Nine Countries, Two People (One of Which is Jon Scieszka's Kid) In One True, Illustrated Story

Casey and Steven met in Morocco, moved to China then went all the way to Timbuktu. This illustrated travel memoir tells the story of their first two years out of college spent teaching English, making friends across language barriers, researching, painting, and learning to be themselves wherever they are.

TC Tidbits: More Cool Literary Tattoos

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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.

A New Thriller From a Disguised Voice

“They didn’t have to kill him…He never drank from the altar of bones.”

Cryptic dying words from a murdered homeless woman in present day San Francisco unlock a decades-buried secret that changed history. Now a pair of ruthless assassins are sent to cut the few living "loose ends." And a young, resourceful woman on the run encounters a determined man with his own connected past and vengeful agenda. Forced to partner for survival and answers, a fast-paced and deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, taking them across the globe from the winding streets of Paris to the faded palaces of Budapest to the frozen lakes of Mongolia...where destiny, passion, and further betrayal await them.

The Altar of Bones has it all: The Russian mob. KGB spies. Presidential assasination. A doomed Hollywood legend. Deathbed confessions. Corrosive power. Shattered families. Guardians of an ancient religious icon housing a secret others will kill to possess. The dark promise of immortality. And it delivers on its ambitious premise to leave you stunned and breathless at the end.

Listen to an audio excerpt.

To add to the mystery, "Philip Carter" is a pseudonym for an internationally renowned author. Read it and see if you can figure out who the author REALLY is.

TC Tidbits: The Art of Georgia Russell

Many of her works use cut up books. Check those and her other works here.

Mark L Recommends Author Elizabeth Chadwick

Mark tells us:

"Her most current effort is a two novel fictionalized biography of William Marshal,Earl of Pembroke, one of England's greatest knights and statesmen. He served successively Henry II, Richard I, John,and Henry III. He was an unsurpassed tournament champion,and married one of England's great heiresses of the time, Isabel de Clare. Marshal has long been a favorite of mine,and I've followed his path on trips to England and Wales. I have read Chadwick's novels and recommend her wholeheartedly."


The Greatest Knight
Royal protector. Loyal servant. Forgotten hero.

A penniless young knight with few prospects, William Marshal is plucked from obscurity when he saves the life of Henry II's formidable queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In gratitude, she appoints him tutor to the heir to the throne, the volatile and fickle Prince Henry. But being a royal favorite brings its share of danger and jealousy as well as fame and reward.


The Scarlet Lion
William Marshal's skill with a sword and loyalty to his word have earned him the company of kings, the lands of a magnate, and the hand of Isabelle de Clare, one of England's wealthiest heiresses.

Jackie Went Prowling Again And Found...

In The Exquisite Book, one hundred indie artists play an ingenious version of the Exquisite Corpse drawing game. Each adorns a page with artwork having seen only the page of the artist immediately prior and using a single horizon line to connect the two. Some continue the "story" quite literally while others build on the previous page in more fanciful ways. This astonishing volume's format is as unique as its content, with each of the book's ten chapters residing on a ten-page accordion pull-out, allowing readers to view the art continuously. With an illustrated foreword by Dave Eggers, and art from such luminaries as James Jean and Jill Bliss, this charming book is, simply, exquisite.



Jackie says:

"This is truly an amazing book and a fun project. Check it out!"