Writers Reading at Rakestraw Books

January - February 2012

Although we make every effort to ensure that the information below is accurate, occasionally dates and times may change. We always recommend calling ahead to confirm. Please note that all events, unless otherwise noted, take place at 522 Hartz Avenue in downtown Danville. Our phone number is (925) 837-7337.

How it all works: Rakestraw Books is proud to present nearly 100 events a year. The majority of these events are free of charge and open to the public. To get a book signed at one of our events, a copy of the featured event title must be purchased from Rakestraw Books. By purchasing a book from Rakestraw Books, you are not only supporting a local, independent business, but also showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to this community. Think of it this way: you would bring your own prime rib to a steakhouse, would you? We do occasionally require a book purchase as part of ticket, but we try to keep those events rare and, may we say, TOTALLY WORTH IT! Thanks for your support of these programs.

Paul Grushkin Visits on 19 January 2012 at 7 PM

Who: Paul Grushkin

What: Discussing and signing his book, Dead Letters: The Very Best Grateful Dead Fan Mail.

When: Thursday, 19 January 2012 at 7 PM

How much: Free.

Where: Rakestraw Books.

Why you should care: "Dead Freaks Unite!" This simple exhortation, printed in the gatefold of the Grateful Dead's 1971 "Skull & Roses" double LP, opened the floodgates. Soon the band was blessed with a constant flow of fan love via the U.S. Post. But among all the mail the Dead received daily, the envelopes bearing ticket requests were easily the most remarkable. As the band blazed a path for DIY ticket sales, fans began tucking their money orders into wildly imaginative hand-drawn, hand-painted, and otherwise hand-decorated envelopes. Each hoped to capture the attention of the Dead's inner sanctum and thus secure those increasingly elusive passports to The Show. Of the hundreds of thousands of ticket-request envelopes the band received over the years, some 15,000 have found their way into The Grateful Dead Archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz. With Dead Letters, bestselling Grateful Dead author Paul Grushkin (Grateful Dead: The Official Book of the Dead Heads) has combed this archive to come up with a fantastic survey of nearly 400 Grateful Dead ticket-request envelopes. Arranged by Dead themes, such as the band's rich iconography, song interpretations, concert locations, and more, the envelopes are accompanied by essays and archival photography that provide a rich historical context for a subject that — like the Dead Heads themselves — is truly unique in the realm of rock. In addition, a final chapter includes a selection of envelopes from the archive of Grateful Dead Ticket Sales TOO, bringing the story from the 1995 passing of Jerry Garcia to the present. At once inspirational and hugely insightful, the works featured on the pages of Dead Letters truly are "objets d'art," brilliantly and lovingly illustrated. Perhaps more significantly, they offer an unprecedented look at a storied love affair between a legendary rock band and its equally legendary fans.

Dead Freaks Unite! Join us at Rakestraw Books for this fun and colorful evening with Paul Grushkin.

Sally Bedell Smith Visits on 1 February 2012 at 7 PM

Who: Sally Bedell Smith in conversation with Leah Garchik.

What: Discussing Sally's new book, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch A book signing will follow.

When: Wednesday, 1 February 2012 at 7 PM (doors open at 6:15 PM).

How much: Tickets are $40 (each ticket includes a copy of Elizabeth the Queen. Advance ticket purchase is essential, buy them by calling (925) 837-7337.

Where: Diablo Country Club, 1700 Clubhouse Road, Diablo.

Why you should care: In this magisterial new biography, New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith brings to life one of the world's most fascinating and enigmatic women: Queen Elizabeth II.

In Elizabeth the Queen, we meet the young girl who suddenly becomes "heiress presumptive" when her uncle abdicates the throne. We meet the thirteen-year-old Lilibet as she falls in love with a young navy cadet named Philip and becomes determined to marry him, even though her parents prefer wealthier English aristocrats. We see the teenage Lilibet repairing army trucks during World War II and standing with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. We see the young Queen struggling to balance the demands of her job with her role as the mother of two young children. Sally Bedell Smith brings us inside the palace doors and into the Queen's daily routines — the "red boxes" of documents she reviews each day, the weekly meetings she has had with twelve prime ministers, her physically demanding tours abroad, and the constant scrutiny of the press — as well as her personal relationships: with Prince Philip, her husband of sixty-four years and the love of her life; her children and their often-disastrous marriages; her grandchildren and friends.

Compulsively readable and scrupulously researched, Elizabeth the Queen is a close-up view of a woman we've known only from a distance, illuminating the lively personality, sense of humor, and canny intelligence with which she meets the most demanding work and family obligations. It is also a fascinating window into life at the center of the last great monarchy. We're delighted to present an evening with Sally Bedell Smith at the Diablo Country Club. She will be joined in conversation with the always witty and informed Leah Garchik of the San Francisco Chronicle, for years the paper's "royal expert." Join us for this marvelous evening.

Edmund White Visits on 2 February 2012 at 7 PM

Who: Edmund White.

What: Reading and signing his remarkable new novel, Jack Holmes and His Friend.

When: Thursday, 2 February 2012 at 7 PM.

How much: Free. Advance reservations are nice, make yours by calling the shop at (925) 837-7337.

Where: Rakestraw Books.

