So much to do at the Community Bookstore this September. Here’s a selection of highlights. The full schedule is probably at their website (but I’m not sure).
Wednesday, September 3rd @ 7:00 p.m.
Community Bookstore Knit Night
After a short hiatus during the long, too-hot-to-knit summer, the Community Bookstore Knitters unite again on Wednesday, September 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Join us for an evening of socializing and crafty creativity. Beginners are welcome, we love to help! Crocheters too! Bring a skein of yarn to swap or a pair of needles to share, or perhaps even a baked good to pass around. Regulars take note: we have switched from the second Wednesday of the month to the first Wednesday of the month. See you then!
Tuesday, September 9th @ 7:30 p.m.
Joshua Henkin reads from Matrimony
"Elicits a passionate investment in the fate of its characters – truly an up-all-night read."
– The Washington Post
Wednesday, September 10th @ 7:30 p.m.
(a.k.a. the 2nd Wednesday of the month)
Books Without Borders Book Group meets to discuss Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya.
The first of exiled Honduran novelist Moya’s eight fictions to be translated in the U.S., this crushing satire has at its center a feisty young unnamed writer in penurious political exile from an unnamed Latin American country.
Thursday, September 11th @ 7:00 p.m.
Documentary Movie Night
When the Mountains Tremble
The revolutionary tour-de-force and Sundance Film Festival winner that shook audiences and critics alike upon its original theatrical release, this updated edition chronicles the astonishing story of one woman who stood up for her people and helped wage a rebellion in the wake of seemingly unconquerable oppression
Tuesday, September 16th @ 7:30 p.m.
Josh Barkan reads from Blind Speed
Not since Don DeLillo and George Saunders has a writer caught the humor and irreverent seriousness of our time like Barkan has through his protagonist Paul Berger, a flawed hero whose so-called fate drives him toward enlightenment just as surely as it propels him to destruction. Berger is stunned when he receives an ominous palm reading from a savvy guru at a health retreat in Iowa, of all places.
Wednesday, September 17th @ 7:00 p.m.
Community Forum Night
Meets to Discuss:
–How Does New York City Government Work, and
–How the Heck Do You Get Things Done (hint: It’s easier than you think!)?
How many times have you wished you could "Just do something about . . . ." or "Just find out how . . . ." Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman is graciously joining us to moderate a quick trot through the wonderland of NYC Government. Come armed with concerns, issues, questions and wishlists. We can help steer you to solutions and resources, and we’re also hoping to generate a list of future Community Forum topics.
Craig Hammerman has been the District Manager of Brooklyn Community Board 6 since February 1993. His district includes the "Brownstone Brooklyn" neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red Hook; some of the most vibrant and sought-after destinations in the City of New York.
About the New Community Forum Nights
Forthwith, the third Wednesday of every month is declared Community Forum Night. What’s that, you ask? Each month we will host a meeting to allow the community to come together and explore some question or issue pertinent to our shared life in the neighborhood. The topic of each meeting will be announced ahead of time, and we will try to find someone particularly knowledgeable (about said topic) to "chair" the meeting, beginning with a brief (10 minute?) summary of the issue and then being available to answer questions, serve as a font of information, and generally steer the discussion. We welcome your suggestions and requests for topics you’d like to discuss! Email cat_bohne(at)yahoo(dot)com with any ideas!
Tuesday, September 23rd @ 7:30 p.m.
Mark Lilla reads from The Stillborn God
Religious passions are again driving world politics. The quest to bring political life under God’s authority has been revived, confounding expectations of a secular future. In this major book, Mark Lilla reveals the sources of this age-old quest—and its surprising role in shaping Western thought.
Wednesday, September 24th @ 7:30 p.m.
(a.k.a. the 4th Wednesday of the month)
Modernist Book Club meets to discuss Robert Musil’s
Confusions of the Young Torless
Please mark this down right now, and hesitate not as you saunter over to our best friends at the Community Bookstore to pick up your copy of Robert Musil’s Confusions of the Young Torless. We will read from the Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition, 2001. As always, it will be at the front desk for your perusal and purchase.
Thursday, September 25th @ 7:00 p.m.
Elizabeth Royte reads and discusses her new book, Bottlemania
To be held at and co-hosted by Old First Reformed Churchon the corner of 7th Avenue and Carroll Street
"Bottlemania is eye-opening and informative; you will never look at water–either ‘designer’ or tap–in quite the same way. Royte demonstrates how everything is, in the end, truly connected."
– Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Tuesday, September 30th @ 7:30 p.m.
Poet Dennis Nurkse reads from The Border Kingdom
In a collection of urgent and intimate poems, D. Nurkse explores the biblical past and the terrifying politics of the present with which it resonates, the legacy of fathers and the flawed kingdoms they leave their sons.
In "Ben Adan," a stunning poem in the opening sequence of the collection, we witness the stirring drama between a captor and the prisoner commanded to dig his own grave ("perhaps in a moment / he will lift me up / and hold me trembling, / more scared than I / and more relieved"). "After a Bombing" examines children’s drawings as deep symbolic reactions to 9/11. The subtly majestic "Lament for the Makers of Brooklyn" builds the poignant case for a lost world: "Where is Policastro the locksmith now?" the poet asks. "Half-blind, he wore two pairs of glasses / held together by duct tape, / . . . / afterward the key turned / for you but not for me."