TGIF! The library on Friday nights - all right!

Q: Where's a great place to spend Friday nights in Leavenworth?
A: TGIF at the LIBRARY, of course - in intimate conversation with an acclaimed author!

Q: But what if I can't make it Friday nights?
A: Take advantage of Second Chance Saturday, when our authors sign books at A Book For All Seasons and love to converse with thoughtful readers - no purchase necessary!

Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Pale Surface of Things by Janey Bennett - $21.95
Buy a SIGNED Copy of The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister - $24.95
Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Geography of Love - paperback by Glenda Burgess - $14.00
Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Geography of Love - hardback by Glenda Burgess - $22.95
Buy a SIGNED Copy of A Better View of Paradise by Randy Sue Coburn - $25.00
Buy a SIGNED Copy of Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn - $7.99
Buy a SIGNED Copy of Heart of Ice by Gregg Olsen - $6.99

TGIF at the Library Series Schedule
Fri, Jun 12 -  Janey Bennett, author of The Pale Surface of Things, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Leavenworth Library Sat, Jun 13 -  Janey Bennett, author of The Pale Surface of Things, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, A Book For All Seasons (book-signing) Janey Bennett's action-packed The Pale Surface of Things resonates with vitality and authenticity. In a remote village on the island of Crete, priests ride mopeds, goat rustlers wear ski masks, a groom abandons his bride at the altar, and a rootless young American runs face-first into history. The Pale Surface of Things received seven awards in 2008, including USA BookNews and Indie Excellence Awards ..., Click here to learn more...
Fri, Jul 17 -  Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Leavenworth Library Sat, Jul 18 -  Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, A Book For All Seasons (book-signing) Called "exquisitely written and heart-breakingly delicious," The School of Essential Ingredients expresses how everyday acts such as cooking provide an opportunity to slow down and focus. One by one, cooking students are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures they create: a lesson in cake-making leads to reflections on a marriage, tortillas teach a girl to believe in herself, and a man learns about love while creating tiramisu. Over time, the paths of the students mingle and intertwine, with results that are often unexpected, and always delicious. Click here to learn more...
Fri, Jul 24 -  Glenda Burgess, author of The Geography of Love, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Leavenworth Library Sat, Jul 25 -  Glenda Burgess, author of The Geography of Love, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, A Book For All Seasons (book-signing) Chosen as one of The Ten Best Books of 2008 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a finalist for the 2008 Books for a Better Life Award, Glenda's poignant and intimate memoir reminds us that love is always a leap of faith - and beautifully illustrates why we take it. Click here to learn more...
Fri, Aug 7 -  Randy Sue Coburn, author of A Better View of Paradise, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Leavenworth Library Sat, Aug 8 -  Randy Sue Coburn, author of A Better View of Paradise, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, A Book For All Seasons (book-signing) Dramatic, moving, and exquisitely written, A Better View of Paradise explores the tender bond between fathers and daughters, ponders the delicate nature of healing, and celebrates the redemptive power of forgiveness and love. Click here to learn more...
RESCHEDULED Fri, Aug 21 -  Gregg Olsen, author of Heart of Ice, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Leavenworth Library RESCHEDULED Sat, Aug 22 - Gregg Olsen, author of Heart of Ice, 1:00 - 3:00 PM, A Book For All Seasons (book-signing) Each victim was a sorority girl - pretty, privileged, and brutally murdered. There are no fingerprints, no clues. He is scrupulously careful, craving those exquisite seconds when the light fades from his victim's eyes. But the rush never lasts, and the killing won't stop. Not until one special woman has been made to suffer. Click here to learn more...

Kidnappings and killings, prayers and healing

Janey Bennett's ambitious, action-packed first novel resonates with vitality and authenticity. The fast-moving The Pale Surface of Things has kidnappings and killings, prayers and healing, ethics and ritual. In a remote village on the island of Crete, priests ride mopeds, goat rustlers wear ski masks, a groom abandons his bride at the altar, and a rootless young American runs face-first into history.

