Celebrating the Old — Embracing the New: A Book For All Seasons welcomes you to our nineteenth annual Christmas party.

Curl up in a comfy chair with one of our great books or ebooks this Christmas — but first —

join your friends at A Book For All Seasons to enjoy refreshments, prize drawings and gifts, meet authors, and toast another wonderful year of community spirit!

Meet three fabulous authors at our Christmas Party Book Buzz:

In Everything I Need to Know About Motherhood I Learned from Animal House, Christina-Marie Wright delights readers with a collection of hilarious tales about mothering, marriage, society, and being a woman. She writes:

"Raising kids is like living in a frat house. There are too many all-nighters, there is never enough coffee or Top Ramen, the toilets are never clean, it's no surprise if someone is puking, and you never know who is going to be in your bed when you wake up."

Titles include: "How the Phone Thwarted my Birth Control (or Why Disconnecting the Phone is 95% More Effective than Vasectomy)," "Belts Are the New Lace Panties," "Good Fences Make Good Voyeurs," "People for the Ethical Treatment of Riflemen," and many more. Wright is a modern-day Erma Bombeck with a hip edge and never-fail wit!

About the Author

Christina-Marie Wright is the sanity-challenged mother of seven children, including a bio child, four full-time stepchildren, and two toddlers who joined her family by way of domestic adoption. She's the publisher of "Gonzo Parenting" zine, author of The Gonzo Mama newspaper column, and blogs at TheGonzoMama.com. Her work has appeared in Hip Mama, Mamaphiles, Reality Mom, Askew Reviews, and Edmonton's Child.

Buy a SIGNED copy of Everything I Need to Know About Motherhood I Learned from Animal House - $10.00

Two lovely young women: the first raped, repeatedly stabbed, and left to die — the second accused of the murder. In Murder In Italy, award-winning journalist Candace Dempsey reveals the true story behind this notorious international crime case.

In Perugia, Italy, on November 2, 2007, police discovered the body of a British college student stabbed to death in her bedroom. The prosecutor alleged that the brutal murder had occurred during a drug-fueled sex game gone wrong. American honor student Amanda Knox became a prime suspect and soon found herself caught in of a sensational international story, vilified and eroticized by the tabloids and the Internet. Award-winning journalist Candace Dempsey gives readers a front-row seat at the trial and reveals the real story behind the media frenzy.

After a trial lasting more than 10 months, University of Washington student Amanda Knox and her boyfriend were convicted on multiple charges. Murder in Italy recounts the internationally publicized case, spotlighting the incongruities that many American legal and forensic experts have noted. Amanda has appealed her conviction, and continues her university studies from behind bars.

"A real-life mystery as compelling and terrifying as fiction", says Femme Noir. Murder in Italy has been called "Eat, Pray, Love gone horribly wrong," and "Under the Tuscan Sun on the dark side."

About the Author

Candace Dempsey is an award-winning Italian-American journalist. She studied journalism at the University of Oregon and has decades of newspaper, magazine, and zine experience, both journalistic and editorial. She reported on the Kercher/Knox case for CNN Headline News, KOMO TV and Italian television. Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal, which grew out of Candace's true crime blog. Learn more about Candace and the case at http://www.candacedempsey.com

Buy a SIGNED copy of Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal by Candace Dempsey - $7.99

Looking Back with Byron Newell

The deep local roots of Byron Newell, life-long resident of Plain, Washington, give him a unique perspective on our valley. Historian Newell has spent years collecting a large number of old photographs, along with the stories they tell. Now he shares these with us in his book: Looking Back: A Visual History of Early Plain.

Byron's book unfolds a unique and fascinating time in the history of our valley, presenting source material beginning with Native Americans and early pioneers and progressing up to Plain's pastoral 1950's. In his acknowledgements, Byron reminds us: "The beauty of old photographs is that they don't lie, they don't forget and they have a story to tell... Photographs have the power of igniting forgotten memories and supplementing the ones already known."

"These pictures are a look back to a time that few people remember," Byron writes. "This book was meant to speak for people who are no longer here and to share stories they cannot."

Byron Newell has lived in Plain all his life. He is in the logging business, likes to write, and enjoys history.

Buy a SIGNED copy of Looking Back, a Visual History of Early Plain by Byron Newell - $25.00