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Skylight Books Newsletter

Los Angeles / January 2011                     www.skylightbooks.com
In This Issue - Events and News
Patton Oswalt
Skylight's Blog: Book Picks
Book Groups: Good Long Reads
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Skylight Around Town:
Join us for these offsite events!

These are just a few of the events where we'll be selling books this month:

Thursday, January 6 at 8:00 p.m.
Live Talks Los Angeles presents Anne Rice in conversation with Christopher Rice, discussing her new novel Of Love and Evil at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. Skylight friends and fans get 15% off ticket prices; use discount code "SKYLIGHT." First 50 people to get to get tickets here get them for free!
Click here to tickets/info.


Thursday, January 20, 6:45 p.m.
Los Feliz Library presents Glen Creason discussing Los Angeles in Maps, 1874 Hillhurst Blvd., (323) 913-4710.

Monday, January 24 at 8:30 p.m.
REDCAT presents Barbara Hammer, discussing her book HAMMER!: Making Movies out of Sex and Life
at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, 631 West 2nd Street, Downtown L.A. Click here for tickets/info.

Tuesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Zocalo Public Square presents Charles Rappleye, discussing his book Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution
at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd., in Mid-Wilshire. Click here for reservations/info.

Monday, January 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Writers Bloc presents Alice Hoffman in conversation with
Gail Eichenthal discussing Hoffman's novel The Red Garden at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets/info.


Skylight Books December 2010 Bestsellers

Store Bestsellers


1. Just Kids by Patti Smith
2. Life by Keith Richards

 3. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
4. Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
5. The Autobiography of Mark Twain
6.
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
7. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
8. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
9. What Was the Hipster? by N+1
10. Tinkers by Paul Harding
11. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

12. McSweeney's Issue #4 (reissue)
13. Simple Times by Amy Sedaris
14. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
15. Los Angeles in Maps by Glen Creason


Services
Shop Indie! Go to
IndieBound.org for some other indie bookstores and businesses

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
 ____________________

January Events at Skylight Books  
Steve's View from the Skylight
 Happy New Year! We made it! I hope you are starting your year out in the best way possible. I am starting the year with new prescription glasses! I can see clearly now the rain has gone! Skylight Books is starting the year by restocking our shelves after the wonderful gift-giving chaos of the holidays tore through our selection. Books really are great gifts, right? I mean, it's not just a sales slogan. Imagine if someone took you on a date and they brought you to a bookstore and said, "Go ahead...pick out whatever you want." Swoon! Using my psychic ability (and judging by our sales) I can tell many of you are reading Just Kids by Patti Smith or Life by Keith Richards or Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris and keeping your appointments in a 2011 Slingshot or Moleskine. Besides shelving a ton of recently received books Skylight Books is planning its upcoming year of events, including readings from Nina Revoyr and Jonathan Evison and a celebration for the new issue of the Los Angeles literary journal Slake. We are kicking it all off with our first event of the year: the brilliantly funny Patton Oswalt on January 18! Two thousand eleven is go!


As one year ends and another begins Skylight Books remembers some of our icons, heroes, and friends that did not make it to the new year. J.D. Salinger, David Markson, Harvey Pekar, Sid Fleischman, Leslie Scalapino, Howard Zinn, and Peter Orlovsky are among the long list of writers we will miss. It is comforting to know that on our bookshelves, in our hands, and on the tables by our bedside they will live on and continue to influence and inspire us. The power of their words and lives will nourish and seed a new crop of writers, readers, and allies of literature.


Steven Salardino, Managersteve drawing
[email protected]

(Connect with us through Facebook or Twitter so
we can bend your ear more than once a month!) 

Humor:

PATTON OSWALT

Tuesday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (Scribner)


Patton Oswalt

We're thrilled to announce that comedian Patton Oswalt will discuss and sign his brand-new and very funny book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland here at Skylight Books!


"Patton Oswalt is a brilliant rarity; a relentlessly creative and original comic who is also a superb writer. If you don't buy this book you are a fool and I will, I swear, fight you."
--Conan O'Brien


We're expecting a crowd for this event, so here are a few guidelines to keep things running smoothly:

  • This event is free and open to everyone
  • If you'd like to get something signed, you must buy a copy of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland at Skylight Books
  • When you buy your copy, be sure to get your signing line number, which will denote your place in the signing line. You must have a number to get into the signing line
  • Photos are OK, but for time reasons, photos in the signing line will be restricted to the lean-in (as opposed to the run-around-the-table-and-pose) variety.
As always, if you'd like to get a signed copy but can't make it to the event, just give us a call at (323) 660-1175 to buy your copy over the phone.  We'll get it signed for you!

Patton Oswalt has released three TV specials and three critically acclaimed comedy albums, including the Grammy-nominated My Weakness Is Strong. He put together the Comedians of Comedy tour and television series. Oswalt has also appeared on many television shows as a recurring character and in more than twenty films. He lives in Los Angeles.


more info...
PUZZLES AND DISCOUNTS! 
Both Coming in January!

What fun is a discount if you don't earn it? What good is a puzzle if you don't get anything for solving it? These questions have troubled humans for centuries, and we think we've come up with the answer.

Starting Monday, January 10, customers who spend more than $10 will receive a puzzle. Solve it correctly and bring it in for 30% off your next purchase!  Only the first 25 people to bring in correctly solved puzzles get the discount, because time pressure is known to make thinking more fun (see Jeopardy for this principle in action). So get your pencils ready, and get your thinking caps on!

Skylight's Blog:
BOOK PICKS
Find us at www.skylightbooks.blogspot.com

December's busy shopping season in large part kept us away from our computers, but Emily still managed to sneak off early in the month to write a great blog post on her favorites from 2010. Below is just her short intro; click here to see her picks!

Sunday, December 5, 2010
A Baker's Dozen of Emily's Favorites from 2010

One of my favorite things about this season is remembering all the great books that came out over the course of the year. Below, you'll find 12 new books and one classic you may have forgotten about. Wade through the drivel, and look at what gems you'll find! [...]

Check on our blog regularly here, and join the discussion on Twitter by following skylightbooks!  We're on Facebook as Skylight Books, too.
BOOK GROUPS:
GOOD LONG READS
 
January is a great month for reading. The holidays are over, it's too cold to want to spend all weekend outside, and books happen to go really well with things you want to do anyway, like drinking tea or hot chocolate and curling up on the couch under a blanket. With that in mind, here are three nice 'n' long novels -- all over 700 pages, to keep you and your book group occupied all month.

CloudsplitterCloudsplitter by Russell Banks
A highly acclaimed novel from this bestselling author, narrated by the son of the controversial Civil War figure John Brown. "It is surely his best novel, a furious, sprawling drama that commands attention like thunder heard from just over the horizon." --Time

Jonathan Strange and Mr NorrellJonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Often described as "Harry Potter for grown-ups," this tale of two magicians in the Napoleonic Wars was one of the most acclaimed debut novels of its year (2004). "Magnificent and original." --Salon.com

ShantaramShantaram by Gregory David Roberts
An epic novel set in Bombay, where the narrator's life mirrors some of the author's own biographical details (notably, escape from an Australian prison and life as a fugitive in India). "A novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art, a thing of exceptional beauty." --Pat Conroy

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 [email protected] now to find out how to register your book group! You can check out our registered book groups here.
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.