|
Grass Roots Books and Music
— 227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis OR 97339 — 541-754-7668 |
| May 15, 2014 |
| Contents |
|
| |
| |
May is the month of celebrations! Not only do we have our Children's Book Week Window display, we have Grads' and Dads' tables up in the store. PLUS: It's Short Story Month!
Come down to Grass Roots and accept our Short Story Challenge! If you visit at any point from May 15th-29th and write us a 6-10 word short story on one of our story cards, we'll then hand over a 10% off coupon, good for two weeks starting the moment you receive it for any one item from either our General Fiction or Craft of Writing sections. Adam and I are super excited about this promo, being short story writers ourselves, and want to make an in-store display (with authors' permission, of course) of all the stories we get. Come one, come all! Embrace the Very Short Story with us!
Enjoy the weekend!
~
Jenny |
|
|
| |
| Newest Books |
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Joshua Ferris
Paul O'Rourke is a Manhattan dentist so disillusioned with the world that he doesn't even like it when his favorite baseball team wins the World Series. More than anything else, he dislikes religion, other people, and the modern technology that forces him to interact with other people. . . That's why he and his staff are shocked when a website for their practice suddenly appears online. Soon after, a Facebook page pops up, followed by a Twitter profile, all impersonating Paul. Infuriated, he tracks down his imposter and uncovers a fringe religious sect that worships Amalek, the father of a biblical tribe destroyed by King David in a holy war. As he tries to recover his stolen identity, Paul begins to question who he really is.
Hardcover, $26.00
Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316033978 |
|
|
The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941-1942
Nigel Hamilton
Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR's masterful—and underappreciated—command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes readers inside FDR's White House Oval Study—his personal command center—and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.
Hardcover, $30.00
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN: 9780547775241 |
|
|
Bellweather Rhapsody
Kate Racculia
The place: Bellweather Hotel. The event: 1997 Statewide Music Festival. The room: 712. The past tragedy: murder/suicide. It's the anniversary of this sinister moment for the Bellweather, exactly fifteen years ago, and Minnie Graves has returned to face the music (in more ways than one). In a sick twist, yet another person goes missing from that fateful room—young Jill, daughter of Statewide Music director Viola Fabian. Whimsical, dark, and funny, Racculia writes a wholly original novel to embrace the simultaneous gloominess and nostalgia of growing up amongst outrageous people and circumstances.
Hardcover, $25.00
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN: 9780544129917 |
|
|
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
Glenn Greenwald
Glen Greenwald was reporting for The Guardian when an anonymous source contacted him with hints of groundbreaking information. He traveled all the way to Hong Kong on the faith that he would indeed, as his source indicated, be provided with top secret information on U.S. spying. It was Edward Snowden, young NSA contractor and now (in)famous whistleblower. In Greenwald's book we get the lowdown on that 11-day trip, fresh information, and never-before-seen documents provided by Snowden. Timely, crucial, and exhilarating for its exposé intensions, this book is primed to be the talk of the nation.
Hardcover, $27.00
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; ISBN: 9781627790734 |
|
|
Can't and Won't
Lydia Davis
". . . In the wake of The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (2009) and receiving the Man Booker International Prize, Davis presents delectably intriguing and affecting new works shaped by her devotion to language, vigilant observations, literary erudition, and tart humor. A number of strikingly enigmatic stories carry the tag dream, and they are, in fact, based on dreams dreamed by Davis and her family and friends. Thirteen intricately layered and thorny pieces flagged as stories from Flaubert improvise saucily and revealingly on the seminal writer's letters. Elsewhere, Davis tosses together the trivial and the profound in hilarious and plangent tales about painful memories and epic indecision, deftly capturing the mind's perpetual churning and the terrible arbitrariness of life." -Booklist
Hardcover, $26.00
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; ISBN: 9780374118587 |
|
|
|
 |
| |
| New in Paperback |
|
26 Love Letters for Mama: An Alliterative ABC
Susan Chung and Ema B. Greenspan
26 Love Letters For Mama is an artifact of love, art, and creativity. When Susan Chung of Corvallis began fighting breast cancer, her then sixteen-year-old daughter wrote a poem stemming from each letter of the alphabet—an epic countdown of all the reasons she loves her. Since that time, Susan has gathered Northwest artists to collaborate in a visual and literary celebration to complete this book. Each woman has illustrated a different letter for each verse, creating an overall impression of support and beauty in the face of personal hardship. The effect is dazzling and inspiring. A portion of proceeds will be donated to a Continuing Care Fund for women with breast cancer.