Bennett immediately grabs the reader's attention when Douglas, a young archeologist on the Greek Isle of Crete, leaves his bride standing (and fuming) at the altar. Realizing that marriage to the wealthy, spoiled young woman he was being pushed into marrying would be a huge mistake, Douglas simply takes flight, without money or even his passport. He seeks refuge in the nearby hills, and is befriended by a local widow and her son. When a masked robber attacks the boy, Douglas leaps to the boy's defense, stabbing the robber.

When the robber's identity is revealed, Douglas is in more trouble than he knew was possible - and that's only the first complication! Greek law, village traditions, and the Orthodox Church teach Douglas lessons of shame, terror, gratitude, forgiveness, and ultimately, accountability. The Pale Surface of Things is filled with fascinating characters, surprising twists, and through it all, a solid optimism about the strength of the human spirit.

The Pale Surface of Things received seven awards in 2008, including a USA BookNews Award, Indie Excellence Award, Next Generation Indies Award, Nautilus Book Award, and Beach Book Festival Awards, and is a finalist for the 2009 Montaigne Medal.

Reviews

"Winner of seven book awards in 2008, The Pale Surface of Things certainly lives up to its reputation. Filled with strange yet authentic characters, it focuses on a Cretan village filled with thrilling and entertaining writing that will keep the reader glued to the book from first page to last. A tale of small village life, The Pale Surface of Things takes what seems to be a simple concept and adds enough twists to make it believable and a great reading choice." — The Midwest Book Review

"A novel that combines the fast-forward movement of a thriller with the authenticity of place and human frailty of literary fiction." — Joanna Catherine Scott, author of The Road from Chapel Hill

"Superb imagination. Wonderful interweaving. High moral principles. Good reading for everyone." — Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios, Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto

About the Author

Janey has a master's degree in architectural history. In addition to scholarly architectural writing, her career path has included a landscape design business ("Water-Less Gardens"), teaching dressage riding, training dressage horses, teaching English to nuns in Thailand, and free-lance editing. For fun, Janey is a performing ensemble cellist, and an author. In the seven years Janey spent writing The Pale Surface of Things, Janey studied classical Greek, Byzantine icon painting, geology, botany, the vernacular architecture and sociology of Greek villages, Minoan culture and art, the science of archaeology, World War II on Crete, and criminal law in Greece.

Janey's next novel (working title: Jia Li) has received the Joanna Catherine Scott Novel Excerpt Award from PEN Nob Hill's Soul-Making Awards. Janey has lived in many parts of the world, and currently divides her time between Bellingham, WA and Hornby Island, BC.

Learn more at http://www.palesurfaceofthings.com

Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Pale Surface of Things - $21.95

Exquisitely written and heart-breakingly delicious

Called "exquisitely written and heart-breakingly delicious" by reviewers, The School of Essential Ingredients expresses how the act of cooking provides an opportunity to slow down and focus on our senses rather than the speed of our world. One by one, cooking school students are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create: a lesson in cake-making leads to reflections on a marriage, tortillas teach a girl to believe in herself, and a man learns about love while creating tiramisu. Over time, the paths of the students mingle and intertwine, with results that are often unexpected, and always delicious.

Erica says about her book: I think cooking is a language... The women I met in Italy had learned cooking as children from their mothers. They approached ingredients as parts of a conversation; they knew how each ingredient talked to the others and they didn't need or want a recipe to tell them what to do. They simply listened to the food...

I always love it when a reader says "Oh, now I am going to go home and cook my husband/wife a real dinner" and you just know what that dinner will turn into. But perhaps my favorite response was from an American reader living in a small town in Mexico. She volunteers in a shelter for street kids, cooking them lunch once a week. She said that even though the kids were obviously hungry, they wouldn't always eat what she prepared. She wrote that after she read Isabelle's story, she cooked a real Mexican pork stew and that the kids ate every bite and she got 83 hugs.

