Grass Roots Books and Music — 227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis OR 97339 — 541-754-7668
November 14, 2013
Contents
Newest Books
New in Paperback
Featured Books for Young Readers
Music
Events
News
This Week's Puzzle
Reading Group Selection
On Our Nightstands
Grass Roots Online — Contact Us
 

2013 PNBA Holiday Catalog

Check your Corvallis Gazette-Times on Friday: The 2013 Holiday Catalog is now available! Featuring some of the best titles in all categories this holiday season, it�s a great tool to start planning your shopping list. . . and maybe a wish list for yourself as well. Don�t forget to bring your catalog in the store with you�a special coupon is included on the back page. (I-Card members receive a greater discount!) If you want to preview the catalog from home, you can see it online via the Grass Roots website.

 

Newest Books

Hild

Nicola Griffith

�Griffith explores the young life of Hild, the future St. Hilda of Whitby. Set in seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England, during the early years of Christianity there, the novel begins with the sudden death of Hild's father, Lord Hereric. To secure the futures of her daughters, Hild's ruthless and cunning mother embarks on a plan to hook their fate to the coattails of Edwin Snakebeard, Lord Hereric's ambitious brother and king-to-be. Soon, Hild becomes Edwin's trusted seer, and as the novel progresses, she attempts to stay in his favor, treading carefully among the large egos of the court . . . While fierce battles and political intrigue feature prominently, so do the fascinating details of everyday life, particularly the lives of women.� �Booklist Starred Review

Hardcover, $27.00

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; ISBN: 9780374280871

The First Phone Call from Heaven

Mitch Albom

�A series of tragic circumstances land widower Sully Harding back in his hometown of Coldwater, MI, just months before the mysterious phone calls start occurring. The calls, from deceased family members or acquaintances, are made to a few select members of this small community . . . When a small news station picks up the story, it isn't long before it goes viral and the sleepy little town is overrun by extreme believers and vitriolic protesters, all demanding proof. Even Sully's young son, Jules, believes his mother will contact him from heaven. But Sully's skepticism prods him to investigate either to uncover a hoax or believe in a miracle.� �Library Journal

Hardcover, $24.99

Publisher: Harper; ISBN: 9780062294371

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A Prayer Journal

Flannery O'Connor

�At age 20, Catholic writer O'Connor moved from Georgia to Iowa City to enroll in graduate school. While in Iowa, she created . . . a 'prayer journal:' heartfelt odes to God, scribbled in a black-and-white composition notebook. At the outset of the journal, O'Connor makes clear that she has not abandoned the 'traditional prayers' of the church; she simply wants to supplement them with prayers she feels more deeply... [Editor] Sessions suggests that although the prayers appear 'spontaneous,' they were in fact astutely crafted and reveal a masterful writer at work. Both O'Connor devotees and students of the life of Christian prayer will find this slender volume, which contains a facsimile reproduction of the journal, only recently discovered, a wonderful addition to their library.� �Publishers Weekly

Hardcover, $18.00

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; ISBN: 9780374236915

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The Crash of 2016: The Plot to Destroy America�And What We Can Do to Stop It

Thom Hartmann

�Progressive talk show host Hartmann (Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People"�and How You Can Fight Back) argues that the financial crash of 2008 was just a precursor for the larger-scale disruptions to come in 2016. The author situates his prognosis for the years ahead within a view of the history of the republic in which democracy is pitted against what he calls, borrowing from Franklin Roosevelt, 'Economic Royalists'. . . . The author also provides an intriguing account of the Supreme Court's deliberations on the status of corporations under the Constitution to demonstrate how hard-fought this battle has been. The conceptual driver is Hartmann's controversial thesis that U.S. history is an approximate 80-year political cycle occasioned by successor generations repeatedly forgetting what their predecessors previously knew and took for granted.� �Kirkus Reviews

Hardcover, $28.00

Publisher: Twelve; ISBN: 9780446584838

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Stella Bain

Anita Shreve

�In the midst of World War I, a woman finds herself lost and alone in London with no idea of who she is or how she got there. After being taken in by a kind, wealthy couple, Lily Bridge and her doctor husband, August, slowly a few memories return to her. Her name is Stella Bain, and she needs to go to a military location called The Admiralty to find the person who has the key to unlock the rest of her memories... As usual, her plotlines and domestic drama do not disappoint. The masses of Shreve fans will line up for this one, as will some Downton Abbey enthusiasts.� �Library Journal

