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Hello dear Grass Roots Readers!
Summer is in FULL SWING. I can tell because we've got our summer reading going, Independents week thriving downtown with Waldo, and tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Break out the sparklers and watermelon.
Some important notes: Grass Roots WILL be open on Friday (July 4), but our hours will be shorter. We'll be open from 11 a.m. to approximately 5 p.m.
Also, we're going to move towards summer hours in the store starting next week. This means we will wait to open our doors on Monday-Friday at 10:00 a.m., rather than 9:30. If this is going to be an inconvenience for you, please contact us at the store, and let us know.
Meanwhile, lots of great titles for your summer reading this week, nice jams, and of course our awesome in-store displays. Check it out!
Yours in fireworks and BBQ's,
Jenny
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| New Hardcovers | |
William Shakespeare's the Jedi Doth Return
Ian Doescher
|  Ian Doescher, Portland author of the highly popular William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope, is back with the next installment. These are enjoyable reads, offering two new plays of the original Star Wars films. We're back into the familiar story-lines from Lucas's films, but with a Shakespeare twist in the form of soliloquies given in iambic pentameter! These pop culture classic films come to life in a fresh, smart, and fun way in Doescher's hands.
Hardcover; $14.95 Publisher: Quirk Books; ISBN: 9781594747137 |
Virtual Unreality: Just Because the Internet Told You, How Do You Know It's True?
Charles Seife
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 "Digital information, according to Seife in this informative book, influences our actions and alters public dialogue in very subtle and devious ways. Seife, a professor of journalism at New York University, defines virtual unreality as the state of 'living in a world where the real and virtual are no longer completely disentangled,' as data from the Web affect every one of us in a constant, persistent, and unfiltered manner. He discusses Web schemes that can damage reputations, such as the infamous 'sockpuppetry' strategy, using a false identity for deception and gathering information. . . Intense and incisive, Seife's expose of potent tricks on the mesmerizing, overpowering Internet makes us very wary about anything that cannot be verified with our own eyes." - Publisher's WeeklyHardcover; $26.95
Publisher: Viking Books; ISBN:9780670026081
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How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky
Lisa Howorth
|  "At the Toledo Institute of Astronomy, George Dermont is hoping to prove the scientific existence of a Gateway to God. Clear-eyed mathematician Irene Sparks has come to the institute to direct work on its massive superconductor. Imagine their surprise when they fall for each other, then discover that their mothers raised them together and subsequently separated them in an attempt to engineer true love. Just the kind of touchingly offbeat stuff you could expect from the author of Shine Shine Shine, a big debut that was a New York Times Notable Book, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and more." -Library Journal
Hardcover; $25.99 Publisher: St. Martin's Press; ISBN:9781250047021 | |
A Wolf Called Romeo
Nick Jans
|  "Nature photographer and author Jans. . . reflects on a six-year relationship between the citizens of Juneau, Alaska, and an unusually friendly lone black wolf named Romeo. Jans recalls his early meetings with the wolf on Mendenhall Lake. . . Romeo's popularity grew through press coverage and word-of-mouth; he became 'the town's de facto mascot'. . . Jans's story is marred by political strife caused by Alaska's 'controversial wildlife management' practices, with off and on aerial gunning programs targeting wolves which the human residents, 'infused by a free-thinking, old-Alaska egalitarianism,' argely disapproved. Threats to Romeo's survival escalate after a couple near-violent incidents with area dogs forces the Fish and Game agency to consider removing the wolf. . . " -Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $26.00 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN:9780547858197 | |
The Care and Management of Lies: A Novel of the Great War
Jacqueline Winspear
