For those of you who wish to learn more about some of our former Book Event presenters, here is a list of the writers, illustrators and other literary illuminaries who have appeared at a Gallery Bookshop Book Event in 2009. |
Mickey Huff Censored: Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09
Tuesday, December 29, 1 to 2 pm
Mickey Huff, editor of and contributor to Censored: Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09, signed books and answered questions in a meet & greet format.
Censored: Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008-09, edited by Mickey Huff
Paperback, $19.95
Romney "Nani" Steele My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur
Friday, December 11 at 6:30 pm
Author Romney Steele spoke about her book, My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur, in which she describes growing up in the famous restaurant owned by her grandparents in Big Sur, California.
Visit her website about My Nepenthe at http://mynepenthebook.com/.
My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur, by Romney Steele
Hardcover, $35.00
Mahbod Seraji Rooftops of Tehran
Friday, December 4 at 6:30 pm
Author Mahbod Seraji discussed his book, Rooftops of Tehran, a novel of young love and coming of age in an Iran headed toward revolution.
Visit the Rooftops of Tehran website at http://rooftopsoftehran.com.
Rooftops of Tehran, by Mahbod Seraji
Paperback, $15.00
Amy Racina Angels in the Wilderness
The True Story of One Woman's Survival Against All OddsFriday, November 13 at 6:30 pm
Author Amy Racina spoke about her book, Angels in the Wilderness: The True Story of One Woman's Survival Against All Odds.
Find out more about Amy Racina and Angels in the Wilderness at her website, http://www.angelsinthewilderness.com.
Angels in the Wilderness, by Amy Racina
Paperback, $15.95
Dianne Hales La Bella Lingua
My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting LanguageFriday, November 6 at 6:30 pm
Author Dianne Hales spoke about her book, La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language.
Find out more about Dianne Hales and La Bella Lingua at her website, http://www.becomingitalian.com.
La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language, by Dianne Hales
Hardcover, $24.95
(Paperback version to be released soon)
Stefanie Freele Feeding Strays
Friday, October 30 at 6:30 pm
Author Stefanie Freele discussed her book, Feeding Strays.
Find out more about Stefanie Freele and Feeding Strays at her website, http://www.stefaniefreele.com.
Feeding Strays, by Stefanie Freele
Paperback, $16.95To order this book, call or visit Gallery Bookshop or send email to: info@gallerybookshop.com
Mikaya Heart My Sweet Wild Dance
Friday, October 16 at 6:30 pm
Author Mikaya Heart talked about her book, My Wild Sweet Dance.
Find out more about Mikaya Heart and My Wild Sweet Dance at her website, http://www.mikayaheart.org.
My Wild Sweet Dance, by Mikaya Heart
Paperback, $16.95
Jenny Cornbleet Raw for Dessert: Easy Delights for Everyone
Friday, October 2 at 6:30 pm
Author Jenny Cornbleet presented her book, Raw for Dessert: Easy Delights for Everyone.
Find out more about Jenny Cornbleet and Raw for Dessert at her website, http://www.learnrawfood.com/.
You can also watch her give an overview of raw food meal making on YouTube.
Raw for Dessert: Easy Delights for Everyone, by Jenny Cornbleet
Paperback, $14.95
Nancy Ellis-Bell The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog
Wednesday, August 12 at 6:30 pm
Author Nancy Ellis-Bell shared stories from her best-selling book The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog.
The last thing Ellis-Bell expected to descend on her life was a neglected, too-tall, smart-mouthed, one-legged, blue-and-gold rescue macaw named Peg Leg. And yet, it made perfect sense. A lifelong animal lover, Nancy could never turn away a stray cat, dog, squirrel, or raccoon from her California farm. But the macaw, quickly rechristened Sarah, was a whole new challenge, as Nancy, her husband, Kerry, and their furry menagerie would find out.
Touching, eye-opening, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog is a tender tale of two worlds colliding, two lives enriched, and two souls restored. It is also a rewarding reminder that love can come from the most unexpected places.
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog, by Nancy Ellis-Bell
Paperback, $13.95
Sophia Raday Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage
Friday, July 10 at 6:30 pm
Author Sophia Raday talked about Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage. As a Berkeley peace activist, Sophia Raday ran away from cops dressed in riot gear. Then, much to her surprise, she fell in love with one.
