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Join us for these offsite events! |
These are just a few of the events where we'll be selling books this month:
Wednesday, September 1 at 7:00 p.m.
USC presents Father Gregory Boyle discussing Tattoos on the Heart at the Ballroom at the grand opening of the Tutor Campus Center, 3607 Trousdale Parkway. Click here for info.
Tuesday, September 21, 7:30 p.m.
Zocalo presents presents Barry C. Lynn, discussing his book Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction at The Actor's Gang, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. Click here for reservations/info.
Wednesday, September 29, 7:30 p.m.
Zocalo presents presents Sebastian Mallaby, discussing his book More Money than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite at MOCA, 250 South Grand Ave., Downtown. Click here for reservations/info.
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| Skylight Books August 2010 Bestsellers |
Store Bestsellers
1. Slake, ed. Joe Donnelly and Laurie Ochoa
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
4. Secret Stairs by Charles Fleming
5. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
6. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
7. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
8. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
10. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Event Bestsellers
We didn't have any in-store author events in August, but this is a good opportunity to give a shout-out to our bestselling offsite event book:
1. Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
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| Services |
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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
Gift Cards
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| Kerry's View from the Skylight | |
Dear Skylight Supporters,
Thought you'd like to see a terrific book industry article about Skylight's graphic novel section and staffthat appeared in August. This just reinforces our staff's ability to help point out the right graphic novel or comic, whether you're already knowledgeable about this genre or you just want to discover a little bit about why these books have become so important.
Ellroy, Moody, Simpson, Pollack, and more...Our fall author event series begins this month with a remarkable slate -- some internationally acclaimed writers whose names you will immediately know, as well as noted poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, foodies, and a few "emerging" writers (including our own bookseller Monica Carter appearing at the Black Clock reading as well as PEN's Emerging Voices reading). We always make an effort to schedule those events which seem particularly right for our store and its unique neighborhood--so we invite you to take a look at a book by one of the featured authors with whom you may be less familiar. Taking a trip in a 'teardrop' trailer...At the moment, you will be hard-pressed to find any books on Yellowstone,  Wyoming, Montana or Utah in our Travel section -- because I have purchased them all in preparation for a camping trip this month to Yellowstone and beyond! (Don't worry, the books will be replenished.) For me, more than half the joy of travel is curling up at home with all the guidebooks for months before the trip...immersed in the history, imagining the experiences of the early pioneers, and planning out the sights to see. By the way, if you look up these guidebooks on our website, many of them have the Google 'preview' feature, so that you you can read a portion of the book before deciding which one to purchase!
I can't yet divulge the details, but be on the look out for a special email from us within the next few weeks with details about an amazing opportunity we're offering our customers. All I can say right now is that it involves original artwork that you may recognize by a well-known artist and graphic novelist.
Kerry Slattery, General Manager and Co-Owner |
| September Events at Skylight Books |
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Fiction: RICK MOODY | | Wednesday, September 1 at 7:30 p.m.
The Four Fingers of Death (Little, Brown, & Co.)
 Rick Moody (The Diviners) will read and sign his sprawling new
novel -- an "adaptation" of a (fictional) 1960s pulp horror movie. This
one's for readers of Vonnegut and Pynchon, and we know there are a lot
of you out there!
"The book is entertaining and often poignant, probing the limits of technology, consciousness, and language in the face of grief." --The New Yorker
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Fiction: MONA SIMPSON | |
Thursday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m.
My Hollywood (Knopf)
 Acclaimed Los Angeles novelist Mona Simpson (Anywhere But Here) will read from and sign her long-awaited novel My Hollywood -- her first in ten years!
"Funny, smart, and filled with razor sharp observations about life and parenthood, Simpson's latest is well worth the wait." --Publishers Weekly more info... |
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Memoir: NEAL POLLACK | | Tuesday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m.Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude (HarperPerennial)
 Neal Pollack, author of Never Mind the Pollacks and Alternadad, will discuss and sign his new memoir about his surprising transformation from yoga ridiculer to yoga proponent and certified yoga instructor.
"Neal Pollack has a well documented history of putting himself into
ridiculous positions, but never so literally... If Eat, Pray, Love had
been written by a sweaty, aging, male smartass, then that book might be
called Stretch, and Elizabeth Gilbert would be named Neal Pollack." --John Hodgman
more info...
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Fiction: JOHN BRANDON
with SALVADOR PLASCENCIA
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Wednesday, September 8 at 7:30 p.m. Citrus County (McSweeney's) by Brandon The People of Paper (McSweeney's hardcover; Harvest Books paperback) by Plascencia  Two great McSweeney's authors will read and sign their most recent novels.
