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| Jan. 29, 2015 |
Good afternoon, Readers!
This week looks promising with Samantha Shannon's newest book, Dengue Fever's album The Deepest Lake, and recently slotted author readings here at the store. Swing by to see our new Valentine's Day display (details below), and check out our night stands this week if you're searching for some highly recommended fiction reads.
Have a great weekend!
~Jenny |
New Hardcovers
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[Non-Fiction]
 "Gerontologist Pillemer shares findings from his survey of 700 people in 'very long marriages' (the shortest here have lasted three decades, the longest, more than five) for tips on maintaining successful long-term relationships. The respondents, charmingly called 'the experts' by Pillemer, share 'storehouses of invaluable lived experience' on areas including questions to ask yourself before settling down, domestic violence, and late-in-life sex. . . The benefits of such a comprehensive study incorporating so many years of experience should be ample, for newlyweds and contemporaries of the respondents alike. The advice is astute, fresh, and well selected by Pillemer." -Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $25.95
Publisher: Hudson Street Press; ISBN: 9781594631542
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[Non-Fiction]
 "World-renowned British tenor Bostridge offers here his take on Franz Schubert's famed 'Winterreise (Winter's Journey)', a cycle of 24 songs composed near the end of the composer's tragically brief life (1797-1828) and set to poems of Wilhelm Muller. The format is a kind of 'primer' that presents each song, including the original German and the English translation, on facing pages. As the Oxford-educated author explains, the songs, which tend toward the dark and brooding, roughly chronicle the wanderings and moods of an apparently rejected lover, a popular 19th-century theme. . . Bostridge ranges widely and with great ease over cultural and historical terrain to provide a context for the songs. . ." -Library Journal
Hardcover; $29.00
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780307961631
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[Fiction]
 "Shannon's voyant hero, young dreamwalker Paige Mahoney, has miraculously escaped from a penal colony run by the Rephaim, bloodthirsty yet regal creatures from the Netherworld, and now reluctantly resumes her position as second-in-command to mime-lord Jaxson Hill. Even though she is London's most-wanted fugitive, Paige refuses to play it safe, courting danger repeatedly as a freedom fighter facing insane odds. Absurdly brave and fantastically gifted psychically and physically, Paige is a scrappy, righteous, and strategic warrior. Between battles, she commissions the writing of a penny dreadful about the Rephaim, a clever variation on the pamphlets used in revolutions past, and risks all by deciding to trust Warden, her former Rephaim captor. . ." -Booklist, Starred Review
Hardcover; $30.00
Publisher: Scribner Book Company; ISBN: 9781451693669
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[Non-Fiction]
 "Experiences of patients, work of clinicians, and stories about scientists form the core of Doidge's claims about the success of neuroplastic healing for a multitude of brain disorders: stroke, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, and autism. These treatments usually combine mental activity, heightened awareness, and various forms of energy (light, motion, sound, electricity, vibration). Readers learn about a man with Parkinson's disease whose symptoms improve with a regimen of fast walking and concentration, a surgeon who uses low-intensity laser therapy to treat brain injuries and rewire the brain, and a team of researchers who help a man suffering from multiple sclerosis by having him use a device that is placed in the mouth and stimulates the tongue. . . " -Booklist
Hardcover; $29.95
Publisher: Viking Books; ISBN: 9780670025503
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[Fiction]
 "Vaillant, the author of two widely praised and best-selling nonfiction works, The Golden Spruce (2005) and The Tiger (2010), turns to fiction with this searing story of an illegal immigrant abandoned in the Arizona desert. After the truck breaks down and the guides go off in search of help, Hector uses his unconscious friend Cesar's cell phone to text and send sound files to AnniMac, the only person in Cesar's directory with a U.S. number. Hector details the nightmarish, rapidly deteriorating condition of the 14 Mexicans trapped with him and talks about his life in rural Oaxaca. . ." -Booklist
Hardcover; $27.95
Publisher: Doubleday Books; ISBN: 9780385538596
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New Paperbacks
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[Non-Fiction]
 "When Mead first read George Eliot's Middlemarch, a masterwork of sympathetic philosophy, as a young woman in an English seaside town, it became her polestar. A New Yorker staff writer and author of One Perfect Day (2007), Mead now explains why in this heady blend of memoir, biography, and literary criticism. She performs an exhilarating, often surprising close reading of the novel, which Eliot began writing at age 51 in 1870. And she takes a fresh look at Eliot's daringly unconventional life, visiting the writer's homes and casting light not only on the author's off-the-charts intellect but also her valor in forthrightly addressing complex moral issues, cutting sense of humor, large, [and] perceptive generosity. . ."
-Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $15.00
Publisher: Broadway Books; ISBN: 9780307984777
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[Non-Fiction]
 The author of the best-selling Harry Hole series now gives us an electrifying tale of vengeance set amid Oslo's brutal hierarchy of corruption. Sonny Lofthus has been in prison for almost half his life: serving time for crimes he didn't commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin--and a stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his Buddha-like absolution. Years earlier Sonny's father, a corrupt cop, took his own life rather than face exposure. Now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest--all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed.
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780345807243
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[Fiction]
 " Vanity Fair contributing editor Callahan's deliciously stylish, retro first novel, set in Manhattan's Barbizon Hotel for Women, circa 1955, stems from an article he wrote about this legendary charm school and dormitory that sheltered many future stars, including Grace Kelly. Callahan's covertly rebellious protagonist, Laura Dixon, a Connecticut debutante with literary pretensions, has a Kelly look but a Katharine Hepburn flair for fetchingly awkward frankness. She moves into the Barbizon after winning a coveted summer appointment as a college editor for Mademoiselle, following the footsteps of Sylvia Plath. . . As each woman becomes entangled with mysterious, even dangerous men, Callahan suavely combines literary finesse and pulp fiction to create a. . . tale of romance and tragedy." - Booklist
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Mariner Books; ISBN: 9780544313545
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[Fiction]
 "As a child, Lee Lien loved to imagine that her mother's gold brooch originally belonged to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and had been left behind in a Saigon cafe by Laura's daughter, Rose, many years ago. Now unable to find a job after graduating with a Ph.D. in literature, Lee, the American-born daughter of Vietnamese immigrant parents, returns home to Chicago to help out with the family restaurant. . .When her brother Sam mysteriously disappears, leaving behind a cryptic note attached to the brooch, Lee begins looking into whether there's any truth to her belief that the brooch's original owner was Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Penguin Books; ISBN: 9780143126225
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New For Young Readers
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[Fiction]
All Ages
 The ultimate Valentine's gift -- a compact, foldout, pop-up edition of the beloved story, tucked in a beautiful cloth-covered case. Slip it out of its case, open the accordion folds, and try to resist a smile as Big Nutbrown Hare literally stretches his arms way up to show how big his love is, or bends down to give Little Nutbrown Hare a good-night kiss.
Hardcover; $9.99
Publisher: Candlewick Press; ISBN: 9780763674465
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[Fiction]
Ages 2 to 4
 "'Tis the season for all things monstrous but not in Cutesville, Home of the Fluffy. Bright's hairy, snaggle-toothed monster feels out of place amid the town's cutesy critters, so he packs his binoculars and guidebooks (The Rough Guide to the Big Wide World and Making Friends for Dummies, among others) and hits the road. . . Monster's appearance doesn't match his sensitive disposition, and he yearns for someone to love him just the way he is. Bright's rough-textured print technique--think degraded photocopy--suits our scruffy little hero to a T, while the bright, saturated color palette of reds and purples against pale and pretty backgrounds reflects his optimistic nature. . ." -Booklist
Board Books; $7.99
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; ISBN: 9780374301866
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by Jory John and Mac Barnett
[Fiction]
Ages 8-12
 "Miles Murphy isn't happy about moving to small Yawnee Valley. . . or leaving his friends, but he is determined to be Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy's number one prankster, the title he proudly held at his old school. He is facing serious competition, however, when an anonymous and, Miles admits, inspired trickster delays the first day of school by somehow blocking the school's entryway with the principal's car. Worse, aptly named Principal Barkin blames Miles and pairs him with goody-two-shoes Niles Sparks. . Undaunted, Miles focuses on achieving premiere prankster status, but he is continually thwarted. Thus begins a rivalry of pranking one-upmanship, but perhaps an alliance is better and ultimately rewarding in multiple ways. . ." -Booklist
Hardcover; $13.95
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; ISBN: 9781419714917
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New Music
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Events at Grass Roots
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Thursday, February 12, at 7 p.m.
Grass Roots Books and Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
The poems in Karen McPherson's Skein of Light pull and gather toward horizons of reflection in language that repeatedly reveals what it can and cannot do. The poet maps landscapes of memory where sharp-edged questions disturb the stillness and where the personal and human are threaded through a natural world made legible in flights of birds, bending grasses, and rock striations.