Barrett was not only an Oakland police officer but a soldier as well: a West Point graduate, an Airborne Ranger, and a major in the Army Reserve. Love in Condition Yellow tells the story of their marriage. Barrett is loving, loyal, and steadfast, but in his world, a threat lies around every corner. The 9/11 attacks occur just after their first child is born, and Barrett asks Sophia to stay in Condition Yellow -- always aware that her life may be in danger and prepared to do something about it.
When he is called back to active military duty, Sophia is thrust into the role of army wife, first accompanying her husband to the Army War College and later facing Barrett's deployment to Iraq. The result is a vivid, poignant portrait of an unusual union, one that tells a larger story about how love and compromise can uncover the common ground beneath clashing cultures.
Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage, by Sophia Raday
Hardcover, $23.95Find out more about Sophia Raday and Love in Condition Yellow at her website, http://sophiaraday.com.
Dr. Eydie Bauer Life After Bread: Get Off Gluten and Reclaim Your Health
Friday, June 26 at 6:30 pm
Local author and chiropractor Dr. Eydi Bauer discussed her new book, Life After Bread: Get Off Gluten and Reclaim Your Health.
Millions of Americans are affected by gluten-related illnesses, and they don't know it. One in a hundred people has celiac disease, and one out of three is gluten intolerant. For these people, eliminating gluten in the diet can reduce pain and inflammation, relieve mental and emotional problems, improve digestion, increase strength and energy, and restore biochemical balance. Bauer wrote Life After Bread to help readers determine whether their health is being compromised by wheat products.
Dr. Eydi Bauer is a doctor of chiropractic and an applied kinesiologist specializing in nutrition and food allergy testing. She has been in practice for fourteen years and currently runs the Caspar Healing Gardens and Chiropractic Wellness Center. After a lengthy battle with undiagnosed celiac disease, a form of gluten intolerance, Dr. Bauer has regained her life and her health by becoming gluten-free.
Visit the Life After Bread website at http://lifeafterbread.com.
Life After Bread: Get Off Gluten and Reclaim Your Health, by Dr. Eydie Bauer
Paperback, $12.95
Cammie Conlon Bonnie Blue Butler: A Gone With the Wind Memoir
Friday, May 29, 6:30 pm
You may know Cammie Conlon from her work here on the coast, in public relations for the Little River Inn. Or you may know her only as the child of Rhett Butler and Scarlett, the little girl with eyes "as blue as the bonny blue flag." Cammie joined us at Gallery Bookshop to share some of the stories of her experiences in Gone With The Wind that she tells in her forthcoming memoir.
The part of Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With the Wind was to have been played by Cammie's older sister; however, by the time the scenes were to have been filmed, the sister looked too old for the part. Cammie stepped in to take her place, and made her own spot in film history.
Bonnie Blue Butler: A Gone With the Wind Memoir, by Cammie Conlon
To order this book, call or visit Gallery Bookshop or send email to: info@gallerybookshop.com
Tom Reed The Granite Avatars of Patagonia
Friday, May 15, 6:30 pm
Everyone at Gallery Bookshop was impressed with this new book by local photographer and writer Tom Reed. It was passed amongst the staff with near-reverence for the beauty of the photos and the quality of the design. Tom talked about his work, showed slides, and signed books at this event.
"Sophisticated black and white images alternate with Reed's description of the adventures that made those images possible, photos and text nestled in a clean, Zen-like, high concept design. His writing persona hovers somewhere between ecospiritualist and son of the Beat generation, with an occasional nod to Hemingway."
--Irene D. Thomas, Ph.D., AuthorTom Reed's website is at http://www.tomreed.com/
The Granite Avatars of Patagonia, by Tom Reed
Hard Cover, $49.95
To order this book, call or visit Gallery Bookshop or send email to: info@gallerybookshop.com
C. E. Chaffin Unexpected Light
Friday, April 24th, 6:30 pm
C.E. Chaffin read from his book Unexpected Light and talked about the poet's life. Like any poet Chaffin has been many things in his life, physician, mental patient, Liberated Lutheran, haphazard gardener, essayist, critic, blogger and dad to name a few. He quit counting the publications he's been published in on-line and in print long ago. As to his style, Chaffin states, "Poerty should be intelligible without footnotes, explanations of technique or other intermediary bells and whistles. It should be written to communicate-not merely to dazzle..."
Described by critics as a poet who infuses the lyric with a spiritual temperance born of experience, Chaffin invites poetry lovers to join him in the big white Victorian on the corner of Main and Kasten streets in the village of Mendocino for a celebration of words.
Refreshments were served.
