Watermark Books and Cafe

In this issue:

News and Notes Worthy: Milkshake, Memorial Day, and Rebekah's play.

Upcoming Events.

Book of the Week.

Watermark Winner.

First line(s)...

Watermark Bestsellers.

"My New American Life" by Francine Prose, review by Sarah Bagby. 

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Our featured milkshake flavor at Watermark Café is huckleberry. Huckleberry! I'm having one right now and I have three words for you. Oh my. 

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Watermark Books & Café will be closed on Monday, May 30th, in observance of Memorial Day. The website is always open... especially for those with eReaders. Go to www.watermarkbooks.com for instant gratification.  

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There are three more opportunities to see Theatre On Consignment production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" during its final weekend. The play is directed by our own Rebekah Rine. Did you see the review in last Friday's Eagle? The performances this weekend are May 26, 27, & 28 at 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30). Performances are at First Metropolitan Community Church, 156 S. Kansas St. (one block south and east of Douglas & Hydraulic). Ticket prices are $12 for general public and $10 for seniors, students, and military. For reservations, call (316) 941-9436. 

Winner of the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play, it portrays husband and wife George and Martha in a searing night of dangerous fun and games with a young couple they have just met. By the evening’s end, a stunning, almost unbearable revelation provides a climax that has shocked audiences for years. Albee’s stripping away of social pretense and razor-sharp dialogue made it a ground breaking work of art. It has become a staple of contemporary American theatre. (It is for mature audiences only, with strong language and adult themes.) 

Highly recommended. 

http://www.theatreonconsignment.com/ 

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Lots of fun Watermark events as we wrap up May and dive into June...  

Friday, May 27, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Join us for the Final Friday reception for "Growing" - a group show featuring the art of Grace Langness, Molly Obermueller and Tarah Spencer.  

Sunday, May 29, all day. Seasoned Readers Great Galley Giveaway. With any purchase in the bookstore or café, Seasoned Readers members can walk away with up to three free galleys. (While they last.) If you're not already a member of this frequent buyer program, become one today!  

Monday, May 30. Closed for Memorial Day.  

Thursday, June 2, 7:00 p.m. James Mason will be at Watermark for a presentation and book signing for "Wichita's Riverside Parks."  

Monday, June 6, 7:00 p.m. Storm Chaser presentation with Mike Smith, Jenna Blum, and Jim Reed.These three authors will be at Watermark to talk about storm chasing and their books: Warnings: The True Story of How Science Tamed the Weather by Mike Smith (Greenleaf, ISBN 9781608320349, $24.95); The Stormchasers: A Novel by Jenna Blum (Plume, ISBN 9780452297135, $15.00); and Storm Chasers: A Photographer's Journey by Jim Reed (Abrams, ISBN 9780810921474, $21.95)

Buy all three books the evening of the event and the price will be $60. (Suggested retail price of all three is $72.85.) Purchase any two books, receive a free poster which the authors will be happy to autograph.  

Tuesday, June 7, 7:00 p.m. Karl Marlantes will be here for a reading and signing of Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War. It was a conflict that divided our nation more bitterly than any event since the Civil War. As campuses erupted inviolence and protesters took to the streets, young American's on the other side of the world found themselves embroiled in brutal combat for unclear reasons. Karl Marlantes was one of them. Written over the course of thirty years, Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war.  

A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, his debut, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, and a "Best of 2010" in Time, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, and The Washington Post. It was just released in paperback.  

Wednesday, June 8, 6:00 p.m. Join us as we kick off our Summer Challenge! Plan on challenging yourself to read the new translation of Doctor Zhivago with us this summer. Other meeting dates at Watermark are scheduled for June 22, July 13, and July 27. All discussion meetings begin at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, June 9, 7:00 p.m. Marci Penner will be here to talk about her new book, "8 Wonders of Kansas."  The "8 Wonders of Kansas Guidebook" is a 272-page book filled with over 800 beautiful photos of the 216 entries in the 8 Wonders of Kansas contests. It is certain to become a treasured Kansas classic whether it's used as a coffee table book or as a travel guide.

