Bookstore events are always an interesting proposition.              Will the public react?      Will people come and support authors and the store?       Will the audience have questions and be engaged?           Will the author have some passion and want to pass that on to the crowd? Something that has been very consistent in our personal history of over 25 years in bookstores, is that serious authors are, with very few exceptions, pretty interesting people. Meeting these creative folks, up close and personal, often makes for some fascinating conversation, and chances are very high that you will come away from one of these meetings with, maybe a new opinion, and definitely knowing something new. Every event has the potential to be entertaining, and a learning and/or laughing and/or enlightening experience. All for the price of showing up. It's a good deal, try one out. APRIL 1-30 - NATIONAL POETRY MONTH To celebrate National Poetry Month, we are taking 10% OFF every book of poetry in the store. We are also sharing some of our favorite poems all month, by giving each and every customer a copy of a different poem every day. We are spreading the word. Vicky and I have been doing this is our bookstores for many years now, and it has always been very popular with our readers. Many years, I sent out a daily poetry email to everyone on our mailing list, but there are not enough hours in my days for that to happen this year - maybe next year. Many people were really psyched to know a poem was waiting for them everyday in amongst all their other not-so-poetic emails. There are always those people who think that they just don't like any poetry at all, but one of these poems just might make a spark, or hit a chord, and give someone's step a little extra bounce. We hope everyone enjoys our POEM-A-DAY 2010 program. You might notice a small, old portable typewriter on our poetry display in the front of the store. It has always been with our poetry display for National Poetry Month. It's why there is a typewriter on every poem we give out in the store...I've grown attached to it. I picked it up many years ago, the ribbon has faded, some of the keys stick, but it always great fun to see the way people react to this "relic" of years ago. Many adults laugh and study it, some explain what this ancient device is to their children. Yet, it's the kids who spend the most time with it, these kids with all manner of electronic communication device, who type, and type away, to be rewarded with a tiny smudge of ink from a dry typewriter ribbon AND that wonderful, rewarding clack of the keys. It may be a time machine of sorts.  APRIL 25 - Sunday @2pm         Join us at read. booksellers when we welcome KRIS CARLSON to the bookstore for a reading, book release party, and book signing for her brand new book, Heartbroken Open: A Memoir Through Loss to Self-Discovery. Kris Carlson had an idyllic life. She and her husband Richard had a romantic marriage, two beautiful daughters, and—thanks to the success of Richard’s bestselling Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series—all of the comforts of the American Dream. But on December 13, 2006, that perfect story took a sudden turn when, on a typical flight to New York, a pulmonary embolism would take Richards life- catapulting Kris into heartbreak and uncertainty. It was the end of life as Kris knew it, and the beginning of a journey through the depths of grief and mourning that would reveal to Kris her true strength and an immeasurable love that cannot be broken. This book is a courageously honest memoir. It is the true story of a wife, a mother, a woman forced to come face to face with fear, insecurity, and the painful but ultimately precious teachings Kris Carlson discovered along the way. This wise little book offers a timeless message of inspiration, empowerment, and courage for anyone who has experienced loss or hardship of any kind. “Richard Carlson’s death affected many of us, but none more powerfully or painfully than his wife and children. Kris Carlson has gloriously owned her own voice since Richard’s death, and now gives words and meaning to her extraordinary journey through grief to healing. She shines even more beautifully for having allowed such pain to penetrate her heart and to ultimately teach her what it means to be alive. This book is a healing balm for the broken heart.” — Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love   Kristine Carlson captivated readers worldwide with her first three bestsellers, An Hour to Live, An Hour to Love: The True Story of the Best Gift Ever Given,  Don't Sweat the Small Stuff in Love and Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff for Women. Expanding on the phenomenal success of her late husband Dr. Richard Carlson's work, Kristine has continued to share her profound message of empowerment, success, emotional strength and love. An unyielding believer of living in the moment and finding happiness in life, Kris has been featured on national radio and television broadcasts, including: The Today Show, Empowered Living Radio, The View, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. find out more @  www.kristinecarlson.com  www.dontsweat.com APRIL 24 - Saturday @2pm Jon James Miller, an award-winning screenwriter, and Charlotte Cook, publisher at KOMENAR Publishing, will be  holding a special presentation for Mt. Diablo and TriValley CWC members of "Adapting Sideways." It will be a 90-minute presentation on how to turn your screenplay into a novel. The dwindling market for original screenplays in Hollywood has left aspiring screenwriters looking to the literary market to find an audience for their stories. But the process of adapting from a screenplay into a novel presents unique storytelling issues that have yet to be formally addressed. more info @ http://adapting-sideways.blogspot.com http://fictionwriteideas.blogspot.com   APRIL 24 - Saturday @11am - NEW EVENT      This is a casual event, as science fiction writer, Rick Friar, will be with us to meet readers and sign his books - The Keepers series, World War III and Tribulation. Rick has done an event with us before and you are guaranteed that he will be very charming and just a kick with how much energy this man brings. Give yourself a treat and stop by and meet Rick.   