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Our monthly storytime in English is on the last Saturday of the month. Stories start at 10:30, and we offer 10% off kids' books purchased from 10:00 - 12:00! 
Storytime is suitable for children aged 2-8 years old, and there is no need to register.

:: Next one - Saturday 25 January 2026

Matthew Stevenson: "Whistle stopping America"
Published October 2013.
From his home just outside Geneva, Switzerland, American writer Matthew Stevenson (Letters of Transit, An April Across America) sets out on a journey across the United States that takes him through the Badlands of South Dakota, across Texas, into post-Katrina New Orleans, up to the Virginia home of Thomas Jefferson, and finally to his roots in New York City. He describes not just his travels, but the personalities he meets along the road. In South Dakota, he writes about a weekend in the presence of former President Bill Clinton and Senator George McGovern. At each stop, he lays out a rich tapestry of American history, describing, en route, the foibles of the Founding Fathers at Mount Rushmore, his affection for Thomas Jefferson, and how Theodore Roosevelt lost a lot of money dude ranching ("brokeback accounting"). As a traveling companion, Matthew Stevenson is wry, humorous, and end- lessly engaging. This is a trip you won't want to miss.

Matthew Stevenson was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, attending university at Bucknell and Columbia. He worked in banking until 2004. He is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, and the host of The Travel Hour, a radio program. He has been a panelist on World Radio Switzerland's Not So Foreign Affairs, a weekly broadcast. His articles and essays have appeared in numerous publications in the U.S. and Europe.

Luke McCallin: "Man from Berlin"
Amidst the chaos of World War II, in a land of brutality and bloodshed, one death can still change everything. In war-torn Yugoslavia, a beautiful young filmmaker and photographer - a veritable hero to her people - and a German officer have been brutally murdered. Assigned to the case is military intelligence officer Captain Gregor Reinhardt. Already haunted by his wartime actions and the mistakes he's made off the battlefield, he soon finds that his investigation may be more than just a murder, and that the late Yugoslavian heroine may have been much more brilliant, and treacherous, than anyone knew. Manoeuvering his way through a minefield of political, military, and personal agendas and vendettas, Reinhardt knows that someone is leaving a trail of dead bodies to cover their tracks. But those bloody tracks may lead Reinhardt to a secret hidden within the ranks of the powerful that they will do anything to keep. And his search for the truth may kill him before he ever finds it.

Luke McCallin was born in 1972 in Oxford, grew up around the world and has worked with the United Nations as a humanitarian relief worker and peacekeeper in the Caucasus, the Sahel, and the Balkans. His experiences have driven his writing, in which he explores what happens to normal people, those stricken by conflict and disaster, when they are put under abnormal pressures.

Sarah Arvio: "Night thoughts: 70 dream poems and notes from an analysis"
In this remarkable and unique work, award-winning poet Sarah Arvio gives us a memoir about coming to terms with a life in crisis through the study of dreams. As a young woman, threatened by disturbing visions, Arvio went into psychoanalysis to save herself. The result is a riveting sequence of dream poems, followed by "Notes." The poems, in the form of irregular sonnets, describe her dreamworld: a realm of beauty and terror emblazoned with recurring colors and images: gold, blood red, robin's-egg blue, snakes, swarms of razors, suitcases, playing cards, a catwalk. Arvio's explorations lead her back to her younger self and to a life-changing understanding that will fascinate readers. An utterly original work of art and a groundbreaking portrayal of the power of dream interpretation to resolve psychic distress, this stunning book illumines the poetic logic of the dreaming mind; it also shows us, with surpassing poignancy, how tender and fragile is the mind of an adolescent girl.

Sarah Arvio's earlier books are "Visits from the Seventh" and "Sono: Cantos" (Knopf, 2002 and 2006). She has been awarded the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and Guggenheim and Bogliasco Fellowships, among other honors. For two decades a translator for the United Nations in New York and Switzerland, she has also taught poetry at Princeton. A lifelong New Yorker, she now lives in Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay.

Diccon Bewes: "Slow train to Switzerland"
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary Thomas Cook’s pioneering trip to Switzerland, Diccon Bewes embarked on a historical train ride following the first ever tour taken by Thomas Cook in 1863, a 3 week trip from London to Lucerne. It’s a tale of trains and tourists, the British and the Swiss, of a Victorian traveller and a modern-day Englishman abroad. It’s the story of a tour that changed both Switzerland and the world of travel forever.

