Great Events This Week!

TONIGHT AT 6:30 . . .

Local author Darin Furry discusses his new book, BEYOND SAGEBRUSH: SECRETS OF CENTRAL OREGON'S NATURAL WORLD. Furry's book explores the natural history that is specific to Central Oregon. At this presentation and booksigning, the author will discuss what makes our area unique while giving insight to the science behind our natural world.

Also coming up in the store . . .

Wednesday, Nov 19 2008, 3:00P
Story Time with Guest Reader Leah Davies

Thursday, Nov 20 2008, 7:00P
THIRD THURSDAY WORDS .... swing baby, swing! with jazz singer Teresa Ross

Friday, Nov 21 2008, 6:00P
George Wright :: Book Discussion & Signing

Monday, Dec 1 2008, 6:30P
Book Club Discussion ... LOVING FRANK ... discussion is open to any and all

Author Paty Jager Signing Books 11/8

Author PATY JAGER will be at Camalli Book Company on Saturday, November 8, from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. signing copies of her new book MARSHAL IN PETTICOATS.

Tonight's Discussion ... THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE

Monday night in the store (10/27 @ 6:30) we discuss THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, which was our October book club pick. It is quite a long book at over 500 pages. All are welcome.

As is always the case, I am up against the wall and rushing to finish the book in time for the discussion. And this is why I struggle with book clubs in general … I rarely choose to read a book that large groups are interested in reading, perhaps because I am, in no small measure, obstinate. So when compelled—shall we say—to read a book as part of a group "project" I fall woefully behind. I always have three to four books going at once and somehow manage to move the required reading to the bottom of the stack. All of which makes me a very, very bad candidate for book club leader … I fully admit this. So after this month Deirdre takes over book club duties and I'm happy to hand it over to her; and I'm quite sure everyone will be much happier with her as leader/organizer as opposed to me. I'll likely participate in discussions, but I think (I know) she is much more congenially suited to a book club than me.

With all of that said, I think Deirdre does have some good ones in the queue for the coming months, including:

* LOVING FRANK (November)

* HANNAH'S DREAM (December, with author Diane Hammond joining the discussion)

* CHURCH OF THE DOG (early 2009, with author Kaya McLaren visiting the store on May 28!)

But back to THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE. So many people have read the book, and any and all are welcome to join in the discussion. Don't get me wrong ... I am not panning the book. I'm just being a grump who wishes the book was perhaps 100+ pages shorter. It's a very ambitious first novel, and one that deserves much of the attention it is receiving. The supernatural and suspenseful elements of the book make me think it is well suited to people who liked THE LIFE OF PI. Very different books, but there's something there that connects the two somehow. If you can pull through the first 100 pages, you will undoubtedly go on to finish the book ... but in my opinion it's getting through those first 100 that provides the challenge. Some editing could have been done. It was likely a skilled editor that once said something along the lines of "in every fat book there is a thin book trying to get out." THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE is a good read that could have been made even better if that thinner book had been allowed to come through.

Camalli Downtown Tonight for Art Walk

Tina will be downtown tonight at UMPQUA BANK as author Thor Hanson discusses and signs his book THE IMPENETRABLE FOREST: MY GORILLA YEARS IN UGANDA.  I'll be selling copies of his book and partaking in the free wine ;-)

If you're out and about please stop in and say hi!  I'll be handing out special store bookmarks that have a 20% off coupon.

Did I mention the wine?

Special Story Time

Thursday, October 2, we have a GREAT story time with KINDERMUSIK! Bring the kid(s) in and enjoy music and motion. Starts at 10:00 a.m. ...

Fundraiser for THE NATURE OF WORDS

Ales for Authors!

Enjoy great beer, catch some open mic performances and support The Nature of Words at "Ales for Authors" this Wednesday, October 1, at Bend's Silver Moon Brewing. The evening's $3.00 cover charge will go to benefit Central Oregon's premier literary festival, scheduled for November 5-9, 2008. Local slam poet Jason Graham will emcee the Open Mic from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (Silver Moon Brewing is located at 24 NW Greenwood Avenue.)

Camalli Book Co. will definitely be there! Come on out and hear about The Nature of Words 2008, featuring eight guest authors, including Patricia Smith, four-time national individual poetry slam champion. The author roster also includes Ursula K. Le Guin, icon of the science fiction and fantasy genre; Craig Childs, adventure travel writer and desert ecologist; Charles Bowden, journalist and essayist who writes about the environment and social issues along the U.S.-Mexico border; Luis Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize nominee whose dual-culture heritage influences his themes in fiction and literary non-fiction; Ekiwah Adler-Belendez, 19-year old poet prodigy from Mexico; Pam Houston, award-winning short story writer and novelist; and Judith Barrington, internationally known poet and memoirist.

Bring your own work to share at the Open Mic, or just come to listen and learn about The Nature of Words.

Monday Night Book Club - 9/29, 6:00 p.m.

As always, procrastination wins and I'm once again rushing to finish the book club selection for this month. But reading Ursula LeGuin's LAVINIA has been a treat. Lavinia comes from Virgil's (or Vergil's, depending on your source) 2000-year-old epic poem THE AENEID, where she is given ever-so-brief treatment and truly does not speak a word (though, her hair does catch fire most impressively). Lavinia is the daughter of King Latinus, and a plethora of men are doomed to die over who will eventually marry her. Her eventual marriage to Aeneas (after whom, of course, the epic is titled) signals the founding of the Roman race.

LeGuin weaves a story that imagines Lavinia's life as a young girl, her courting by that asshole Turnus, her eventual marriage to Aeneas--which leads to the war between the Trojans and the Latins--and on to the end of her life.

I do like feminine takes on old tales ... such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON ... but LAVINIA is more than a "feminist" tale. As one reviewer stated: "The three characters [Lavinia, Latinus, Aeneas] together embody the Roman belief in fate as it relates to the virtue of pietas (dutifulness, spiritual awareness, a deep listening for and acceptance of the truth at the heart of the matter)." It is a novel for anyone interested in classic mythology, and of course for anyone fascinated by the story of the Trojan War.

I don't think having read THE AENEID is essential, but it would certainly enrich the experience. For a translation, I'd suggest Robert Fagles's, which is now out in paperback.

ANYWAY ... book club discussion Monday night (9/29) at the store at 6:00. Wine flows freely, of course.