The Book Shopper

Atlanta Area Book Events Calendar – March 2012

Here's are some of your best bets for literary discourse during the month of March in the Atlanta area:

Wednesday, March 7 – Alexandra Styron daughter of William Styron (you know, the author of Sophie's Choice) will be discussing her book Reading My Father: A Memoir as part of the Savannah College of Design's Ivy Hall Writing Series. There is an admission charge.

Throughout March - in celebration of Women's History Month 2012 – the Auburn Avenue Research Library is hosting many, many events ranging from a book discussion of Geographies of the Haitian Diaspora (Dr. Regine O. Jackson, on March 8) to Time Served: My Days and Nights at Death Row Records (a memoir by photographer Simone Greene – March 29). There is a wide variety of lectures and films as well.

Wednesday, March 21 - Poet Kevin Young, previous co-winner of this blog's prestigious Best-Local-Reading-That-I-Attended Award  (and Graywolf Press' NonFictionPrize) will be celebrating the publication of Young's first book of non-fiction essays, The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness. The party and signing will be at the Highland Inn Ballroom.

Tuesday, March 27 - Yangzum Brauen, author of Across Many Mountains: Three Daughters of Tibet will be doing a reading and signing at the Carter Library and Museum.

The Georgia Center of the Book is promoting a variety of authors throughout the month including equal pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter (March 6) and nationally known author Anne Lamott (March 23 ).

Also several local bookstores are hosting events:

• Peerless Books in Alpharetta
• Bound to Be Read
• A Cappella Books
• Eagle Eye Books
• Charis Books and More

Banner design by Caitlin Salmon

 

MARTA BOOK CLUB #18: What Atlanta is Reading

For where there is innovation, there is no security -- Procopius*

Are you looking to join the Atlanta book reading community without actually having to be involved? Then the MARTA Book Club might be the organization for you.

The MARTA Book Club is a loose— very loose— confederation of people who read while riding the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s public transportation. There are no meeting times, no organizational rules, no t-shirts, and no dues. Very convenient. The only requirement to be a member of MARTA Book Club is to read a book while riding public transportation, which for most riders seems to be a steep admission price.

What We Have Been Reading

It's been a couple months since our last MARTA Book Club compilation and there is much reading on the train to report. We regret since we cannot determine the title, electronic books are not tabulated.

 The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

The Rogers & Littleton Guide to America's Douchiest Colleges by H. L. Rogers and Peter Littleton

Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson* (I am currently reading this book at home because carrying it on the train is cumbersome and I don't e-book. So far, I think the book is much more interesting because it chronicles the early days of the personal computer industry. Jobs' obnoxiousness, brilliance and manipulative nature is of secondary interest to me. Hats off to Issacson's readable narrative. Issacson prose seems effortless, which is usually means a lot of hard work into it.

 Infinite Jest by David Wallace

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel or was it Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog (both) by Garth Stein (not to be confused My Life as a Dog by Reider Jonsson and Eivor Martinus, which was made into a fine movie by the director Lasse Hallstrom of Chocolat and Gilbert Grape fame).

 Successful Public Meetings: A Practical Guide by Elaine Cogan

 Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media by Susan J. Douglas

 Divine Inspiration: A Home Kelly Mystery by Jane Langton

 AIDs, Opium, Diamonds, and Empire by Nancy Turner Banks

 Just for You (Arabesque) by Doreen Rainey

 The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White

 Up to No Good by Carl Weber

 A Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman

 No Disrespect by Sister Souljah

 The Black Panther Party (Reconsidered) by Charles E. Jones

 The Georgia Commercial Driver's License Manual (it's thicker than you think)

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson. My personal contribution to the book club. I heard him speak (he's both authoritative and humble) at the Decatur Library a few years ago when he was promoting the paperback release of The Day of Battle which is Part Two of his Liberation Trilogy. Atkinson writes in a narrative style that reminds me of Shelby Foote. The war in Italy is often pushed into the distant background, but it was a sad and bloody campaign and did serve a strategic purpose. (Rome fell a day before the landings in Normandy). Atkinson gives homage to those who bravely fought there and calls out both the good commanders and the shamefully incompetent ones.

