What's Going on This Week at Boswell? Zombies and Zombies and What I Think are Actually Zombies Under Another Name, Plus Acupuncture and Spald-o-Rama.

Dare I say it? We have some interesting events coming up this week.

Monday, October 24, 7 pm, Boswell:

Curry Chaudoir, author of Oriental Medicine and You: Making a Seemingly Complex, 3500-Year-Old Medicine Understandable for the Layperson.

Curry Chaudoir is a Diplomate in Acupuncture, which I think is a pretty cool title. As executive director of Acupuncture and Holistic Health Associates, he works with his team to provide relief to pain, fatigure, insomnia, and many other symptoms*. In addition to his practice, Chaudoir also teaches acupuncturists.  So it was a logical step to develop a book, Oriental Medicine and You. For the professional or the layperson, I want to get their details exactly right, so I am quoting from their materials here:


"Oriental Medicine and You is for the millions of patients who have suffered with seemingly unexplainable conditions and have been given incomprehensible diagnoses with little or no options for help. It is also intended as a reference for use by patients who are curious about acupuncture and oriental medicine, and/or by acupuncturists who would like to offer their patients an understandable explanation of particular symptom(s) prior to beginning care."

Tuesday, October 25, 6:30 pm, Greenfield Public Library, 5310 West Layton Avenue

James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure.


One of the things that you learn as a young adult series goes on is that what you originally thought it was about is often not what it was about at all. As we were selling book one, The Maze Runner, all I really knew was that these kids woke up in this strange land where they had to do all these chores. It turned out they were sort of lab rats.

Here's the official description of volume three: "As the third Trial draws to a close, Thomas and some of his cohorts manage to escape from WICKED, their memories having been restored, only to face new dangers as WICKED claims to be trying to protect the human race from the deadly FLARE virus."  Well, talking to Jason (big fan), we decided that (and I think I can say this because I figure there are not too many middle and high school kids reading this and I'm not really giving too much away) in a sesnse, these are really zombie novels under another name. And with zombies being so hot (see below), why not associate Dashner with a hot trend?  Kirkus said "Heart pounding to the very last moment."


Greenfield Library is right off 894, or you can take 94 to 60th street exit and go south, or you can take 43 to Howard to Loomis. Layton by the airport is a bit of a mess, unfortunately. Here's a map.

Wednesday, October 26, 6:30 pm (note special time), at Boswell:

Spald-o-rama, featuring Theatre Gigante.


Join us for a special talk and preview of "Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell," presented in conjunction with the release of The Journals of Spalding Gray. Though Kathy Russo was unable to attend the event, Theatre Gigante promises suitable kickoff for Spald-o-rama.

"Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell" opens Thursday, October 27 at the Kenilworth Studio 508 Theatre with a guest performer each night. Co-conceived by Kathleen Russo and Lucy Sexton, the play interweaves "stories, letters, and journal entries into a funny, poignant, and life-affirming evening of theater." In addition to the cast of Mark Anderson, Marcie Hoffman, John Kishline, and Isabelle Kralj, each performance has a special guest performer--Dan Mooney, Deborah Clifton, and Holly Hughes.


In addition, Theatre Gigante will be screening Steve Soderbergh's tribute film, "Everything is Going Fine" on Saturday at 4 and on Sunday at 2, also in the Kenilworth Theater, 1925 East Kenilworth Place. More on their website.

Saturday, October 29, 1 pm and 2 pm, Zombie Afternoon, at Boswell:

1 pm: Andy Rash, author of Ten Little Zombies.


"Ten little zombies
Walking in a line
One stepped in a campfire
Now there are nine."

For a while, we had a parody called Pat the Zombie on our impulse table. We had one customer who would complain about it every time she saw it, but yet other parents would call over their kids to take a look. That said, this is sort of an event for adults and a certain kind of kid.  If you think you don't want your child hearing a story about zombies being destroyed one by one, and then get a lesson in learning to draw them, this is my warning that this is exactly what this event is about.  But they are very cute zombies, you must admit.

2 pm: Angus the Zombie Comic.

Angus MacAbre is known among the living and the undead by a variety of nicknames, including "Scotland's Smartest Zombie Scholar" and “Scotland’s Funniest Zombie Comedian.” He’s famous for his undeadpan comedy stylings which include such "funny-cause-they’re-true" observations about the differences between men zombies and women zombies and the differences between Canadian zombies and American zombies. Angus is also the host of the critically-acclaimed indie film, "The Zombeatles: All You Need Is Brains."

More about the events on our website.

*My family used to travel to New York's Chinatown to get acupuncture treatments for my grandmother.  These were the days when folks were less enlightened about oriental medicine and there wasn't the same kind of licensing.  Not that it took that long for us to get to lower Manhattan from Queens in those days (the backups are much longer now), and while you were there, it made sense to get something to eat. Oh, and there was a chicken that played tic tac toe in the arcade next door.