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| May 7, 2015 |
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Hello, Readers,
We hope you enjoyed the literary revelry at Independent Bookstore Day! We know we did -- check out some of the highlights on our Facebook page.
With spring in full swing, have a look at the vast and varied lineup of author events below -- everything from post-apocalyptic survival strategies to dream interpretation to Oregon native Molly Gloss! Celebrate the paperback release of Falling From Horses (a staff favorite from Sandy) and get your copy signed at Troubadour Music Center.
New on our shelves this week: experience another historical journey with David McCullough, take a bite out of the food industry with Mark Bittman, and go on a trip down memory lane with Harper Lee in The Mockingbird Next Door, out now in paperback. See our Reading Group pick for June, and latest store news for last-minute Mother's Day gifts.
Happy reading!
~ Marissa
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New Hardcovers
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by David McCullough
[Non-Fiction]
". . .Orville and Wilbur Wright will always be best remembered by the general public for December 17, 1903, the day at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, when the brothers flew, for the first time, a heavier-than-air vehicle. . .McCullough offers an interesting portrait of their youth in Dayton, Ohio, that also serves as an examination of daily life in post-Civil War Middle America [as] their interest in the possibility of human flight soon became an obsession for them. . .This is an outstanding saga of the lives of two men who left such a giant footprint on our modern age." - Booklist, Starred Review
Hardcover; $30.00
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 9781476728742
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by Sarah McCoy
[Fiction]
 When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad's leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings, a calling she embraces after learning she can't bear children. . .And in the present, Eden, a modern woman desperate to conceive a child with her husband, moves to an old house in the suburbs and discovers the remains of an Underground Railroad doll with an extraordinary past of secret messages, danger and deliverance.
Hardcover; $25.00
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY); ISBN: 9780385348904
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by Willie Nelson
[Non-Fiction]
 "Picking up where he left off in 2012 ( Roll me Up and Smoke Me When I Die), Nelson shares intimate and entertaining details of his life behind the guitar, the ups and downs of his marriages, his infamous encounter with the IRS, and his deep love of making music. . .Nelson spent his early years as a disc jockey, getting to know the music industry from outside the studio. . .[He] offers a warm, friendly, and deeply reflective glimpse behind the making of most of his albums. . .Reading Nelson's narrative is like sitting on the front porch chatting with an old friend. " - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $30.00
Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316403559
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by Mark Bittman
[Non-Fiction]
"Bittman ( How to Cook Everything Fast). . .in this overview of contemporary food-related concerns. . . [lectures] on cruelty to farm animals, the use of antibiotics and pesticides, worker rights, the dangers of added sugar, and insufficient government oversight. . .His complaints about what he calls a 'broken' food system are consistently balanced with viable solutions; his resounding message ('eat real food'). . .supports his overall goal of human health and agricultural sustainability. Bittman's compelling essays are a call to action and a reminder to readers that the future of food, and of the planet, is in their own hands." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Pam Krauss Books; ISBN: 9780804186544
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by Joanne M. Harris
[Fiction]
"Harris reinterprets [Norse mythology] from the point of view of Loki, evoking the voice of a narcissistic celebrity memoir while retaining a timeless folktale aesthetic. Loki emerges as Wildfire from the realm of Chaos to rescue, trick, and infuriate Odin and the inhabitants of Asgard. The troublemaker antihero narrates the personality flaws of the gods, gives post-facto justifications for his own actions, and admonishes the reader to 'never trust anyone'. . .Those familiar with the traditional stories will find Harris's approach knowledgeable and respectful but fresh enough to be much more than a modernized retelling . . ." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $25.99
Publisher: Saga Press; ISBN: 9781481449465
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New Paperbacks
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by Haruki Murakami
[Fiction]
 "In high school, Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a 'perfect community' of five best friends. Each had a color attached to their family names -- red, blue, white, black -- except for Tsukuru, rendering him 'colorless.' After Tsukuru begins college in Tokyo, he's brutally excised without explanation. Sixteen years later, he's a successful train station engineer living a comfortable life still in Tokyo. Contentment, however, eludes him. . . He's on the verge of his most significant relationship, but his lover warns he 'need[s] to come face-to-face with the past' in order to consider a future. With Facebook and Google as guides, his pilgrimage will take him home and as far as a Finnish lakeside. . . " - Library Journal