Paperback, $25.00
|
|
|
Mortality
Christopher Hitchens
Known in life as one of the U.S.'s great contemporary intellectuals, this posthumous collection represents some of the last essays Christopher Hitchens composed in life. This writing further represents Hitchen's blunt opinions on religion, politics, and culture. He writes to his readers fearlessly about illness and how human perception changes once under the strain of constant suffering (Hitchens battled esophageal cancer until his death in 2011). Always lucid and brilliant, this book offers some of his last insights concerning our human hopes, fears, and taboos.
Paperback, $15.00
Publisher: Twelve; ISBN: 9781455502769 |
|
|
The Last Train to Zona Verde
Paul Theroux
“The dean of travel writers recoils from southern Africa's heart of darkness in this disillusioned, heartsick travelogue. . . There are fascinating vignettes of a fallen Eden: hunter-gatherer folkways of San Bushmen enchant him with their primeval authenticity until he realizes they are just pantomimes for tourists; at a luxury safari camp an elephant takes its revenge for exploitation. But the main action is Theroux's gradual descent into the urban inferno. By bus and crowded cab he gravitates from the relative cleanliness and order of Namibia into Angola. . . Theroux's prose is as vividly descriptive and atmospheric as ever. . . ” –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Paperback, $15.95
Publisher: Mariner Books; ISBN: 9780544227934 |
|
|
Want Not
Jonathan Miles
In his much anticipated second novel, Want Not, Miles takes a giant leap forward with this highly inventive and corrosively funny story of our times, a three-pronged tale of human excess that sifts through the detritus of several disparate lives—lost loves, blown chances, countless words and deeds misdirected or misunderstood—all conjoined in their come-hell-or-high-water search for fulfillment. With a satirist's eye and a romantic's heart, Miles captures the morass and comedy of contemporary life in all its excess. Bold, unblinking, unforgettable in its irony and pathos, Want Not is a wicked, bighearted literary novel that confirms the arrival of a major voice in American fiction.
Paperback, $14.95
Publisher: Mariner Books; ISBN: 9780544228085 |
|
|
The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan at a Time
Bob Harris
When Bob Harris was commissioned by ForbesTraveler.com to be a reviewer for some of the most luxurious places in the world, he found himself mostly drawn to the impoverished aspects of the glitz and glam there—that is, the workers who broke their backs to build the monuments in places like Dubai. He decided he wanted to help, and wound up at Kiva.org, a microloan portal to finance businesses and people at the international level. In The International Bank of Bob, Bob returns to some of the places he helped from afar to see what happens when even just one person offers up $25-50 for the small enterprises and ingenious workers of the third-world.
Paperback, $18.00
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing; ISBN: 9781620405222 |
|
|
|
| |
| Featured Books for Young Readers |
We Were Liars
E. Lockhart
Young Adult
". . . Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat are a unit, especially during summer 15, the phrase they use to mark their fifteenth year on Beechwood, the summer that Cady and Gat fall in love. When Lockhart's mysterious, haunting novel opens, readers learn that Cady, during this summer, has been involved in a mysterious accident, in which she sustained a blow to the head, and now suffers from debilitating migraines and memory loss. She doesn't return to Beechwood until summer 17, when she recovers snippets of memory, and secrets and lies. . . Surprising, thrilling, and beautifully executed in spare, precise, and lyrical prose, Lockhart spins a tragic family drama, the roots of which go back generations. And the ending? Shhhh. Not telling." -Booklist, Starred Review
Hardcover, $00.00
Publisher: Delacorte Press; ISBN: 9780385741262 |
|
|
Gravity
Jason Chin
Ages 5 to 8
"After stunning explorations of the Galapagos Islands and California's redwoods, Chin turns literally high-concept for a study of gravity's pull. . . This big idea spans three double-page spreads, as (in a bit of metafictive fun) the very book in hand falls to Earth. It lands on a beach, where a [little] boy plays with space toys, a half-peeled banana waiting nearby. What would happen without gravity? Chin ponders this visually, as (with the boy clinging to a rock) the book and toys soar into space to comingle, mysteriously, with the trappings of a lemonade stand. . . The text tackles the role of mass in gravity's relative force before rejoining the central visual arc by echoing the first sentence. . . " -Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover, $16.99
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; ISBN: 9781596437173 |
|
|
Iva Honeysuckle Meets Her Match (Iva Honeysuckle Book)
Candice F. Ransom
Ages 7 to 10
Iva Honeysuckle anticipates great things for herself when she learns she'll be vacationing at Stingray Point. A place with a name like that has got to be exciting, right? Not exactly, or at least not right away. But then Iva learns about Stingray's legend Chessie, the town's sea monster. This is her chance to make the biggest discovery this town has ever seen. But Iva realizes, like any good explorer, she needs a partner, leading to an even bigger discovery!
