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Skylight Books Newsletter

March 2009                                                      www.skylightbooks.com
In This Issue
Georgina Spelvin
John Wenzel with comics Maria Bamford, Andrew Orvedahl, Ben Krongerg, and Tig Notaro
Jerry Stahl
Russell Banks
Brendan Constantine
Zoe Heller
John Haskell
UC Irvine MFA Writing Students
Skylight Literary Salon
Kerry Madden
Young Adult Authors in Conversation
More from Skylight's Blog!
Book Groups at Skylight
Services
 
We Accept AmEx, MasterCard, Visa and Discover
 
Special Orders Welcome!
 
10% off all book purchases on your birthday
 
Senior Discount Tues before 4pm 
 
Frequent Buyer Program--ask us for details
 
Free Gift Wrapping
 
National Gift Cards ____________________

Skylight Books February 2009 Bestsellers
1. The Women, by T.C. Boyle
2. Los Feliz: An Illustrated Early History, by Donald Seligman
3. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
4. The Big Skinny, by Carol Lay
5. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz
7. The Heart's Traffic, by Ching-In Chen
8. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
9. Boy with Flowers, by Ely Shipley
10. Mark Ryden: The Tree Show, by Mark Ryden
Join Our List
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Dear Friend of Skylight Books,
 
We seem to be constantly sprucing up, re-thinking and re-organizing our physical space as well as our book sections.  This month we added spiffy new planter boxes planter 1814in front of our 1814 space and they look great.   The poetry section occupies a larger corner now, Monica's 'Translated Literature' section has books flying off the shelves, and our card section is much more accessible and inviting.
  
We were saddened to hear about the upcoming demise of long-time L.A. glbt bookstore, A Different Light in West Hollywood (still open through at least March).  We are looking at bridging the gap it will be leaving with a reading series and some kind of 'curated' glbt book shelves, to add to and highlight some of our current selections.
 
Our staff has been 'twittering' daily, and we invite you to add us to your feed (skylightbooks). 
 
By the way, we have staff members who can do booktalks at your school or organization.  We're also happy to bring books to sell for local organizations or group meetings -- or for your invited speakers.  Please let us know if we can help you brainstorm about book events, activities, business gifts, etc. 
 
Some of these sweet spring days have been inspiring me to start a kerry drawingcontainer vegetable garden in my little patio, and I'm told by our buyer, Charles, that more publishers than ever before are coming out with books on canning, preserving and other home DIY.  Let us know about your own interests in such things.  
 Kerry Slattery, General Manager
March Events at Skylight Books  

GEORGINA SPELVIN

Sunday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m.
 
The Devil Made Me Do It  
 
devil made me do itJoin legendary former porn star Georgina Spelvin for cakes and ale, as she celebrates her 73rd birthday at our store, and regales you with her  rollicking, ribald, memoir of the making of Gerard Damiano's 1974 sexually explicit film, The Devil in Miss Jones, in which she starred. 
 
"I honestly never thought anyone I knew would ever see the thing!" she wailed when the film's box-office success threw her into an unexpected and uncomfortable spotlight. Ironically, a spotlight was exactly what she had come to New York to find as a young dancer from Texas in 1954.
 
JOHN WENZEL with comics
MARIA BAMFORD, ANDREW ORVEDAHL, BEN KRONBERG, and TIG NOTARO 
Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and the Dangerously Funny (Fulcrum Books)

Maria BamfordMock Stars
Hot Los Angeles comics Bamford, Odenkirk, Orvedahl, Kronberg and Notaro each perform short sets as they join author Wenzel to celebrate his new book about the evolution of indie comedy from the underground music circuit into mainstream America.
 
Through candid interviews with major players, including David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Neil Hamburger, Maria Bamford, Fred Armisen, Aimee Mann, and dozens of others, John Wenzel reveals how comedy is becoming relevant -- and dangerously funny -- again.
JERRY STAHL
Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Pain Killers (William Morrow)

From the acclaimed and controversial author of Permanent Midnight comes one of the most vividly subversive, savagely funny, and explosive novels yet unleashed in our tender century. Pain Killers is a violent and mind-wrenching masterpiece in the gonzo noir style that has earned Jerry Stahl his legion of avid fans.

