We have a bit of breaking news about our Third Annual Poetry Night: this will be postponed due to another poetry event with Dr. Karen Holmberg at the Corvallis Public Library on the night originally planned (April 30th). We will keep you posted on this date when we decide when it will be. Stay tuned. . .
This was an exciting week of Book Giving for World Book Night on Shakespeare's birthday, and we are nearing the end of Poetry Month. I type this as I await an eager poet to come recite some poetry for Poem in Your Pocket Day (today!). So far I've heard an Edna St. Vincent Millay and an e.e. cummings! Maybe this newsletter will reach a few before the day's end. . .
In other news, the store has some great displays in the children's/YA section, MANY wonderful events (including Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, whooa!), and a new shipment of brainteaser puzzles. Lots of books to find on our shelves, as always. Hope to see you this weekend.
Christopher Moore gives readers a twisted hybrid of Shakespearian drama and gothic edge in his anachronous mish-mash of The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and "The Cask of Amontillado." While history acknowledges these pieces as tragic and sinister, Moore cooks up a witty satire with ingredients from all three. Pocket goes on an adventure to get the lady Portia, lured out to Venice by a crafty group of characters, including a guy named Iago. Debauchery as a promise, but murder on their minds, the conniving Venetians prepare to take Pocket down many unexpected canals. Rich in bawdy humor and puns, readers who can handle the liberties taken with Shakespeare and Poe will be treated to Moore's tale of hilarity.
Hardcover, $26.99
Publisher: William Morrow & Company; ISBN: 9780061779763
"In a tale worthy of Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Padgett tells how a traumatic brain injury inflicted by muggers at a karaoke bar turned him into a mathematical marvel. At 31, the former math-averse underachiever turns into a hermit fascinated by pi. He gradually finds out that he is not like the other 1.7 million or so Americans each year who suffer from traumatic brain injuries. Instead, he learns that, while healing, he has become an accidental genius with sudden-onset savant syndrome, or acquired savant syndrome. He also finds out that he has acquired synesthesia, a blending of the senses that lets him see the world in beautiful geometric patterns. . . " -from Booklist
Ever have that fantasy about having your very own treehouse? You don't have to be an 11-year-old to harbor this desire. Pete Nelson taps into humans' intrinsic fascination with putting ourselves back in the trees with his new book on treehouse construction. Making sure his readers get a comprehensive break-down on the basics, such as platform design and tree care for novice and pro builders alike (plus providing up-to-date and inspirational diagrams and pictures), Nelson will get you pumped for whimsical, yet practical, building techniques.
"Binchy was well-known for creating realistic characters who interact in ordinary ways, in ordinary places. Before her death, in 2012, she had been jotting down short stories here and there featuring a number of different characters who all lived on the same Dublin street, Chestnut Street. This collection was gathered by her editors and approved by her family for publication. Readers meet plain Dolly, who wants to be just like her glamorous mother; Joyce, a model who gets her comeuppance on a blind date with an obese man; and Kevin Walsh, the taxi driver who keeps strangers' secrets. Many of the stories are quite brief (as short as three pages) but serve as lovely character portraits. . . " -Booklist
After a near-death experience, Dee Williams decided she couldn't take the small things for granted anymore. At first, Williams wanted to pay more attention to her dwelling place in the Pacific Northwest, sprawling and painstakingly restored. However, its grandness imparted dull and tedious responsibilities (think mortgage payments, repairs, etc.) that took Dee away from the very people and moments she wanted to be closer to. The solution? Build a new house. One that is eighty-four-square-feet. The tiny house she lives in now is cheap and provides plenty of time to enjoy family and friends, instead of cleaning and house up-keep. Read this how-to memoir for inspiration on the future of tiny homes.
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media. . . the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
In a novel that feels both futuristic and timely, Dave Eggers has conjured up the next job-of-a-lifetime fairy tale turned suspense thriller with his latest novel, The Circle. In it protagonist Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, a monolithic Internet company on the forefront of social media, banking, and personal purchase tracking. The company perks—modern, efficient, dazzling—seem too good to be true; to be a part of the Circle is to be a small celebrity. Indeed, Mae has twists and turns ahead of her as she moves up the corporate ladder. Eggers has put his mark on the digital age with his latest, and you won't be able to put this book down.
The bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake returns with a collection of stories about people searching for connection through love, sex, and family—while navigating the often painful realities of their lives. "Stories that range from fairy tales to quasi-erotica, all showing Bender's versatility. . . Bender's gifts as an author are prodigious, and with each story, she moves the reader in surprising, not to say startling, ways." —Kirkus Reviews
James, a native Oregonian from Eugene, graduated from the University of Oregon with an art degree in 2011. He has built forts on Oregon’s beaches his entire life and the 184-page Driftwood Forts of the Oregon Coast showcases his multi-faceted talents and includes his essays, illustrations, photographs and hand-drawn maps. He also designed the book. Blending reportage, ethnography, meditation, history, art and photojournalism, Driftwood Forts of the Oregon Coast also serves as a useful and entertaining guide on how to build a driftwood fort.
"The residual effect on two childhood friends, Francine and Colville, of growing up in the cult-like Church Universal and Triumphant is the subject of Rock's sixth novel. The abduction of a neighborhood girl is the catalyst for a brief reunion of the two after a 15-year absence. Seeing Colville after this long time is a tacit invitation for Francine to revisit her past. As for Colville, he has seemingly never let go of his childhood experiences and is now on a mysterious quest involving the mystical aspects of the church. . . The Shelter Cycle is an engaging and quite strange mixture of reality and magic. . . " -Booklist
Using landscape and starlight to evoke a magical dreamscape, Jeremy Chatelain writes a lullaby to calm and enchant any beginner reader. The images are unique cut-and-torn paper illustrations that remind one of woodcuttings. The double-page spreads dazzle with their depicted sand dunes, twinkling stars, and waving grasslands. The lines are written as song lyrics, and make for the perfect bed-time story. Prepare for a night of blissful dreaming with this book!
"After waging two separate quests (The Lost Hero, 2010; The Son of Neptune, 2011), the Greek and Roman demigods of Riordan's Heroes of Olympus quintet join forces. With his now-trademark zero-to-60 acceleration, the author engineers a ghostly possession to set Greeks and Romans at odds and initiates the Prophecy of the Seven, hurtling Annabeth, Percy, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank and Jason into a pell-mell flight on the magical trireme Argo II. They seek the titular Mark of Athena, which they hope will provide the key to defeating the vengeful Earth mother, Gaea, or at least some of her giant offspring. . . " -Kirkus Reviews
Riley, an orphaned teenager living in Victorian London, didn’t count on being apprenticed to Albert Garrick, a genius illusionist and master assassin. When Riley is accidentally transported via wormhole to the present, he befriends FBI agent Chevie, keeper of the timekey. But hot on their trail is Garrick, plotting to use the timekey for nefarious purposes.
“Colfer blends grisly moments of horror, sharply funny dialogue, science fiction spectacle, and characters with depth to create a story that strikes the ideal balance between escapist fun and thoughtful commentary on the ways history, both personal and global, can shape a person.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Black Prairie is a Portland "supergroup" composed of members of Decemberists, Dolorean, Annalisa Tornfelt, and others. While the ensemble's first two releases focused on acoustic musicianship, Fortune features more fleshed out vocal tunes, also adding a welcome layer of indie folk.
($15.95)
The name of Keb Mo's new album brings together the two primary influences on the guitarist/songwriter's music. Whereas more recent albums have seen him focusing on a more slick, soulful direction, this new effort features a stripped down, bare-bones approach. ($13.95)
Events
Saturday April, 26 3:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Annie Lighthart and Dawn Diez Willis
Iron String and Still Life with Judas & Lightning
“Annie Lighthart writes purely magical poems,” says poet Naomi Shihab Nye, “they will rivet and change you, in all good ways.” Taking its title from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s injunction, “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string,” the poems in Iron String live up to the strength and complexity of that sound. Here we find poems that paint a meditative white barn, words that carry sorrow like a river, that ride with happiness on a train. When reading Iron String we awaken to our own lives, into a world that is wider, deeper, and more dangerously beautiful than we realized before.
Annie Lighthart is the author of Iron String, published by Airlie Press in 2013. She has taught at Boston College, as a poet in the schools, and with community groups of all ages. She earned an MFA from Vermont College and now happily lives in a green corner of Portland, Oregon.
