Our Next Event

Michael Buckley - The Council of Mirrors

May 17 2012 10:30 am
May 17 2012 11:30 am
The Sisters Grimm series concludes with Daphne and Sabrina in a final confrontation with Mirror, traitor to the Grimms and bent on destroying them in order to escape Ferryport Landing.  Mirror’s nefarious plans threaten not only the Grimms—they imperil the entire world. Ages 9-12.

The Sisters Grimm: Book Nine: The Council of Mirrors (Hardcover)

By Michael Buckley, Peter Ferguson
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9781419701863
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 5/2012
Location: 
Street:
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
City:
Washington
,
Province:
District Of Columbia
Postal Code:
20008
Country:
United States

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Way down deep in the receiving room

Scoop

 

We’ve commented often in this space about our staff of expert booksellers, who curate an inventory of more than 60,000 books and engage customers in conversations about new titles, old favorites, and a whole range of literary tastes and preferences. They’re familiar faces to those who frequent the store. But this week we want to celebrate some unsung heroes at P&P—staff members who work behind the scenes and are equally important to the store’s operations.

Meet P&P’s “receivers.”

Downstairs in a windowless room with concrete floors (and occasional loud music) is where our crackerjack receiving team handles receiving and shipping. Led by Adam Waterreus, our receivers get a daily workout unloading boxes from delivery trucks in the morning. The boxes can number as many as 150 a day during the holiday season. Unpacking the books, the receivers enter each title into the store’s inventory system, attach price tags to each copy, and then deliver the books to the floor to be displayed and shelved.

That’s not all. They also pack up and ship books to customers and assemble the copies that need to be returned to publishers. It’s a strenuous job but one that requires great attention to detail.

Our receivers are an exceptionally creative group as well. Adam is an expert on graphic novels, writes fiction himself, and manages store maintenance and computer technology. (He also has a very mild-mannered German shepherd named Gina who occasionally patrols the floor.) Veteran receiver Leeza has a side gig at P&P authoring some of the store’s social media messages. She’s expert as well in graphic and Web design and is helping us revamp P&P’s Web site.

Frans, like Adam, is a graphic novel buff and helps with maintenance. But he’s an artist at heart: His apartment doubles as an art studio, and his work can be seen on P&P’s gift card, which shows an illustration of the storefront. Mark not only receives but also assists in buying and displaying “sidelines”—non-book items such as cards, calendars, journals, mugs, t-shirts, and other fun gifts we sell at P&P. As a self-proclaimed “shopaholic” with a background in design, Mark brings a creative and whimsical spirit to the bookselling world. Check out his humorous blurbs about new sidelines in the store’s weekly emails to customers. Last but not least, ace receiver Anders is a student of foreign policy, specifically the Middle East, and an amateur videographer, who is spearheading P&P’s new effort to videotape our author events. We’ll miss having him here full-time when he heads off to grad school in the fall.

No matter what job they’re doing, our receivers add immeasurably to the personal service that customers have come to expect at P&P, even if much of their work remains out of public view. Simply put, the store could not survive without these dedicated and enterprising staff members.

-- Brad and Lissa

 

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Graduation Gift Bags

Graduation Bags

This spring, give your graduate something not only to use, but to treasure. Our unique graduation gift bags, tailored for either high school or college graduates, combine practical reference guides with essential, inspirational classics handpicked by the Politics & Prose staff.  Also, don't forget to check out our awesome selection of graduation cards!

Everything comes individually gift-wrapped and carefully packaged in a sturdy P&P tote. We can ship to you or directly to the recipient, so please add a message, if desired. 

Choose from any of these great gift sets. Click here to see the options, and then click the title links to read more about the books, or see other suggestions for grads by clicking here.

Ticketed Events

 

Tuesday, June 19, 7 p.m.

CollinsGail Collins
As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda (Liveright, $25.95)
at Sixth & I Synagogue
600 I Street NW

Gail Collins declares that "what happens in Texas doesn't stay in Texas anymore." Not until she visited Texas, the state of big oil and bigger ambitions, did Collins, the best-selling author and columnist for the New York Times, realize that she had missed the one place that mattered most in America’s political landscape.

Through its vigorous support of banking deregulation, lax environmental standards, and draconian tax cuts, and through its fierce championing of states rights, gun ownership, and sexual abstinence, Texas has become the bellwether of a far-reaching national movement that continues to have profound social and economic consequences for us all. According to Collins, like it or not, as Texas goes, so goes the nation.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. One general admission ticket is $12 or receive two free tickets with the purchase of the book from Politics & Prose.

