What rhymes with vacation?

Assassination!

What do you get when a woman who's obsessed with death and U.S. history goes on vacation? This wacky, weirdly enthralling exploration of the first three presidential assassinations. Vowell (The Partly Cloudy Patriot), a contributor to NPR's This American Life and the voice of teenage superhero Violet Parr in The Incredibles, takes readers on a pilgrimage of sorts to the sites and monuments that pay homage to Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, visiting everything from grave sites and simple plaques to places like the National Museum of Health and Medicine, where fragments of Lincoln's skull are on display.

An expert tour guide, Vowell brings into sharp focus not only the figures involved in the assassinations, but the social and political circumstances that led to each — and she does so in the witty, sometimes irreverent manner that her fans have come to expect.

Vowell also draws frequent connections between past events and the present, noting similarities between McKinley's preemptive war against Cuba and the Philippines and the current war in Iraq. This is history at its most morbid and most fascinating and, fortunately, one needn't share Vowell's interest in the macabre to thoroughly enjoy this unusual tour."

Please join us on Sunday March 16 at 2pm to discuss the book Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell at Maxfield's House of Caffeine in the Mission district.

A Story of Survival

We all seem to agree that this book was an easy read in spite of its heavy topic and that the simple yet compelling writing facilitated our access to Cambodian history, awareness and to a story of basic survival. We raised the question of how does a country survive and heal itself after going through what Luong Ung went through in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over.

Her story and of her family was full of courage at the same time unpredictable. We already know what will happen to the father (thanks to the title), so we're already getting prepared for that event when we start reading the book. Unfortunately, her father's death is only one of the many tragic turns Luong faces as she finds her own way to survive this war.

The author wrote her memoir to share her experience as a way to bring awareness and expose what many Cambodians went through during this time. We felt we needed to continue this awareness, as something we can take away from this book.

One of our book club members has shared an article that brings an update of some justice coming to Cambodia. Please read the following article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080226/wl_nm/cambodia_rouge_dc

Tough Love in February?

This month WOW Exchange Book Group is choosing to read the story of Loung Ung through her memoir "First they killed my father; A daugther of Cambodia remembers."

Here's a brief description of the book:

In 1975, Luong Ung was the five-year-old child of a large, affluent family living in Phnom Penh, the cosmopolitan Cambodian capital. As extraordinarily well-educated Chinese-Cambodians, with the father a government agent, her family was in great danger when the Khmer Rouge took over the country and throughout Pol Pot's barbaric regime. Her parents' strength and her father's knowledge of Khmer Rouge ideology enabled the family to survive together for a while, posing as illiterate peasants, moving first between villages, and then from one work camp to another.

Her restrained, unsentimental account of the four years she spent surviving the regime before escaping with a brother to Thailand and eventually the United States is astonishing--not just because of the tragedies, but also because of the immense love for her family that Ung holds onto, no matter how she is brutalized. Skillfully constructed, this account also stands as an eyewitness history of the period, because as a child Ung was so aware of her surroundings, and because as an adult writer she adds details to clarify the family's moves and separations. Thirty-three years after the rise of the Khmer Rouge, this powerful account is a triumph.

Come join the discussion at Javaholic in the Inner Richmond neighborhood (Balboa St. on the corner of 6th Ave.) on Sunday February 24 at 2pm.

Geraldine Brooks in the Inner Sunset?

So, some of you might've remembered Geraldine Brooks, the author of "Year of Wonders" - our book read for last June. Well, she has decided to come visit San Francisco to promote her latest book "People of the Book" and is arranging a lunch through Books Inc. at our local Park Chow restaurant in the Inner Sunset and you can totally meet her!

Here's the information:
Time: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at noon
Where: Park Chow, 1240 9th Avenue, San Francisco
Price: $60 - on sale at all Books Inc. locations and will include a signed copy of the book

Lunch with Geraldine Brooks
This event will include appetizer, entree, wine, dessert, a signed copy of People of the Book and great conversation!

Can a story of unrequited love be the greatest love story told?

Some people say that "Love in the Time of Cholera" is the greatest love story of all. I would like to know why. It was not as easy to get into and it was hard to figure out what the story was and which character to follow. Nevertheless, I did eventually get into the story and the more I read the more I got into it. By the end, I was reading non-stop.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the story, but I do have to recognize that the writing is amazing and truly beautiful. Reading it in its original language, I've no idea how the poetic style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing can be translated into other languages without losing its magical realism.

For those who are having a hard time to read it, I highly suggest you watch the movie as a guide, which was a good portrayal of the story, staying true to the book.

Happy Holiday Giving and Enjoy Some Love!

Hi friends & family! Happy Holidays!

Join me by donating and spreading the word for supporting this incredible project through America's Giving Challenge. Any donation counts! $10, $25, $100 or more! The Challenge will give $50,000 to the 4 top projects with the most donations. I met Prudence, the director of Positive Women's Network (PWN) last summer and was greatly inspired by her work with PWN and its support to HIV-positive women in South Africa. I encourage you to read what the project is about at the blogger panel.

Thank you so much for your support and please pass the message along!

Also, please join our next book discussion for January 27, 2008 where we'll talk about "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Happy New Year and start 2008 by giving!
Katherine

Mr Maguire: We would like some answers please!

Last time we met was to discuss our fantastical book "Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire. For those who don't like books where animals start talking, then this fantasy novel might not be for you. However, if you look closer the book highlights how a society usually runs bringing themes of government power, racism and mass manipulation. There were also a lot of random moments that occur in the book where many of us wondered, "where did that come from?" and "what will happen next with that story?" yet left us with no answers.


The author has written a sequel to this book, making us think we will find our answers to our questions. But we're not in such need to know them. However, I think for those of us who finished the book, if we came across the sequel, we probably wouldn't mind reading and finding out what did actually happen after the death of the witch.


Even though the message of the book is not clear, I think we all agreed that we did see another side to the Wicked Witch, where she does seem misunderstood.


In any case, we all definitely are looking forward to the day that Wicked the Broadway play comes back to San Francisco, as we will definitely be wanting to make a field trip for it!