Watermark Books & Cafe

Cool Summer Reads

for Kids and Teens:

What We're Reading: Current Picks from the Watermark Staff

This week's special: 30% off

Welcome to Watermark Books & Cafe!

SAVE THE NIGHT: August 1 - Watermark's book-release party for Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn, book four of the Twilight Saga. Find event details, how to pre-order, what to read while you wait, and how to get involved in Watermark's Twilight Circle reading group at: Save the Night

Construction Updates: What's the best way to visit Watermark during the ongoing road work at Douglas & Oliver? Read updates

Order Gift Cards On-line: Sending a Watermark gift card has never been easier--just a few clicks of the mouse! Start here

The Book of the Week is The Story of Forgetting: A Novel by Stefan Merrill Block (Random House, ISBN 9781400066797, $25.00). In Stefan Merrill Block's extraordinary debut, three narratives intertwine to create a story that is by turns funny, smart, introspective, and revelatory.

Abel Haggard is an elderly hunchback who haunts the remnants of his family's farm in the encroaching shadow of the Dallas suburbs, adrift in recollections of those he loved and lost long ago. As a young man he believed himself to be "the one person too many"; and now he is all that remains. Hundreds of miles to the south, in Austin, Seth Waller is a teenage "Master of Nothingness"--a prime specimen of that gangly, pimple-rashed, too-smart breed of adolescent that vanishes in a puff of sarcasm at the slightest threat of human contact. When his mother is diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's, Seth sets out on a quest to find her lost relatives and to conduct an "empirical investigation" that will uncover the truth of her genetic history.

Though neither knows of the other's existence, Abel and Seth are linked by a dual legacy: the disease that destroys the memories of those they love, and the story of Isidora--an edenic fantasy world free from the sorrows of remembrance, a land without memory where nothing is ever possessed, so nothing can be lost.

Through the fusion of myth, science, and storytelling, this novel offers a dazzling illumination of the hard-learned truth that only through the loss of what we consider precious can we understand the value of what remains. Shop online or in the store, this week "The Story of Forgetting" is 30% off.

The Footnote of the Week: Backseat Bingo... includes two bingo cards & bonus games on the back! Save 30% this week.

First lines...

"When you've been involved in something like this, no matter how long ago it happened, no matter how long it's been absent from the news, you're fated, nonetheless, to always search it out."

... from America America by Ethan Canin (Random House, ISBN 9780679456803, $27.00)

Cafe specials

Our featured cookbook for July is The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need by Laurie Goldrich Wolf and Pam Abrams (HarperCollins, ISBN 9780061233838, $14.95). The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You'll Ever Need includes everything necessary to turn any fundraising effort into a smashing success—from school bake sales to church potlucks to charity get-togethers. With 23 varieties of rice krispie treats, delicious breakfast concoctions like pear spice muffins and five-grain cinnamon bread, holiday-themed desserts such as St. Patrick's mini soda breads, and candy and confections like toffee marshmallow delights, these recipes stand head and shoulders above bake-sale standards like chocolate chip cookies and brownies from a box. Laurie Goldrich Wolf and Pam Abrams give clear, easy-to-follow instructions about how to solicit donations and how to increase fundraising potential, in addition to the best set-up and publicity tips. Take 201 fun, inventive recipes, add a dash of business savvy, and you'll find yourself with your most successful bake sale ever!
Look in the pastry case this month for Oreo Treats, Everything Peanut Squares, Oatmeal Blondies, Pear Spice Muffins, Lime Coolers, Traditional Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate-Glazed Orange Nut Bars, Outrageous Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Raspberry Muffins, PB & Butterscotch, Frosted Chocolate Cookies, Blueberry-Spice Bread, Frosted Banana Cake, and Strawberry-Cream Cheese Brownies.
And in anticipation of the Breaking Dawn Release Party on Friday, August 1, look in the pastry case throughout July for Bella's First Kiss, Werewolf Cliffs, Vampire Skin, and Forks' Lawn!
Order online by 10:30 a.m., and we'll have your lunch waiting for you.

You're in MySpace. Many great authors come to Watermark. Too often we concentrate on spreading the word to you about who's coming, and we forget to tell you how the events went. No longer. We recently launched Watermark's MySpace page, complete with event photos and whatnot. We've even accumulated a great number of literati who have subscribed to be our MySpace friends, including Paulo Coehlo, Matt Haig, Elizabeth Gilbert, and David Levithan. We hope you do, too. Check out our MySpace page.