 

 

Book Notes

CollPrivate Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll (Penguin Press, $36)

Since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the oil and gas industry became an easy scapegoat and ExxonMobil its most diabolical symbol. The company repeatedly has put its stockholders and profit margins ahead of other issues, vehemently denying the dangers of a changing climate and the importance of energy security in a volatile world. Even the once-powerful US government cannot leash the terrible, titanic dog that is ExxonMobil, which generates 80% of its revenue abroad and is not concerned with looking out for US interests. Aptly, Mr. Coll applies the moniker “private empire.”

However, despite the obvious reasons one can call upon to abhor ExxonMobil, Mr. Coll ably and delicately balances his in-depth exposé of the infamous company with judicious objectivity. It would be easy to liken the company to the tobacco industry, which lobbied so hard against cigarette restrictions, even in the face of deathly serious facts about the dangers of smoking. Yet while the tobacco industry became reviled for pushing the sales of something some people want, ExxonMobil is in the business of selling something everyone needs - energy.

Mr. Coll researches and interviews a cast of hundreds in his detailed analysis, as he provokes the question: Is ExxonMobil to blame for making us addicted to oil, or are we to blame for enabling such a powerful behemoth by being addicted?

Steve Coll will present his book at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on Saturday, May 19 at 4 p.m. and at Politics & Prose on Sunday, May 20 at 5 p.m.

 

  • Anders Rosén

P&P Travel

Travel

 

Join us this fall on a Politics & Prose Literary Tour to France or Ireland. Travel with Folger Poetry Board President Gigi Bradford to Ireland, or with P&P senior book buyer Mark LaFramboise to Paris and the French Riviera. Details are available at by clicking through to www.politicsandprosetravel.com.

 

  • Susan Coll

P&P Classes

Classes

 

It’s not too late to enroll in a P&P class this spring.

Planning a trip to Italy? Join us on May 21 for coffee, cookies, and a two-hour travel primer in Andiamo!

On May 23, author Carol Wallace will help you get started in framing your history project, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, in The Lure of History.

On May 30, author Melanie Choukas-Bradley will lead a discussion about DC’s arboreal history, followed by a guided Capitol walk on June 3, in This Green City.

Other summer classes include:

Children and teen classes

P&P is also introducing these three summer classes for children and teens:

 

Click here for the full list of current and future classes. Click the images online to register for the classes.
  • Susan Coll

Bestsellers

All Politics & Prose Weekly Hardcover Bestsellers are 20% off for Members.
Click here to see what the community is reading and the top twelve hardcover fiction and non-fiction books we are discounting this week. These are our top two titles.

Bestsellers

In One Person, by John Irving
(Simon & Schuster, $28)
(Available with signed bookplates)
In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator, tells the tragicomic story of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by Irving in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp. In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers, as well as an intimate portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself “worthwhile.”

The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, by Robert A. Caro (Knopf, $35)
The eagerly awaited fourth volume in Caro’s monumental biography of Lyndon Johnson chronicles the 1960 election, LBJ’s relationships with John and Robert Kennedy, his frustrated tenure as vice president, the shock of JFK’s assassination, and Johnson’s masterful assumption of the presidency before the debacle of Vietnam.

You can watch our video of the talk by clicking here.

Click here for all 24 of our discounted bestsellers.

David's Deliberations

DeliberationsOn May 3, Politics & Prose hosted Andrew Delbanco for a talk about his insightful and stimulating book: College, What It Was, Is and Should Be (Princeton Univ., $24.95). Delbanco's scholarship is steeped in American culture and history - especially when it comes to the literary narrative. Lincoln, Melville and the legacy of the Puritans loom large in Delbanco's lifelong work, which has been animated by the ideals of equality, merit, opportunity, and hope.

Delbanco's lively and thoughtful presentation led to what amounted to a town meeting on the nature of college education, as participants raised their concerns about the astronomical costs of higher education, about the difficulties of preparing children for college, and about the infrequency of teaching that leads to critical thought and a passion to continue learning.

Click here for more.