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780804170123
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by Molly Gloss
[Fiction]
 "Hollywood glamour has no place in the rough-and-tumble cowboy movies being churned out by studios in the late 1930s. That's discovered by Bud Frazer, a young man from a ranching family looking to make his way as a stunt rider and, in the process, distance himself from personal tragedy. On the bus ride there, he strikes up what would become a lifelong friendship with an aspiring screenwriter. What follows are challenges for both Bud and his new friend Lily as they try to make their dreams reality. . ." - Booklist
Paperback; $14.95
Publisher: Mariner Books; ISBN: 9780544484030
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by Sue Monk Kidd
[Fiction]
 Sarah Grimke is gifted with her personal handmaid and slave, Handful, on her eleventh birthday, setting their lives on a remarkable journey over the next 35 years. As both strive for a life of their own, they dramatically shape each other's destinies and form a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love. "Inspired by the true story of early-nineteenth-century abolitionist and suffragist Sarah Grimke, Kidd paints a moving portrait of two women inextricably linked by the horrors of slavery. . . While their pain and struggle cannot be equated, both women strive to be set free -- Sarah from the bonds of patriarchy and Southern bigotry, and Handful from the inhuman bonds of slavery." - Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Penguin Books; ISBN: 9780143121701
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by Marja Mills
[Non-Fiction]
 "Harper Lee, author of the national touchstone To Kill a Mockingbird, withdrew from the relentless vortex of fame and never published another book. . .When To Kill a Mockingbird was chosen for One Book, One Chicago in 2001, Chicago Tribune reporter Mills traveled to Lee's Alabama hometown, certain that she would never get anywhere near the author. Instead, Mills found herself living a literary fairy tale, as Alice, Harper's older sister by 15 years, still working as an attorney in her nineties, ushered Mills into their book-filled home. . . When the Lees express their hope that Mills will record their reminiscences and set the record straight, she rents the house next door and devotes herself to listening to tales of the Lee family. . . " - Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Penguin Books; ISBN: 9780143127666
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by Martha Woodroof
[Fiction]
 "Woodroof's charming debut deals with a bizarre paternity case set against the backdrop of a quirky college town. In the span of one week, English professor Tom Putnam's life is upended twice. His. . . wife is killed in a car accident, and he learns that he has a son, the product of a brief affair 10 years ago, who's on his way to visit Tom for a few months according to a letter from Henry's mother. When young Henry arrives, it's immediately apparent, considering his age and race, that Tom can't possibly be his biological father. Even more inexplicable is the fact that Henry's backpack contains one change of clothes and half a million dollars in cash. . . " - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Picador USA; ISBN: 9781250040534
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New For Young Readers
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by Dave Barry
[Fiction]
Ages 8 to 12
 "Check your disbelief at the TSA line for this hilarious jaunt from Miami to Washington, D.C., with the civics students of Culver Middle School. Trouble starts on the airplane, where Wyatt Palmer and friend Matt Diaz notice that some nearby passengers have aerial photos of the White House and a backpack they are reluctant to stow under the seat in front of them. When an electronic device falls out of the bag, Matt pockets it, setting off a chain of events that leads to two kidnappings and an international incident in the Rose Garden involving the President, a foreign dignitary, a dragon kite, an angry cab driver, and more." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $13.99
Publisher Disney-Hyperion; ISBN: 9781484708491
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 "Skater chick Cass has a survival strategy for getting through her sophomore year at her new, preppy high school: blend into the background and don't make any friends. Unfortunately, her plan has already been compromised by an unexpected kiss from popular rich boy Cooper. The two start a secret relationship that's cut short when Cooper's body is discovered behind the school. Cass' world turns topsy-turvy as she wades through her emotions, experiences tensions at school and at home, and tries to solve the murder. Issues of class, prejudice, and trust are at the fore, making this a whodunit for the introspective teen." - Booklist
Paperback; $9.95
Publisher: Running Press Kids; ISBN: 9780762454556
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by James Dean
[Fiction]
Ages 4 to 8
 Everyone's favorite cat shares a collection of his favorite inspirational and feel-good quotes in Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Life. Pete's glass-half-full outlook on life shines through as he adds his fun take on well-known classics attributed to luminaries from Albert Einstein to Confucius to Abraham Lincoln to Shakespeare and more! Fans of Pete the Cat will delight in this amusing look at quotes that are accompanied by Pete's witty responses and Pete illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist James Dean.
