthy year of reading! We're open from 11am - 11pm today.
Sunday 1 5p - Voyage Out Book Club discussing The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Join Clint and Brian C. the last Sunday of every month at 5PM as we use wonderful books to travel the world. We're actually taking a break from a specific region at the moment, and instead choosing to read books on our "to read" list. This month we are reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. (Due to the Christmas holiday, we have 2 meeting dates in January. The first date is 1/1, the second is 1/29.)
Tuesday 3 7p - 7% Solution Book Club discussing Maise Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Come join Sharee and Tommy as they explore the worlds of fiction's greatest mysteries. But you must hurry - the game is already afoot. This month's title is Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. (Normally, this club meets the first Monday of every month. Due to the holidays, we are meeting the first Tuesday of January instead.)
Wednesday 4 7p - UT Psychology Professor ART MARKMAN speaking & signing Smart Thinking: Three Essential Keys to Solve Problems, Innovate, and Get Things Done
Drawing on diverse studies of the mind, from psychology to linguistics, philosophy, and learning science, Art Markman, Ph.D., demonstrates the difference between "smart thinking" and raw intelligence, showing readers how memory works, how to learn effectively, and how to use knowledge to get things done. He then introduces his own three-part formula for readers to employ "smart thinking" in their daily lives. Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. He got his ScB from Brown University and his PhD from the University of Illinois. Before coming to the University of Texas, Art taught at Northwestern University and Columbia University.
Sunday 8 2p - Required Reading Revisited Book Club discussing The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Remember those books you were required to read in school? Required Reading Revisited is a chance to take a second (or first) look at some of the books you were made to read in school. Meeting the second Sunday of every month at 2PM, this month's title is The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
***Wednesday 11 7p - Austin Musician RUBY DEE PHILIPPA of Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers speaking & signing Ruby's Juke Joint Americana Cookbook
We'll kick off this event with a live performance by Austin's own Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers! Whether it's touring with her band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers or serving up a backyard barbeque, Ruby Dee always has something cooking. From the first taste of her feisty and spicy sound to the last bite of a crowd pleasing dish, Ruby Dee is making fans rave and crave her winning recipes. Now, Ruby's collected her favorite Americana recipes in a brand new cookbook. She includes everything from a smorgasbord of enticing recipes for appetizers,drinks, special occasion dinners, and sweet farewells; to stories of Americana dishes; to behind-the-scenes slices of life on the road with the band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. The book also comes with a full-length CD that's a mix of lively Americana tunes.
Thursday 12 7p - Acclaimed author of The Wettest Country in the World MATT BONDURANT speaking & signing The Night Swimmer.
(Matt Bondurant's previous novel The Wettest County in the World was a New York Times Editor's Pick, one of the San Francisco Chronicle 's 50 Best Books of the Year, and is being made into a major motion picture.) The Night Swimmer is an atmospheric tale infused with Hitchcockian suspense. When Fred and Elly Bulkington arrive in a small town on the southern coast of Ireland from Vermont, having won a pub in a contest, they encounter a wild, strange land and the native resistance to outsiders. As Fred immerses himself in the life of a pub-owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where she—to the disbelief of the locals—is consumed by her ritual of open water ocean swimming, pushing herself to the limits. Elly becomes enmeshed in the island's troubles—the power struggles between an enigmatic goat herder and the family that has controlled the area for centuries—while Fred's sanity wavers and their marriage begins to unravel. Matt Bondurant's first novel The Third Translation was an international bestseller, translated into 14 languages worldwide. His short fiction has appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The New England Review, and Glimmer Train, among others.
Friday 13 7p - Star of The Blair Witch Project HEATH DONAHUE speaks & signs her new memoir, Growgirl: How My Life After Blair Witch Project Went to Pot
(The star of the international cult sensation The Blair Witch Project shares the high points of living on a marijuana farm post- Hollywood.) At age thirty-four, Heather Donahue's life went to pot. Literally. After starring in The Blair Witch Project-the tiny indie film- turned-blockbuster that Roger Ebert named one of the ten Most Influential Movies of the Century-she became a household name. But the afterglow of the movie waned, her acting career stalled, and she feared the day her epitaph would read, "Here Lies the Girl from The Blair Witch Project." Determined to start a new life, she left most remnants of the old one in the desert, meditated on things for a few days, then followed her brand-new boyfriend to her brand-new life- growing pot.
***Tuesday 17 10:30am - Special Storytime and Booksigning with NICK BRUEL, Bestselling Author of the Bad Kitty Series of Children's Books
This morning we're having an especially special storytime with author Nick Bruel. He'll be reading his wonderful books featuring your favorite delightfully cranky & naughty feline, Bad Kitty! Not only will Mr. Bruel be here to read books and sign copies you purchase at BookPeople, but we'll have Bad Kitty LIVE (in costume). It will be the place to be this morning at 10:30AM!
