Reasonable Books: Lafayette, California

REASONABLE LLC

R E A S O N A B L E
B O O K S

Thinking about a great read.

Hours: Tues. - Sat. 10 AM to 5:00+ PM

3645 C Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA, 94549

(925) 385-3026

books@reasonable.online

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HERE WE ARE
Reasonable Books is an independent bookstore in the East San Francisco Bay Area located in Lafayette, California. We are here to serve as a general bookstore with an emphasis on thoughtful and important subjects for the interested and discerning reader.

While we strive to make available illuminating materials you may not even realize you want to read, we also believe that the mind benefits from rest and healthy distractions. You will find books that can help you relax or escape for a well-deserved break here.

NEWS
29 December 2021: Season's Greetings and best wishes for the New Year to you from Reasonable Books! The impressive collection of novels from our Local Authors bookcase continues to grow with the addition of "Typhoon Coast" by Mark R. Clifford. You can learn more about Mark's wide ranging background in this recent article from the Lamorinda Weekly. Trent and Eddie follow childhood’s illusions of grandeur through San Francisco, then become men in the vast Philippine mountains. Mount Pinatubo explodes with apocalyptic fury, but does it take the Golden Lily Treasure with it? Eddie and Trent are not alone in the hunt. The trillions in treasure could afford the US government incredible power in international affairs and bankroll the nation’s black operations. It’s all fair game.

9 December 2021: Welcome to the Local Authors bookcase, Lydia Osborn! Lydia wrote Ideal, the first book of her two-novel duology, in 2018 at the age of thirteen. The world of twin sisters Mara and Kat Cyania was ideal. As magically-enhanced Witch Warriors the girls spend their days happily training and fighting in martial and magical arts, preparing to battle the soulless killers that have been plaguing their planet for centuries. All goes well until Mara discovers a deadly secret - one of their kind has betrayed them and is preparing to destroy their world.

Lydia penned her sequel Revenant just this year. All too easily, the hunters can become the hunted. That's what Mara and Kat learn as their lives are upended by the sudden appearance of their mother, bringing questions about their past and their destiny as the not-so-holy children of Angels. After spending their entire lives hunting monsters, Mara and Kat are forced to confront the possibility that they could be the biggest monsters of them all.

24 November 2021: Just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, Bruce Lewis joins our Local Authors bookcase with "Bloody Paws: A Kim Jansen Detective Novel". When veterinary college sweethearts Jim Briggs and Helen Williams broke up to pursue careers in other parts of the country, they had no idea a tragedy would reunite them around a common cause six years later in Portland, Oregon where Briggs operated a mobile canine care service.

18 November 2021: As we get ready for tomorrow's author event, "Connecting Through Stories", we are happy to welcome Ben Schwartz to our Local Authors bookcase with his collection of stories, "Everything There Was To Tell". Brothers and sisters drawn by their father’s death back home to the family farm, a friend wrestling with the ghastly consequences of his own inattention, a very-ill man’s pilgrimage to the high mountains of California—these spare and deeply western stories crackle with hard-earned grief, love, and, when it matters most, humor. (Daniel Duane)

9 November 2021: It's with great pleasure that we welcome Lee Gale Gruen to our Local Authors bookcase! Lee Gale retired at age sixty from her thirty-seven-year career as a probation officer and started attending an acting class for seniors just as a pastime. A few weeks later her mother died, and she invited her grieving, eighty-five-year-old father to come to class with her. "Adventures with Dad" is the true story of their magical journey attending that class together for three years, and their bonding through that experience more than ever before.

Lee Gale has also penned "Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire". Not a one-size-fits-all approach, this book offers an individualized guide for retirees and seniors in this new stage of their life based on their own likes and comfort level. It offers ways to identify what might interest you and suggests numerous activities and pursuits as well as how and where to find them. You can read more about Lee Gale's journeys here.