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 ". . . Kezia and Tom Brissenden have been married only a few weeks when Britain declares war on Germany on August 4, 1914. Tom enlists, leaving his town-bred bride in charge of his sprawling Kent farm. His commanding officer is Edmund Hawkes, an aristocratic neighbor whose loneliness is magnified amid the horror of the trenches. Meanwhile, Thea Brissenden, Tom's sister and Kezia's estranged best friend, volunteers as an ambulance driver on the front lines to avoid charges of sedition stemming from her involvement with a pacifist group. Kezia and Tom exchange letters full of love and well-intended deceit concocted to shield the other from anguish, while Edmund and Thea struggle to overcome self-deception and find meaning in a senseless war. . . "- Library JournalHardcover; $26.99
Publisher: Harper; ISBN:9780062220509
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| New Paperbacks | |
Live Bait
Fabio Genovesi
|  "When he isn't in school, which is often, 19-year-old metalhead Fiorenzo works at his father's bait-and-tackle store in Muglione, a sorry little city on the Pisan plain. Not much of note happens therewell, Fiorenzo did lose his right hand in a fireworks mishap when he was 14 and is currently determined that his garage band, Metal Devastation, is going to make it big. Ah, but then he meets 32-year-old Tiziana, who manages the local youth center, which has been taken over by senior citizens, and falls in love. Add Mirko, a young cycling phenomhe's called the Little Champto the mix, and you have a bete noire for Fiorenzo and enough complications to drive him crazy. . . " -Booklist
Paperback; $15.95 Publisher: Other Press; ISBN:9781590516812 |
The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon
Kevin Fedarko
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 "Fearlessness, and possibly foolishness, compelled Kenton Grua and a small crew to launch a refurbished dory, a flat-bottomed fishing boat, named Emerald Mile into the Colorado River 'on the crest of flood tide' late one night in the summer of 1983. . . In this absorbing volume, writer and part-time river guide Fedarko provides an intimate look at Grua's motivations and accomplishments. Grua's wild ride on the Colorado, how it mirrored his mercurial personality, is just one part of Fedarko's story however, the river, which runs through seven states, and the canyon, rich in both geological and political history, prove to be the real protagonists." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $17.00 Publisher: Scribner Book Company; ISBN:9781439159866 | |
Night Film
Marisha Pessl
|  "When the daughter of a notorious film director is found dead in New York, an apparent suicide, investigative reporter Scott McGrath throws himself back into a story that almost ended his career. But now McGrath has his Rosebud. . . so the reporter sets out to determine how Ashley Cordova died and, in so doing, penetrate the heart of darkness that engulfs her reclusive father, Stanislas. Like Pessl's first novel. . . (Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006)), this one expands from a seemingly straightforward mystery into a multifaceted, densely byzantine exploration of much larger issues [like] the nature of truth and illusion as reflected by the elusive Cordova. . ." -Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $18.00 Publisher: Random House Trade; ISBN:9780812979787 | |
Amy Falls Down
Jincy Willett
|  Since Willett's fey, popular novels include a winner of the National Book Award, it is perhaps no surprise that the protagonist of her latest book is a writer. Withdrawn, cranky Amy Gallup hasn't written much lately, but when she clonks her head on a birdbath after tripping in her own backyard, then follows through with a scheduled interview that ends up portraying her wandering thoughts as sheer genius, Amy is suddenly a media hit. And she starts to write. With a reading group guide and lots of publicity.
Paperback; $16.00 Publisher: Picador USA; ISBN:9781250050250 | |
A Good Year for the Roses
Gil McNeil
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 "London-based Molly Taylor, a newly divorced mother of three boys, inherits her late Aunt Helena's manor house and bed-and-breakfast, located on the Devon coast in England. Her inheritance includes caring for her Uncle Bertie, a former navy officer, and his pesky parrot. McNeil. . . weaves together a story of family struggles and of a life/work balance, with a dash of love in this slowly unfolding novel. She uses Helena's rose garden to anchor the story, starting each chapter with a definition of a particular rose. We learn not only how the rose garden thrives after Helena's death, but how Molly and her boys grow and Harrington Hall becomes a welcome part of their lives. . ." - Library JournalPaperback; $15.00
Publisher: Hyperion Books; ISBN: 9781401341916
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New for Young Readers
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Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Splash!
