The week ahead 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.

Francis Slakey presents To the Last Breath: A Memoir of Going to Extremes -- Sunday, July 1 at 4:00 pm

Francis Slakey presents To the Last Breath: A Memoir of Going to Extremes (Simon & Schuster), a gripping adventure of the body and mind. This new book depicts the quest that leads Slakey, a physics professor, around the globe, almost takes his life, challenges his fiercely held beliefs, and opens his heart.

Francis Slakey is a lecturer on physics and public policy at Georgetown University. The founder and co-director of the Program on Science in the Public Interest and a MacArthur Scholar, Dr. Slakey has been profiled by NPR, National Geographic, and others, and his writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Scientific American.

Christian Kiefer reads from The Infinite Tides, and maybe plays a song or two
-- Saturday, July7 at 4:00 pm

Christian Kiefer reads from his novel The Infinite Tides (Bloomsbury USA), the story of an astronaut aboard the International Space Station who one day receives word that his sixteen-year-old daughter has died in a car accident, and that his wife has left him. Returning to earth, he is alone with the ghosts, memories and feelings of the past.

There is a good deal of buzz around The Infinite Tides, which is the July selection of our Signed First Editions Club.

Christian Kiefer earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of California, Davis, and is on the English faculty of American River College in Sacramento. His poetry has appeared in various national journals including the Antioch Review and Santa Monica Review. He is also an accomplished songwriter and recording artist. [Kiefer has also said he might well play a song or two at his July 7 event!]

Katherine Chiljan discusses Shakespeare Suppressed: The Uncensored Truth About Shakespeare and His Works
-- Sunday, July 8 at noon

Katherine Chiljan discusses Shakespeare Suppressed: The Uncensored Truth About Shakespeare and His Works (Faire Editions). For hundreds of years, debate has swirled around the identity of The Bard and the authorship of his plays and poems. This new book makes the case that “William Shakespeare” was only the great author's pen name.

Katherine Chiljan is an independent scholar who has studied the Shakespeare authorship question for over 26 years. She has debated the topic with English professors at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco. Chiljan served as editor of the Shakespeare-Oxford Newsletter, and edited two anthologies: Dedication Letters to the Earl of Oxford, and Letters and Poems of Edward, Earl of Oxford.

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.

Mill Valley Literary Review

The Mill Valley Literary Review: Home of the Literary Latté has been launched and the Summer Edition can be viewed at http://www.millvalleylit.com  Mill Valley Lit is dedicated to providing exposure, encouragement and resources to Marin's upcoming literary fiction talent while reviewing established works. 

This "Book Club for the rest of us" offers short work, poetry, and excerpts from local talent, Marin literary news and events, writing contests, resources, photographs, links to other literary sites and more. The vision is to connect the dots between the varied literary entities. Content will be changed on a quarterly basis and is offered as an optional e-zine subscription.

Mill Valley Literary Review founder and editor J. Macon King is a published writer of short stories, columns and articles. He has given  poetry readings and has won numerous short story awards from the Marin Independent Journal. Check out the Mill Valley Literary Review at http://www.millvalleylit.com

Cool pic of the day: Laura Morairty, author of The Chaperone

Author Laura Moriarty dropped by Book Passage to sign copies of her new novel, The Chaperone (Riverhead), which just yesterday received a glowing review in the Washington Post.  

The Chaperone is a favorite among Book Passage staffers who have read it. We think you will like it too. Order a signed copy by following this link (and please note signed copy in the comments field).  Want to find out more? Read an interview with Laura which appeared on our blog.

In Brief: Bill Petrocelli, Why Help the Monopolist?

Today's issue of Shelf Awareness (a leading industry trade journal) carried an article about Bill Petrocelli and his response to the recent Department of Justice decision in the cases of United States v. Apple, Inc. et al. Read the full Shelf Awareness piece at http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1770#m16606

The article began, "One of the many letters sent to the Justice Department during the comment period was from Bill Petrocelli, co-owner of the Book Passage, Corte Madera and San Francisco, Calif., who wrote a characteristically eloquent missive drawing on years of relevant book world history." Read Bill Petrocelli's full response at http://www.bookpassage.com/doj-letter

Order a signed copy of Deborah Harkness Shadow of Night

We love Deborah Harkness. She gave a reading from her first book, A Discovery of Witches, at our store last summer. Fans lined up both in store and in cyberspace to get a signed book.

