Solarized

Not a whole lot of new books coming this week - although there are a couple pretty big releases - but there are four events at Warwick's for you to attend!

• Solar by Ian McEwan - a new book by the 2-time Booker Prize winner is always somewhat of a literary event. (Warwick's has signed copies available!)  A Nobel Prize-winning physicist halfheartedly works on a governmental global warming project as his marriage crumbles - can he salvage both? Alas, the early reviews are not great - it doesn't seem like Solar is Sir Ian's finest work, nor destined to earn him that 3rd Booker. Booklist: "readers are taxed to even care" about the characters & crises in this "draggy novel". PW: "The scientific material is absorbing, but the interpersonal portions are much less so. Troublesome, since McEwan seems to prefer the latter, making for an inconsistent novel that one finishes feeling unpleasantly glacial."  Sorry, I didn't mean to talk you out of reading it.
• Pearl of China by Anchee Min - set amidst the turmoil of the dawn of the 20th century in China (Mao, the Boxer Rebellion, civil war), Min reimagines the early life of Pearl S. Buck and her friendship with young Willow Yee. Of course, Anchee will be at Warwick's for this book - Thursday, April 8th at 7:30 - plenty of time for you to read the book first.
• Deception by Jonathan Kellerman - more "Alex Delaware" from the award-winning patriarch of the Kellerman empire.
• Giada at Home: Family Recipes From Italy and California by Giada de Laurentiis - the new cookbook by the Food Network star. Like "cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in salty prosciutto, creamy risotto with the earthy and deep flavors of mushrooms and gorgonzola, and lamb chops basted with honey and balsamic vinegar."  I'm in.
• About Face by Donna Leon comes out in paperback this week.

Happenings:

• Jack Bowen, author of If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers on Monday night at 7:30. There's a short piece on Jack's book over on KPBS's Culture Lust blog - check it out.
• Midge Raymond, author of Forgetting English, is hosting a Writing Workshop on Tuesday night at 7:00.
• Karl Rove (sigh, yes, that Karl Rove) will be signing his new book, Courage and Consequence on Wednesday evening at 6:00. (Note: this is a ticketed event & only books purchased from Warwick's will be signed.)
• Indu Sundaresan, author of Shadow Princess, the concluding novel in her Taj Trilogy, will be here on Thursday night at 7:30.

Happy Birthday Octavio Paz (1918-1998; March 31) and Hans Christen Anderson (1805-1875; April 2)!