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| May 14, 2015 |
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Salutations, Readers,
 Looking for a book that's outside the box? Grass Roots is committed to supporting independent presses, and each has something unique to offer. Whether it's CALYX Press featuring women writers, Tin House Press showcasing undiscovered talent, or Chelsea Green bringing you innovative sustainability methods, indie presses are anything but run-of-the-mill. Discover your next great read! Graduation cards are here, too! While you're seeking out just the right one, why not peruse our featured reads for recent grads? After all, a true education never ends, and books make the perfect gifts. Are you a fan of memoirs, live music, or wine? How about all three? Join us for Uncorked: an evening packed with three incredibly powerful and gripping memoirs, music by a Willamette Valley-based band, and sips in the store. This week's book releases: Kate Atkinson's follow-up to Life After Life, the latest in the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson, and Man Booker Prize-winning author Anne Enright's new novel -- plus plenty of paperbacks. And in music: Leonard Cohen live, and another collaboration by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.
A reminder that if there's a book on your must-read list that's not on our shelves, just ask one of our friendly staff members to order for you! Or try our convenient online ordering via the search bar on our website.
Have a great rest of your week! Your fellow reader, ~ Marissa |
New Hardcovers
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by Kate Atkinson
[Fiction]
"Atkinson calls her latest novel a companion piece to her previous book, Life After Life, which vividly depicted the multiple lives led by Ursula Todd during WWII. This one follows her much-loved younger brother, Teddy. He only leads one life as a husband, father, grandfather, RAF pilot, teacher, and writer, but the ever-inventive Atkinson encompasses many phases of Ted's life within one chapter. . . every one of [her] characters will, at one moment or another, break readers' hearts." - Booklist, Starred Review
"A grown-up, elegant fairy tale...a humane vision of people in all their complicated splendor." - Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover; $28.00
Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316176538
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by Anne Enright
[Fiction]
 Spanning 30 years, The Green Road tells the story of Rosaleen, matriarch of the Madigans, a family on the cusp of either coming together or falling irreparably apart. As they grow up, Rosaleen's four children leave the west of Ireland for lives they could have never imagined in Dublin, New York, and Mali, West Africa. In her early old age their difficult, wonderful mother announces that she's decided to sell the house and divide the proceeds. Her adult children come back for a last Christmas, with the feeling that their childhoods are being erased, their personal history bought and sold.
Hardcover; $26.95
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 9780393248210
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by Sally Mann
[Non-Fiction]
 A revealing and beautifully written memoir and family history from acclaimed photographer Sally Mann, with the page-turning drama of a great novel but firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life. In this unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her. Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs, she finds more than she bargained for: deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land.
Hardcover; $32.00
Publisher: Little Brown and Company; ISBN: 9780316247764
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by Craig Johnson
[Fiction]
When Jen, the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found surfaces in Sheriff Walt Longmire's jurisdiction, it appears to be a windfall for the High Plains Dinosaur Museum until Danny Lone Elk, the Cheyenne rancher on whose property the remains were discovered, turns up dead, floating face down in a turtle pond. With millions of dollars at stake, a number of groups step forward to claim her, including Danny's family, the tribe, and the federal government. Walt is determined to find out who would benefit from Danny's death and a sixty-five million year old cold case that's heating up fast.
Hardcover; $27.95
Publisher: Viking; ISBN: 9780525426936
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by Andrea Mays
[Non-Fiction]
"Economist Mays's debut is effortless in its unadorned storytelling and exacting in its research, recounting the lives of William Shakespeare and his most devoted collector, Henry Clay Folger (1857-1930). Shakespeare's First Folio, 'the book of man on earth,' is the most expensive book in the world, and for Folger, president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, the source of an obsession. . .Folger's untiring intellectual pursuit speaks to both the resounding importance of Shakespeare's work and the mores of Folger's Gilded Age era, which prized the ambition that led Americans to become self-made millionaires. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $27.00
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 9781439118238
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New Paperbacks
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by John Waters
[Non-Fiction]
 Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads "I'm Not Psycho," John Waters hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash? His rides include a gentle 81-year-old farmer who is convinced Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and the perverse filmmaker's unexpected hero: a young, sandy-haired Republican in a Corvette. Laced with subversive humor and warm intelligence, Carsick is a celebration of America's weird, astonishing, and generous citizenry.
