What happens when the life you have isn't quite the life you'd expected to have? How do you deal with that?

From the author of the beloved novel Three Junes comes The Whole World Over a rich and commanding story about the accidents, both grand and small, that determine our choices in love and marriage. Greenie Duquette, openhearted yet stubborn, devotes most of her passionate attention to her Greenwich Village bakery and her four–year–old son, George. Her husband, Alan, seems to have fallen into a midlife depression, while Walter, a traditional gay man who has become her closest professional ally, is nursing a broken heart.

It is at Walter’s restaurant that the visiting governor of New Mexico tastes Greenie’s coconut cake and decides to woo her away from the city to be his chef. For reasons both ambitious and desperate, she accepts—and finds herself heading west without her husband. This impulsive decision will change the course of several lives within and beyond Greenie’s orbit. Alan, alone in New York, must face down his demons; Walter, eager for platonic distraction, takes in his teenage nephew. Yet Walter cannot steer clear of love trouble, and despite his enforced solitude, Alan is still surrounded by women: his powerful sister, an old flame, and an animal lover named Saga, who grapples with demons all her own. As for Greenie, living in the shadow of a charismatic politician leads to a series of unforeseen consequences that separate her from her only child. We watch as folly, chance, and determination pull all these lives together and apart over a year that culminates in the fall of the twin towers at the World Trade Center, an event that will affirm or confound the choices each character has made—or has refused to face.

Julia Glass is at her best here, weaving a glorious tapestry of lives and lifetimes, of places and people, revealing the subtle mechanisms behind our most important, and often most fragile, connections to others. In The Whole World Over she has given us another tale that pays tribute to the extraordinary complexities of love.

Those of you who have been shopping at Rakestraw Books for a long time will remember just how much we adored Three Junes and its very charming author. Well, we are here to say now that The Whole World Over is just as well-written, the characters every bit as loveable, and really just the best novel that we've read this year. It is our pleasure to invite you to a special reading and signing with Julia Glass on Thursday, 6 July 2006 at 7:00 PM. We will be serving fine cakes and other treats from Katrina Rozelle and Le Farine. Tickets are $10 and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Project Open Hand. Please call us at (925) 837-7337 and make a reservation for this event.

Sometimes the second choice turns out to have been the best choice after all.

William "Wild Bill" Wellman was not Paramount Pictures' first choice to direct the World War I epic Wings (1927), but as a former aviator and war hero, he was the right choice. Despite months waging epic battles of his own with studio executives, "Wild Bill" managed to finish the big-budget war saga by inventing many of the techniques still used to film aerial battle scenes. The film, starring Clara Bow, broke box office records and earned its studio the first Academy Award for Best Picture. Considered by many to be the last great film of the silent era, Wings has been cited as a major influence on such directors as Martin Scorsese and Robert Redford. Its director, who went on to direct the likes of John Wayne, James Cagney, and Gary Cooper, later earned an Oscar for writing one of Hollywood's most loved (and often remade) films, A Star is Born. In A Man and His Wings, the director's son, William Wellman Jr., reveals the war hero, family man, occasional prankster, and underestimated visionary who changed Hollywood forever.

Augmented with personal correspondence from Wellman's own World War I tour of duty as a fighter pilot, on-set photographs from Wings and other classic Hollywood films, and anecdotes from the back lots of the early studio system, this unique work traces the way in which the first Best Picture's director used his own war experience to bring a war epic to the screen. The versatile director also excelled at comedies such as Nothing Sacred (1937), and had a lasting influence on the gangster genre with The Public Enemy (1931), starring James Cagney. With the recent release of Wellman's later aviation classics, Island in the Sky (1953) and The High and the Mighty (1954), both starring John Wayne, Wellman is gaining renewed attention and appreciation from a new generation of film enthusiasts. The book ends with a detailed Filmography of more than 75 classic films directed by Wellman.

It is our pleasure to invite you to meet Bill Wellman on Friday, 14 July 2006 at 7:00 PM as we host a reading and signing of A Man and His Wings. Please join us.

If you could completely change the course of your life, where would you go?

Franz Wisner and his brother just returned from a long trip. Franz's honeymoon, actually. You see, a funny thing happened on his way to the altar. His fiancée dumped me the week of our wedding. Ouch, huh? But he is an optimist. He didn’t panic (well, maybe just a little). He decided to have a wedding anyway…just without a bride (highly recommended, by the way -- all the fun, no hideous bridal party dresses).