Hardcover; $12.99
Publisher: HarperCollins; ISBN: 9780062351357
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New Music
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Events at Grass Roots
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Saturday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
What skills will you need after a global catastrophe? Whether it's the end of oil, an environmental disaster, or something entirely unforeseen, Ana Maria Spagna outlines 100 skills you'll find indispensable for life after the apocalypse. You'll need to know how to barter, perform basic first aid, preserve food, cut your own hair, clean a chimney, navigate by the stars, stitch a wound, darn socks, and sharpen blades.
Ana Maria Spagna lives in Stehekin, Washington, a remote community in the North Cascades. After working many years on backcountry trail crews, she now teaches at Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. She's the author of three previous books: Now Go Home, Potluck, and Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus, and the forthcoming Reclaimers.
Marie Friend
Wednesday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
 Dreams: Mirrors Of Your Soul is a fascinating journey into all the many facets of dreaming; from Astral Flying to Things That Go Bump In The Night, this book is full of 'corridors,' leading you to your Inner Knowledge of Self, that are waiting to be explored. Not only does Dreams lead you by the hand into understanding your dreams, but the author validates your personal dream world with actual proof of this fact.
Marie Friend was born and raised in England within a family environment that considered that anything paranormal was perfectly normal. Her maternal great-grandparents were Welsh gypsies and her Mother had psychic abilities. Marie has had precognitive dreams for as long as she can remember.
Kathleen Cremonesi
and Danuta Pfeiffer
Thursday, May 28, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Kathleen Cremonesi knew early on she wanted to be different. Determined to avoid following in her mother's footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, she takes a job as a dancer in an Italian circus and, working her way up, becomes an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. Kathleen bonds with the exotic animals which bring her a peace she has never known. And when she stumbles into the arms of Stefano, the sexy elephant keeper, she finds a man who understands her wild spirit.
Kathleen Cremonesi lives west of Eugene, Oregon, with her husband. She once had the honor of volunteering at a Thai elephant sanctuary, which she still supports through charitable contributions. Kathleen enjoys traveling the world, growing her own food, and sharing great meals and good wine with family and friends.
Chiseled: A Memoir of Identity, Duplicity, and Divine Wine is a story of navigating identities through a remarkable life. Danuta Pfeiffer writes of an unwed teenage mother escaping to the tundra of Alaska; a journalist who inadvertently becomes a television evangelist with a ringside seat to a presidential campaign; a wife caught in a web of deceit and substance abuse. Finally, living happily as a winemaker in Oregon, she finds she must once more reinvent herself, when, during a sojourn to the Carpathian Mountains of Poland, she uncovers long-buried family secrets.
Danuta (Soderman) Pfeiffer was a national radio and television broadcast journalist, columnist, and talk show host for 35 years. Once called the "most visible woman in modern Christianity today," she was known as the popular co-host of The 700 Club with Pat Robertson. Danuta soon returned to her liberal roots expressing her progressive views on radio stations affiliated with Air America.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 5/8-5/13
-Song Of The Sea -PG Boasts narrative depth commensurate with its visual beauty, adding up to an animated saga overflowing with family-friendly riches. 99% on RT!
