THE THIEVES OF MANHATTAN

Our speaker Monday night August 2 is Michael Orthofer, founder and editor of the website “The Complete Review” and he will be talking about the state of international fiction – in translation, as well as in English  – in the United States.

The Complete Review (www.complete-review.com) is, along with its Literary Saloon weblog, a leading online resource for information about international literature. Founded in 1999, it now has over 2500 titles under review. It was named one of Time magazine’s 50 Coolest Websites 2005 and The New York Times Book Review has called it “one of the best literary destinations on the Web”. Michael Orthofer has also written for numerous other publications, and has been a juror for both the Best Translated Book Award and the Austrian Cultural Forum Translation Prize since their inception.

Michael, or Mitja as he is known locally, is the son of Helga and the late John Kaiser of Stockbridge.  I know I say this all the time, but this is going to be a special evening here at The Bookstore.  They’re all special,  each one unique, you know this, those of you who come to any of them.

Take a minute  (or two, or ten, or thirty…) and go onto The Complete Review website.  This is what I’ve been aiming at all these years here at The Bookstore in Lenox, this kind of intellectual activity, this kind of  attention to literature, what it is in the world, what it means to us.

I am proud to have known John,  cherish Helga, and am honored and happy to bring Mitja here for the benefit of all of us.

Monday night, August 2, beginning at 7 pm.

SURVIVE & ESCAPE: ONE FAMILY CHOOSES LIFE

WE ARE SO LIGHTLY HERE

Deborah Golden Alecson has written a very beautiful book about

the conscious dying time of her husband, Lowell, in January 2001. “I was left”, she says, “to live on without my best friend and lover,  and the father of our ten year old son, Skyler. This book is about the glimmers of truth to which I have been privy.”

Deborah will read from, discuss and sign copies of her book “We

Are So Lightly Here” this coming Wednesday night at 7 pm at The

Bookstore.  Light refreshments. All are welcome.

This is a powerful book. If you think you’ll want to come to this one do make the effort.

Our friend Andy Pincus returns this coming Wednesday night, July 28 at 7 pm to read from his new novel ‘Night Work’.

A writer is a writer is a writer, whether he (or she) is writing award-winning music criticism  (the Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. twice) or a novel (his second).  We’ve had Andy here for readings before, twice for his music books, and now a second time again, for his fiction.

“Night Work” is a novel set here in Western Massachusetts during the heady Reagan era in America, where falsity seems to rule and honesty gets called on, as life and love is played out against the dying downtown of a small American city.  Classical music, of course, is the background and the works of the great composers, Mozart especially, form the subtext of the affair.

Now listen, our wine bar is still not quite up and running, so the refreshments are still free.  The town of Lenox is a busy place all summer long, of course, but if you haven’t come down town in the evenings you won’t believe how many folks there are walking about. So it’s a lot of fun, and a real pleasure to host readings and booksignings like this one, inviting you to join us in celebration of one of our own.

Andy Pincus, Wednesday July 28,  beginning at 7 pm.

p.s. and check the bookstore website for all the upcoming events in August!

See you soon,

Matt

THE LEE STRASBERG NOTES

On Wednesday July 14, author and stage director Lola Cohen will read from, discuss and sign copies of her new book “The Lee Strasberg Notes”, beginning at 7 pm.

Lola Cohen and I went to college together some years (and years) ago. Funny how our paths crossed just recently when she found out I had bookstore and I found out she had a book!

“The Lee Strasberg Notes” is the first publication which presents ‘Strasberg’s Method’ as he himself taught it.  He virtually re-invented the style of acting for the modern era.  In the sixty years since its development, the  Strasberg Method has been embraced by actors and theater and film directors around the world.

With a preface by Anna Strasberg and foreword by Martin Sheen, and illustrated with photos from the director’s long career,  Lola Cohen has collected and edited Lee Strasberg’s own notes, as well as transcriptions of  his lectures to present a portrait of one of the great theater craftsmen of the twentieth century.

This is a must for the theater crowd. Whether you’re an actor, a director or a (simply) a patron of the stage, Lola has put together a book that you will love.

THE LOGIC OF THE WORLD

We begin in earnest our summer evening reading series this coming week. Monday night July 12 at 7 pm we welcome longtime friend Robert Kelly who will read from and sign copies of his new collection “Logic of the World” just published by McPherson and Company.

Here is writing that darts and weaves, following paths of “droll lyricism, audacious description, studied anachronism, sensual immediacy and subtle compassion.”

In one story, a woman waits at a window for the moon to return her body. In another, an itinerant tragedian invents a dangerous form of theatrical performance. The author’s imagination mines from the thick substance of language the numimous qualities buried within it.

This will be a reading you won’t soon forget. A writer at the height of his powers. Come and be carried away by literature that fulflls its promise.

STARSTRUCK: VINTAGE MOVIE POSTERS FROM CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD

Ira Resnick bought his first three movie posters 40 years ago.  He paid $50 for a title lobby card from “Stage Door” and $35 each for one-sheets promoting “Love Before Breakfast” and “The Awful Truth”.  He still has all three pieces.

Now he’s brought his careeer-long collection to life in a terrific coffee table book called “Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood”, and when I found out about it I knew I wanted to host a booksigning party.

Ira is an old friend of ours at The Bookstore, as well as a long time friend of a lot of our other friends, so it seemed, well, pretty natural to ask him to come up for a signing.

“Starstruck” was published this spring by Abbeville Press. It’s got over 250 pages of vintage posters and lobby cards from the days when they were the main promotional vehicle studios used when they ran Hollywood.

Besides being terrific advertising, the posters are great social and historical documents as well.  And the book, well, Abbeville went all out for this one, beautiful reproductions, classy layouts, glossy paper.

This is one very cool book!

Ira’s booksigning is the only Saturday afternoon event of the season (all the others will be on Monday and Wednesday evenings). It’s Saturday July 10 at 2pm.

matt

I HAVE A RESTAURANT

Staged reading from ‘Hurricane Hotel’, a play in progress, based on a novel by Sheffield artist John Lawson, and adapted for the stage by Aimee Michel, Friday night April 30 at 7 pm, featuring Karen Beaumont, Kale Brown, Sara Katzoff, Mark Holstein, and Matthew Tannenbaum.  Hurricane Hotel has been called “a love letter to a city destined to be reborn.”