Franz also decided to go on a scheduled Costa Rican honeymoon with his recently divorced brother, Kurt. They canceled the flower petals on the beds, swapped champagne for beer and promised not to carry each other over any thresholds. During the trip, a strange thing happened. Franz realized that having his life turn upside-down might not be such a bad thing after all.

So, Kurt and Franz decided to extend their honeymoon. Big time. They quit their jobs, sold their homes, gave away their clothes and furniture, discarded cell phones and pagers (I think Kurt used a nine iron on his). That was early 2000. Since then the brothers have honeymooned through nearly 60 countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

The result is a book called Honeymoon with My Brother, Franz Wisner's entirely delightful account of their adventures and exploits since he was jilted. We are getting such wonderful reports from everyone who has read this that we had to invite both brothers to a lunch at Rakestraw Books! Please join us as we welcome Franz and Kurt Wizner on Friday, 28 July 2006 at Noon. Lunch is $12 and advance reservations are essential.

I cannot remember when I read a book with such delight. --Paul Yamazaki, City Lights Bookstore

November, a dark, rainy Tuesday, late afternoon. This is my ideal time to be in a bookstore. The shortened light of the afternoon and the idleness and hush of the hour gather everything close, the shelves and the books and the few other customers who graze head-bent in the narrow aisles. I've come to find a book.

In The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, Buzbee, a former bookseller and sales representative, celebrates the unique experience of the bookstore -- the smell and touch of books, getting lost in the deep canyons of shelves, and the silent community of readers. He shares his passion for books, which began with ordering through "The Weekly Reader" in grade school. Interwoven throughout is a fascinating historical account of the bookseller's trade -- from the great Alexandria library with an estimated one million papyrus scrolls to Sylvia Beach's famous Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, which led to the extraordinary effort to publish and sell James Joyce's Ulysses during the 1920s. Rich with anecdotes, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop is the perfect choice for those who relish the enduring pleasures of spending an afternoon finding just the right book.

In the face of the sad news that has dominated Bay Area bookselling over the past several weeks, there may be no better to remind ourselves of the pleasure of bookshops. Please join us to welcome Lewis Buzbee to Rakestraw Books on Monday, 31 July 2006 at 7:00 PM.
 

Why does Nina Planck defend real food? Because it's under attack.

Don't you find it odd that the experts blame butter and beef for heart disease, even though heart disease as we know it has only been around since 1912, and we've been eating butter for 30,000 years and beef for 3 million?

Don't you find it funny that the foods in all traditional diets - starting with breast milk - are loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol, yet people who eat these traditional foods liberally don't get heart disease? Nor are they fat or diabetic. The experts are mistaken. The so-called diseases of civilization - obesity, diabetes, and heart disease - are not caused by real food. The diseases of industrialization - as Nina calls them - are caused by the foods of industrialization.

What are industrial foods? In the triple epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, the three main villains are trans fats, corn oil, and sugar - not butter and eggs. In Real Food: What to Eat and Why, Nina explains why traditional foods such as butter are healthy and industrial foods are not. You'll learn how butter, lard, beef, cheese, eggs, and other foods we've been eating for thousands of years got a bad rap - and why it's a bad rap.

The book is full of good news about foods we love to eat. Perhaps you will feel liberated, and resume eating raw milk, cream, butter, egg yolks, and coconut oil with impunity, as she does. One other thing: the experts are right about fish, olive oil, and vegetables - they're all good for you, too. Nina will tell you why that is, too.

I just finished Nina’s book and it is a great follow-up to The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Where Michael only starts to touch on the health benefits of eating organic, natural food of all types, Nina provides us with the information we need to make appropriate decisions. And, she does so in a style that is at once enthusiastic and beautifully expressed. This “diet” book is a great read! Following up on the success of June’s dinner with Michael Pollan, we’ve decided Nina’s visit warrants another splendid feast. On Friday, 18 August 2006 at 7:00 PM, please join us for dinner, a talk, and signing with Nina Planck. Tickets are $25 – it will be bring your own wine again, but I think I can almost promise you homemade peach ice cream! Advance, early reservations are essential.

Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali (Scribner, $24). Alentejo Blue is the story of a village community in Portugal, told through the lives of men and women whose families have lived there for generations and some who are passing through. For Teresa, a beautiful girl not yet twenty, Mamarrosa is a place from which to escape. For the dysfunctional Potts family, it is a way of running from trouble (though not eluding it). Vasco, a café owner who has never recovered from the death of his American wife, clings to a notion that his years away from the village, in the States, make him superior. One English tourist fantasizes about making a new life in Mamarrosa; for her compatriots, a young engaged couple, Mamarrosa is where their dreams fall apart.

At the opening of Alentejo Blue, an old man reflects on his long and troubled life in this seemingly tranquil place, and anticipates the homecoming of Marco Afonso Rodrigues, the prodigal son of the village and a symbol of the now fast-changing world. When Marco does finally return, villagers, tourists, and expatriates are brought together, and their jealousies and disappointments inevitably collide. One of the most satisfying follow-ups to a successful debut in years . . . . very highly recommended.

Londonstani by Gautam Malkani (The Penguin Press, $24.95). Gautam Malkani's debut novel Londonstani bursts upon the scene as though it were news from the present -- essential information about living in the world now. In idiosyncratic, vital dialogue Malkani's captures the post-Empire, though far from post-ethnic, stew of London. Though the novel reads almost a series of vignettes as different characters are introduced, Malkani is cleverly working towards a grand set piece of a surprise ending. If you've read Zadie Smith or Monica Ali, then Gautam Malkani's Londonstani is a must – a great read.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, $23.95). At the bookseller gatherings I have been to this past several months, no book has been talked about more than Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. Written from the point of view of Jacob Jankowski who is ninety or ninety-three and at last looking back on the summer he joined the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. “I don’t talk much about those days. Never did. I don’t know why – I worked on circuses for nearly seven years, and if that isn’t fodder for conversation, I don’t know what is.”

As highly recommended as this book was by all sorts of people I respect, I was still overwhelmed by how much I loved this book. I’d compare it to A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean and to Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, though it’s bigger and, in a way, more exciting and incident-packed than either. Such a remarkable book and such fine characters – you simply must read it.

Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam (Vintage, $14.95). If Gabriel García Márquez had chosen to write about Pakistani immigrants in England, he might have produced a novel as beautiful and devastating as Maps for Lost Lovers. Jugnu and Chanda have disappeared. Like thousands of people all over England, they were lovers and living together out of wedlock. To Chanda’s family, however, the disgrace was unforgivable. Perhaps enough so as to warrant murder.

As he explores the disappearance and its aftermath through the eyes of Jugnu’s worldly older brother, Shamas, and his devout wife, Kaukab, Nadeem Aslam creates a closely observed and affecting portrait of people whose traditions threaten to bury them alive. The result is a tour de force, intimate, affecting, tragic and suspenseful.

Adriane on the Edge by Paul Mandelbaum (Berkley, $14). At the center of this hilarious, dazzling tale is Adriane Gelki, hapless employee of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Enhancement, who wants desperately to cultivate a life of abandon—the kind personified by her hero, Thelonious Monk. Devil may care, transcendent abandon. Who says a black jazz legend from the 1950s can't be a role model for a 28 year old white girl? So far, however, Adriane has yet to manage it—to be completely abandoned. Except, of course, by other people. Like her father, who killed himself when she was fourteen, and her mother, who followed suit ten years later. And then there was her married boss Garrett Hughes—the one-time object of her fumbling attempts at seduction—who broke her heart.

But now that Adriane's staring down thirty, she's about to embark on a series of misadventures destined to change her life. In very short order, she manages to: get herself busted for flashing an undercover cop, break her court-appointed therapist's ribs, and ruin a perfectly pleasant orgy. For Adriane Gelki, things are finally starting to look up . . . . An uproarious look at the insanities of living on the edge, this charming and incisive novel revels in the tragicomic journey of life—wherever it may lead."