  • David Cohen

eBooks of the Week

Ebooks

I was once again horrified by a customer's presumption. After I spent some time with her discussing Robert A. Caro's books and his recent conversation with Diane Rehm, she ultimately concluded that they are so heavy that she thought she'd save herself the weight by buying them on her Kindle! That she had the courtesy to tell me, was honest, but infuriating.

We booksellers grow livid when we are reminded that, for some unappreciative souls, Politics & Prose is nothing more than a showroom for Amazon. Although the Kindle - Amazon's original proprietary effort to put all other bookstores out of business – will not download our eBooks, we delighted to remind you that the newer Kindle Fire, the Nook, the iPad, and a multitude of other digital readers will accept our digital books. Just don't be surprised if you receive a shocked expression if you happen to mention the K word or the A word – both harsher than profanity to our sensitive ears.

Download The Passage of Power (Knopf), Master of the Senate, or Means of Ascent (both Vintage) from our website for only $14.99 by clicking here, where you can also see and search a wider selection of our eBooks.

You can also click here to check out a 99 cent special on Agatha Christie eBook short stories, featuring Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot.

We sell these and most other digital books at the same price as Amazon. So shop with us, your local hardworking bookstore, and show your appreciation for the services and loyalty that we provide to your community!

- Andrew Getman

 

Sideline of the Week

 

Sidelines

 

Got something to say? Well say it with some sass using Talk to the Hand Sticky Notes (Fred and Friends, $8). Whether you’re reminding a messy roommate to pick up their socks or revealing to your coworker that you know they’ve been stealing your bag lunches, these hand shaped stickies are the perfect way to tell it like it is. Get out aggression without the burden of icky confrontation- perfect for the repressed loved one in your life! There comes a point where one must lay down the law… with a passive aggressive sticky note.

-Mark Moran

 

 

Markdown Books

Markdown

Whether you’re graduating, graduated, or thinking about going back to school, you’ll find a lot of truth and many laughs in David Lodge’s Campus Trilogy. A satirical force to be reckoned with, Lodge is the master of the academic novel. This one-volume edition contains three of his best: Changing Places, Small World, and Nice Work, each focusing on the quirks of academia and the follies of faculty members. Lodge’s characters, however highly educated, still have a lot to learn about how to live and how to get along with others. The novels offer many sharp, witty observations. Available in paperback, $8.98.

The title piece of Gene Weingarten’s quirky, funny, and insightful collection of essays, The Fiddler in the Subway, recounts Joshua Bell’s virtuoso performance as a busker outside a Metro station (a project Weingarten suggested). Most Washingtonians failed to notice the world-class musicianship. Readers won’t miss the high style of the writing here, however; a two-time Pulitzer winner and now self-described “investigative humorist,” Weingarten unleashes his curiosity on a wide range of subjects, from tracking down his second-grade sweetheart to riding a bus in Jerusalem to see what it’s like to live with danger on a daily basis. Available in paperback, $6.98.

Anticipation can be contagious—even if you don’t know what you’re waiting for. Olga Grushin dramatizes this social and psychological phenomenon in her second novel, The Line. Set in an unnamed but distinctly Soviet country, the story focuses on a group of people who do know what they’re waiting for:  tickets to hear a symphony conducted by its composer, world  famous and long exiled from his homeland. But no one knows the date of the concert or if, in fact, it will really take place. They wait anyway, and over the course of many weeks, a number of dramas play out among those loyally showing up each day outside the kiosk. Available in paperback, $5.98.

 

Next Offsite Event

Buddy Elias, Anne Frank’s First Cousin and His Wife, Gerti Elias - Anne Frank’s Family: The Extraordinary Story of Where She Came From

Sunday, May 20, 3 p.m.

OffsiteSixth & I
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Buddy Elias, Anne Frank’s First Cousin and His Wife, Gerti Elias
Anne Frank’s Family: The Extraordinary Story of Where She Came From (Anchor, $14.95)

In Anne Frank’s Family, Mirjam Pressler, the German translator of Anne Frank’s diary, tells the fascinating history of Anne Frank and the family that shaped her, based on thousands of letters, poems, drawings, postcards, and photos recently discovered by her last surviving close relative, her first cousin Buddy Elias, and his wife, Gerti.

As children, Anne and Buddy were very close; he affectionately dubbed her “the Rascal” and they visited and corresponded frequently. Years later, Buddy inherited their grandmother’s papers, stored unseen in an attic for decades. These new materials tell a moving saga of a far-flung but close-knit family divided by unimaginable tragedy. 

