One Model Nation (Image Comics)

We're thrilled to host the Dandy Warhols' Courtney Taylor (aka C. Allbritton Taylor) and Camp Freddy's Donovan Leitch as they present their new graphic novel One Model Nation, illustrated by Jim Rugg.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, C. Allbritton Taylor has lived in New York, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, London and has made countless trips to Berlin for more than a decade while collecting information and writing One Model Nation. Now a resident of Washington State, C. Allbritton says of his first published full-length work, "I did my best to present a clear story while having to protect the people who wanted to remain hidden. I had to change names (and occasionally places) to do this while remaining true to my original intention: to pay homage to the great artists who played their parts in that time of unsung greatness."

Actor, musician, producer, rock historian, Donovan Leitch co-conceived One Model Nation with his collaborator C. Allbritton Taylor. Donovan was the lead singer for the '90s andro-glam NY band Nancy Boy and now fronts the all-star jam band Camp Freddy. As an actor, he has appeared in many late night cable cult classics and he played the lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in both New York and L.A. productions. He has produced several documentaries and is now developing rock based musicals. As an avid music historian, Donovan constantly seeks to uncover the deeper truths of the mysterious band One Model Nation.

more info...

 

Friday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Too Long a Solitude: Poems (Univ. of Nebraska Press)

This world-renowned poet will read from his most recent collection.

James Ragan is an internationally recognized poet, playwright, and screenwriter, and, for 25 years, served as the director of the University of Southern California's  Professional Writing Program. Ragan has been honored here and abroad as an ambassador of poetry.  In 1985 he was one of three Americans, including Robert Bly and Bob Dylan, invited to perform at the First International Poetry Festival in Moscow. Ragan's literary honors include three Fulbright Professorships (Yugoslavia, China, and the Czech Republic ), the Emerson Poetry Prize, eight Pushcart Prize nominations, an NEA, a PSA Gertrude Claytor Award, and the Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award.

more info...

 

This year we join bookstores around the country in celebrating the first annual National Bookstore Day, a day devoted to celebrating bookselling and the vibrant culture of bookstores.

 

 

 

 

 

So we decided to invite booksellers (buyers, owners, managers) from other So Cal bookstores to a unique "meet and greet" reception and they'll bring info about their stores.   You can say hello to old friends from other bookstores and learn about others. 

 

And to highlight the publication of the lovely new book, Art of the Bookstore: The Bookstore Paintings of Gibbs Smith, in which a number of these stores are featured, they will sign copies of the book.

At press time, the indie bookstores being represented so far are Skylight Books, Book Soup, Metropolis Books, Chaucer's in Santa Barbara, as well as 2 legendary indies which are now closed -- Doug Dutton of Dutton's Brentwood and Adele Wallace of Sisterhood Books.  We expect additional bookstores will join us.

  

 

 

If you can't make it to this event, use the day to stop in at ANY independent bookstore and be reminded how varied and fascinating these 'bricks and mortar' bookstores can be.

Saturday, November 7 at 5:00 p.m.

Chocolate Bliss (Celestial Arts)

William Archila was born in Santa Ana, El Salvador, and earned his MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon. He is a PEN Center USA West Emerging Voices fellow, and The Art of Exile is the recent winner of the Emerging Writer Fellowship Award from the Writer's Center. "A poet of the heart and head, of the personal and public, at times William Archila's poignant poems make me hear and feel an echo of Pablo Neruda and Cesar Vallejo." --from the introduction by Yusef Komunyakaa, Pulitzer Prize winner.

Terry Wolverton is a local poet and novelist who founded Writers at Work, a creative writing center, where she continues to teach. She is the author of Embers, a novel in poems; Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, a memoir; Bailey's Beads, a novel; The Labrys Reunion, a novel; and two collections of poetry: Black Slip and Mystery Bruise. She has also edited fourteen compilations of literary work.

Lynne Thompson's first full-length manuscript, Beg No Pardon, was the winner of the 2007 Perugia Press First Book Award as well as the 2008 Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award.  A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Thompson is a frequent reader on the national scene and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Crab Orchard Review, Rattle, Poetry International and Spillway.

A biomedical engineer by training, Adrian spent a decade working in pharmaceutical manufacturing. In the evenings, after work, he did stand-up comedy, proving once more the age-old formula

corporate drug manufacturing + time (approx 2 hours) = comedy

After divorcing, Adrian found humbler employment as an extra in film and TV. It was during his Zen-like retreat into extra-land, that Adrian wrote the dirty, funny, dirty How to Make Love to Adrian Colesberry.

 

★"In this gripping tale, Huneven charts the parameters of guilt and how a young, wisecracking intellectual becomes a shadow of her former self. . . . Brilliant observations, excellent characters, spiffy dialogue and a clever plot . . . . keep readers hooked"

--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

 

"Huneven's prose is flawless, with especially arresting descriptions of the Southern California landscape, and her strong but fragile heroine is mercilessly honest."  --The New Yorker

Does anyone else find it ironic that Amazon sells a book called "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture" -- at a 46% discount? As the Wal-mart/Amazon price-gouging war that commenced late this week suggests, the corporate (and cultural) obsession with discounting has gotten way out of control. [...] But I also refuse to believe that people don't value what independent bookstores provide: Books, yes. But they also foster community and an educated populace. The owners of the Booksmith in San Francisco wrote an amazing piece for the Huffington Post on this very topic -- why indies matter -- that is really worth checking out. So let's break out of the CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP mantra and start putting our dollars behind things that we value, and that value us in return.

 
You really know you're living in L.A. when fall comes -- everywhere else the temperature drops, the leaves change colors, and people start bundling up in sweaters and warm jackets.  Here, the temperature keeps popping up into the 80s into December and sundresses stay in the rotation long after Labor Day.  But instead of complaining about missing the "seasons," we're going to celebrate L.A. this month by recommending some great L.A. novels for books groups to enjoy during these warm autumn nights.

Southland by Nina Revoyr
Our own Kerry Slattery recommended this title in the cool new recommendation compilation City Secrets: Books, where she wrote, "I continue to be haunted, on so many levels, by Revoyr's elegantly written novel Southland." About race, love, murder, and history with the ever-changing city as its backdrop, this is a great read with a lot to discuss.

Shopgirl by Steve Martin
What's more L.A. than reading a novella written by an actor? This one has been acclaimed by everyone from The New York Times Book Review and The Wall Street Journal to Vogue. Time called it "an appeal to the intelligent heart," and what book club could resist that?

Golden Days by Carolyn See
A great book by a great L.A. writer. This novel could be described as pre-apocalyptic, in that the threat of nuclear war hangs over the whole book, but people keep falling in love, raising children, participating in enduring if not always perfect friendships, and searching for the answers to life's big questions all the same.  If The Road was too grim for you, try this.

If you have a book group but you're not registered with the store, remember that book groups that do register get 15% off their pick each month. E-mail Emily at emily@skylightbooks.com now to find out how to register your book group! You can check out our registered book groups here.

www.skylightbooks.com