"Chris Bohjalian was my first," says Jackie

More than a decade ago, Chris Bohjalian rocked my world with his book "Trans-Sister Radio". I was new to Tattered Cover and the wonderful world of multistory book stores (there weren't any bookstores in my hometown in Ohio) and people who wanted to talk books (book nerd became a badge of honor and not a high school version of torture), But meeting authors was a sort of massive perk of my new trade; I was star struck. Bohjalian was my first, at TC at least, and you never forget your first. We've become friends over the years, and he has never disappointed me.

"The Light in the Ruins"is a multifaceted story about World War II set in Tuscany, where the people were first invaded by the German's and then, after many bloody fights, occupied by US and British troops. It's about what you do to survive when every aspect of your life is suddenly a tightwire act. Told in two different time periods, it's also a creepy and mind bending murder mystery. Every character is flawed in some way, making them real and memorable. Bohjalian always does impeccable research for each and every book, making the people and places come alive in a very authentic way. This is a fantastic read that I cannot champion enough.

--Jackie











Here are some pictures from Chris Bohjalian's most recent visit to Tattered Cover:

"Humor, heartbreak, you can walk into the pages of a book and become family, loss and love – you will find them all in 'The Light in the Ruins'." ~Lisa C.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls comes a spellbinding novel of love, despair, and revenge—set in war-ravaged Tuscany.

1943: Tucked away in the idyllic hills south of Florence, the Rosatis, an Italian family of noble lineage, believe that the walls of their ancient villa will keep them safe from the war raging across Europe. Eighteen-year-old Cristina spends her days swimming in the pool, playing with her young niece and nephew, and wandering aimlessly amid the estate’s gardens and olive groves. But when two soldiers, a German and an Italian, arrive at the villa asking to see an ancient Etruscan burial site, the Rosatis’ bucolic tranquility is shattered. A young German lieutenant begins to court Cristina, the Nazis descend upon the estate demanding hospitality, and what was once their sanctuary becomes their prison.

1955: Serafina Bettini, an investigator with the Florence police department, has her own demons. A beautiful woman, Serafina carefully hides her scars along with her haunting memories of the war. But when she is assigned to a gruesome new case—a serial killer targeting the Rosatis, murdering the remnants of the family one-by-one in cold blood—Serafina finds herself digging into a past that involves both the victims and her own tragic history.

Set against an exquisitely rendered Italian countryside, The Light in the Ruins unveils a breathtaking story of moral paradox, human frailty, and the mysterious ways of the heart.

Lisa C. says:
"Chris Bohjalian as a master at storytelling. His last book The Sand Castle Girls is among my favorite historical novels, and I hope every book club picks it up. There is so much to discuss.

Now, his new one The Light in the Ruins is also a favorite. Set in Tuscany during and after WWII, Bohjalian tells the story of the Rosatis – an Italian family whose villa with its Etruscan burial site is taken over by the Nazis during the war. The family has its secrets but one of those is deadly. Years after the war, the Rosatis are dying. Someone is hunting them down one by one. Police investigator Serafina Bettini, who is also haunted by war events, has to find the killer but it means digging into a horrific past.

Bohjalian sets the scene in every book with his excellent sense of place. It always makes a difference when immersed in the tale. The characters become real to you. Humor, heartbreak, you can walk into the pages of a book and become family, loss and love – you will find them all in The Light in the Ruins. This will be a book club favorite and I won’t be surprised if it becomes a film." 

Save The Date!!!

On Saturday, July 20, 2013, Chris Bohjalian will be at our Colfax Avenue store at 7:30pm to read from, discuss, and sign his new book.   And Lisa will be there to introduce him!

Sometimes My Job Is Just Too Much Fun!!!

This is a banner week for me--I get to hang out with two of my favorite authors, and so do you, though you are going to have to pick one because both will be at a Tattered Cover on Thursday, May 24, but not the same one.

At 7:30 pm at our Colfax Avenue store, Diana Abu-Jaber will be reading from and signing her new paperback edition of  Birds of Paradise.