Why you should care: Jack Holmes and Will Wright arrive in New York in the calm before the storm of the 1960s. Coworkers at a cultural journal, they soon become good friends. Jack even introduces Will to the woman he will marry. But their friendship is complicated: Jack is also in love with Will. Troubled by his subversive longings, Jack sees a psychiatrist and dates a few women, while also pursuing short-lived liaisons with other men. But in the two decades of their friendship, from the first stirrings of gay liberation through the catastrophe of AIDS, Jack remains devoted to Will. And as Will embraces his heterosexual sensuality, nearly destroying his marriage, the two men share a newfound libertinism in a city that is itself embracing its freedom. Moving among beautifully delineated characters in a variety of social milieus, Edmund White brings narrative daring and an exquisite sense of life's submerged drama to this masterful exploration of friendship, sexuality, and sensibility during a watershed moment in history.

Join us for this special evening with one our greatest living novelists as we celebrate the publication of this extraordinary new novel.

Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman Visit on 4 February 2012 at 4 PM

Who: Bestselling novelist Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and New Yorker cartoonist and artist Maira Kalman.

What: Discussing and signing their marvelous new novel, Why We Broke Up.

When: Saturday, 4 February 2012 at 4 PM.

How much: Free. Advance reservations are nice, make yours by calling the shop at (925) 837-7337.

Where: Rakestraw Books.

Why you should care:Bestselling author of, among other things, the Lemony Snicket series of books, Daniel Handler has teamed up with renowned artist Maira Kalman to create this wonderful new YA book that delves into that most painful of human experiences — The Break Up.

The book begins: "I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened." Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

Over the course of writing and illustrating Why We Broke Up, Handler and Kalman were inspired to create a space online where others could vent the stories of their break-ups. Thus was born The Why We Broke Up Project, a tumblr site where all are welcome to post their anonymous stories of heartbreak. In addition to the anonymous posts, you can also read the real break-up stories of celebrities such as Neil Gaiman, Brian Selznick, David Levithan, and others. Heartbreak's never been so much fun!

Daniel Handler has written for grown-ups under his own name and for younger readers under the name Lemony Snicket. He was dumped at least three times in high school. Maira Kalman, acclaimed artist and designer, has created many books for both grown-ups and children. Her heart was broken in high school by a boy who looked like Bob Dylan. We're excited to host a special event with these two cool and funny and smart people. Please bring (or send) your teens and twenty-somethings to the one. It's going to be terrific!

Amy Franklin-Willis Visits on 9 February 2012 at 7 PM

Who: Debut novelist Amy Franklin-Willis together with a special musical guest, singer-songwriter Andrew Castro.

What: Amy will read from and sign her first novel The Lost Saints of Tennesse. Andrew will sing a selection of his songs inspired by the novel. It's going to be pretty cool.

When: Thursday, 9 February 2012 at 7 PM.

How much: Free. Advance reservations are nice, make yours by calling the shop at (925) 837-7337.

Where: Rakestraw Books.

Why you should care: "The gifted novelist Amy Franklin-Willis has written a riveting, hardscrabble book on the rough, hardscrabble south, which has rarely been written about with such grace and compassion. It reminded me of Dorothy Allison?s classic, Bastard Out of Carolina." — Pat Conroy

With enormous heart and dazzling agility, debut novelist Amy Franklin-Willis expertly mines the fault lines in one Southern working-class family. Driven by the soulful and intrepid voices of forty-two-year-old Ezekiel Cooper and his mother, Lillian, The Lost Saints of Tennessee journeys from the 1940s to the 1980s as it follows Zeke's evolution from anointed son to honorable sibling to unhinged middle-aged man.

Written with abundant charm, warmth, and authority, The Lost Saints of Tennessee is the story of a unique brotherhood and a moving consideration of the ways grief can first devastate and then restore. Join us as we celebrate this fine new voice in American literature.

Amy Stewart Visits on 23 February 2012 at 7:30 PM

Who: Celebrated essayist and gardening writer (and bookseller!) Amy Stewart.

What: Amy will discuss the perils and pleasures of gardening as well as her books Wicked Plants and Wicked Bugs.

When: Thursday, 23 February 2012 at 7:30 PM.

How much: $35 for Non-Members of The Gardens at Heather Farm. Tickets may be purchased by visiting The Gardens at Heather Farm.

Where: The Gardens at Heather Farm, 1540 Marchbanks Drive, Walnut Creek.

Why you should care: Amy Stewart is the award-winning author of five books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world, including three New York Times bestsellers, Wicked Bugs, Wicked Plants and Flower Confidential. Stewart is a highly sought-after public speaker whose spirited lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at college campuses such as Cornell and the University of Minnesota, corporate offices, including Google's Mountainview campus, conferences and garden shows, as well as botanical gardens, bookstores, and garden clubs nationwide.

She has appeared on hundreds of national and regional radio and television programs, including CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's Morning Edition, Fresh Air, and Good Morning America. She has written for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and every national garden magazine, including Fine Gardening, where she is a contributing editor. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Horticulture Society's Book Award, and a California Horticultural Society Writer's Award. Stewart lives in Eureka, California, with her husband Scott Brown. They own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books and tend a flock of unruly hens in their backyard.