Events
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Start: 11:30 am
Join us for this fun round of readings from picture and storybooks ... Go to the castle in the children's section ... and the stories begin!
Start: 4:00 pm
Our selection for September is Godless by Pete Hautman. Fifteen year old, Jason Bock, rebels against his parents religion by creating one of his own centered around the town's ten-legged water tower. Initially meant as a joke, the worship of the "Ten-legged God" spins dangerously out of his control when his followers begin taking things a little too seriously. A funny, scary, provocative mix of "faith-crisis" and the chaos of adolescence. Please join su for what is sure to be a lively discussion!
Start: 6:30 pm
As the literature of ideas and imagination, Science Fiction and Fantasy simply demands discussion. Our September selection is the inspiration for the movie Bladerunner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time.
By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep...They even built humans. Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in. Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
Start: 7:00 pm
One of the finest younger writers to come from England in recent years, Tom McCarthy is here from his London home to read from his new novel, C. (Knopf), which is longlisted for this year's MAN Booker Prize. Already highly praised for his debut novel, Remainder ("One of the great English novels of the past ten years" - Zadie Smith), and an earlier work, Tintin and the Secret of Literature, Tom McCarthy in C. takes readers back a century to turn-of-the-century England, and then sets off wildly and inventively from there. "C is for carbon and cocaine, Cairo and CQ, and many other things besides. Under the elegant curve of the letter lies a fantastically detailed landscape of tiny pen-strokes that, if seen from high enough above, coalesce into a face, laughing uproariously. Tom McCarthy's latest is terrifically stylish, acrobatic, and insidious." - Luc Sante.
Start: 7:30 pm
Co-presented with the Town Hall Center for Civic Life and Soundings from Island Press. Energy issue consulting executive Peter Fox-Penner is here with his timely, recent book, Smart Power: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities (Island Press). "Few economist/engineers understand the electricity system as well as Peter Fox-Penner, and far fewer can explain it as lucidly. Whether or not you agree with every detail, his vision of the opportunities, risks, uncertainties, and tipping-points of this vast and crucial industry is powerful and provocative." - Amory B. Lovins. "A valuable and insightful analysis of where the U.S. electric power industry is headed and what it must do to successfully transition to a low-carbon environment." - Mark Crisson. $5 tickets are available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m., or in advance via www.brownpapertickets.com (1-800-838-3006). Preferred seating for Town Hall members. evening, please call Elliott Bay at (206) 624-6600, Town Hall at (206) 652-4255, or see www.townhallseattle.org.
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