✑ Here is a link to my review of the hardcover when it first came out.

Since I can't be two places at once, I was lucky to be able to set up a lunch with Diana earlier in the day to chat about the book, what's coming next, etc.  I'll be taking notes and pictures and sharing them in a future BTC post. 

At 7:30 pm at our Historic Lodo Store, debut author Benjamin Busch will be reading from and signing his novel Dust to Dust.  I was absolutely blown away by his writing, and I can't wait to meet him.  Here is a link to my review of the book.

I won't have as much time to chat with him, but I promise to snap plenty of pictures, and maybe some video (no promises there, though.  I'm not a very good videographer, but I will try).

I also want to stress how much fun it is to go to a live author signing.  I've learned so much about books, people, and writing going to them, and generally some nugget of wisdom in each and every one.  That's one of the amazing benefit of independent, bricks and mortar book stores, and just another reason to love my job!  You can always check out who Tattered Cover has coming when on the home page of our website.

Thanks!  Hope to see you at the events!!!!!

--Jackie

Jackie says Bruce Machart "is a '3-D writer'--his stories jump off the page in vivid Technicolor with perfect Dolby sound and the grit of Texas sand in your mouth." Come Meet Him TONIGHT

From the author of The Wake of Forgiveness— "a mesmerizing, mythic saga"*—ten remarkable stories that tackle what it means to be a man.

Whether they find themselves walking the fertile farmland of south Texas, steering trucks through the suffocating sprawl of Houston, or turning logs into loose leaf in the mills just west of the Sabine River, the men of these stories find themselves beset by the insufficiencies of their own ingrained ideas of manhood.

Like Richard Russo, Bruce Machart has a profound knowledge of the male psyche and a gift for conveying the absurdity and brutality of daily life with humor and compassion. Alternately lush with lyricism and starkly candid, these stories emerge from inside a vividly scrutinized everyday of farms, refineries, hospitals, and homes to explore what it means to be a man at the rise of a new millennium. What it means to be a man who can’t protect his wife from violence, or protect his children from tragic accidents, or protect himself from loss and heartbreak. Machart’s characters have a deep and abiding humanity that makes their hardscrabble lives all the more unforgettable.
* New York Times Book Review

Jackie says:

"Bruce Machart is one hell of a writer.   I'd go so far as to say that he is a  '3-D writer'--his stories jump off the page in vivid Technicolor with perfect Dolby sound and the grit of Texas sand in your mouth.  He has a mastery of language that makes even a four page story a deep and enriching experience.  And these are not easy stories to tell as they are all about men or boys at a crossroad or epiphany of one kind or another.  There are ten stories in the book, all of them gritty, real, raw and intense.  A lot of dogs die in this book.  A lot of men have to face themselves in this book.  And a lot of readers will be deeply impressed with the searing honesty in each and every one of them.  This is definitely a 'guys' book, but ladies, you don't want to miss out on this amazing book either, for it's worth the read (and a re-read,  or a dozen re-reads).  Cutting to the chase, read this book!"

Machart will be reading from and signing his book tonight at 7:30 at our Colfax Avenue store.

Come Meet Laura Lippman Tonight!

Laura Lippman will be reading from and signing her new book The Most Dangerous Thing tonight at 7:30 pm at our Colfax Avenue Store.

Jackie says:

"Laura Lippman admits that this is the most biographical novel she's written, setting it in what is essentially her childhood neighborhood.  But that's where the similarity stops--the only secrets she's keeping is how she comes up with such riveting fiction time and time again.

Her characters in The Most Dangerous Thing, however, have been keeping a secret for many, many years.  Something happened to the little neighborhood collection of five once inseparable children that that formed them into the long estranged adults they have become.  That secret clearly haunts them still, especially as four of them gather for the fifth's funeral, all wondering if it was really an accidental car crash or if it was suicide by the one person they think was most scarred by the secret that they keep.
 
Flashbacks to their childhoods help move the present day psychological suspense at a rather quick pace, pages turn rapidly as the puzzle pieces come together and they learn that they are not the only ones who have been keeping secrets.  This book is truly Lippman at her finest."

