The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday, February 9. Books & Bars meets at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the discussion begins at 7:00pm.

February's first book is Ender's Game. It's a science fiction classic. In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for a lively discussion of interesting authors, fun people, good food and drinks. You're welcome even if you haven't read the book.

To celebrate the release of the paperback edition of his award-winning collection of short stories Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (available February 2, 2010), Wells Tower will read at Magers & Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis; 612/822-4611).

Well's Tower's book was a smash hit when it was first published in 2009. Michiko Kakutani said in The New York Times, "This arresting debut collection of stories decisively establishes Mr. Tower as a writer of uncommon talent." Wells Tower's version of America is touched with the seamy splendor of the dropout, the misfit: failed inventors, boozy dreamers, hapless fathers, and wayward sons. A man is booted out of his home after his wife discovers that the print of a bare foot on the inside of his car's windshield doesn't match her own. A boy runs off to the carnival after his stepfather bites him in a brawl. And in the most talked-about story in the collection, Viking marauders descend on a much-plundered island, hoping some mayhem will shake off the winter blahs.

"Wells Tower's stories are written, thrillingly, in authentic American vernacular--violent, funny, bleak, and beautiful.  You need to read them, now."--Michael Chabon, author of The Yiddish Policemen's Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Wells Tower’s short stories and journalism have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, and The Washington Post Magazine. He received two Pushcart Prizes and the Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. He divides his time between Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Brooklyn, New York.

Magers & Quinn Booksellers is pleased to host the West Metro regional competition of "Poetry Out Loud."

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered with State Arts Agencies of the United States to support the expansion of "Poetry Out Loud," which encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. This exciting program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

"Poetry Out Loud" seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry--recitation and performance. The program builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth "Poetry Out Loud" invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word, and theater into the English classroom. Through "Poetry Out Loud," students master public speaking, build self-confidence, and learn about literature.

Jennifer Salima Holt's inspirational book, Sacred Gateway of Grief and Loss: Freeing the Imprisoned Soul (Indigo Heart Publishing, 2009) describes the breakthroughs Jennifer witnessed by leading grief and loss groups for women prisoners. Many personal stories of miraculous change, love and light fill the book, as well as practical information about how each one of us can approach our grief and loss in sacred, loving ways. Sacred Gateway is a deeply felt, loving testament to the power and beauty of the human spirit to survive and even thrive, regardless of the depths to which we may tumble. At the event, Jennifer Salima will also perform spiritual chants inspired by her work with the prisoners (available on her CD, Ecstatic Groove: Sacred World Chant Infusions, Salima's Whirled Peas, 2009).

"Inspiring, courageous, beautifully written. Jennifer Holt's heart-felt story of her volunteer work running grief and loss groups with women prisoners shows us that transformation is possible anywhere. Her book is testament to the amazing capacity we all have to change, grow, learn and feel joy, despite our challenges."--Charlotte Sophia Kasl, Ph.D., author of If the Buddha Dated

Jennifer Salima Holt holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota. She has taught psychology and sociology college courses at a variety of colleges, including the University of Minnesota, St. Cloud State University, and the University of St. Thomas. She has volunteered within the U.S. prison system extensively, and also served for many years as a death and dying midwife. She was the founder and leader of feminist folk-punk band Tetes Noires in the 1980s. Learn more about her at www.jennifersalimaholt.com.

The psychiatric emergency room, a fast-paced combat zone with pressure to match, thrusts its medical providers into the outland of human experience where they must respond rapidly and decisively in spite of uncertainty and, very often, danger. In this lively first-person narrative, Dr. Paul R. Linde's Danger to Self takes readers behind the scenes at an urban psychiatric emergency room, with all its chaos and pathos, where we witness mental health professionals doing their best to alleviate suffering and repair shattered lives.

Linde and his colleagues encounter patients who are hallucinating, drunk, catatonic, aggressive, suicidal, high on drugs, paranoid, and physically sick. Linde examines the many ethical, legal, moral, and medical issues that confront today's psychiatric providers. He describes a profession under siege from the outside--health insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, government regulators, and even "patients' rights" advocates--and from the inside--biomedical and academic psychiatrists who have forgotten to care for the patient and have instead become checklist-marking pill-peddlers. While lifting the veil on a crucial area of psychiatry that is as real as it gets, Danger to Self also injects a healthy dose of compassion into the practice of medicine and psychiatry.

Paul Linde is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and the author of Of Spirits and Madness: An American Psychiatrist in Africa. He was born and raised in Hastings, MN. He graduated from St. John's University in 1983 and graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1988.

The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday, February 23. Books & Bars meets at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the discussion begins at 7:00pm.

February's second book is Ray of the Star by Laird Hunt. Set in a dream-like European city reminiscent of Barcelona, along a boulevard teeming with artists who perform as living statues, comes the beautiful and frightening story of a man running from his past, a woman consumed by grief, and the forces that pursue them both. A love story related in the dark, stylish noir of continental cinema and overlaid with a patina of surrealism, this is a novel where friends are also informers, street theater is the lifeblood of culture, and refuge can be found in the belly of a yellow, papier mâché submarine.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for a lively discussion of interesting authors, fun people, good food and drinks. You're welcome even if you haven't read the book.

In February, we'll be talking sunshine. Eating the Sun is the story of photosynthesis--a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things, the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. Oliver Morton offers a fascinating, lively, profound look at nature's greatest miracle and sounds a much-needed call to arms--illuminating a potential crisis of climatic chaos and explaining how we can change our situation, for better or for worse.

