March 2021... News, Events and What We are Reading
Fast Forward Into Spring
On March 11th – a year ago – the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic. March 13th, America declared it a national emergency. We have weathered that year. We are still here. I can only sigh deeply, mourn for those we have lost, and count my blessings. It has not been easy. I have such gratitude for all of those in our little town who have kept this independent bookstore afloat. I look forward to truly “turning the page” this month.
Perhaps a few spirits will help; we now have wine & beer for sale (!) I am also proud to offer my personal favorite organic olive oil from Amphora Nueva – an exceptional product sourced from around the world.
We are now allowed to operate with 50% capacity, pandemic protocols still in place. Daylight Savings starts this Sunday, March 14th – “spring forward”; the Spring Equinox is Saturday, March 20th; Easter is April 4; vaccinations are rolling out…
new beginnings on all fronts. Stay well, stay strong. - Cheryl
Sausalito Books by the Bay Featured
Author Brenda Novak was one of the five writers we spoke with in February when we showcased the Royal Court of Romance just before Valentine’s Day. Her newest book (she has published over 70!) The Bookstore on the Beach publishes April 6th and it is a GREAT read. And while our shop isn’t exactly on a beach, but rather a waterfront, Brenda still wanted to feature Sausalito Books by the Bay in the series she is filming to promote independent bookstores and her new book. (Thank you Brenda!)
If you weren’t one of the 170+ people who joined us for the live Facebook feed which we were streaming from the bookstore, here is a link to the tour and interview.
Brenda Novak & Sausalito Books by the Bay
Signed & personalized copies of her new book are available from us email staff@sausalitobooksbythebay.com and follow Brenda at www.brendanovak.com
An Inspired Young Reader
Gemma Barnaby is a 10-year old 5th grader at The New Village School. When her mom Robin contacted me about donating books & gift cards to the school’s fundraiser (which I always do) she mentioned that Gemma had really started to embrace reading and had made a New Year’s resolution to read 100 books by the end of the year! I was hugely impressed and hope that Gemma’s goal inspires other young readers as well.
"I chose to make my 2021 New Year's resolution to read 100 books because I wanted a challenge. I also chose it because I love getting lost in books."
Upcoming Events
March Is Women's History Month
We have curated a collection of books that herald the accomplishments of women over time. Here’s to all the brave women who have paved the way for the rest of us. It brings tears to my eyes to think of what many of them have sacrificed for us. Let’s carry the torch they have lit and pay homage to the legacy they have left us. We need to go the distance.
March 17th
St. Patrick's Day
I am of Irish / Welsh heritage, so I am perhaps genetically drawn to authors from those islands. Some of my favorite Irish authors include:
James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Edna O’Brien, Colm Toibin, Maeve Binchy, Tana French, Anna Burns, Maeve Higgins, John Banville.
Pick up one of their books and let them transport you to the Emerald Isle. If you come into the shop, staff will be happy to share my Irish Reading List with you.
May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow.
And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.
Irish Blessing
Virtual Online Author Event
March 24th, 5:30pm
Vendela Vida
We Run The Tides
A gripping coming of age drama cast in the foggy oceanside mist of San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood in the 1980’s. An homage to teenage friendship in all its splendor, horror and innocence. A poignant and suspenseful, wonderfully written portrait of a former time and place that resonates long after the last page.
April 4th Easter
The bunnies are back! Bring the kids to check out our front window with Peter Cottontail and his friends. I would host an Easter Egg hunt at the bookstore if it weren’t for COVID. Next year! Meanwhile, here’s to chocolate bunnies and jelly beans
I encourage you to patronize one of our local eateries that day –most are open with 25% indoor seating capacity and/or outdoor seating – but if you feel safer staying at home (which I understand) try Cheryl’s “Huevos Sausalito” – an easy, casual Easter brunch entrée to toss together.
Virtual Online Author Event
April 8th, 4pm
Secrets and the Search for Self:
Alka Joshi on The Henna Artist
Joshi will discuss her bestselling novel The Henna Artist and answer questions from the audience. This is a unique opportunity to see one of the literary world’s most astonishing new writers and learn how she took the world by storm with her first novel at the age of 62.
