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Grass Roots Books and Music
— 227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis OR 97339 — 541-754-7668 |
| October 24, 2013 |
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Hello everybody,
How does your cooking evolve when the months grow colder? We’ve selected some titles that suit fall well and displayed them in front of the register: now’s the time to cook roots, make soup, bread, and sausage, as well as beer! In addition, there are some fun new toys and games: Tenzi, the crazy party dice game for kids, and new brain teaser puzzles like Marco Polo’s Labyrinth. Once again, don’t forget to vote for us for Top of the Valley before Sunday! Read about it under “News.” Hopefully you and yours are staying warm (or not sweating too much,) and enjoying the fantastic color changes outdoors.
Maddy |
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| Newest Books |
Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems
Billy Collins
“Collins. . . watches himself with helpless bemusement as he lives a life of continual self-expression, / jotting down little things. Obsessive noticing gets him into all sorts of trouble. . . in Aimless Love, the poem that gives this vital and shrewdly provocative volume its title. . . the speaker records his sequential ardor for a wren, a mouse, and a bar of soap. In selections from his four most recent collections, from Nine Horses (2002) to Horoscopes for the Dead (2011), and 51 glimmering new poems, former poet laureate and reader favorite Collins. . . celebrates the resonance and absurdity of what might be called the poet's attention-surfeit disorder.” –Booklist
Hardcover, $26.00
Publisher: Random House; ISBN: 9780679644057 |
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Sycamore Row
John Grisham
Twenty-five years after A Time to Kill put John Grisham on the map, the master storyteller returns to Clanton, Mississippi. Set three years after the first novel, a man dying of lung cancer hangs himself, leaving almost his entire fortune to his African-American maid. His adult children would prefer to think that the chemotherapy and painkillers affected his decision-making capabilities. An ugly, controversial trial begins – and once again, Jake Brigance finds himself ensconced.
"Grisham is a marvelous storyteller who works readers the way a good trial lawyer works a jury." —Philadelphia Inquirer
Hardcover, $28.95
Publisher: Doubleday Books; ISBN: 9780385537131 |
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The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
“An explosion at the Metropolitan Museum. . . kills narrator Theo Decker's beloved mother and results in his unlikely possession of a Dutch masterwork called The Goldfinch. Shootouts, gangsters, pillowcases, storage lockers, and the black market for art all play parts in the ensuing life of the painting. . . Tartt's flair for suspense, on display in The Secret History (2005), features the pulp of a typical bildungsroman Theo's dissolution into teenage delinquency and climb back out, his passionate friendship with the very funny Boris, his obsession with Pippa (a girl he first encounters minutes before the explosion) but the painting is the novel's secret heart.” –Publishers Weekly
Hardcover, $30.00
Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316055437 |
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Spirit of Steamboat: A Walt Longmire Story
Craig Johnson
“The day before Christmas finds Sheriff Walt Longmire of Absaroka County, Wyo., at loose ends, until a ghost from the past brings back long-forgotten memories. Johnson's Walt Longmire mysteries are the basis for an A&E drama series. When a young woman walks into Walt's office and asks about his predecessor, Walt can't recall meeting her. But he's willing to take her out to the assisted living facility where irascible former sheriff Lucian Connally is well into a bottle of bourbon. Lucian claims not to remember her either until she says "Steamboat," a word that instantly transports them all back to the same day in 1988.” –Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
Hardcover, $20.00
Publisher: Viking Books; ISBN: 9780670015788 |
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The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting
Alan Greenspan
“Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Greenspan (The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, 2007, etc.) lightens up on free market orthodoxies to ponder the fact that people do not always behave, economically, as we wish them to —and neither do markets. The author has long espoused a kind of laissez faire-ism that assumes that markets are self-adjusting and guided by the enlightened self-interest of individuals. . . [Greenspan] asserts that, since we know of our irrationality as players in the economic game, we should be able to build this flaw into our economic forecasting models and predict future crashes.” –Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover, $36.00
Publisher: Penguin Press; ISBN: 9781594204814 |
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| New in Paperback |
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House of Earth