Karen McPherson is the author of the chapbook Sketching Elise and the 2014 volume of poems Skein of Light. A professor of French at the University of Oregon, she has also published two scholarly monographs and a book-length translation of the poetic essays of Quebec poet Louise Warren. 
Tim Shaner's Picture X is a journey through the "poethics" of nature writing in a time marked by the catastrophes of war and impending environmental collapse. Rather than heed Thoreau's admonishment to leave the domesticated world behind on one's walks through the Wild, Shaner does the opposite, bringing the schizophrenic chatter of postmodernity into the built environment of the park.
Tim Shaner is the author of Picture X (Airlie Press 2014). He has an MA in Creative Writing from Antioch University (London) and a Ph.D. from SUNY-Buffalo's Poetics Program. From 2008-2014, Shaner curated A-New Poetry Reading Series @ DIVA in Eugene. He teaches writing at Lane Community College.
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LBCC Writers' Workroom 10th Anniversary Celebration
Thursday, February 19, at 7 p.m.
Grass Roots Books and Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Since the inception of The Writers' Workroom in 2004, many stories critiqued in the LBCC Benton Center class are now award-winning and/or published. Instructor C. Lill Ahrens is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her class by emceeing a gala reading by several of the award-winning, published authors: C. Lill Ahrens, Lois Jean Bousquet, Lisa Burchett, Michael Coolen, Harry Demarest, Gary Gibson, Linda Hamner, Ken Holt, Valerie Lake, Genny Lynch, Lois Rosen, Dee Roy, Patricia Smith, and Dick Weinman.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 1/30/-2/5
-Awake: The Life Of Yogananda -NR An unconventional biography about an Indian Swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s.
-Oscar Nominated Shorts-NR Live Action and Animated!
-The Theory Of Everything -PG-13 Part biopic, part love story, The Theory of Everything rises on James Marsh's polished direction and the strength of its two leads. Winner of two Golden Globes.
-Foxcatcher -R A chilling true crime drama, Foxcatcher offers Steve
Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum a chance to shine Nominated for three Golden Globes.
-Whiplash -R Intense, inspiring, and well-acted, Whiplash is a brilliant effort from director Damien Chazelle and a riveting vehicle for stars J.K. Simmons (Oscar Nom) and Miles Teller. Oscar Nom for Best Picture.
-Sip & Spell: A Spelling Bee for Adults Corvallis-Benton County Public Library presents Sip & Spell: a Spelling Bee for Adults, hosted by Mike McInally, Editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Old World Deli in Corvallis.
Do you spell words like synecdoche in your sleep? Maybe you don't care what pococurante is, but do you definitely know how to spell it? Then don't miss Sip & Spell, a spelling bee for adults age 18 and over and a fundraising event for the Friends of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. We'll be pulling all of the big words out of the 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Advance registration is encouraged by calling the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library at (541) 766-6793 or emailing askalibrarian@corvallisoregon.gov. Participants can also register on the day of the event between 6:15 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Old World Deli. There is a $5 registration fee that must be paid by cash, check or credit card on the day of the event during the 6:15 - 7:00 p.m. registration period.
-Crossroads International Film Festival Starts Sun, February 1, 1 p.m. - 9 p.m. (Weekly on Sunday, until Feb 22, 2015) Darkside Cinema, 215 SW 4th St, Corvallis, OR The 9th Annual Crossroads International Film Festival features 6 engaging films from around the world. The festival is every Sunday in February at the Darkside Cinema. Screenings are usually 1pm, 4pm and 7 pm. Admission is $6 per ticket; discounted 6-ticket Passports are available for $30. All proceeds support Crossroads International Programs including the Conversation School for Women, Free Three-Day Home Stays for international students and various events throughout the year. For film listings and complete information go here.
-"De-extinction and Synthetic Biology: Rescue or Boondoggle?"Thursday, February 5, 2-4:30 p.m.
MU Journey Room
Horning Endowment in the Humanities will host an interactive panel on de-extinction:
Presenters include: Susan Haig, ornithologist, USGS/ OSU Fisheries and Wildlife; Luis Campos, Associate Professor of History of Science, University of New Mexico; Carrie Friese, Lecturer in Sociology, London School of Economics and Political Science; and George Estreich, writer, blogger for Biopolitical Times.
