Events

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.

Young adult novelist Raina Telgemeir is not only the author and artist behind one of our most popular young adult graphic novels, she is also a San Francisco and Richmond district native -- and she's thrilled to be headed home to her favorite bookstore in SF (her words, not ours this time!) to sign copies of Smile. The perfect story for anyone struggling through the hardships of orthodonture, Smile is sure to make you do just that. She'll be in the store signing (and, if you ask, perhaps even drawing) from 7 to 8 PM on this coming Monday, October 18th.

If you're single and internet savvy, you may be familiar with the blog WTF Is Up With My Love Life?! , in which bloggers Jessica Massa (weekly columnist for the Huffington Post) and Rebecca Wiegand explore the complexities and ambiguities of modern day romance. Their theory is simple: "dating" is dying, and they’ve set out to find out what has replaced it.

They'll be taking their search to Green Apple on October 25th at 7 PM for a reading from some of their most popular blog installments followed by a Q&A session. The event is free, (free)wine will be served, and there will no doubt be many a hilarious anecdote about the dating world. Can't go wrong with a combination like that. See you there!

Author Richard Kadrey will be appearing in our side room on October 27th to read from his new novel, Kill the Dead (follow up to his acclaimed Sandman Slim), and if you enjoy a healthy dose of murder, Hell (as a setting), L.A's underground power elite, and the phrase "zombie army" -- and, really, who doesn't enjoy at least one of those things? -- then this is one event to make it out for.

Richard Kadrey has published five novels, including Sandman Slim, Butcher Bird, and Metrophage, and more than fifty stories. He has been immortalized as an action figure, and his short story "Goodbye Houston Street, Goodbye" was nominated for a British Science Fiction Association Award. We're looking forward to having him live and life-sized in the Granny Smith Room on the 27th-- see you there. 

We'll be hosting award-winning journalist John Geluardi at the Tosca Cafe for a night of discussion regarding one of today's most hotly debated topics: medical marijuana. In his new book, Cannabiz, John Geluardi charts the rise of medical marijuana in California, vividly recounting the movement’s early activism, its legal challenges and victories, and its emergence as a commercial and political force. Cannabiz tells a distinctly American story— evoking Prohibition and the Gold Rush while the events propelling this issue forward unfold before our eyes.

John Geluardi is a freelance writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. For 10 years, he was a daily newspaper reporter and staff writer for SF Weekly. In 2008, he received awards for stories on vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez, the legendary Caffe Trieste, and a series homicides that San Francisco police tried to classify as suicides. He has also received awards for his work on San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who killed mayor George Moscone and fellow supervisor Harvey Milk in 1977.

Whatever your interest in the topic, this is sure to be a lively and informative discussion on a subject that is truly breaking ground right here in our city. Don't miss it.

We're excited to be hosting Christopher Ryan as he promotes his new book, Sex at Dawn. The book examines the evolution of human sexuality with intelligence, humor, and wonder, and shows how our promiscuous past haunts our struggles over monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. It explores why long-term fidelity can be so difficult for so many; why sexual passion tends to fade even as love deepens; why many middle-aged men risk everything for transient affairs with younger women; why homosexuality persists in the face of standard evolutionary logic; and what the human body reveals about the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality.

Newsweek calls Sex at Dawn “Funny, witty, and light ... a scandal in the best sense, one that will have you reading the best parts aloud and reassessing your ideas about humanity’s basic urges well after the book is done.” And Dan Savage, who knows a thing or two about the subject, says that “Sex At Dawn is the single most important book about human sexuality since Alfred Kinsey unleashed Sexual Behavior in the Human Male on the American public in 1948.”

If you're one of the few who hasn't read this book yet, come pick up a signed copy, and if you have, come by to meet the author and ask questions about the subject that we all just can't seem to get enough of.