Tuesday 17 7p - Bestselling Author of Memoirs of A Beautiful Boy ROBERT LELEUX speaks & signs The Living End.
(The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy was named The Houston Press's Best Houston Book of the Year for 2008. Leleux is a native of east Texas.) The Living End is a tribute to an unforgettable woman, and a testimony to the way a disease can awaken an urgent desire for love and forgiveness. Robert Leleux's grandmother JoAnn was a steel magnolia, an elegant and devastatingly witty woman: quick-tongued, generous in her affections, but sometimes oddly indifferent to the emotions of those who most needed her. When JoAnn began exhibiting signs of Alzheimer's, she'd been estranged from her daughter, Robert's mother Jessica, for decades. As her disease progressed, JoAnn lost most of her memories, but she also forgot her old wounds and anger. She became a happy, gentler person who was finally able to reach out to her daughter in what became a strangely life-affirming experience, an unexpected blessing that gave a divided family a second chance.
***Wednesday 18 7p - MysteryPeople Presents: Bestelling Author TAYLOR STEVENS in conversation with Austin's own Nationally Bestselling Thriller Writer JEFF ABBOTT about Stevens' The Innocent.
(New info: Jeff Abbott will lead the conversation at this event.) (Stevens is a MysteryPeople favorite and a NYT bestselling author with a fascinating personal background, having been raised in a cult.) Born into the Children of God, raised in communes across the globe, and denied an education beyond the sixth grade, Taylor Stevens broke free of the cult in order to follow hope and a vague idea of what possibilities lay beyond. She's now a writer living in Texas, whose first novel, The Informationist, was a New York Times bestseller. She'll be here in conversation with Jeff Abbott, bestselling author of Adrenaline, about her second thriller, The Innocent. This latest Vanessa Munroe thriller tells the story of five year old Hannah, who was taken into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who've searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who've managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn't trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.
Thursday 19 7p - Bestselling & Award-Winning Author LUIS ALBERTO URREA speaks & signs Queen of America.
(Urrea is a BookPeople favorite with an active online presence and tremendous following, and is nationally recognized as an achieved literary author. He was recently featured on NPR.) The remarkable heroine of The Hummingbird's Daughter makes a welcome return in an epic novel of love, loss and miracles in America. Queen of America is based on Luis Urrea's real great-aunt Teresita, who had healing powers and was acclaimed as a saint. Urrea extensively researched historical accounts and family records for decades to get the true story. He recounts a spell-binding tale: After the bloody Tomochic rebellion, Teresita Urrea, beloved healer and "Saint of Cabora," flees with her father to Arizona. But their plans are derailed when she once again is claimed as the spiritual leader of the Mexican Revolution. Besieged by pilgrims and pursued by assassins, Teresita embarks on a journey through turn-of-the-century industrial America-stopping in New York, San Francisco, and St. Louis.
Friday 20 7p - In cooperation with edibleAustin magazine, Assoc. Prof of Women's & Gender Studies at UT ELIZABETH ENGELHARDT speaks & signs Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food.
Combining the study of food culture with gender studies and using perspectives from historical, literary, environmental, and American studies, Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt examines what southern women's choices about food tell us about race, class, gender, and social power. Panelists at this event will include special guests Carol Ann Sayle from Boggy Creek Farm, Stephanie McClenny of confituras, and Lara Nixon of Bad Dog Bar Craft. Enjoy special tastings inspired by the book along with Saint Arnold Brewing Company beverages.
Saturday 21 12p - Children's Author JAN BOZARTH speaking & signing Fairy Godmother Academy Book #5: Sumi's Book
Put on your wings and sprinkle on some fairy dust, because we have a magical event coming for you with one of BookPeople's bestselling authors, Jan Bozarth! More magic and adventure await in this latest Fairy Godmother Academy story. Sumi Hara loves fashion. She always looks beautiful, and always wears the perfect outfit. When she arrives in Aventurine, Sumi is thrilled to learn that she's a shape-shifter.Unfortunately, she's not very good at shape-shifting yet, so she's given a guide named Kano—who's distractingly gorgeous in his human form. When they find out that an evil fairy queen holds the final mirror shard needed to complete their mission, Sumi will have to discover what true beauty and perfection are.
Saturday 21 4p - Award-Winning Debut Novelist & Former Austinite KEIJA PARSSINEN speaks & signs The Ruins of Us.
Saudi-born author Keija Parssinen's stunning debut offers the intricate, emotionally resonant story of an American expatriate who discovers that her husband, a Saudi billionaire, has taken a second bride—an emotionally turbulent revelation that blinds them both to their teenaged son's ominous first steps down the road of radicalization. Readers who enjoyed The Septembers of Shiraz will enjoy Parssinen's story of love and betrayal, fundamentalism, family and country in the Middle East. Keija Parssinen was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years as a third-generation expatriate. She also grew up in Lakeway/Lake Travis and lived for many years in Austin. The Ruins of Us, her first novel, received a Michener-Copernicus Award.