Diccon travelled in  Thomas Cook's footsteps, retracing that first trip he led through Geneva and on to Leukerbad and Interlaken, discovering along the way the profound effect 19th century British tourism and the resulting lightning development of the Swiss railways had on what had been up to then a poor, agricultural country. Well documented, and described with characteristic humour and insight, "Slow train to Switzerland" is a fascinating introduction to Victorian-era Switzerland and to the beginnings of modern travel.

Elizabeth Knight: "The Skull" (for children 10 years and up)
When popular schoolboy Josh finds a cat's skull belonging to the strange pagan woman who feeds wild cats on a vacant lot, he assumes that it is powerful magic. He keeps it, thinking that it will help him to deal with Kevin, a sinister bully who has joined his class. The skull seems to act like a curse when Kevin steals it and gains mastery over Josh's friends. They beat him up on a lonely path beside a railway. Unless Josh can find a solution to his problem, there may be worse to come. "The Skull" is a story of self-discovery by a child of eleven on the brink of maturity.

Elizabeth Knight grew up in a Yorkshire village in England. She became a teacher and moved to Switzerland where she taught English and Drama in Geneva International School, writing and producing comedies for her students. She admires books for pre-teens that excite, entertain and provoke thought.

Wallis Wilde-Menozzi: "Toscanelli's ray"
Written by an accomplished American writer who has lived in Italy for several decades, this debut novel addresses issues of expatriation and immigration, prostitution and exploitation, from the Third World to the First, set within the microcosm of late-20th century Florence, that city which is both symbolically and literally the jewel of the Italian Renaissance. It is a novel where the common humanity of the characters is found in new and radically different circumstances, and where all transpires within the passage of a tiny sliver of time, 15 hours.

Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, poet, essayist, novelist, is originally from Wisconsin, has lived several years in Palo Alto, California, and then moved to Parma, Italy, where she has resided ever since. She is the author of many books of distinguished, award winning poetry, a work on living in Italy, "Mother Tongue, An American Life in Italy" (North Point Press, 2003), favorably reviewed in "The New Yorker" and author of a new book on Italy, "The Other Side of the Tiber" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013). Wallis Wilde-Menozzi is on the steering committee and is active in the programs of the Chateau Lavigny, Writer's Residence, at Lavigny, Switzerland.

Geneva Writers' Group: "Offshoots XII"
OffTheShelf welcomed several of the contributors to the latest anthology from the Geneva Writers' Group, "Offshoots" volume 12. The anthology showcases just some of the talented writers living in or near Geneva, many of whom hail originally from various places around the world. Customers came along to find out more about the creative talent on our doorstep and to listen to extracts read from the author themselves.

Russell Banks: Book signing session
OffTheShelf, in collaboration with Le Rameau d'Or, Literart, and the Maison de Rousseau et de la Littérature, were pleased to welcome author Russell Banks for a book signing session. He was present in the bookshop Le Rameau d'Or for one hour to sign copies of his books in English and in French.

Jili Hamilton: "Seeker's guide to a life worth living"
Published August 2013
A Seeker's Guide to a Life worth Living offers a series of short articles on aspects of life and the lessons learnt, particularly through the people who have touched the author’s life. Jili is a master teacher with vast experience of helping people make the most of their lives. Here is what she says about her book:

"How many of us feel there is something missing in our lives? We struggle to do our best but things don't always seem to work out the way we had hoped and we ask ourselves: 'Why me?' My life has been no different and every day presents a challenge in one form or another. Often the only way to deal with what life throws in our path comes down to a question of attitude; we can't always control events but we can choose how we react to them. Sometimes people who have found themselves in the direst situations, through refusing to believe that the worst has happened, have managed to turn their lives around: the last thing you can control in a person is freedom of thought. As I started to write down some of my ideas, events from the past - sometimes the distant past - came to mind immediately and gave me examples with which to explain more clearly what I meant. Sometimes a snippet I heard or read about made me think more deeply and there were many that I could relate to. We are constantly bombarded with information of every type, both interesting and dull, and it isn't always easy to keep our footing in this media-manic world. This is why I want to share with you some ideas on how life's challenges can be seen for what they are."

Catherine Hamlin: "Hospital by the river: A story of hope"
When gynecologists Catherine and Reg Hamlin left their home in Australia for Ethiopia, they never dreamed that they would establish what has been heralded as one of the most incredible medical programs in the modern world. But more than fifty years later, more than 30,000 women have been operated on, most suffering from obstetric fistula, a debilitating childbirth injury. In this awe-inspiring book, Dr. Catherine Hamlin recalls her life and career in Ethiopia. Her unyielding courage and solid faith will astound readers worldwide as she talks about the people she has grown to love and the hospital that so many Ethiopian women have come to depend on. She truly is the Mother Teresa of our age, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and renowned the world over for her pioneering medical endeavours.