Hardcover, $28.00

Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316098861

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New in Paperback

How Music Works

David Byrne

�From the former Talking Heads frontman, a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life. Drawing on a lifetime of music-making as an amateur, professional, performer, producer, band member and solo artist, Byrne tackles the question implicit in his title from multiple angles: How does music work on the ear, brain and body? How do words relate to music in a song? How does live performance relate to recorded performance? What effect has technology had on music, and music on technology? . . . Always an intensely thoughtful experimenter, here he lets us in on the thinking behind the experiments.� �Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

Paperback, $20.00

Publisher: McSweeney's Books; ISBN:9781938073533

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The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

Daniel Mendelsohn

�The Lost begins as the story of a boy who grew up in a family haunted by the disappearance of six relatives during the Holocaust�an unmentionable subject that gripped his imagination from earliest childhood. Decades later, spurred by the discovery of a cache of desperate letters written to his grandfather in 1939 and tantalized by fragmentary tales of a terrible betrayal, Daniel Mendelsohn sets out to find the remaining eyewitnesses to his relatives' fates. That quest eventually takes him to a dozen countries on four continents, and forces him to confront the wrenching discrepancies between the histories we live and the stories we tell.� �Indiebound

Paperback, $16.99

Publisher: Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780062277770

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Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds

Jim Sterba

�Sterba tells the story of. . . how we turned a wildlife comeback miracle into a mess. The eastern third of the U.S. hosts the majority of Americans and is also the home of a burgeoning population of animals that have adjusted to life near and among humans. This sharing of the landscape has been fueled by three factors: the vast regrowth of forests as farms were abandoned during the Industrial Revolution, the return of decimated and now protected wildlife to the land, and the exurban sprawl created when people moved out of the cities and deeper into the countryside.� �Booklist Starred Review

Paperback, $14.95

Publisher: Broadway Books; ISBN: 9780307341976

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The Conference of the Birds

Peter Sis

�Peter Sis is a stylistic illustrator whose detailed drawings have rendered both the fantasies of children's stories and adult yearnings for freedom. In The Conference of the Birds, the three-time Caldecott Honor Award winner takes inspiration from a 13th-century fable by Persian poet Farid Ud-Din Attar to create a visual feast of color and Escher-like images on textured paper.� �Shelf Awareness
�Led by a hoopoe, a band of birds flies through the valleys of quest, love, understanding, friendship, unity, amazement, and death in search of the true king, Simorgh. What they find is even more remarkable.� �Library Journal

Paperback, $18.00

Publisher: Penguin Books; ISBN: 9780143124245


Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday!: More Magical Tales from the Bestselling Author of God, No!

Penn Jillette

�Jillette (God, No!, 2011. . . ) nails holidays with sarcasm and sensibility. When the author's opening chapter skewers the Christmas classic "Joy to the World" as a schlocky, joyless yuletide anthem, readers will recognize who and what they're reading. What follows are chapters of mixed-focus essays; some are rambling, some are supremely anecdotal, and others acerbically mock Christian beliefs and steamroll religious politicians. Jillette allows readers a glimpse into his personal life with side chapters on a Houdini-influenced upbringing in Massachusetts, a quirky bath-taking obsession in his 20s, [and] the rise of Penn & Teller from high school buddies to internationally popular stage magicians, . . . Additionally, there's insider commentary of his time on The Celebrity Apprentice (�junior high with a better brand of acne cover up.�)� �Kirkus Reviews

Paperback, $16.00

Publisher: Plume Books; ISBN: 9780142180273

 
Featured Books for Young Readers

Cool Creations in 35 Pieces

Sean Kenney

Sean Kenney, LEGO sculpture artist and author of similar books such as Cool Cars and Trucks, Cool Robots, Cool City, Cool Castles, and Amazing ABC. Here he uses the same 35 pieces to make a variety of sculptures.
"Children who love cars, trucks, and LEGO blocks will find plenty to enjoy in this colorful book. . . . This visually engaging book will attract little ones interested mainly in looking at cars and trucks, as well as older kids, who may actually follow the directions and build some of the projects."�Booklist

Hardcover, $12.99

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company; ISBN: 9780805096927

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars

Katherine Marsh

�Do the stars determine our fate, or do we shape our own destiny by the choices we make? Jepp leaves the inn in Astraveld where he was raised and protected by his single mother only to find himself captive at the royal court of the Infanta, where he is subject to daily humiliation as a court dwarf. After an attempted escape, he is exiled to an island ruled by an eccentric astronomer who treats him like a dog. Through his own cleverness and loyalty, Jepp creates a place for himself among the scholars there, finding love as well.� �VOYA