Saturday 21 7p - OFF SITE: BookPeople Hosts Bestselling YA Author JOHN GREEN at Westlake Performing Arts Center to speak & sign The Fault In Our Stars.
(John Green has a MASSIVE and loyal online following. Tickets for this event went on sale Fri 12/9 and we've already sold hundreds. He's one of the biggest YA authors writing right now and built significant anticipation among his fans for this new book.) We are absolutely thrilled to be able to bring the one and only John Green to Austin to speak & sign his brand new, highly anticipated book, The Fault In Our Stars! This event will take place at Westlake Performing Arts Center (4100 Westbank Drive, Austin). Tickets are required to attend this event and and cost $25, which includes one signed copy of The Fault In Our Stars and entitles the bearer to one seat at the event. Signed books will be distributed at Westlake Community Performing Arts Center the evening of the event. The event begins at 7p, and doors will open at 6p. Tickets can be purchased three ways: in-store; over the phone (512-472-5050); or online (http:www.bookpeople.com).
Sunday 22 3p - Award Winning Author JAMES CARLOS BLAKE speaks & signs Country of the Bad Wolfes.
A master of the historical novel, James Carlos Blake has been hailed as "a poet of the damned who writes like an angel." (Kirkus Reviews) In Country of the Bad Wolfes, based in part on his own ancestors, Blake presents the story of the Wolfe family—a saga that spans three generations, centers on two sets of identical twins and the women they love, and ranges from New England to the heart of Mexico before concluding in South Texas. James Carlos Blake was born in Mexico and grew up in Texas and Florida. He is the author of nine other novels and a collection of short works . Among his literary honors are the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southwest Book Award, and the Falcon Award.
Monday 23 7p - Local Author Night featuring Jerry Butler & M. E. Patterson
We love our local authors here at BookPeople, and tonight we're pleased to have with us two local Austin writers who will present their work. Jerry Brown will present Wine and Spirit: A Christian's Guide to Enjoying Wine. With passion and a light-hearted spirit, WINE & SPIRIT is a quick, basic guide for everyone who wants to know what the Bible really says about wine. M. E. Patterson will present Devil's Hand. A Las Vegas poker ace with supernatural luck is swept into a world-ending conflict between fallen angels and otherworldly shades, in this thrilling new novel. (This event will happen on our third floor.)
***Monday 23 7p - Bestselling YA Authors JAY ASHER & CAROLYN MACKLER speak & sign The Future of Us.
(Jay Asher's previous novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, was a #1 NYT bestseller and continues to be a bestselling book at our store. He and Mackler are two of today's most popular YA authors. The release of this book has garnered extensive media coverage. The book has already been optioned for a film by Warner Bros.) YA lovers, get ready for a very cool event! Tonight we are a very lucky bookstore, indeed, to welcome Jay Asher, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why, and bestselling author Carolyn Macker to BookPeople with their new novel, The Future of Us. It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM. Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.
Tuesday 24 7p - Award Winning Fiction Writer BEN MARCUS speaks & signs his new novel, The Flame Alphabet.
(Ben Marcus is a major modern literary figure. His stories have been widely published and have earned him three Pushcart Prizes.) A terrible epidemic has struck the country and the sound of children's speech has become lethal. All Sam and Claire need to do is look around the neighborhood: In the park, parents wither beneath the powerful screams of their children.With Claire nearing collapse, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther. But Sam and Claire find it isn't so easy to leave the daughter they still love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. The Flame Alphabet asks, What is left of civilization when we lose the ability to communicate with those we love? Ben Marcus is the author of Notable American Women and The Age of Wire and String. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Paris Review, Tin House, and elsewhere. In addition to three Pushcart Prizes, he is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia University.
Wednesday 25 7p - Hard Word Book Club discussing Death Along the Spirit Road by Margaret Coel.
Tough stories with hard hombres and dangerous dames, where survival trumps virtue, no matter what side of the law you are on; this is what you'll find in the Hard Word Book Club. Scott and Joe will guide you along the last Wednesday of every month at 7PM. This month's book is Death Along the Spirit Road by C.M. Wendelboe. Wendelboe will be calling in, so don't miss this discussion!
Wednesday 25 7p - KUT Radio Host & Musician KIM SIMPSON speaks & signs Early 70's Radio: The American Format Revolution.
The host of The International Folk Bazaar on Austin's KOOP-FM and co-host for Folkways on KUT 90.5 FM has written a comprehensive book that focuses on the emergence of commercial music radio "formats," which refer to distinct musical genres aimed toward specific audiences. This formatting revolution took place in a period rife with heated politics, identity anxiety, large-scale disappointments and seemingly insoluble social problems. A fresh and accessible exercise in audience interpretation, Early '70s Radio is organized according to the era's five prominent formats and analyzes each of these in relation to their targeted demographics, including Top 40, "soft rock", album-oriented rock, soul and country.
