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Arts & Entertainment

Authors James Brown and Victoria Patterson Book Reading

Please join authors James Brown and Victoria Patterson for a reading and discussion of their newest works: THIS RIVER by James Brown and THIS VACANT PARADISE by Victoria Patterson.

Light snacks and drinks will be served.

A collection of interlinked narratives, James Brown's memoir THIS RIVER is a beautifully crafted and stunning follow up to his memoir The Los Angeles Diaries, which gained a cult following for its luminous yet unsparing portrayal of the author's turbulent childhood and spiraling drug addiction. THIS RIVER describes Brown's tenuous relationship with sobriety, his agonizing relapses, and his genuine attempts to become a better father. Unflinching in its exploration of life's darkest realities, THIS RIVER ultimately tells an inspirational story about forgiveness, hope, and redemption. A story about what it means to be human when all odds are stacked against you. 

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Victoria Patterson's debut novel THIS VACANT PARADISE explores the Newport Beach of the 1990s: A world where money is God. A man’s worth is judged by the size of his boat, the make of his car. A woman’s value is assessed by the blank perfection of her quantifiable desirability: dress size, cup size, the whiteness of her teeth. Trapped in the confines of her environment, 33-year-old heroine Esther decides to marry into the Newport elite when an unlikely candidate thwarts her plans. In the tradition of Edith Wharton and Henry James, Victoria Patterson shines a keen and often wickedly humorous light on our very American obsessions with class, race, age, and the roles of men and women in the strive toward upward mobility. 

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