Watermark Books & Cafe

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This week's special: 30% off

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The Book of the Week is The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama (St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 9780312384777, $14.95). It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks.

But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold--and forge their own paths in a new Japan. Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.

"The Street of a Thousand Blossoms" is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers. And this week it's 30% off.

First line...

"The black waters of Elobi Creek show no sign of a current."

... from The White Mary: A Novel by Kira Salak (Henry Holt, ISBN 9780805088472, $25.00)

Cafe specials

Our featured cookbook for August is America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA - the Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and the Chittlin' Feasts that Define by Pat Willard (Bloomsbury, ISBN 9781596913622, $25.99).
In America Eats! Pat Willard takes readers on a journey into the regional nooks and crannies of American cuisine where WPA writers—including Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, and Nelson Algren, among countless others—were dispatched in 1935 to document the roots of our diverse culinary cuisine. With the unpublished WPA manuscript as her guide, Willard visits the sites of American food's past glory to rediscover the vibrant foundation of America's traditional cuisine. She visits a booyah cook-off in Minnesota, a political feast in Mississippi, a watermelon festival in Oklahoma, and a sheepherders ball in Idaho, to name a few. Featuring recipes and never-before-seen photos, including those from the WPA by Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Marion Post Wolcott, America Eats! is a glowing celebration of American food, past and present.
Look in the pastry case this month for delicious treats from America Eats!
Order online by 10:30 a.m., and we'll have your lunch waiting for you.

Watermark's MySpace page. Many great authors come to Watermark, and we want to share memories of their visits with you. Our MySpace page is stocked with event photos and more, and it has also attracted several literary friends, including Paulo Coehlo, Matt Haig, Elizabeth Gilbert, and David Levithan. We hope you'll friend us, too. Check out our MySpace