Candace Fleming
Ages 4 to 8
|  "Long-suffering Mr. McGreely, first met in Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! (2002), is back, as are the trio of rabbits intent on ruining his peace and quiet. This time, he's off for a day at the beach, anxious to leave the pesky pufftails behind. But the intrepid bunnies stow away in his car, eager to share in the fun. Once there, Mr. McGreely goes about his entertainments, gathering shells, flying a kite, and riding the waves, only to be outdone by the bunnies at every turn. But when it comes time to enter the sand-castle contest, he relents, and, in joining forces, the four are victorious. . ." -Booklist
Hardcover; $16.99 Publisher: Atheneum Books; ISBN:9781416954033 |
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Conversion
Katherine Howe
Young Adult
|  "Fingers are pointed and chaos ensues when a group of high-achieving high school seniors begin exhibiting bizarre behaviors in an all-girls private school located in Danvers, Massachusetts-formerly known as Salem Village. After queen bee Clara Rutherford falls into a seizure at St. Joan's, and her best friends are similarly afflicted, fellow student Colleen Rowley receives anonymous texts that urge her to study Arthur Miller's The Crucible for clues. More girls fall victim to the seizures, and reporters and environmental crusaders descend on Danvers. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health finally declares that the girls are suffering from 'conversion disorder,'. . . But. . . Colleen wonders if supernatural powers may be at play. . . ." -Kirkus Reviews
Paperback; $18.99 Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group; ISBN:9780399167775 |
New Music
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Soundtrack
Begin Again
|  As heard on NPR, Begin Again is the follow-up movie for John Carney, the Irish creator of the smash hit Once. The voices of Begin Again include actors Keira Knightley, James Cordon, and Mark Ruffalo, as well as Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine.
Pop/Rock; $13.95 |
Jayhawks
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 One of the foremost names in alt.country music, the Jayhawks continue to release expanded, re-mastered editions of their classic records. The latest three titles focus on a period when the band began to incorporate more pop production elements with the result of a smoother, more radio-friendly sound. Pop/Rock; $13.95
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Jayhawks
|  Same information as above.
Pop/Rock; $13.95
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Jayhawks
Sound of Lies | |
Same as above.
Pop/Folk; $13.95 
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Old Crow Medicine Show
|  Old Crow Medicine Show became inspired by the old time string band tradition. Years of touring with acts like Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons have encouraged OCMS to add updated elements to their sound for a more relevant effect.
Pop/Folk; $13.95 |
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| Store Events | |
Saturday, July 19 11:30 a.m.
Eric Wayne Dickey
Alex the Ant Goes to the Beach
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis
|  Incorporating adventure and science, Alex the Ant Goes to the Beach is about a young and curious ant named Alex who aspires to be a great scout for Queen Aziza. He dons his sailor suit and eagerly volunteers as a lookout for the beach work crew. Along the way, Alex is warned by Aloysius, the old sea captain, about the dangers that lurk in the world outside the safety of their home called Underwood. This children's picture book introduces young entomologists to the ecology of ants and is a delight to readers of all ages.
Eric Wayne Dickey is a writer and a father. His poetry has been widely published and anthologized. He lives in Oregon with his wife, a K12 science teacher. Together they tend a huge garden and are raising two children. This is his first children's book.
Come for a reading, sing-a-long, and arts and crafts!
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| In the Community | |
Darkside Kickstarter Update:
Brief note to catch everyone up on the Darkside Kickstarter campaign: they made their initial goal of $45,000 for the new projector! Congrats, Darkside! The campaign still has some days left, and any additional donations will go towards further improvements/technological innovations necessary for the theater.
Darkside Showtimes for 7/4-7/10
-The Grand Budapest Hotel
-R Wes Anderson once again using ornate visual environments to explore deeply emotional ideas.
-Chef-R A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise.
-Snowpiercer-R In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off all life on the planet except for a lucky few that boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system evolves.
-Obvious Child-R A twenty-something comedienne's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront the realities of independent womanhood for the first time.
Literary Events
Random Reviews at the Corvallis Public Library:
We are taking a break starting July, but will return in September. Stay tuned for more info in the next couple months. Have a nice summer break!
