Thursday, December 4, 7 p.m.
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street NW, Washington, DC

A MERCY: A NOVEL
TONI MORRISON
(Knopf, $23.95)
We are honored to present the Nobel Laureate. She returns to the theme of slavery; this time, in a period soon after the nation’s founding. A Publishers Weekly starred preview says, “Morrison’s lyricism infuses the shifting voices of her characters … Morrison’s unflinching narrative is all the more powerful for its relative brevity.”

Tickets for this event are SOLD OUT. There is no waiting list.

Friday, December 5 - 7, 2008
HOLIDAY MEMBER SALE

Most Books 20% off for current Members
All Remainders 20% off for current Members
All Sidelines 20% off for current Members
Most CDs & DVDs 15% off for current Members

(Offer excludes special orders and textbooks)

Tuesday, December 9, 7 p.m.
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street NW, Washington, DC

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ AT WORK?
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ
(Random House, $40)
Starting with Richard Nixon’s resignation and ending with Barack Obama’s campaign, Leibovitz describes how she made her pictures of the iconic people and events of our time.

Tickets for this event are SOLD OUT. It is still possible to buy the book and have the author sign it (202)364-1919, but tickets are sold out and there is no waiting list.

Thursday, December 11, 7 p.m.
Wesley United Methodist Church
5312 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC

DECIDING THE NEXT DECIDER: THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL RACE IN RHYME
CALVIN TRILLIN
(Random House, $13)
A favorite humorist, Trillin, offers more of his clever and silly rhymes to help us laugh about this longest election in our lifetime. How can he miss with Gravel and Romney, Kucinich and Thompson as fodder for his pen?

There is no charge for this event; books are available at the store and, on the night of the event, at the church.

It can be disconcerting when life imitates art. So it is with the horrible attacks in Mumbai this week. One of my favorite books from 2007 is Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. This extraordinary story where Mumbai is the central character is full of life-like characters: an underworld boss, a dogged policeman, and scores of others characteristic of the multitudes that make their way to Mumbai. This book is very enjoyable and will bring Western readers closer to India.

Click here for more.

The Friday night before Thanksgiving, Vernon Jordan came to speak to a packed store about his new book, MAKE IT PLAIN, a memoir of a dozen speeches he has given in the years 1971 to 2008.  For each of these speeches he supplies a gloss of the background events.  The last speech in this volume was delivered at Howard University in the Spring of 2008 and it superbly places the 2008 presidential campaign in historical context, a wonderful primer on the small steps which have added up to produce America's first black president.  Although he supported Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, Jordan’s contributions to a changed and receptive political climate have been immeasurable.

On a lighter side, in the question-and-answer period, one customer asked Jordan why he had never run for political office.  Jordan replied that once in high school he entered a race for the student council and lost.  Since then, he said, he knew he never wanted to have to give a concession speech again.

Another asked Jordan what he thought of President-elect Obama's appointment of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff.  There was a long pause.  Then the answer: "Well, I support it but I think that when Rahm tells someone to go to hell, he needs to learn how to say that in a manner in which they think they will enjoy the trip."

For past Barbara’s Byline posts, click here.

Friday, December 5, 8 p.m.
PEN/Faulkner Presents
PEN/Malamud Award Memorial Reading 1988–2008
CYNTHIA OZICK and PETER HO DAVIES
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol St. SE
This year's PEN/Malamud Award winners, Cynthia Ozick and Peter Ho Davies, read in a memorial celebration of the 1988-2008 anniversary of the award, established by the family of Bernard Malamud to honor excellence in the art of the short story. For tickets please call 202-544-7077, or visit www.penfaulkner.org

We have a few more author events coming up this week, but we are getting the sales floor ready for the holidays, and we want you to be able to shop in the evenings and on weekends. Our holiday cards are already on display at the back of the store, near the travel section.

Our holiday newsletter/catalog will be in the store this weekend or early next week and members should receive it next week in the mail. Meanwhile, you can see the books we have chosen to review on the webpage (click here).

To download the Kids Newsletter click here
To download the Music Newsletter click here

Need the perfect gift for a reader you know? Enroll a lucky person in our Gift- Book-a-Month program. Each month, our staff will choose, wrap, and send a book anywhere in the country to the person of your choice. To give a gift to a child, contact Jory Hearst, jhearst@politics-prose.com. For an adult, contact Caroline Ketcham,cketcham@politics-prose.com.  You can also pick up an application at the information desk or from our website, here.

