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.

Great Event Thursday . . .

Locals Love Locals!

Hi Folks! We're happy to announce that Camalli Book Co. just got the Honorable Mention award for Best Bookstore by The Source Weekly! Our friends over at Between the Covers won top prize. We got Best Bookstore by Bend Living, and they got the honorable mention in that one. So, we're sharing awards. We have a great relationship with Between the Covers, and we all just want everyone to SHOP LOCAL! Buy here, buy there ... just buy at a local store! Thanks to everyone for your support over the last year; it's hard to believe we've been open for almost 13 months!

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Thursday, August 14 ... Join us at 7:00 p.m. for a reading and release party celebrating Jonathan Ludwig's first chapbook of poetry and short stories, FALSE STARTS, FRAGMENTS & FALSEHOODS. Ludwig's chapbook is published locally by THROWBACK BOOKS ... you may have seen the article about THROWBACK in the August 9 Bend Bulletin. Ludwig is a member of the 2006 and 2007 Bend Poetry Slam Teams. Either everything in this new chapbook is a lie or the title is--it is tough to tell. The content is difficult to believe: buying bits of a woman's body, making molotov cocktails for our generation out of Hostess Pink Snowballs and chopsticks, late night bottles of booze that have more of a social life than the author. But each becomes difficult to discount after reading these maybe-autobiographical stories. Typed in the font of a classic Oliver No. 5 with its butterfly falling keys, these textured stories will have you rereading each cryptic line to try to find a lie or a truth within it. This is a FREE event, open to all. Guests over 21 can enjoy complimentary wine or beer; those under 21 are welcome to soda or water.

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Thursday, August 21 ... THIRD THURSDAY WORDS in the store at 7:00! This Thursday we're lucky to have in a team of talented local poets: Pete Lovering, John Martin, Judy Montgomery and Ellen Waterston. They will read nothing but short poems (their own and others’), from haiku to limerick to sonnet. Peter is celebrating the publication of a new hand-produced book of haiku, INNERVOICE/OPEN SPACE. John, inspired by a month-long poetry residency at Caldera, will read new work and poems from his chapbook, NICK OF TIME. Ellen will read from her prize-winning chapbook, I AM MADAGASCAR, and give us a taste of work from her soon-to-be-published new book of poems. And Judy, just returned from a poetry getaway, will read some of her new (short!) poems and work from her recent chapbook, PULSE & CONSTELLATION. Join us—and if you'd like, bring a short poem (yours or one of your favorites) to read aloud! This, also, is a FREE event and open to all. Guests over 21 can enjoy complimentary wine or beer; those under 21 are welcome to soda or water.

Stephenie Meyer Frenzy!

So many people are getting amped up for the release of BREAKING DAWN, the fourth book in Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT series. The book is released on August 2 (Saturday), and you can get your hands on a copy at midnight! We're opening the doors at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, August 1 for some food, drink and low-key interaction (costumes welcome!), and the book goes on sale at the stroke of midnight. AND, get this ... everyone here that night can enter to win a free SIGNED COPY of Stephenie Meyer's THE HOST.

To make sure that you get your hands on a copy of BREAKING DAWN give us a call to reserve your copy. You can pick it up at midnight or the next day. But to win the signed copy of THE HOST you do need to be present on August 1 when we announce the winner just before midnight.

July 21 @ 6:00 ... "Our government can make you disappear..."

Join us on Monday, July 21, at 6:00 p.m. as Steven Wax discusses his new book KAFKA COMES TO AMERICA: FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE IN THE WAR ON TERROR.

