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This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 6/28)

Jun 28

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Two visits to LA in one month, how about that?

I think I’ve been giving Los Angeles a bad rap, I’ll admit it. I actually had a pretty good time on two visits there. I mean, I have family, puppies, friends, good food, good drinks, and all sorts of other goodies there. Could I move there? Well… that’s still very much debatable, but for the time being I will try my best to be more friendly to the city of angels. (It also doesn’t hurt that the Dodgers are playing like crap right now which puts a smile on my face.)

Tuesday, June 29th
@ 7pm
- Scott Sigler, author, will be at Book Soup discussing his book Infected. It’s pretty rare that advocate a sci-fi signing but I figured it was about time that I mentioned another one. Although this one seems a bit one the wild side, you know aliens infections and the CIA, it sounds like it could be a pretty entertaining and fun read. Oh, I also think it’s meant to be kind of scary which I like.

Don’t worry, I’m still fishing for other events but I’m not sure there’s much else for you.

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 6/21)

Jun 21

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Looks like Friday is the day Los Angelinos. Oddly enough it´s also the day I return to the states and to LA. Although I´ll only be there for a day or two I´ll make the most of it, if I can.

Here ya are.

Friday, June 25th
@ 7pm
- Tarquin Hall, author, will be at Vroman’s talking about and signing copies of his book The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing.

Friday, June 25th
@ TBD
- Theresa Gonsalves, author, will be at Make a Better World Foundation talking about her book Obsessions: The Shocking True Story of the Real Billie Jean in Michael Jackson’s Life.

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 6/21)

Jun 21

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Ah, to be in Costa Rica. Of course, once again I´m not exactly feeling compelled to indulge you and write out some sort of witty remarks about the events happening below. So, for that I apologize. I did however take the time to do a little bit of research to see if there were any other events that should be added to this weeks list but decided in the end to leave it as it is.

So, here you have it.

Thursday, June 24th
@ 730pm
- Kate Walbert, will sign copies of her book A Short History of Women at the Booksmith on Haight.

Saturday, June 26th
@ 11am
- Michael Esslinger, author, will be on Alcatraz Island at the museum there slinging his book Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years.

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 6/14)

Jun 14

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I know, this is a very very week post. Before I left for my trip this is all I could find that was going on and this is now all I’ve got for you. I’m a bit too lazy to sit at the internet for extended periods of time while traveling. But, for what it’s worth I am reading Ellis’ classic Less Than Zero right now.

Wednesday, June 16th
@ 8pm
- Bret Easton Ellis, author, will be at Largo at the Coronet discussing his book Imperial Bedrooms. If you’re a fan of American Psycho or Less Than Zero, you should already know about this event, but in case you didn’t, now you do. Oh, you should also know that you will have to pay for this event but including in the price are readings by James Van Der Beek, Joel McHale, Jerry Stahl and Joseph Mattson. Very impressive line-up if you ask me.

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 6/14)

Jun 14

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Yep, still keeping it pretty simple. I promise when I return things will return to normal…

Tuesday, June 15th
@ 730pm
- Sam Barry, author, will once again be at the Booksmith on Haight signing copies of his book How To Play the Harmonica: and Other Life Lessons.

Wednesday, June 16th
@ 730pm
- Piper Kerman, author, will be at the Booksmith on Haight signing copies of her book Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison.


@ 3pm
- Jennifer Egan, author, will discuss and sign copies of her book A Visit from the Goon Squad at Diesel in Oakland.

This Weeks Book Events, LA (week of 6/7)

Jun 7

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Ok, typically I like to provide you with detail regarding every book event that´s happening. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for you I am in Panama right now (although I´m sick) so this weeks events post is lack a little bit.

Tuesday, June 8th
@ 7pm
- Heather Poole, Kellen Zale, Landon Spencer and Shauna Sweeney, writers, will all be at Vroman’s discussing their book Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010.

Tuesday, June 8th
@ 7pm
- Sharon Oreck, author, will be at Booksoup signing copies of her (mouthfull of a book) Video Slut: How I Shoved Madonna Off an Olympic High Dive, Got Prince into a Pair of Tiny Purple Woolen Underpants, Ran Away from Michael Jackson’s Dad, … So I Could Bring Rock Videos to the Masses.

Friday, June 11th
@ 12pm & again at 7pm
- Michael Grant, author, who wrote the Gone series will be at Vroman’s discussing and signing copies of his books including Hunger, the latest in the series.

Saturday, June 12th
@ 5pm
- Ron Arons, author, will be at the Marriott Hotel on Hollywood Way in Burbank discussing his book The Jews of Sing Sing.

Sunday, June 13th
@ 7pm
- Jillian Lauren, author, will be signing copies of her book Some Girls: My Life in a Harem at Good Luck Bar on Hillhurst Ave. in LA.

This Weeks Book Events, SF (week of 6/7)

Jun 7

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Ok, typically I like to provide you with detail regarding every book event that´s happening. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for you I am in Panama right now (although I´m sick) so this weeks events post is lack a little bit.