Opportunities
- The Crazy-shorts! Contest Online submission deadline: July 31, 2014From July 1st to July 31st, Crazyhorse will accept entries for our annual short-short fiction contest. Submit three short-shorts of up to 500 words each through our website. 1st place will win $1,000 and publication; 3 runners-up will be announced. All entries will be considered by our editors for publication, and the $15 entry fee includes a one-year subscription to Crazyhorse.
- 2014 NANO Prize Online submission deadline: September 1, 2014 The sixth annual NANO Prize, awarding publication and $500 to a previously unpublished work of fiction 300 words or fewer, is open and this year's contest will be judged by Kim Chinquee! All entrants will receive a one-year subscription to NANO Fiction and winners will be announced in mid-September. Visit website here
- Black Warrior Review Contest Online Submission deadline: September 1, 2014 announcing Black Warrior Review's Tenth-Annual Contest for Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry! Grand prize in each genre: $1000 and publication; Runner-up prize in each genre: $100 and publication. Cost to enter: $20 (comes with one-year subscription). This year we are honored to have Richard Siken (Poetry), Lily Hoang (Fiction/Prose), and Kiese Laymon (Nonfiction) as our guest judges. The entry fee covers one 7,000 word fiction or nonfiction submission, or one packet of up to three poems. Send us your best work today; we can't wait to read it! Visit our website here.
- The Coniston Prize from Radar Poetry Online deadline: September 1, 2014
The first annual Coniston Prize will be open to submissions from July 1 to September 1, 2014! Radar Poetry's annual, endowed prize recognizes an outstanding group of poems by a woman writing in English. This year's judge is the poet Mary Biddinger. The winner will be awarded $1,000, and her work will be featured in the October issue of Radar. Up to ten finalists will also be awarded publication. The entry fee is $15. For details or to submit a manuscript, please visit here. We look forward to reading your work!
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Store News
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Awards
|  Congratulations to Donna Tartt and Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2014 winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction! Donna Tartt won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for her novel The Goldfinch, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Doris Kearns Goodwin won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction for her book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, published by Simon & Schuster. For more information about the award in general, visit the American Library Association's website here. Locus Award Winners have been announced: Congrats to the winners for their contributions to the sci-fi/fantasy world! Some of the titles and authors include Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey (Science fiction novel), The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (Fantasy novel), and The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente (YA book). For the complete list, visit the Locus website here. |
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Independents Week Display
|  Check out our AWESOME Independents display this week! Set up just in time for the Fourth of July, you can come down to your local, independent bookstore and flaunt a little patriotism while shopping for excellent indie press books. Us booksellers firmly believe in the independent writing, publishing, and business worlds, and you can read each of our philosophies on the display, and then choose from some indie press titles underneath. For example: The Perseids by Corvallis's own Karen Holmberg with University of North Texas Press; The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley with Melville House Publishing; The Hypothetical Girl by Elizabeth Cohen with Other Press; and, of course, MORE! |
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Waldo Books
|  Don't forget that the search for Waldo is officially ON starting this week. Come by the store and get your Waldo passport to begin finding Waldo (and sometimes Woof!) throughout Corvallis downtown businesses. You'll want the coupons and raffle prizes that we're offering after you get upwards of 10-15 stamps. Plus, we've got an inspirational Waldo book display near our Young Readers section. Some of the titles our coupons are good for include Where's Waldo: The Wonder Book, Where's Waldo in Hollywood?, and Where's Waldo Now?, all by Martin Handford. Check the store out for further details! |
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Rebecca Gordon Recap (Grass Roots Reading)
|  Our Rebecca Gordon reading last Thursday on her book Mainstreaming Torture was an illuminating experience, and we had a real nice turnout of fifteen people! This reading, co-sponsored by Veterans for Peace, touched heavily on the topics that Professor Gordon lectures on and researches for at the University of San Francisco. With our audience she discussed the topics featured in her book concerning the state of torture in our society, and how it is handled by the U.S. military and prisons, as well as how foreign terrorist organizations implement such tactics. The talk was realistic, straight-forward, and powerful. We think such politically poignant insights are important, and we were happy to host such a reading. |
Jigsaw Puzzle!!!