Taken from the book's website:

A public defender’s dedicated struggle to rescue two innocent men from the recent Kafkaesque practices of our vandalized justice system

“Our government can make you disappear.” Those were the words Steven Wax never imagined he would hear himself say. In his twenty-nine years as a public defender, Wax had never had to warn a client that he or she might be taken away to a military brig, or worse, a “black site,” one of our country’s dreaded secret prisons. How had our country come to this? The disappearance of people happens in places ruled by tyrants, military juntas, fascist strongmen—governments with such contempt for the rule of law that they strip their citizens of all rights. But in America?
Under the current Bush administration, not only are the civil rights of foreigners in jeopardy, but those of U.S. citizens. Wax interweaves the stories of two men that he and his team represented: Brandon Mayfield, an American-born small town lawyer and family man, arrested as a suspected terrorist in the Madrid train station bombings after a fingerprint was incorrectly traced back to him by the FBI; and Adel Hamad, a Sudanese hospital administrator taken from his apartment to a Pakistani prison and then flown in chains to the United States military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kafka Comes to America reveals where and how our civil liberties have been eroded for a false security, and how each of us can make a difference. If these events could happen to Brandon Mayfield and Adel Hamad, they can happen to anyone. It could happen to us. It could happen to you.

JULY 15, 3:00 p.m. … special children’s STORY TIME, craft & booksigning. Local author and illustrator JUNE ATSUKO MARTEL does a story time, reading her new book IN MY DAY to the kids. This children's book helps kids experience the sights and feelings of contrasting cultures in a nostalgic era by spending a day with a girl from Japan and a boy from America. June will also do a Japanese paper craft with the kids.

JULY 17, 7:00 p.m. … THIRD THURSDAY WORDS, featuring local artist, writer, performer and spoken word master JASON GRAHAM, aka MOSLEY WOTTA. Join us for what’s sure to be a great performance. I really encourage you to give this event a go. Graham is phenomenal performer and was featured in The Bulletin earlier this year. Those over 21, come on down and enjoy complimentary wine or beer … those under, we’re happy to share Coca Cola, tea or water.

JULY 19, 2:00 p.m. … I will be at the Tower Theatre selling TODD PARR’s books in conjunction with his STORY STARS presentation for the Deschutes Public Library. I'll be selling at the table before as well as after, when Todd will also be at the table to sign books. His many colorful children's books include the Otto series (OTTO GOES TO THE BEACH, OTTO GOES TO BED, etc.) as well as others, including READING MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD and a perennial favorite with the three- to five-year-old set, UNDERWEAR DO'S AND DON'TS. Tickets to this event are free, but are required, so be sure to pick up yours at the library.

JULY 21, 6:00 p.m. … Federal public defender STEVEN T. WAX is in the store to discuss his book KAFKA COMES TO AMERICA: FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE IN THE WAR ON TERROR, A PUBLIC DEFENDER'S ACCOUNT. Wax masterfully delivers a harrowing story of the erosion of civil liberties after the September 11 terrorist attaches in a powerful testimony that reads like a thriller. Wax’s book follows the story of two men he represented, both victims of post-9/11 conterterrorism measures.

And at the end of the month we have our BOOK CLUB (JULY 28 at 6:00 p.m.). Our book for July is the Oscar Wilde classic THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. Reading this you can see why it was scandalous at the time (it first appeared in Lippincott’s Magazine in 1890). Immerse yourself in a classic and join us on the 28th for a good discussion and some wine. Speaking of classics, I finally watched the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice last night. While I’m not usually a fan of movies adapted from books, I must say it’s a delight to see Mr. Darcy come to life!

Top sellers in the store … moving fast are David Sedaris’s WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, David Wroblewski’s THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, Jhumpa Lahiri’s UNACCUSOMED EARTH, Salman Rushdie’s THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE, Richard Bartlett’s MATRIX ENERGETICS: THE SCIENCE AND ART OF TRANSFORMATION, William P. Young’s THE SHACK, and Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT and NEW MOON, which are likely moving in anticipation of the fourth book in Meyer’s TWILIGHT series.

Speaking of the TWILIGHT series … that fourth book in the series, BREAKING DAWN, is released on August 2. We have a few cases coming in and will do a midnight selling for those of you who just cannot wait to get your hands on a copy! So, fans, mark your calendars for August 1 at 11:00 p.m., when we open the doors late for Meyer fans! We can begin selling the book at midnight. If you would like to reserve your copy just give us a call or send an e-mail.

Want to see your name in print?? Just fill out a CUSTOMER RECOMMENDATION and share your favorite books with the community! We have the little shelf tags in the store and would love to hear what you’ve read and loved .... just stop on in to pick one up.