Now, she has a new book, Shadow of Night (hardback, $28.95), coming out on July 10th. It is a sequel to A Discovery of Witches. And what's more.....

Deborah Harkness will be dropping by our store around July 11 to sign copies of her new book! This is not a scheduled public event, but just an opportunity for the author to sign books for customers who would want to order one through us.

Reserve an autographed 1st edition of her new book at the following link -
http://www.bookpassage.com/book/9780670023486  Autographed books will ship shortly after they are signed.  

And what's more, we will include a special 782 temporary tattoo (pictured below) with every book ordered. Please note in the comments field "signed 1st w/ tattoo." How cool is that?

The week ahead 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.

Jess Walter reads from Beautiful Ruins
-- Monday, June 25 at 7:00 pm

Jess Walter reads from Beautiful Ruins (Harper). The award-winning author of the bestselling The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet: the story of an almost-love affair that begins in 1962 and is rekindled fifty years later.  “Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” — Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo.

Jess Walter is the author of The Zero (a finalist for the National Book Award), Citizen Vince (a winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel), Land of the Blind, Ruby Ridge, and Over Tumbled Graves (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year). He lives in Spokane, Washington.

Peter Zuckerman presents Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
-- Tuesday, June 26 at 7:00 pm

Peter Zuckerman presents Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day (W. W. Norton), a compelling account of tragedy and the men who have literally shouldered the rest of the world’s mountaineers up the second-highest mountain on Earth. "I admired Buried in the Sky and enjoyed it, too.” — Peter Matthiessen.

Also, check out this terrific review in the Wall Street Journal.

Peter Zuckerman is one of the youngest journalists ever to have received the Livingston Award, which is given for excellence to professional journalists under the age of 35. He lives in Oregon.

Bonnie Jo Campbell reads from Once Upon a River
-- Wednesday, June 27 at 7:00 pm

Bonnie Jo Campbell reads from Once Upon a River (W. W. Norton). From the author of American Salvage, a Book Passage favorite and National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, comes an odyssey of a novel about a girl's search for love and identity featuring an unforgettable heroine in sixteen-year-old Margo Crane, a beauty whose unflinching gaze and uncanny ability with a rifle have not made her life any easier.

Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of three previous books of fiction. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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. If you can't attend an event and would like a signed copy of an author's book, please place your order using one of the above links and note "signed copy" in the comments field.

Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette

One of the books we're looking forward to is Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette (Little, Brown and Company). It is an August release. Set in Seattle, it's the story of a misplaced genius, Bernadette Fox, and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world - meaning this world. Our own Mary Benham raves "I loved it. It's refreshing, smart, funny and moving. In so many ways, and with great wit, it captures the tenor of our times."

This promo video shows what the author, Maria Semple, had to go through to get her book noticed by booksellers:)

Just how epistolary and misanthropic is Maria Semple book? Too much? Not enough? Order a copy here to find out!

Maria Semple's first novel, This One is Mine, was set in Los Angeles, where she also wrote for television shows including Arrested Development, Mad About You, and Ellen. She escaped from Los Angeles and lives with her family in Seattle, where this, her second novel, takes place. Here is what a few other authors had to say about Semple's new book.

"The characters in Where'd You Go, Bernadette may be in real emotional pain, but Semple has the wit and perspective and imagination to make their story hilarious. I tore through this book with heedless pleasure." -- Jonathan Franzen, author of Freedom

"Brilliant, hilarious, endlessly inventive, and compulsively readable, Where'd You Go, Bernadette grabs you by the collar and never lets go. Semple is not only a masterful juggler, and an astute social critic, she is a magician!" -- Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here

"Where'd You Go, Bernadette is fresh and funny and accomplished, but the best thing about it was that I never had any idea what was going to happen next. It was a wild ride..." -- Kate Atkinson, author of Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog

"Maria Semple dissects the gory complexities of familial dysfunction with a deft and tender hand. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a triumph of social observation and black comedy by a skillful chronicler of moneyed malaise." -- Patrick deWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers

The week ahead 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.

