September 30, 2004
In this issue:
October Calendar.
Mystery Book Club.
Book of the Week.
Footnote of the Week.
Watermark Winner.
First lines...
Watermark Bestsellers.
Today's Sample.
"Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide
Bombers" by
Barbara Victor, review by Mark Bradshaw.
"Shopaholic and Sister" by Sophie Kinsella, review by Louise
Cale.
"Rain Storm" by Barry Eisler, review by Bruce Jacobs.
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October is here! No, I'm not really excited about it, but I'm sure
you're
becoming fed up with my constant lament of the quick passage of time.
So I
have a fake smile frozen on my face and I will pretend to embrace it!
Celebrate October by attending one of these great Watermark events.
October 1-3. Holiday Galleria: A Shopping Event for Children’s
Literacy at
Century II. Stop by and see us at booth #131!
October 4. Reading & Book Signing. "Plains Crazy"
by Mike Hayes. 7:00
p.m., free. Pre-event Literary Feast dinner, 6:00 p.m.,
$8.95. Call
682-1181 for more information.
October 5, 12, 19, 26. Storytime. 10:30 a.m.
October 5. Watermark Spanish Bookclub meets to discuss "Casi Una
Mujer" by
Esmeralda Santiago. 6:30 p.m. The group is led by LuAnn Rivera.
October 9. Presentation, Samples & Book Signing.
"Dinner is Served:
Recipes and Remembrances of Barbara Walker Franklin" by Regina
Franklin-Basye. 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., free.
October 10. Book Signing. "Your Garagenous Zone" by
Bill West. 3:00 -
5:00 p.m., free.
October 12. Watermark Classic Bookclub will meet to discuss "Long
Day’s
Journey into Night" by Eugene O’Neill. 6:30 p.m. The group is led
by
Marilyn Parrish.
October 14. Book Signing. "Guess Who’s Coming to Santa’s
for Dinner?" by
Tomie dePaola. 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Call 682-1181 for ticket
information.
October 15. The Crowsons play in the cafe from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
October 19. Watermark Bookclub meets to discuss "Getting Mother’s
Body" by
Suzan-Lori Parks, 6:30 p.m. The group is led by Beth Golay.
October 20. Watermark French Bookclub. Join us at 6:30 p.m. as
we discuss
"Les Fiançailles de M. Hire" by George Simenon. The group is
led by Sarah
Jewell.
October 23. Reading & Book Signing. June Rae Wood, author of
"A Share of
Freedom," "The Man Who Loved Clowns," and many others.
10:00 a.m.
October 26. Watermark Discovery Bookclub will meet to discuss
"Angels and
Demons" by Dan Brown. 6:30 p.m. The group is led by Randy
Roebuck.
October 28. Reading & Book Signing. "University
Boulevard" by A.B.
Hollingsworth. 7:00 p.m., free.
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Coming in November... the Watermark Mystery Book Club!
Beginning
November 2nd, the group will meet the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30
p.m.
to discuss a mystery book. The group will discuss "Foul Matter" by
Martha
Grimes on November 2nd, and "Tell No One" by Harlan Coben on
December 7th.
The group will be led by Melody Robinson.
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The Book of the Week is
The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden
Dimensions of Your Life by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, ISBN
0517706245,
orig. $23.00., sale $16.10.) Every life is a book of secrets, ready to
be
opened. The secret of perfect love is found there, along with the
secrets
of healing, compassion, faith, and the most elusive one of all: who
we
really are. We are still mysteries to ourselves, despite the proximity
of
these answers, and what we most long to know remains lodged deep inside.
Because answers to the questions at the center of life are
counterintuitive,
they are often hidden from view, sequestered from our everyday gaze. In
his
ongoing quest to elevate our experience, best-selling author Deepak
Chopra
has isolated fifteen secrets that drive the narrative of this inspiring
book - and of our lives. The Book of Secrets is rich with
insights, a
priceless treasure that can transport us beyond change to
transformation,
and from there to a sacred place where we can savor the nectar of
enlightenment.
Shop online or in the store, this week
The Book of Secrets is 30% off.
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The Footnote of the Week: Magz! I think we've sold more
of these to
adults
than to children. A fun magnetic construction toy, connect the balls
and
magnetic bars in various combinations for an endless amount of figure
possibilities.
Save 30% this week on Magz, GyroMagz, or SuperMagz.
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This week's winner of the free lunch from Watermark Cafe is Jim York of
Wichita. Thanks for signing up for News & Notes.
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First lines...
"Isabel Dalhousie saw the young man fall from the edge of the upper
circle,
from the gods."
from
The Sunday Philosophy Club: An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery by
Alexander
McCall Smith (Pantheon, ISBN 0375422986, $19.95.)