Emily Martin: "Downpour"
Downpour is the enchanting story of a rainy day turned magical. A rainy day is usually the time to clomp around in rubber boots and discover worms and puddles and other such rainy day things. But this is no ordinary rainy day. Embark on a journey of discovery as the rain begins to wash away the color from the bright red poppies in a field. Follow the color red on its journey, page after page, as it infuses myriad quirky and everyday objects with its bright cheerful hue: from the beaks of curious birds to the big wheel at the faraway fair. In a fresh, poetic style, with bright splashes of color on each page, this high contrast book will allow young readers to learn about color and build their vocabulary while stimulating their senses.

Massimo Marino: "Daimones"
A post-apocalyptic novel written by an ex-CERN scientist, first in a planned trilogy and winner of PRG 2012 Reviewer's Choice Award in the Sci-Fi Genre. Dan Amenta woke up one morning to discover the world had changed...the Apocalypse had arrived. Death, destruction, and disaster were wreaking havoc across the globe. Yet Dan and his family remained untouched and he sensed some sort of supernatural power had left them the only three people alive on Earth. They were not. The efforts to survive and find others brought Dan to discover the disturbing truth about the human extermination. He met Laura, who brought revelations about the catastrophe, and her presence - a young, sexy, disruptive girl - raised questions about what was moral and ethical in the new reality. Other survivors reported what they had seen, forcing Dan to seek explanations from his own past. Ancient hallucinations strike Dan with the force of a sledgehammer and bring him face-to-face with his new role in a scenario with roots millions-of-years old. Planet Earth was now in the hands of an older power but not the one Dan had envisioned throughout his life...

Stacy Perman: "Grand complication: The race to build the world's most legendary watch"
"A Grand Complication" is the intertwined story of two of the most important watch collectors of the 20th century: the auto magnate James Ward Packard and the financier Henry Graves, Jr., and their quest to possess the most complicated pocket watch ever made, spanning the Gilded Age and the Great Depression within the framework of the history of timekeeping, and the shifts in world socio-economic power between the U.S. and Europe. The “winning” watch, manufactured by Patek Philippe in 1933 and known as the Graves Supercomplication was sold for a record-breaking $11 million at Sotheby's in 1999.

Carmen Bugan: "Burying the typewriter: A memoir"
Winner of the Bakeless Prize for Nonfiction, a childhood memoir of political oppression and persecution during Romania's Ceausescu years Carmen Bugan grew up amid the bounty of the Romanian countryside on her grandparent's farm where food and laughter were plentiful. But eventually her father's behavior was too disturbing to ignore. He wept when listening to Radio Free Europe, hid pamphlets in sacks of dried beans, and mysteriously buried and reburied a typewriter. When she discovered he was a political dissident she became anxious for him to conform. However, with her mother in the hospital and her sister at boarding school, she was alone, and helpless to stop him from driving off on one last, desperate protest. After her father's subsequent imprisonment, Bugan was shunned by her peers at school and informed on by her neighbors. She candidly struggled with the tensions of loving her "hero" father who caused the family so much pain. When he returned from prison and the family was put under house arrest, the Bugans were forced to chart a new course for the future. A warm and intelligent debut, "Burying the Typewriter" provides a poignant reminder of a dramatic moment in Eastern European history.

Paul Sochaczewski: "An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles"
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles follows the Victorian-era explorations of Alfred Russel Wallace through Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. While Wallace is recognized as co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection (and was perhaps deliberately sidelined by Darwin) he was also an edgy social commentator and a voracious collector of natural productions. Sochaczewski, author of Sultan and the Mermaid Queen and Redheads (both of which will be available at the reading), and co-author of Soul of the Tiger, has created an innovative form of storytelling - combining incisive biography and personal travelogue. He examines themes about which Wallace cared deeply - why educated women make societies stronger, why boys leave home, the need to collect, why we need so much stuff, our relationship with other species, humanity's need to control nature and how this leads to nature destruction, arrogance, the role of ego and greed, white-brown and brown-brown colonialism, serendipity, passion, mysticism -- and interprets them through his own filter with layers of humor, history, social commentary and sometimes-outrageous personal tales. Jim Thorsell, senior advisor on World Heritage to IUCN, said the book "reminds me of Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines and Redmond O’Hanlon’s Into the Heart of Borneo. Paul has created a new genre, entirely innovative and refreshing".

