Events

Justinian's Flea by William Rosen*
In 542 AD, the bubonic plague struck. In weeks, the glorious classical world of Justinian had been plunged into the medieval and modern Europe was born. At its height, five thousand people died every day in Constantinople. Cities were completely depopulated. It was the first pandemic the world had ever known and it left its indelible mark: when the plague finally ended, more than 25 million people were dead. Weaving together history, microbiology, ecology, jurisprudence, theology, and epidemiology, Justinian's Flea is a unique and sweeping account of the little known event that changed the course of a continent.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The China Lover by Ian Buruma*

From Shanghai before and during the Second World War to U.S.-occupied Tokyo, and, finally, to the Middle East in the early 1970s, Ian Buruma's masterful new novel about the intoxicating power of collective fantasy follows three star-struck men driven to extraordinary acts by their devotion to the same legendary woman. A beautiful Japanese girl born in Manchuria, Yamaguchi Yoshiko is known as Ri Koran in Japan, Li Xianglan in China, and Shirley Yamaguchi in the U.S.-and her past is a closely guarded secret. In Buruma's reimagining of the life of Yamaguchi Yoshiko, a Japanese girl torn between patriotism for her parents' homeland, worldly ambition, and sympathy for the Chinese, she will reflect almost exactly the twists and turns in the history of modern Japan. The China Lover is both luminously written and imbued with the insights and erudition that have made Ian Buruma one of the most respected writers on modern Asia.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

In January, we read "Women in Love" by D.H. Lawrence, this event is a follow up to view the movie version of this book.  

The Book Works is sponsoring the Classics Book Group's follow up movie viewing of "Women in Love" on Thursday, February 11th at 6:30pm. 

$3 donation fee for technical support and to support this evening's event.  

Persuasion by Jane Austen* As Jane Austen's last completed novel, it deals with the social issues of the times and paints a fascinating portrait of Regency England, especially when dealing with the class system. Also being a poignant and passionate story of love, disappointment, redemption, and loss. Austen suggests the consequences of being persuaded from core values and beliefs.    

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Places in Between by Rory Stewart

We never really find out why Stewart decided to walk across Afghanistanonly a few months after the Taliban were deposed, but what emerges fromthe last leg of his two-year journey across Asia is a lesson in goodtravel writing. Stewart's trekthrough Afghanistan in the footsteps of the 15th-century emperor Baburis edifying at every step. His prose is lean and unsentimental: whetherpushing through chest-high snow in the mountains of Hazarajat orthrough villages still under de facto Taliban control, his descriptionsoffer a cool assessment of a landscape and a people eviscerated by war,forgotten by time and isolated by geography. The writer's identity is discerned best byinference though sometimes we get the sense he cares more for preservinghistory than for the people who live in it. But remembering Geraldo Rivera'sgunslinging escapades, perhaps we could use less sap and more clarityabout this troubled and fascinating country.

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works.
We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner*

Rachel Kushner has written an astonishingly wise, ambitious, and riveting novel set in the American community in Cuba during the years leading up to Castro's revolution -- a place that was a paradise for a time and for a few. The first novel to tell the story of the Americans who were driven out in 1958, this is a masterful debut.

Young Everly Lederer and K. C. Stites come of age in Oriente Province, where the Americans tend their own fiefdom -- three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them -- the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence.

In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can't mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing political underground. When Fidel and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come.

At the time, urgent news was conveyed by telex. Kushner's first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith*

Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, it offers appealing characters, a strong plot and authentic period detail. When war hero Leo Stepanovich Demidov, a rising star in the MGB, the State Security force, is assigned to look into the death of a child, Leo is annoyed, first because this takes him away from a more important case, but, more importantly, because the parents insist the child was murdered. In Stalinist Russia, there's no such thing as murder; the only criminals are those who are enemies of the state. After attempting to curb the violent excesses of his second-in-command, Leo is forced to investigate his own wife, the beautiful Raisa, who's suspected of being an Anglo-American sympathizer. Demoted and exiled from Moscow, Leo stumbles onto more evidence of the child killer. The evocation of the deadly cloud-cuckoo-land of Russia during Stalin's final days will remind many of Gorky Park and Darkness at Noon, but the novel remains Smith's alone, completely original and absolutely satisfying.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson*

In the spring of 1776, Isabel, a teenage slave, and her sister, Ruth, are sold to ruthless, wealthy loyalists in Manhattan. While running errands, Isabel is approached by rebels, who promise her freedom (and help finding Ruth, who has been sent away) if she agrees to spy. Using the invisibility her slave status brings, Isabel lurks and listens as Master Lockton and his fellow Tories plot to crush the rebel uprisings, but the incendiary proof that she carries to the rebel camp doesn’t bring the desired rewards.