Woody Guthrie
“Radical American folk singer Guthrie, gone 45 years now, turns in an accomplished. . . piece of fiction. Edited. . . by prolific historian Douglas Brinkley and movie star and boho-lit fixture Johnny Depp, Guthrie's foray into prose (not his first: his 1943 Bound for Glory remains an iconic autobiography) is set on the Texas plains in the howling, unsettled Dust Bowl era. The new civilization of banks, deeds and lawyers is represented by wood, which is scarce out in that wind-blasted, dry country; adobe, sun-dried mud brick is the virtuous stuff of the people, themselves wind-blasted and creaky with aridity but stiff-necked and disinclined to bow down.” –Kirkus Reviews
Paperback, $15.99
Publisher: Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780062248404 |
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Astray
Emma Donoghue
“A woman in 1901 New York who discovers that her reputed father was actually a female in disguise. Two aging sculptors in 1968 Ontario, women before their time, reliving their glory days. A brother in 1854 London convincing the sister who's sold her body to support him to sell her story instead so that they can emigrate. A horrific instance of rape during the American Revolution. A mistress in 1864 Texas conniving to run away with her slave. These are among the stories in the new collection from Man Booker finalist Donoghue (Room), each inspired by a news account or letter and each a little gem.” –Library Journal
Paperback, $15.00
Publisher: Back Bay Books; ISBN: 9780316206280 |
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Custer
Larry McMurtry
“Pulitzer Prize winner McMurtry continues to be an outstanding chronicler of western legend and lore. He has retained a long fascination with the myths surrounding General Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn. . . McMurtry offers a series of vignettes and musings about various aspects of Custer's career, his personality, and the cultural milieu that led to his iconic status.” –Booklist
“Complete with an astonishing variety of photographs and artistic renderings. . . . The reader is in good hands; it’s as if McMurtry invited a customer to the back of his Texas bookstore to spend an afternoon going through his collection.” —Timothy Egan, The New York Times Book Review
Paperback, $20.00
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 9781451626216 |
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| Featured Books for Young Readers |
The Twistrose Key
Tone Almhjell
Ages 8 to 12
"Tonight, young Rosenquist. . . you will find that some games are real." These portentous words, spoken early in Almhjell's fantasy debut, launch 11-year-old Lin Rosenquist on a whirlwind, somewhat byzantine hero's journey. Summoned from her Norwegian home by a mysterious key, Lin lands in Sylver, a wintry afterlife populated by anthropomorphized animals. Among the denizens . . . is Lin's beloved vole, Rufus. Their joyful reunion . . . anchor the pair's quest for Isvan, the missing boy who can restore magic to the land. . . An avuncular hamster-chef; a sinister, condescending mad scientist owl help and hinder as Lin and Rufus decipher prophecies, battle trolls, and navigate Almhjell's meticulously built world.” –Publishers Weekly
Hardcover, $16.99
Publisher: Dial Books; ISBN: 9780803738959 |
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Allegiant (Divergent Trilogy)
Veronica Roth
Young Adult
Tris Prior escapes the fence of her violent, faction-based society with Tobias, hoping to find a new life together free from convoluted lies and betrayal. But the dystopian world they find themselves in is far more alarming, as well as the unexpected choices they’re forced to make. Finally all the secrets are revealed in the captivating finale to the trilogy that began with Divergent and Insurgent.
"If you like Hunger Games & Twilight, then get stoked for Divergent!. . . If you choose to remain factionless, then you're gonna be one lonely soul."—PerezHilton.com
Hardcover, $19.99
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; ISBN: 9780062024060 |
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| Music |
Andrea Bocelli
Love in Portofino
Genre: Classical
As seen on PBS, the beloved tenor presents a concert recorded in Portofino, Italy. Setting classical music aside for this project, Bocelli interprets love songs from around the world.
($13.95) |
Brett Dennen
Smoke and Mirrors
Genre: Pop/Folk
The contemporary folk songwriter took his time in writing and recording music for his new album. In his distinct, reedy vocals, Dennen divides his attention between the natural world and the politics of personal relations. Smoke and Mirrors has been featured on NPR.
($13.95) |
James Keelaghan
History: The First 25 Years
Genre: Pop/Folk
One of Corvallis' favorite contemporary folk singer-songwriters, Keelaghan present his favorite tunes from a quarter century. In addition to the songs, History features a booklet and a DVD of Keelaghan explaining the stories behind each tune.
($16.95) |
Robin & Linda Williams
Back 40
Genre: Pop/Folk
The popular Virginia folk/grass duo celebrates four decades of performing together. Back 40 features new treatments of songs from early in their career, as well as a brand new tune.
