Same Page SF | A GGP reading party, Shakespearean food, and rejection as history
Plus your July sneak peek 🗓️
Welcome back to Same Page SF, your home for all things local and literary!
I’m Christina, your friendly, well-informed, and unabashedly nerdy bookseller. Every Monday, I share author talks, book clubs, and new releases happening across our city.
Last week was a literary whirlwind: on Thursday, I joined Transit Books’ preview night, where the lovely folks behind the Berkeley-based press shared their upcoming releases with local booksellers (to the unexpected but not unappreciated tune of bagpipes).
On Friday, a friend and I were riveted by the preview of Z Space’s Absolutely Science Fiction!, a darkly comic stage adaptation of speculative stories by Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut. Did it give me nightmares? Yes. Did I love it? Also yes. The show’s running through July 19; use code SAMEPAGESF for 10% off.
This week is comparatively quiet as we approach July 4th. I’ll be spending the holiday with family and taking next week off, but never fear - paid subscribers can pull from the July Sneak Peek. In the meantime, here’s what you’ll want to do if:
1) You love reading alone together
The SFPL is stepping up their already-commendable Silent Book Club game. On Monday, they’re hosting an outdoor reading party - bring your blanket and meet them by the Bookmobile at JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park (5:30-6:30pm, free). Show up in style with their I <3 SFPL cap paired with Same Page’s book-pocket tote…just saying. And on Wednesday, come hungry/thirsty to Magnolia Bar & Kitchen for an hour of quiet reading, followed by time to socialize (5:30-7pm, free).
2) You wonder what Shakespeare can teach us about food
Marissa Nicosia on Shakespeare in the Kitchen at Omnivore. Monday 6/29, 7pm, free.
Most of us English nerds have read our fair share of Shakespeare, but I imagine few of us have considered his work through the lens of early modern food culture! Enter renaissance-lit professor Marissa Nicosia, whose Shakespeare in the Kitchen mixes textual analysis with updated historical recipes, “demonstrating how the physical act of cooking can transform our understanding of once familiar texts.”
3) You’re intrigued by rejection as a narrative lens
Alison Kinney on United States of Rejection: A Story of Love, Hate, and Hope at Green Apple Books on the Park and live online. Tuesday 6/30, 7pm, free.
What if the story of America could be told through rejections, both personal and political? And what if rejection isn’t inherently negative, but a potential force for justice? These are the provocative questions Alison Kinney investigates in her latest book, which fellow literary nonfiction author Wendy S. Walters called “a brilliant, substantial work of social criticism [that] gave me a new perspective and a feeling of genuine hope.”
4) You’re ready for “the grand return of a master storyteller”
Greg Sarris on The Last Human Bear at Bookshop West Portal. Tuesday June 30, 7pm, free.
I had the pleasure of hearing Greg Sarris speak at CALIBA’s Spring Forum, and now I’m thrilled to officially report “the grand return of a master storyteller,” per City Lights’ Peter Maravelis. I can’t introduce The Last Human Bear, Sarris’s first novel in 28 years, any better than the opening lines:
I’m curious why you want to know about me. The Indians would say anyone listening to me got a lot of nerve, especially the old Indians. No end to the stories they’ll tell you about me and my numerous and abominable crimes … Me, I want to die. Or at least be able to. That’s why I’m talking. You see, that’s the agreement; I can’t go until I pass on this business. That’s the way it is for us kind of people. But as you’ll see, I’m the last link. I have no cape, no bearskin, to turn over to you. All that’s left is a story.
I MEAN. If that’s not a hook, I don’t know what is.
5) You want to understand the past, present, and future of San Francisco
Jonathan Weber on City on the Edge: Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco at Green Apple Books on the Park. Wednesday 7/1, 7pm, free.
In 1990, Los Angeles Times journalist Jonathan Weber was assigned a new beat: Silicon Valley. Now, he’s drawn on hundreds of interviews with politicians, business leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists to chronicle the Bay Area’s transformation into the world’s tech capital and, more broadly, “the story of a war waged for the heart of San Francisco - one that anticipated the culture wars raging around the world.”
Book-adjacent events
💐 The Love Potion Library, San Francisco’s only romance bookstore, is welcoming local floral designers Iris + Emerson for a book-to-vase workshop, “a playful evening where you will learn how to turn a book into a vase and walk away with a finished piece you made yourself.” Tuesday 6/30, 7pm, $65.
📽️ Local lit-mag ZYZZYVA’s film series invites acclaimed writers to present a favorite film alongside a curated book list. This time, nationally bestselling author T Kira Madden (Whidbey) has chosen Hitchcock’s iconic noir Strangers on a Train. After the show, stick around for Q&A and the chance to shop her book selections. Wednesday 7/1, doors at 5:30pm, $12+.
🥸 Noe Valley Books is kicking off their annual Where’s Waldo? Challenge. Pick up your stamp card and search for their hidden Waldo. Then visit participating local businesses - like NOVY, Rin Thai, and Noe Valley Bakery, yum! - to find their hidden figurines. 7/1 through 7/31, free to participate.
Excited about one of this week’s features? Invite a friend to join you (or a full crew, but let’s be real, we’re all introverts here).
MONDAY Aloud/Out Loud, an evening of poetry in Italian and English, at Telegraph Hill Books
TUESDAY Savala Nolan on her essay collection Good Woman: A Reckoning at SFPL Main | Reyna Grande on her memoir Migrant Heart: Essays About Things I Can’t Forget with Litquake and KALW is sold out
WEDNESDAY Writing Club at Black Bird
THURSDAY Patricia Albers on Everything is Photograph: A Life of André Kertész, “the first full biography of the father of modern photography,” at Mechanics’ Institute | Launch Party for Shelby Ann Harms’ debut romantasy By the Order of the King at The Love Potion Library | STIR at Café Suspiro, a seasonal reading series, featuring Swetha Amit, Eboni J. Dunbar, Lisa Goldstein, and Edna Mira Raia | 格外书店 Silent Reading Club at Unbound Books and Coffee
FRIDAY First Friday Poetry Series featuring D. A. Powell, D’mani Thomas, & Baruch Porras-Hernandez at Golden Sardine
SATURDAY & SUNDAY –
Advance notice is my love language.
It’s the start of a new month, and you know what that means: a sneak peek into what’s most likely to fill up or sell out.
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