We're Keeping Michele Norris at the Pitman. Tickets Still Available.

So today I was stressing out! We were undecided about where to put our Michele Norris event for The Grace of Silence (tickets available here), but in the end, we think we have enough folks to keep it in the Pitman. Alverno is helping with the event, so our trade is that there are some classes coming. I think it's a great topic for students, and I'm glad we could do that.

There are some great reviews coming in. Here's Carmela Ciuraru in The San Francisco Chronicle:

"The Grace of Silence" is a powerful and heartbreaking read. At one point, Norris describes black men going to voting booths, and, after waiting in line for hours, being turned away for having supposedly filled out their paperwork incorrectly. The year she's talking about is 1946.

Does this sound familiar? How far have we come as a nation, after all? "The Grace of Silence" doesn't answer that question, but it sparks a fascinating conversation - which, after reading it, you can and should continue."

Read more in the full review.

And Michael Sragow does a combo review and interview in The Baltimore Globe. After reading it, I think all interview questions should start with a quote from a novelist:

Q: F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time." Does that apply to your father? He remained patriotic all his life — even after he returned to Birmingham, Ala., a Navy veteran of World War II, and was shot by a white policeman.

A: My parents loved America even when America didn't love them back. They loved America as an ideal even when America as a reality was something that was quite ugly.

Read more in the Sun. And there's info on her Baltimore appearance, at the Baltimore Book Festival, just in case you are Marylander reading this piece.

Our event is on Thursday at Alverno's Pitman Theater, at 3401 (though I've also seen 3400--I'm pretty sure the theater is not in one of those cute bungalows across the street) South 39th Street. It starts at 7 PM. Another ticket link. And note that the ticket is 25 cents cheaper than buying the book in the store.

Tonight is Mad Men and Philosophy with James South! Tomorrow is the St. Peter and Paul book night. Friday is Michael Grant at Whitefish Bay. Next week we switch over our inventory system (Monday should be fun.)