Hardcover, $9.99

Publisher: Disney Press; ISBN: 9781423137863

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Music

Blue Rodeo

In Our Nature

Genre: Pop/Folk

Canada's foremost Americana act has been playing together for three decades. Their 13th studio recording promises not to disappoint fans loyal to their low-key country rock. ($13.95)

John Hiatt

Here To Stay: Best of 2000-2012

Genre: Pop/Folk

Hiatt had already been on the scene for a couple of decades by the time 2000's Crossing Muddy Waters was issued. This collection brings together highlights from this especially fruitful part of his career. ($16.95)

Original Soundtrack

Inside Llewyn Davis

Genre: Pop/Folk

The team that brought us Oh Brother Where Art Thou has returned for the soundtrack to this picture loosely based on the early career of folksinger Dave Van Ronk. Contributors to this record include Marcus Mumford, T-Bone Burnett, Chris Thile and more. ($18.95)

Mason Jennings

Always Been

Genre: Pop/Folk

The always productive Jennings has released several albums combining Jack Johnson-esque pop-light with contemporary folk. With Bo Ramsey at the helm, Jennings' new album is a more rootsy affair, backed by Iris DeMent, The Pines, Pieta Brown and more. ($12.95)

Casey Neill & the Norway Rats

All You Pretty Vandals

Genre: Pop/Folk

Portland's Celtic rock bard Casey Neill has been a popular Northwest presence for years. This new collection finds him teaming with a couple Decemberists on a record that adds junkyard percussion and an overall edgier sound to the mix. ($15.95)

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Various Artists

Rockin Here Tonight: Songs for Slim

Genre: Pop/Folk

A couple years ago, the career of former Replacement Slim Dunlap was ended with a stroke. This album finds friends and band mates coming together to raise money for his continuing treatment, covering Dunlap's songs in their own style. ($14.95)

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Trampled By Turtles

Live At First Avenue

Genre: Pop/Folk

This live CD/DVD set follows the speed-grass band as they return to Minneapolis for their homecoming concert. Played on traditional bluegrass instruments, the Turtles add a contemporary attitude and swagger. ($15.95)

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Raffi

Fun Food Songs

Genre: Kids

Kids of all ages delight in Raffi�s lyrics about everything from apples and bananas to coconuts. Fun Food Songs offers parents and children a collection of lively and entertaining tunes to sing along with while sharing those special mealtime �and anytime � moments together. � Richmond Family Magazine ($11.95)

 
Community Events

Community Events

Darkside Cinema: Movies showing Nov. 15 to 21, showtimes daily, Darkside Cinema, Corvallis. Visit their website for showtimes.

WALKING THE CAMINO: SIX WAYS TO SANTIAGO �NR: The documentary follows six strangers from incredibly diverse walks of life as they attempt The Camino de Santiago on foot with only a backpack, a pair of boots, and an open mind.

MUSCLE SHOALS �PG: A documentary that celebrates Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the signature sound he developed in songs such as "I'll Take You There", "Brown Sugar", and "When a Man Loves a Woman".

ENOUGH SAID �PG-13: James Gandolfini, Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Literary Events: Visit our Community Calendar for details on these events and others in the area.

Opportunities:

  • Writers on the Edge: Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:00 p.m. Newport Visual Arts Center 777 NW Beach Drive, Newport. Nye Beach Writers Series presents An Evening With Charles Finn. Charles Finn is the editor of High Desert Journal and author of Wild Delicate Seconds: 29 Wildlife Encounters(OSU Press 2012). His essays and poetry have appeared in a wide variety of journals, anthologies, newspapers and consumer magazines, including The Sun, Northern Lights, Wild Earth, Silk Road, Open Spaces, High Country News, Writers on the Range, Big Sky Journal, Montana Quarterly, Montana Magazine and many others. The Writers� Series open mic will take place following intermission.
  • 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�. Bring a current draft of your writing, or use a sample draft for an interactive editing workshop. Dialogue, exposition and description will be looked at specifically to help you know when to edit, and when to leave it be!
  • 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)
    Not a famous poet yet? You can be declared a Bard Deluxe by submitting up to 3 unpublished, place-based poems to The Bear Deluxe Magazine ([email protected] or 810 SE Belmont Studio 5, Portland OR 97214). To enter this free contest, judged by Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen, you must be a current or former Oregonian. Winners will receive publication, reach our 44,000 readers and be invited to perform their work. 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.

 
News

Book Awards

Shelf Awareness has placed The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness on its Maximum Shelf for the month of November.