-Eco-Film Festival Fri, February 6, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. 223 SW 2nd Street Odd Fellows Hall Corvallis, Oregon; The Eco-Film Festival takes place every Friday in February at Odd Fellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St. (above New Morning Bakery). Doors open at 6:30pm, and the program begins at 7pm. Snacks from New Morning Bakery and beer from Oregon Trail Brewery will be available for purchase. Local experts will be on hand after each film for a brief panel discussion and audience Q & A. A suggested donation of $5 - $10 per person is requested.
2015 Eco-Film Festival Movies
February 6 Open Sesame: An innovative look at the issues surrounding the ownership of seeds and the people who are fighting to keep them free. February 13 Sand Wars: A riveting documentary about one of the most widely used but under considered resources in the world. February 20 Bringing It Home: A critical look at the possibilities and pitfalls of industrial hemp in America. February 27 What Rivers Are Worth: Short films from the Willamette River and beyond with local director Jeremy Monroe.
-David Wood, "Mission to Earth"
Land Art and Sustainability
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
The way we are living is unsustainable. We cannot go on like this. If art allows us to see things anew, can it also help reshape our dwelling on earth? David Wood will look at the legacy of earth art, and discuss his own IntraTerrestrials project and other recent work.
David Wood is W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, a well-known scholar in Continental and Environmental Philosophy, and in the last year also an appreciated environmental artist who combines his philosophical perspective with environmental and land art.
-Calling for 2015 Molly Prize Submissions
; Deadline: March 9, 2015; From January 1 through March 9, 2015, The Texas Observer and the Texas Democracy Foundation will be accepting entries for The MOLLY National Journalism Prize. The MOLLY is an annual national print or online journalism award in honor of Molly Ivins with a $5,000 prize and two honorable mentions of $1,000. The prize will be awarded for an article or series of up to four short, related articles or columns telling the stories that need telling, challenge conventional wisdom, focus on civil liberties and/or social justice, and embody the intelligence, deep thinking and/or passionate wit that marked Molly's. Submit work here.
-Jabberwock Review Prizes in Fiction and Poetry; Deadline: March 15, 2015; Jabberwock Review invites submissions to the Nancy D. Hargrove Editors' Prizes in Fiction and Poetry. Each winner (one for fiction and one for poetry) receives $500 and publication in Jabberwock Review. All finalists are considered for publication. The entry fee of $15 includes a one-year subscription, beginning with the prize issue. Simultaneous submissions welcome. Please go to www.jabberwock.org.msstate.edu for more information and to submit your work online.
-The Orison Poetry Prize; Deadline: February 15, 2015; Orison Books offers $1,500 and publication in hardcover, paperback, and e-book formats for a poetry collection. Submit a manuscript of 60-100 pages by February 15, 2015. Entry fee: $25. Judge: C. Dale Young. Anyone with a close personal relationship with or who has ever been a student of the judge is ineligible. All finalists considered for publication. Electronic submissions preferred; hard copy submissions may be sent to the following address with a check for the entry fee made out to Orison Books: The Orison Poetry Prize, PO Box 8385, Asheville, NC 28814. For complete guidelines, go to here.
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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Tracy Daugherty and Wayne Harrison
Friday, January 30, 7:30 p.m.
OSU Valley Library Rotunda, Corvallis, OR
 Tracy Daugherty was born and raised in Midland, Texas. He is the author of four novels, four short story collections, a book of personal essays, as well as biographies of Donald Barthelme and Joseph Heller. His stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Paris Review online, McSweeney's, Boulevard, Chelsea, The Georgia Review, Triquarterly, The Southern Review, and many other journals. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Bread Loaf, and the Vermont Studio Center. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters and PEN, he is a four-time winner of the Oregon Book Award. At Oregon State University, he helped found the Masters of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing, and is now Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing.  Before working as a corrections officer in Rutland, Vermont, Wayne Harrison was an auto mechanic for six years in Waterbury, Connecticut. A first-generation college student, he began in his mid twenties as a criminal justice major before getting turned on to creative writing by mentor and friend Jeffrey Greene. He later received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His fiction has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered. His short stories appear in Best American Short Stories 2010, The Atlantic, Narrative Magazine, McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Crazyhorse, The Sun, Salon.com, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, FiveChapters, New Letters and other magazines. One story was Notable in Best American 2009 and one received special mention in Pushcart Prizes 2012. His fiction has earned a Maytag fellowship, an Oregon Literary fellowship and a Fishtrap Writing Fellowship. He teaches writing at Oregon State University.
Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
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Elizabeth Kolbert
Monday, February 2, 2015 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
LaSells Stewart Center Austin Auditorium
875 SW 26th Street, Corvallis, OR
 Elizabeth Kolbert, Heinz Award-winning staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (2006), comes to OSU to discuss her new book, The Sixth Extinction. By burning fossil fuels, Homo sapiens are "reassembling the biosphere," rapidly changing the atmosphere, the oceans, and the climate, forcing potentially millions of species into extinction. Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives.
Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
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Store News
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Valentine's Day 
The holiday renowned for candy hearts, chocolate kisses, and little notes of affection is upon us. While we have tons of excellent Valentine's Day cards to choose from, why not step a little to the side of expectation and gift your significant other with a book to go along with the card? Our latest display showcases the age-old, thought-provoking subject of love in a variety of ways with titles like Love Illuminated: Exploring Life's Most Mystifying Subject (With the Help of 50,000 Strangers) by editor of the New York Times column Modern Love, Daniel Jones. Or recent Corvallis-visitor Cheryl Strayed's national bestseller, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love from Dear Sugar. And the quiet passion of Japan's most celebrated poetry form, the haiku, in Love Haiku: Japanese Poems of Yearning, compiled by Patricia Donegan! However you end up celebrating your loved ones will be magical, but consider dressing it up with some literature like these titles.
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Jigsaw
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Reading Group Selection
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[Fiction]
Tuesday, February 3 6:30-8:00 p.m.
 Join Neé as she leads the February Book Group with Sarah Jio's The Look of Love. "Seattle florist Jane is doing work she loves and has a close set of friends and a faithful canine companion named Sam. But her quiet life changes when she receives a card in the mail from a mysterious woman named Colette, who claims not only to have been present at Jane's birth but also to know the source of Jane's lifelong vision problems. When Jane pays Colette a visit, she is given a task: discover the six forms of love by the full moon following her thirtieth birthday. If she fails to do so, Jane will be immune from love for the rest of her life. When she meets Cam, a science writer for Time, they instantly click. But when Cam's writing takes a deeply personal turn, Jane questions her ability to recognize any kind of love at
all. . ." -Booklist
Regular Price: $16.00
On sale for: $13.60
Until Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015
Publisher: Plume Books
ISBN: 9780142180532
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Night Stands
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Jenny
by Miranda July
[Fiction]
I am consistently impressed by the creativity, pathos, hilarity, and edginess July brings to all her artistic endeavors, but especially to this novel. You will not read another like it--the story of a middle-aged woman searching for her spiritual soul mate reincarnated in the bodies of babies she does not know, while being steadily obsessed with an older man named Philip. When her bosses' daughter, Clee, unexpectedly comes to live with her, a uniquely antagonistic and unlikely bond develops between the two foes. Quirky without being contrived, July pulls off truly amazing writing in this book.
Hardcover; Price: $25.00
Publisher: Scribner Book Company; ISBN: 9781439172568
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Adam
by Haruki Murakami
[Fiction]
I read Haruki Murikami's story-length book, The Strange Library, in one sitting while sitting in a dark paneled library-like pub. When I finished the book, some combination of Murikami's signature dreamlike style, the highly stylized images that accompany the story, my location, and a pint of micro-brew, left my head swimming. I felt like I had just immerged from a dream myself. Trying to explain the story to my companion was like trying to explain a dream that is already fading. I knew all the pieces, but the dream logic makes no sense outside of itself. I could tell you it is about a boy trapped by an evil librarian, that it reads like a modern fairytale, but that barely covers it. Ultimately you just have to experience it for yourself.
Paperback; Price: $18.00
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780385354301
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Linda
by Barbara Kingsolver
[Fiction]
Barbara Kingsolver's novel, set in the Congo during its fight for independence from Belgium, resounds with multi-layered excellence. Seen through the eyes of the wife and four daughters of a fanatic American minister, the daily life of their mission is chronicled in the different chapters by each. Kingsolver has written each section brilliantly, capturing the differences of character and colloquialism of each family member through their narrative, all the while moving the storyline rapidly forward. Such pristine writing is a shame to miss, and I regret not having read this fine book earlier.
Paperback; Price: $15.99
Publisher: Harper Perennial; ISBN: 9780060786502
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