Take the Cannoli: Essays from the New World by Sarah Vowell

 Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life: Unleash the Healing Power of Fresh Juices and Cleansing Diets by Cherie Calbom and John Calbom

 

Book and Parking Services

Despite the flash sunburst in the middle of the photo (thankfully this is not a photography blog), you can see that this parking garage in Midtown Atlanta not only offers complimentary jump starts, complimentary tire inflation, and courtesy umbrellas, but they offer audio books as well. (Another shortcoming of audio books-- you can't use them for rain protection.)

I was too timid to go inside the office and ask what kind of books they offer. On the Road? Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Or just outdated Chilton auto repair manuals? I do like the idea of a good book being the equivalent in terms of travel necessities of a jump start or the repair of a deflated tire.

 

 

Mini-review: Lawrence Millman's Reading in Atlanta

 

Where & When: The Jones Room in the Woodruff Library on the campus of Emory University, Feburary 6, 2012. The reading was part of the Creative Writing Program's Reading Series.

Attendance: ~100 people with about 40 note-taking Emory creative writing students and a few mushroom aficionados since Millman is a noted author and mycologist.

Why I Went: My longtime fiance Denise is interested in the sciences and likes biology including fungi. We went at the last minute. I didn't even bring my camera.

What He Read: Millman read a couple of short pieces and then the lengthy title essay from his collection Lost in the Arctic: Explorations On the Edge. He has written 11 books.

Q & A: Several audience members asked what walrus meat and seal liver tasted like. Millman says that walrus meat – like horse meat – is a little bland, unless you “cure” it in a special way, which I believe involved burying it underground in a barrel for a few months. Seal liver according to Millman tastes like calf liver, but with a more pronounced liver taste.

Question I Was Too Timid to Ask: “How do you get your ball cap stay cocked so jauntily on your head?” Millman wore this long billed outdoors man ball cap during the reading and it stayed perfectly in place. Along with his cargo pants, it fit his image as an adventurer.

Did I Buy Something? No, but we ordered mushrooms for our takeout Farm Burgers on our way home.

Worth Mentioning: Although the reading went well over an hour Millman is a very good reader with a timely cadence. He uses short pauses to emphasize his words and bring out his sense of humor. Millman admits that collecting the stories of the Inuit Tribes of the Arctic regions has helped hone his oral storytelling abilities.

Atlanta Area Book Events Calendar – February 2012

Here's are some of the Atlanta area book highlights for the month of February:

Wednesday, February 9 – McEver Poetry Reading at Georgia Tech will feature the works of poets Theresa Davis, Chris Forhan and H. Bruce McEver at 7:30 p.m. at the Kress Auditorium, Robert C. Williams Paper Museum.

Most of the month of February - In celebration of Black History Month 2012 the Auburn Avenue Research Library is hosting many events ranging from the Introduction of the Black Age of Comics: Past, Present and Future (Feb 9) to Black Stars in Orbit: NASA's African American Astronauts (Feb. 11). The Georgia Center for the Book also has many similar events scheduled throughout February.

Tuesday, February 28 - Peggielene Bartels author of King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village will be doing a reading and signing at 7:00 p.m. at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum Theatre. The Bartels book is being compared to the Alexander McCall Smith series, the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I can't say that I've read the McCall book, but I certainly enjoyed the screen adaptation of Ladies Detective Agency by Anthony Minghella who directed The English Patient.

Wednesday February 29 – Rob Walker a former columnist for The New York Times Magazine will appear with Bobbi Patterson from Emory University's Department of Religion in an informal conversation about Buddhism and Desire. Walker is the author of Buying In: The Secret Dialogue of What We Buy and Who We Are. I didn't read Buying In when in was published in 2008; I studied it. It is a fascinating book and his Times column “Consumed” was insightful and is now sorely missed. The conversation between Patterson and Walker begins at 7:30 p.m. at the reception hall of the Carlos Museum on the campus Emory University.

And don't forget February is also Read Your Favorite Abraham Lincoln Biography Month.