Meet the Author Tomorrow Night!

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

In her national bestseller Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin imagined the life of the woman who inspired Alice in Wonderland. Now, in this jubilant new novel, Benjamin shines a dazzling spotlight on another fascinating female figure whose story has never fully been told: a woman who became a nineteenth century icon and inspiration—and whose most daunting limitation became her greatest strength.

“Never would I allow my size to define me. Instead, I would define it.”
She was only two-foot eight-inches tall, but her legend reaches out to us more than a century later. As a child, Mercy Lavinia “Vinnie” Bump was encouraged to live a life hidden away from the public. Instead, she reached out to the immortal impresario P. T. Barnum, married the tiny superstar General Tom Thumb in the wedding of the century, and transformed into the world’s most unexpected celebrity.

Here, in Vinnie’s singular and spirited voice, is her amazing adventure—from a showboat “freak” revue where she endured jeering mobs to her fateful meeting with the two men who would change her life: P. T. Barnum and Charles Stratton, AKA Tom Thumb. Their wedding would captivate the nation, preempt coverage of the Civil War, and usher them into the White House and the company of presidents and queens. But Vinnie’s fame would also endanger the person she prized most: her similarly-sized sister, Minnie, a gentle soul unable to escape the glare of Vinnie’s spotlight.

A barnstorming novel of the Gilded Age, and of a woman’s public triumphs and personal tragedies, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is the irresistible epic of a heroine who conquered the country with a heart as big as her dreams—and whose story will surely win over yours.

Check out the fascinating timeline of history during Vinnie's lifetime.

Jackie says:
"This is the story of 32 inch tall Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump Stratton Magri. A little lady who lived a very, very large life. Most folks know her as Mrs. Tom Thumb.  She was a school teacher, world traveler, seasoned performer, the darling of many a royal court and American presidents, a sharp business woman, and a very unhappy soul.  Her's is a fascinating story told with compassion by Benjamin, who throws in tidbits of history throughout the book that help the reader to understand the amazingly changing world that 'The Little Queen of Beauty' ruled over.  This book transports you to a time and a place so vivid that, sometimes, when glancing up from the page, you are surprised to see  modern things around you.  I cannot urge you strongly enough to come dive into Vinnie's world--it's one heck of a ride!" 


Benjamin will be reading from and signing her new book at 7:30 pm tomorrow night, August 3, at our Colfax Avenue store.

Lisa C. On Lisa See (You can meet them both tomorrow night!)

I always find myself on a plane going across the ocean or at least across the country when I’m reading books by Lisa See. Why, because she never lets me down. I know that I’ll be involved in the story from page one and her books keep me so focused that I don’thave to think about the plane, fellow passengers, or the lack of leg room.

 

That’s what happened with Shanghai Girls. I purposely saved it for my trip to England. I had a brief stopover in Canada and as we took off again, I was glued to the chapter where May and Pearl and their mom are trying to get out of China before the Japanese find them. BANG – I hear it and then see a FLASH of light and feel the plane drop. Everyone in the cabin yelled. I thought to myself, “OMG we’ve been struck by lightning…..God, I hope the plane doesn’t go down because I want to finish this book.”

 

That was probably not the reaction of your normal person, but I love reading and once a book grabs me –the world goes away. It was much the same, when I opened Dreams of Joy, the sequel to Shanghai Girls. Dreams debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list on June 19th.

 

This time I was only flying to Pittsburgh, but had a stopover in Baltimore and was looking forward to reading Dreams of Joy. Once again, the way Lisa See researches the time periods in China and the women in China – always amazes me. I could probably count on one hand how many of my friends even knew about the Great Leap Forward. Sure, we all studied Mao’s Cultural Revolution, but somehow the Great Leap Forward (which was really Great Famine of Death) was missed. 