Terry Tempest Williams speaks about When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
-- Monday, June 18 at 5:00 pm

Terry Tempest Williams, the beloved author of Refuge, returns to Book Passage with a new work, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice (Sarah Crichton Books), that explodes and startles, illuminates and celebrates.

Williams’s mother told her: “I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won’t look at them until after I’m gone.” Readers of Williams’s iconic and unconventional memoir, Refuge, well remember that mother. She was one of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them.

"The writing of Terry Tempest Williams is brilliant, meditative, and full of surprises, wisdom, and wonder. She's one of those writers who changes peoples' lives by encouraging attention and a slow, patient awakening." -- Anne Lamott

Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including Leap, An Unspoken Hunger, and, most recently, Finding Beauty in a Broken World. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Moose, Wyoming.


Francine Du Plessix Gray presents The Queen's Lover
-- Wednesday, June 20 at 7 pm

Renowned author Francine Du Plessix Gray presents The Queen's Lover (Penguin), a work of historical fiction which tells the story of a love affair between Marie Antoinette and a Swedish aristocrat. Expertly researched and deeply imagined, this new novel offers a fresh view of the French Revolution and French royal family, as told through the love story that was at its center.

Francine du Plessix Gray has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker and is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including Simone Weil, At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life, and Soviet Women. She is most recently the author of the memoir Them: A Memoir of Parents.

Literary Luncheon with TV anchor and reporter Belva Davis
-- Thursday, June 21 at 12:00 noon

Join Belva Davis for lunch as she discusses Never in My Wildest Dreams (Berrett-Koehler Publishers), which tells her story — the story of a journalist who helped change the face of television news. Born to a 15-year old Louisiana laundress during the Great Depression and raised in the projects of Oakland, Davis overcame abuse, racism, and sexism to become the first black female news anchor on the West Coast.

Belva Davis is a history-maker, an award-winning journalist, and a pioneering feminist. She has traveled the world reporting on politics, terrorism, racial and gender issues, and the role of art and culture in increasing human understanding. She has anchored at three major network affiliates, and currently hosts a highly respected political affairs program on KQED-TV in San Francisco.
Tickets are $55.00. Admission includes lunch and a signed book. Book Passage hosts literary luncheons with celebrated authors at its Marin store. These events are catered by Insalata’s Restaurant of San Anselmo. Call Book Passage to reserve.

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. 

Cool pic of the day: the newest member of the Book Passage family

A BIG welcome to the newest member of the Book Passage family, a little baby purple finch nesting in the green canvas awning outside the store (which overhangs our sunny patio area). This new bird resides in one of at least two nests we've noticed in the v-shaped space created by the canvas, which wraps around the awning's metal frame.

 

No word yet on a name, nor the baby bird's preference in reading material. Our children's section is just a few feet away. Same with the nature books and field guides.

Christian Kiefer's Rocket Man

Christian Kiefer will be reading from his debut novel, The Infinite Tides (Bloomsbury USA) at Book Passage on July 7 at 4 pm. We are excited about this new novel. And, we are excited about this NorCal author, who also happens to be a gifted singer / songwriter. (NPR thinks so too.) It is an event you won't want to miss. Seriously. Here's why...

And here's why....

"Maybe the most beautiful subject in literature, when it is handled with grace and intelligence, is the realization and release of long denied grief.  Christian Kiefer created astronaut Keith Corcoran to travel that galaxy of earthbound loss and regret, after one brief and glorious trip into orbit. The Infinite Tides is the most emotionally and syntactically sophisticated debut I have seen, possibly ever.  Keith Corcoran's space walk is so powerfully rendered, it keeps showing up in my dreams."
— Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted

And here's why....

"The Infinite Tides takes as its subject an astronaut brought to earth by abandonment and bewilderment. His journey is into the unknown of common suburbia, which he inhabits like an alien, and in whose unfamiliar atmosphere he must be taught to survive. This is a subtle and moving novel, a re-entry and recovery story that eloquently inhabits the terrain of grief and endurance."
— Antonya Nelson, author of Bound

And here's why....