($17.95) |
Wynton Marsalis
Spiritual Side of Wynton Marsalis
Genre: Jazz
Best known for his contributions to traditional jazz music, the trumpet maestro addresses his connections to spiritual and gospel music.
($11.95) |
Anoushka Shankar
Traces of You
Genre: World
"Anoushka Shankar began playing sitar with her famous father, the late Ravi Shankar, when she was 4. But until recently, she'd never entered a studio with her other famous relative, half-sister Norah Jones. When the two met up in New York recently to work on a new song together, a spooky thing happened: Working off Shankar's lyrics, Jones devised a tune that sounded remarkably similar to one their father had written in 1955 for the acclaimed Bengali film Pather Panchali." –NPR.org ($18.95) |
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| Events |
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Event Cancellation
Ann Staley’s Thursday, Oct. 24 reading at Grass Roots Books & Music has been cancelled due to a publishing delay. The event will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
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Monday, Oct. 28 at Noon
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis |
Author Signing
Marilyn Morton
Haunted Independence, Oregon
Marilyn Morton, founder and chair of the annual Ghost Walk in Independence, joins us at Grass Roots to meet readers and sign copies of her new book, Haunted Independence, Oregon.
In her book, Morton introduces the spirits of Independence, OR, who whisper to passersby and tickle the spines of the curious. A young woman who threw herself from a window upon learning of her lover's death. . . Patients who underwent crude surgeries a century past and whose quiet moans linger on. . . A mysterious skeleton uncovered by a local business owner in the shadowy recesses of an attic. . . A doll that inexplicably relocates to different parts of the local museum at night. . . Mischievous or downright chilling, the ghosts of Independence offer a doorway to the city's colorful past. |
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Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis |
Author Reading
Bob Welch
The Keyboard Kitten: An Oregon Children’s Story
Grass Roots Books & Music is delighted to host Oregon author Bob Welch, in celebration of his first children’s book, The Keyboard Kitten: An Oregon Children’s Story. During this event geared for all ages, he will read from and discuss his new book, a whimsical story about a little girl kitten called Comma, who is much more than a pet.
Bob Welch, who heads Pebble in the Water Inspiration, is a speaker, author, award-winning columnist and teacher who has served as an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Articles of Welch’s have been published in more than a dozen books, including seven in the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series. In addition, he has had articles published in such magazines as Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated and Runner’s World.
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Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis |
Author Event
Morris Walker
The Lives of Carl Atman
Morris Walker joins us at Grass Roots to discuss The Lives of Carl Atman, his inspiring book about the lasting and animating force of love that transcends the boundaries of time. An author with a long history of writing short stories, essays, articles, songs, poems, countless scripts and comedy routines, Walker has always been keenly sensitive to the cycles of life, whether in the mineral, plant, or animal kingdom. With a song in his heart practically from birth, many of his lyrics have reflected an unconscious knowing about cycles of birth and death. Walker’s belief in soul mates becomes obvious in one of the book’s themes—why we’re here and the meaning and purpose of life.
Walker writes: “We continue to make the same mistakes until we get the life lesson right in this lifetime or the next. In the end, my life won’t have been about how much money I made or how famous I became as a result of writing books and music or entertaining. Rather, I hope it will be about the love and compassion I gave to my family and to others.” Through numerous lifetimes, Walker artfully crafts an interesting story that allows Carl Atman to learn this lesson, too.
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Thursday, Nov 14 at 7 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis |
Poetry Reading
Nazifa Islam
Searching for a Pulse
Grass Roots Books & Music will be hosting Nazifa Islam for a reading from her debut poetry collection, Searching for a Pulse, focused on the story of Rosemary, who wants to love and to be loved but finds it tragically impossible. Nazifa Islam grew up in Novi, Michigan, earned her B.A. in English from the University of Michigan, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Oregon State University.
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| Community Events |
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Community Events
Darkside Cinema: Movies showing Oct. 25 to 31, showtimes daily, Darkside Cinema, Corvallis. Visit their website for showtimes.
- WADJDA—PG (Subtitled Arabic): An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest. 99% on Rotten Tomatoes!
- INEQUALITY FOR ALL –PG: A documentary that follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap.