John Brandon's Citrus County has been described as "funny and horrifying" by Publishers Weekly and by Kirkus Reviews as what would happen "if Flannery O'Connor wrote Holden Caufield as a child-snatcher."
Salvador Plascencia, a "once-in-a-generation talent" (George Saunders), will read from The People of Paper, his acclaimed debut novel. "Plascencia's surrealistic metanovel, styled a la Garcia Marquez, is a
charming meditation on the relationship between reader, author, and story line,
filled with mythic imagery. A." --Entertainment
Weekly more info...
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Fiction: JOSHUA MOHR
and GRACE KRILANOVICH | | Thursday, September 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Termite Parade by Mohr
The Orange Eats Creeps by Krilanovich (both published by Two Dollar Radio)
 Joshua Mohr, whose last novel (Some Things That Meant the World to Me) was a staff favorite, and Grace Krilanovich, whose debut novel (The Orange Eats Creeps) is the only one to be excerpted twice in Black Clock, will read from and sign their new novels!
Praise for Termite Parade:
"The book is similar to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment: the most
crucial action serves as a portal to and wellspring for the various
psychologies of its characters." --San Francisco Chronicle
Praise for The Orange Eats Creeps:
"A 'vampire' novel as Celine might have written, with dashes of Blake and
Burroughs: hallucinatory, poetic, passionate, excessive, sexually charged,
hardcore in all the best senses of the word. Twilight this is not." --Steve
Erickson more info...
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Poetry: CAROL MOLDAW
and ELENA KARINA BYRNE | | |
Friday, September 10 at 7:30 p.m. So Late, So Soon: New and Selected Poems (Etruscan Press) by Moldaw Masque (Tupelo Press) by Byrne  Poets Carol Moldaw and Elena Karina Byrne will read and sign their recent poetry collections.
Carol Moldaw is the author of four other books of poetry--The Lightning Field, which won the 2002 FIELD Poetry Prize, Through the Window, Chalkmarks on Stone, and Taken from the River--as well as a novel, The Widening. Her work is published widely in journals, including The New Yorker and The Paris Review.
Former 12-year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America, Elena Karina Byrne is a freelance teacher, editor, collage artist, Poetry Consultant/Moderator for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, a reviewer for ForeWord's Clarion Reviews and Literary Programs Director for The Ruskin Art Club. Other books include The Flammable Bird (Zoo Press/Tupelo Press 2002), and the forthcoming Burnt Violin (poetry, 2011).
more info...
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Middle Readers: JAMES RILEY | Saturday, September 11 at 5:00 p.m. Half Upon a Time (Aladdin)
  A launch party for local author James Riley and his first book, a middle readers fairy tale mash-up.
Life's no fairy tale for Jack. After all, his father's been missing ever since that incident with the beanstalk and the giant,
and his grandfather keeps pushing him to get out and find a princess to
rescue. (Who'd want to rescue a snobby, entitled princess anyway?)
Jack and the princess in question, May, embark on a
thrillingly hilarious adventure that combines all the classic
stories--fractured as a broken magic mirror--into one epic novel for the
ages.
Photo of the author by Maarten de Boer.
more info...
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Anthology: Contributors to the PEN EMERGING VOICES anthology "STRANGE CARGO": NATASHIA DEON, CARA CHOW,
DAVIN MALASARN, PIREENI SUNDARALINGAM, MONICA CARTER, MARYTZA RUBIO,
SYLVIA SUKOP, DENISE UYEHARA,
and MEHNAZ TURNER
hosted by JANET FITCH
| Sunday, September 12 at 5:00 p.m. Strange Cargo  Nine alumni of the PEN Center USA's Emerging Voices fellowship who have been published in the Emerging Voices anthology Strange Cargo will read from their selected pieces. Janet Fitch (White Oleander), who wrote the anthology's introduction, will introduce the event!
PEN Center USA's Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship program that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. "[These] are voices which demand to be heard, and the reader is grateful that . . . they have received the help, guidance and encouragement to allow their unique sound, their irreplaceable vision, to read the reading world." --Janet Fitch, from the foreword
Photo of Janet Fitch by Claudia Kunin.
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Poetry: DANIEL TIFFANY | Wednesday, September 15 at 8:00 p.m. The Dandelion Clock (Tinfish Press)
 Acclaimed Los Angeles poet Daniel Tiffany will read from and sign his latest collection.