"With astronaut Keith Corcoran, Kiefer will take you on an awesome American life odyssey from the International Space Station down to the lower depths of suburbia. This is a breathtakingly beautiful and honest rendering of one man's massive life crisis. Part Space Oddity, part Revolutionary Road, this is a magnificently original novel. 
There are moments in this book I will never forget."
— Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead

And here's why....

"Smart, lyrical, deeply moving. The central character, a NASA astronaut who has touched the stars, must come to earth, as we all must. What he finds down here beneath the heavens is dizzying
in its emotional complexity and pure aching beauty."
— T.C. Boyle, author of When the Killing’s Done

And here's why....

"This novel will break your heart and take your breath away."
— Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road

And here's why....



And here's why....

"An astute, impressive, and ambitious debut."
— Publishers Weekly

"[W]ith a shimmering lexicon of fractals, space travel, and physics as well as a piquantly metaphorical sense of place…Kiefer illuminates the nature of a mathematical mind, depicts a dire failure of familial empathy, and translates emotions into cosmic and algorithmic
phenomena of startling beauty and profound resonance."
— Booklist

Terry Tempest Williams event at Book Passage on June 18

Terry Tempest Williams, the beloved author of Refuge, returns to Book Passage with a new work, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice (Sarah Crichton Books), that explodes and startles, illuminates and celebrates.

Williams will be discussing her new book at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Monday, June 18 at 5 pm. Wine will be served at this special event.

Williams' mother told her: “I am leaving you all my journals, but you must promise me you won’t look at them until after I’m gone.” Readers of Williams' iconic and unconventional memoir, Refuge (Vintage), well remember the author's mother. She was one of a large Mormon clan in northern Utah who developed cancer as a result of the nuclear testing in nearby Nevada. It was a shock to Williams to discover that her mother had kept journals. But not as much of a shock as what she found when the time came to read them.

"The writing of Terry Tempest Williams is brilliant, meditative, and full of surprises, wisdom, and wonder. She's one of those writers who changes peoples' lives by encouraging attention and a slow, patient awakening." — Anne Lamott

“Williams narrates stories that range wide and run deep . . . Here, readers get a Terry Tempest Williams who is at the top of her game, the master of her craft . . . a gift from a writer who knows how to split the world open.” — Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

Terry Tempest Williams is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including Leap, An Unspoken Hunger, and, most recently, Finding Beauty in a Broken World. She divides her time between Castle Valley, Utah, and Moose, Wyoming.

Book Passage Wins Local Readers' Honor

Book Passage was just named the 2012 Reader Choice Award winner by the Larkspur-CorteMadera Patch. Book Passage narrowly beat out the Corte Madera Library as the favorite book spot for books in the Twin Cities; Book Passage also far outpaced the local B&N in the poll results.

The announcement came from Larkspur-CorteMadera Patch editor Derek Wilson, who posted a story about the award. Wilson also made mention of the active events program at the store. Select Book Passage events, including those with a local or Bay Area connection, are featured each week on the homepage in the local Patch.

The week ahead 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 two events readers won’t want to miss.

Neil Abramson speaks about his novel Unsaid
-- Wed., June 13 at 7:00 pm

Neil Abramson

Neil Abramson speaks about Unsaid (Center Street), a poignant book that will make you think about the relationship between people and animals. "If you love legal dramas... or dogs... or terrific writing... or originality... or people... or discovering wonderful new writers, then Neil Abramson's Unsaid is a book you simply must read.” — David Rosenfelt

Garth Stein, author of the International Bestseller The Art of Racing in the Rain, called Abramson’s book, "An extraordinary story of animals, mortality, and the power of love. Everyone needs to read this novel!" While Jeffrey Masson, author of When Elephants Weep, said he "Enjoyed it thoroughly."

Neil Abramson is a partner in a Manhattan law firm, and his wife is a veterinarian. Abramson is also a past board member of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, an award recipient from the ASPCA for his legal work on behalf of animals, and a founding member of the New York City Bar Association Committee on Legal Issues Relating to Animals.

Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant talk about their recent books
-- Fri., June 15 at 7:00 pm

Local husband and wife authors Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant talk about their recent books. Applegate is author of The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), which is based on the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla. The real Ivan lived alone in a tiny cage for twenty-seven years. Grant is the author of BZRK (EgmontUSA), a near future dystopian story of a war for control of the human mind which will appeal to those who love The Hunger Games.