To order this book, call or visit Gallery Bookshop or send email to: info@gallerybookshop.com
Maria Goodwin, Lydia Rand, James Maxwell, Skip Wollenberg Along the Way: Travel Stories
Saturday, April 11, 6:30 pm
Local writers Maria Goodwin, Lydia Rand, James Maxwell, and Skip Wollenberg came to Gallery Bookshop to read from their new book, Along the Way: Travel Stories.
Three travelers, as disparate as it gets: an artist, a poet and a geologist recount their journeys on many continents and climes. From Africa to Eurasia to Greenland, Central and South America, Oceania and the American West, their traveling companions and the people and situations they encounter may raise your hackles, bring on a shudder or a laugh.
James Maxwell is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer who incorporates words and statements into his artwork. Lydia Rand was born in Paris and moved to the US in the sixties. She is a published poet and short story writer in both French and English. Skip Wollenberg is a geologist whose travels have taken him from Greenland to Siberia to Patagonia.
Along the Way: Travel Stories, by L. Rand, J. Maxwell, M. Goodwin, S. Wollenberg
Paperback, $19.99
Stephen Kessler & Daniela Hurezanu Celebrating National Poetry Month
Friday, April 3rd, 6:30 pm
Gallery Bookshop celebrated National Poetry Month with an evening of poems, translations and conversation. Writers and translators Stephen Kessler and Daniela Hurezanu read from and discussed three recent books.
Burning Daylight, Stephen Kessler's most recent collection, gathers poems written between 2001 and 2006, evoking with lyric spirit a journey through time and space from a Southern California childhood through travels across the United States and Spain to a home on the Mendocino Coast. Moving Targets collects Stephen Kessler's best essays on poets, poetry and translation published over the last thirty years.
Eyeseas by Raymond Queneau collects poems by the renowed French Surrealist ranging from the 1920s to the 1940s and translated into English for the first time by Daniela Hurezanu & Stephen Kessler.
Stephen Kessler is the author of eight books of original poetry and more than a dozen books of translation from the Spanish of such major writers as Nobel laureates Vicente Aleixandre and Pablo Neruda. He is the editor of The Redwood Coast Review.
Rebecca Foust & Joan Gelfand Dark Card (Foust) and Seeking Center (Gelfand)
Wednesday, March 25, 6:30 pm
Two acclaimed poets read from their latest books and talked about their work. Rebecca Foust is the author of Dark Card, a collection of poems about raising a son with Asperger's Syndrome. Joan Gelfand is the author of the poetry collection Seeking Center.
Asperger's Syndrome is the autistic spectrum disorder featured in the film "Rain Man" and in two recent bestellers: Look Me In the Eye by John Elder Robison and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Poet Barry Spacks writes of Dark Card, "These poems will break and heal your heart, their rage, hope, insight and love carried by a poetic power as targeted as a bullet-train ... this is an extraordinary debut from a writer wise, brave, darkly witty and unrelentingly inventive, one with a story to tell and a voice to make it sing."
Seeking Center is poet Joan Gelfand's first published collection of poems, featuring "Music / Dream Eight" and "Home." Author Jane Swigert describes Ms. Gelfand's "exquisite and breathtaking (poems) that tell about our deepest selves, reaching those secret places where we overlap and long for validation."
Wine and refreshments were served.
Dark Card, by Rebecca Foust
Paperback, $12.95
Seeking Center, by Joan Gelfand
Paperback, $9.95Visit Rebecca Foust's website at http://www.rebeccafoust.com/
Visit Joan Gelfand's website at http://www.joangelfand.com
Lawrence Bullock You Don't Want To Know
Friday, March 20, 6:30 pm
Longtime Mendocino resident Lawrence Bullock read from and signed copies of his new poetry collection, You Don't Want to Know.
You Don't Want To Know gathers together a wide-ranging selection of poems, from the grisly "In Mendocino" (about a death on the beach) to the pointedly witty "Thin." Lawrence Bullock lives in Mendocino. His poetry has been published in Skullpolish, The Mendocino Review, The Anderson Valley Advertiser, the Lake Superior Review, and many other magazines. Mr. Bullock is also a produced playwright. His play "Autopsies" was a finalist in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City.
Wine and refreshments were served.
Things You Don't Want To Know
Self-published; email us to order: info@gallerybookshop.com.
Denyse Beaudet Dreamguider: Open the Door to Your Child's Dreams
Wednesday, March 18th, 6:30 pm
Do you want to know what your child's dreams mean? How can you help your child deal with nightmares? Is your child having "normal" dreams? Dreamguider is the only dream handbook available that helps you, the parent, understand and learn from your child's active, dreaming mind.