Against Gravity by Farnoosh Moshiri (Penguin, $14). A distinguished Iranian writer pens an extraordinarily powerful novel of love, revenge, and survival. Set in Houston in the mid-1980s Against Gravity is a harrowing story of three lives colliding—Madison Kirby, an angry, dying intellectual; Ric Cardinal, a social worker dedicated to helping others but tormented by the son he cannot save; and Roya, a struggling Iranian immigrant who has traveled for years through the war-torn Middle East to arrive in Texas to eke out the most tenuous life for herself and her daughter. They each tell of their own lives, yet as their stories intertwine a portrait of shared struggle and loss emerges. A devastating and beautiful novel.

The Girl I Wanted to Be by Sarah Grace McCandless (Simon & Schuster, $12). As a lowly freshman named for "The King," Presley Moran walks high school corridors paved with the stuff of family legend. Her cousin Barry, a senior heartthrob and brainy varsity letterman, insists that looking good on paper is the key to success. But Presley's young aunt Betsi, a former homecoming queen, has her own ideas about good looks and how to use them. Can you keep a secret? Betsi asks Presley, who, at age fourteen, is eager for entrée into the adult world of beauty, attraction, and romance. But as Presley is about to discover, some secrets should never be revealed. Will the illicit thrill of being a trusted confidant, privy to the details of muddled entanglements and incompatible desires, be worth the consequences of guilt by association? Propelled by the crash of falling idols, The Girl I Wanted to Be is a timeless and true portrait of passion, loss, and hard-won wisdom.

The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi (Random House, $13.95). When the astonishingly lovely Anuradha moves to Bombay to marry Vardhmaan, a charming young doctor, their life together has all the makings of a fairy tale. But when their firstborn son dies in a terrible accident, tragedy transforms their marriage into a bleak landscape. As the pair starts fresh in a heartbroken old villa by the sea, they are joined by Nandini, a dazzling and devious artist with a trace of leopard blood in her veins. While Nandini flamboyantly takes on Bombay’s art scene, the couple attempts to mend their marriage, eventually discovering that real love, mercurial and many-hued, is given and received in silence. Sensuous and electric, achingly moving and wickedly funny, The Last Song of Dusk is a tale of fate that will haunt your heart like an old and beloved song.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (Penguin, $15). Whether she is contemplating the history of walking as a cultural and political experience over the past two hundred years (Wanderlust), or using the life of photographer Eadweard Muybridge as a lens to discuss the transformations of space and time in late nineteenth-century America (River of Shadows), Rebecca Solnit has emerged as an inventive and original writer whose mind is daring in the connections it makes. A Field Guide to Getting Lost draws on emblematic moments and relationships in Solnit's own life to explore issues of wandering, being lost, and the uses of the unknown. The result is a distinctive, stimulating, and poignant voyage of discovery.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv (Algonquin, $13.95). "Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it." Journalist Richard Louv's most recent book, The Last Child in the Woods is a ringing and spirited defense of one childhood's vanishing delights and necessities: free play outdoors, in the woods, in the yard, or in the street. Today's children are growing up disconnected from the natural world in way that has many short and longterm consequences. Among the effects are obesity, depression, attention deficit disorder, and a diminished ability to bring their imaginations to bear in solving problems. If you have ever felt that your children (or grandchildren) spend too much time indoors, playing on the computer or watching television, this is a book you need to read! Reading Louv's book brought my own childhood hours of running wild in the woods back to me. Wonderful.

Rules for Old Men Waiting by Peter Pouncey (Random House, $13.95). I am tempted to review this fine book with a single word and call it a day. It’s perfect. It really is and you have to read it. There, that’s more than just the one word. You get the idea. This brief novel is extraordinary and contains essential wisdom about being human. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Julie’s Morning Book Club is reading Franz Wisner's, Honeymoon with My Brother for their July meeting on Friday, 28 July 2006 at 10:30 AM. Please join the group for a lively discussion – new members are always welcome. As a special treat for this meeting, both Franz and Kurt Wisner will be joining in the discussion.

Julie says, "We try to read good books you might not pick out for yourself. And we talk about it, and talk about it, bringing our own lives and that of the author to bear on the subject at hand. Join us!"

Special Note: We are considering starting a couple new book groups – an evening group and a food & wine writing group. Please contact the shop at (925) 837-7337 if you are interested in either group. We look forward to talking with you.
 

National Book Award-winning novelist Julia Glass visits us on Thursday, 7 July 2006 at 7:00 PM as we celebrate the publication of her new novel, The Whole World Over. We will be eating cakes from Katrina Rozelle in Alamo and Le Farine in Rockridge. Tickets are $10 and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Project Open Hand.

