Citizens Read

With Guest Speaker Molly Franks, MPH, Health Educator in the STD/HIV & Hepatitis C Program at the Multnomah County Health Department

In conjunction with The Multnomah County Library and OMSI, Citizens Read will be reading The Ghost Map. The book, set in the 1854 cholera epidemic in Victorian London, tells the story of the innovative and brilliant scientist Dr. John Snow, who risked his life to create a map that demonstrated how cholera spread. With the creation of this map, he proved his theories about contagious diseases and changed the way physicians and public health officials thought about and dealt with the spread of diseases and epidemics. This book is not only highly relevant (think H1N1), but an immensely good read.

AUTHOR ATTENDING

This short collection of intensely personal essays portray both the author's outrage and discouragement during the Bush-Cheney years and his countering quest for hope and optimism by searching out the beauty in life, be it in nature, creative activity or a sidewalk cafe.

Jumptown

AUTHOR ATTENDING

What was the Rose Quarter before it was the Rose Quarter? It was one of the hottest jazz scenes west of Chicago. In the 1940s and 1950s, this inner Northeast neighborhood was a bustling African-American community with a thriving music scene. In addition to talented local musicians, “everyone who was anyone” played there, including Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonius Monk, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck. In Jumptown, author Robert Dietsche's love of his subject makes this story of music and community come alive.

Artisan Cheese

ATTENDING: Author Tami Parr and Guest Speaker Steve Jones of Steve's Cheese

Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest: A Discovery Guide, which will appeal to cheese lovers, locavores and fans of the 100 Mile Diet, has everything you want to know about interesting and delicious Northwest cheeses. Recommended by Liz Crain, author of the Food Lover's Guide to Portland, this book includes profiles of farms and cheesemakers, explanations of how various cheeses are made, how to choose and store cheese and what to drink with various types of cheese. Author Tami Parr and guest attendee Steve Jones will answer your questions regarding everything you always wanted to know about cheese.

AUTHOR ATTENDING

What motivates civic involvement at a grassroots level? How does this involvement progress from thinking and talking to action? Join protagonist Socrates Fortlow - and his friends and enemies - as they explore these questions at their “Thursday Night Thinkers Club.” This short, exceedingly well-written book is profoundly moving, thoughtful and full of action.

With guest speaker Amy Greenstadt, Associate Professor of English at Portland State University.

RSVP requested: City Club, 503-228-7231 x110 or amy@pdxcityclub.org

As an Assistant U.S. Attorney with broad authority to investigate and prosecute criminals, John Kroger pursued some of the most high-profile cases of our times. In Convictions, he describes in compelling detail the work that goes into a case before it even gets to court: what it takes to flip a perp, work an informant or placate hostile opponents. A former philosophy major at Yale, Kroger gives an honest and straightforward account of the ethical dilemmas that prosecutors often face.

For four years, a father and daughter lived in Forest Park. Discovered in 2004, they were relocated to a farm in Yamhill County but disappeared from their new home after only five days. The novel My Abandonment explores, through the daughter’s sincere and unsentimental voice, what she and her father – and their lives together – might have been like. This book delves into themes of alienation, survival and love.