Paperback, $4.99
Publisher: Disney Press; ISBN: 9781423135166 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Music |
Tori Amos
Unrepentant Geraldines
Genre: Pop/Folk
As heard on NPR: "Unrepentant Geraldines is a return to a familiar pop form for Amos, who has been crisscrossing the boundaries of style in recent years—as well as an artistic self-evaluation from a performer who turned 50 last year."
($13.95) |
Black Keys
Turn Blue
Genre: Pop/Folk
Black Keys began as a young Akron, OH duo banging out primitive garage blues on drums and guitar. 2011's El Camino found them teaming with producer Danger Mouse for a more radio friendly, song-centric sound. The producer returns for the band's eighth record.
($18.95) |
Kris Delmhorst
Blood Test
Genre: Pop/Folk
The singer-songwriter's seventh record is her first original in over five years. In recent years, Delmhorst has moved to rural Massachusetts with husband Jeffrey Foucault and written a collection of tunes about growing up and settling down.
($16.95) |
Howlin' Brothers
Trouble
Genre: Pop/Folk
This raggedy stringband trio releases its second major record, produced and released by Brendan Benson. To his immense credit, Benson interferes very little with the Brothers, other than cleaning up their sound just a bit. The source of their sound remains very traditional, though the songs are originals. The trio plays banjo, standup bass and guitar, with some mando, fiddle, and harmonica tossed in.
($12.95) |
Eli Paperboy Reed
Nights Like This
Genre: Pop/Folk
Reed began his career as a notorious street busker in Boston. His new record is rooted in that spirit, but in injected with a more contemporary strain of R&B and soul.
($13.95) |
Yanni
Inspirato
Genre: New Age
The legendary new age composer took four years to assemble his new record. While Yanni is best known for his instrumental work, he is joined here by vocalists such as Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Rolando Villazon, and more.
($11.95) |
|
|
|
| |
| Events |
Wednesday, May 28, 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR |
Jenny Milcham
Ruin Falls
In a suspenseful follow-up to her critically acclaimed Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman ratchets up the tension with this edge-of-your-seat story of a mother determined to find her missing children.
Liz Daniels has every reason to be happy about setting off on a rare family vacation, leaving her remote home in the Adirondack Mountains behind for a while. Instead, she feels uneasy. Her children, eight-year-old Reid and six-year-old Ally, have met their paternal grandparents only a handful of times. But Liz’s husband, Paul, has decided that, despite a strained relationship with his mother and father, they should visit the farm in western New York where he spent his childhood.
On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz checks on her sleeping children, all of her anxiety from the day before comes roaring back to life: Ally and Reid are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of her kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in.
|
 |
|
Wednesday, June 4, 7 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR |
Dr. Cristina Eisenberg
The Carnivore Way: Conserving and Coexisting with America’s Carnivores
Our tangled history with large carnivores has ranged from a close spiritual bond during pre-European settlement of North America to reviling these species as a threat to our livelihood. Today we are in the process of rewilding America by enabling the return of grizzly bears, wolverines, wolves, lynx, cougars, and jaguars to landscapes from which they had long been missing.
In The Carnivore Way: Conserving and Coexisting with America’s Carnivores, Dr. Cristina Eisenberg explores these species’ fascinating natural history, ecology, and conservation status. Each of the species profiled in The Carnivore Way tells the evocative story of our struggles to rewild ecosystems and live more ethically on this earth.
