Matt and Ted Lee will discuss and sign copies of their new book, The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor.   The Lee Brothers offer dishes that are quick and easy but have every bit as much Southern soul as the long-simmered, the slow-smoked, and the deep-fried.  Watts Grocery will pair with us on this event, offering seasonal samplings (some from recipes in the book):  sweet potato and okra fritters with garlic butter dip, cocktail eggs with pimento and country ham, shrimp pate with housemade crackers, ginger lemonade.  And we’ll have some wine!

This new discussion series focuses on mysteries.  The selection for this month is Winter Study by Nevada Barr.  Readers who have followed intrepid forest ranger Anna Pigeon fighting fires, crawling through caves, investigating crimes at national monuments, and tracking bears in service of the National Park system will find her back almost where she began, at Isle Royale National Park.  The series is 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.

Omid Safi will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters.  Presenting Muhammad as the lens through which to view both the genesis of Islam and the grand sweep of Islamic history, Safi helps us better understand many hot-button topics facing Muslims today—the purveyance of Holy Wars, the role of women, and the long-running tension with Jews, Buddhists and Christians alike.  Safi is an associate professor of Islamic studies at UNC-CH and the author of The Politics of Knowledge in Premodern Islam and the editor of Progressive Muslims.