 

Visit us online!

BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 12/10)

Katrina is flying around the classroom on a vacuum cleaner, Caroline’s picture is selected to help cast a spell, and clumsy Podge scores the winning goal in a soccer match.  The students in Class Three at St. Barnabas School have never been happier, or learned more.  They love their new teacher, Ms. Wiz, and proclaim, “She’s magic!”  But some parents and teachers think MS. WIZ SPELLS TROUBLE (Marshall Cavendish, $12.99).  Ms. Wiz returns as a hospital doctor in IN STITCHES WITH MS. WIZ (Marshall Cavendish, $12.99).  After Jack awakens from an appendectomy, he’s surprised and relieved to find Ms. Wiz and her rat, Herbert, at his bedside.  The children’s ward has never seen such magic or had such fun, but the doctors and nurses are not amused.  These are the first two books in the best-selling series by Terence Blacker, illustrated by Tony Ross, which originally was published in the United Kingdom.  Ages 6-10.  • Heidi Powell

 

PARTNERSHIP FRIDAYS

Please consider joining our partnership program to support underserved schools in Washington, D.C.  We invite law firms, government offices, and businesses, and the schools they foster, to join us on a designated Friday to buy books for these schools.  Patrons visit the store to shop from wish lists created by the school.  We will donate 20% of all sales from the partnership to the designated school.  This is a great way for schools to expand their libraries and receive additional funds. To schedule a planning meeting and book a Partnership Friday, please contact Heidi Powell, hpowell@politics-prose.com, or Mary Alice Garber, mgarber@politics-prose.com.

 

WRITING WORKSHOP
A Teen Writing Workshop takes place the last Sunday of the month, from 2-3:15 in the Remainder Room. For more information, and to reserve a spot, please go to www.capitolletters.org.

Markdown books, or “remainders,” can be found in lower level of the store. These books are often only available for a short time, so come in soon to find what you want.

At this time of year our remainders in the children's books have lots of enticing bargains.  Remember that in the Members' Sale this weekend, these books are further discounted 20 % to members.  For example, the first on the list, On The Banks of Plum Creek, was originally $17.89 and its price now is $7.98, but during the sale the price will drop to $6.38 for members. Here is a very small selection from hundreds of bargains on our shelves.

CHILDREN'S HARDCOVERS

Laura Ingalls Wilder, On The Banks of Plum Creek, $17.89, now $7.98

Jamila Gavin, Blood Stone (Newbery Honor Book), $18, now $6.98

James Johnson, Lift Every Voice, $17.89, now $7.98

Sarah Weeks, Jumping the Scratch, $15.99, now $4.98

Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons (Newbery Winner), $17.89, now $7.98

Jackie Urbanovic, Duck at the Door, $17.89, now $7.98

Harold Keith, Rifles for Watie, $17.89, $6.98

• Barbara Meade

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS 2008
I’ve put together some recommended titles from this past year on the website (click here). There is also a copy available at the information desk. Please ask for it, and browse the music section.

NEW YORK TIMES’S BEST CLASSICAL
The New York Times’s classical music critics selected two dozen of their favorite CDs from 2008 (to see them, click here). I’ve written about many of these titles, and they will be on display with their respective reviews. If you’re interested in a title we have on hand or would like to special order a specific title, please email me at: agoldinger@politics-prose.com .

BOX SETS
The New York Times also had a roundup of their favorite box sets (see it here).  Some of the listed sets are mail order only (namely, the Mosaic jazz boxes), but most are available through special order at P&P.

Here are some box sets at the store:
ART OF FIELD RECORDING, VOL. 1: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum (Dust to Digital, 4 CDs plus 96-page book, $58.98)—featured in The New Yorker last spring. Volume two will be coming out on December 18.

GOODBYE BABYLON (Dust to Digital, 6 CDs plus a 200-page book, all packaged in a cedar box, $109.98)—the greatest gospel compilation ever put together.

J.S. BACH: THE SACRED MASTERWORKS (BIS, 10 CDs plus libretti, $59.98)—One of the world’s best baroque groups is the Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. This is a great set comprising the Mass in B Minor, The St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and the Christmas and Easter Oratorios.

