First Saturday Book Club

The First Saturday Book Club will meet the first Saturday of every month at Books Inc. in Berkeley. Readings will feature works of contemporary fiction.

When She Woke (Hardcover)

By Hillary Jordan
$24.95
ISBN-13: 9781565126299
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 10/2011
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November 2011 Pick: "When She Woke" is a fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-too-distant future. Hannah unknowingly embarks on a path of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith.

The Hangman's Daughter (Paperback)

By Oliver Potzsch, Lee Chadeayne
$18.00
ISBN-13: 9780547745015
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 8/2011
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October 2011 Selection: Set in the mid-1600s in the Bavarian town of Schongau, a hangman, Jakob Kuisl, is asked to find out whether an ominous tattoo found on a dying boy means that witchcraft has come to town.

The Wapshot Chronicle (Paperback)

By John Cheever
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780060528874
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 6/2003
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September 2011 Selection: When "The Wapshot Chronicle" was published in 1957, John Cheever was already recognized as a writer of superb short stories. But "The Wapshot Chronicle, " which won the 1958 National Book Award, established him as a major novelist. Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village. Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses' adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, "The Wapshot Chronicle" is a family narrative in the tradition of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.

Lord of Misrule (Paperback)

By Jaimy Gordon
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780307946737
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 3/2011
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August 2011 Selection: A brilliant novel that captures the dusty, dark, and beautiful world of small-time horse racing, where trainers, jockeys, grooms and grifters vie for what little luck is offered at a run-down West Virginia track . Tommy Hansel has a plan: run four horses, all better than they look on paper, at long odds at Indian Mound Downs, then grab the purse -- or cash a bet -- and run before anyone's the wiser. At his side is Maggie Koderer, who finds herself powerfully drawn to the gorgeous, used up animals of the cheap track. She also lands in the cross-hairs of leading trainer Joe Dale Bigg. But as news of Tommy's plan spreads, from veteran groom Medicine Ed, to loan shark Two-Tie, to Kidstuff the blacksmith, it's Maggie, not Tommy or the handlers of legendary stakes horse Lord of Misrule, who will find what's valuable in a world where everything has a price.

Black Swan Green (Paperback)

By David Mitchell
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780812974010
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2/2007
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July 2011 Selection: Thirteen chapters provide monthly snapshots of Jason Taylor's life in small-town England. Whether battling his stammer, navigating the social hierarchy of his schoolmates, or watching the slow disintegration of his parents' marriage, he relates his story in a voice that is achingly true to life.

Prague (Paperback)

By Arthur Phillips
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780375759772
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 6/2003
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May 2011 Selection: A novel of startling scope and ambition, "Prague" depicts an intentionally lost Lost Generation, following five American expats who come to Budapest in the early 1990s to seek their fortune. They harbor the vague suspicion that their counterparts have it better, but still they hope to find adventure, inspiration, a gold rush, or history in the making.

The Year of the Hare (Paperback)

By Arto Paasilinna, Pico Iyer
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780143117926
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 12/2010
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April 2011 Selection: Suddenly realizing what's important in life (with the help of a bunny), a man quits his job and heads to the countryside in this internationally bestselling comic novel. "Which of us has not had that wonderfully seditious idea: to play hooky for a while from life as we know it?" With these words from his foreword, Pico Iyer puts his finger on the exhilaratingly anarchic appeal of "The Year of the Hare." While out on assignment, a journalist hits a hare with his car. This small incident becomes life-changing: he decides to quit his job, leave his wife, sell his possessions, and spend a year wandering the wilds of Finland-with the bunny as his boon companion.

The Imperfectionists (Paperback)

By Tom Rachman
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780385343671
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Dial Press Trade Paperback, 12/2010
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March 2011 Selections:Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Rachman's wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English-language newspaper as they struggle to keep it--and themselves--afloat.

Restless (Paperback)

By William Boyd
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781596912373
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Bloomsbury USA, 5/2007
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February 2011 Selection: Someone is trying to kill Sally Gilmartin. It is the summer of 1976, and the only person she can trust is her daughter, Ruth, a young single mother struggling with her own demons. Now Sally must tell her daughter the truth: She is actually Eva Delectorskaya, a Russian emigre recruited for the British Secret Service in 1939. Soon Ruth is drawn deeper into the astonishing events of her mother's past, including her work in New York City manipulating the press in order to shift public sentiment toward U.S. involvement in Second World War and her dangerous love affair with another spy. Ruth also discovers that her mother has one final assignment. This time, though, Eva can't do it alone--she needs Ruth's help. Full of tension and drama, emotion and history, this is storytelling at its finest.

Limassol (Paperback)

By Yishai Sarid, Barbara Harshaw
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781609450007
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Europa Editions, 11/2010
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January 2011 Selection: A high-ranking official in the Israeli secret service is handed a new assignment: go undercover as an aspiring novelist to befriend Daphna, an Israeli writer, and her friend Hani, a renowned Palestinian poet. The target is Hani's son Yotam, a wanted terrorist leader. Show Less

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010 (Paperback)

By Dave Eggers, David Sedaris
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780547241630
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Mariner Books, 10/2010
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December 2010 Selection: An eclectic volume introduced by David Sedaris and compiled by Dave Eggers and students of his San Francisco writing center, who don't leave a stone unturned in their search for nonrequired gems. Cover art by art by Maurice Sendak.

Wolf Hall (Paperback)

By Hilary Mantel
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780312429980
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Picador, 8/2010
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November 2010 Selection: In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII's court, only one man, Thomas Cromwell, dares to gamble his life to win the king's favor and ascend to the heights of political power. In inimitable style, Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage.

The Invisible Mountain (Paperback)

By Carolina De Robertis
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780307456618
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 8/2010
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October 2010 Selection: A gripping and lyrical story--at once expansive and lush with detail--this debut novel is a deeply intimate exploration of the search for love and authenticity, power and redemption, in the lives of three women.

Water Ghosts (Paperback)

By Shawna Yang Ryan
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780143117278
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 7/2010
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September 2010 Selection:

The Black Minutes (Paperback)

By Martin Solares, Aura Estrada, John Pluecker
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780802170682
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Grove Press, 5/2010
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August 2010 Selection: When a young journalist named Bernardo Blanco is killed in the fictional Mexican port city of Paracun, investigation into his murder reveals missing links in a disturbing multiple homicide case from 20 years earlier.

Cutting for Stone (Paperback)

By Abraham Verghese
$15.95
ISBN-13: 9780375714368
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Vintage, 1/2010
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July 2010 Selection: A stunning debut novel from the author of My Own Country, Cutting for Stone offers an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, fathers and sons, doctors and patients, exile and home.
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