Presented by Bay Area Book Festival's Women Lit in collaboration with Sausalito Books by the Bay & Sausalito Woman's Club
Virtual Online Author Event
April 8th, 6pm
Travel Writers Forum
Authors Erin Byrne, Lavinia Spalding, Tania Romanov Amochaev and Diane LeBow will discuss the newest collection in the award-winning Traveler’s Trails series. Join these intrepid female nomads as they wander the globe. Travel to secret corners of place & emotion on adventures far-ranging and vivid!
April 24th 1-5pm
Independent
BookStore Day
Join us for an Outdoor
Open House / Dock Party!
• Meet local authors
• Live music by Trio Viva
• Complimentary Beverages
What’s New At The Shop
Beer & Wine!
It’s official. We can now sell beer and wine. We are building a limited, but exceptional collection of our favorite brews and vintages – with a wide range of pricing.
Options you will enjoy and won’t easily find elsewhere.
Amphora Olive Oil
For all of you avid olive oil fans! WE NOW HAVE AMPHORA NUEVA OLIVE OIL for sale! It is far and away my personal favorite. We are honored that Gilberto & Claire have allowed us to offer their superior quality product.
In addition to 4 different fresh, extra virgin & infused Amphora olive oils we also have 2 of their aged Italian Balsamic vinegars. You will not be disappointed! Amphora has been family owned and operated for 95 years. They work in close partnership with small farmers in both hemispheres to deliver fresh, high quality products.
Homage To Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Growing up in the Bay Area during the 60’s and 70’s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was one of the most iconic San Francisco characters and true fixtures that I can remember. I was born in 1952 a year before he opened the City Lights bookstore in North Beach. It was still a real Italian neighborhood at the time. While I was raised on the Peninsula, I had family in the city: an uncle who was a journalist and a real “beatnik” of sorts; and an Irish grandfather who had been born and raised in San Francisco. I was there for the Summer of Love, and then I was at UC Berkeley, which I guess made me a “hippie”. So of course I knew of the famed poet, publisher, and political activist Ferlinghetti. I even chanced to catch him reading at Caffe Trieste one time. (He seemed old then!)
Much has been written about Ferlinghetti since he died last month (February 22) at the age of 101. Considered the father of the Beat Generation in San Francisco, he was renown for publishing Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Greg Corso. He was a legend in his own time, a prolific writer to the very end, and in my mind will always be someone who embodied the quintessential spirit of San Francisco. He wanted his bookstore to be a “Literary Meeting Place” where writers and readers could congregate to share ideas about poetry, fiction, politics, and the arts. I want Sausalito Books by the Bay to be the same. If you haven’t already – read Coney Island of the Mind.
What We're Reading
We Begin at The End
Chris Whitaker
Walk is chief of police of a small northern California home town, watching over hapless Star and her two children. When tragedy, strikes, Walk must somehow protect the children even as he struggles with his own demons and health. With a cast of characters both funny and sad, this story is impossible to put down. Picked by several organizations as their March read, it should not be missed. Angela K.
The Soul of a Woman
Isabel Allende
An explosive little book packed with passionate prose that is vintage Isabel Allende. Let there be no mistake about how she really feels about feminism, what it means to be a woman, sexism and sexuality. I loved reading this intimate and powerful memoir– from a woman who has herself made history and should be heralded as we celebrate women’s history month. Cheryl P.
Slough House
Mick Herron
I had started, but not completed, an earlier entry in this series, or would call this my discovery of 2021; regardless, it is certainly my favorite book of the year so far. The slow horses at Slough House are the dogsbodies of MI5, so little regarded they can be compromised to the Russians with no compunction. Every other reviewer has also said this, but think John le Carré fifty years on, with the horribly-impressive, or impressively-horrible, Jackson Lamb replacing George Smiley. This is the sixth (or is it seventh?) of the series, but I've just started on book one, and glad I read this one first. Jeff B.
A Good Neighborhood
Therese Anne Fowler
In a heartbreaking and timely story, ecology Professor Valerie Alston-Hold is raising her talented bi-racial son in a close knit neighborhood in North Carolina. When a new money family with a troubled daughter razes the house next door then moves in, a disagreement about old oak trees on the property line erupts and spirals out of control. In a novel that explores issues of race, class, love, and ecology within the boundaries of neighborhood, this book raises many interesting issues. A great read for a book group. Angela K.
Dusk, Night, Dawn
Anne Lamott
Let me start by saying I have read all of Anne Lamott’s books. I love her work. I think it has maybe saved my life on numerous occasions. Her latest book on revival and courage, aging and the vagaries of life, love and the cosmos is full of her usual wit and wisdom and could not be more-timely based on the horrific, dispiriting times we have recently endured. I promise it will make you feel better. Cheryl P.