In the end, what I hope people take away from The School of Essential Ingredients is that cooking can be a sensual experience that slows down time, but that cooking is also about thinking about other people. When we really cook for other people, we are seeing them - who they are, what will make them happy, excite or comfort them. And when we eat something that has been prepared, beautifully and especially for us, we feel loved, taken care, seen.

Reviews

"In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence...Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister's tale of food and hope is sure to satisfy." — Publisher's Weekly

"With magical language, first-time novelist Bauermeister weaves the lives of the students in Lillian's class with the meals prepared and life lessons learned. Strong, sensuous writing leaves the reader hungry for more." — Indie Next Pick

"Exquisitely written and heartbreakingly delicious. It's a luscious slice of life...you will enjoy every bit." — Sarah Addison Allen, author of Garden Spells

Learn more at http://www.ericabauermeister.com

Buy a SIGNED Copy of The School of Essential Ingredients - $24.95

Love is a leap of faith

Chosen as one of The Ten Best Books of 2008 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a finalist for the 2008 Books for a Better Life Award, The Geography of Love is a powerful and moving exploration of love tested by unthinkable circumstances, and of our ability to love and trust no matter what the odds. It is also a poignant love letter to a woman's great love, a man who had lost so much yet taught her to see every twist and turn that life offers as an adventure and an opportunity. This tender and intimate memoir asks the age-old question of whether it is better to have loved and lost than have never loved at all — and answers with a resounding yes. The Geography of Love reminds us that love is always a leap of faith - and beautifully illustrates why we take it.

Excerpt from The Geography of Love:

At nine years old, I was ready for real explanations, heavy truth, clues and answers to bigger mysteries than long division... Please, I begged silently, tell me the truth. I knew with deep inner conviction that the way my father answered my question would somehow affect the way I asked and answered questions the rest of my life.
He tossed out another stone as he considered the darkening sky.
"Just a bit of chance and chaos, Sunshine," he said. "Atoms that dance."
I think back to that long ago conversation as I ponder the effects of luck and disaster on the human heart. A child then, I had no real awareness of human fragility, but I absolutely knew shooting stars pirouetted across the universe. Life, my search for truth, seemed dusted by a dash of magic.
Only now in the wake of fortune, do I truly understand.

Reviews

"Burgess' tender recollections...remind us all that we tend to be defined by our great loves well after we've lived them." — Elle Magazine

"...startling, memorable, and deeply moving. With gentle, deliberate strokes...increasingly engrossing... Burgess's journey possesses bravery and open-eyed clarity." — Publishers Weekly

"The Geography of Love is a memoir that is a wonderful love story. We all know that falling in love can be powerful and consuming, but in the throes of passion we often forget how great love also carries risk. Love brings us immense joy but also makes us vulnerable. That's the other side of love. A shadow on Ken's lung changed everything. What happens after this is a very special love story that is more courageous and beautiful than the idyllic one that came before." — Carol Fitzgerald, BookReporter.com

About the Author

GLENDA BURGESS is a winner of the Rupert Hughes Award for literary fiction, and a short story finalist for the New Century Writer Award. She is the author of the novels Loose Threads and Exposures. Her memoir, The Geography of Love, was named one of The Ten Best Books of 2008 by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a finalist for the 2008 Books for a Better Life Award.

After completing nearly a decade of government service on Capitol Hill and for the U.S. State Department in Washington DC, Ms. Burgess left government service to study creative writing. Glenda is a popular featured author at writing workshops and conferences, and has recently read her work at the Hawaiian Writers Conference, The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Conference, Portland's Wordfest, and the Inland Northwest Get Lit! Writers Festival.

A note from Glenda's website:
Dear Reader,
As I travel from bookstore to bookstore meeting so many of you, I hope that in these challenging times you are comforted by this simple truth — books are great friends when times are tough. Books stick around, pack easily, make wonderful gifts, encourage and delight, and yes, happily distract us when we'd appreciate taking a break. In a book we find hope. The wisdom, humor, tales of adventure and survival might be just the words we crave to hear. Beauty and poetry collide. Ever had the experience of the right book dropping into your hands the precise moment you needed it most? I have. So visit your bookstore, say hello to your neighbor, turn off the news and read.

