August 2020... What we're doing and what we're reading!
Going The Distance
We are into Week 24 of an experience unlike anything ever before in our lifetimes. Six months of a deadly pandemic with no end in sight. But who’s counting!
At the same time, our country has had to face systemic racism and injustice that has simmered for decades, social unrest and angry politics. And now, adding to the apocalyptic atmosphere…raging wildfires and smoked filled skies.
So many images and words come to mind. Devastating, debilitating, frustrating, frightening, horrific. Fear, uncertainty, isolation, disappointment, sacrifice, tragic loss, despair.
But through it all, let us not forget other images and words – resilience, gratitude, fortitude, patience, perseverance, insight, determination, hope, faith, and charity. Dare I say love? Yes. Love in the time of Covid.
These crises have shown us the extraordinary character and spirit of ordinary people. It is my wish that we emerge stronger and more united than ever before.
The pandemic has put us all on “pause” – the first such pause in most of our lifetimes. It has revealed beautiful but also painful truths. While many of us may count our blessings, let’s also be understanding and compassionate to those less fortunate.
Troubled times often lead to new insights and perspectives. Perhaps we’ve been given a rare opportunity to re-calibrate. How do we want to live our lives, how do we want our community and our planet to look going forward? Let’s try to choose wisely. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the children, to all living creatures. Everywhere.
Thank you for going the distance with us. Be well. Be safe.
Cheryl
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• Sunday Noon – 5 PM
TAKE-OUT – order books, jigsaw puzzles, or
Fulfilling special orders via phone 415.887.9967 gifts for PICK UP CURBSIDE with free
or email staff@sausalitobooksbythebay.com downtown parking
Independent Bookstore Day
Join us for our SALE... but not all at once!
This is normally celebrated in April but was the victim of yet another pandemic-postponement. It was rescheduled for this weekend.
Sunday, August 30th, we will open at 10am. Come browse and buy our SALE. Select hardcover & paperback books will be 20%+ off as will select journals and other sidelines. To make the day even more enticing, we’ll be offering free coffee compliments of Poggio’s in the morning, and wine in the afternoon. We will also have live music brought to you by Trio Viva.
AS ALWAYS of course, we will enforce COVID protocols – masks, hand sanitizing and social distancing; the number of people/family groups on site will be limited.
Existing Community Supported Bookstore (CSB) members will get an EXTRA 10% off all purchases if they add the minimum $150 to their accounts that weekend. For instance, on books that are already marked down 20%, CSB members who “re-up” will get at total of 40% off. This special discount also applies to all NEW CSB patrons who join over the weekend of August 29-30.
By opening a CSB account with us -– or adding money to your existing account – you provide us with valuable working capital to help make ends meet during this dramatic economic downturn.
For more information CSB program
Online Happy Hour Event Series
September 3 – 5pm
Virtual Author Event with local Sausalito award-winning journalist and author Joan Ryan – one of the first female sports columnists in the country – and author John Shea – SF Chronicle national baseball columnist, now in his 33rd year of covering baseball.
Joan has just published The Intangibles – Unlocking the Science & Soul of Team Chemistry. Based on hundreds of interviews with players, coaches, statisticians and 5 years of extensive scientific research, the book probes whether team chemistry actually exists and how powerful is it?
John will take us out to the ball park (even if we can’t go) with his new book 24: Life Stories & Lessons from the Say Hey Kid in which his long-time friend Willie Mays shares the inspirations and influences responsible for guiding him on and off the field.
I grew up listening to Giants games on a transistor radio in my Palo Alto back yard, cheering when Willie hit home runs at Candlestick.
September 16 – 5pm
Join Master Gardener & Sausalito Resident Fay Mark for a virtual presentation on Fire- Smart, Defensible Landscaping (alas, a timely topic right now). With the ongoing threat of wildfire in Marin County we will discuss guidelines for planning and maintaining a fire-smart landscape within the context of supporting a healthy ecosystem.
We will also present some of our favorite gardening books and what to consider when planning for a fall / winter vegetable garden.
September 24 – 5pm
Virtual Author Event with San Francisco author Jennifer Risher who is celebrating the launch of her first book We Need to Talk: A Memoir About Wealth. This is a heartfelt and honest look at the pitfalls of having a lot of money. (Pitfalls?! Yes). There are of course many advantages to being wealthy, but also challenges. As Jen’s memoir illustrates, it can positively and/or negatively impact everything in your life.
After wrestling with their own wealth and finishing the book, Jen (with her husband) started #HalfMyDAF – a Donor Advised Fund. As of July 15th, they had completed their first round of matching grants: $600,000 to over 140 non-profits. They also run Worldreader – a non-profit that distributes millions of books to developing countries worldwide to ensure everyone knows how to read.
October 1
Save The Date!
We are proud to partner with No Bully in the first of a series of educational panel discussions that will be live-streamed on their website (www.nobully.org). No Bully is a non-profit organization whose mission is to address and eradicate bullying in our schools and online.
This first panel will focus on practices that cultivate and build empathic relationships and will feature a solution coach, a school principal, and an expert in diversity/inclusion and racial justice. In case you weren’t aware: 1 in 3 students is bullied by their peers and minority students are 2-3x more likely to get bullied.
Bullying is a timely and critical topic to address today. Stay tuned for event details and for more information: https://nobully.org/ We will also be providing a reading list to help us all learn more about this important issue.
What We're Reading
The Last Flight
by Julie Clark
Two women, both desperate to flee their current lives, switch boarding passes at an airport to escape from their personal nightmares and build new lives. Claire lives in a gilded cage in New York where her outwardly charming husband is a monster behind closed doors. Eva lives a secret life in Berkeley and longs to leave that dangerous existence behind. One plane crashes on the way to its final destination - but who survives? And does the survivor want her new identity? Alternating from the present day to flashbacks, this book is sure to keep you guessing and reading late into the night.