-Clouds Of Sils Maria -R A veteran actress comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier. Juliette Binoche.
-Welcome To Me -R When Alice Klieg wins the Mega-Millions lottery, she immediately quits her psychiatric meds and buys her own talk show. Kristen Wiig.
-Dior And I -NR From creating photo files rather than sketching dresses, to fitting them on lithe human pipe cleaners who march them across the catwalk, the film is a serious look at a business containing surprising amounts of tension.
Arts/Literary Events
Symposium: "Remaining Wild: Writing Beyond Wally and Ed," with David Gessner, Tim Jensen, and Ana Maria Spagna
Friday, May 8, at 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
112 Memorial Union, Horizon Room
Corvallis, OR
What's with all the "wild" talk lately? Are we obsessed with wild lands and wild minds because, as with most things in nature, we're losing them? Or are we trying to point to an essential but hard-to-define quality of good writing and inspired living? In their novels and non-fiction, as in their lives, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner showed us very different styles and strategies for constructing literatures and lives.
by David Laskin
Reviewed by Jonathan Katz; sponsored by the Friends of the Library
Wednesday, May 13, at 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
Willamette Writers on the River: Monthly Meeting
 Chris Bernard
"Finding My Story, Losing My Voice"
Monday, May 18, at 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, Dennis Hall
114 SW 8th St.
Corvallis, OR
The remarkable story that became Chasing Alaska: A Portrait of the Last Frontier Then and Now all but fell into Bernard's lap. Bernard will talk about his adventures in writing and publishing about the Last Frontier, focusing on the benefits of self-discipline and self-delusion, and the things you should be willing to sacrifice in service to your story.
C.B. Bernard's book is a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Travel Pick and National Geographic top book choice and finalist for a 2014 Oregon Book Award. A career writer for more than two decades, C.B. Bernard has worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist, among other things.
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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David Gessner
OSU Visiting Writer Series
Friday, May 8, at 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. Valley Library Main Floor Rotunda
201 Southwest Waldo Place
Corvallis, OR
David Gessner is the author of the forthcoming book, All the Wild that Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner and the American West, and eight others including Sick of Nature, The Prophet of Dry Hill, and Return of the Osprey, which was chosen by the Boston Globe as one of the top 10 non-fiction books of the year and the Book-of-the-Month club as one of its top books of the year.
Gessner is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and founder of the national literary journal, Ecotone. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
Monday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m.
Corvallis High School - Main Stage Theater
1400 NW Buchanan Ave.
Corvallis, OR
Your toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. Your preschooler refuses to get dressed. Your fifth-grader sulks on the bench instead of playing on the field. Join child development specialist Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, bestselling author of No-Drama Discipline, as she demystifies the meltdowns and aggravation. Enjoy Tina's candid stories, compassion and humor, on topics such as: Disciplining in an effective and loving way, communicating effectively with children when they're irrational, and connecting with your child through clear and consistent limits.
Dr. Bryson is a psychotherapist who conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world. She has written for numerous publications including TIME, Huffington Post, and Redbook. Her New York Times best-selling books include The Whole-Brain Child. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
Molly Gloss Thursday, May 21, at 7:00 pm.
Troubadour Music Center
521 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
 In 1938, 19-year-old ranch hand Bud Frazer sets out for Hollywood with his sights set on becoming a stunt rider in the movies -- and hoping to rub shoulders with the great screen cowboys of his youth. On the long bus ride south, Bud meets Lily Shaw, a bold, outspoken young woman with her heart set on becoming a screenwriter. The two form an unlikely friendship that will carry them through their tumultuous days in Hollywood -- and as it happens, for the rest of their lives.
Molly Gloss is a fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland. Her novel The Jump-Off Creek was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, and a winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award. The Hearts of Horses, published in 2007, is the novel of a young woman breaking horses for several ranchers in Eastern Oregon in the winter of 1917. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
Claire Vaye Watkins
Friday, May 22, at 7:30 p.m.