THE JOHN ADAMS EARBOX (Nonesuch, 10 CDs, $94.98)—A wonderful introduction to John Adams’s works through 1998.

The following box sets are featured in the Holiday Newsletter, and are 15% off for members:

HANK WILLIAMS: THE UNRELEASED RECORDINGS (TimeLife, 3 CDs, $39.99)—Fifty-four songs, recorded in 1951, at the peak of his career by Hank and his full band, for the Mother’s Best Flour Company radio broadcasts. The Times’s Ben Ratliff called this “truly one of the best records ever.”

GLASS BOX: A NONESUCH RETROSPECTIVE (Nonesuch, 10 CDs, $94.98)—An overview of Philip Glass’s career, in a handsome square box.

JAZZ ICONS, SERIES 3 (Jazz Icons, 7 DVDs, plus bonus disc, $125.99). This
showcases jazz masters elegantly filmed and taped at their peak, mostly for European television in the 1960s. The artists in Series 3 are Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton, Cannonball Adderley, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM: THE STORY SO FAR (Sony Masterworks, 4 CDs, $52.98)—Sondheim’s Broadway and soundtrack work, with previously unreleased versions, including versions by Sondheim himself.

TO BE FREE: THE NINA SIMONE STORY (RCA Legacy, 3 CDs & 1 DVD, $47.98)—A career-spanning collection, including unreleased tracks, and a 1970 TV special.

 

NEW
AWAKE MY SOUL: THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK & HELP ME TO SING: SONGS OF THE SACRED HEART (Awake Productions, 2CDs, $21.99)—A fantastic document of traditional shape-note singing (on the first CD), and contemporary singers doing versions of shape-note hymns from the Sacred Harp (the most famous shape-note hymnal). Great notes, and a revelation in song. Highly recommended.

RY COODER
The New York Times Travel section had a great piece on Ry Cooder’s California trilogy—CHAVEZ RAVINE; MY NAME IS BUDDY; I, FLATHEAD (all Nonesuch, $17.98)—and the landscapes that inspired the recordings (read it, here).

STORIES OF EDWARDIAN ENGLAND

Leaders: Virginia Newmyer and Susan Willens
Time: The second Wednesday of each month from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Fee: Members $80, Nonmembers $100
Registration information (with credit card information):
            Call Politics and Prose:  202.364.1919
            or email:  books@politics-prose.com

In the thirteen years between the death of Queen Victoria and the beginning of the First World War, Britain was forced to climb down from its 19th-century peaks of grandeur. The Edwardian era witnessed the decline of Britain’s great empire, the erosion of its industrial pre-eminence, and the attrition of the rigid class divisions that separated the working class from their social superiors.  In addition, unrest in Ireland and international conflicts threatened the Pax Britannica imposed on the world since Waterloo. The new King, Edward VII, although a flamboyant playboy, promoted European understanding through personal diplomacy, the last monarch to do so.  At his death in 1910, however, Britain and Europe were poised at the edge of violent change.
 
The writers we have chosen reacted to those changes in vibrant fiction that resonates today.  Each month, lively discussion will follow lectures that consider the writers, their books, and the Edwardian era.

Course outline:
            Jan. 14:  Rudyard Kipling, Kim
             Feb. 11: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
             March 11: Henry James, The Ambassadors
             April 15:  E.M. Forster, Howards End
             May 13: D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

Please read Kim before the first session of the class. Books are available at Politics and Prose at a 10% discount for participants in the class.

WINTER 2009:AMERICAN INNOVATORS: Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Jane Kenyon

Join our poetry circle as it continues to explore different poets and poetry. The second of three different classes of six sessions each, the winter course will read two “masters,” Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop, and one contemporary poet, Jane Kenyon, influenced by those who came before. We will learn how poets talk to each other and to us across the centuries and will better understand how style and history influence content. Each course may be taken separately and no experience is necessary, just a love of words and pleasure in the company of other readers.

Taught by Gigi Bradford, Folger Poetry Board Chair and former NEA Literature Director.

Time: Tuesday afternoons, 3:00-4:30.
January 27, February 3, 17, 24, March 3, 10 (last class meets from 3:30 to 5 p.m.)

Fee: $80, $60 for members

Syllabus: Robert Lowell Collected Poems
Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems
Jane Kenyon, Collected Poems