5 November 2021: We are very pleased to invite you to our next in-store author event on Friday, 19 November, from 1:30 to 3:00 PM! Our panel will include three local authors: Sharon Sobotta, Saqib Mausoof, and Mitali Perkins. Our guests come from a variety of diverse backgrounds and bring a wealth of international experience spanning numerous cultures. This is sure to be an enlightening discussion of their journeys and writing!

Sharon K. Sobotta is a writer, a journalist, an educator, a mom and a doula. She has dedicated her professional career to advocating for gender and racial equity, inclusion and diversity while amplifying the voices of marginalized populations. Sharon believes in the power of stories to connect people from all walks of life, to move hearts and to open minds. Sharon runs the Center for Women & Gender Equity at Saint Mary's College of California, and serves as a social justice reporter and weekend anchor at Pacifica KPFA in Berkeley, California and as a freelance writer for a number of publications. In 2021, Sharon was named a finalist in the Missouri Review Miller Audio Contest. Sharon's vintage title The Journey of Life: 100 Lessons from Around the World was named the top non-fiction multicultural independent title of 2008 and her book Confessions of a Dream Chaser was recognized as a finalist. She is in the process of completing her non-fiction memoir Thank you god, Men & Oprah for Unanswered Prayers and crafting a screenplay inspired by her award winning documentary "Silent No More: June's Story." Sharon was recently featured in the "Keep it Wausome" podcast for her cover story "From Kabul, Afghanistan to Wisconsin" in the Wausau City Pages.

S.S. Mausoof has sinned in Karachi, Kansas and California. The Warehouse is his first book in a noir series set in Pakistan. Published by Hachette and HopeRoad, translated into French as Nuit sans lune au Waziristan, it was selected for the Fresh Blood panel at Crimefest and shortlisted for the Karachi Literature Festival. His films include an award-winning thriller Kala Pul and In Search of Meluhha, a popular documentary on the Indus Valley Civilization. Mausoof has helped curate the Third I South Asian Film Festival and hosted multiple Lit crawls in San Francisco (@sahibqalam).

Mitali Perkins (www.mitaliperkins.com) has written many books for young readers, including You Bring the Distant Near (nominated for a National Book Award) and Rickshaw Girl (adapted into a film by Sleeperwave Productions), all of which explore crossing different kinds of borders. Mitali's fiction explores poverty, immigration, child soldiers, microcredit, and human trafficking, thanks to living overseas for many years and studying Political Science at Stanford and Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley. Her goal is to make readers laugh or cry, preferably both, as long as their hearts are widening. She lives and writes in the East Bay.

We hope you will be able to enjoy hearing from our authors during this event! (As you know, space in the shop is limited. You can email an RSVP to books@reasonable.online to help us prepare for the use of the space and seating.)

4 November 2021: Many thanks to George R. Epstein for sharing his book in our Local Authors section: "Surviving Cancer: Something to Celebrate!". In recent years, melanoma oncologists and their clinical trials have provided substantial advances in immunotherapy, resulting in much greater survival rates. With more successful treatments for melanoma, however, come related challenges. One challenge is the inevitable side effects that come with any treatment. A second challenge is a more positive one: When there are multiple treatments available, which one should you choose? As confusing and daunting as it may seem, melanoma patients should discuss this question with their physicians, so that, ultimately, they will make the right choice.

28 October 2021: The Reverend Carol E. Richardson joins our Local Authors bookcase with four titles! Her latest, "Truth and Illusion: The Politics of Spirituality and How One Person's Lie Is Another One's Truth", leads us on a quest to discover why we believe what we do. Dethroning patriarchy and overcoming dualistic thinking, "Truth and Illusion" paves the way to understanding one another, cultivating inner wisdom, and expanding our abilities to access ultimate truths. More here.

In "Aging Well: Be Your Best Self Forever", Carol offers a comprehensive view of what it means to be whole and healthy while aging as beautifully as possible, given life's unpredictable and varied circumstances. More here.

In the novel "Exodus 2012: A Mission to Save the Earth", Jesus Christ returns, not on the clouds, but reincarnated as a Chinese Tai Chi master named Hu Jing Sheng, who brings a message designed to save the world from climate change. More here.