Paperback; $15.00
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; ISBN: 9780374535452
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by Ruth Reichl
[Fiction]
 When Billie Breslin, 21 and new to the food scene, gets a position at the fictional New York gourmet magazine Delicious!, she encounters a charming and warm cast of characters who challenge her professional and personal development. Often feeling in the shadow of her more successful sister, Billie pushes herself to meet people in the downtown food scene. When Delicious! is suddenly shut down, Billie stays on as a hotline operator for complaining customers. Then, a discovery in the magazine's old library: letters written to legendary chef James Beard from Lulu, a 12-year-old during World War II. These letters inspire Billie to come to terms with some life hurtles, which leads to an exciting gourmet creation of her own.
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Random House Trade; ISBN: 9780812982022
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by Neil Smith
[Fiction]
 It is the first week of school in 1979, and Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple -- ghostly pale eighth grader; aspiring scientist; social pariah -- is standing next to his locker, reciting the periodic table. The next thing he knows, he finds himself lying in a strange bed in a strange land. He is a new resident of a place called Town -- an afterlife exclusively for 13-year-olds. Soon Boo is joined by Johnny Henzel, a fellow classmate, who brings with him a piece of surprising news about the circumstances of the boys' deaths that will have profound repercussions for both of them.
Paperback; $14.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780804171366
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by Adam Rogers
[Non-Fiction]
 ". . .Alcohol and its related practices really do span human existence. The arrival of distillation some 2,000 years ago 'gave rise to the modern study of chemistry'. . .But like the story of us, the story of alcohol is incomplete -- scientists are still trying to identify what ethanol, a major component of alcohol, does to the body; only theories exist for what causes hangovers and at constant odds with the past. For example, technology exists that can artificially age whiskey and other spirits. . .Rogers's cheeky and accessible writing style goes down smoothly, capturing the essence of this enigmatic, ancient social lubricant." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Mariner Books; ISBN: 9780544538542
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by Laline Paull
[Fiction]
 "In the tradition of Watership Down and Redwall, Laline Paull's debut novel, The Bees, is an enthralling story that explores the intricate and brutal social order of the beehive. Paull's hive is a place of mystery and complexities, where religion holds sway with an array of strictly codified laws that coalesce around worship of the Queen, who sustains the hive with her Love. Of the many laws dictating the lives of the bees, paramount is Only the Queen may breed -- a law enforced with horrendous efficiency by the fertility police. So when Flora, a despised sanitation worker bee, discovers her ability to lay eggs, her life is immediately placed in jeopardy. . . " - Shelf Awareness
Paperback; $15.99
Publisher: Ecco Press; ISBN: 9780062331175
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by Maureen Corrigan
[Non-Fiction]
 "Mixing criticism with memoir, NPR book critic Corrigan ( Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading) contends that F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great American Novel is greater than we think. According to Corrigan, we were too young to appreciate The Great Gatsby when we read it in high school; we were dead to its themes of nostalgia and regret, overlooked its trenchant social critique, and mistook it for a love story. . .To reintroduce and reassess a masterpiece, Corrigan visits the book's Long Island setting, Fitzgerald's grave, and a high school English class. Most illuminating, though, is her research into Gatsby's reception. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Back Bay Books; ISBN: 9780316230063
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New For Young Readers
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by Katy Hudson
[Fiction]
Ages 3 to 7
 Bear is sick and tired of being a bear. Who wants to sleep all winter? His fur feels so hot in the summer. And the bees . . . there are just too many angry bees! But when he sees a line of happy yellow ducklings, he has a thought. What if he could be a duck? With a few duck lessons from Duck, Bear learns that being a duck is fun; but as it turns out, Bear realizes he makes a really good bear . . . and he makes a really good friend along the way.
Hardcover; $17.99
Publisher: HarperCollins; ISBN: 9780062320513
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by Kelly Jones and Katie Kath
[Fiction]
Ages 8 to 12
 Fans of Polly Horvath or Roald Dahl will love this quirky story of a determined girl and some extraordinary chickens. Twelve-year-old Sophie Brown feels like a fish out of water when she and her parents move from Los Angeles to the farm they've inherited from a great-uncle. But farm life gets more interesting when a cranky chicken appears and Sophie discovers the hen can move objects with the power of her little chicken brain: jam jars, the latch to her henhouse, the "entire" henhouse. . .And then more of her great-uncle's unusual chickens come home to roost.