Following “the caravan of mystery” through the point of view of many characters, Dawn Diez Willis’s first collection enacts a pilgrimage into many voices. Ruminating on an everyday darkness, these poems lean toward the light within the fierce vitality of existence. With musical lusciousness and deeply felt images, Still Life with Judas & Lightning unfolds like a peony, the lives like petals forming a single experience of complex beauty.
Dawn Diez Willis is a poet, editor, and teacher. The author of Still Life with Judas & Lightning, she holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Oregon. Her work has appeared in The Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, Southern Poetry Review, Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose, and elsewhere. Formerly an editor with Northwest Review, she currently serves as a member editor with Airlie Press.
TBA
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St., Corvallis
Third Annual Community Poetry Night
Dear poets and poetry lovers, we have decided to postpone our Community Poetry Night. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we discovered that our event would conflict with Dr. Karen Holmberg’s discussion of William Stafford’s Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems for Oregon Reads 2014 at the Corvallis Library (for more information, see our Literary Events listing below). We don’t want people to have to choose between two wonderful happenings that celebrate poetry. Poets who already signed up in advance will be given priority standing. Please watch the Grass Roots Reader for a future date. And thank you for understanding!
Upcoming Events
We have many more events coming up in the next few months! For a complete list of all of our upcoming events, please visit our website.
Community Events
Community Events
Darkside Cinema: Movies showing 4/24 to 4/30, showtimes daily, Darkside Cinema, Corvallis. Visit their website for showtimes.
The Lunchbox—PG Charming and whimsical, it's a feast for the eyes. Subtitled Hindi. 97% on RT!
The Wind Rises–Pg-13 This animated film is one of the most rapturously beautiful that Miyazaki has made, and all the more unsettling because of it. Subtitled Japanese.
Le Week-End–Pg-13 A British couple return to Paris many years after their honeymoon there in an attempt to rejuvenate their marriage. Lindsay Duncan, Jim Broadbent, Jeff Goldblum.
Particle Fever–NR Physicists are on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery of all time—or perhaps their greatest failure. “Even the most math-averse viewer will be on pins and needs to know the results.”
Literary Events:
Author Frances Stilwell Presents "Oregon's Botanical Landscape" at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 7-8:30 p.m, Tuesday April, 29.
Local artist and author Frances Stilwell will share her new book Oregon’s Botanical Landscape: An Opportunity to Imagine Oregon Before 1800. The program is in honor of Native Plant Appreciation Week and is co-sponsored by the Corvallis Chapter of the Native Plant Society and the Friends of the Library.
Oregon Reads Book Discussion, Wednesday, April 30th, 2014, 7-8:00 p.m. Corvallis Library Main Meeting Room
In celebration of Oregon Reads 2014, join award-winning poet and OSU faculty member Karen Holmberg, as she leads a discussion of Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems, a book of some of William Stafford’s most beloved poems. Come learn more about why William Stafford’s work is still so influential, talk with others in the community about how his poetry has impacted you, and/or just sit in and listen as Dr. Holmberg guides the audience through Stafford’s poetic mind. Light refreshments will be served.
Opportunities:
Call for Submissions, Campus Creature Census: We invite students, faculty, staff, and community members to explore campus as a natural environment where sequoias and gray squirrels, rhododendrons and chickadees, lichens, spiders, garter snakes and moss co-create the OSU ecosystem. Register for your creature by April 28, submit your Census entry by May 10. Please check the Campus Creature guidelines for details here.
Spring Campus Creature Ramble: Sunday, May 4, 9 a.m.-noon, a walking workshop for photography and creative writing; celebrate the distinctive flora, fauna and landscapes of spring with a slow Sunday morning stroll through the OSU campus. Participants will pause at a handful of sites around campus to experience a sense of place. Guides will prompt creative responses to the environment at these locations through photography and writing of any kind. Participants with all types of cameras and with all levels of writing and photographic experience are welcome. Participants will be strongly encouraged to unplug for a few hours and fully experience their immediate surroundings. The ramble will be followed with an evening session—place and time TBD—when participants can share their favorite images and writing from the ramble.
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.
Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers 2014: Registration is still open! Join fellow writers July 7-13, 2014 for a week of writing and conversation filled with generative workshops, afternoon breakout sessions, open mic events, evening readings and panel discussions all in the beautiful setting of Wallowa Lake. Our theme this year is What the River Says: The Art of Listening in a Turbulent World as we will celebrate the themes and ideals of poet William Stafford on the centennial of his birth. Workshops still open include: Kim Barnes (fiction/non-fiction), Marv Ross (songwriting), John Daniel (poetry, prose, with an activist bent), Robert Wrigley (poetry), and Amy Minato (a workshop for youth). For full details, see their website here.