And, with "Mornings with the Masters", Carol reveals her inner transformation as a rationally religious Christian and scientific skeptic, who, through daily meditation becomes an interfaith mystic and connects with God, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Paramahansa Yogananda, Mother Mary, and other Ascended Masters. More here.

26 October 2021: Our Local Authors bookcase has a large and ever-growing collection of titles, but until now it has lacked YA and fantasy titles. We are very pleased to welcome Glen Dahlgren with two books from the Chronicles of Chaos series! The first book, "The Child of Chaos", is the Gold Medal Winner of the 2021 Readers' Favorite Award for YA Epic Fantasy. An irresistible longing drags young Galen to an ancient vault where, long ago, the gods of Order locked Chaos away. Chaos promises power to the one destined to liberate it, but Galen's dreams warn of dark consequences.

The prequel, "The Game of War", was released in August. Dantess wants to follow in the footsteps of his dead grandfather—a legendary priest of War—but his father forbids it. In fact, his father’s hatred of War lands him in a cell within the god’s temple. The only way to free him is from the inside, so Dantess must choose: let his father die or defy his upbringing, become a priest, and win his father’s freedom in the temple’s deadly Game of War.

21 October 2021: The second book in the Erica Rosen MD Trilogy by Deven Greene, "Unwitting", is available today! Dr. Erica Rosen’s world is turned upside down after a suicide bomber explodes amidst a large crowd entering Oracle Park baseball stadium, near her San Francisco home. A young autistic man has information about the mastermind behind the bombing but has limited ability to speak. Erica is determined to protect him, prevent further bombings, and find his missing classmates.

16 October 2021: Linda Riebel joins our Local Authors bookcase with two different works of nonfiction. In "The Stuffed Owl Returns", as Lindsay Crane, she pays homage to the original legendary and hilarious anthology of bad verse with a sequel that offers hundreds more delicious morsels of absurd missteps made by poets both eminent and obscure.

In "Understanding Suicide's Allure", the authors open an important discussion, offering an honest and non-judgmental examination of the many aspects involved in the nature of suicide, explaining that above all, people need to learn how to support those struggling with suicidal thoughts, or to intercept their own suicidal thinking.

6 October 2021: Michael Shepler joins our Local Authors with a book of poetry! "Angel's Flight" contains nearly 98 poems on subjects such as the ways human beings treat and interact with one another, the poignancy of fleeting moments and meetings, and of course, love.

29 September 2021: Jeffrey Kingman joins the Local Authors section with "Beyond That Hill I Gather" (May 2021). Most of the poems contained therein are portraits of women who are notable for their achievements. Each poem captures a different flavor as each individual is unique. A partial list of those who appear in the book are Patty Smith, Amy Schumer, Clarice Lispector, Louise Brooks, Joan Rivers, Cherie Currie, Liz Phair, and Elizabeth Vig e Le Brun.

15 September 2021: We are thrilled to announce our first in-store event after opening just over one year ago! On Friday, September 24, 2021, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM we will be hosting an event featuring three local writers of mystery novels. During this time, each author will describe her journey to publication, as well as the research and other challenges of writing her novels. There will also be short reading of excerpts with Q&A to wrap up the event.

Our authors for this event are:

Claudia Hagadus Long, author of “Nine Tenths of the Law”.

Josephine Mele, author of “The Travel Mystery Series” as well as “The Odd Grandmothers”.

Camille Minichino, author of 28 mysteries in 5 series, including her latest, “Murphy’s Slaw”.

As you know, space in the shop is limited. If you could let us know you would like to attend, this will help us prepare the use of the space and seating. Please email us at books@reasonable.online.

11 August 2021: "The Mysterious Island of Cerius" joins the Local Authors bookcase! Imagine that trees acquired wisdom as silent witnesses to worldly events. By giving them the ability to talk to one another, Ellen J. Barrons creates a whimsical and spiritual tale of how people can learn and appreciate the countless varieties of trees—and each other.