The Big Bang Book Club is a monthly book club for non-scientists that relishes in folding
arts and science into a heady brew. It is sponsored by

• Magers & Quinn Booksellers
• the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy, which works to engage the public on science or technology issues to deliver the knowledge and experience of Humphrey Institute experts
• Secrets of the City--the daily digest of Twin Cities culture
• Grumpy's Downtown

Noted Twin Cities psychologist and Spring Forest Qigong teacher Patrick Dougherty will discuss his latest book The Wholehearted Embrace at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. His spiritual memoir is an honest and often painful recounting of his journey to health and healing. His story begins with powerful recollections of witnessing death at an early age, including his tour of duty as a Marine in Vietnam. Upon his return, he battled demons including alcohol, drugs, more death and survivor guilt.

Dougherty later embarked upon a spiritual journey that ultimately led to solace and profound healing through a variety of traditions, including the Christian faith of his childhood, Native American spirituality, and finally, the practice of meditation and Qigong. Today Dougherty is a well-known Twin Cities’ clinical psychologist, a pioneer in the use of mind-body healing therapies in psychotherapy, and a noted local and national teacher and speaker on heart-centered psychotherapy.

For more information about Spring Forest Qigong, visit www.springforestqigong.com.

The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday, December 9. Books & Bars meets at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the discussion begins at 7:00pm.

March's first book is The White Tiger. The White Tiger is a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen. Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for a lively discussion of interesting authors, fun people, good food and drinks. You're welcome even if you haven't read the book.

Jana Laiz, author of Weeping Under This Same Moon, will make her only Minneapolis appearance at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Her latest book has been named both ForeWord Magazine "Book of The Year" (2008) and and International Reading Association Notable Book. It is also a 2010 selection for "Valley Reads 2010." Events will be held March 1-14, at a variety of venues in the St. Croix Valley; details are here.

Weeping Under This Same Moon is a young adult novel based on the true story of two teenage girls from different cultures. Mei is an artist whose life has been disrupted by the Vietnam War. Her anguished parents send her away on a perilous escape during the exodus of thousands of Vietnamese refugees known as "Boat People." In Mei's words we learn of the dangers she faces caring for her two younger siblings on a sea journey fraught with hunger, thirst and deprivation, leaving behind everything she loves, to find refuge for her family. Hannah is an angry seventeen-year-old American high school student--friendless, neurotic, a social misfit. Through Hannah's voice, we get inside her head, there to discover a gentle soul beneath all the anger and turmoil. Destiny brings Mei and Hannah together in a celebration of cultures and language, food and friendship, and the ultimate rescue of both young women from their own despair.

Minnesota's literary scene is alive and kicking, and John Jodzio's short story collection If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home is proof of its vitality. Jodzio has published his short stories in a variety of publications, including The Rake, Minnesota Monthly, and mnartists.org, where he twice won the miniStories fiction contest. Now, with the assistance of a McKnight-Loft Fellowship, Jodzio has compiled his first short story collection. The book will be released in March 2010 by another local literary start-up, St Paul's Replacement Press. Replacement Press was established in August 2009 to “cultivate the literary voices of the next generation by publishing culturally-engaged fiction by new and emerging writers.” Their first publication is a fantastic start to that mission.

In twenty-one brief, funny stories, John Jodzio’s new book If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home tells of his characters’ disappointment, frustration, and longing for a home that seems forever out of reach. By turns bleak and hopeful, cruel and tender, this is an exciting literary debut by a writer to watch.

"You may think you've read enough stories about penniless gay clowns who can't get over the loss of a dog, but--I assure you--you have not. John Jodzio is the best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new."--Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

Magers & Quinn Booksellers is pleased to celebrate Minnesota's resilient book culture and to host the launch party for John Jodzio's short story collection If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home. Join us at 3038 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis--7:30pm, Friday, March 19. This event is free and open to the public.

Books & Bars meets at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the discussion begins at 7:00pm.

March's second book is City of Thieves. During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for a lively discussion of interesting authors, fun people, good food and drinks. You're welcome even if you haven't read the book.

Minnesota author Erin Hart blends her Midwestern roots with her love of Ireland in her latest novel, False Mermaid. Erin Hart's Haunted Ground was one of the most praised mystery debuts in recent years, and its follow-up, Lake of Sorrows, also received outstanding acclaim. Now Hart combines her page-turning storytelling skills and deep knowledge of Ireland and Irish myth with a Minnesota setting close to her heart.

After failing to bring her sister Triona's killer to justice, Nora fled to Ireland, throwing herself into her work and taking the first tentative steps in a new relationship with Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire. She's driven home by unwelcome news: Tríona's husband--and the prime suspect in her murder--is about to remarry. Nora is determined to succeed this time, but as she digs ever closer to the truth, the killer zeroes in on Tríona's young daughter, Elizabeth.

Erin Hart came to writing quite late, and by way of her first love, theater. She chose writing almost by default, and embarked on a second career as a freelance arts journalist and theater critic. Throughout the 1990s, her work appeared in print in the Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, and Skyway News, and for several years she was the regular theater critic for Minnesota Public Radio. She also began to write memoir, essays, and short fiction. When her short story, "Waterborne," won the Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers in 1996, she began to receive inquiries from literary agents. The rest is history.

Erin Hart lives in Minnesota with her husband, Irish button accordion player Paddy O'Brien. They make frequent visits to Ireland, going to music sessions, and carrying out essential research in bogs and cow pastures and castles and pubs.