The meeting in June has been changed to the 20th. The downloadable poster and the one on display in the store have both been updated accordingly!
For more details, see our Book Club page
Month: March 2012
Events coming up in April!
Yes, these events are all on saturdays.
April 7th from 12 to 1pm, “Into the Waves” by Beverly Blanchard
April 7 from 1:30 to 3:30 “Terminal Value” by Thomas Waite
April 14 from 11am to 1pm “Man on Trial: The ABC of his Folly” by Esther Fueter-Matharu
April 21 from 12 to 2pm “Demystifying Food: from Farm to Fork” by Maurice J. Hladik
April 28th from 1 to 3pm “Walking for Peace: an Inner Journey” by Mony Dojeiji
Just the basics for now… more details to come!
“Enchantments” by Kathryn Harrison
This is a story about the fall of Russia’s Romanov empire, written by well-known novelist, Kathryn Harrison.
Set in St. Petersburg, 1917, a lot of it takes place in the lavish imperial palace of Tsar Nicolay and his family. It opens, however, with the murder of the Mad Monk, Grigory Rasputin, who was drowned in the Neva river by the rising Bolsheviks. This notorious healer had grown close to the Tsar’s wife. When he was killed, she persuaded Rasputin’s daughter to move in to the palace and help look after her hemophiliac son.
The rest of the book is their story, of their growing together as they watch their whole world come crashing down. There are many reminiscences looking back to voluptuous days when the Tsar ruled Russia. These “enchantments” give way to a closing down of the palace and eventual execution of the Romanovs.
Harrison is skilled at creating a vivid, imaginary world, based on historic fact. She has done this in novels such as: Thicker than Water, Exposure, Poison, The Binding Chair, The Seal Wife and Envy. She has also written autobiography, biography, and a book of crime.
Review by Anne McDougall
R. J. Harlick and Lesley Harman to Sign Their Books on Saturday, March 17!
Come down and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at Books on Beechwood with two exciting book signing events!
The fun starts with R. J. Harlick, a local mystery author, who will be in signing copies of her new book A Green Place For Dying from 12:00pm to 2:00pm on Saturday, March 17. This newest installment in Harlick’s Meg Harris mystery series finds “Meg Harris [confronting] police indifference as aboriginal women go missing.”
The events continue with an appearance by author Lesley Harman who will be here from 3:00pm to 5:00pm signing her book, We Are Never Alone: Healing Lessons from the Camino. This book recounts the author’s experience walking the ancient pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, and how “physical concerns fall away as the walk takes Harman into another space, a mystical horizon of time traveling, spiritual transformation, and healing.”
We hope to see you all down here at one or both of these events! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
“The Obamas” by Jodi Kantor
Jodi Kantor is a first-rate reporter and she has done a thoughtful, sensitive job in this book on the Obamas and their life in the White House.
The topic is huge, as we have all watched. Barack Obama has written his own story, before becoming President of the U.S., in two widely-read books: Dreams from my Father, and The Audacity of Hope. Kantor is editor of the Arts and Leisure section of “The New York Times” and has been covering the Obamas since 2007. Her book tells the complex story of what happened to Barack and his wife Michelle and their two young daughters when they move in to the White House and have to deal with the hopes and promises of the stunning campaign of 2008.
The book includes sketches of the layout of the White House and the near impossibility of living a private life, what with the almost constant access of public tours to many rooms. Even the Rose Garden is public. Michelle Obama had always hated the effects of politics on her life with Barack. Here they face the problems together. A fair account is given of the various officials in charge of the Obamas’ public life, while trying to give them as much privacy as possible. We have all read the ups and downs of his legislation: i.e. the stimulus package, health care, etc. The President’s relations with business leaders were difficult at first; they developed considerably as time went on.
The famous couple remains loving, and attractive. Barack retains his reserve and control; Michelle keeps her eye on the things that mattered to him all along: the chance to change and improve things. This book gives reason to both admire and hope for future developments.
Review by Anne McDougall
Esther Fueter-Matharu Signing “Man on Trial” and “De-Feet” on Saturday, March 10, 11:00am-1:00pm!
Come on down to Books on Beechwood on Saturday, March 10 to meet local author Esther Fueter-Matharu. She will be here from 11:00am to 1:00pm signing copies of her two books, Man on Trial: The ABC of his Folly and De-Feet.
De-Feet — a book of poetry
From the jacket:
“Love, war, nature, the environment – all reflect different phases on the journey of life that the poet who lives in each person can observe and corroborate. With tears and laughter, fears and mockery, Esther Fueter-Matharu takes us on a journey from the wall in Palestine to the bombs in Tennessee, from a tranquil lake in Quebec to the heart of corporate America, from the joys of friendship to the spiritual ponderings for authenticity in the world where lies and pretence dominate. She describes a world that is hot and angry, loving and tender. Both the oppressed and the oppressor will recognize themselves in Esther’s poems.”
Man on Trial: The ABC of his Folly
From the jacket:
“Why, in Canada, do so few women aspire to enter the political arena?
What holds them back?
What needs to happen for women to actively seek to have a fair and proportionate representation in the decision-making processes in all areas of government?”
“From A for Arrogance, to Z for Zero, this book attempts to describe how the dominant paradigm has affected Woman. Structured as a pyramid (the powerful few at the top, the vast voiceless majority at the bottom), and based on the military model of command and control, this model has failed Women, the Environment and Community.”
“The paradigm must go and a new one adopted in all areas of governance.”
About the author:
Esther Fueter-Matharu sees herself as a woman among the millions of women who feel deeply that something is wrong in the way things are going. She is a founding member of the Women’s Alliance Party and a member of its Council of Thirteen.
We hope to see you all here on Saturday! Come on down, meet the author, buy a book, and get it signed!