2014 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prizethrough Calyx Journal Please submit up to three unpublished poems (six pages maximum). Open from March 1 - June 30, 2014, postmarked. Simultaneous submissions are discouraged. The CALYX editorial collective reads all manuscripts first, then selects 10-20 finalists to send to the final judge. See website for full guidelines.
Ticket Sales: Grass Roots sells tickets for local music events. Please call or stop by the store to see what's currently available.
Friday, April, 25, 7:30 pm
121 The Valley Library
Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is the author of two novels,Ms. Hempel Chronicles, a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award, and Madeleine Is Sleeping, a finalist for the 2004 National Book Award and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. The recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and an NEA Fellowship, she was named one of “20 Under 40” fiction writers by the New Yorker. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the Graduate Writing Program at Otis College of Art and Design.
This event is sponsored by the Oregon State University School of Writing, Literature, and Film. Books will be available for purchase from Grass Roots Books & Music at this event.
This year will mark the 28th consecutive annual observance of Holocaust Memorial Week at Oregon State University. As in past years, the university, in association with the City of Corvallis and School District 509-J, is undertaking this obligation in the belief that educational institutions can do much to combat bigotry of all kinds, and to foster respect for diversity, by promoting an awareness of the Holocaust, one of the most horrific historical indicators of the high cost of prejudice.
The Seventh Million is the first book to show the decisive impact of the Holocaust on the identity, ideology, and politics of Israel. Drawing on diaries, interviews, and thousands of declassified documents, Segev reconsiders the major struggles and personalities of Israel's past, including Ben-Gurion, Begin, and Nahum Goldmann, and argues that the nation's legacy has, at critical moments—the Exodus affair, the Eichmann trial, the case of John Demjanjuk—have been molded and manipulated in accordance with the ideological requirements of the state. The Seventh Million uncovers a vast and complex story and reveals how the bitter events of decades past continue to shape the experiences not just of individuals but of a nation. Translated by Haim Watzman.
Adam Braun is the Founder and CEO of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning nonprofit
organization that has opened more than 150 schools across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and delivered more than 10 million educational hours in its first five years. PoP was founded with just $25 using what Adam coined as a “For-Purpose” approach to blending nonprofit idealism with for-profit business principles. In 2012, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List. Pencils of Promise has been identified as one of the world’s most impactful new nonprofits by luminaries such as Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, and Barbara Walters. Using short, pithy mantras that anyone can adopt, in this talk Adam shares his experience as a model for how to get “unstuck,” outlining 10 key steps that can actively transform even the smallest ideas into a big reality. This event is sponsored by the OSU Office of the Provost, the Research Office and University Relations and Marketing.
Books will be available for purchase from Grass Roots Books and Music at this event.
Thursday, May 1, 7:00 p.m.
LaSells Stewart Center
875 SW 26th Street
Craig Childs
On the Trail of the First People: A Journey into the American Ice Age
Writer and world-traveler Craig Childs will share stories and images from his recent travels into the American Ice Age. Through spectacular images and storytelling, Childs will take us through Paleolithic landscapes from Alaska to Chile to Florida. Childs is a writer who focuses on the relationship between humans and the landscape, often told from mind-blowing journeys in the wilderness. He is a regular commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition, and the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed books, including Apocalyptic Planet—which won both the 2013 Orion Book Award and the 2013 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award—and The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild (2009). His work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, Outside, and Orion. He is a contributing editor at High Country News, and he teaches writing at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, and at Southern New Hampshire University. FMI: Craig Child’s website: http://www.houseofrain.com/
Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
News
Jackson Poetry Prize
Claudia Rankine won this year's $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize. Sponsored by Poets & Writers magazine, the award honors "an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition" and is "designed to provide what all poets need: time and the encouragement to write."
Grass Roots is carrying a new shipment of Brainteaser toys by Recent Toys Inc. Winner of numerous awards such as Creative Child Magazine's Seal of Excellence, Preferred Choice Award, and Puzzle of the Year Award, along with Parents' Choice recognition and Tillywig's Sterling Fun Award, these puzzles make for excellent vision, motor, and mental skills twisters. They are fun for ALL AGES!