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further information.

Fee: Starting in February, $10 per month and $5 for each additional child in a family. 

Join our Girls' Book Groups (ages 7-9 and ages 10-12) on February 27th.

Older Girls' Book Group (ages 10-12) at 10 am discussing Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Younger Girls' Book Group (ages 7-9) at 11 am discussing The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for
further information. 

Fee: Starting in
February, $10 per month and $5 for each additional child in a family. 

The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney*

"Humphrey the hamster enjoys being Room 26's classroom pet. He adores Ms. Mac, and every day brings new learning and experiences. Then Ms. Mac unexpectedly leaves; worse, returning teacher Mrs. Brisbane despises small furry creatures--leaving Humphrey both brokenhearted and worried about his future. Going home on weekends with school staff members and students helps, revealing diverse, often surprising stories and situations that allow both Humphrey and his human caretakers to learn from one another. Humphrey, a delightful, irresistible character, is big hearted, observant, and creative, and his experiences, whether escaping a nosy dog or helping an immigrant family speak English, range from comedic to touching." 

Starting in February, $10 per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further information. 

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry*

"In this sweeping history, Barry explores how the deadly confluence of biology (a swiftly mutating flu virus that can pass between animals and humans) and politics (President Wilson's all-out war effort in WWI) created conditions in which the influenza virus thrived, killing more than 50 million worldwide and perhaps as many as 100 million in just a year. Barry captures the sense of panic and despair that overwhelmed stricken communities and hits hard at those who failed to use their power to protect the public good. He also describes the work of the dedicated researchers who rushed to find the cause of the disease and create vaccines." 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Jerusalem by Goncalo M. Tavares*

Taking place during one night in an unnamed city, the story—which
follows a doctor, his ex-wife, her lover, their son and a killer pimp,
among others—propels itself mainly through flashbacks relayed in short,
choppy chapters and subchapters. Mylia, the ex-wife for whom everything
was about herself, goes tumbling through the streets looking for a
church, but instead finds a series of odd and dangerous predicaments.
Most of what we learn about Mylia comes from memories of her stay at the
Georg Rosenberg Asylum, disturbing, even for healthy people or a luxury
hotel for the mentally ill, depending on whom you ask. Her ex-husband,
famed researcher Theodor Busbeck, is revealed via his institution and
reactions to Mylia; theirs is a frightening if realistic relationship,
though the other characters feel less than realized.

Receive 10% off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet*

"Intense and riveting, it is a mystery, a tale of passion, and a drama
about resistance fighters in the Netherlands during World War II. The
story unfolds in parallel narratives, most told by an omniscient
narrator describing the resistance struggle, and fewer chapters as a
narrative told by 15-year-old Tamar, the granddaughter of one of the
resistance fighters. The locale and time shift between Holland in 1944
and '45 and England in 1995. The constant dangers faced by the
resistance fighters as well as their determination to succeed in
liberating their country from German occupation come vividly to life.
Dart, Tamar, and Marijke are the main characters in this part of the
book. Their loyalty to one another and the movement is palpable though
love and jealousy gradually enter the story and painfully change the
dynamics. Other characters jeopardize the safety of the group and
intensify the life-threatening hazards they face. Peet deftly handles
the developing intrigue that totally focuses readers. After her beloved
grandfather commits suicide, modern-day Tamar is determined to
undercover the mystery contained in a box of seemingly unrelated objects
that he has left for her."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

"Ogawa weaves a poignant tale of beauty, heart and sorrow in this exquisite novel. Narrated by the Housekeeper, the characters are known only as the Professor and Root, the Housekeepers 10-year-old son, nicknamed by the Professor because the shape of his hair and head that remind the Professor of the square root symbol. A brilliant mathematician, the Professor was seriously injured in a car accident and his short-term memory only lasts for 80 minutes. He can remember his theorems and favorite baseball players, but the Housekeeper must reintroduce herself every morning, sometimes several times a day. The Professor, who adores Root, is able to connect with the child through baseball, and the Housekeeper learns how to work with him through the memory lapses until they can come together on common ground, at least for 80 minutes. In this gorgeous tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the characters for a short while, then closes the shade.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Join us for a Community Book Discussion of "Outcasts United", on Monday, March 22nd at 7:00pm.*

KPBS and the San Diego Public Library have joined together for One Book, One San Diego, a community-wide initiative to encourage all San Diegans to read the same book at the same time.

The 2010 One Book, One San Diego is Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town by Warren St. John!

The touching story of a woman and her impact on a refugee soccer team having difficulties coping with the estranged land and memories of a brutal and tragic past.

*The author will not be in attendance.

Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John

St. John builds on his 2007 New York Timesarticle about the Fugees, a soccer program for boys from families ofrefugees from war-torn nations who have been resettled in the town, 13 miles east of Atlanta. Led by the founder and coachLuma Mufleh, a strong-willed, Jordanian woman who turned her back on aprivileged past to stay in America, thethree youth teams are a conglomeration of players from Africa, theBalkans and the Middle East. The challenges they face include an ongoing fight against city hall for a field on which toplay, and getting by with subpar equipment. Their biggest challenge,however, is the difficulty immigrants face in learning the ways of astrange land and living with the memories of tragedy. In spite of it all, theFugees compete admirably with mostly white, better-funded suburbanteams. St. John begins with an inspiring description of a beautifullyplayed game and then delves into the team's formation.

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill*

"The image of one's understanding of the world being blown up is
poignant—this is Hans's fate after 9/11. He and wife Rachel abandon
their downtown loft, and, soon, Rachel leaves him behind at their
temporary residence, the Chelsea Hotel, taking their son, Jake, back to
London. Hans, an equities analyst, is at loose ends without Rachel, and
in the two years he remains Rachel-less in New York City, he gets swept
up by Chuck, a Trinidadian expatriate Hans meets at a cricket match.
Chuck's dream is to build a cricket stadium in Brooklyn; in the
meantime, he operates as a factotum for a Russian gangster. The unlikely friendship rises and falls in
tandem with Hans's marriage, which falls and then, gradually, rises
again"

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass*

"Amanda and Leo, born on the same day, have celebrated their birthdays
together for 10 years. Still feeling hurt from an unkind remark Leo made
at last year’s party, Amanda spends her eleventh birthday without her
now-estranged friend to share the fun. In the days that follow, both
Amanda and Leo discover that they are caught in a time loop, waking up
each morning to find themselves repeating their eleventh birthdays."

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look*

"Ruby Lu makes her debut in this funny and charming chapter book. Full of
joie de vivre, the eight-year-old loves her family, particularly her
baby brother, Oscar; wearing reflective tape; and performing in her own
backyard magic show. Plot development is episodic but steady as Ruby
musters up her courage to attend Chinese school; she confronts mean
Christina from California; and she decides to drive herself to school.
(Her parents are frantic when their children and car are missing, but
Ruby thinks that her biggest mistake was parking in the principal's
spot.) Looming large is the fact that her cousin, Flying Duck, is
emigrating from China and Ruby will have to share her bedroom."

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

April 1865 by Jay Winik*

April 1865 analyzes the Civil War showing that there was nothing inevitable about the end of the Civil War, from the fall of Richmond to the surrender at Appomattox to the murder of Lincoln. Winik's vivid imagery makes the reader feel as if they were there, witnessing the events occurring. 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner*

"A beautiful account of a boy's attempt to reconcile his Alaskan wilderness
experience with modern society. Abe Hawcly came to Alaska in search of
his bush-pilot father, became enraptured with the wilderness, then moved
there with his wife to live in a sod igloo and subsist on his hunting
skills while he pursued his painting. Soon disenchanted with isolation
and hardship, his wife abandoned him, leaving him to rear and educate
their three children. Abe's youngest child, known by his Iñupiaq name,
Cutuk, grows to manhood and learns to hunt, gaining an intimate
knowledge of the frozen tundra. Eventually, Cutuk's brother, Jerry,
escapes to Fairbanks, and his sister, Iris, attends college and becomes a
teacher. Meanwhile, torn between two cultures, Cutuk chafes under
discrimination as a white in the midst of Native Americans; he is
deprived of both rights and respect by the locals. He also develops a
profound curiosity about the city, but once he makes it to Anchorage, he
is bewildered and confused by urban slang and modern mores. His
attempts to reconcile himself to his own race fail dismally as he is
drawn back to the north and the values inherent in the wildernes."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Night Glitter by Jill Shure*

"In Night Glitter, Jill Shure's long-awaited sequel to her Ben Franklin
Award-winning novel, Night Jazz, the story of Jeri Devlin continues. It's
1932. The Great Depression has left Jeri and Lex bankrupt and Lex
fighting for his life against a deadly illness. While Lex convalesces,
Jeri becomes embroiled in a murderous game of cat-and-mouse with two
mobsters hell-bent on revenge. Alone and desperate, Jeri is forced to
flee New York and travel west to the dazzling world of Hollywood. Jeri
soon discovers that Hollywood's glamour cloaks a soul-stealing darkness
hidden just below its glossy surface. There, Jeri comes face to face
with her ancestors, finds sanctuary in a brothel, and is forced into
servitude with a movie star diva intent on hiding ruinous secrets of her
own. Alone and conflicted, Jeri must find a way back into the arms of
the man she loves"

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye*

"Clarence, a white man, has been shipwrecked and stranded on the coast of Africa. Brimful of self-importance, he demands to see the king, but the king has just left for the south of his realm. Traveling through an increasingly phantasmagoric landscape in the company of a beggar and two roguish boys, Clarence is slowly stripped of his pretensions, until he is sold as a slave to the royal harem. But in the end Clarence’s bewildering journey is the occasion of a revelation, as he discovers the image, both shameful and beautiful, of his own strange humanity in the alien figure of the king."