 

I found myself sympathizing with Joy’s “mothers” about her choice to move back to China to find her father and her culture, while at the same time fearing for her because of her innocence. But then I realized that Joy’s innocence was also a symbol for the innocence of many Chinese people who endured promises of a rich life through Mao’s brainwashing tactics. Joy symbolized so many Chinese women who believed naively that life would be better and more equal for all under his leadership.That’s what really drew me into the novel. I wanted to know how women managed day to day in a life like that. Lisa See answered all the questions, and readers, be sure to read the notes at the end because she talks about all her interviews including one with the wonderful Chinese journalist and author Xinran whose book The Good Women of China – opened a door for western readers that hadn’t existed before. 

Dreams of Joy was a wonderful sequel to Shanghai Girls. Book clubs will have plenty to discuss. If you are in the Denver area on June 29th, come to the Tattered Cover Book Store on Colfax Ave. at 7:30pm and meet Lisa See for yourself.

-- Lisa Casper – Tattered Cover Events Staff and avid reader.

Pete Advises You Take a Look at This Book Before The Sisters Brothers Come Looking For You!

Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whiskey and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for.

With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters–losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life–and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.

Read his hilarious posting about ideas on Powell's blog.

Meet the Author!!!  Patrick DeWitt will be reading from and signing his book at Tuesday, May 24 at 7:30 pm at our Colfax Avenue Store.

Pete says:
"If there is indeed a revival of the western novel following the success of the recent 'True Grit' movie and the rediscovery of the original True Grit novel by Charles Portis (see Pete's review of that book here), then perhaps the next great western novel to emerge will be The Sisters Bothers by Patrick deWitt. This extraordinary tale follows the adventures and misadventures of two brothers who make their living as hit men for a shadowy figure known only as 'The Commodore.' The older brother is maybe a little too enthusiastic for their bloody deeds, while the younger brother begins to envision a way of life that doesn't include murder and mayhem.


What's fun about this book is that the brothers' every interaction turns into an amazing adventure, and the people they meet along the trail are often desperate, pathetic, equally criminal, hysterically funny, and even touchingly humane. Those who loved True Grit for its pluck and sense of humor will also love The Sisters Brothers for those very same reasons. But while True Grit's foundation is biblical in nature, The Sisters Brothers appeal is in parts mystical and mythological.


The brothers' path ranges from sights of utter horror, to holding in their hands enormous riches few will ever behold. They must learn valuable lessons on what brotherhood means, and friendship, the possibility of love in a heartless world, and the thin line between rich and poor, life and death, salvation and perdition.


What do you say about a book that says so much about life while telling a story of brothers engaged in missions of death? I say this is a book well worth taking a look. Believe me, you don't want the Sisters brothers to come looking for you." 

Teenagers, Cell Phones and a Legal Nightmare--Meet The Author Tonight And Learn The True Story Behind the Book

In Exposure, Therese Fowler has written her most gripping novel to date—a ripped-from-the-headlines story of ardent young love and a nightmarish legal maelstrom that threatens to destroy two families.

Amelia Wilkes’s strict father does not allow her to date, but that doesn’t stop the talented, winsome high school senior from carrying on a secret romance with her classmate Anthony Winter. Desperately in love, the two envision a life together and plan to tell Amelia’s parents only after she turns eighteen and is legally an adult. Anthony’s mother, Kim, who teaches at their school, knows—and keeps—their secret. But the couple’s passion is exposed sooner than planned: Amelia’s father, Harlan, is shocked and infuriated to find naked pictures of Anthony on his daughter’s computer. Just hours later, Anthony is arrested.

Despite Amelia’s frantic protests, Harlan uses his wealth and influence with local law enforcement and the media to label Anthony a deviant who preyed on his innocent daughter. Spearheaded by a zealous prosecutor anxious to turn the case into a public crusade against “sexting,” the investigation soon takes an even more disturbing and destructive turn.

As events spiral wildly out of control and the scandalous story makes national news, Amelia and Anthony risk everything in a bold and dangerous attempt to clear their names and end the madness once and for all.

A captivating page-turner, Therese Fowler’s Exposure is also a deftly crafted, provocative, and timely novel that serves as a haunting reminder of the consequences of love in the modern age.