5 August 2021: Thank you, Karl Hamann for sharing the heartfelt story of your experience living and working with one of the last Lakota medicine men in the book, "Working with Grandpa". You can learn more here.

17 July 2021: Janice Peacock joins the Local Authors bookcase with her Glass Bead mystery series, and the first book from her new Ruby Shaw mystery series! The Glass Bead novels are "humorous cozy mysteries for readers who love beads, and even those who don't":

In "Aloe and Goodbye" Ruby Shaw finds herself under police protection after just arriving in Paradise, Arizona and witnessing a murder. Defending herself against suspicion, she meets the quirky inhabitants of her new home and an avid gardener of succulents who may be equally passionate about her.

16 July 2021: From Orinda resident Evan Ho comes an unusual addition to the Philosophy Bookcase! "Hobbes: A Board Game About Life" is a board game for adults with a sense of humor based on Thomas Hobbes's theory of the state of nature and his famous view that life is "solitary, nasty, brutish and short". The cost of the game is only $24.14, and you can read more about it in the archives of the Lamorinda Weekly.

24 June 2021: Helen Ann Licht, painter, scholar, activist, mother and (great) grandmother, shares a collection of stories from her own colorful history and that of her family. Accompanied with vintage photographs and her own artwork, the stories contained in "Travels with an Artist" can be read individually or as a whole.

10 June 2021: Joining the Local Authors bookcase is Mike Bernhardt's "Voices of the Grieving Heart", an anthology of poems, essays and images from 83 contributors who share their journeys through loss, grief, and transformation, serving as a companion on the darkest road many of us will ever have to travel: grieving the death of someone we loved.

4 June 2021: Sharon K. Sobotta is a weekend anchor for radio station KPFA, the director of the Center for Women & Gender Equity at Saint Mary’s College of California, and a local author. She is now sharing two of her books with visitors to the local authors bookcase at Reasonable Books. "Journey of Life: 100 Life Lessons from Around the World" is a tapestry of universally applicable lessons and stories that Sharon collected while interviewing people from every walk of life (famous and unknown) from around the world. It shows how much humans have to learn from each other; how experiences, when shared, bring us one step closer to understanding ourselves.

In "Confessions of a Dream Chaser", Sharon details the kind of life you can have when you decide to keep the dream but do away with the plan. After launching her other careers, she decided to pursue her childhood aspiration to be a talk show host by auditioning for a spot on the Oprah Winfrey Network, learning to embrace life’s mishaps and kooky detours as the kind of pivotal experiences that can show you what you’re made of.

27 May 2021: Also in the Local Authors bookcase, "Journey from A to Z with Teacher Judy" by Judy Lynn Ohlrogge is an adventurous children's alphabet book filled with animals and alliteration. Join Teacher Judy on a rhyme-filled alphabet adventure, visiting places around the world with a cast of beautifully illustrated animals.

26 May 2021: From the early days of shock and devastation through the following phases of grief over time, Pascale Vermont, PhD, offers insight and recommendations for bereaved parents, their family and friends, as well as medical providers. "Surviving the Unimaginable" is in our Local Authors bookcase.

15 May 2021: Daniel Campbell's "Going to the Library with Kenny the Clown" was inspired by Ken Kahn aka Kenny the Clown, a 25 year veteran street performer. A UC Berkeley graduate with a Degree in Child Psychology, it has been Ken's lifelong pursuit to motivate, entertain, and educate children. "Going to the Library" is a fun and entertaining book that delivers a positive social and moral message to children.

12 May 2021: Oscar Porter adds two books to the Local Author bookcase! In the first, "Coyote Grayshadow", Oscar presents images and descriptions of coyotes, the native Bay Area canine. And in his autobiographical book "The Civilian", he recounts true stories of real-life heroism.

