Toronto Women's Bookstore
http://www.womensbookstore.com
416-922-8744

1. Reserve your copy of Harry Potter today! On sale for 25% off the regular price. We will be selling copies on Saturday, July 16th! Email or phone us to reserve your copy today. Pick up your copy on Saturday July 16th and stay around for our 3rd annual Customer Appreciation Day and BBQ! All books will be 20% off during the day. Free food and drinks from 12-4pm.
2. July staff picks
3. New music
4. New books!

All books available for view and purchase on-line at http://www.womensbookstore.com

TWB STaff Picks: the following five books are 25% off in the month of July:

What Casanova Told Me by Susan Swan. Vintage, $21.00. New in paperback. Little is more pleasurable than summering in the company of Casanova and his witty, passionate, surprising ‘biographer' Susan Swan. A swooping tour of Europe and the Near East , this is a perfect accompaniment to travel - or a delicious arm (or deck)chair travel substitute!

So Far From God by Ana Castillo. Norton $19.50. Castillo, well-known as a human rights activist, theorist, and poet, brings together her experience in this striking novel about a mother and her four daughters in a small desert town, reinvigorating magic realist fiction with political and emotional vigour.

Feminsim, Law, Inclusion: Intersectionality in Action edited by Gayle MacDonald, Rachel L. Osborne & Charles C. Smith. Sumach Press $28.95. A hopeful, energetic and inspiring collection that gathers together evidence for the effectiveness of intersectional practices in changing legislation in Canada - and offering advice and agitation for future battles.

Ethics of the Body: Postconventional Challenges edited by Margrit Shildrick and Roxanne Mykitiuk. MIT $36.50. Far-thinking feminist bioethicist Shildrick joins forces with Osgoode Hall professor Mykitiut to present this challenging collection at the cutting-edge of body theory, including essays on the compelling questions for body studies raised by addiction, HIV, and intersex youth.

Next Year in Jerusalem by Daphna Golan-Agnon. New Press $32.50. Heralded by Eve Ensler, Judith Butler and Jacqueline Rose, this eloquent testimony by the co-founder of human rights group B'Tselem and feminist peace group Bat Shalom walks the fault lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, candidly narrating the successes and failures of the burgeoning movement of Israelis opposed to the occupation and its devastating effects.

July new music

Niyaz by Niyaz. Six Degrees $17.95 Gorgeously cinematic settings of Persian and Urdu poetry that meld classical instrumentation (rabab, dulcimer, riqq, saz, chan chan ) and languid electronic beats courtesy of Grammy nominee Carmen Rizzo take flight in the extraordinary voice of Azam Ali (one of the founding members if Vas).

The Woods by Sleater Kinney. Sub Pop $22.00. Posed rioticiously on the cover of every major music magazine (including store favourites Venus and RockGrrl), Sleater Kinney seem to have hit the industry big time with The Woods. Do Carrie's guitar solos live up to the hype? Undeniably. A great gift for grrrlfriends - and for guys who still insist that women don't have the licks.

Little Star by Girlyman. Daemon $20.00. Once upon a time there was a band called Girlyman. They shared an apartment in New York , they sang three-part harmonies, and Amy Ray loved them so much she signed them to her label. The end? Not so - Little Star is the second chapter in their fabulous fairy tale, with sweet pop, rollicking “girlygrass,” and politics you can shake your ass to.

July new books

The Global Women's Movement: Origins, Issues and Strategies by Peggy Antrobus. Fernwood $19.95. A collaboration between a number of global NGOs and Zed Books, this is the first in a series of books drawing attention to leading global concerns.

Detailed, informative, and achieving both breadth and depth, this is an excellent primer for those looking to acquaint themselves with the movement, and a useful reference guide for those in the thick of it.

Cultures of Transnational Adoption edited by Toby Alice Volkman. Duke $29.65. A unique perspective on issues of transnationality, mixed-race identity, and parenting. Ethnography, media studies, social anthropology and storytelling are all brought to bear on late twentieth century adoption attitudes and practices in a collection that Faye Ginsburg calls “outstanding.”

Postcolonial Studies and Beyond edited by Ania Loomba, Suvir Kul, Matti Bunzl, Antoinette Burton, and Jed Esty. Duke University Press $33.75. A remarkable anthology whose emerging and engaging voices consider the impact of postcolonial studies on debates about globalization, the resurgence of ‘Empire,' and the idea of the nation-state and nationalism, as well as on academic disciplines.