Buddy now serves as Chairman of the Board of the ANNE FRANK-Fonds, where he lives in Basel, Switzerland.

Click here to purchase tickets. The cost is $12 for 1 ticket; $20 for 1 book + 1 ticket; $30 for 1 book + 2 tickets. Questions? Call 202.408.3100. 

Promotional Period: 
May 20 2012

Music News  

CDs are now searchable on our website, but stock status is not always currently visible. Please call the store at 202-364-1919 with questions or to order. You may also continue to email me at agoldinger@politics-prose.com to order.

Jeremy Denk

 

NEW CLASSICAL: HEAR AND SEE

Jeremy Denk, Ligeti/Beethoven (Nonesuch, $17.98) – Lately, it seems pianist Jeremy Denk has been playing and writing non-stop. He’s followed his splendid Ives Piano Sonatas CD, looking forward and backward with the music of György Ligeti (his Piano Études: Book One & Two) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111). Denk has also written an article on tackling Ives for the New Yorker; on the Goldberg Variations for the NPR Music site, and continues his wonderful blog, Think Denk ( http://jeremydenk.net/blog/ ). And, of course, there’s a long essay in his new recording, connecting the work of the two composers: “Beethoven’s vast timeless canvas and Ligeti’s bite-size bits of infinity.”

NOTE: On Saturday, May 19, Jeremy Denk will be performing at 6th & I Synagogue. He will play Ligeti’s Études: Book One, as well as works by Mozart, Liszt, and Brahms.

NOTE: Tonight, Thursday, May 17, at the Atlas Arts Center, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) will perform the music of John Cage, Steve Reich,

Mario Diaz de Leon, Phyllis Chen, plus Nathan Davis’s “H Street Bells,” for winds, percussion and many bells (with the help of the audience’s cell phones), a site-specific piece that ICE first performed at Lincoln Center last season.

 

Music

NEW

Best Coast, The Only Place (Mexican Summer Records, $12.98) – Bethany Cosentino made a great summer pop record in 2010, Crazy for You. She’s back—a little less sunny, but the songs are still full of pop hooks, catchy tunes, and big choruses.

Paolo Pandolfo, Mr. De Machy: Pièces de Violle (Glossa, $21.98) – One of the masters of the viola da gamba, Mr. Pandolfo keeps finding worthy repertoire. Here he plays four of the Suites de Danses, from Monsieur De Machy’s Pièces de Violle, published in Paris, 1685.

  • András Goldinger

CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT 

Childrens

 

Children's Book of the Week
(20% off for everyone through May 23)

Pull socks from a big sock box: socks with stripes and socks with spots. Join your friends at the Duck Sock Hop (Dial, $16.99). Jane Kohuth's tongue-twisting, toe-tapping read-aloud will have you laughing and dancing. Jane Porter's colorful illustrations will inspire you to have a sock hop of your own. Ages 3-5. - Heidi Powell

Children’s Blast from the Past
(20% off for Members through May 23)
Don’t forget your Shoes (HarperTrophy, $6.99)! There are so many different kinds to choose from: “shoes to buckle, shoes to tie, shoes too low, and shoes too high.” Elizabeth Winthrop’s rhyming homage to shoes is a delightful read-aloud. William Joyce lively illustrations tie the story together in one of his first picture books. Ages 2-5. – Heidi Powell

 

And how about some socks to wear in addition to reading about them?

Socktinis, Solmate Socks for babies
Get the same wonderful colors and patterns in socks for babies that you find in our Solmate adult socks. Baby socks come in two sizes (6-12 months and 12-24 months) and sets of five (two pairs with a spare)! (Solmate, $19)

Click here to choose.


Story Hour
Each Monday at 10:30 a.m., BearSong offers storytelling and guitar music for children from birth to 5 years old.

Click here to sign up to receive email updates. We will inform you of special story hours, changes, or cancellations.

baby gift

 

Customized Baby Gift Bags

Ask the booksellers at Politics & Prose to custom design a one-of-a-kind new baby gift.
Our experienced Children's Department booksellers will hand-select books based on the information you provide and put them in a gift bag of your choice. Your gift bag can also include non-book items. We offer an array of CDs, DVDs, puppets, and colorful, purposely mismatched, hand-knit socks from Vermont.

Order a baby gift bag from our website by clicking here, by calling 202-364-1919, or by visiting our staff in the Children’s Department.