Jackie's review:
"This book packs in a lot--several different versions of parental dilemmas, teenage love, lust, social media, cell phone cameras and texting, the law, and more.  Much more.  It's about society changing faster than the laws that bind it do, faster than most parents and school counselors can keep up with.  It's about broad definitions and narrow minds.  It's about what we want for ourselves, and what we want for our children.  It's about what we expect of ourselves, and what our family expects of us.  It's about brilliance and stupidity.  But that's all simmering below the surface.  The basic story is a about a teenage boy and a teenage girl who have fallen in love.  They make a simple decision, a private decision, that gets exposed to the public in a damaging, life destroying way.  This is a riveting story, made more so when you know that the author went through a similar situation in her own life with her teenage son.  She is brave in writing it, and I believe that the reader will be richer for the reading of it.  This is going to be a HUGE book for bookclubs--there is so much to talk about within it's covers.  Fans of Jodi Picoult will embrace it completely.  Fans of Therese Fowler will be blown away by how far she has come in her writing and in her grip upon her reader.  This is a story no one will forget."

Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters says:
“Complex, gripping, and rich with emotion, Fowler’s 21st-century Romeo and Juliet beautifully blends modern day drama with carefully drawn examinations of family, loyalty, honesty, and the power of love.”

Come meet Therese Fowler TONIGHT at 7:30 at our Highlands Ranch Store.

BTC's Q&A With Therese Fowler:

BTC: You put your already started third book on hold to write this book--why?
TF:  While I was working on that book, my son, who was nineteen at the time, was arrested and charged with what's come to be known as a "sexting" crime. He had shared a photo of himself undressed with a girl he
knew, and one of her parents discovered it and called the police. The girl was under eighteen and he was over eighteen, and the charge was "disseminating harmful materials to a minor", which is a pornography-distribution
offense. I was astonished that this charge could be levied in this situation. I was even more astonished that if my son were to be convicted, he might have to register as a sex offender.

I continued to work on that book while we dealt with the situation, but I also researched this previously unheard-of matter of sexting, to help me understand what we were dealing with. The news stories I came across were chilling, and haunted me even after our own crisis was resolved. When a story idea inspired by all of this came to me, I realized I could, and should, tell that story instead. The issue needed to be brought to light, and then maybe other crises could be prevented. With my son's blessing, I wrote what became
Exposure.

BTC:  Is it different, writing something from such a personal perspective? Where did the ideas for you other books come from?

TF: The main difference for me was that I felt I had closer and more immediate access to the forces that shaped the story, as well as to some of the emotions the characters experience. Exposure is entirely fictional, and draws as much from classic story tropes as it does from personal experience, but that experience did make it easier for me to get to the heart of the matters from the parents' perspectives in particular.

My previous books also have elements that were inspired by personal experiences; I think most novelists would say the same about their books. The proportion of personal to imagined is just a matter of degree, and varies from book to book.

BTC: How is your son about all of this?
TF:  He's been fully supportive. What's especially good, though, is that in many ways this book is simply "Mom's next book", and just happens to have come from something he was involved with.

BTC:  Do you find the social media changing how you think about your books or how you go about writing them? What's it like to be an author in 2011?
TF:  Social media is wonderful in the ways it connects authors with readers and booksellers and librarians and bloggers and other publishing-industry professionals. There's a fluidity of communication that didn't exist before blogs and forums and Facebook and Twitter. Anyone whose read my books knows I'm keenly aware of how technology, media in general, and social networking infiltrate our lives nowadays. But no, social media
doesn't affect my thought processes or my approach to writing. What it does affect is my awareness of how at least a portion of the reading public is responding to both my work and me as an individual.

I was just talking with a book club about what it means to be a novelist today. Many of us use social media daily, and then there are speaking engagements, radio interviews, television interviews--many novelists are becoming "personalities" in the same way that actors and musicians and even some visual artists have done. For some novelists, this is an unwelcome burden. For others, it's a new and fascinating aspect to a job that was once considered solitary. I'm in the latter camp, most days.

