May Author Events
Sarah Katherine Lewis
Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things
That Are Very, Very Bad for Me (Seal)
Monday, May 12 at 7pm
It's said that how we eat is reflective of our appetite in bed. Food and sex:
two universal experiences that can easily become addictive and all consuming.
You don't need to look far—The Food Network, billboards, and TV spots, to name
just a few—to witness firsthand the explosive combination of food and sex.
In Sex and Bacon, Sarah Katherine Lewis is a seductress whose observations
about the interplay between food and sex are unusually delightful, sometimes
raunchy, and always absorbing. Sex and Bacon is a unique type of lovefest,
and Lewis is not your run-of-the-mill food writer.
Mike Barenti
Kayaking Alone : Nine Hundred Miles From Idaho's Mountains to
the Pacific Ocean
Tuesday, May 13 at 7pm
The Columbia and its tributaries are rivers of conflict. Mike Barenti entered
the heart of this conflict when he slid a whitewater kayak into the headwaters
of central Idaho's Salmon River and started paddling toward the Pacific Ocean.
This account of his two-month, nine-hundred-mile solo journey into the world
of the Columbia Basin plunges us into the adventure of navigating these troubled
waterways.
Mark Winne
Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty (Beacon Press)
Wednesday, May 14 at 7pm
"Closing the Food Gap is a deeply moving account of Mark Winne's long
career as an advocate for policies that will ensure adequate nutrition for
the poor. Reading this book should make everyone want to advocate for food
systems that will feed the hungry, support local farmers, and promote community
democracy--all at the same time. I want all my students to read this beautifully
written and important book."
--Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies,
and public health at New York University, and author of Food Politics and What
to Eat
Jeff Gilman
The Truth about Organic Gardening: Benefits, Drawnbacks, and the Bottom Line
Saturday, May 17 at 7pm
Gardeners tend to assume that any organic product is automatically safe for
humans and beneficial to the environment--and in most cases this is true. The
problem, as Jeff Gillman points out in this fascinating, well-researched book,
is that it is not always true, and the exceptions to the rule can pose a significant
threat to human health. Gillman's contention is that all gardening products
and practices--organic and synthetic--need to be examined on a case-by-case
basis to determine both whether they are safe and whether they accomplish the
task for which they are intended.
Cory Doctorow
Little Brother (Tor Books)
Tuesday, May 20 at 7pm
"A wonderful, important book...I'd recommend Little Brother over
pretty much any book I've read this year, and I'd want to get it into the hands
of as many smart thirteen-year-olds, male and female, as I can. Because I think
it'll change lives. Because some kids, maybe just a few, won't be the same
after they've read it. Maybe they'll change politically, maybe technologically.
Maybe it'll just be the first book they loved or that spoke to their inner
geek. Maybe they'll want to argue about it and disagree with it. Maybe they'll
want to open their computer and see what's in there. I don't know. It made
me want to be thirteen again right now, and reading it for the first
time." —Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman and American
Gods on Little Brother