Learn more at http://www.glendaburgessbooks.com

Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Geography of Love - paperback - $14.00
Buy a SIGNED Copy of The Geography of Love - hardback - $22.95

The redemptive power of forgiveness and love

Dramatic, moving, and exquisitely written, A Better View of Paradise explores the tender bond between fathers and daughters, ponders the delicate nature of healing, and celebrates the redemptive power of forgiveness and love. A celebrated landscape architect famed for the evocative natural beauty of her designs, thirty-six-year-old Stevie Pollack has arrived. And then suddenly — she hasn't! Blasted by critics and abruptly dumped by her boyfriend, Stevie seeks solace by returning to her childhood home of Hawai'i, with its comforting traditions and calming waters.

But returning home is never simple. The shocking news that her father is dying forces their reunion into high gear. Stevie discovers sides of her father she never knew, including family secrets that have shaped their lives. What started as a holiday escape becomes a chance for transformation. Inspired by her father's insight, and energized by the attentions of an attractive local veterinarian, Stevie learns to surrender her inhibitions and seize every beautiful day in a reconfigured paradise.

Reviews for A Better View of Paradise

"Randy Sue Coburn writes with a rare combination of crisp intelligence and lush sensuality. Reading A Better View of Paradise, your dreams will be infused—as mine were—with the spicy-sweet scents of island cooking, the mischievous interventions of Hawaiian goddesses, and tropical flowers in bloom." — Stephanie Kallos, author of Sing Them Home

"Coburn's moving tale reminds us that sometimes we need to jump in and give ourselves over to love completely, even when the past has taught us that love can be a terrifying thing." — Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Owl Island, Randy Sue's previous novel, has also received high acclaim. With memorable characters as diverse as the novel's settings—from fishing village to Seattle's high-tech world to Hollywood—Owl Island is a beautifully wrought tale about mothers and daughters, power and control, and the liberating lessons of opening one's heart.

About the Author

Randy Sue Coburn is an award-winning screenplay writer whose works have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Her essays and articles have appeared in numerous national magazines and major newspapers, including Esquire, Smithsonian, Elle, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune. Her screenplays include Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, and her novels include Remembering Jody, Owl Island, and A Better View of Paradise. She and her husband and terrier live along the waterfront in downtown Seattle.

Learn more at http://www.randysuecoburn.com

Buy a SIGNED Copy of A Better View of Paradise - $25.00
Buy a SIGNED Copy of Owl Island - $7.99

The killing won't stop

Three bodies, three different towns. Each victim was a sorority girl - pretty, privileged, and brutally murdered. There are no fingerprints, no clues. He is scrupulously careful, craving those exquisite seconds when the light fades from his victim's eyes. But the rush never lasts, and the killing won't stop. Not until one special woman has been made to suffer.

Reviews

"Olsen will leave you on the edge of your seat." — Lee Child

"Gregg Olsen's work is absolutely top notch, masterful..." — Dennis McDougal

"Compelling, engrossing; an absorbing, enjoyable read." — Romantic Times

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen has a gift for thrillers, both fictitious and true crime. His detailed narratives offer readers fascinating insights into the lives of people caught in extraordinary circumstances. If you love Heart of Ice, Gregg's latest page-turner, you'll want to look for A Cold Dark Place, A Wicked Snow, Cruel Deception, Abandoned Prayers, and more by Gregg.

Gregg's non-fiction honors include Idaho Book of the Year for The Deep Dark and honors by Washington's Secretary of State for Starvation Height's contribution to Washington state history and culture. In addition to his numerous television and radio appearances, Gregg has been featured in Redbook, USA Today, People, Salon magazine, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times and the New York Post. The Seattle native currently lives in Olalla, Washington with his wife, twin daughters, three chickens, an obedience-school-dropout cocker spaniel, and a mini-dachshund with an inordinate fondness for sweaters.

Visit Gregg at http://www.greggolsen.com

Buy a SIGNED Copy of Heart of Ice - $6.99