BTC:  What book (or books) have you loved lately?
I confess that because I've been fully immersed in writing my next book and preparing for Exposure's launch, I've had very little time to read. The number of books I own but haven't yet read is startling (that's what summer is for, I guess!). But some wonderful books I did find time for are Caroline Leavitt's Pictures of You, Eleanor Brown's The Weird Sisters, and Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Day the Falls Stood Still.

Meet the Authors Tonight In What Might Well Be Our First TC Fight Night

Heads You Lose

New York Times-bestselling author Lisa Lutz conspires with-or should we say against?-coauthor David Hayward to write an original and hilarious tag-team crime novel. 
 
Meet Paul and Lacey Hansen: orphaned, pot-growing twentysomething siblings eking out a living in rural Northern California. When a headless corpse appears on their property, they can't exactly dial 911, so they move the body and wait for the police to find it. Instead, the corpse reappears, a few days riper . . . and an amateur sleuth is born. Make that two.


When collaborators Lutz and Hayward (former romantic partners) start to disagree about how the story should unfold, the body count rises, victims and suspects alike develop surprising characteristics (meet Brandy Chester, the stripper with the Mensa IQ), and sibling rivalry reaches homicidal intensity. Think Adaptation crossed with Weeds. Will the authors solve the mystery without killing each other first?

Jackie says:
"This is Lutz's first stand alone since The Spellman files, and it's certainly a lot different.  It's an experiment of sorts--she's written half the chapters and a poet and ex-boyfriend of hers David Hayward  has written the other half.  The deal was that they write "blind", not making an outline or even speaking to each other directly about the project.  They allowed them on short note to each other at the end of  every chapters as well as some commentary footnotes, but they couldn't edit each others' work.  It certainly made for an interesting, if disjointed, read.  There is no getting lost in the mystery because it was really two stories-- one being the murder mystery involving a headless corpse found by a pot growing mismatch of brother and sister and the hilarity of amateur investigations in small towns,the other was Lisa and David snarking at each other throughout the book, sabotaging characters and plot lines at every opportunity.  It is an entertaining and unique read that may surprise her fans, but was an interesting introduction to Lutz for me."

Come see the fun tonight at 7:30 at our Colfax Avenue Store.

Come Discover Hawaii with Sarah Vowel!

Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.

Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état of the missionaries' sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.

With her trademark smart-alecky insights and reporting, Vowell lights out to discover the off, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state, and in so doing finds America, warts and all.

April, TC bookseller and Colfax store manager, loved the book:

"Let me begin by saying that I've had little desire to ever visit Hawaii. My Pandora station of choice replays Israel 'Iz' Kamakawiwo'ole so often I've learned to dislike the infamous 'Over the Rainbow' (and will probably never watch The Wizard of Oz again because of it).

But after finishing Sarah Vowell's latest volume on American history, I've loaded up Iz on my phone and am looking at plane tickets.

Unfamiliar Fishes is about Hawaiian history from Captain Cooke to annexation. And Vowell handles it with her usual light and oddly humorous tone. It's like having a lively conversation with a historical text, but with jokes. The story of Westernization/Americanization is never a really pretty or poetic story from the point of view of the subdued, but Vowell is able to give the reader a full hindsight look back at the events that ultimately led to the 'quick"'annexation of Hawaii. And it's told in a fashion that doesn't leave the Hawaiian neophyte (like myself) in the dust.

Vowell lays out for the reader just how a new monarchy is transformed by 'soft power, the process by which one people gets another group of people 'to want what they want'. Captain Cooke landed in 1778, and just over a century later, the island had changed completely; from kapus to Christianity, and from chieftains to sugar kings, Hawaii is a microcosm of the Americanization of America, down to the smallpox and measles.

A good read for fans of pop history, or anyone curious about the only state that can leave the union."

Meet the author THIS SUNDAY at our Historic Lodo store at 3:00 pm.
Free numbered tickets for the booksigning line will be available at 2:00 pm. Seating for the presentation prior to the booksigning is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis to ticketed customers only.