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly*

"A charming and inventive story of a child struggling to find her identity at the turn of the 20th Century. As the only girl in an uppercrust Texas family of seven children, Calpurnia, 11, is expected to enter young womanhood with all it's trappings of tight corsets, cooking, and handiwork. Unlike other girls her age, Callie is most content when observing and collecting scientific specimens with her grandfather.Callie's mother, believing that a diet of Darwin, Dickens, and her grandfather's influence will make Callie dissatisfied with life, set her on a path of cooking lessons, handiwork improvement, and an eventual debut into society. Callie's confusion and despair over her changing life will resonate with girls who feel different or are outsiders in their own society."

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

Nana Cracks the Case! by Kathleen Lane*

"Nana is not your ordinary grandma. She never wears cloppy shoes, drinks prune juice, or worries about slippery surfaces. Nana would much rather join the circus, work as a backhoe operator, or maybe become a detective. Which is exactly what happens in this very funny chapter book. When Nana answers an ad in the local newspaper for a detective, she arrives at the police department just in time to investigate the theft of one entire case of delicious Yumdums candy. Can one little old lady find a way to save the day and stop the candy theif from striking again?"

Please email Tammy Black at tamara@post.harvard.edu for further
information.

Fee: $10
per month and $5 for each additional child in a family.  

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison*

"In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking
honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her
illness, and its paradoxical benefits. This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a
combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. Jamison's ability to live fully within
her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our
particular burdens may be."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson*

Niall Ferguson makes a strong, compelling case for the development of money and banking as a catalyst for the advancement of civilization. The Ascent of Money demonstrates how our current fiscal meltdown fits into the bigger historical picture and laments humanity's perennial inability to learn from this history. 

Receive 10% off your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa*

"Narrated by the Housekeeper, the characters are known only as the
Professor and Root, the Housekeepers 10-year-old son, nicknamed by the
Professor because the shape of his hair and head remind the Professor of
the square root symbol. A brilliant mathematician, the Professor was
seriously injured in a car accident and his short-term memory only lasts
for 80 minutes. He can remember his theorems and favorite baseball
players, but the Housekeeper must reintroduce herself every morning,
sometimes several times a day. The Professor, who adores Root, is able
to connect with the child through baseball, and the Housekeeper learns
how to work with him through the memory lapses until they can come
together on common ground, at least for 80 minutes. In this gorgeous
tale, Ogawa lifts the window shade to allow readers to observe the
characters for a short while, then closes the shade. Snyder—who also
translated Pool—brings a delicate and precise hand to the
translation."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes*

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician, sportsman, gentleman par excellence and the inventor of Sherlock Holmes; George Edalji, also a real, if less well-known person, whose path crossed not quite fatefully with the famous author's. Edalji was the son of a Parsi father (who was a Shropshire vicar), and a Scots mother. In 1903, George, a solicitor, was accused of writing obscene, threatening letters to his own family and of mutilating cattle in his farm community. He was convicted of criminal behavior in a blatant miscarriage of justice based on racial prejudice. Eventually, Sir Arthur heard about George's case and began to advocate on his behalf. In this combination psychological novel, detective story and literary thriller, Barnes elegantly dissects early 20th-century English society as he spins this true-life story with subtle and restrained irony."

Receive 10% off your reading group book fromThe Book Works. We request that all groups who meet at The Book Workspurchase their selection from us.Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present. 

By A Slow River by Philippe Claudel*

"On a frigid morning in December 1917, the body of a 10-year-old girl is
discovered, strangled, on the banks of the "slow" river that slices
through a small, unnamed French village. The townsfolk are stunned by
the murder, though they're curiously oblivious to the seemingly endless
slaughter taking place on the nearby Western front. Told by Dadais, a
former policeman with a sharp memory and a shadowy history of his own, the story is a re-creation of his dogged
pursuit of the killer. Was it the town's haughty prosecutor, Pierre-Ange
Destinat? Was it the Breton deserter who confesses under duress? Could
it possibly have been Dadais himself? The answer, like everything else
in the story, is far from tidy.
Psychologically complex, elegantly written and tightly plotted, this is
far from your average fiction novel."

Receive 10%
off
your reading group book from The Book Works. We request that all groups
who meet at The Book Works purchase their selection from us. Thanks.

*Author WILL NOT be present.