Tracing the Autobiographical edited by Marlene Kadar, Linda Warley, Jeanne Perreault, and Susanna Egan. Wilfrid Laurier University Press $32.95. Studies of autobiography have dominated feminist literary criticism in recent years, and this excellent book looks critically at the field with a determination to extend the field of the autobiographical text to include the internet, reality TV, legal and political documents, and the human body, as well as including reflection on the meaning of the current obsession with life-writing.

Portents of the Real: A Primer for Post-9/11 America by Susan Willis. Verso $32.00.
Willis is one of North America 's sharpest critical commentators, and this new book - which incisively analyses and condemns the mediatised culture of superstitious fear created by the Bush administration - comes highly recommended by Jean Baudrillard and Slavoj Zizek.

Travelling Knowledges: Positioning the Im/Migrant Reader of Aboriginal Literatures in Canada by Renata Eigenbrod. University of Manitoba Press $24.95. Eigenbrod, who teaches Aboriginal Literature at the University of Manitoba offers a thoughtful and instructive theory of ‘outsider' reading that enables non-Aboriginal readers to participate as informed allies in ongoing aesthetic and political conversations about Aboriginal literatures, with many detailed examples.

The Coming of Lilith: Essays on Feminism, Judaism, and Sexual Ethics, 1972-200 by Judith Plaskow. Beacon Press $28.95. Judith Plaskow's Standing Again at Sinai was the definitive manifesto of North American feminist Jewish theology, an intelligent and sensitive approach that asked questions rather than prescribing answers. The essays collected here show the development of her thoughts around politics, sexuality, and spirituality through intersectional feminism and the increasing importance of the erotic.

Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City by Biju Mathew. New Press $32.50. Destined to become a classic study of labour activism, Mathew's account of the fight back against Mayor Giuliani's relentless harrassment by some 24,000 New York cab drivers (mostly immigrants) is both an informed and informative study, and a narrative as dramatic as a New York cab ride.

Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite. Penguin $22.00. Materena has a macho husband, Pito, a headstrong modern daughter, Leilani, an Unknown Father, and a supporting cast of interfering, supportive, and downright malicious friends and neighbours. Above all, she has herself - and the vibrant, stubborn voice of Tahitian womanhood.

Martha and Hanwell by Zadie Smith. Penguin $4.00. Looking for a brief read this summer? You can't go wrong with the Penguin 70s series. 45 is by one of Penguin's best selling authors of the new century, and collects two previously unpublished stories that show her compelling mastery of short, bittersweet fiction. Martha is a young woman trying to make it in the city, Hanwell a man destroyed by it. A brief glimpse of their lives is all we need to understand them perfectly.

Ali Smith's Supersonic 70s by Ali Smith. Penguin $4.00. If you haven't encountered Ali Smith, the six short, short stories contained in these 56 pages form the perfect introduction to her gently surreal, inventively lyrical prose, including characters such as Trachtenbauer the eight-inch-high public schoolboy and an unnaturally psychic teenage girl who embodies the hopes and dreams of the 1960s.

Arab Women Writers: An Anthology of Short Stories edited and translated by Dalya Cohen-Mor. SUNY $33.75. Covering lesbianism, divorce, civil war, exile, and the writer's life, as well as more traditional themes of motherhood, friendship, and spirituality, these stories eloquently encompass the diversity of the Arab world. This is a lively, absorbing, and accessible collection!

Bodies in Motion: Stories by Mary Anne Mohanraj Ambitious in scope, this collection of interlinked short stories charts the course of two Sri Lankan families between Sri Lanka and the United States across the twentieth century. Part autobiography, part wild imaginings, this lustrous novel evokes both the delight and despair of emigrant lives across generations.

Four Souls by Louise Erdrich. Harper $19.95. Fleur Pillager, doughty anti-heroine of many of Erdrich's previous novels, is back - and she's looking for revenge. The reservation where she and her family make their life has been stripped by a white lumber baron, but Fleur is not the sort of woman to let sleeping liars dog her steps. Things are never simple, though, and Erdrich again proves herself the mistress of describing the delicate tissue of human inter-relations.

HOT Lesbian Erotica edited by Tristan Taormino. Cleis $20.50. Some days it just sucks working at the Women's Bookstore… for example, having to read and review the all these new books - including the terrible chore of browsing Tristan Taorminao's latest collection of finger-lickin'good stories. All I can say is don't buy this book under any circumstances - so I can keep reading it…

the spark gap by Julie Bertagna. Picador $9.99. Kerrie is no boy-obsessed, fashion-conscious teen princess (like so many other YA heroines). All she wants is to enjoy school, play with her friends in their band the Restless Souls, and live with her Gran in a towering council block in Glasgow . When her world falls apart, she discovers another world, both magical and terrifying, thriving on the margins, rooftops, and streets of the one she thought she knew.