Angela K
The Whisperer
by Karin Fossum
After reading Wendy Lesser's Scandinavian Noir, I've been going to some authors I missed, like Norway's Fossum. This disconcerted me at first, a police procedural written from the point of view of the perpetrator, but now I'm hooked, and can't stop. Definitely for Tana French fans.
Jeff B.
The Color of Air
by Gail Tsukiyama
This beautifully written, tender tale is like a warm Hawaiian embrace. Set in Hilo on the big island of Hawaii in 1935, it pulls you into the lives of a tight knit Japanese/American community – their secrets, their sadness, their humble fishing village, the sugar cane plantations. It is the story of a native son returning to his homeland, systemic racism, and true love, all in the shadow of Pele and the Mauna Loa volcano. The compelling characters and authentic sense of time and place are mesmerizing. Loved this book!
Cheryl P.
Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
Toru Watanabe is a university student dealing with the emotional aftermath of his best friend Kizuki’s suicide, including his feelings for Kizuki’s girlfriend Naoko. When Naoko decides to live in a sanatorium and Toru meets an empowered young woman at university, their lives become an examination of how the world changes and carries on after the unimaginable has happened. Norwegian Wood is a reflective novel, with scenes of thoughtful tranquility, but also tumultuous emotion that speak to the character’s secrets and internal lives. The snappy dialogue and engrossing character studies pull the reader in. While the story describes the nature of intense emotional pain, Murakami offers moments of levity as well, and illustrates that it is possible to come back from the brink.
Matthew K.
The Weekend
by Charlotte Wood
Four women in their 70’s have been lifelong friends. Following the death of one of them, the other three meet for a reunion one weekend at the beach house they always shared. While grieving the loss of their friend, they are all also struggling with their age, their lives, their identities, and their friendship. So much is the same and so much is not. A tender tribute to friendship and to the vagaries of aging. Big Chill meets the Ya Ya Sisterhood. I read it in one day.
Cheryl P.
The Truths We Hold – An American Journey
by Kamala Harris
I probably don’t need to give you many reasons to read this memoir, because this remarkable woman – California’s own – may end up in the White House. Penned before her nomination for Vice President of the United States, it is a candid and heartfelt overview of her political career, her many accomplishments, her family and her passionate pursuit of justice. You couldn’t ask for a better resume, it’s well-written, well-paced and an inspirational read.
Cheryl P.
Twelve Seconds of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon
by Jamie Holmes
Holmes expertly weaves the narrative of the search for a proximity fuse (the only possible way to bring down Hitler's V1), with WWII stories I already know well (Operation Overlord, Bletchley Park and Enigma, Madame Fourcade's Resistance network), and was able to keep me turning page after page after page, even though I knew the outcome. That is a compliment!
Jeff B.
Around the World in 80 Trees
by Jonathan Drori
My favorite gift book of the month with beautiful illustrations and captivating tales of 80 different tree species in over 50 countries. It’s a journey through the history, science and wonder of native trees in in different cultures. A terrific companion piece to The Secret Life of Trees and The Overstory.
Cheryl P.
City of Secrets (Middle Grade)
by Victoria Ying
This graphic novel in the tradition of steampunk is a fast- paced story full of twists and turns (literally and figuratively). Young readers must determine who holds the secret of the city and stop a menacing rogue band from stealing it. Wonderful illustrations and a delightful story that will keep readers engaged.
Angela K.
What's New
As many of you know, one of my mantras is that everything in our shop should have a story. Obviously, the books have stories. But I want all the other merchandise – what we call “sidelines” -- to have a story as well. Our latest additions are no exception.
Fiorello’s Artisan Gelato
Cups & Pints to go. In all my favorite flavors. But let us know what your favorite flavors are and if you promise to buy them, we’ll get them! Made in San Rafael, California, this local gelato is dense, creamy and intensely flavored using hand-selected ingredients from local dairies. It is an “airless” gelato which gives it a unique texture.
The Story
Tony Bonviso has been making gelato in Marin since 1982. Thirty-eight years ago, he started experimenting with recipes at home, at night on his own – turning his kitchen into a workshop – filling note books with formulas. He even flew to Rimini in Italy to reconnect with his Italian heritage, hoping to discover the well-preserved secrets of true gelato-makers. Clearly, Tony figured it out and we’re happy to say he’s still at it – as committed to quality today as he was decades ago.
Apolis Market Bags
So, my cousin’s kids who have been – at times – like my surrogate kids, started this amazing company called Apolis. Raan & Shea Parton. I am so proud of them and I am so enamored with their families, the whole Parton clan whom I grew up, that I am over the moon to be offering their market bags. Great product. Great story.
The Story
Every Apolis Market Bag helps break a poverty cycle. Women in Bangladesh handcraft these very eco-friendly bags and thanks to Apolis they receive Fair Trade wages, annual profit dividends and a retirement fund. You can watch the story here http://apol.is/bag-story
The social entrepreneurs at Apolis believe that the most valuable way to create lasting change is to invest in people. And that’s what they’re doing.
Not only are you helping third-world women succeed by purchasing an Apolis market bag, you are getting a product of enduring quality. These bags are long-lasting and can take a lot of abuse! The large bag is so strong it can hold up to 135 lbs.
We have the large market bags with Sausalito’s longitude and latitude proudly noted, and the wine totes with shoulder straps and Sausalito, CA, USA branding.
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“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”