Nature Noir (Houghton Mifflin, $24.00) is the intensely original story—part Edward Abbey, part James Ellroy—of JORDAN FISHER SMITH's fourteen years as a park ranger on forty-eight miles of Sierra Nevada river canyons. The gorgeous government-owned land along the American River that Fisher Smith has pledged to protect is condemned to be inundated by a huge dam. As Smith learns, the provisional quality of life here attracts the marginal and the pure crazy.

Nature Noir

BARBARA WILDER
Wednesday, May 4, 7:30 p.m.

Presented as an eleven-week course in feminine power, Embracing Your Power Woman (Wild Ox, $19.95) is designed to guide women in the crucial years of midlife on an emotional and spiritual journey to uncover, recover, and reconnect to the seed of their original feminine exuberance and potency. BARBARA WILDER guides each reader gently but firmly to embrace and accept her creative next step and become the Power Woman she has the potential to be.

BETH OSNES
Thursday, May 5, 7:30 p.m.

Twice Alive (WovenWord, $17.50) is a book that validates the true majesty of the childed experience. BETH OSNES travels with the mother through each trimester, birth, and the child's opening through its first year. This is not a "how to" book, but rather a companion who sits beside you, sharing with you the intimate experience of mothering. Not limited to any particular faith, the book roots itself in the soul-harvest that is reaped through the process of becoming a mother.

BOULDER BOOK STORE READING GROUP
Tuesday, May 10, 7:30 p.m.

What would happen if an ordinary teenager were suddenly proclaimed a modern-day Holy Virgin? That is the premise of The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn (HarperCollins, $13.95), a beautifully crafted tale of people who pin their hopes for spiritual salvation on a young girl; and how, she tragically comes to believe that she is the divine being they want her to be. Just read the book and join us—author JANIS HALLOWELL will be present for the discussion!

The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn

REG SANER
Wednesday, May 11, 7:30 p.m.

Award-winning writer REG SANER recollects, "Years ago I said that if I had a dozen lives to live, I'd live every one of them in Colorado." Saner first saw the Rocky Mountains in 1962, and since then he has never strayed far, spending his days in Boulder at the foot of the Colorado mesa. The Dawn Collector (University of Chicago, $29.95) is a collection of fourteen thoughtful and meditative essays that reveal Saner's devotion to his long-time home and its surrounding landscape.

The Dawn Collector

*** Cancelled***

SAM KASHNER *** Cancelled***
Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m. *** Cancelled***

As a restless kid, SAM KASHNER didn't want to just study the Beats; he wanted to be one of them. So when he heard that Ginsberg had founded an unconventional writing program in Boulder, he became the first certificate student of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. From his days as student, secretary, and psychiatrist, Kashner fashions a touching and irreverent portrait of the Beats never before seen with When I Was Cool (HarperCollins, $13.95).

*** Cancelled***

When I Was Cool

ORIAH MOUNTAIN DREAMER
Tuesday, May 17, 7:30 p.m.

In her previous books, ORIAH MOUNTAIN DREAMER has challenged readers to live with passion and honesty, to embrace the true, fallible, human self. What We Ache For (HarperCollinsSanFrancisco, $21.95) is a moving and eloquent call to delve deeply into our creative selves, to do our creative work, and offer it to the world. The book challenges and inspires readers to fully embrace their artistic selves as a way of forging a path of spiritual unfolding.

What We Ache For

JENNET CONANT
Wednesday, May 18, 7:30 p.m.

Their orders were to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and report for work at a classified Manhattan Project site, a location so covert it was known to them only by the mysterious address: 109 East Palace. JENNET CONANT captures all the drama of those perilous twenty-seven months at Los Alamos in 109 East Palace (Simon & Schuster, $26.95), a secret city cut off from the rest of society, where Robert Oppenheimer and his young recruits lived as virtual prisoners of the U.S. government.

109 East Palace

ARNAUD MAITLAND
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 p.m.

Living Without Regret (Dharma, $16.95) is a wise and moving book about impermanence and the great and small sorrows that come in its wake. The life story of ARNAUD MAITLAND's mother—an active, energetic woman whose mental and physical health was ravaged by Alzheimer's disease—is the book's leitmotif. The author encourages the reader to develop or open up a spiritual dimension to his or her life, in order to approach life's end with wisdom and confidence.

CLAUDE ANCHIN THOMAS
Monday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.

In this raw and moving memoir, CLAUDE ANCHIN THOMAS tells the dramatic story of his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and how he was ultimately able to find healing and peace. Both a dramatic coming-of-age story and a spiritual travelogue, At Hell's Gate (Shambhala, $19.95) shares timeless teachings on healing emotional suffering and offers us a wealth of practical guidance in using mindfulness and compassion to transform our lives.

At Hell's Gate

JIM FERGUS
Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.

From the award-winning author of One Thousand White Women, JIM FERGUS, comes a novel tracing one man's search for adventure and the wild Apache girl who invites him into her world. The Wild Girl (Hyperion, $23.95) is based on historical fact, and Fergus takes readers on a journey of magnificent sweep peopled with unforgettable characters. With prose so vivid that the road dust practically rises off the page, The Wild Girl is an epic novel filled with drama, peril, and romance.

The Wild Girl

JIM DOWNTON
Wednesday, May 25, 7:30 p.m.

JIM DOWNTON, author of The Woo Way, Playful Mind, and Awakening Minds, is back with Blooming: Techniques of a Woo Master (Humanics, $17.95), a story—part fact, part fiction—about how he met a Woo Master, and what the master taught about Woo and how to live in balance in order to be happier. Each chapter is a teaching for the reader, and at this event, Downton will present a special workshop based on some of the principles brought forth in the book.

Blooming: Techniques of a Woo Master

The Woo Way ($ 17.95)

Playful Mind ($ 17.95)

Awakening Minds ($17.95 )

RAYMOND BRIDGE
Thursday, May 26, 7:30 p.m.

The Geology of Boulder County (Lone Eagle, $29.95) is a thorough introduction to the fascinating and varied geology of Boulder County, with 25 field trips ranging from the plains to the continental divide, from north of Lyons to Coal Creek Canyon. RAYMOND BRIDGE writes for both geology students and interested laypeople, and the book includes introductory chapters on geology for the nongeologist and references to the technical literature for students and geologists.

MIKE MARRINER
Tuesday, May 31, 7:30 p.m.

A few years ago, MIKE MARRINER and two of his buddies faced the end of college with the realization that, like many college students, they had absolutely no idea what to do with their lives. Their solution: take a roadtrip and interview people from all walks of life to learn how they got where they are. They wrote the book Roadtrip Nation, and in their new book Finding the Open Road (Ten Speed, $17.95) they share the history of Roadtrip Nation, along with a dozen life-as-road themes and more.

Finding the Open Road