Ree Give's Us Her Backstory with Marlboro Man

Wildly popular award-winning blogger, accidental ranch wife, and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Ree Drummond (aka The Pioneer Woman) tells the true story of her storybook romance that led her from the Los Angeles glitter to a cattle ranch in rural Oklahoma, and into the arms of her real-life Marlboro Man.

Ree describes her new book:

"That's when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room."

I'll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn't looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I'd been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.

This isn't just my love story; it's a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.

It's the story of a cowboy.

And Wranglers.

And chaps.

And the girl who fell in love with them.

Jackie says:
"The Pioneer Woman is at it again, but this time she's not dishing up recipes, she's giving us the juicy details of her courtship and first year of marriage with Marlboro Man. It's not your conventional fairy tale--in this case Ree went from designer clothes and spa days to the hard working wife of a cowboy on an isolated ranch. But through it all, it's still clear that she landed one major prince. She traded her glass slippers for cowboy boots--and couldn't be happier. This is a lovely book that reads a bit like a real life Harlequin Romance and will surely be a best seller based on the ever growing fan base on her very popular website, ThePioneerWoman.com. (check it out--it's got a whole lot going on and all of it is interesting/entertaining/funny/tasty/useful, honest!)

Come meet Ree this coming Saturday, February 12, at our Historic Lodo Store! Get the details.

Dispatches From The Field: Joe On Chris Kimball's Latest

In the mid-1990s, Chris Kimball moved into an 1859 Victorian townhouse on the South End of Boston and, as he became accustomed to the quirks and peculiarities of the house and neighborhood, he began to wonder what it was like to live and cook in that era. In particular, he became fascinated with Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Published in 1896, it was the best-selling cookbook of its age--full of odd, long-forgotten ingredients, fascinating details about how the recipes were concocted, and some truly amazing dishes (as well as some awful ones).

In Fannie's Last Supper, Kimball describes the experience of re-creating one of Fannie Farmer's amazing menus: a twelve-course Christmas dinner that she served at the end of the century. Kimball immersed himself in composing twenty different recipes--including rissoles, Lobster à l'Américaine, Roast Goose with Chestnut Stuffing and Jus, and Mandarin Cake--with all the inherent difficulties of sourcing unusual animal parts and mastering many now-forgotten techniques, including regulating the heat on a coal cookstove and boiling a calf's head without its turning to mush, all sans food processor or oven thermometer. Kimball's research leads to many hilarious scenes, bizarre tastings, and an incredible armchair experience for any reader interested in food and the Victorian era.

Fannie's Last Supper includes the dishes from the dinner and revised and updated recipes from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. A culinary thriller, it offers a fresh look at something that most of us take for granted--the American table.

Joe writes:

"Chris Kimball, host of America's Test Kitchen, spent two years researching and preparing to make one 12-course Victorian meal from Fannie Farmer's 1896 cookbook. This book is part history lesson and part cooking show. Turn of the century Boston was an interesting place: one of America's busiest ports, Boston was awash in exotic ingredients. The turn of the century was also the meeting place of many conveniences we still know today (gas stoves, powdered gelatin) but also steeped in multi-layered Victorian rules of etiquette as well as a more traditional, locally-centered way of eating.

The book will be fascinating for fans of America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Illustrated magazine, which Chris Kimball also edits. He explores Fannie Farmer's recipes, deconstructing them and adapting them to current tastes, while retaining the integrity of the original. The book will be interesting for fans of history, as well, as the late 1800's and early 20th century were a period of rapid scientific growth that fundamentally changed the way of life for most Americans, not unlike what is happening today.

This book is a perfect companion to the books currently out about returning to a more local, more traditional way of cooking. Much of our food today is mass-produced and unhealthy, and this book explores the beginnings of the massive corporate food industry: why it started (convenience for the cook!) and where it came from. It may not seem like exploring one extravagant 12-course Victorian meal is relevant in today's economical climate, but Kimball does a good job of balancing the wild extravagance with the historical reasons of where it came from and how it evolved into what we know today.