7 May 2021: Local author and clinical psychologist Anne Brodzinsky joins our Local Authors bookcase with a pair of books for young people that help to make sense of challenging situations that affect many children: adoption and divorce. "The Mulberry Bird" has sold many thousands of copies since it was first published in 1986. In it, Dr. Brodzinsky addresses common issues in adoption, from the enduring force of a birth parent's love and contact post-adoption to the importance of nurturing an adopted child in his or her new environment.

Dr. Brodzinsky's recent book "The Falling Down Time" invites parents to have a dialogue with their children about their own family's experiences with divorce. Her hope is that by reading this book to your children and being open to their feelings that you will grow closer in time.

17 April 2021: Those who enjoy good mysteries may be familiar with Dorothy L. Sayers, a contemporary of Agatha Christie during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction" in the period between the World Wars. Arguably the better writer, if not the more accomplished plotter, she wrote numerous novels including "Whose Body?" the first chapter of which you can read below. We also have a few scarce first editions of her novels in the store.

14 April 2021: Debut thriller "Good Lookin'" joins the Local Authors bookcase! T. L. Bequette weaves a drama focused on a fight for justice involving a lawyer and his, obscure young client accused of murder. You can read the detailed review (itself quite a piece) on Kirkus Reviews.

31 March 2021: Adria Martinez adds a fun book for little readers to the Local Authors bookcase with "Tartlin the Terrific Tortoise Dog". Tartlin is a desert tortoise who is adopted by a lively little girl on her eighth birthday. The little girl's disappointment at gaining a reptile instead of a dog or even a cat quickly fades, as she learns to accept Tartlin for the slow-moving and expressionless reptile that he is.

26 March 2021: The commemorative edition of Amanda Gorman's Inaugural Poem for the Country, "The Hill We Climb", goes on sale next Tuesday, 30 March 2021! We will have a few in-store for you on that day.

16 March 2021: Victoria Lorrekovich-Miller's "If a Mantis Finds a Fly in the Sky" joins our other local authors in the Local Authors Bookcase. Victoria is an award-winning author of short stories and essays. She writes for animal magazines like The Bark, Dog & Kennel, and Animal Wellness Magazine, and her fiction can be seen in Cricket magazine and on the WOW website.

12 March 2021: Hello, friends! Our greatest hope is that you will enjoy visiting the store and browsing our bookcases. However, we are now partnering with Bookshop.org for those who would like to support their local bookstore online. You can order books via Reasonable Books here. Please send any comments or suggestions to us at books@reasonable.online.

3 March 2021: Josephine Mele brings mystery and memoir to the Reasonable Books Local Authors bookcase with four titles. The first three books are a page-turning blend of travelogue and mystery that will keep you up at night trying to solve the puzzle amid exotic locales. Learn about the culture, food, and people of each country as you travel along with June Gordon to try and solve a murder.

In "The Odd Grandmothers", Josephine tells the story of three generations of strong Italian matriarchs, and how they struggled to make a better life for their children. The book takes us from old Sicily, to Brooklyn, to San Francisco and back.

26 February 2021: Kent Gordon has added two of his books to the Local Authors bookcase. The first is "Victory over Anxiety, Depression & the Human Condition":

"This book is a compassionate and easy read for those who are hurting and in need of rescue on the road. It opens up possibilities where only dead ends are thought to exist. It gets those in need back on the road with the understanding and insight God intended."

Kent Gordon's second book is "Difficult Conversations: Restoring the Relationships Between our LGBT-Q Friends, Families and the Church":

"This book is a compassionate introduction to and discussion of Gods’ viewpoint for both the open-minded non-Christian and the Christian struggling to believe."

25 February 2021: Thank you, Peter Boffey, for adding two volumes of his series "The Three Naked Ladies of Cliffport" to the Local Authors bookcase!

"In Volume I, we hear the distinct yet disparate voices of Elisabeth and Katelyn Lowrie, and Jan McLoughlin, as they struggle to come to terms with one another and themselves. We witness Elise--despairing over failing communications with her headstrong daughter--retreat to the attic, there to embark upon her memoir composed as a long letter to her only child. Meanwhile, downstairs, buoyed up by her bottles of whisky and cartons of unfiltered cigarettes, Jan--the outspoken landowner returning after fifty years--launches out on telling her life story to Katie aloud.

