Thu.
Jan. 14
6:00 p.m.

Abbey RoomToby Lester
Co-presented with the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center and the Boston Map Society

For millennia Europeans believed that the world consisted of three parts: Europe, Africa, and Asia. They drew the three continents in countless shapes and sizes on their maps, but occasionally they hinted at the existence of a “fourth part of the world,” a mysterious, inaccessible place, separated from the rest by a vast expanse of ocean. It was a land of myth—until 1507, when Martin Waldseemüller and Mathias Ringmann, two obscure scholars working in the mountains of eastern France, made it real with what is now known as the Waldseemüller map. In The Fourth Part Of The World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name, Toby Lester, acclaimed writer and former editor for The Atlantic, tells the improbable story of how the Waldseemüller map forever changed the way we see the world. Toby Lester is a contributing editor to and has written extensively for The Atlantic. His work has also been featured on the radio show This American Life. A former Peace Corps volunteer and United Nations observer, he is also an invited research scholar at Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library.

Sun.
Jan. 17
1:30 p.m.

Abbey RoomGeorge Saunders & Ha Jin

In his first book of short stories since The Bridegroom was published in 2000, National Book Award-winning author Ha Jin gives us A Good Fall,  a collection that delves into the experience of Chinese immigrants in the United States. With the same profound, poetic attention to detail that is a hallmark of his previous works of fiction, Ha Jin depicts here the full spectrum of immigrant life and the daily struggles faced by these individuals. Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of five novels, three story collections, and three books of poetry. He has received the National Book Award, two PEN/Faulkner Awards, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.

George Saunders is the author of In Persuasion Nation, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, Pastoralia, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, and a children’s book, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. In his most recent work, Saunders turns his celebrated wit and singular vision on the real world with his first foray into nonfiction, The Braindead Megaphone. He was named one of the “Best American Writers Under 40” by the New Yorker and one of Entertainment Weekly’s “Most Creative People.” In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He writes for The New Yorker, Harper’s, and GQ, and is the recipient of multiple National Magazine Awards. His most recent collection of essays in entitled The Braindead Megaphone and was published in 2007.

Tue.
Feb. 2
6:00 p.m.

Orientation RoomJennifer Wilkov and Kimberly Mylls

In today's fast-paced world, single women are juggling the demands of climbing the corporate ladder with finding the relationship of their dreams. But for women striving to reach the top of their professional field while attempting to find and maintain a healthy romantic relationship, the demands can sometimes be overwhelming. In their empowering new guidebook, Boys Before Business: The Single Girl’s Guide to Having It All, Jennifer S. Wilkov and Kimberly A. Mylls offer practical, real-world advice for women who aspire to have it all. Radio host Jennifer S. Wilkov has been called “the quintessential writer and teacher for the 21st century.” Well known as the award-winning author of the best-selling Dating Your Money series, Wilkov is the producer, publisher and co-author of The Green Guide Girls: Guide to Book Publishing and is the creator of the trademarked “From Thought to Sales in 90 Days” book process. After reaching the top level of Arbonne International and retiring from Corporate America, Kimberly A. Mylls now focuses on changing women's lives for the better by empowering, inspiring and preparing them to successfully reach their goals. Her written works have been published in local magazines and newspapers and she is a featured author in the book, Dare Dream Dance.

Thu.
Feb. 4
6:00 p.m.

Orientation RoomPhilip Hoare

Philip Hoare’s The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, winner of the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction, is an extraordinary journey into the world of this fascinating animal. Hoare visits the historic whale-hunting towns of New Bedford, Nantucket and the Azores, wanders the streets of London and Liverpool in search of Melville’s whaling inspiration, and swims with the sperm whales themselves in the middle of the Atlantic. Along the way he explores the troubled history of man and whale; traces the whale’s cultural history from Moby-Dick to Free Willy; and seeks to discover why these strange and beautiful animals still exert such a powerful grip on our imagination.

Tue.
Feb. 23
6:00 p.m.

Abbey RoomMichael Kranish

Flight from Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War is a narrative of the invasion of Virginia by the traitor Benedict Arnold in 1781, when Jefferson was governor of Virginia. It was nearly five years after the Declaration of Independence was approved, and Jefferson and Virginia were unprepared for the invasion force of 1,600 men led by Arnold. Jefferson was forced to flee from Richmond and, ultimately, from mountain home of Monticello. Accused of cowardice for fleeing, Jefferson spent many years defending his actions, which both haunted him and shaped him. The book relies on many previously ignored or little-known diaries, journals and ship logs, which provide revealing details about one of the most tumultuous events in revolutionary American history. Michael Kranish has been a reporter with The Boston Globe for 25 years. He has written many biographical articles about presidential candidates, including part of a series on John Kerry that was turned into a 2004 book, John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography.