Shopping Bag
My AccountToday’s Featured Book Event:
Jesse Katz presents The Opposite Field (Broadway Books, @7:00pm): Just in time for the holiday season, here’s a memoir that will grab your heart. The title is The Opposite Field, and the author is Jesse Katz, a resident of Monterey Park, California, and a single father. Faced with the collapse of his son’s Little League program (consisting mostly of Latino kids in the largely Asian suburb of Los Angles), he finds himself thrust into the role of baseball commissioner for La Loma Park. This memoir follows Jesse and Max through nine seasons of baseball in an immigrant community. It is a father-son story, but also a memoir of place, an L.A. story you have not heard before. Through it all, Jesse’s emotional mainstay is Max, his son, who quietly bests his father’s brightest hopes. Over nine springs and summers with Max at La Loma, Jesse learns nothing less than what it takes to be a father, a son, a husband, a coach, and, ultimately, a man. This totally true story also features Jesse’s mother Vera Katz, during the time when she served as Portland’s mayor and was also fighting cancer. Jesse’s father Mel Katz is a well-known Portland artist and resident of Irvington.
Other Book Events Today:
Children’s Tales for Jewish Book Month (Annie Bloom’s Books, @2:00pm): To help kids celebrate Jewish Book Month, the Jewish Theatre Collaborative will be acting out two children’s stories at Annie Bloom’s. Come with your little ones and take a journey that captures the cultural flavor of Jewish oral traditions with stories of the old country, immigration, changing family ways and holiday celebrations in a diverse world. This storytelling program, targeted for the six-and-under crowd, features two of PJ library’s selections, The Friday Nights of Nana by Amy Hest and When Mindy Saved Hanukkah by Eric Kimmel, both intergenerational celebrations of Shabbat and Hanukkah traditions.
These engaging stories will be brought to life by Jewish Theatre Collaborative, soaring off the page in Word for Word Staged readings by Drammy Award-winning actress Michele Mariana and Hanna Treuhaft. This performance is a treat for families of all backgrounds.
INFK presents David Wolach, Jen Coleman, Ashley d’Avignon Goodwin, and Kenny Anderson (3968 SE Mall St., Upper Floors, @7:30pm): Poets David Wolach and Jen Coleman, visual artist Ashley d’Avignon Goodwin and musician Kenny Anderson will be featured at tonight’s reading. Bring food or drink to share, or maybe throw some money in for beer. Bring extra cash you’ve got laying around in case anyone’s hawking anything. Bring something to hawk. Or just show up with your lovely self.
Oregon Wine Country and Happy Hour Guidebooks (Powells City of Books, @7:30pm): Cindy Anderson presents two new guidebooks for aficionados of local food and drink. The Oregon Wine Country Guidebook highlights more than 200 wineries with an easy-to-use, fast-find formula. The Portland Happy Hour Guidebook shows where to eat, drink, and be happy — and save money, too! — in an updated 2010 edition.
You can find other events on your community Libraries schedule using these links: Washington County, Multnomah County, Clackamas County.