Cristina Eisenberg conducts trophic cascades research focusing on wolves in Rocky Mountain ecosystems. She teaches ecological restoration and public policy in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University and is a Smithsonian Research Associate. Her first book, The Wolf’s Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades and Biodiversity, was published in 2010 by Island Press.
|
 |
|
Friday, June 6, 1:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR |
Judith Bender
Back to Health: the Twenty Minute Workout
"The key to developing a better quality of life can be found in this simple exercise program, which only takes twenty minutes per day. Timely and practical, Back to Health, the Twenty-Minute Workout contains an illustrated, step by step exercise program to treat and prevent back and neck pain and provides information on anatomy and body mechanics to help you understand why these exercises are important. Written by a physical therapist with years of experience treating patients with orthopedic problems, this book is full of medical knowledge, presented in a practical and easy to use manner, and will benefit anyone who has experienced back or neck pain or wants to avoid these problems." -Booklist |
 |
|
|
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 5/16 to 5/22, showtimes daily, Darkside Cinema, Corvallis. Visit their website for showtimes.
- Ernest and Celestine–PG Sweet and visually charming, Ernest & Celestine offers old-fashioned delights for animation lovers of all ages. Subtitled French.
- Only Lovers Left Alive–R Worth watching for Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton's performances alone. A bloodsucker saga that's every bit as unique as Let the Right One In.
- Under the Skin–R Scarlett Johansson.
- Cesar Chavez–PG-13 Weekend only!
- 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. Subtitled Japanese.
Literary Events:
- OSU MFA Reading Series at New Morning Bakery, Thursday May 15, 2014, 7:30 p.m., featuring Adrian Stumpp, Rachel Ratner, Phillip Brown, and Maya Polan.
- Writers on the River, Monday, May 19, 2014, 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Dennis Hall at the First Presbyterian Church, 114 SW 8th St., Corvallis, OR 97333 with Thomas Bunker "A Journey into the World of Fictional Characters Presented"-Please join us for a fascinating and fun journey into the world of fictional characters. The road-map for our journey will be the real-world personality framework of Personalysis, an organizational behavior analysis tool created by James R. Nolan of Houston, Texas. For more information, visit Writers on the River's blog.
- Book Club at the Corvallis Public Library on Saturday, May 21 at 7 p.m. in the Library Board Room. Discussion will focus on Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff. The director of The Story of Stuff Project tracks the life of the "stuff" we use every day, transforming how we think about our patterns of consumption. This book is based on the author's 2007 internet film, The Story of Stuff.
Opportunities:
- Spring Creek Project Writers-in-Residence Applications Due: Long-Term Ecological Reflections Thursday May, 15. (Today!/All Day) for Fall: Creative writers whose work in any genre reflects a keen awareness of the natural world and an appreciation for both scientific and literary ways of knowing are invited to apply for one- to two-week residencies at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. The resident writers live at the Andrews Forest, interact with the scientists, explore the forest, and write. Writers are encouraged to visit designated study sites for reflecting on and writing about the forest and their relation to it. These writings, which will form a collection spanning hundreds of years, will be part of the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program. Visit website here for full details.
- Spring Creek Project Collaborative Retreat Applications Due: Shotpouch Cabin Thursday, May 15, 2014 (Today!/All Day) The Collaborative Retreat at the Cabin at Shotpouch Creek is a two-week retreat for two participants who wish to pursue a collaborative project, or two participants who each have individual projects and who anticipate a synergistic benefit from each other's presence. At least one of the applicants must be a writer who takes inspiration from the natural world. The second applicant may also be a writer, or he or she may work in any other field (e.g. science, philosophy, music, art, crafts, etc.) Visit website here for details and contact info.
- 2014 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize through 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.
- Short Story Writing Workshop Saturday, May 17th, 2014, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., Corvallis Library Main Meeting Room. This workshop is offered in anticipation of Tobias Wolff’s visit to Corvallis on Thursday, May 22, when he will receive the Stone Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. We will read and discuss samples of Wolff’s fiction and nonfiction and engage in writing exercises focusing on Wolff’s craft and style. Sean Crouch, Keith Scribner, & Dahlia Seroussi of Oregon State University will lead this interactive workshop. For more information, visit the library's website here.
- Flash Fiction Competition: 6 Words "The Story of a Thing" Online submission deadline: May 25, 2014 Haunted Waters Press editor, Penny Dreadful, is selecting exceptionally small works of flash fiction to be showcased in Penny Fiction, a regular feature of the literary journal, From the Depths. Stories will also appear in the Penny Fiction Poster Collection. In keeping with the Summer 2014 theme, “The Object of Our Desire,” tell us the story of a “thing” in exactly 6 words—no more, no less. Extra points awarded for writers who adhere to the rules. Not really. There are no points. Just read the contest rules and impress Penny with your ability to follow instructions. Visit website here!