Together, Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant wrote the hugely popular Animorphs series, which has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.

Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant

Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant are on the faculty of the 6th annual Book Passage Children's Writers & Illustrators Conference, which takes place June 14-17 at Book Passage. This event is part of the Conference. It is open to the public, though priority seating is reserved for Conference participants.

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.

A "Serious" & "Trashy" Summer Reading List

By Dick Jordan
Summer arrives and one is supposed to sit on the beach, lounge around the pool, or laze in a hammock and read “trashy” literature, putting aside all of the “serious” works of poetry and prose that we were condemned to read while imprisoned in the dark, damp days of winter.

Regardless of whether you want to escape the real world or delve deeper into it during the next three months, be sure to check out this list of somewhat lighter (“Trashy”) or “heavier” (“Serious) literary fare recommended by members of Book Passage’s Left Coast Writers Literary Salon.

Oh Canada, by Richard Ford (signed copies available)

Click here to read the entire review.

Richard Ford gave one of the great events ever at Book Passage on Saturday, June 2 when he read from and talked about his outstanding new novel, Canada, before a large and appreciative crowd. He also signed a bunch of copies of his new book. If you are interested in purchasing a signed 1st edition copy just follow this link and please note "signed 1st ed" in the comments field. This special offer good while supplies of this signed book last. Which shouldn't be long.

Laura Moriarty talks about The Chaperone

Today marks the publication of Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone (Riverhead). Copies have just arrived, and are now on display at Book Passage! Moriarty's new book is the USA Today #1 Hot Fiction Pick for the summer and an Indie Next List pick, as well as the #1 selection for "Best Book Coming Out This June" in O Magazine. Moriarty, who lives and teaches in Kansas, will be dropping by our store to sign books later this month. Order a copy here.

The Chaperone is a terrific, quietly powerful and captivating novel about the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922, and the summer that would change them both.

Only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise left Wichita to make it big in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle is a complicated but traditional woman with her own reasons for making the trip. 

Cora has no idea what she’s in for: young Louise, already stunningly beautiful and sporting her famous blunt bangs and black bob, is known for her arrogance and her lack of respect for convention. Ultimately, the five weeks they spend together will change both of their lives.

For Cora, New York holds the promise of discovery that might prove an answer to the question at the center of her being, and even as she does her best to watch over Louise in a strange and bustling city, she embarks on her own mission. And while what she finds isn’t what she anticipated, it liberates her in a way she could not have imagined. Over the course of the summer, Cora’s eyes are opened to the promise of the twentieth century and a new understanding of the possibilities for being fully alive.

Drawing on the rich history of the 1920s,1930s, and beyond – from the orphan trains to Prohibition, flappers, and the onset of the Great Depression to the burgeoning movement for equal rights and new opportunities for women – Moriarty’s The Chaperone illustrates how rapidly everything, from fashion and values to hemlines and attitudes were changing, and what a profound difference it made for the real life Louise Brooks, the fictional Cora Carlisle, and others like them.

Recently, Moriarty answered a few questions about her new book for Book Passage staffer Thomas Gladysz, a big fan of both Louise Brooks and The Chaperone.

* * * *

How did you come to write The Chaperone? How did you come to discover the story of 15 year old Louise Brooks heading off to NY in 1922 with an older chaperone?

I was browsing in a bookstore, and I came across the book Flapper by Joshua Zeist. He has a chapter devoted to Louise, and I’d always thought she was compelling. I started reading about her early life, and right there in the bookstore, I learned about the trip with the chaperone. Given what I already knew about Louise – that she was smart, self-directed, and temperamental – I knew this chaperone must have had her work cut out for her.

What is it about their story that interests you?

I’m always interested in inter-generational tension, and 1922 strikes me as a time when just a twenty-year gap in ages could make such a difference between two people. If the chaperone was 36 in 1922, she would have come of age during a time of corsets and covered ankles. The flappers with their bared knees – and all the changing social mores that fashion represents – would have been hard to get used to. So the chaperone might have been challenged by any forward-thinking adolescent, let alone the already sophisticated Louise Brooks.

