VIRTUALLY VROMAN’S

BOOKSTORE BOASTS STELLAR LINEUP FOR JULY

BY ARROYO STAFF

The renowned bookstore Vroman’s is hosting more top-notch virtual programs throughout July.

The Vroman’s Life events are held virtually through Crowdcast. Register through vromansbookstore.com.

6 p.m. Tuesday, July 6 Dr. Nancy Pine discusses “One in a Billion: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey Through Modern-Day China”

This heart-wrenching story immerses readers in the dramatic survival of one outspoken man who illuminates the souls of a billion ordinary Chinese citizens. An Wei — a stubborn, hardworking peasant who has lived by his values and stood up for his convictions — has succeeded against all odds in the authoritarian environment of China.

Despite grinding poverty, hunger, reeducation campaigns and attacks from jealous peers, An Wei continues to inspire with his daring achievements, such as launching a democratic congress in his own village. His compelling life provides a vivid backdrop for understanding the development of modern China from the unique perspective of an outspoken citizen. don’t know is that 30 minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane. Enjoy the flight.

6 p.m. Tuesday, July 13 Matt Haig discusses “The Comfort Book”

An essential book from Matt Haig, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Midnight Library,” for anyone in search of hope, looking for a path to a more meaningful life, or in need of a little encouragement.

“It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learned while we are at our lowest. But then we never think about food more than when we are hungry, and we never think about life rafts more than when we are thrown overboard.”

“The Comfort Book” is Haig’s life raft. It’s a collection of notes, lists and stories written over a span of several years that originally served as gentle reminders to Haig’s future self that things are not always as dark as they may seem.

Note: This will be a pre-recorded event.

6 p.m. Thursday, July 15 Kimberly B. Cummings discusses “Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning into a Career You’ll Love”

Cummings leaves no stone unturned with this thorough, expert guide for professionals seeking to understand how to navigate the world of work, from beginning to end, starting with uncovering personal and professional values to align their expertise and skills to roles and companies that will finally change the trajectory of their career and set them up to be leaders in the workforce.

As a former career development adviser in some of the nation’s top universities and a diversity and inclusion professional in a Fortune 100 company, Cummings has recognized that people work for the sake of working without understanding how to leverage their unique gifts and position themselves for success.

As a result, “Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning into a Career You’ll Love” shares transformational lessons to ensure success and puts the ball back in your court.

6 p.m. Friday, July 16 Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer discuss “Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It”

How do individuals decide whether to accept human causes of climate change, vaccinate their children or wear a mask during a pandemic? In “Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It,” psychologists Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer identify the problem of science denial and offer tools for addressing it.

The authors focus on key psychological issues such as social identity and reasoning biases that limit a public understanding of science — and describe solutions for individuals, educators, science communicators and policy makers. For those who wonder why science denial exists and how to combat it, this book provides crucial insights.

3 p.m. Saturday, July 17 Thriller panel event featuring Alexa Donne, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn and Kara Thomas

“The Ivies,” five prep school elites who would kill to get into the colleges of their dreams, has a showdown after Liv gets into Harvard and queen bee Avery does not.

In “The Girls Are All So Nice Here,” a lot has changed in the years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she’s worked hard to create a new life for herself.

But then an invitation to her 10-year reunion arrives in the mail, along with an anonymous note that reads, “We need to talk about what we did that night.” It seems that the secrets of Ambrosia’s past — and the people she thought she’d left there — aren’t as buried as she’d believed.

Amb can’t stop fixating on what she did or who she did it with: larger-thanlife Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, Amb’s former best friend, who could make anyone do anything. At the reunion, Amb and Sully receive increasingly menacing messages, and it becomes clear that they’re being pursued by someone who wants more than just the truth of what happened that first semester.

In “That Weekend,” after Claire wakes up alone on a mountain with no memory of how she got there, she learns her best friend Kat and Kat’s boyfriend are missing, and Kat’s past is full of secrets.

6 p.m. Thursday, July 22 Terence Lester discusses “When We Stand: The Power of Seeking Justice Together”

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the injustices that we see in the world. Many of us don’t know what to do and might think that they don’t have anything to offer.

But by using the gifts in collaboration with others, we can do more together than we ever could on our own. Activist Lester knows it’s hard to change the world. But mobilizing and acting together empowers us to do what they can’t do as isolated individuals.

Lester looks at the obstacles that prevent us from getting involved, and he offers practical ways that we can accomplish things together as groups, families, churches and communities.

He will help guests find their place in the larger picture, discerning the unique ways they can contribute and make a difference.

6 p.m. Tuesday, July 27 Willa C. Richards, in conversation with Chia-Chia Lin, discusses “The Comfort of Monsters”

In the summer of 1991, a teenage girl named Dee McBride vanished in the city of Milwaukee. Nearly 30 years later, her sister, Peg, is still haunted by her sister’s disappearance.

Their mother, on her deathbed, is desperate to find out what happened to Dee. The family hires a psychic to help find Dee’s body and bring them some semblance of peace.

The appearance of the psychic plunges Peg back to the past, to those final carefree months when she last saw Dee — the summer the Journal Sentinel called “the deadliest … in the history of Milwaukee.” Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s heinous crimes dominated the headlines and overwhelmed local law enforcement.

The disappearance of one girl was easily overlooked. Peg’s hazy recollections are far from easy for her to interpret, assess or even keep clear in her mind. And now, digging deep into her memory raises doubts and difficult — even terrifying—questions.

6 p.m. Tuesday, July 28 S.A. Cosby, in conversation with Kristin Harmel, discusses “Razorblade Tears”

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for 15 years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek.

Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek’s father, Buddy Lee, was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Provocative and fast-paced, Cosby’s “Razorblade Tears” is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change — and maybe even redemption.

6 p.m. Friday, July 30 Omar El Akkad discusses “What Strange Paradise”

More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands.

But, miraculously, someone has survived the passage: 9-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain.

Though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, and they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy.

In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety.

“What Strange Paradise” is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair — and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.