- Short Story Award for New Writers Submission deadline: May 31, 2014 Open to any writer whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. 1st place has been increased to $1500 and includes publication in Glimmer Train. 2nd/3rd: $500/$300, consideration for publication. Results announced on August 1. Word count generally ranges 1500-5000, though up to 12,000 words is fine. One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry, New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Midwest, and Best American Short Stories anthologies. Submit online: www.glimmertrain.com.
Ticket Sales: Grass Roots sells tickets for local music events. Please call or stop by the store to see what's currently available.
|
|
Friday, May 16, 7 p.m.
Corvallis Public Library
Main Meeting Room
645 NW Monroe Ave. |
Amy Schutzer
Spheres of Disturbance
Amy will read from and answer questions about her newly published novel (April 2014), Spheres of Disturbance—a haunting, sensual, and brilliantly cunning novel exploring how we can bear to approach, or even choose, our inevitable end. Amy Schutzer’s first novel, Undertow (Calyx Books, 2000), was a Lambda Literary Award finalist, a Violet Quill Award finalist, and a Today’s Librarian “Best of 2000” Award-winner. She is the recipient of an Astraea Foundation Grant for Fiction and a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. Finishing Line Press published Taking the Scarecrows Down, a chapbook of poetry, in 2011. She has worked as a U.S. Postal Carrier, a cashier, a bookkeeper, a legal assistant, and a Nabisco factory worker. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Grass Roots will be selling books at this event. |
 |
|
Thursday, May 22, 7:30 p.m.
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
725 SW 26th Street |
Tobias Wolff
Stone Award
Tobias Wolff will be presented with the Stone Award at the Portland Art Museum on May 21, and will visit the Oregon State campus in Corvallis on May 22 to give a public reading at the CH2M Hill Alumni Center Ballroom (725 SW 26th Street). In the spring, OSU Master of Fine Arts program students will lead “Everybody Reads” programs featuring a selected book by Wolff.
The biennial award is given to a major American author who has created a body of critically acclaimed work and who has—in the tradition of creative writing at OSU—mentored young writers.
Wolff is best known for his work in two genres: the short story and the memoir. His first short story collection, In the Garden of the North American Martyrs, was published in 1981. Wolff chronicled his early life in two memoirs, In Pharaoh’s Army (1994) and This Boy’s Life (1989), which was turned into a 1993 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. He is also author of the novel Old School (2003).
Grass Roots will be selling books at the May 22 reading. |
 |
|
| |
| News |
 |
Graduation, graduation!
Congratulations soon-to-be college grads! We are so proud and excited for you and your families during this wonderful time. You made it! And now we have some life survival tools at Grass Roots for you. Visit our display to propel you (or your son/daughter) into the adult world of eating, drinking, making money, and paying those bills. We've got books like Life Skills: How To Do Almost Anything to cover the basics like how to sew a button to how to fix a leaky faucet. Then there's 4 Ingredient One Pot, One Bowl: Rediscover the Wonders of Simple, Home-Cooked Meals now that you might be graduating not just from college but also the Chipotle or Subway kitchens. . . But perhaps you, as a recent graduate (or your darling grad), are seeking solace in this simultaneously thrilling and scary time in a book like Don't Worry, It Gets Worse from sage blogger Alida Nugent, a recent grad herself who is here to offer tips and consolation for being jettisoned into adulthood. Whatever your needs, joys, or even fears are, we really do have a book for you. |
|
Father's Day
June 15 is a month away, but it'll be here before you know it. Swing by Grass Roots to prepare accordingly. We've got a display on the floor highlighting what he might like best. Dad a fixer-upper? Maybe he'd really appreciate a copy of Souped Up: Do-It-Yourself Projects to Make Anything Better. Or now that the sun seems here to stay perhaps The World's 60 Best Burgers Period. is just the ticket for the warm weather barbeques he could be very excited about. Maybe the bike has made its way out of the garage and he'd love to know what exotic place he should take it to next, and therefore needs a copy of the beautiful Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die. We've got you guys covered with these titles and more. Books are the perfect way to show your dad, the swell guy he is, you care! |
 |
|
 |
Children's Book Week Window
We wanted to say a very special thank you to all the artists who dropped by the store last week to help us decorate our window display. Check it out in this image, but also please mosey down 2nd Street to see it in person. It's lovely! Those who helped received a coupon for 20% off on any one children's book, and now we can all enjoy our books and art under the May sun. Happy Children's Book Week!