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Watermark Bestsellers
1. "The Grim Grotto" by Lemony Snicket
2. "The Man Who Loved Clowns" by June Rae Wood
3. "Guess Who's Coming to Santa's for Dinner?" by Tomie
dePaola
4. "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
5. "Petey" by Ben Mikaelsen
6. "The Foster's Market Cookbook" by Sara Foster
7. "Red Midnight" by Ben Mikaelsen
8. "The Pursuit of Alice Thrift" by Elinor Lipman
9. "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank
10. "Orchard" by Larry Watson
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Today's Sample: Chocolate Pound Cake found on page 275 of
The Foster's
Market Cookbook by Sara Foster (Random House, ISBN 0375505466,
$35.00.)
Stop by the cafe or bookstore to try a taste.
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"Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide
Bombers" by
Barbara Victor (Rodale Press, ISBN 157954830X, $23.95)
On January 27, 2002, a woman named Wafa Idris, a volunteer paramedic with
a
Palestinian ambulance service, walked into a crowded Israeli shopping
center
on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road and blew herself up. She was only the
forty-seventh Palestinian suicide bomber but the very first female one.
Her
death followed a speech given earlier the same day by Yasser Arafat, head
of
the Palestinian Authority. He urged women to join the violent uprising
of
the intifada, to become his "army of roses" deployed against
Israel.
What leads someone to martyrdom? And what drives that person to kill?
Those
are heavy questions, and Barbara Victor argues that there's no single
answer. The causes are personal as well as societal, she says, and
they're
different for men than for women. Victor has covered the Middle East for
CBS
Television and U.S. News and World Report; "Army of Roses" grew
out of a
documentary film in which she interviewed families of female suicide
bombers, imprisoned "failed" bombers, psychologists, and various
Israeli and
Palestinian government officials close to the on-going political
violence.
The contents of those interviews are a shock if not a surprise: they show
us
parents who simultaneously mourn and celebrate their children becoming
murderers, manipulative religious and political figures who take
advantage
of young women's desire for freedom and action, and an occupied culture
that
has become obsessed with violent martyrdom. Over the course of the book,
Victor develops an image of the new breed of female suicide bomber and
details the elaborate infrastructure of male recruiters and handlers who
train them to kill. Most striking are her descriptions of the severely
circumscribed lives that lead women to view martyrdom as a welcome
release.
Victor frames the personal stories with a view of the larger political
context for suicide bombing, concentrating on events from the mid-1980s
to
early 2003. She's neither pro-Palestinian nor pro-Israeli; she seeks to
empathize with her subjects' pain, but shuns the cyclic violence and
criticizes the callous use of women as political symbols. Her book would
benefit from a stronger organizational scheme, but it remains a vivid
and
balanced examination of a difficult and unsettling topic. It’s
especially
recommended for those with interests in the stumbling Mid-East peace
process, the mechanics of terrorism, or Muslim women’s lives.
Review by Mark Bradshaw
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"Shopaholic and Sister" by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Books, ISBN
0385338090,
$23.00)
Becky has returned to England from her honeymoon (a ten month trip
around
the world) to find that everything has changed. Her best friend Suze
has a
new best friend and she discovers she has a long lost sister! Bex
is
convinced that she and her sister will be the best of friends, but how
could
someone so closely related to Becky hate shopping?
Kinsella's newest novel is just as well written as the first three
installments in the Shopaholic series. This hilarious shopping spree
keeps
you on the edge of your seat while Becky tries to battle off her debts,
get
her best friend back, and find something that she and her sister have in
common.
Review by Louise Cale
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"Rain Storm" by Barry Eisler (Putnam Publishing Group, ISBN
0399151923,
$24.95)
John Rain, the assassin, is back at work. Barry Eisler created
this
character a few years ago in what has become the "Rain series"
(look for
"Hard Rain" and "Rain Fall", his earlier novels.
Can "Chance of Rain" be
far behind?)
Rain, of mixed Asian descent, worked Japan in the first two books.
Eisler
had Tokyo down cold. But the heat was on (ok, enough with the weather
now) and
Rain disappeared into a new identity and the Favelas of Rio to lie low,
hone his Judo skills, and look for a woman he couldn’t quite let go.
But
his contacts in the CIA found him at a vulnerable moment (he was out of
money and the woman didn’t work out), so Rain went back to work.
Eisler’s new book capitalizes on the post-9/11 world of
"pre-emptive"
defense. The CIA has the green light today to take out all the bad
guys on
its "list" and nobody does it better than ex-Vietnam vet John
Rain. Equally
timely, Eisler has set the new book in China – specifically the recently
acquired former colonies of Macau and Hong Kong.
The bodies pile up (although dressed in Brioni, they are no match for
Rain)
and the plot moves around the world. It is hard to tell who are the
good
guys and who the bad (we have the same problem in the White House,) so
Rain
finally trusts only his instincts and sense of self-preservation. In
the
end that is all one has.
Eisler is good. Not only is John Rain a well-drawn character, but
the
ambience of the cities of Macau, Hong Kong, Rio, even Washington DC is
captured in all its nuance and chaos. Where will Rain be needed
next?
Bruce Jacobs
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Bring on November.
Later.
Beth
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