The Naming by Alison Croggon. Candlewick $25.99. Being a teenage girl can be horribly lonely - especially if you are a motherless slave like Maerad, scorned as a witch. So when a stranger offers her a glimpse of the world outside, Maerad has nothing to lose by joining him. In the course of an epic journey, Maerad transforms from scorned slave to powerful mage, and - possibly - the last hope of an embattled but still magnificent world. All the swords and sorcery of Tolkein, but told in gorgeous language from a uniquely eco-feminist, anti-racist stance.

Compañeras: Latina Lesbians (An Anthology) / Lesbianas Latinoamericanas (Expandido en Español) compiled and edited by Juanita Ramos. Latina Lesbian History Project $27.00. Now in its third, expanded edition, this grassroots-centred anthology forms part of a larger project (including a documentary in development) recording and celebrating the lives and loves of Latina women loving women in all their diversity. Embracing art, poetry, life writing, and analysis, Ramos' collection puts well-known authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa alongside the multiple voices of (extra)ordinary Latina women.

Secrets, Lies, Betrayals: How the Body Holds the Secrets of a Life, and How to Unlock Them by Maggie Scarf. Ballantine $21.00. A groundbreaking book about learning to trust your body by exploring new therapeutic modalities that draw on neuroscience to break the hold of the past. Told through case studies, as well as Scarf's personal narrative, this book will alert and motivate any reader to begin building a more complete life through the resources of their own mind/body.

The Best Women's Travel Writing 2005: True Stories from Around the World edited by Lucy McCauley. Travelers' Tales $22.50. Travel broadens the mind and sharpens the eye, and these wide-ranging writers offer ample proof of both. Recognising women's particular perspective on being in the world, Travelers' Tales Press offers the first in a series of annual anthologies collecting hair-raising, soul-stirring, news-making pieces that will have you packing your kit bag - and taking along a notebook and pen.

A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts: Journeys in Kurdistan by Christiane Bird. Random House $21.00. Women's reportage from the Muslim world has enjoyed a massive renaissance in the last five years, as readers strive for a more human understanding of a region demonised by the media. Christiane Bird, journalist and travel writer, writes striking accounts of time spent in Iran , and now of the vibrantly celebrated and violently contested stateless state of Kurdistan .The paperback edition enjoys a new afterword examining the changes in Kurdish fortunes following the American occupation and ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Bookless in Baghdad : Reflections on Writers and Writing by Shashi Tharoor. Arcade $34.95. Novelist and UN undersecretary Tharoor serves up a series of scintillating observations on the intersections of current events and the literary world. He considers how books travel to the most unlikely places, and how the globally connective tissue of readers and writers might offer a model for rethinking transnational relations.

Angry Little Girls by Lela Lee. Abrams $20.95. About five years ago, a whisper went around the internet… “Check our www.alag.com,” it said. Visitors were rewarded with the strip no newspaper would syndicate, “Angry Little Girls,” featuring Kim, the Asian girl whose way angrier than Emily, her friends and friends. T-shirts, travel mugs and much hilarity ensued. Now Abrams bring a selection of her finest strips (and a “What Kind of Angry Are you?” quiz) to her (soon-to-be) adoring public.

Sultana's Dream by Begum Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain, illustrated by Durga Bai. Tara $20.25.Hossain's fantastic story of Ladyland, where unveiled women keep the peace and control trade, was written in 1905. One hundred years later, contemporary Indian artist Bai has created delightful illustrations using traditional methods, that retell this charming and utterly relevant fable for a whole new generation - of parents as well as children!

Hope by Isabell Monk, illustrated by Janice Lee Porter. First Avenue $10.95. Every child needs hope, and this moving and beautiful book will enrich both reader and listener. Hope is a young girl coming to terms with her mixed-race identity through her great-aunt Poogee's stories of her proud heritage. The characters and historical events of this brief but wise story will raise productive questions for young listeners, even as they delight in the vibrant art.

Superheroes Don't Have Dads by James Valitchka, illustrated by Roy Ketcheson. Rainbow International, $14.95. Already on its way to becoming a TWB bestseller, this astonishing book comes straight from the mind and spirit of its 8 year old author. James charts the hard but rewarding course he took through dealing with his dad leaving, from school bully to superkid. Tenacious, funny, and accessible, this book will captivate young readers, and lead them to creative projects of their own. Signed by the author.

Pyromaniac Journal by Yoshitomo Nara. Chronicle $14.95. Princess of Snooze Journal by Yoshitomo Nara. Chronicle $14.95. Handbag-sized blank journals (with lined, squared, and blank paper) for you to share your secret thoughts, tucked inside the cover art by dreamy, spooky Japanese illustrator Nara .