Valley Library Rotunda
201 Southwest Waldo Place
Corvallis, OR
Battleborn takes its title from the author's home state, Nevada, so nicknamed because it achieved statehood during the Civil War. The stories cover a large chunk of history and a lot of ground, from the failed mining efforts of the forty-niners to Charles Manson's debauchery in his desert enclave (Watkins's father was a Manson associate) to the near-present with a legal brothel known as the Cherry Patch Ranch. Battleborn has won the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. It was named a best book of 2012 by the San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, Time Out New York, Flavorwire, and NPR.org.
A 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and an assistant professor at Bucknell University, Claire is also the co-director, with Derek Palacio, of the Mojave School, a free creative writing workshop for teenagers in rural Nevada. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
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Store News
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Mother's Day
For May 10th, treat Mom to a sweet literary indulgence. Explore how we express love and gratitude to moms everywhere in A Letter to My Mom, read Scott Simon's Unforgettable memoir about a mother and son, and laugh about the joys and trials of motherhood from a scientific perspective in Mama Gone Geek.
  
Moms and their little ones can read together with books about the special bond they share. We especially love Because Your Mommy Loves You, Are You My Mommy, and Besos for Baby: A Little Book of Kisses.
And of course, come take a look at our new gifts in the store -- from coffee mugs for readers to bath soaps and salts for ultimate relaxation!
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Mother's Day Cookies
Mother's Day Ischler Cookies
Community Supported Baking
In store pick-up: Friday, May 8th
Don't forget to pick up your Mother's Day cookies!
Like you'll really need reminding! If you ordered some of Melarova Baking's delicious Ischler cookies for Mother's Day, don't forget to pick them up tomorrow, Friday, May 8th in the store either on your lunch break (11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.) or after work (4:00 - 6:00 p.m). See you tomorrow!
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Royal Medal
Paul Theroux has been awarded a Royal Medal by the Royal Geographical Society, with the Institute of British Geographer, for "the encouragement of geographical discovery through travel writing." His books include The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari and his next book, Deep South, will be published on September 29.
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Jigsaw
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Reading Group Selection
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Tuesday, June 2, at 6:30-8:00 p.m.
 Join Marissa as she leads our June Book Group with Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, winner of the Alex Award and Shelf Awareness Reviewer's Choice pick for 2012.
1987. There's only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn's company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June's world is turned upside down. But Finn's death brings a surprise acquaintance into June's life -- someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.
Regular Price: $15.00
On sale for: $12.75
Until Tuesday, June 2
Publisher: Dial Press
ISBN: 9780812982855
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Night Stands
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Linda
by Vicki Constantine Croke
[Non-Fiction]
 This incredible story about elephants in World War Two caught my interest right away. Following the life of Billy Williams is fascinating from the start, when in 1927 he is saved by his closest elephant friend. Williams becomes deeply intuitively entwined with elephants and their behaviors when he first logs with them in the Burma forest, and later, when they help during the war building bridges, clearing escape routes through the forest, and carrying supplies and people to safety. It is an amazing adventure and wonderful tale. Williams' depth of understanding with, and knowledge of, the elephants is remarkable.
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Random House Trade; ISBN: 9780812981650
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Marissa
by Peter Singer
[Non-Fiction]
 Philosopher Peter Singer is well known for his utilitarian perspective on animal ethics (doing the most good for the highest number of individuals). Here he shows us how we can apply the same principle to giving back, in the most effective way. He compels us to ask hard questions, to better understand the scope of suffering and how we can best help in the wake of tragedies. Have you ever wanted to make a difference in the world or in your community -- not just through charitable donations, but small changes we can all incorporate into our lifestyles -- but weren't sure where to begin or how to maximize your impact? This book is for you.
Hardcover; $25.00
Publisher: Yale University Press; ISBN: 9780300180275
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