- Plays this week with the short THE VIGIL, by Molly Woodstock Gard, about the peace vigil activists in front of the Benton County Courthouse.
- IN A WORLD –R: “Savvy, screwball, feminist comedy gem.”
Literary Events: Visit our Community Calendar for details on these events and others in the area.
Opportunities:
- Autumn Campus Creature Ramble: A Walking Workshop for Photography and Creative Writing: Sunday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m. to Noon.
Celebrate the distinctive flora, fauna and landscapes of autumn with a slow Sunday morning stroll through the OSU campus.
Free. Open to the first 12 people to register (the workshop can accommodate participants with disabilities). TO REGISTER: e-mail: carly.lettero@oregonstate.edu. Meeting location and other info will be sent upon registration
- Writers on the River: Monday, Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Corvallis
Kate Ristau will offer the presentation “Putting Away the Red Pen: Editing With Purpose”.
- Call for Submissions:
The Bard Deluxe Awards presented by The Bear Deluxe Magazine
Attn: Emerging Oregon poets focused on a “sense of place”.
Deadline: Jan. 13 (email or postmark. Visit www.orlo.org for complete submission guidelines and further details.
Ticket Sales: Grass Roots sells tickets for local music events. Check our Community Calendar for upcoming events that we have available.
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Friday, Oct. 25
Music at 6:30,
Reading at 7 p.m.
Whiteside Theater
361 SW Madison Ave., Corvallis |
The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger
The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger rolls again this year to raise funds for the Linn Benton Food Share. The liveliest literary event of the year features a dazzling lineup, led by this year’s emcee, National Book Award winner Barry Lopez. This year’s readers are Robert Crum, Matthew Dickman, Henry Hughes, Lauren Kessler, Wendy Madar, Elena Passarello, Gina Ochsner, Susan Jackson Rodgers, and Joe Wilkins. Blues musicians Dave Plaehn and Jeff Hino will perform starting at 6:30 p.m., and again during intermission and after the event. The readings will start a 7 p.m.
For the second year in a row, The Magic Barrel will be held in the historic Whiteside Theatre, a 1920s Italian Renaissance movie palace in downtown Corvallis under restoration. A reception will feature free hors d’oeuvres and sweets as well as wine from Miracle Winery. There will be a silent auction of a beautiful intaglio print donated by award-winning artist and OSU professor Yuji Hiratsuka, entitled Fruit Handlers. Authors will greet listeners and sign books, which will be available for purchase from Grass Roots Books and Music.
Admission is a suggested donation of $9 at the door, but listeners are encouraged to give what they can. Nobody is turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds will go to Linn Benton Food Share to fight hunger in the Corvallis-Albany community. Last year’s event raised more than $5,000 for the food bank.
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Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Valley Library at OSU
Corvallis |
The Literary Northwest Series Presents
Charles Goodrich and Mary Szybist
The Literary Northwest Series will host authors Charles Goodrich and Mary Szybist at OSU. Grass Roots Books & Music will sell their books at this event.
Charles Goodrich is the author of three volumes of poems, Going to Seed: Dispatches from the Garden, Insects of South Corvallis, and, just out from Silverfish Review Press, A Scripture of Crows, and a collection of essays about nature, parenting, and building their house, The Practice of Home. He now serves as Director for the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State, a program that hosts writers' residencies, literary readings, and symposia at the intersection of literature, environmental science, and ethics.
Mary Szybist is Assistant Professor of English at Lewis & Clark College, and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of Granted (2003), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Incarnadine, a finalist for the National Book Award, published by Graywolf Press in 2013. The latter collection was just shortlisted for the 2013 National Book Award in Poetry. She was one of two recipients of the 2009 Witter Bynner Award, selected by Poet Laureate Kay Ryan for the Library of Congress.
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| News |
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Top of the Valley Readers Choice
Vote for Grass Roots to win the Top of the Valley Readers Choice Award! The 2013 Top of the Valley awards are sponsored by the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald. People can vote for the top three in each of 76 subcategories—within Top Bites, Top Shops, Top Nightlife, Top Places or Top Honors—between Oct. 11 and Oct. 27. Voting starts Friday; don't forget to shout out for your favorite places. Winners will be announced on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28. Let everyone know about your favorite bookstore by voting for Grass Roots Books & Music! WARNING: Voting can be a somewhat tricky process. Please use these instructions: Click this link. Scroll to the top right to register. Once you have registered (you can even use your Facebook account to log in,) you will need to verify a captcha for each category you vote for. Make sure you put spaces between the two “words” in the captcha. Hint: We’re in the categories Best Books/Periodicals and Best Downtown Business!!!