Denyse Beaudet, a Jungian developmental psychologist for more than twenty-five years, has helped countless parents understand their children's dreaming lives by engaging them in their children's dream world. Dreamguider is a truly remarkable roadmap for you and your child to explore the dreaming world, providing practical advice, real-life experiences, examples, and anecdotes along the way.
Dreamguider: Open the Door to Your Child's Dreams
Paperback, $16.95
Women's Book Night Peg Kingman
Not Yet Drown'd
Wednesday, March 11, 6:00 pm
Women's Book Night featured Peg Kingman reading from her novel Not Yet Drown'd, in which a mysterious package propels a young Scottish widow on a journey that takes her around the world. It's a swashbuckling story that involves tea, opium, bagpipes, shipbuilding, and Indian food. We enjoyed Indian-themed finger foods, tasting fine teas, and listening to live bagpipe music wafting in from the headlands.
As the novel opens, Catherine MacDonald is astonished to receive from her twin brother -- who had apparently drowned a year earlier in the monsoon floods of 1821 -- a kashmiri shawl, a caddy of unusual tea, and a sheaf of traditional bagpipe music in his handwriting. When had he sent it? And why had he retitled a certain tune "Not Yet Drown'd"? Irresistibly, she is drawn to India to search for answers. With her stepdaughter and their two maids -- one an enigmatic Hindu, the other a runaway American slave -- she follows an obscure trail of tea, opium, and bagpipe music, discovering unsuspected truths about the man she is seeking.
"Kingman's novel is mysterious, intriguing and just downright absorbing. . . smart and full of atmosphere. . . . The fact that the tale involves Scottish music, tea, and an ocean voyage in the 19th century makes it irresistible." -- Boston Sunday Globe
It was during the late 1990s -- while Peg Kingman was a tea merchant and a beginning bagpiper -- that she first stumbled across the marvelous but all-too-obscure history which sparked her novel Not Yet Drown'd. A fourth-generation Californian, Peg Kingman has lived and traveled in the United States, Scotland, France, India and New Zealand. She worked for many years as a technical writer in the high-tech, medical, environmental and marketing fields, and now lives with her husband and teenaged sons on a mountaintop in northern California. She continues to play bagpipe, grow tea, and write.
Not Yet Drown'd
Paperback, $14.95Read more about Peg Kingman and her new book at http://www.pegkingman.com/
Lorraine Hee-Chorley The Chinese in Mendocino County
Saturday, March 7, 4:00 pm
Local author and historian Lorraine Hee-Chorley gave a talk and signed copies of her new book, The Chinese in Mendocino County. Attendees were invited to join Lorraine for the short walk to the Temple of Kwan Tai, and enjoy tea and home-baked almond cookies.
Mendocino County is known, of course, as a scenic destination for its panoramic views of the sea, parks, wineries, and open space. Less well known are the diverse cultural groups who featured so prominently in the county's early history. Hee-Chorley has culled local archives and collections to find the best pictures for this volume. These photographs date from the early 1800s to the 1970s, painting a vivid picture of the Chinese presence in Mendocino County. The beautifully illustrated book is one of the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing.
Lorraine Hee-Chorley is a fourth-generation descendant of one of Mendocino's first Chinese settlers and a director on the nonprofit board that is the guardian to the Temple of Kwan Tai.
The Chinese in Mendocino County
Paperback, $21.99More information about the Kwan-Tai Temple Restoration Project can be found at http://www.ncrcn.org/projects/me/kwantai.html
Laura Stec Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming
Friday, February 20, 6:30 pm
Bay Area food expert Laura Stec joined us for a conversation about climate and cooking and discussed her new book, Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming. There was an Organic Bloody Mary Bar based on a recipe from the book, and interested attendees had the chance to form a new "Book & Cook Club" with the author's helpful guidelines.
Cool Cuisine is a smorgasbord of scientific fact and culinary art where the reader learns new ways to look at the climate crisis. It is a quick, enjoyable, informative read, inspiring personal life changes with in-depth research, easy recipes, ideas for your next book group "read and eat" tasting party, and simple tips on how to cook a global-cooling cuisine.
The book presents the full cycle on how our agrochemical food system affects global warming and how global warming affects the food system. The reader embarks on a scientific and culinary exploration that feeds mind and mouth with art, science, food lore, culinary tips, and recipes on how to cook low carbon, high-flavor meals.