APRIL 23 - Friday @ 7pm       In association with the current exhibit at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley in downtown Danville, Jean Blaser, who served as a docent at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, will give a talk titled, Mary Todd Lincoln: First Lady of Controversy.                              more information   APRIL 22 - Thursday @ 7pm   The Story of Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer is the book to be discussed for this meeting of the read. Book Club. Read on to learn more about the book and the author. APRIL 18 - Sunday @2pm                                                     Local author, SUZANNE WOODS FISCHER, joins us to discuss her two books, Amish Peace, a nonfiction work, and her new novel, The Choice. In no particular order, Suzanne is a wife, mother, writer, novelist, raiser of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, a gardener who has an on-going battle for territory with a bossy gopher, a cook with sporadic results, and a lifelong student of the Bible. AMISH PEACE You don't have to "go Amish" to make personal peace a reality. Organized around five central themes in Amish life, Amish Peace shows you how you can cultivate a simple life of love, gratitude, and faith in the midst of a very complicated world. It includes real-life stories and examples of Plain People, Amish proverbs, and fascinating facts about Amish communities. Each section also contains questions for reflection and action, outlining things you can do in your own life that "make for peace."  THE CHOICE Fisher kicks off a refreshing new series, Lancaster County Secrets, with characters that are strong, both in body and spirit. They also have weaknesses that develop into strengths with the choices they make. One moment, Carrie Weaver is planning to elope with Lancaster Barnstormer Solomon Riehl, leaving their Amish community behind. The next, she is staring into a future as broken as her heart. Now Carrie faces a choice. An opportunity. But will this decision, this moment in time, change her life forever? more info @ www.suzannewoodsfisher.com                                           APRIL 17 - Saturday @2pm                                                   Marcia Gagliardi joins us with her new book from Ten Speed Press, The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco. Marcia is one of the Bay Area’s most-connected food writers; her restaurant e-newsletter, The Tablehopper, is a must-read for all area foodies. Who Is the Tablehopper? Her name is Marcia (rhymes with Garcia) Gagliardi, and she's a freelance food writer in San Francisco. She's known by many as the “culinary concierge” and “the enthusiastic reviewer” because she simply adore the experience of dining and going out, and for the past 15 years have been adventuring throughout the City far and wide like a culinary swashbuckler. I write a weekly column, Foodie 411 for the SFCVB on their “Taste” site; a monthly gossip column, “The Tablehopper” for The Northside; and regular features for Edible San Francisco. She has written features for Travel + Leisure, Fodor’s, San Francisco magazine, Travel Weekly, Where Magazine, DiningOut Magazine, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. I was the Regional Managing Editor for Northern California for Gayot.com 2006-2008), and wrote the weekly news and events. She also contributed to the BlackBook List: San Francisco 2006 guidebook, and wrote Where Magazine’s “Hot Tips-Dining” column each month of 2004, plus restaurant and nightlife reviews for Citysearch.com. more info @ www.tablehopper.com  Below are a few words about some recent read. events.   MARCH 28 - Sunday @2pm                                                       We have something for science fiction lovers, RICK FRIAR, author of The Keepers series, featuring the titles, World War III and Tribulation will join us to talk about his books and, of course, sign them for you. Here's just a blurb on Rick's work - Richard Friar’s new book, The Keepers is an eerie, monumental (650 page) novel portraying the rise of a fourth Reich in Germany and the start of WWIII beginning in the 2030s, the third decade of the 21st century: a mere 22 years away. The new Hitler, Geiseric, seeks to transform earth into a highly controlled master utopia modeled on Aristotle’s great classic Plato’s Republic. His new society is based on Isaiaism, a pseudo religion of which he is the Messiah. learn more @www.thekeepersww3.com MARCH 25     Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris will be the book for the third meeting of the read. Book Club. When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing, her prominent family calls on Nayir Sharqi, a pious desert guide, to lead the search party. Ten days later, just as Nayir is about to give up in frustration, her body is discovered by anonymous desert travelers. When the coroner's office determines that Nouf died not of dehydration but from drowning, and her family seems suspiciously uninterested in getting at the truth, Nayir takes it upon himself to find out what really happened. He quickly realizes that if he wants to gain access to the hidden world of women, he will have to join forces with Katya Hijazi, a lab worker at the coroner's office who is bold enough to pursue the investigation on her own. Their partnership challenges Nayir, as he confronts his desire for female companionship and the limitations imposed by his beliefs. Fast-paced and utterly transporting, Finding Nouf is a riveting literary mystery that offers an unprecedented window into Saudi Arabia and the lives of men and women there. more about the book & the author @ www.zoeferraris.com   MARCH 21 - Sunday @2:15-3pm                        at the bookstore - The scavenger hunt for KIDSREAD 2010 ends at the bookstore around 2:15, prizes will be awarded, and Joe Leon & Caterpillar Puppets will perform a puppet show at the store. at the plaza - Kick-off KidsReads 2010 with a special celebration at the Blackhawk Plaza Rotunda and read. bookstore! Everybody is invited to this free and extraordinary event featuring thrilling performers, fun games and crafts, a challenging scavenger hunt, many exciting prizes and delicious refreshments indoors and out! A portion of sales at read. bookstore will benefit the Danville, San Ramon and Dougherty Station Libraries. Co-sponsored by the Blackhawk Plaza, read. bookstore, Draeger's, Friends of the Danville Library and San Ramon Library Foundation.  