What's Going on This Week (7/25-31) for the Bookish Sort, at Boswell and Beyond.

It's hard to believe we only have one event this week, but it's true.  On Thursday, July 28, we're hosting Christopher Brown at 7 pm.  Brown's novel, Tea of Ulaanbaatar, is the story of a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, who, shall we say, becomes a bit disaffected and goes astray.  I enjoyed the novel and talked about it at length in another blog post, which you can read here. For a better Peace Corps experience, read Michael Levy's Kosher Chinese.

Fortunately there are several other good author events going on around town.  Tonight, Monday, July 25, at 7 pm, Boyd Morrison is at nearby Mystery One to discuss (and sign copies of) his new novel The Vault.  I have learned that this thriller is about a combat engineer and linguistics expert who team up to find the connection between Archimedes and the legend of King Midas before it is too late. I identify with this plot line for too reasons a) I am always worry about being too late b) It's time for linguists to be thriller stars.  Props to my sister Claudia. More on Mystery One's event page.

Tomorrow, on July 26, at Mequon's Next Chapter, Anne Fortier is appearing to read from and discuss her novel Juliet, which comes out in paperback tomorrow.  There was a lot of buzz about Fortier's novel when it came out in hardcover, and I think it hit the top 15 of the New York Times.  I'm too lazy to check, but I can vouch that our Anne read it and really liked it. The plotline is like this--modern day Julie gets a key from her aunt, goes to Siena, and finds her self wrapped in a story that ties her directly to the ancient warring clans of Shakespeare's beloved play.  Think Susan Vreeland with a little Dan Brown mixed in.  Not a bad literary cocktail for a hot summer day. The event starts at 7--more on Next Chapter's website.

And finally on Saturday, July 30, 3 pm, Marcia C. Carmichael, the author of Putting Down Roots: Gardening Insights from Wisconsin's Early Settlers, will be speaking at the Garden Room in Shorewood (note: they are selling their own books at this event--it just seems worth mentioning.) This beautiful book has illustrations and photos of classic tools and techniques, plus recipes from the German, Norwegian, Irish, Danish, Polish, Finnish, and Yankee (I assume that meets Anglo-American) settlers. It's a beautiful package from Wisconsin Historical Society Press, and I know you have been looking for that special recipe for headcheese.  Any recipe that starts, "Remove eyes, brains and nose from pig's head" is going on my shortlist.

To my knowledge, the Anaba Tea Room at the Garden Room does not serve the blood tea featured in Christopher Brown's Tea of Ulaanbaatar. And that's probably a good thing.