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What We're Reading:
Current Picks from the Watermark Staff
Join the Conversation:
Dates, Times, &
Picks for Watermark Book Clubs
Book of the Week:
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Welcome to Watermark
Books
& Cafe!
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Best of the Year!
Watermark's
Top Staff Picks of 2009
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Our book of the week is
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich (Harper, 9780061536090, $25.99)
When Irene America discovers that her husband, Gil, has been reading her
diary, she begins a secret Blue Notebook, stashed securely in a safe-deposit
box. There she records the truth about her life and her marriage, while
turning her Red Diary--hidden where Gil will find it--into a manipulative
farce. Alternating between these two records, complemented by unflinching
third-person narration, "Shadow Tag" is an eerily gripping read.
When the novel opens, Irene is resuming work on her doctoral thesis about
George Catlin, the nineteenth-century painter whose Native American subjects
often regarded his portraits with suspicious wonder. Gil, who gained
notoriety as an artist through his emotionally revealing portraits of his
wife--work that is adoring, sensual, and humiliating, even
shocking--realizes that his fear of losing Irene may force him to create the
defining work of his career.
Meanwhile, Irene and Gil fight to keep up appearances for their three
children: fourteen-year-old genius Florian, who escapes his family's
unraveling with joints and a stolen bottle of wine; Riel, their only
daughter, an eleven-year-old feverishly planning to preserve her family, no
matter what disaster strikes; and sweet kindergartener Stoney, who was born,
his parents come to realize, at the beginning of the end.
As her home increasingly becomes a place of violence and secrets, and she
drifts into alcoholism, Irene moves to end her marriage. But her attachment
to Gil is filled with shadowy need and delicious ironies. In brilliantly
controlled prose, "Shadow Tag" fearlessly explores the complex nature of
love, the fluid boundaries of identity, and one family's struggle for
survival and redemption. And this week, it's 30% off.
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First line(s)...
"I have two diaries now."
... from
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich (Harper, 9780061536090, $25.99)
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Cafe specials
Go to our cafe page and
order lunch
online by 10:30 a.m., and we'll have it waiting for
you.
4701
East Douglas/Wichita, Kansas 67218/(316) 682-1181
Hours:
Monday
- Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (Cafe opens at 7:00 a.m.)
Saturday - Sunday: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Cafe opens at 7:00 a.m.)
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Watermark's Visiting Author Series
Lisa See.
Bestselling author of the novels Peony in Love,
Snow Flower & the Secret Fan, and
Shanghai Girls.
Tuesday, Feb. 16.
7:00 p.m.
Wichita's Lebanese Heritage.
Authors Jay Price, Matthew Namee, & Victoria Sherry will discuss and sign
Wichita's Lebanese Heritage, their new book of archival photographs &
local history.
Thurs., Feb. 25. 7:00 p.m.
Rachel Hawkins.
Debut author of the magical young-adult novel Hex Hall. Perfect for
fans of Blue Bloods and Ally Carter!
Friday, March 5. 7:00 p.m.
Joe Drape.
Journalist & author of the book Our Boys, the story of the Redmen
football team of Smith Center, Kansas.
Thurs., March 11. 7:00 p.m.
Bonnie Tharp.
Author of a new novel set in Wichita's Riverside area: Feisty Family
Values.
Thurs., March 18. 7:00 p.m.
Andrew Clements.
Acclaimed children's writer, author of Frindle, with his new Benjamin
Pratt series.
Tuesday, April 6. 7:00 p.m.
Jennifer
Chiaverini.
Bestselling novelist of the Elm Creek Quilters series and the new The
Aloha Quilt.
Tuesday, April 20. 7:00 p.m.
Click here for details and more event listings
Get ready for the Spring
Watermark Challenge:
Take the Proust
Challenge!
Swann's Way
by Marcel Proust
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