Jennifer Haigh – The Condition

Jennifer Haigh, Boston-based author of Mrs. Kimble and winner of two PEN awards for fiction, returns with the compelling saga of an upper middle-class New England family ripped apart by a daughter’s genetic disorder. The Condition is a compassionate, unflinchingly honest take on the ties that bind.

Monday, July 6, 7pm
Joey Kramer - Hit Hard: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom at the Top

Aerosmith's drummer Joey Kramer visits Brookline to sign copies of his memoir, Hit Hard, a chronicle of his spectacularly glamorous if boozy youth and the triumphant sobriety that followed. Take it from Nikki Sixx: "I love this book; this is an important book, because it's not bullsh*t. Joey had the balls to see what's underneath the hood, and to fix it."

Tuesday, July 7, 7pm

Muumuu House Presents Brandon Scott Gorrell and Tao Lin

Kicky upstart Muumuu House is the brainchild of literary maverick Tao Lin, author of Eeeee Eee Eeee and Bed, famous for calling the editor of n+1 a hamster. He’s reading with poet Brandon Scott Gorrell, the man behind the blog My Hair Will Defeat You. They’re here for the release of Brandon’s book, during my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer present. We have no idea what to expect, either.

Jane Green – Dune Road

Brookline Booksmith is thrilled to welcome Jane Green, the George Washington of chick lit. The Aesop of feminist fairy tales has concocted a new blockbuster beach read about a single mom who works for a famous—and famously reclusive—novelist with a horrible secret. Not to be missed!

Tuesday, July 14, 7pm

Featherproof Books Presents the Dollar Store

Chicago-based Featherproof Books is a young indie publisher dedicated to the small-press ideals of finding fresh, urban voices. The Dollar Store is a mixture of comedy and literature in which each performance is inspired by junk found at – you guessed it – a dollar store. It’s been featured on National Public Radio and has sold out its Chicago home for three years running. Catch Featherproof authors Amelia Gray, Zach Dodson and a host of others (including Patrick Somerville, author of The Cradle) at Booksmith on the Boston stop of their national tour.

Thursday, July 23, 7pm

Patrick Radden Keefe – The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream

The ruling figure of the 1980’s Chinese underworld was a middle-aged grandmother known as Sister Ping. The Snakehead is the story of the vicious global crime conglomerate she built and a gripping explanation of the underground economy of America’s 12 million undocumented immigrants. Says author Jane Mayer, “The Snakehead reads like a Chinese-American version of The Sopranos, except that the mob boss is a grandmother who runs a human smuggling enterprise, and the story is true.”

Michael Lang – The Road to Woodstock

The 40^th Anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival brings an opportunity to meet Michael Lang, the man who started it all.  The Road to Woodstock weaves the voices of its artists, audience and creators into an in-depth history of the most iconic concert of the last century. He will be in conversation with his co-author, award-winning music & culture writer Holly George-Warren.

Sunday, July 26, 7pm

David Farley – An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town

An Irreverent Curiosity chronicles what happens when a renowned travel writer moves to an Italian hill town to uncover the fate of Jesus’ foreskin. David Farley – who teaches writing at New York University and whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Condé Nast Traveler and Slate – traces the gripping history of an eccentric hamlet and the Church’s most wondrous relic.

Monday, August 3rd, 7pm
Lydia Peelle
Reasons For and Advantages of Breathing

Boston-born Lydia Peelle—winner of two Pushcart Prizes, an O. Henry Award and twice featured in Best New American Voices—will drop by the Booksmith to read from her debut collection. Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing features eight dazzling stories about what happens when human life divorces from nature.

Tuesday, August 4th, 7pm
Efrem Sigel
The Disappearance

The Disappearance , Efrem Sigel’s second novel, tells the story of an upper-middle class Massachusetts couple torn asunder when their 14-year-old son vanishes from their summer home. Raves Booklist: “Sigel is clearly a talented storyteller, and the novel has a deep emotional core that will resonate with any reader.”

Thursday, August 6th, 7pm
Jack Murnighan
Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature’s 50 Greatest Hits

Medieval scholar and former Nerve.com columnist Jack Murnighan (The Naughty Bits) polishes the Western Canon with 50 short and sassy chapters on the books everyone is supposed to have read. Each chapter includes a synopsis, a recount of the book’s reception and a list of quotable notables. Says A. J. Jacobs: “Just having it on your she lf will raise your IQ.”

Tuesday, August 11th, 7pm
Molly Rosen, Jennifer Lear, Thea Singer, Erin St. John Kelly
Knowing Pains: Women on Love, Sex and Work in Our 40s

You’ve seen them on TODAY—now join them at the Booksmith. Knowing Pains is a startlingly fresh, thoughtful and hilarious collection of essays about women in midlife. Editor Molly Rosen assembled a crack team of real women to dish on how to survive your 40s with dignity and laughter. All net proceeds from this event will go to Breast Cancer Action, a breast cancer research foundation.

Tuesday, August 18th at 7pm
Christine Lehner
Absent A Miracle

Brigid Pasulka
A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True

Novelist Christine Lehner (What to Wear to See the Pope) and acclaimed short story writer Brigid Pasulka team up for a night of literary fiction with an international flavor. Lehner’s book chronicles the hilarious, heart-rending quest of an unemployed woman to canonize the first Nicaraguan saint. Pasulka’s haunting debut novel follows several generations of a Polish family and a nation in transition.

Wednesday, August 19th, 7pm
Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski
Dormia

Two dynamic writers bring us an epic fantasy story starring sleepwalker A lfonso Perplexon, the potential savior of an ancient kingdom of marathon sleepers from an icy apocalypse. Halpern, an NPR contributor and the author of Fame Junkies and Braving Home, teamed up with Kujawinski, a Foreign Service Officer and Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate, to create a tale to entertain all ages.

Wednesday, August 26th, 7pm
Ellen J. Langer
Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility

In Counterclockwise, Harvard psychology professor Dr. Ellen Langer explains that opening our minds to what’s possible instead of clinging to accepted notions of what’s not can lead to better health at any age. Guggenheim Fellow Dr. Langer penned the landmark works Mindfulness, The Power of Mindful Learning, and On Becoming an Artist.