"Each of the poems in The Dandelion Clock is a pearl strung
together with music from the origin of human sounds. This book has the
stillness of haiku and the raw power of Beowulf. Daniel Tiffany is a
revolutionary poet." --Wang Ping more info... |
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In a class all their own: DEL HOWISON
and ELIZABETH BARRIAL
| Thursday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m. Vampires Don't Sleep Alone by D.H. Altair and Barrial When Werewolves Attack by Howison (both books published by Ulysses Press)
 Del Howison (who also writes under the pseudonym D.H. Altair) and
Elizabeth Barrial will discuss and sign their new books on handling
encounters with supernatural creatures of the night! Vampires Don't Sleep Alone is a tongue-in-cheek dating guide for vampire-loving women (as well as an alternate history of vampires and their tribes), and When Werewolves Attackis a pocket field guide to identifying and avoiding attacks by
werewolves. Get ready for Halloween early this year -- study up with
tips from the experts!
more info... |
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Biography: STEVEN ROBY
and BRAD SCHREIBER | | Friday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius (Da Capo Press)    Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber will discuss and sign their new biography, Becoming Jimi Hendrix. It's the first in-depth biography of the formative years of the
greatest electric guitarist of all time, with 25 rare photos, complete
sessionography, and tour itinerary.
The authors are bringing an electric guitar to raffle off at the event, so be sure
to buy your copy of the book here to get a raffle ticket! more info...
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Nonfiction: GORDON EDGAR
with cheese tasting!
| Saturday, September 18 at 5:00 p.m. Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge (Chelsea Green)
 Gordon Edgar will discuss life as a
cheesemonger in San Francisco's Rainbow Grocery Cooperative and sign
copies of his new irreverant and funny book Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge. Plus, there will be a cheese tasting!
Edgar has been a judge at cheese competitions,
a board member for the California Artisan Cheese Guild, and, since 2002, has
blogged at www.gordonzola.net. Surrounded by his vast and decaying collection of
zines and obscure punk 7-inches, he lives in San Francisco with his girlfriend
and their imaginary white miniature schnauzer.
more info...
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Contributors to BLACK CLOCK 12:
RICHARD RAYNER, NINA REVOYR,
SAMANTHA DUNN, TOD GOLDBERG,
PAUL CULLUM, and MONICA CARTER
| | Sunday, September 19 at 5:00 p.m. Black Clock 12
Six contributors to the latest issue of this great literary journal will read from their selected pieces.
 Richard Rayner's books include A Bright and Guilty Place, The Blue Suit, The Cloud
Sketcher, L.A. Without a Map, and Murder Book.
Nina Revoyr is the author of three novels, including Southland and The Age of Dreaming. Her new novel, Wingshooters, will be published in 2011.
Samantha Dunn is the
author of several books, including the novel Failing Paris and the
memoir Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life.
Tod Goldberg is the author of seven books of fiction, including the
novels Living Dead Girl, Fake Liar Cheat, and the popular Burn Notice series, as well as
the short story collections Simplify and Other Resort
Cities.
Paul Cullum is a freelance writer who has written extensively for the L.A. Weekly, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and hundreds of tiny magazines that pay comically little.
Monica Carter is a Skylight Books staffer, a 2010 PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellow and 2010 Lambda Emerging LGBT Voices Fellow.
more info...
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Fiction: CHARLES YU | | Monday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (Pantheon)
 Local author and 5 Under 35 winner (for the short story collection Third Class Superhero) Charles Yu will read from and sign his debut novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Unvierse.
"[An] exhilarating blend of time travel and literary theory and family dynamics." --Wired.com
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Nonfiction: DAVE TOMPKINS
| | Wednesday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocodor from World War II to Hip Hop (Stop Smiling Books)  Dave Tompkins will discuss and sign his fascinating history of the
vocodor! The vocoder, invented by Bell Labs in 1928, once guarded phones
from codebreakers during World War II; now it's the ubiquitous voice of popular music.
"[Tompkin's] biggest and
most perilous adventure in How to Wreck a Nice Beach is the
plunge deep into the throbbing radioactive heart of his own prose--a
hallucinatory stew of Rimbaud, Tom Wolfe, Lester Bangs, and Bootsy
Collins." -- New York Magazine
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Food: DEBORAH EDEN TULL
| | Thursday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. The Natural Kitchen: Your Guide to the Sustainable Food Revolution (Process)  Deborah Eden Tull will discuss and sign her new, simple, revolutionary
guide to mindful, sustainable food shopping, planning, preparation,
cooking, and eating in the city.
The Natural Kitchen picks up where The Urban Homestead books leave off and brings the lessons of sustainable living into the
kitchen, where the daily choices we make involving food have a profound
impact both on our lives and the world at large.