MARCH 18   ZOE FITZGERALD CARTER will be with us to read and answer questions about her nonfiction book, Imperfect Endings: A Daughter's Tale of Life and Death . Zoe Carter’s busy life on the West Coast with her husband and daughters takes an unexpected detour when her glamorous, independent-minded mother, Margaret, decides she wants to “end things.” Tired of living with Parkinson’s disease, Margaret declares she is no longer willing to go where the illness is taking her. Unsure how—or when—she will end her life, she is certain of one thing: she wants her three daughters there when she does it. Anxious to maintain her role as “the good daughter,” Zoe finds herself in conflict with her older sisters, both of whom have difficult histories with their mother. As the three women negotiate over whether or not they should support Margaret’s choice and who should be there at the end, their discussions stir up old alliances and animosities, along with memories of a childhood dominated by their elegant mother and philandering father.             Capturing the stresses and the joys of the “sandwich generation” while bringing a provocative new perspective to the assisted suicide debate, Imperfect Endings is the uplifting story of a woman determined to die on her own terms and the family who has to learn to let her go.     more info @ zoefitzgeraldcarter.com   FEB 1 through March 2                                    Read with SRVEF read. Booksellers is the lead sponsor for the San Ramon Valley Education Foundation’s first Read-A-Thon! which is designed to improve the children’s reading skills by reading more frequently, trying different types of books, and having a blast in the process!  It started February 1 and ends after Read Across America Day on March 2. The bookstore has copies of the pledge forms and the reading logs, or you can click and download them from the links below. The Read-A-Thon is a clear example of the power of reading, as it  will yield a lot of rewards for the individual kids, their classes and their schools. read. Booksellers is giving a $1,000 library prize (that's a lot of library books) to the 3 Top Performing Schools - aka most number of minutes of reading.     The 3 Top Performing Classes will get gift cards to spend at read. Booksellers and a pizza party at Blackhawk Plaza.     The Top Performing Class at each school will get a yogurt party donated by Yogurtland at Bishops Ranch.     Each pledge card turned in is eligible for a raffle prize from Rakestraw Books.     Individual prizes will be awarded for pledge money collected.     Any books purchased at read. Booksellers for the Read-A-Thon are offered at 5% off. When a child taking part in the Read-A-Thon gives the bookstore a list of their 3 to 5 favorite books - read. Booksellers is offering $5 OFF a purchase of a new book. Sounds like a good deal and we're sure to see some interesting lists. check out more about -              prizes                             pledge form                                 reading log    here are some questions & answers about the Read-A-Thon   Q: When does Read with SRVEF begin? A: The Read-a-thon begins on February 1st and ends March 2nd.   Q: Where can I pick up pledge forms? A: Pledge forms are available at read. Booksellers, school libraries, at the above link, and online at www.srvef.org/read.   Q: What constitutes reading? A: For this Read-A-Thon, we would like students to read books vs. articles online or newspapers and magazines.   Q: Can students read during class? A: We would like reading to be done outside of class.   Q: When are pledge forms and reading logs due to school libraries? A: March 6th.   Q: Can I send the forms and logs directly to SRVEF? A: Yes. The address is: 2430 Camino Ramon, Suite 240, San Ramon, CA  94583   Q: Who do we write the checks to? A: Make checks payable to: SRVEF or San Ramon Valley Education Foundation   Q: I have questions. Who should I be talking to? A: Your immediate resource is your school librarian. SRVEF is happy to answer questions as well via email @ info@srvef.org.     MAR 10   read. Booksellers will host the Contra Costa Times Book Club, with Diablo magazine's book blogger Lynn Carey running things. The book to be discussed will be Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. The bookstore is happy to host book clubs or other types of meetings by local groups. Interested ... just ask us.   MAR 9    We're trying something different. Laurus restaurant and read. Booksellers have teamed up to present a great meal centered around a good book. Been Doon So Long - a Reading & Dinner with Bonny Doon Vineyard's RANDALL GRAHM. This will take place at that superb restaurant, Laurus - located just on the other side of the Blackhawk Plaza stream from the bookstore. Not only can you get a meal of four courses with accompanying wines, but you can join the reception, hear Randall read from his book, and even have your copy of the book signed - all in one night. Space is limited, so RSVP now to 925-984-2250  For more information - there's a great Been Doon So Long website and there's the Laurus site And. of course, we also have the book for sale in the bookstore.