Hardcover; $16.99
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers; ISBN: 9780385755528
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New Music
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Events at Grass Roots
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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.
Anthony Alvarado
Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
 When author Anthony Alvarado talks about magic, he is not referring to a collection of hokey spells. So what kind of magic is it? It's a con you play on your own brain, a foray into advance self-psychology that makes his new book D.I.Y. Magic a creativity cookbook. It's a guide to hacking your own subconscious, using a plethora of mental exercises that result in, yes, magic. D.I.Y. Magic is perfect for those chasing the muse-artists, musicians, writers-or anyone searching for a radically original way to think, perceive, and experience the world.
Anthony Alvarado has been a forest firefighter, a high school science teacher, a library delivery truck driver, a telephone psychic, and a mental health counselor. He lives with a cat, a dog, and a girl in Portland, Oregon. When he is not doing magical experiments, he spends his time writing and trying not to drink too much coffee.
Uncorked: An Evening of Memoirs, Music, and Merlot
Wednesday, June 10, at 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Join us for a reading and signing featuring three memoir authors Valerie Willman, Kelly Kittel, and Melissa Hart; the musical talents of Betty and the Boy; and wine!
Valerie Willman
The day Valerie found out she was pregnant with her second child was the day her husband died. He'd fallen asleep driving. She didn't know how to be a widow. She moved cross-country from Massachusetts to Oregon, delivered her baby and sought catharsis in journaling and art. During her spiritual journey, she discovered that falling in love again wasn't a betrayal, and soon enough, she was able to wear grief with grace. Smell the Blue Sky shares one woman's grief process and how she emerged from the darkness, stronger and wiser.
Valerie Willman is the author of Smell the Blue Sky, winner of the B.R.A.G. Medallion for Top Indie-Published Books. She co-chairs the Mid-Valley Chapter of Willamette Writers and teaches various workshops on writing, and on grief, such as "Booze and Chocolate Aren't the Only Ways to Cope: Turning negative emotions into art."  Kelly Kittel
Kelly Kittel never questioned her Mayflower Society mantra -- "Family is the most important thing" -- until the day her 15-month-old son was run over by her 16-year-old niece. Nine months later, Kittel's doctor made a terrible mistake during her subsequent pregnancy and she found herself burying yet another baby. Achingly raw and beautifully narrated, Breathe is a story of motherhood, death, and family in the face of unspeakable tragedy and, ultimately, how she learns to breathe again.
Kelly Kittel is a fish biologist by profession but a writer at heart. She is married with five living children, her best work beyond compare. She lives with her husband and their two youngest children in Rhode Island, but her favorite writing space is in their yurts on the coast of Oregon.
Melissa Hart
Melissa Hart and her husband start out convinced they don't want children, but caring for birds who have fallen from their nests triggers a longing to parent an orphaned child. They embark on a heart-wrenching journey to adoption. Every page sparkles with imagery and wit in this memoir of parallel pursuits. Wild Within is, above all, about the power of love -- romantic, animal, and parental -- to save lives and fulfill dreams.
Melissa Hart is an author and teacher from Eugene, Oregon. A contributing editor at The Writer Magazine, her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, High Country News, Orion, The Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, and numerous other publications.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 5/15-5/21
-McFarland, USA -PG A rousing crowd-pleaser about an underdog track team that can proudly takes its place among these other fine sports films.
-Every Secret Thing -R Elizabeth Banks, traditionally known for her comedic stylings, turns in an understated and intriguing turn as Detective Nancy Porter.
-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.
Arts/Literary Events
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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Molly Gloss
 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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Read the rainbow
 When the weather is on the gray side, Grass Roots is bursting with books of all colors (and it's a cozy place to escape from the rain and pick up your next read).
We've highlighted some titles this week that will brighten any day -- come take a look!
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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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Claire
by Sam Maggs
[Non-Fiction]
 Do you know what an OTP is? Have you ever wondered about the etiquette to attend a comic convention? Are you interested in both geek culture and feminism? Then The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy is the book for you. Consider it a field guide to geek girl culture: learn the lingo, appreciate the passion, and revel in the empowerment. Science fiction is no longer reserved for men, and this book will guide you into how to participate in the world of shipping, feels, and fan blogs. As a proud geek myself, I vouch that this book is spot-on in its advice.
Hardcover; $15.95
Publisher: Random House Trade; ISBN: 9780812981650
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