The week at Book Passage

Among Bay Area bookstores, Book Passage in Corte Madera has one of the most active schedules going of author events, readings, classes and other literary happenings. In fact, it’s not uncommon for more than one or two author talks to take place at the store on just about any given day. Additionally, many of these events have a local connection. Looking at the week, here are three events readers won’t want to miss.

Carolina de Robertis reads from Perla
-- Monday, April 9 at 7:00 pm

Carolina de Robertis talks about her novel Perla (Knopf), a coming-of-age story set against a recently revealed, shocking chapter in Argentine history. Perla Correa grew up a privileged only-child in Buenos Aires, with a cold, polished mother and a straitlaced, naval officer father. Her parents supported the Argentine dictatorship. When Perla is confronted by an uninvited visitor, she is forced to confront the unease she has suppressed all her life.

Carolina de Robertis’ debut novel, The Invisible Mountain, was an international best seller, translated into fifteen languages, and was the recipient of Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize, and a Best Book of 2009 according to the San Francisco Chronicle, O, The Oprah Magazine, and BookList. She grew up in a Uruguayan family that immigrated to England, Switzerland, and then California. Prior to completing her first book, she worked as a translator and in women’s rights organizations. She lives in Oakland, California, where she is currently writing her third novel, which explores migration, sexual frontiers, and the tango’s Old Guard in early twentieth century South America.

Anne Lamott talks about Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son
-- Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00 pm

Popular Marin writer Anne Lamott and her son Sam Lamott discuss Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son (Riverhead). Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life — grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son is about to become a father at 19, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson’s life. In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam — about whom she first wrote so movingly in Operating Instructions — struggle to balance their changing roles with the demands of college and work, as they both forge new relationships with the baby’s mother, who has her own ideas about how to raise a child.

Anne Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Grace (Eventually), Plan B, Traveling Mercies and Operating Instructions, as well as several novels, including Imperfect Birds and Rosie. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, she lives in Northern California. Sam Lamott is an inventor, designer, entrepreneur, and artist who lives in San Francisco.

This event takes place at Dominican University of California, Angelico Hall, in San Rafael. Priority seating is offered with purchase of the book.

Anne Perry reads from Dorchester Terrace
-- Friday, April 20 at 1:00 pm

Edgar Award-winning author Anne Perry discusses her novel Dorchester Terrace (Ballantine Books). Perry’s latest work invites us not only into the secret places of Britain’s power but also into the innermost sanctums of the fin de siècle Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England:  the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including Treason at Lisson Grove and Buckingham Palace Gardens, and the William Monk novels, including Acceptable Loss and Execution Dock. She is also the author of a series of five World War I novels, as well as nine holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Homecoming, and a historical novel, The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Ottoman Empire. None of her books has ever been out of print, and they have received critical acclaim and popular success: over 26 million books are in print world-wide. The Times selected her as one of the "100 Masters of Crime." Perry lives in Scotland.

MORE INFO: Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera. Call (415) 927-0960 or visit www.bookpassage.com for details.