|
|
|
Short Story Month Promotion
Come down to the store at any point from May 15th-29th and write us a 6-10 word short story on one of our story cards, and we'll hand over a 10% off coupon, good for two weeks starting the moment you receive it, for any one item from either our General Fiction or Craft of Writing sections. Adam and I are super excited about this promo, being short story writers ourselves, and want to make an in-store display (with authors' permission, of course) of all the stories we get. Come one, come all! Embrace the Very Short Story with us!
|
|
|
|
| |
| This Week's Puzzle |
|
|
| |
| Reading Group Selection |
Tuesday, June 3, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards
Kristopher Jansma
Kendall will be leading our June reading group discussion with The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma.
"This canny, seductive, and utterly transfixing tale about the magic of storytelling and the misery of writing is told by an itinerant, chameleonic writer who calls himself Nobody. The fatherless son of a flight attendant, he relies on and cares for his rich, gay, and unstable best friend, who turns out to be a truly gifted novelist, and falls hopelessly in love with an actress so beautiful that princes propose marriage. Like a magician pulling a seemingly endless string of colorful scarves from a hat, Jansma streams stories-within-stories-within-stories, each a diabolically clever homage. As Nobody juggles false identities and survives near-catastrophes in New York, Las Vegas, Iceland, Luxembourg, Dubai, Ghana, and Sri Lanka, readers will detect riffs on Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Truman Capote, Bob Dylan, Tolstoy, Salinger, Borges, Kipling, and many more. . . " -Booklist, Starred Review
|
|
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN: 9780143125020
Paperback
Regular price: $16.00
On sale for $13.60 until June 3.
|
|
|
|
| |
On Our Nightstands |
 Adam
Dept. of Speculation
Jenny Offill
Jenny Offill's The Dept of Speculation is a novel by name, but it isn't like any novel I have ever read. Told through a series of short passages, sometimes as small as two words, it reads like a window into the narrator's mind as she tries to navigate her domestic life, artistic dreams, and emotional temptations. The fractured nature of the narrative means the book is more felt then read. Give it a couple pages and what seems like a gimmick slowly and surely starts to feel more truthful than your average narrative.
Hardback, $22.95
Publisher: Knopf Publishing; ISBN: 9780385350815 |
|
|
Jenny
Piano Stories
Felisberto Hernandez (Author), Luis Harss (Trans.)
If, when you are reading a Felisberto Hernández story, you think you watch someone walk into a café and order a cup of coffee without having an ostrich walk up to him and swallow his heirloom heart pin, think again. If you think you can see another narrator through a bus trip without being approached and injected with a mystery substance infecting the individual with an internal radio station only he can hear, think again! In Piano Stories, we follow men through South American concert halls, hotel rooms, and opulent homes, each man mysteriously aching. These tales put a dream tune in my head, sending me into a strange, but familiar universe, without being overly quirky or trite. They are simply stellar (and great for Short Story Month!).
Paperback, $16.95
Publisher: New Directions Publishing; ISBN: 9780811221801 |
|
|
Neé
Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts
Emily Anthes
What’s wrong with cats that glow-in-the-dark? Frankenstein’s Cat introduces you to one of the most controversial and important issues of our time - genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The menagerie of GMOs is no longer the realm of science fiction. Discover mice with tusks that can only turn left, living insects turned into spy drones, and “Pharm” animals that produce life-saving medicines through their milk production. In this eye-opening (equal parts thought provoking and entertaining) adventure, Anthes gives you both the good and the bad along the way. No matter what side of the debate you’re on, this is a must read!
Hardcover, $15.00
Publisher: Scientific American ; ISBN: 9780374534240 |
|
|
Linda
In Paradise
Riverhead Books
Peter Matthiessen has written, true to form, a rare and extraordinary book, based around a group of people from different religions and backgrounds who are on a self-reflective pilgrimage to the Polish concentration camp. The characters and discussions are complex and deeply contemplative. Matthiessen's writing is refined and clean; each description of character and insight intensely illuminated with a few precise words. Never frivolous, this deeply haunting novel digs into the ironies, sorrows, and exaltations of human nature. Matthiessen is the only author to win the National Book Award for both Nonfiction and Fiction.
Hardcover, $27.95
Publisher: Riverhead Books; ISBN: 9781594633171 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Grass Roots Online — Contact Us |
|
|