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Memoir: JAMES ELLROY
| | Friday, September 24 at 7:30 p.m. The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women (Knopf)  James Ellroy returns to Skylight to read and sign his new memoir!
The legendary crime writer gives us a raw, brutally candid memoir--as high
intensity and as riveting as any of his novels--about his obsessive search for
"atonement in women." The year was 1958. Jean Hilliker had divorced her
fast-buck hustler husband and resurrected her maiden name. Her son, James, was
ten years old. He hated and lusted after his mother and "summoned her dead." She
was murdered three months later. The Hilliker Curse is a predator's
confession, a treatise on guilt and on the power of malediction, and above all,
a cri de coeur.
Photo of the author by Marion Ettlinger.
more info... |
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Illustrated for-adult fairy tales:
DANBERT NOBACON
and ALEX COX
| | Saturday, September 25 at 5:00 p.m. 3 Dead Princes: An Anarchist Fairy Tale (Exterminating Angel Press) |
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Fiction: MATT STEWART
| | Sunday, September 26 at 5:00 p.m. The French Revolution (Soft Skull Press)
 Matt Stewart will read and sign his whimsical new novel, loosely based
on the titular uprising, and set in the much more local San Francisco.
The book was originally published in 3,700 tweets (@thefrenchrev). We
can guarantee that buying the book here will make for an easier reading
experience!
more info...
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Nonfiction: MICHAEL HILTZIK
| | Wednesday, September 29 at 7:30 p.m. Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century (Free Press)
  On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Hoover Dam, join Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist and author Michael Hiltzik for a discussion and book signing.
"[Colossus is a] detailed and vividly written study - destined to be the standard history for decades to come." --Washington Post
more info...
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Fiction: TAO LIN
| | Thursday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. Richard Yates (Melville House)  We're thrilled to have Tao Lin here for the first time, to read and sign his new novel, Richard Yates (yes, named after the famous author of Revolutionary Road). Several of his books have staff recommendations here, and we're really looking forward to this new one!
Photo of the author by Noah Kalina.
more info...
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Skylight's Blog:
BICYCLE LOVE!
| | Find us at www.skylightbooks.blogspot.com
Staffer Justin wrote a post on the new magazine import Boneshaker on our blog recently, celebrating the awesome English bike culture publication:
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
NEW: Boneshaker magazine
 Skylight Books is proud to announce that we now carry Boneshaker Magazine, a beautiful not-for-profit dedicated to "people and projects doing great things with bicycles".
As some of you may know, the staff here at the store have long been
dedicated to bike culture, even going so far as to call the city about
getting more bike racks out in front of the store for our customers and
our staff members alike. Los Angeles has a large and vibrant bike culture, and our neighborhood has a number of great bike shops: there's Bicycle Kitchen on Heliotrope; Echo Park Cycles on Echo Park Blvd.; and Orange 20 on Melrose.
Read the rest of this post to hear more, buy your copy of Boneshaker in the store (we're the only place in L.A. that has it), check on our blog regularly here, and join the discussion on Twitter by following skylightbooks! We're on Facebook as skylightbooks, too. |
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BOOK GROUPS:
THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL
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Time magazine recently made headlines in other corners of the media by declaring Jonathan Franzen the Great American Novelist on the eve of the release of his latest novel, Freedom (out now!). If our staffer Kevin has anything to say about it, you all will make Freedom your next read. But after that, you can satisfy your appetite for more with these other great American novels.
 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael ChabonA brilliant novel about comic books, immigrants, and the uneasy relationship this country has had with both. "I'm not sure what the exact definition of a 'great American novel' is, but I'm pretty sure that Michael Chabon's sprawling, idiosyncratic, and wrenching new book is one." -- New York Magazine
 Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Set in a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and
chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had
occurred elsewhere," this novel describes the coming of age of a pair of orphaned sisters in a lonely corner of the American West. "Brilliantly portrays the impermanence of all things, especially beauty and happiness." --Paul Gray, Time Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
This says it all: "Here is more than fine writing; here is what, added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely, and brilliantly alive. If more is needed to make a masterpiece in modern American fiction, I am sure I don't know what it is." --Tennessee Williams
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. |
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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)
 We 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. |
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Musician Danbert Nobacon (Chumbawama) and filmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid and Nancy) will discuss and sign their for-adults illustrated fairy tale book 3 Dead Princes!
"This is a beautiful book. The illustrations are wonderful. It definitely rocks! I ought to know." -Iggy Pop
Danbert Nobacon