Edward Girardet: "Killing the cranes: A reporter's journey through three decades of war in Afghanistan"
Few reporters have covered Afghanistan as intrepidly and humanely as Edward Girardet. In this gripping, personal account, Girardet delivers a story of that nation's resistance fighters, foreign invaders, mercenaries, spies, aid workers, Islamic extremists, and others who have defined Afghanistan's last thirty years of war, chaos, and strife. As a young foreign correspondent, Girardet arrived in Afghanistan just three months prior to the Soviet invasion in 1979. Over the next decades, he trekked hundreds of miles across rugged mountains and deserts on clandestine journeys following Afghan guerrillas in battle as they smuggled French doctors into the country, and as they combated each other as well as invaders. He witnessed the world's greatest refugee exodus, the bitter Battle for Kabul in the early 1990s, the rise of the Taliban, and, finally, the US-led Western military and recovery effort that began in 2001. "Killing the Cranes" provides crucial insights into why the West's current involvement has turned into such a disaster, not only rekindling a new insurgency, but squandering billions of dollars on a recovery process that has shown scant success.

Bashir Sakhawarz: "Maargir: The snake charmer"
Nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize, "Maargir: The Snake Charmer" narrates the poignant and passionate story of two brothers in Afghanistan, during the time of the Russian invasion. This deeply moving story, told with uplifting humour, sears into our minds the tragedies that haunt present-day Afghanistan the importance of Islam as a controlling force; the upheaval and destruction caused by the Russian and American wars; the rise of the Taliban and global terrorism. Bashir Sakhawarz s writing captures the political and philosophic lyricism of the revered Afghan mystic poet, Rumi. It is the story of a society little known passionate and bold, beautiful and erotic, courageous and daring, richly human and deeply tragic.

Sandor Szabados: "Léman Arctique: Geneva's ice storm"
Published in November 2012 as a collaborative effort showcasing the incredible photographs of over 70 contributing photographers, both amateur and professional, "Léman Arctique" is already a bestseller across Switzerland. The photographs depict the Lake Geneva area during the ice storm of February 2012, and they are presented here in a beautiful coffee table format.

Estelle Jobson: "Finding Rome on the map of love"
Estelle has an admirable career in publishing and a hectic, yet rich life. When her Italian diplomat boyfriend gets posted to Rome, she throws it all up to accompany him. There, she reinvents herself as Signora Stella, a casalinga (housewife) on the city’s highest hill, Monte Mario. Starting in autumn, she muses on life amongst the Italians and cycles through the seasons and sentiments of the Italian psyche. Signora Stella commences and ends at the same place: Follie, the local hairdresser run by Salvatore, a gay Neapolitan. This book captures a year’s worth of quirky, humorous, vivid observations about life amongst the Italians.

Lord Paddy Ashdown: "A brilliant little operation: The Cockleshell heroes and the most courageous raid of WW2"
The complete story of the remarkable canoe raid on German ships in Bordeaux Harbour - by the man who himself served in the Special Boat Squadron. In 1942 a daring and secret raid was launched by Mountbatten's Combined Operations and led by the enigmatic 'Blondie' Hasler: to paddle 'Cockleshell' canoes right into Bordeaux harbour and sink the German ships at anchor. It was a desperately hazardous mission from the start; dropped by submarine to canoe some hundred miles up the Gironde into the heart of Vichy France, surviving terrifying tidal races, only to face the biggest challenge of all, escaping across the Pyrenees. Fewer than half the men made it to Bordeaux; only four laid their mines; just two got back alive.

Joel Stratte-McClure: "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean"
When inquisitive American journalist Joel Stratte-McClure decides to walk around the Mediterranean Sea, we're in for an exhilarating adventure. As a 30 year expatriate in France, he explores the coast, countryside and regional cultures as well as his own mind with compulsive vigor. Armed with a copy of Homer's Odyssey, he re-opens this great book for us as he ponders life, divorce, Buddhism, alcoholism, the art of trekking and a vast collection of weird, wicked, wonderful people along the way. This is a trip to get into!