The book reads like a culinary thriller and by the time he serves the meal, I was breathlessly turning pages! An exciting thing is that this meal was filmed and will be airing this fall on PBS, in conjunction with the release of the book. Kimball shows the joys of cooking. It is not merely to survive, but to do so with style and happiness!

Each section of the book ends with recipes (and web addresses for more recipes). Some of them look very long. Others look amazing. Part of me wants to try to make gelatin from scratch, if only to see a pot full of calf feet boiling away on the stove! (But then again, I'm really glad he included a recipe to do the same thing with a packet of gelatin, which is how Fannie Farmer would have done it, since packet gelatin was a novelty, and as he said over and over again in this book, the Victorians loved their novelties!"

Meet Chris Kimball Monday, October 18 at 7:30 pm at our Historic Lodo store.

Chris Kimball, the founder of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, with a paid circulation of 900,000, is also the host of America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country, the top-rated cooking shows on public television. Kimball will discuss and sign his wonderful new book Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook ($25.99 Hyperion). “Chris’s ‘Fannie’ project is the most ambitious cooking undertaking I’ve ever witnessed outside of a restaurant opening. And as one of the devourers of the ultimate meal, I can tell you it was worth it, at least for me. (I would travel 200 miles for the jellies alone.) But the account of the making of the meal, told here in winning style, is just as impressive: part history and part contemporary journalism, it’s a fascinating story, and absolutely unique.” —Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything

Free numbered tickets for the booksigning line will be handed out beginning at 6:30 pm. Seating for the presentation prior to the booksigning is limited, and available on a first-come, first-served basis to ticketed customers only.

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com

Jackie recommends...

When Gracie McBride, the wild girl who had left town eighteen years earlier, is found dead in an apparent suicide shortly after her homecoming, it sends shock waves through her native Starvation Lake. Gus Carpenter, executive editor of the Pine County Pilot, sets out to solve the mystery with the help of his old flame and now girlfriend, Pine County sheriff deputy Darlene Esper. As Gus and Darlene investigate, they can’t help but question if Gracie’s troubled life really ended in suicide or if the suspicious crime-scene evidence adds up to murder.

But in such a small town it’s impossible to be an impartial investigator—Gracie was Gus’s second cousin; Darlene’s best friend; and the lover of Gus’s oldest pal, Soupy Campbell. Yet with all the bad blood between Gus and Gracie over the years, Gus is easily distracted by other problems. His employer is trying to push him out, the locals are annoyed that his stories have halted construction on a new hockey rink, and Darlene’s estranged husband has returned to reclaim his wife.

When Gus tries to retrace Gracie’s steps to discover what happened to her in the eighteen years she was away from Starvation Lake, he’s forced to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. And though he’s determined to find out what drove Gracie back home, Gus is unprepared for the terrible secrets he uncovers.

The second book in Bryan Gruley’s irresistible Starvation Lake series, The Hanging Tree is a compelling story about family and friendship, sex and violence, and the failure of love to make everything right.

Jackie's review:

This is the second installment in the Starvation Lake mysteries, and it's even better than the first. Small town newspaperman Gus Carpenter is back and once again investigating something the townsfolk would rather he not. Gracie McBride, a malcontent for most of her rough youth, had left Starvation Lake years ago, but then came back, a quiet loner who lived on the fringes of the local community. Then one cold morning after a terrible snow storm, she was found hanging from what the locals call "The Shoe Tree"--a huge tree that decades of teenagers have been hanging tied together shoes to announce their 'coupledom'. Local law enforcement call it a suicide, but things just don't add up for Gus. There are no cars or car tracks in the deep snow. No ladder to climb the tree with. And no reason other than a rejection letter from an employer. Gus risks everything, including his life, to dig into the mystery, and uncovers a far bigger and deeply sinister story that involves not only Gracie but the entire town and it's economic survival. Once again Gruley keeps the pace fast and the clues coming until the surprising end.

Come meet the author on September 30 at 7:30 pm at our Highlands Ranch Store.