Screenwriter Bill Wellman joins us to talk about his biography A Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture on Friday, 14 July 2006 at 7:00 PM.

Bestselling memoirist Franz Wisner joins us for a discussion and signing on Friday, 28 July 2006 at noon in support of his memoir Honeymoon with My Brother. Lunch is $12 -- please make your reservations early.

San Francisco writer Lewis Buzbee visits Rakestraw to talk about his lyrical book A Yellow-Painted Bookshop: A Memoir, A History on Monday, 31 July 2006 at 7:00 PM.

Food writer and farmers' market guru Nina Planck joins us for dinner on Friday, 18 August 2006 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $25 and advance reservations are essential. Please call us at (925) 837-7337 or, better still, drop by the shop today to make your reservations for this special event.

Memoirist Shawn Decker visits us on Thursday, 28 September at 9 AM to share his scathingly funny debut My Pet Virus. Please call for more information.

One of Rakestraw's greatest friends, Elisha Cooper comes to visit on Thursday, 12 October 2006 at 7:00 PM. He will be sharing his newly published memoir Crawling: A Father's First Year. Please stay tuned for details -- we are working to create a very special evening.

It is our pleasure to announce that Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford will visit Rakestraw Books on Thursday, 9 November 2006 at 7:00 PM. He will be reading from and signing his new novel The Lay of the Land, one of the most eagerly anticipated books of the season. We will producing one of our special broadsides in commemoration of this event.

Celebrated wine writer Leslie Sbrocco returns to Rakestraw Books to taste some wine with us and talk about her new book Simple & Savvy Wine Guide : Buying, Pairing, And Sharing for All on Friday, 1 December 2006 at 7:00 PM. Come enjoy the evening and help us raise some money for Meals on Wheels.

Please note that these events are subject to change but that as of this writing all details are correct. We encourage you to call us at (925) 837-7337 to confirm. In addition, you should remember that more events will be added to this calendar so be sure to check each newsletter for additions.

Many of you know that I started running for fitness a couple years back. Somewhat unexpectedly, I discovered that I really enjoyed it and, as a result, I started racing last year. Now I am by no means a particularly fast runner, but I have been enjoying myself very much.

This year I have been directing my training towards a rather exciting big event -- The Trans-Sierra Crossing -- an 83-mile duathalon. Here's the offical event description: "Starting from Chambers Landing in Tahoma on the shores of crystal-blue Lake Tahoe (elev. 6230'), the TRANS-SIERRA CROSSING kicks off with 18 miles of trekking and trail running along the Rubicon Jeep Trail.

The Rubicon is the now-famous 4WD route that began as a Native American trading route and later became a corridor popularly used by emigrants during the Gold Rush boom.

You'll be surrounded by the beauty of Desolation Valley and Granite Chief Wilderness Area as you make your way to Loon Lake (elev. 6500'), where you'll refuel before heading out on your second and final leg of the day - a 65-mile road bike ride down the western slope of the Sierra to the historic gold-mining town of Coloma (elev. 750")."

To add to the challenges of training, I have also decided to make this event a fundraiser for literacy. I have set myself a goal to raise $10,000 for a bay area literacy foundation called Books by the Bay. Many of you have been kind enough to give donations, but there is still a long way to go. Remember your $100 will go a long way in helping improve literacy education programs around northern California. It's a great cause and it's entirely tax deductable. Please call me at the shop at (925) 837-7337 if you'd like more information.

Thank you for your support.
 

We had so many request for the recipe for the Strawberry Compote that we served for the Michael Pollan dinner that I decided to include the recipe here.

3 pints of strawberries, washed and hulled (cut them in half in they are large)
1/3 cup of honey (heated gently to make sure it is very liquid)
½ cup of good balsamic vinegar
Handful of basil, cut in chiffonade
Fresh black pepper to taste

Cut the strawberries up and let them sit in a large bowl at room temperature for a couple hours. Whisk the honey and the balsamic vinegar together and chill. Just before serving, cut the basil in chiffonade (stack the leaves, roll them up like a cigar, and cut across into narrow strips). Sprinkle strawberries with basil and pepper. Stir in the dressing. Go easy, you may not need all the dressing. Serve immediately.