Events

"She walks in beauty, like the night/Of Cloudless climes and starry skies;/And all that's best of dark and bright/Meet in her aspect and her eyes"                                                                                                - Lord Byron

Join The Book Works for a night of love as we host the Solana Beach Art Associations' adult poetry reading. Cheese, wine and appetizers will be served as participants read their favorite love poems. If interested in reading, please contact Sharon Leib at srleib@roadrunner.com. Limited to first 25 people who sign up.

A balanced, plain-English guide to this politically charged topic. This practical guide cuts away the hype and clearly presents the facts on stem cells. It explains what stem cells are and what they do, the legalities of harvesting them and using them in research, the latest research findings from the United States and abroad, and the prospects for medical stem cell therapies in the short and long term. It also discusses the ethical and moral considerations involved with the topic. But Goldstein presents us with the endless possibilities in using stem cells. Discover how stem cells are projected to make medical advances in the understanding and improved treatment of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and more.

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton*

Hosted by San Diego's StyleSubstanceSoul.com at the Book Works.  

"Hamilton's novel tracks the 31 hours before Jonas, a sensitive young man raised by idealistic, now divorced parents, straps on a vest of explosives and enters the New York City subway system to martyr himself. The novel begins with Jonas's mother, Carol, knowing that something is wrong with her son. Thus begins an odyssey that takes her back to her ex-husband, Jake; to Jonas's girlfriend, Vic; and to the authorities. Hamilton touches on many perspectives of the characters who know Jonas. Through all of this, Jonas ritually prepares for this final act of his life, but without the single-minded fanaticism one expects. It's a very tense narrative, vividly imagined and eerily plausible. 

Masha Hamilton has worked as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East for The Associated Press, in Moscow, as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and NBC/Mutual Radio, and as a reporter in Afghanistan in 2004. She recently founded the Afghan Women's Writing Project, which helps young Afghan women learn about writing, find their voices, and share their work in a safe forum. Hamilton is the author of three previous novels: Staircase of a Thousand Steps; The Distance Between Us, and The Camel Bookmobile. She lives in Brooklyn. 

For more information from StyleSubstanceSoul.com, click here. 

Private Author Reception with Tatjana Soli,
Author
of The Lotus Eaters

Wednesday, April 21,
5:30 pm.

Meet author
Tatjana Soli in a small group setting before she presents a general
reading and booksigning for her new book, The Lotus Eaters.

Discuss literature over a glass of wine and light
Vietnamese appetizers (in keeping with the theme of the book) with Ms.
Soli, other authors and book lovers, and The Book Works staff.

Receive a signed copy of The Lotus Eaters

$35
(bring
a guest for an additional $15 - 1 book per twosome)

The Lotus Eaters will be featured on the cover of this Sunday's New York Times Book Review!

The Lotus Eaters: On
a stifling day in 1975, the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll
into Saigon. As the fall of the city begins, two lovers make their way
through the streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American
photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to and a
devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the Vietnamese man who
loves her, must grapple with his own conflicted loyalties of heart and
homeland. As they race to leave, they play out a drama of devotion and
betrayal that spins them back through twelve war-torn years.

- "a beautiful and harrowing novel" --
Richard Russo

- "Soli helps us to see and hear and feel the
terrible human costs of the collapse [of Vietnam and Cambodia]"
-- Tim O'Brien

Tatjana Soli was born in Austria. Her work has been
twice listed in the 100 Distinguished Stories in Best American Short
Stories and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She was awarded the
Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize, the Dana Award, and was a finalist for
the Bellwether Prize. She presently teaches through the Gotham Writers'
Workshop. More information at www.tatjanasoli.com

Attendance
to the Private Reception is limited. Reserve your place by prepaying
(cash or check) at The Book
Works.

"The
book, Kamin’s seventh, is a chronicle of his
experiences at Cincinnati's
churning Woodward High School in the 1960s, his troubled friendship
with a black classmate, and how the legacy of MLK led to their
eventual
reunion almost forty years later.  It is ultimately a paean to his
spiritual mentor, M.L. King."

Ben
Kamin is a
nationally known rabbi, author, spirituality columnist, interfaith
specialist, lecturer, Op-ed contributor to The New York Times and
many other
publications. Kamin is also a scholar on the
life and values of Dr.
King.  T George Harris, the
former bureau chief of TIME-LIFE, has said about Nothing Like
Sunshine:  “No single writer living in America
can communicate the black-white story more evocatively than Ben Kamin.” 

http://www.benkamin.com/index.html