Stuart Firestein: "Ignorance: How it drives science"
Most of us have a false impression of science as a surefire, deliberate, step-by-step method for finding things out and getting things done. In fact, says Firestein, more often than not, science is like looking for a black cat in a dark room, and there may not be a cat in the room. The process is more hit-or-miss than you might imagine, with much stumbling and groping after phantoms. But it is exactly this "not knowing," this puzzling over thorny questions or inexplicable data, that gets researchers into the lab early and keeps them there late, the thing that propels them, the very driving force of science. Firestein shows how scientists use ignorance to program their work, to identify what should be done, what the next steps are, and where they should concentrate their energies. This fascinating book, accessible to professional and armchair scientists alike, is full of fascinating case studies in physics, neuroscience and personal autobiography, all told with understanding and humour.

Debra Spark: "Pretty girl: Novella & stories"

From Victorian toy theatres to a graphic novelist's battle with the schizophrenia which causes her cartoon characters to march off the page, the novella and six stories in Debra Spark's fourth work of fiction, The Pretty Girl, revolve around artists, artistry, and the magical deceptions they create. With settings that traverse New York's Lower East Side, Victorian London, Paris and Switzerland, Spark's stories twist and turn in mesmerizing ways as they reflect on the fictions we fabricate about and for friends, family, and strangers. The author made an appearance at OffTheShelf as part of an extensive promotional tour of Europe and the US, to read excerpts and talk about her writing. She is an experienced MFA Professor teaching at Colby College and lives in Maine. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times and Washington Post.

Denis Hirson: "The dancing and the death on Lemon Street" - shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Writer's Book Prize!
Lemon Street runs down-slope through a leafy, peaceful suburb of Johannesburg. It is early 1960. One resident of the street, a young widow, believes she has finally met the new man of her life. In a narrow room at the back of the garden, her maid impatiently awaits the arrival of her lover. Across the street, while his parents engage in yet another heated argument, a schoolboy dreams of a girl. And down past the willow trees at the bottom of the street this girl’s mother prepares a party to celebrate her twentieth wedding anniversary, which will hardly turn out as she expected. This beautifully crafted, musical story is as much about seeing how people lived at that time as it is about desire, loneliness and the desperate, blind need for revenge.

Anne Korkeakivi: "Unexpected guest"
In "An unexpected guest", Anne's first novel, the American wife of a high-ranking diplomat in Paris arranges an official dinner crucial to her husband's career but her day is complicated by the unexpected arrival of her son and a random encounter with a Turkish man, whom she discovers is a suspected terrorist. As she continues outwardly to appear as organised and restrained as ever, she begins to unravel into a woman of dangerous passions and moral dilemmas.

Carolina Rodriguez-Barros: Workshop based on Kim Johnson Gross's "What to wear for the rest of your life"
We are very pleased to welcome back Dare To Glow's Carolina Rodriguez-Barros, who hosted a very successful workshop last year and this time will use Kim Johnson Gross's "What to wear for the rest of your life" as a foundation for helping you re-organise your wardrobe. The book takes a humorous look at that point in a woman's life when you realize you can no longer wear many of the clothes you thought were your staples, because they no longer fit or even suit you! Using commonly-occurring situations as a starting point ("What to wear when meeting your ex's new girlfriend"...), the book guides you towards a new wardrobe that fits the new (older) you, without making you look frumpy or out of fashion. Carolina will distill and explain the book's message, to help us grasp the basics of what to wear and what not.

Kamy Lavanchy: Workshop based on Louise Hay's "You can heal your life"
To celebrate the first day of Spring, we are hosting a workshop with Kamy Lavanchy, who will use Louise Hay's "You can heal your life" as a foundation for helping you re-orient your life and enjoy it to the full. Kamy is a certified Heal Your Life® Facilitator, Heal Your Life® Coach, massage therapist and reiki practitioner, and the previous workshop she gave at OffTheShelf was a resounding success! Don't miss this chance to give yourself a new lease of life starting in 2012!

Sue Style: "Cheese: Slices of Swiss culture"

Jonathan Leighton: "The battle for compassion: Ethics in an apathetic universe"

Jon Steele: "The Watchers"

Geneva Writers' Group: "Offshoots XI"

Lucy Morgan Edwards: "The Afghan solution: The inside story of Abdul Haq, the CIA and how Western hubris lost Afghanistan"

Beatrice Bressan: "Origin: Poems"

Carolina Rodriguez-Barros: "Women, work and the art of savoir-faire"

Michael Scammell: "Koestler: The indispensable intellectual"

Lord Digby Jones: "Fixing Britain: The business of reshaping our nation"

Sreyashi Ghosh: "My soul on a platter"

Martin Crimp: "City"

Guy Pratt: "My bass and other animals"