"In Volume II, we watch Katie spanning the gap between the two older women while hatching a plan that may enable the Lowries (and Donald Duncan, Katie's 10-year-old son) to remain living on the place."

30 January 2021: Two books from James Benney have joined the popular "Native American Indian Sites in the East Bay Hills" in the Local Authors bookcase!

The Volvon tribal territory remains virtually untouched today. Many village and camp sites lie undisturbed in the Black Hills behind Mount Diablo, part of the Morgan Territory Regional Preserve. One can still walk the paths Kaaknu the Volvon tribal leader walked, and see the same panoramic views of central California that he saw. In thirty-five short years he saw the complete dissolution of his tribe and the total loss of all of their ancestral territory to Spanish soldiers and settlers and the Jesuit Missions.

"Grandpa: Eldred Tyrrell Benney" is a moving, wonderful tribute to the San Francisco Bay Area's rich history and a soulful retelling of one man's outstanding life.

23 January 2021: Hello, friends! The American Bookseller's Association has sent us a big collection of Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of upcoming books. They also make it easy for us to send you an email preview of upcoming releases (like the printed ones we have in the store). If you are an avid reader and would like to learn about new books via email, and especially if you are interested in teaming up with us to read and write a short review of an upcoming book, please reach out at books@reasonable.online. Spam is not our thing, we won't use your email ourselves for that, and there is a very high probability that the ABA won't, either :)

14 January 2021: Two books from Ken Kerkhoff have been added to the Local Authors bookcase: one, a collection of stories about the history and culture of India, and the other, a novel of historical fiction set in 21st century Central Africa.

Appreciate the incredible history and culture of India through the fascinating tales of Kerkhoff and Pejathaya in "Paper Boat: Discovering India with a Master Storyteller". Both write with remarkable feeling as they interweave Indian experiences. Their stories offer a refreshing look at a remarkable country, its people, customs and its maze of religious proclivity.

In "Four Degrees North: Confronting Terror in Central Africa", Alan Burke accepts his first assignment with the U.S. State Department and travels to Africa. His wife, Mona, plans to join him in Cameroon after she finishes an assignment in Nigeria for her U.S. law firm. Mona is forcefully abducted and held hostage by Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group. Alan, frustrated by the inability of the various governments to assist his wife, acts on his own. In defiance of protocol, he crosses the Cameroon-Nigeria border to track the terrorists. He is aided by Eric Mbando, a Cameroonian, who risks his life for righteousness and justice.

12 January 2021: Reasonable Books is pleased to announce that we have received copies of Deven Greene's newly released book, "Unnatural". Deven is a local author and this is the first book in the Erica Rosen MD trilogy.

From Indies Today:

Unnatural is a flawlessly written medical thriller that focuses on a Chinese mother who will sacrifice everything to save her children. Erica is a bold protagonist who follows her instincts to some amazing discoveries. The narrative is driven by intelligent dialogue and a clever, yet heinous, plot. The cultural aspects between Ting and Erica feel authentic and the technical medical language is just complicated enough to feel genuine without becoming difficult to read. Deven Greene has created a truly gripping international thriller with just the right amount of humanity and compassion.

6 January 2021: Our first new local author title of 2021 is "Journey To Self: Discovering Paths Beyond My Dreams" by Barry Hampshire.

For the National Association of Memoir Writers, he writes:

Over the past roughly seven years, I have written my memoir Journey to Self. It describes how a journey I took 42 years ago affected me and resulted in who I have become. In the last few years before retirement, I wrote short stories about my earlier life that I hoped my daughter may read, someday. As I looked at this mass of material, much of which related to the journey, I couldn’t deny that I’d had and was still living an incredible life. There were lessons to be found that could help other people steer their own lives to maturity and/or fulfillment.

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