Events
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14
Start: 3:00 pm
Presented by the GARDNER CENTER FOR ASIAN ART AND IDEAS. The Gardner Center hosts what should be a delightful program as noted translator and author (as Bill Porter) Red Pine discusses the recently released new edition of his translation of Lao-Tzu's Taoteching (Copper Canyon Press). This translation features not only Lao-Tzu's timeless poetic text, but translations of selected Chinese commentaries over the past 2,000 years. "With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the Taoteching works as both a readable text and a valuable resource of Taoist interpretation." - Publishers Weekly. Some other recent Red Pine translations include: In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu, The Platform Sutra, The Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, Poems of the Masters: China's Classical Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse, and The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. There are also Bill Porter's books: Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China and Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. Free entry, with Seattle Art Museum admission. Advance reservations suggested. Please see www.seattleartmuseum.org for more information. The Seattle Asian Art Museum is at 1400 E. Prospect in Volunteer Park. | 15
Start: 7:00 pm
Co-presented with the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Award-winning novelist Chang-rae Lee, who has read with Elliott Bay for each of his three highly acclaimed novels, makes this welcome Seattle return for his much-anticipated new novel, The Surrendered (Riverhead). Good as Native Speaker (winner of the PEN-Hemingway Award), A Gesture Life, and Aloft, his earlier novels were, The Surrendered signals a major leap, in every way. "The odyssey of a Korean War refugee becomes first the subject of, then a haunting overture ... In its ineffably quiet way, there really is something Tolstoyan in this searching fiction's determination to understand the characters specifically as members of families and products of other people's influences ... A major achievement, likely to be remembered as one of the year's best books." - Kirkus Reviews. "Lee's masterful fourth novel bursts with drama and human anguish as it documents the ravages and indelible effects of war ... traumas reverberate throughout the characters' lives, determining the destructive relationship that develops ... as the plot rushes forward and back in time, encompassing graphic scenes of suffering, carnage, and emotional wreckage. Powerful, deeply felt, compulsively readable and imbued with moral gravity, the novel does not peter out into easy redemption. It's a harrowing tale: bleak, haunting, often heartbreaking—and not to be missed." - Publishers Weekly. Free admission is on a first-come, first serve basis. Special $5 parking coupons for the Central Library garage are available on a limited basis for those attending the program. The Microsoft Auditorium of the Seattle Public Central Library is at 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Madison and Spring). For more information on tonight, please call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, The Seattle Public Library at (206) 386-4636, or see www.spl.org. | 16
Start: 7:00 pm
In his new book, The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today (Knopf), National Book Critics Circle Award-winning writer Ted Conover takes routes in use in the world today—and masterfully tells a big story of how we are connected—and separated—by the roads and routes we make to travel on, to transport goods, to make escapes, and also to control. Peru, the West Bank, the Himalayas, Nigeria, east Africa, and China: all figure vividly in this arresting, provocative book by the author of Newjack, Coyoytes, and Rolling Nowhere. "Ted Conover's exploration of six far-flung roads—from a truck route over the Andes to an ambulance crew's rounds in Lagos, Nigeria—will prove a delight, while at the same time serving to remind that in many places of the world the act of getting around is an art marked by pride, lust, corruption, and bloodshed." - Erik Larson. "Ted Conover is one of the great writers of my generation, and this may be his finest book. Fearless and compassionate, with echoes of Conrad and Kerouac, it explores how the road, once a symbol of limitless possibility, has become a path to annihilation." - Eric Schlosser. | 17
Start: 7:00 pm
Danielle Trussoni received good attention for her 2006 memoir, Falling Through the Earth, including citation by the New York Times for being one of the ten best books of the year. She goes a whole other direction for her first novel, the radiantly absorbing Angelology (Viking). "A covert age-old war between angels and humans serves as the backdrop for Trussoni's gripping tale of supernatural thrills and divine destinies ... Trussoni anchors this fanciful dark fantasy to a solid foundation built from Catholic church history, biblical exegesis, and apocryphal texts. Suspenseful intrigues and apocalyptic battle scenes give this complexly plotted tale a vigor and vitality all the more exciting for its intelligence." - Publishers Weekly. Start: 7:30 pm
Most known as the co-star and executive producer for the longtime HBO hit, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jeff Garlin has also made the rounds as a stand-up comedian (a Second City alum, so it might be second nature), and as a film director (I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With). His book debut, My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World (Simon and Schuster), is both a laughing matter—and not. It is an account of his working to lighten both his carbon footprint—and the weight of his very own footprint. Less consumption—the attempts—are in there somewhere. It is good, it is edifying, and some points are made. This should be fun. $5 tickets are available at Elliott Bay or via www.brownpapertickets.com (and 1-800-838-3006) beginning February 24th. Town Hall Seattle is at 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca). For more information on this evening, please call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600. | 18
Start: 6:30 pm
Co-presented with the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A young writer whose work has been selected for both the Best American Essays and the Best American Mysteries series, and has written a praised book of stories (Teach the Free Man), Peter Nathaniel Malae visits with a powerful debut novel, What We Are (Grove Press). "The voice is gold ... A high energy rant by a half-Samoan/half-white drifter trying to survive in a world bent on marginalizing seekers of truth and integrity ... [What We Are] bears a message that in the face of the madness of the modern world, the most important thing is to know yourself and to hold onto that at whatever cost." - Publishers Weekly. "Malae possesses a prodigious command of the masculine American idiom and its ironies. Paul—the unforgettable protagonist of What We Are—is that rarest of literary creatures these days: a hard-living, oft-brawling, culture-straddling, foul-mouthed juggernaut, one who's as liable to throw a punch as he is to break your heart." - Rattawut Lapcharoensap, joined in early praise by Sherman Alexie and Russell Banks. Free admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Rainier Beach Branch of the Seattle Public Library is at 9125 Rainier Avenue S. For more information on this evening, please call (206) 386-1906 or Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600. | 19
| 20
Start: 2:00 pm
Co-presented with THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A teenage with Aspergers is wrongly accused of the murder of his tutor in popular novelist Jodi Picoult's newest (18th!) book, House Rules (Atria). These bestselling novels, which pair compelling and timely stories with thoughtful, sympathetic characters, are favorites of many book groups—locally and around the country. "Picoult is at her razor-sharp best with House Rules. It's both a tender look at the depths of a mother's love and a searing examination of how we treat those who are different, and whether we expect them to play by the same rules." - BookPage. Free admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Special $5 parking coupons for the Central Library garage are available on a limited basis for those attending. The Microsoft Auditorium at the Seattle Public Central Library is at 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Madison and Spring). For more information, please call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, The Seattle Public Library at (206) 386-4636, or see www.spl.org. |