Pain Killers Down-and-out ex-cop and not-quite-reformed addict Manny Rupert accepts a job going undercover to find out if an old man locked up in a California prison is who he claims to be: the despicable -- and allegedly dead -- Josef Mengele, aka the Angel of Death. What if, instead of drowning thirty years ago, the sadistic legend whose Auschwitz crimes still horrify faked his own death and is now locked up in San Quentin, ranting and bitter about being denied the adulation he craves for his contribution to keeping the Master Race pure -- if no longer masterful?
 

RUSSELL BANKS
Saturday, March 7 at 5:00 p.m.

The Reserve (HarperCollins)

russell banksThe Reserve 
"Like our living literary giants Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon, Russell Banks is a great writer wrestling with the hidden secrets and explosive realities of this country."
- Cornel West 
 
Banks, the acclaimed author of Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, grew up in a working-class world that has played a major role in shaping his writing. Through a dozen novels and short story collections that have won him Guggenheim and NEA grants and a St. Lawrence Prize for fiction, Banks has made a life's work of charting the causes and effects of the terrible things "normal" men can and will do.

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness -- and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules.
 
BRENDAN CONSTANTINE 
with Douglas Kearney
Sunday, March 8 at 5:00 p.m.

Letters to Guns (Red Hen Press)


Brendan ConstantineLetters to GunsConstantine is a Southern California poet and champion for the literary arts. He teaches at the Winward School and is well known for his workshops at Venice's Beyond Baroque. He performs his work across the United States. The Poetry Super Highway calls this new book "the most anticipated first book by a Los Angeles based author since The Big Sleep."
 
Constantine will be introduced by poet, performer, librettist and teacher Douglas Kearney, whose most recent poetry collection is Fear, Some (Red Hen Press).
ZO� HELLER 
Wednesday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.

The Believers (Harper Collins)

Zoe HellerThe Believers British journalist ("Columnist of the Year" for The Daily Telegraphy) and novelist Heller's newest novel  is a rich, comic chronicle of one family's struggles with the consolations of faith and the trials of doubt.
 
Her previous novel, Notes on a Scandal: What She Was Thinking, was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for fiction, and was released as a feature film, starring Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench. 

"A beautiful, oftentimes hilarious, razor-precise portrait of a family, a city, and an examination of the eternal and universal urge to embrace something, anything, greater than ourselves." 
--Richard Price
 
(author photo: Sigrid Estrada)
JOHN HASKELL
Thursday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Out of My Skin (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
john haskell
 
Steve in our store LOVES Haskell's new novel about a guy who tries to rediscover (or re-make?) his own identity through the process of impersonating a Steve Martin impersonator.  Out of My SkinHaskell's previous books are the story collection I Am Not Jackson Pollock, and the novel, American Purgatorio,
  
(we also love that Haskell inserted a photograph of Skylight Books right in the middle of the text!)
 
... a richly suggestive, deeply funny and elliptically philosophical exploration of identity... one of the most distinctive American novels of recent years
. -- San Francisco Chronicle
 
This book is a rebellion against the novel, even as it inhabits the form.  -- Los Angeles Times 
 
Mr. Haskell's writing is weirdly mesmerizing, which lends his work an enticing air of profundity. And that's why, though it will only take a few hours to read, Out of My Skin will linger with you long after. -- New York Observer

(Author photo: Jorge Colombo)
UC IRVINE MFA WRITING STUDENTS 

Saturday, March 14 at 5:00 p.m.

The UC Irvine MFA Reading Series is proud to present new poetry and
fiction from a selection of our writers. Two fiction writers, Laura
Hogan
(1st yr) and Greg November (2nd yr), and two poets, Nathan
Bishop
(1st yr) and Leah Dunham (2nd yr), will be reading from their
latest work.
 
UC Irvine's MFA program has a long history of success and among our
alumni are three Pulitzer Prize winners (Richard Ford, Michael Chabon,
and Yusef Komunyakaa), and winners of many other awards and
distinctions. Atlantic Monthly recently rated UCI's program as one of
the top ten programs in the nation, keeping company with programs at
Iowa, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and NYU. A recent graduate, Joshua
Ferris, was nominated for the National Book Award. The program is
extremely selective and the writers, past and current, are top-notch.
More information on the program and alumni may be found here:
SKYLIGHT LITERARY SALON
Saturday, March 21 at 4:00 p.m.

Skylight SalonYearning for witty repartee and intellectual stimulation? How about wine and hors d'oeuvres? Come join us for our monthly series, Skylight Salon, where our staff shares their faves from small presses and independent publishers. It's a modern-day mixer for the literary minded.
 