I was also intrigued by Louise’s complicated personality and story.  She was both smart and self-destructive, and I wondered about her sudden disappearance from Hollywood. One thing that impresses me about Louise is how authentic she was – she acted as she felt and she said what she thought. Hollywood wasn’t the right place for her.

Did writing The Chaperone involve much research? 

What were the challenges of writing about two historical figures - one of which we know a good deal about, the other obscure? I did a great deal of research for this book. Researching Louise was actually the easy part – I read her biographies and her autobiography, and I watched her films. I even looked at her old letters to see her handwriting. But I actually had to do more research for the chaperone, Cora, because even though she was invented, I wanted to make her a woman of her time, to make her someone who could have been thirty-six in 1922. But I really liked weaving Cora’s imagined life into the real facts of Louise’s.

Were you a fan of Louise Brooks? 

I knew who she was and I thought she was striking, but I wasn’t a fan until I started reading about her. I’m certainly a fan now.

When did you first encounter her? Is there anything you learned about Louise Brooks that surprised you?

I don’t remember when I first learned who she was. I know I tried to copy her haircut back in my twenties, and it completely didn’t work on me! But it wasn’t until that day in the bookstore that I started learning about her life.

As for surprises, there was an answer Louise gave to a question in her old age that I found really moving. LB fans will know, I think, what I’m alluding to, and I don’t want to ruin it for people who haven’t yet read her biography. But late in life, someone asked the hard and worn-down Louise if she’d ever really loved anyone, and her answer was pretty touching. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when she was interacting with this person, the one person she could admit she loved.

The Chaperone has been described as "the best kind of historical fiction, transporting you to another time and place, but even more importantly delivering a poignant story about people so real, you'll miss and remember them long after you close the book." That is a wow. What's next?

Thanks! I really have liked writing historical fiction, and my next novel will be historical as well. I’m just starting the research now . . .

* * * *

Book Passage customers and fans of Downton Abbey will be thrilled to learn that actress Elizabeth McGovern reads the audio version of The Chaperone, which is due out in July. (Follow the previous link to order a copy). McGovern has also optioned the movie rights - and yes, Cora (her character in Downton Abbey) could end up playing Cora. Want to see more? Check out this video interview with Laura Moriarty from USA Today.

Book Passage on KALW's "Your Call"

Janel Feierabend, director of book selling at Book Passage, was on today's "Your Call" on KALW - talking books, of course. Check it out and give it a listen at http://www.kalw.org/post/todays-your-call-what-are-you-reading-summer

The week ahead 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.

Kim Stanley Robinson reads from 2312
-- Tuesday, June 5 at 7:00 pm

Acclaimed science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson reads from his new novel, 2312 (Orbit). Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system. In 2312, however, events will force humanity to confront its past, present, and future.

Kim Stanley Robinson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. He is the author of eleven previous books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Fifty Degrees Below, Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Antarctica--for which he was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation as part of their Antarctic Artists and Writers' Program. He lives in Davis, California.

Anthony Swofford reads from Hotel, Hospitals, and Jails: A Memoir
-- Wednesday, June 6 at 7:00 pm

Anthony Swofford talks about Hotel, Hospitals, and Jails: A Memoir (Twelve). Following the success of Jarhead, Swofford assumed he had exorcised his military demons — but as every veteran knows, that isn't exactly how it works. In these searing, courageous pages, Swofford struggles to make sense of what his military service meant, and what his life should become.

Anthony Swofford served in a U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Harper's, Men's Journal and other publications; his memoir Jarhead was a major New York Times bestseller, and the basis for the movie of the same name.

Peter Beren and Morton Beebe discuss The Golden Gate: San Francisco's Celebrated Bridge
-- Saturday, June 9 at 2:00 pm

Peter Beren and Morton Beebe present The Golden Gate: San Francisco's Celebrated Bridge (Earth Aware Editions). Featuring a selection of stunning images, many from angles and positions that show the bridge in a whole new light, this new illustrated book celebrates an iconic and storied structure considered one of the most beautiful in the world.

Morton Beebe is a world-renowned documentarian of San Francisco. His photographs have been published in various magazines throughout his career, which has spanned more than fifty years. Peter Beren, literary agent and publishing consultant, is the author of six books.

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.