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|  Click here for this week's jigsaw! |
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Grass Roots Reading Group
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Tuesday, August 5 6:30-8:00 p.m.
The Miniature Wife: And Other Stories
Manuel Gonzales
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis
|  Join Neé as she leads the August Reading Group with The Miniature Wife by Manuel Gonzales.
In the tradition of George Saunders and Aimee Bender, an exuberantly imagined debut that chronicles an ordinary world marked by unusual phenomena. The 18 stories of Gonzales's exhilarating first book render the fantastic commonplace and the ordinary extraordinary, in prose that thrums with energy and shimmers with beauty. "It's rare that a debut author is also a seasoned storyteller, but this is the case with Gonzales, whose first book is a deeply imaginative collection of short stories. With commendable skill, Gonzales seamlessly blends the real and the fantastic, resulting in a fun and provocative collection that readers will want to devour. . ." -Publishers Weekly Paperback; $16.00 Publisher: Riverhead Books; ISBN: 9781594632273 On sale for $13.60 until August 4, 2014. |
| Night Stands | |
Erika
Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Romero
|  Veganomicon was one of my first vegan cookbooks and is still one of my favorites! There are so many interesting and innovative recipes in it. The curried carrot dip has been a staple in my rotation since I first had it. The chickpea cutlets are a kind of dough "meat" that make the best vegan hot wings! I have made many meals from Valentines Day to Thanksgiving and even Christmas dinner from this delicious cookbook. If you love veggies and are looking for new ways to eat them, give this book a try, its pages are filled with great ideas!
Paperback; $19.95 Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books; ISBN:9780738213316 |
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Claire
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (Revised)
Bill McKibben
|  Bill McKibben's newest book takes the traditional climate change narrative and turns it sideways. In Eaarth, he examines the severity of current climate events, and shows us that our world has been irreversibly changed. However, rather than forsaking hope, he offers us a way to live in this new eaarth, as a part of communities that can form, strengthen, and adapt. I have read many books on climate, and this is the most realistic one, backed up by facts, while still offering a way forward.
Paperback; $15.99 Publisher: Griffin; ISBN:9780312541194 |
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Kendall
The Open Ocean
Francisco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais
|  This is the book I have been waiting my entire life for. Or rather, I wish that I had always had this book. Told through the delightful fun of colorful flaps to lift, this book gives a wonderful introduction to life in ocean, spanning from invertebrates to the largest creature the world has ever known, the blue whale. Beautifully illustrated, it's the perfect gift for ocean lovers young and old.
Hardcover; $24.99 Publisher: Chronicle Books; ISBN:9781452127019 |
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Neé
The Sasquatch Escape (Imaginary Veterinary #01)
Suzanne Selfors
|  Side note to include: This week, on my adventures in reading kids' books for the Grass Roots Summer Reading Challenge, I read the first book in a new fantasy and adventure series. I'm only on my second genre of the challenge, but we've already had kids at the store who are nearly done with all ten - keep up the good work guys!
Actual review: I was kept on the edge of my seat while reading The Sasquatch Escape (ages 7 -12). Ben and Pearl's action-packed adventures begin in the seemingly boring town of Buttonville; but, Buttonville is anything but boring! Here, imaginary creatures roam the streets sorting people's garbage by color! I was constantly wondering what was next: what was going to happen to the baby dragon or the escaped Sasquatch, and who was eating all of those thousands of kiwi-flavored jelly beans? Want to uncover the mysteries of Buttonville with Ben and Pearl? Then get reading, books 2 and 3 in the series are already out!
Hardcover; $15.99 Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; ISBN: 9780316209342 |
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Grass Roots Books and Music
227 SW 2nd Street
Corvallis OR 97333
541-754-7668
Send us an email. Visit our website: www.grassrootsbookstore.com 
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