Events

Saul Austerlitz will be in the Granny Smith Room on September 16th to talk about his newest book, Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy. Running the gamut of film history from City Lights to Knocked Up, Another Fine Mess retells the story of American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother--the comedy. Each chapter is devoted primarily to a single performer or director as Another Fine Mess retraces the steps of the American comedy film, filling in the gaps and following the connections that link Mae West to Doris Day, or W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell.

Saul Austerlitz is a New York City based writer whose work has been published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate, the Boston Globe, and other publications. He is the author of Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes.

Fred Lyon, a San Francisco native with nearly 70 years as a photographer under his belt, has put together a fascinating picture of our dear city by the bay with his newest collection, San Francisco Then. The prints therein came from a box of old negatives that he found in a filing cabinet from his early years experimenting with photography in the 1940s and 50s-- photographs that had been just gathering dust until now. Newly printed and displayed together for the first time, they offer a candid and raw rendering of San Francisco, pieced together by an artist who loves (and can tell) a good story through words and images alike. This opportunity to meet the man behind the lens and hear his take on San Francisco Then is truly one not to miss.

Ready to take your home cocktail bar to the next level? This book of recipes, chock full of lovely photos, features recipes from bartenders up and down the West Coast, with many of them manning the stick at local establishments like Alembic, Range, Bourbon & Branch, and Nopa. There is a short profile of each of them, along with a bit of their personal philosophy, followed by a recipe or two. But this is not Mr. Boston. You're going to have to hunt down ingredients like Falernum, Aperol and Cynar, along with specialized bitters and garnishes. Or you could just read the book, get in a cab, and go order one directly from one of these mix-masters.

Join Green Apple Books and the authors of Left Coast Libations, along with some of its bartender/contributors at Heaven's Dog for an evening of cocktail talk and conviviality. Check their website, leftcoastlibations.com, for more details.

John Casti will be appearing in the Granny Smith Room to talk about his new book, Mood Matters, which posits that all social events ranging from trends in music and art to the rise and fall of civilizations are influenced by the attitudes a society holds toward the future. He'll be discussing this and other ideas from his book in a multimedia presentation, including a Q&A session and free supplementary texts and graphics for all attendees. 

Casti's writing is a pleasure to read and its contents an eye-opener; come by Green Apple on September 21st to learn more and engage in what is sure to be a fascinating and topical conversation.  

With the publication of his debut novel, Alive in Necropolis, Doug Dorst was celebrated as one of the most original literary voices of his generation -- likened to T.C. Boyle and Denis Johnson, and called a northern California Haruki Murakami. Now, in his collection of short stories, The Surf Guru, his full talent is on display.

In these stories, an old surfing-champion-turned-surfwear- entrepreneur sits on his ocean-front balcony watching a new generation of surfers come of age on the waves, all but one of whom wear wet suits emblazoned with the Surf Guru's name. An acid-tongued, pioneering botanist who has been exiled from the academy composes a series of scurrilous (and hilarious) biographical sketches of his colleagues and rivals, inadvertently telling his own story. A pair of twenty-first- century drifters course through a series of unusual adventures in their dilapidated car, chased west out of one town and into the next, dreaming of hitting the Pacific.

Doug Dorst will be in the store on October 2nd to perform an unusual kind of reading-- over the our store intercom. So, come by to browse and listen, and to meet him afterwards (he will be physically present, really) and pick up a signed copy of The Surf Guru.

We're excited to be teaming up with McSweeney's, Litquake, and the Jewish Community Center for the evening on 10/5 in honor of Adam Levin's debut novel, The Instructions, and the recent release of McSweeney's 35.

The Instructions, one of New York magazine's 20 most anticipated books of the Fall, is an absolutely singular work of fiction by an important new talent. Combining the crackling voice of Philip Roth with the encyclopedic mind of David Foster Wallace, Adam Levin has shaped a world driven equally by moral fervor and slapstick comedy — a novel that is muscular and verbose, troubling and empathetic, monumental, breakneck, romantic, and unforgettable. An already well-worn copy of this novel has been making the rounds with the Green Apple staff, and is certainly earning our highest reccomendation.

McSweeney's 35 features tremendous new stories from Steven Millhauser and Roddy Doyle, a genre-shattering novella from Hilton Als, and a really excellent special section on Norway's finest writers (featuring Per Petterson and the lesser-known Kid Icarus and Blind Margjit.)

This event will include readings, signings, meetings, greetings, and a general good time. We'll see you there.

Kristin Schaal, best known for her roles on The Daily Show and Flight of the Conchords, has teamed up with her husband and fellow Daily Show writer Richard Blomquist on a new book called The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex.

You're already intrigued by this, right?

A humorous guide to getting it on, John Hodgeman of the Daily Show best describes this book as "a rare, essential glimpse into the Schaal/Blomquist method of ADVANCED DOING-IT." Amusing (and educational!) in print and sure to be absolutely hysterical in person, don't miss this opportunity to see Kristin Schaal address the complex, taboo, and nuanced topic of sexy sex live and in person with us at this Litquake event at Cobb's Comedy Club on October 6th. Everyone's doing it.

We are pleased to be teaming up with PUBLIC Bikes to host author David V. Herlihy’s presentation on his new book, The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance.

The Lost Cyclist is Herlihy's gripping non-fiction narrative of Frank Lenz who, in the 1880s, endeavored to ride his bicycle twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for Outing magazine. Two years later, after having survived countless near disasters and hardships, he approached Europe for the final leg. He never made it. His mysterious disappearance in eastern Turkey sparked an international outcry and compelled the magazine to send William Sachtleben, another larger-than-life cyclist, on Lenz’s trail.

This incredible story and Herlihy's presentation are sure to interest bike enthusiasts, casual cyclists, and even the handful of SF residents who don't own a bicycle. This free event PUBLIC’s 123 South Park office is part of the Litquake festival, and it is not one to miss.

Jessica Francis Kane will be appearing in our side room for what is sure to be a fantastic reading from her new novel, The Report.

The Report is a stunning first novel that is an evocative re-imagining of a World War II civilian disaster. On a March night in 1943, on the steps of a London Tube station, 173 people died in a crowd seeking shelter from what seemed to be another air raid. In re-imagining this story from the perspective of the investigator who is attempting to get to the bottom of what really went on that night, Jessica Francis Kane paints a vivid portrait of London at war. As the novel unfolds, the truth reveals itself to be precarious, even damaging. Both rich in its historical detail and eerie in its timelessness, The Report is a provocative commentary on the way all tragedies are remembered and endured.

Join us for this reading from a new author being hailed as an important new voice in fiction.

Join us in the side room as author Toby Ball reads from and signs copies of his new dystopian mystery novel, The Vaults.

Publisher's Weekly calls this debut novel “(An) impressive thriller debut….The plot steamrolls to a dramatic conclusion...in which despair and graft are almost palpable, is an imaginative achievement on par with Loren Estleman’s Gas City.” And author Michael Harvey says that “If George Orwell and Dashiell Hammett had ever decided to collaborate on a book, they might have come up with something like The Vaults…superbly plotted, stylishly written and entirely unique.”

If those rave reviews aren't convincing enough, come check out Toby Ball for yourself and pick up your copy of The Vaults.