... a NOIR afternoon!!! 

This month we'll be exploring noir publishers. mo small Monica will tackle Bitter Lemon Press, and Darren will introduce Hard Case Crime. darrenJustin's pick will be announced shortly.justin 
KERRY MADDEN 

Sunday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m.

Harper Lee (Viking Children's Books)

Local author Madden writes the first biography of Lee, Harper Leewhose 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird  became an instant bestseller and Academy Award-winning film..  Today, Mockingbird remains standard -- and beloved -- reading in English classes. But Lee never wanted the book to define who she was, which explains her aversion to any kind of publicity.
 
Madden conducted extensive research for this Up Close biography presented for young adult readers, revealing Lee as a down-to-earth Southern woman who enjoys baseball games and playing golf -- and whose one and only published book happened to win the Pulitzer Prize.
 
Young Adult Authors in Conversation:
CYLIN BUSBY, CECIL CASTELLUCCI, RON KOERTGE, and LISA YEE

Saturday, March 28 at 5:00 p.m.

These Young Adult fiction authors will share their latest works and discuss what it's like writing fiction, non-fiction and graphic novels for teens.


Cecil Castellucci Cecil Castellucci is the author of Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool, and Beige, as well as the graphic novel series The Plain Janes.

Ron Koertge is the author of Stoner and Spaz, Shakespeare Bats Cleans Up,and Margaux with an X. His latest novel is Deadville.

Lisa Yee is the author of Millicent Min, Girl Genius; Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time; and So Totally Emily Ebers, as well as the American Girl book Good Luck Ivy. Her latest book is the YA novel Absolutely Maybe.

Cylin Busby was the editor at Teen Magazine and is the author of the middle grade series Date Him or Dump Him. Her latest book is the nonfiction memoir The Year We Disappeared.
MORE FROM SKYLIGHT'S BLOG!
Find us at www.skylightbooks.blogspot.com

MonicaMonica has been posting up a storm on our blog!  She's been keeping us up-to-date on new developments in bookselling online, she's offered an alternative list of Valentine's Day reading material (these are not happily-ever-after stories), she's introduced us to translated lit organization Words Without Borders, and she's discussed a new program wherein kids review books for our middle readers and young adults sections!

Here, Monica responds to some reader comments on her initial online bookselling post:

Speaking of Armchairs...
Thursday, February 5


Thanks for the great comments about handselling books online. Although everyone sells books online, the ability of indie bookstores to take a more proactive approach to suggesting their favorites to people all over the world is so awesome.

Read the rest of this post here, and visit our blog homepage here to read more from Monica and the rest of the Skylight Books staff.

Plus, Skylight Books is on Twitter!  Follow our every move by adding skylightbooks to your feed.
BOOK GROUPS at SKYLIGHT and BEYOND!
 
We love book groups.  We love them so much that we host a couple in the store (the Coyotes Book Group and the Proust Reading Group), and we give a 15% discount to any book group's book of the month if the group registers with us (e-mail Emily at [email protected] for more info).

We know that a lot of you out there are part of book groups that are desperate for new suggestions, so we thought we'd offer a few picks each month to get you started.

May we suggest:

The Secret HistoryThe Secret History by Donna Tartt
A great page turner and a very well reviewed novel. The New York Times called it "a remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment. . . . Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled."

Abstinence TeacherThe Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta
Perrotta's books (others include Election and Little Children) are extraordinarily readable works of literary fiction. The Abstinence Teacher is his newest, and it's "a virtuoso set of overlapping character studies," according to the Washington Post.

The World Without UsThe World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Ever wonder what would happen to the planet if humans just disappeared? Well, wonder no more.  Alan Weisman has put together a thoroughly researched best guess. Lev Grossman of Time wrote, "I don't think I've read a better nonfiction book this year."

Find out more about our registered book groups here, and remember to register your book group with us to get a discount on your pick each month!
Skylight Books
1818 N Vermont Ave (between Hollywood Blvd and Franklin)
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323 660-1175
 
Next door to the Los Feliz Cinema and across the street from the Post Office (where you can park after 6pm)
 
metroWe are about 4 blocks north of the Vermont/Sunset subway stop and directly on many bus routes, including the Hollywood DASH.  Bicycle racks in front of the store.