Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor will discuss and sign copies of their memoir told in two voices, Traveling with Pomegranates. France and Greece provide the rich setting for this intersecting spiritual autobiography, in which both mother and daughter make choices and decisions as they enter new phases of their lives. Sue Monk Kidd is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Mermaid Chair and The Secret Life of Bees, which was adapted into an award-winning major motion picture. This event is co-sponsored with the Durham County Library.

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Roy Blount Jr. will be on hand to sign copies of his book, Alphabet Juice (now in paperback) and chat with customers. 

We’re starting a new monthly discussion series focused on mysteries, and the series will begin with The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.  Wildly popular in Europe, Camilleri’s books feature Salvo Montalbano, police inspector in the small Sicilian town of Vigata.  In this title, Montalbano has a potentially explosive case on his plate: a local politician has been found dead in his car, apparently the victim of a heart attack.  No melancholic brooder, Montalbano puts a comic face on the noir world, sorting through multiple layers of corruption Sicilian style, while still finding time to enjoy a good lunch.  The series will be facilitated by Judy Dearlove, who has called Durham home for over three decades.  A passionate reader, she has also taught literature at several local colleges, including Duke, Meredith, and Elon.  Currently, she is engaged in the mysterious process of writing a novel.

Antonia Weeks and Adrienne Toghraie will read from and sign copies of their debut novel, Shaman.  “Shaman inspired me to have a more positive outlook for my future and the future of this planet.  I became lost in the characters as if I were reading and caring about my own family.  Couldn’t wait to read how each one would handle the difficult issues they were faced with,” writes Suzy Summa.  Toghraie is an internationally recognized success coach and Weeks is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, and consultant.

North Carolina author Ron Rash will read from and sign copies of his novel Serena, newly available in paperback.  Set in Waynesville, NC during the Depression, Serena traces the story of a wealthy lumber baron and his ruthlessly ambitious wife.  Rash’s novel is a tightly knit tale of industrial development, greed, and betrayal.

Historian Ray Raphael will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation.  This work focuses on the hard work of revolution and nation-building, including the various movements of Regulators in places like Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and North Carolina.  Raphael’s splendid storytelling effectively captures and humanizes the tumult of the Revolutionary Era.

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We’re continuing our quarterly series featuring local luminaries choosing a favorite book to present and discuss.  Insightful.  Thought-provoking.  Stimulating.  Challenging.  Local historian and newspaper writer Jim Wise has chosen to discuss Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (with some references to other Bradbury titles such as The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes.)  Wise writes, “To me, Bradbury is one of American lit’s under-appreciated prose stylists—maybe because he’s usually labeled a science fiction writer (science fantasy, maybe; science fiction, not).  He writes the sort of stuff you can wallow in, reading and re-reading just for the pleasure of his words and rhythms; he also has the knack for picking pieces of what’s personal and everyday and making them everybody’s and wonder-full.  And the wonder endures, but not without a tempering of darkness to make it all the more real.”

Margot Starbuck will read from and sign copies of her new book, The Girl in the Orange Dress.  This book describes to journey of one woman who held it together through a rocky childhood and, after finding her birth parents as a young adult, began to come unglued.  As she is gently loved back together through human agents, she comes to know a Father who does not fail.

Suzy Barile will discuss and sign copies of her new book, Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle & a Yankee Gentleman.  Barile recounts the incredible love story of her great-great-grandparents, Ella Swain of Chapel Hill and Union General Smith Dykins Atkins.  "Finally, the book I've been waiting to read... the whole story of spirited Ella Swain's 'shocking' marriage to the Yankee general who came to occupy Chapel Hill in 1865—meticulously researched and beautifully written," writes Lee Smith.

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Join a community discussion of Something for the Pain by Paul Austin, this year’s selection for Durham Reads Together, sponsored by the Durham County Library.  Austin, an emergency room physician in Durham, has written a relentlessly honest look at emergency medicine—with a courageous measure of humanity.  The discussion will be led by David Carr, an avid reader and professor at UNC-CH’s School of Information and Library Science.

