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Laurel Book Store
1423 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
Mon-Th10-6 Fri-Sat 10-7
Sun for events
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Dear Reader,
Just a quick note to say that if you ordered books this week, most of our shipments are stuck in the snow either somewhere between here and Oregon or here and Nevada. I apologize and we are somewhat at the mercy of the intrepid delivery drivers. Our nails are down to the quick and our UPS driver mostly understands why we watch for him on the street now.
The Perspectives Series of talks is shaping up with environmental, community, and journalism topics in the works for the next few months. Dates and times will be announced shortly.
We are grappling with whether to be open on the 16th, 20th, and 21st given all the amazing actions those days so stay tuned for our schedule updates.
Happy reading and take care of each other,
1-12-17
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Take a Look at These!
Dust Bowl Girls by Lydia Reeder $26.95 At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals.
Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream. He shaped the Cardinals into a formidable team, and something extraordinary began to happen: with passion for the game and heartfelt loyalty to one another and their coach, they won every game.
Combining exhilarating sports writing and exceptional storytelling, Dust Bowl Girls conveys the intensity of an improbable journey to an epic showdown with the prevailing national champions, helmed by the legendary Babe Didrikson. And it captures a moment in American sports history when a visionary coach helped his young athletes achieve more than a winning season.
We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge $15.95 Frustrated by the limitations of cross-race communication in her predominantly white town, Laurel, a young African American girl, teaches herself to sign--a skill she later imparts to her two daughters. This ability eventually leads Laurel to uproot her husband and daughters from their overeducated and underpaid life in the South End of Boston for the bucolic Massachusetts countryside, where the Freemans are to take part in an experiment. They've been hired by a private research institute to teach sign language to a chimpanzee who will live as part of their family. Narrated primarily by Laurel's teenage daughter, Charlotte, the story goes back in time to the founding of the institute, in the 1920s, revealing shocking past experiments. This "important debut from an important writer"* is ultimately an exploration of language, race, and history.
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Book Club pick for January 19
To join, read the book and show up. We would love to have you with us.
Thursday, January 19, 6:15
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood-where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned-Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor-engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.
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EVENTS
Click on links for more info.
January 12, 6-8pm
A Post-Election LGBTQ Forum to discuss the potential impacts of a Trump administration on LGBTQ families. Featuring three awesome attorneys
Emily Doskow, Linda Scaparotti, and Angela Bean.
All families are invited, childcare will be provided on site with registration.
Register by visiting ourfamily.org or call 415-981-1960
January 14, An LGBTQ Reading 5pm
Russian Tales: Three Novels About Russia Old and New
with Art Levy, Gabrielle Gancy, and Wayne Goodman
January 28 Time TBD
Tree dedication for the Jack London Oak on the Plaza
Friday, February 3, 6-8pm
Art reception for Tomye Neal-Madison,
our February Artist
Saturday, February 4, 5pm
Patricia Minger
and her novel of the opera,
Magic Flute
Wednesday, February 8
Teachers!
Meet the folks from Oakland's own Know Yourself Academy- publisher of wonderful nonfiction books about the body.
More info to come.
February 18 5pm
Diverse New Voices: Poetry and Prose
SF Columnist Vanessa Hua, R.O. Kwon, Ashley M Jones, and Dara Barnat
have a great evening of new poetry and prose planned!
February 19 4pm
Karin Kallmaker, KC MacGregor, Jaime Vlevenger,
Heather Rose Jones, Pol Robinson, Laina Villenueve,
"Why We Do What We Do- Lesbian Authors Talk about Storytelling"
Thursday, March 9
Liz Cunningham, author of
Ocean Country
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