�Known primarily for his children's books (e.g., Monsters of Men and A Monster Calls, both winners of the Carnegie Medal, awarded by British librarians), American-born Londoner Ness offers an adult novel based on a Japanese folktale. One night in London, divorced, lonely George Duncan rushes to the backyard upon hearing a terrible wailing and finds a huge white crane, its wing stuck through with an arrow he removes before the bird flies away. Then the beautiful but reticent Kumiko comes to his small print shop, asking for help with her artwork. Rave reviews worldwide.� �Library Journal Prepub Alert

The Crane Wife arrives in stores on January 23, 2014 and is available for preorder.

New in the Store: Magazines! Check out the great brand new titles below.

Artful Blogging ��Readers can become a part of the growing blogging trend with Artful Blogging. This digital gallery features the most visually captivating online journals across the Internet to stir imaginations of the newest or most experienced blogger.� �Ingram Periodicals

Clean Eating � �At the soul of Clean Eating is the idea of consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible. It is not a diet; it�s a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to an improved life one meal at a time. Each issue includes pages of clean recipes, easy-to-understand detailed menu plans, food charts, product analysis, and tips on cleaning up one�s diet and getting slim.� �Ingram Periodicals

Hedgehog � �This magazine addresses one concern of contemporary culture through essays, interviews, image galleria, book reviews, and an annotated bibliography.� �Ingram Periodicals

Landscape Architecture Magazine � �Founded in 1910, Landscape Architecture Magazine . . . is the monthly magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects. It is the . . . record for the landscape architecture profession in North America, reaching more than 60,000 readers who plan and design projects valued at over $140 billion each year.� �Landscapearchitecturemagazine.org

Strand Magazine � �America�s leading mystery magazine includes interviews with notables and has also published fiction by Ray Bradbury, Colin Dexter, and Alexander McCall Smith.� �Ingram Periodicals

Zoobooks � �The everything-anyone-wanted-to-know children�s resource for animals delves into anatomy, habitat, socialization, and reproduction all on a single animal or animal group in a vibrant, easy-to-understand way.� �Ingram Periodicals

Zootles � �Bursting with award-winning photography, illustrations, and stories, plus pull-out fun pages with games, puzzles, and crafts, Zootles champions concepts and activities that promote school readiness.� �Ingram Periodicals

 

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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 January 5th, 2013.


 
This Week's Puzzle



Solve this week's jigsaw.
 
Reading Group Selection

Tuesday, Dec, 3 at 6:30 p.m.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Ransom Riggs

Maddy leads her first book group.

Riggs� novel hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and stayed on the chart for over 52 weeks consecutively.

�Jacob and his father travel from their home in Florida to Cairnholm Island off the coast of Wales, which, during the war, housed Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. . . Nearly 50 unsettling vintage photographs appear throughout, forming the framework of this dark but empowering tale, as Riggs creates supernatural backstories and identities for those pictured in them (a boy crawling with bees, a girl with untamed hair carrying a chicken). It's an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.� �Publishers Weekly

Publisher: Quirk Books

ISBN: 9781594746031

Paperback

Regular price: $10.99

On sale for $9.35 until Dec 3.

 

 

On Our Nightstands

Adam

1Q84

Haruki Murakami

If you haven�t yet tackled Haruki Murakami�s 1100 page 1Q84, but are curious what made him a favorite for this past year�s Nobel Prize, the story collection The Elephant Vanishes is an excellent introduction to his work. In fact the first story eventually became Murakami�s master work The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Murakami�s work often contains surreal elements, but it is always in the name of exploring universal experiences like isolation, desire, and the quest for meaningful existence. The ideas and images in these stories may challenge your sense of reality, but they will stick with you long after you have closed the book.

Paperback, $16.95

Publisher: Vintage Books; ISBN: 9780307476463

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What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms & Blessings

Joyce Sidman

The collection of poems in this special little book speak with comfort and practical sense on events of everyday life. �Chants, Charms, and Blessings" on such human natures as repairing a friendship, or falling asleep, or appreciating a dog's smell, are wonderfully illustrated with the imaginative whimsical drawings of Pamela Zagarenski. This is a delightful book both for children and adults. It is on the Independent Northwest book list for the Holidays.

Paperback, $16.99

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN: 9780544106161

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Maddy

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones is fifty-one, but, as her tiny nutty four-year-old daughter loves screaming across the school parking lot, she still likes to claim she�s thirty-three. Sad circumstances � don�t let them force you to put the book down! � have led to Ms. Jones becoming a homebody in recent years, but with her children�s gym teacher looking like Daniel Craig, a twenty-nine year old Twitter follower who becomes amorous, and two out of three of her best friends still single and boisterously taking over every dating website imaginable, Bridget enters the digital age and leaves �middle age� stereotypes in the dust. Tra la la!

Hardcover, $26.95

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780385350860

 
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