Tuesday, June 8th
@ 730pm
- Joshua Braff, author, presents his book Peep Show and will be signing copies and discussing the book at the Booksmith in the Haight. So, I just saw a copy of this book in a bookstore the other day and I’ll admit I was a little thrown off by the title. I took a look at it and was actually a bit disappointed when it didn’t sound to be as juicy as the title lead me to believe. However, it did/does still sound like a pretty good read. After all,

Thursday, June 10th
@ 6pm
- Gene Luen Yang, author, will be at Giant Robot SF on Shrader Street signing copies of his book American Born Chinese.

Thursday, June 10th
@ 730pm
- Linda Greenlaw, author, will be at Books, Inc. (Chestnut) talking about and signing copies of her book Slipknot. Yep, when I first saw the title of this book, Slipknot I had a wee chuckle because I thought this here was a book about the metal band and not

Saturday, June 12th
@ 11am
- Michael Esslinger, author, will be on Alcatraz Island at the museum there talking about his book Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years. Wow, it looks like Alcatraz is turning into a regular stop for authors… so long as your book is about Alcatraz. First, Jonathon Eig and now Michael Esslinger, two soon to be household names. Honestly, I have very little appeal in going to alcatraz to see an author. Is it a tourist gimmick? It must be right?

Saturday, June 12th
@ 12pm & 730pm
- Lev Grossman, author, will be at Rakestraw Books in Danville at 12pm and at The Make-Out Room in San Francisco at 730pm discussing and signing copies of his book The Magicians. You may recall that back in January of this year I reviewed this book and found it to be somewhat “raunchy.” Perhaps I was looking too far into the writing but that’s how it came across to me. But, I did still enjoy it and urge you to go hear Mr. Grossman talk.

A La Orden XXXV

Jun 3

Posted by The Valet in A La Orden (Travel) | No Comments

May 6th

Well, that’s all folks.

Today I would be heading home to San Francisco.

I mentioned in my previous post that I had planned on going to the airport with a couple who were also on my flight but of course when my alarm went off at 3am I hit snooze rather than actually getting up. Remarkably though I did get up shortly there after and wandered outside hoping that there would be a cab there waiting for me and lo and behold there was.

Once I got to the airport I saw the couple that was on the flight and we had a good laugh about me missing them. I guess I hadn’t told the guy which room I was staying in and he had looked around the hostel briefly looking for me but in the end just left. I was glad that they didn’t look too hard or wait for me as I would have felt pretty guilty about that.

I made it the airport with plenty of time and enjoyed my last S. American coffee before entering the boarding area.

The flight took off on time which was a relief and was pretty boring. I slept most of the time given how early I had woken up and when we touched down in Houston all I wanted was to be in San Francisco and not in the middle of nowhere, which is where I consider Houston to be.

My flight landed in San Francisco around 5pm and from there the lovely Bart train whisked me home. You’ve already seen this last video but it’s a pretty fitting end to my amazing trip.

Today is Thursday, June 3rd and as it is tomorrow I’m off to Panama for three weeks. If you can hold out you’ll be getting the same treatment I provided you here in “A La Orden” from my trip to Panama. Until then, thank you for following along and I hope you enjoyed my trip as much as I did.

A La Orden XXXIV

Jun 3

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May 5th

Holy crap, my trip is ending! Today will be my last full day in S. America.

Like the previous day I didn’t really have much planned other than preparing to go home an done last three hour salsa lesson.

Once again the lesson was intense but I truly enjoyed and I think I gained a lot from it. Could I possibly try and dance salsa in a club? Well, that’s another story.

Honestly, after my salsa lesson I did nothing. I wandered Quito for about an hour so to get my last taste of S. America and that was it. I had made tentative plans to go to a salsa club that night and stay up until I had to leave for my flight home but whether or not that was actually going to happen I didn’t know.

So near the end…

A La Orden XXXIII

Jun 2

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May 4th

As my trip wound down so did I. I hadn’t really planned on doing too much in Quito other than my salsa lessons at this point so I was pretty relaxed and content, not to mention kind of ready to come back home.

As mentioned in the video my salsa lesson was three hours long on the 4th. It pretty much kicked my ass. Afterwards I walked around the neighborhood of the salsa studio to see what was going on in gringolandia, as the neighborhood is called. I was pretty surprised to see a ton of western style restaurants and bars but clearly it has that name, gringolandia, for a reason. This is also where most of the hostels in Quito are. There were a few around The Secret Garden where I was staying but not as many as there were in this particular neighborhood. I got bored pretty quickly walking around here, there were just too many tourists and nothing really to see or do so I started to head back to the hostel where I was just planning on relaxing and reading.

As I was walking home I saw one the craziest things I’d seen on my trip yet. I was crossing a rather large street and looking down another when I saw a mass of people congregating and watching something or other. Well, I’m not one to shy away when something looks interesting and I’m incredibly glad I didn’t. When I approached the scene I saw a bunch of riot gear clad policemen hiding behind walls and a street riddled with the remnants of bricks and a fire in the middle of the street up a ways. Although I couldn’t quite figure out what or why this protest/disturbance was going on it didn’t stop me from taking a bunch of videos. It got pretty crazy when an armored truck rolled and pieces of brick started flying my way but it was incredibly exciting in a disgusting kind of way.

Protest videos are always fun, watch them…

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