Some of our favorites include Skewb, a twisty puzzle with 12 colors, 12 faces, and an irregular shape for the ultimate, but gratifying, challenge. We also fully endorse the IcoSoKu Junior (a match-making number-to-dot puzzle), the Gear Cube (for matching and recreating an aesthetically pleasing pattern on each face), and the Brain String 'R' (a string-knot detangle challenge). Recent Toys is dedicated to innovation and mental stimulation, and these puzzle games are a fabulous gift idea for every occasion. Come by the store to test out the demos we have on display next to our music section to find out which one might be your new favorite!
World Book Night Recap and Party!
Thanks to all who participated in World Book Night this Wednesday! It was a fantastic evening for Book Givers, despite the quintessential Oregon drizzle. My group hit up the main bus transit, American Dream Pizza, the Elks Club, two laundromats, and good old street sidewalks! It was so much fun to see people's delighted reactions at receiving GREAT, FREE, BRAND NEW books. Thousands of books were handed out on the evening of Shakespeare's birthday across the country, and Grass Roots is proud to be part of the community/national/international effort.
ALSO: If you were a Book Giver this year, you are invited to our Grass Root's Giver Party at Grass Roots on Sunday, April, 27th from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. (with refreshments). Come by and share your experiences, because we are betting you had some good ones. Also, BONUS, you can take an “Advanced Reading Copy” from book titles released in the past couple of years. This is a really special treat for those who participated, and our way of saying a heartfelt thank you. THANK YOU.
Get your little ones excited for spring with our Earth Appreciation display in our children's books section. We are celebrating birds, critters, grubs, and greenery, especially as the weather slowly begins its warming-up process. Help the kids prepare for the season with books like National Geographic Kids Get Outside Guide: All Things Adventure, Exploration, and Fun!, full of awesome factoids and adventure ideas for the backyard, deciduous forests, ocean beaches, and river beds. Take a look at the visually stunning I Wonder by Annaka Harris, where a mother and daughter go on a walk through different landscapes to invoke wonder (yes!) for the natural world. For your very little one make sure to look through The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle to see how this lady goes about shaping her web on a farm's fence post (simple and accurate!). Check out these titles, and more.
Road Trip Across the U.S.A. Display!
Take a road trip with your book selections and the help of our latest display in the YA section. Just to whet your appetite: find out what's left of Chicago, Illinois in Veronica Roth's Divergent; escape the world of high school bullying with Lucky Linderman from Arizona in A.S. King's Everybody Sees the Ants; or navigate New York City's speakeasies with Evie and her secret supernatural powers in Libba Bray's The Diviners. We've got something for every state, so come down to check out the table.
Adam will be leading our April reading group discussion of This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff.
This winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction writes a memoir that brings to life the stuff of boyhood—from paper routes to whiskey, fistfights to friendship and betrayal—and captures as well America in the fifties. Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence.
Stay tuned for more information on Tobias Wolff receiving the Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement through Oregon State University’s School of Writing, Literature, and Film this May!
Having freshly turned 21 and never being much of a wine or beer drinker, I decided to set about finding alcoholic beverages to serve while entertaining. And since my entertaining generally consists of four or less people, I was looking for simple recipes. I decided to get mason-jar shaker and this book, which has turned out to be perfect. The drinks are organized by season and all have a small list of ingredients paired with simple instructions. So far the drinks have been a hit!
This quietly meditative novel touched me deeply, just as the three main character’s lives touch each other in profound ways. Drafted into the Vietnam War, Benny returns home from battle scarred on the inside by his experiences. His brother’s girlfriend, Isabel, becomes pregnant and wrestles with a difficult choice. And her friend, Sister Claire, prepares to take religious orders at a Benedictine abbey. At different times and intervals, they comfort each other, finding peace and love and the strength to both let go and move forward in life.
May The Stars Drip Down embraces an enchanting lullaby along with charming cutout illustrations in tones of blue. The story guides you from a child falling asleep in his bed, to his dreams about dipping his toes in sand and his seascape adventures. The cutout images are beautiful and they could bring out a lot of imaginative sleepy “what if” topics with your little loved one(s). This story has a magic air about it and would guide your children into a pleasant slumber.
Kendall