Kathleen McCabe will discuss and sign copies of the book she co-authored with Dovey Roundtree, Justice Older than the Law: The Life of Dovey Johnson Roundtree.  Charlotte-born Roundtree was the lawyer who helped integrate the Armed Forces and was among the group of lawyers who successfully wrote the brief that became the famous Brown v. Board of Education.  This is the amazing story of Roundtree’s life—of the fight she took to the streets and jailhouse, the churches, and ultimately, the hearts of individuals.

Join us for this new series featuring musician and songwriter Peter Holsapple, who will share books, stories and songs.  “It’s all about a guy, really a big old kid, bringing his guitar and his sense of humor and involvement, some books and his pajamas, and entertaining kids—and their parents too.”  Holsapple, known best for his work with the dB’s and the Continental Drifters, has also worked with R.E.M., Hootie and the Blowfish, and Sugarland.  So wear your pajamas and enjoy the fun!

This new discussion series on the third Monday of each month focuses on literary fiction, current and classic.  The book selection this month is the PEN/Faulkner Award winning Netherland by Joseph O’Neill.  The novel is narrated by Dutch-born Hans van den Broek, whose wife and son have left him and New York City after 9/11.  He is swept up by Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian expatriate, who dreams of building a cricket stadium in Brooklyn.  The story of their friendship bursts with wisdom, authenticity, and sobering realism.  The series is facilitated by Durham native Katherine Johnson, who has an undergraduate degree in European Literatures and many years of reading and working with books.  Her day job is with NoveList, where she develops articles, discussion guides, and other materials about books for an online library service that supports readers’ advisory. 

Padgett Powell will read from and sign copies of his recent book, The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?  A work of fiction entirely in questions?  Could it be?  Is it possible?  
This is the kind of book that makes you want to read passages aloud and leaves you looking at the world with fresh eyes.  Powell, the author of Edisto, teaches in the Writing Program at the University of Florida and writes for The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper’s, and other publications.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon will read from and sign copies of his new memoir, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son.  Whether he is reminiscing on his grandmother’s obsessive quest for a clean public toilet or the simple pleasures of cooking for his family, Chabon imbues these stories with an ardent nostalgia and an unexpected universality.

Tickets are $5 each, or free with the purchase of any of his books.  Tickets (and books) may be purchased before the event at The Regulator or at the event.  You can also call the store (286-2700) to pre-purchase books and tickets.

The Deadly Divas will read from and sign copies of their most recent mysteries: Marcia Talley (Without a Grave, featuring survivor and sleuth, Hannah Ives); Elizabeth Lynn Casey (Sew Deadly, the debut title in the new Southern Sewing Circle series); Denise Swanson (Murder of a Royal Pain, part of the bestselling Scumble River series); Heather Webber (Weeding Out Trouble, which features landscaper Nina Quinn); and Sara Rosett (Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder, featuring professional organizer and Air Force wife Ellie Avery).

The 2010 Durham Historical Calendar is on the way!  The Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau has teamed up with Gary Kueber, author of the blog Endangered Durham, to produce a remarkable journey through Durham’s architectural history.  Get a signed copy of the calendar and join the discussion with Gary and DCVB staff as they talk about the calendar, why Gary’s work is so valuable to Durham’s future, and how the calendar demonstrates Durham’s unique sense of place.

Susan Dunlap will discuss and sign copies of her new book, Caring Cultures: How Congregations Respond to the Sick.  Set in Durham, Dunlap explores how three very different churches (Latino, African American, and Euro-American) provide pastoral care-giving to parishioners who are ill.  Dunlap is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology at Duke Divinity School.

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UNC folklorist and professor William Ferris will discuss, present a slide show and sign copies of his new book, Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Delta.  The book, CD, and DVD feature more than twenty powerful interviews about black life and blues music in the Mississippi Delta.  Ferris, author of Blues from the Delta and coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, is senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC-CH.

Dr. Paul Austin, author of this year’s Durham Reads Together pick, Something for the Pain: Compassion and Burnout in the ER, will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of his book.

PlayMakers Producing Artistic Director Joseph Haj and Associate Artist Tom Quaintance will discuss the challenges of mounting the largest production in PlayMakers history.  Featuring 25 actors playing 150 characters over the course of 6 hours, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is a thrilling theatrical event.  Join us for this conversation about a production three years in the making and how it has finally come together on the Paul Green stage.  This event is co-sponsored by the Durham County Library.