Laura Stec is a San Francisco Bay Area chef and environmental advocate who enjoys teaching students about the artistry, health, and energetics of cooking. Stec has more than twenty-four years in the food industry and trained at the Culinary Institute of America, the School of Natural Cookery, and the Vega Macrobiotic Center. She has worked at many restaurants and schools including Draeger's Culinary Center, The Flea St. Cafe and the Left Bank, all of Menlo Park, California. Contemporary-nutritional, organic, California cuisine is Laura's specialty. She also hosts "From the Farm," a pilot TV cooking show that visits Bay Area farms.
Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming
Paperback, $24.99Visit Laura Stec's website on Innovative Cuisine at http://www.laurastec.com/
Walt McKeown Bank Shot
Friday, February 6, 6:30 pm
Gallery Bookshop celebrated the release of Bank Shot, the new autobiography by local resident Dr. Walt McKeown. McKeown made his home in Albion between 1973 and 1988, when he went east to continue his education. In 2008 he retired, published his autobiography, and returned to live in Mendocino where he lectures on climate change.
Bank Shot chronicles an interesting and prolific life which began near Chicago and worked its way through a Jesuit education, military service as a weather officer, dope smuggling, a Chinese junk, a marriage, a position at College of the Redwoods, a radio show and a one-man band known as Colonel Wingnuts, a PHD in meteorology, and jobs with the National Research Laboratory and the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency.
Bank Shot
Paperback, self-published, $24.95
Fauna Perkins Nothing to Declare.
Friday, January 16, 6:30 pm
Gallery Bookshop celebrated the release of Nothing to Declare, the first book by Mendocino resident Fauna Perkins.
Nothing to Declare traces the story of Mila, a victim of the poverty of post-WWII Finland. Sold by her mother, sent alone across the world to a seemingly better life, she is adopted into a family ruled by a malevolent woman who makes Mila's growing-up years a living hell.
The book alternates between Mila's life in America and her beloved brother's life in Finland where he fights a deadly disease. An uplifting story of the bonds of family and hope, it forces the reader to keep turning the pages, searching for the next event.
Nothing to Declare
Paperback, iUniverse, $17.95 ISBN 9780595917815
Larry Wagner Artists of the Mendocino Coast, Volume Two.
Saturday, January 10, 6:30 pm
Building off the success of Volume One, Larry Wagner's Artists of the Mendocino Coast, Volume Two showcases portraits, biographies, artistic statements, and samples of the art of 56 more artists, illustrating the wealth of talent in this unique geographical area.
Portrait photographer Larry Wagner dreamt of sharing the dreams of artists who live in this paradise. With camera and a warmth of personality, Wagner captures the essence of his subjects and gives recognition to their work. "Doing Volume One was probably the most fun I have ever had on a project," Wagner said. "It was a thrill meeting the artists and bringing them together as a community. All the reinforcement and fulfillment convinced me that this was a good idea. I was struck by how many excellent artists we have and felt a strong desire to capture as many as I could for posterity so we would have a record of their talent. That led to Volume Two."
Find out more about Larry Wagner's photography at his website, http://www.wagnerphotoart.com/
Artists of the Mendocino Coast, Volume Two
Hardcover, Blurb Books, $59.95 ISBN 9780966423426
Women's Book Night Nanette Gartrell
My Answer Is No ... If That's Okay with You
How women can say NO and (still) feel good about It.Wednesday, January 7, 6:00 pm
Gallery Bookshop hosted another Women's Book Night, this time featuring Nanette Gartrell and her latest book, My Answer Is No ... If That's Okay with You.
No is a very simple word -- two letters, one syllable. Yet many women have a hard time saying it without feeling anxious or guilty. In My Answer Is No ... If That's Okay with You, award-winning psychiatrist and author Dr. Nanette Gartrell takes a fresh look at why even the most powerful, accomplished, and successful women find it difficult to say no and offers a revolutionary approach to setting limits without jeopardizing important relationships.
Women's Book Night is a free after-hours series that brings reading women together in a convivial atmosphere with compelling speakers and enticing extras. This month's gathering will feature hand-made chocolates by Sally Young, wine and finger foods.
My Answer Is No ... If That's Okay with You
Paperback, Free Press, $14.00 ISBN 9781416546955
PO Box 270
Main & Kasten Streets, Mendocino, CA 95460
707-937-BOOK (2665)
Email: Info@gallerybookshop.com
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