Sunday, June 12, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. W. Dale Horst & Rose Marie Horst will be here to sign their book, "Frederick Stuart Church: A Brush with Imagination" by (Goose Pond Press, ISBN 9780615391052, $79.95) Bringing together all of Church's activities; illustration, painting, etching, and writing, the authors present a comprehensive review of his creative expression that, combined with details of his life provides the basis for a new and fuller appreciation of the man and his art. The completely documented text supported by 256 illustrations (71 in full color) and more than 800 references is the result of 20 years of intensive research by the authors.   

June 16, 17, & 18. Stop by the southwest corner of Douglas and Oliver for the Lincoln Heights Sidewalk Sale!  

For more information about these events, please visit our website here.  

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Our Book of the Week is College Safety 101: Miss Independent's Guide to Empowerment, Confidence, and Staying Safe by Kathleen Baty (Chronicle Books, ISBN 9780811869492, originally $16.95)  

A must-have for every young woman headed off to college, this comprehensive guide to personal safety covers everything from daily life to more serious threats on campus. Safety expert and speaker Kathleen Baty offers young women essential advice for protecting themselves in the dorm, at parties, on Facebook, during spring break, and while studying abroad. She also advises on sexual harassment, domestic violence, and self-defense. Written in a friendly, accessible tone, and packed with checklists, personal anecdotes from students, safety secrets, and invaluable resources, College Safety 101 is the handbook every college student needs on her nightstand, and a priceless gift for high school grads. 

Shop here or in the store; this week College Safety 101: Miss Independent's Guide to Empowerment, Confidence, and Staying Safe is 30% off. 

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This week's winner of a free lunch from Watermark Café is Suzette Peil of Wichita. Thanks for signing up for News & Notes. 

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First line(s)...  

"They spoke of it then as the dream of a lifetime, and for many, for all the difficulties and setbacks encountered, it was to be one of the best times ever." 

from... The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, ISBN 9781416571766, $37.50) 

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Watermark Bestsellers.

1. "Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gywnne

2. "Cooking with Bonnie: Farm to France" by Bonnie Aeschliman

3. "Wichita's Riverside Parks" by James Mason

4. "Eight Wonders of Kansas" by Marci Penner

5. "Pretend the World" by Kathryn Kysar

6. "So Happy Together" by Maryann McFadden

7. "Ghost Stories of the New West" by Denise Low

8. "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

9. "Emily, Alone" by Steward O’Nan

10. "Matterhorn" by Karl Marlantes 

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Sarah's book reviews can be heard on alternate Mondays on KMUW 89.1. You can read her most recent review below or listen to it here:

My New American Life by Francine Prose Francine Prose has already written more than 26 books. Maybe it’s her name. In her new novel, “My New American Life," twenty-six-year-old Lulu, a recent émigré from Tirana Albania, answers a Craigslist ad and  becomes “nanny” to Zeke, a high school senior. Mr. Stanley, Zeke's father, works on Wall Street and is rarely home. Zeke’s mother, in a fit of madness, fled the previous Christmas Eve.   

Life in the suburbs gets interesting when on the same day she gets her “legal papers,” some Albanians in a Black Lexus Suburban pull up in front of the Stanley’s house and ask Lulu to hide a gun. Her search for a hiding place gives Prose, a social satirist, license to guide us through a young woman’s most intimate possessions and what they indicate about class, power and comfort. No surprise: the safest place for the gun is in Lulu’s underwear drawer!   

Prose's sharp social satire observes Lulu's new American life largely on the surface, where, let’s face it, most of us really live. With characters as diverse as immigration lawyers, an awkward teen boy, scary and mysterious Albanian “brothers," Prose writes a breezy story with brevity and smarts enough to appeal to both the discriminating reader, and someone looking for an entertaining and suspenseful whodunit.   

Review by Sarah Bagby 

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Later.

Beth