All of the staff at read. Booksellers would like too thank singer-songwriter Caroline Harrison for the
many times that she has been in the store singing with the kids during our Tuesday Children's Time.
She always brought a lot of joy and excitement to everybody here. Caroline still has her own preschool
music program named Miss Caroline’s Music Class, the bookstore continues to
sell her music CD’s, and we hope to see Caroline back again sometime.

 
2.20.10   
Our event with author LINDA HAWES CLEVER was a very interesting time. She gave us a fine rundown of what her book is all about, what she does in her practice, and how her life lead her to writing this book. From a personal standpoint, I'm not the sort of guy who reads self-help prescription types of books, but Linda was such a caring and real person that The Fatigue Prescription came home with us that day. Doctor  Clever has developed a do-it-yourself tool kit with the book, based on years of medical practice, life experience, and the success of RENEW, a non-profit that aims to help busy, devoted people regain, or maintain, their effectiveness and creativity.

learn more @ www.thefatigueprescription.com

 2.2.10  
For this children’s reading time we had local author Jeryl Abelmann, come read to the children from her children’s book, Quickly, The Magic Spatula. Jeryl is a local author and award-winning retired elementary school teacher ... she quickly had the children yelling out Quickly's name again and again ... with joy and gusto.

  1.27.10 
Susan Dowdney Safipour, the editor-in-chief of the local Diablo magazine, joined us and a very-interested crowd of around 20, for a wide-ranging discussion of the world of magazine writing and production. First, Susan told us about some of her history in newspapers and how she came to be editor-in-chief at Diablo. Then she used the most recent issue of the magazine to explain the many different features that go into each issue, and how the decisions are made to create the gorgeous magazine that we all know. The crowd had many questions, that covered everything from article and photo choices, to how different forms of media play off of each other, as well as a couple of crowd members who pitched stories by or about themselves. Susan is a fine speaker and was clearly speaking about something that she feels passionately about and the audience was appreciative and interested. I think everyone learned something, and a good time was had by all.

more about our local magazine @ www.diablomag.com

  1.28.10 
This was the first meeting of our book club and we were very pleased to have local author Mahbad Seraji join us for a very-spirited discussion centered around his novel, Rooftops of Tehran. We had a nice group of people who gathered around one of our large store tables, to listen, ask questions about his life, his book, and the greater political situation in the world as it pertains to Iran and its relations with other governments. The author lead an intelligent and knowledgeable conversation. He fully answered the many questions sent his way, and did it all in a charming and sometimes humorous manner. It felt that while some members of the group had to agree to disagree about some issues, everyone came away from the discussion with more of a feel and an appreciation for the Iranian people.
This was a outstanding start to our book club.

 
You can learn much more about the author and his book @ www.rooftopsoftehran.com