The Lost Department Stores of San Francisco
Anne Evers Hitz
This book was published last year, but didn’t cross my desk until recently and I’m so glad it did. What a fond and enchanting walk down Memory Lane! The City of Paris, I.Magnin, Joseph Magnin, Gumps. Not only does the book chronicle the rise and fall of these iconic stores that dominated the Union Square landscape, it also offers a lot of fascinating San Francisco history. Well worth the read. Especially if you remember Blum’s coffee crunch cake! Cheryl P.
If you missed the virtual happy hour event we hosted with Author Anne Evers Hitz & Denise Gustafsson, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/yuSGvmjf6iU
Ancillary Justice
Anne Leckie
The first in the Imperial Radch Trilogy. An intricate space opera about identity, choice and revenge. The story follows Breq, a seemingly human soldier in a forgein world, who saves a dying man abandoned in the snow. In reality, Breq is the artificial intelligence of a military starship inhabiting a human body. She is thousands of years old. She struggles with pronouns. And she is bent on a mysterious quest for vengeance. Recipient of the Hugo Award and Nebula Award, Ancillary Justice is a must read for sci-fi fans on just the intriguing characters and world building alone. Beyond this, the book presents a deep exploration of a person's sense of self and capacity for change. Matthew K.
A New Day
Brad Meltzer
In a picture book that both adults and children alike will love, Sunday is feeling unappreciated for the work she does and quits. Needing to replace her, the other Days of the week hold a reality show contest to replace her. As the potential replacements get more outlandish, a young child pulls Ms. Sunday aside to say “thank you”, which was really what Sunday needed to hear. A book full of color, warmth and humor, with lessons about kindness and appreciation. Angela K.
Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World
Andrea Pitzer
I read almost everything on Polar Exploration (preferring Arctic to Antarctic), but had never really heard about these voyages, although one of the great Arctic Seas is named after the navigator, William Barents. This is the 1590s, Holland, just twenty years after Frobisher's disastrous attempts at a Northwest Passage. Only coasts and nearby waters were known at this time, so these three voyages in search of a Northeast Passage were literally off the map. As with all the early attempts, they were failures, but the enormity of the endeavor, in nautical terms, is still mind-boggling, and we have Barents to thank for the discovery of Spitsbergen. Jeff B.
Four Hundred Souls
Edited by Ibram X. Kenid and Keisha N. Blain
It was recently said by educator Ilyasah Shabazz that there is no American history without Black history. This book brings together a chorus of 90 extraordinary voices to tell the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present. Each writer speaks to approximately five years of that history through essays, personal vignettes, short stories or poetry. This is a masterpiece that should be on everyone’s reading list. Angela K.
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
Cherie Jones
A tour de force full of masterfully written psychological portraits and vivid sensory images. The novel follows the perspective of several characters, but the central figure is Lala, a fragile new mother with a violent spouse hiding from the law. A profound story, and a challenging one. This book contains many achingly beautiful moments, but also depicts scenes of abuse and raw tragedy. How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House explores themes of love and life under unthinkable circumstances. Set against the backdrop of Baxter's Beach, Barbados, the novel also shines a light on the effects of materialism, poverty and the inequalities papered over in a place marketed as paradise to affluent tourists. Matthew K.
An Autumn in Pays de Fayence
Photographs by Catherin Karnow
Text by Gilles Portaz
This beautiful paperback coffee table book that is well worth price for Catherine Karnow’s photography alone. Francophiles, especially those familiar with this charming region of France, will rejoice in the many gorgeous images. Gilles evocative commentary is just as delightful. This is the next best thing to being there. A great gift for yourself or someone else! Cheryl P
Community Supported Bookstore Program
By opening a CSB account with us – or adding money to an existing account – you provide us with valuable working capital to help make ends meet during this dramatic economic downturn.
For more information CSB program
Hours of Operation
While we are once again in “lockdown, shelter in place mode”, retail operations such as ours are allowed to stay open and continue operating at 20% capacity. All of the usual pandemic protocols remain in place. Be sure to MASK UP.
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Recognizing all COVID-19 concerns,
we continue to offer remote services
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or email staff@sausalitobooksbythebay.com
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Life is about creating yourself.”
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100 Bay Street, Sausalito, CA 94965, 415.887.9967
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