Thursday 26 5:30p - Happy Hour at the Highball Book Club discussing Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.
What's better than talking about a book with a group of friends? Talking about a book with a group of friends during Happy Hour at The HighBall! Come hang out with Mandy and Joel the last Thursday of every month at 5:30PM where we'll discuss books over cocktails. This month's book is Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.
Thursday 26 7p - Panel Discussion Presenting Three Messages and A Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic.
Editors Chris N. Brown and Eduardo Jiménez Mayo, and featured authors Bernardo Fernández and Pepe Rojo will celebrate, the publication of Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic at BookPeople with a reading, discussion, and audience Q&A. This huge anthology of more than thirty all-original Mexican science fiction and fantasy features ghost stories, supernatural folktales, alien incursions, and apocalyptic narratives, as well as science-based chronicles of highly unusual mental states in which the borders of fantasy and reality reach unprecedented levels of ambiguity. Stereotypes of Mexican identity are explored and transcended by the thoroughly cosmopolitan consciousnesses underlying these works.
Friday 27 7p - MysteryPeople Presents: International Bestselling Author R. J. ELLORY speaking & signing A Quiet Vendetta.
(R. J. Ellory is a huge thriller writer in the UK, on par with James Patterson, Lee Child, and similar writers here in the states.) MysteryPeople is thrilled to welcome R.J. Ellory to Austin! The author of eight novels, including the bestselling A Quiet Belief in Angels, which was the Strand Magazine's Thriller of the Year, nominated for the Barry Award, and a finalist for the SIBA Award, Ellory will be here with his novel A Quiet Vendetta. In addition to speaking and signing, Ellory, who is also a musician, will perform at this event. When Catherine Ducane disappears in the heart of New Orleans, the local cops react rapidly - she is the daughter of the Governor of Louisiana after all. But the case gets very strange, very quickly. Quickly dragged down to the deep South, Ray Hartmann puzzles over why he has been summoned and why the mysterious kidnapper, an elderly Cuban named Ernesto Perez, wants to tell him his life story. It's only when he realises that Ernesto has been a brutal hitman for the Mob since the 1950s that things start to come together. But by the time the pieces fall into place, it's already too late...
Saturday 28 7:30p - Bestselling Author DANIEL HANDLER & Acclaimed Illustrator MAIRA KALMAN speaking & signing Why We Broke Up.
Bestselling author of, among other things, the Lemony Snicket series of books, Daniel Handler has teamed up with renowned artist Maira Kalman to create this wonderful new YA book that delves into that most painful of human experiences - The Break Up. In Why We Broke Up, Min and Ed are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Each item in the box represents a different moment in their relationship, and is illustrated by the incredibly talented Maira Kalman. The book inspired Handler and Kalman to create The Why We Broke Up Project, whose tumblr account (http://whywebrokeupproject.tumblr.com/) invites people to share their own break-up stories. In January, BookPeople will create a correlating in-store display wall inviting Austinites to anonymously share their own break-up stories.
Sunday 29 5p - Voyage Out Book Club discussing The Tiger's Wife.
Join Clint and Brian C. the last Sunday of every month at 5PM as we use wonderful books to travel the world. We're actually taking a break from a specific region at the moment, and instead choosing to read books on our "to read" list. This month we are reading The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht. (Due to the Christmas holiday, we have 2 meeting dates in January. The first date is 1/1, the second is 1/29.)
Monday 30 7p - New and Noteworthy Book Club discussing A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Perhaps more aptly named the "sometimes new/always noteworthy" book club, here is a place to discover recent gems and to revisit old favorites. Come join Kester and Jamie the last Monday of every month at 7PM. This month's book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Monday 30 7p - Vietnam Historian & US Military Academy Graduate LEWIS SORLEY speaking & signing Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
In this definitive new biography, leading military Vietnam historian Lewis Sorley asks the question: Is General William Westmoreland the real reason the Vietnam War was lost? How did he get there, why did he fail, and how did he last so long? An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland fought in World War II and Korea, rising rapidly to command the 101st Airborne Division and become Superintendent at West Point, then was chosen to lead the war effort in Vietnam. Sorley examines how he failed to understand a complex war, choosing a flawed strategy, sticking to it in the face of all opposition, and misrepresenting the results when truth mattered most. In so doing he squandered four years of support by Congress, much of the media, and the American people. Lewis Sorley served in Vietnam, and in the Pentagon in the offices of Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger and Army Chief of Staff General William C. Westmoreland. He also taught at West Point and the Army War College.
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Julie Wernersbach
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