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New in Gifts & Stationary
Brain-Teaser Puzzles:
Like Rubik’s Cubes? Love to puzzle your brain and play at the same time? We’ve got a host of brand new mind-bending puzzles in, from the Pyraminx to the Bamboozlers Mini-Knot.
New Taku Graphics Cards:
Take a look at our brand new collection of cards from Taku Graphics. With bold, Northwest outdoor images, including work from Alaskan indigenous artists, Taku Graphics has the perfect cards for your favorite outdoor enthusiast.
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World Book Night 2014
World Book Night Registration: World Book Night (WBN) spreads the love of reading, person to person. Each year 30 titles are chosen, the authors waive their royalties, and the publishers produce special WBN editions of the books to be donated. This means you get 20 FREE paperback copies of your chosen WBN title to handout to light- or non-readers in your community on April 23, 2014. Applications to become a WBN Book Giver open today, October 24, and can be filled out online at the WBN website. Deadline to apply is December 31st, 2013. |
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| This Week's Puzzle |
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| Reading Group Selection |
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
The Orchardist
Amanda Coplin
Tiffany leads the exploration of this month’s book, The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin.
A reclusive farmer’s lonely harmony in the rural Pacific Northwest is disrupted when two pregnant teenage girls steal his fruit at the market. When he doesn’t give chase, they appear at his farm seeking sanctuary from the armed men who hunt them. The man is forced to spontaneously open his heart and jeopardize his own sheltered safety in this debut novel about turn-of-the-century America.
"Beautifully written, so alive to the magnificence of the land and the intricate mysteries of human nature, that it inspires awe rather than depression." —Kirkus Reviews Starred Review
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Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN: 9780062188519
Paperback
Regular price: $15.99
On sale for $13.60 until Nov. 5.
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On Our Nightstands |
 Kendall
Egghead: Or, You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone
Bo Burnham
It has finally happened: Bo Burnham put out a book of poetry. If you've been a fan of him since his start, like I have, you have to be overjoyed. If this is your first exposure, you're welcome. The brilliant comedian has always had the perfect balance of dark humor and good ol' fart joke comedy, and it's no different in his book. But if you're setting it down because you're unsure about comedic poetry — don't. It is also heartbreaking at times, filled with truths too easy to ignore. And the artwork is phenomenal.
Hardcover, $22.00
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; ISBN: 9781455519149 |
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Erika
I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love
Nancy Tillman
I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love would be a great bedtime story for a young child. It is a reassuring tale of how parents will always know their child no matter what form they are in. What makes a person different and distinctive is what makes them their own unique self. The rhyme was pleasant along with the illustrations. Her attention to detail in the images, like the little twinkles on things, adds that extra touch of magic for the viewer. I thought it was neat that the author is from Portland too. A great read to guide your little one into dream land.
Hardcover, $17.99
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; ISBN: 9780312553685 |
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Maddy
Longbourn
Jo Baker
Jane Austen gave us many portraits of fictional Edwardian lives of the privileged class. Jo Baker now retells Pride and Prejudice from the viewpoint of the servants of Longbourn. Sarah is a housemaid whose hands are already toughened from a life of servitude, when a new young footman arrives – surprising in a time of war – with life circumstances far more difficult than her own. Even more surprising, his uninterested manner is unexpected from someone she reckoned to be searching for a spouse, like she is. . .
Hardcover, $25.95
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780385351232 |
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Tiffany
The Orchardist
Amanda Coplin
I chose The Orchardist for our November Book Group because I wanted a lush historical novel to sink into with autumn’s arrival. Amanda Coplin’s debut chronicles the life of a Washington apple farmer who opens his home and his heart to two teenage girls escaping abuse. Like the peeling of an apple, the story unfolds. Crystalline prose paints the landscape of the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the nineteenth century; spare yet sensitive writing balances emotion with gritty action. A book that lingers with the reader long after the covers are closed.
Paperback, $15.99
Publisher: Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780062188519 |
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| Grass Roots Online — Contact Us |
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