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| June 4, 2015 |
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Happy June, Readers!
 Father's Day is June 21, and we have cards, gifts, and featured books galore. For Reader dads, our stylish ceramic book lover mugs are just the ticket.
Last but not least, a couple words for you: Book. Sale. Come check out our newly replenished stock of specially priced books -- many for as low as $8 or less! -- in addition to our selection of 30% off titles.
Album drops from Willie Nelson and Melody Gardot this week, and so many new and intriguing novels hitting our shelves, perfect for warm weather reading -- we don't know where to begin! Keep scrolling for all the latest titles.
Until next time,
~ Marissa |
New Hardcovers
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"In her [latest] adult novel. . .Blume tells the story of three generations of an Elizabeth, New Jersey, family: her protagonist, 15-year-old Miri; Miri's mother, Rusty; and Miri's grandmother, Irene [throughout the 1950s]. Their lives and those of their friends are impacted when a plane falls out of the sky over Elizabeth, and, in the course of the next 58 days, two others follow. Miri's friends are sure it's the work of aliens or zombies or, more simply, sabotage. Miri's reporter uncle, Henry, who will make his reputation covering the crashes for the local newspaper, says they're coincidences. But who is to say?. . ." - Booklist, Starred Review
Hardcover; $27.95
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9781101875049
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by Brenda Bowen
[Fiction]
"When Lottie spies the ad for the summer rental on Little Lost Island, she is drawn to it. Maybe a month spent in beautiful Maine, away from her stagnant marriage and insomniac preschooler, will be the answer to all her problems. Rose is equally excited but more skeptical about such an easy fix to her marital woes and exasperating twins. Together with Caroline, a recently humiliated movie star, and Beverly, an introvert deep in mourning, Lottie and Rose move into the magical cottage on the quaint island for the month of August. . .But can a cottage fix a marriage, mend a broken heart, and bring soul mates together?" - Booklist
Hardcover; $27.95
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books; ISBN: 9780525429050
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by Rebecca Dinerstein
[Fiction]
"Twenty-one-year-old Frances loses her bearings when her boyfriend dismisses her, her parents decide to separate, and her younger sister announces she is leaving their Manhattan home to get married. Since departing Russia 10 years ago, 17-year-old Yasha and his father, Vassily, have lived above and worked in a bakery in Brighton Beach, hoping that Yasha's mother will join them. The two narratives start to converge when Frances and Yasha both find themselves in Norway, just north of the Arctic Circle. . .Frances and Yasha fall in love in this strange and isolated place, where the sun never sets during the summer months. . ." - Booklist
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; ISBN: 9781632861122
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by Leona Francombe
[Fiction]
"Just when it seemed nothing new could be written about the Battle of Waterloo, this delightful fable appears: Waterloo, or rather the critical battle for Hougoumont, as refracted through the memories. . .of countless generations of rabbits and narrated by one white rabbit, William, whose ancestor may have lived there. . .Gentle and poetic, William's narrative is an eloquent reflection on the nature and cost of war. . .As the 200th anniversary of Waterloo draws near, this debut novel will be satisfy lovers of both history and fiction." - Library Journal
Hardcover; $22.95
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 9780393246919
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by Roland Merullo
[Non-Fiction]
". . .Otto Ringling embarked on a road trip eight years ago with his Russian monk brother-in-law, Volya Rinpoche, in Breakfast with Buddha. . .[This time], middle-aged Otto has experienced a series of life-changing losses, while Rinpoche's 7-year-old daughter may be the next Dalai Lama. Spurred on by crippling uncertainty, they travel through Native American reservations, roadside diners, casinos, homes of broken families, and more. Otto's underlying depression and grief is unearthed [as he] and Rinpoche learn to 'scrape the jadedness' from their habitual reactions in order to be present for themselves and for the world. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $24.95
Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; ISBN: 9781565129283
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by Jonathan Galassi
[Fiction]
"Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, translator, and poet, debuts as a novelist with a serenade to books that is at once heartfelt and wryly satirical. His selectively autobiographical protagonist, Paul Dukach, was a lonely, small-town bookworm rescued by a bookstore owner and the seductively subversive work of Ida Perkins, that rarest of creatures, a celebrity poet. Galvanized and emboldened, Paul becomes a recognized Perkins expert, moves to New York City, slowly, painfully accepts that he is gay, and gratefully secures a job at a prestigious publishing house. . .A stealthily affecting and profound homage to the wonders and life-sustaining power of literature." - Booklist
Hardcover; $25.00
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780385353342
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New Paperbacks
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by Malala Yousafzai
[Non-Fiction]
 When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On October 9, 2012, when she was 15, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey, from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. A recipient at 16, she is youngest laureate ever of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Back Bay Books; ISBN: 9780316322423
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by Emily St. John Mandel
[Fiction]
 "Mandel's ( The Lola Quartet, 2012) ambitious, magnificent fourth novel examines the collapse of civilization after a deadly flu wipes out most of the world's population. Moving gracefully from the first days of the plague to years before it and decades after, Mandel anchors the story to Arthur Leander, a famous actor who dies of a heart attack while playing King Lear on stage. We see glimpses of Arthur's life years before his passing: his doomed relationship with his first wife, the exploitation of an old friendship, his failings as a father. And then we follow characters whose lives Arthur touched in some way. . . One comic book gives the novel its title and encapsulates the longing felt by the survivors for the world they have lost." - Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780804172448
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by Robert Galbraith
[Fiction]
 "As we all know, Galbraith's first Cormoran Strike novel won great reviews but not great sales until it was revealed that Galbraith was actually J.K. Rowling. Wouldn't you know a famous novelist is at the heart of this second Strike outing. When Owen Quine disappears, his wife assumes that he's on one of his little escapades and asks Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike discovers, Quine has just finished a novel full of nasty portraits of people he knows, and one of them may have wanted to finish him off." - Library Journal
Paperback; $18.00
Publisher: Mulholland Books; ISBN: 9780316206891
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by Jessie Burton
[Fiction]
 "Late 17th-century Amsterdam is the sumptuous backdrop for this debut novel about a young Dutch girl from the village of Assendelft, Nella Oortman, who is chosen to be the bride of Johannes Brandt, a wealthy merchant with a shocking secret. Not long after Nella's arrival in the city, her enigmatic husband presents her with a beautifully wrought cabinet, an exact replica of the house in which they live with Brandt's sister, Marin, and their loyal servants. Nella engages a miniaturist to fill it and begins to encounter mysteries no one is willing to explain, secrets in which everyone in the household is implicated. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $16.99
Publisher: Ecco Press; ISBN: 9780062306845
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by Larry McMurtry
[Fiction]
 "McMurtry of Lonesome Dove fame returns to fiction (after Custer) with this uneven portrayal of the frontier friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. McMurtry is a master of colorful character development and snappy dialogue, both nicely showcased here as Wyatt and Doc meander through Texas and Colorado to Arizona, drinking, gambling, whoring, and debating whether or not they ought to shoot folks who annoy them. As these two lethal saddle pals wander the West, McMurtry introduces other real-life figures in side-plots [like] cattleman Charlie Goodnight; Quanah, the Comanche chief; Satanta, the Kiowa chief; and Buffalo Bill, whose adventures provide some action and humor. . . " - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $14.95
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation; ISBN: 9780393351194
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by Diana Gabaldon
[Fiction]
 Continuing the story that author Diana Gabaldon began with Outlander, Written in My Own Heart's Blood picks up in 1778 amongst a background of history-making political events: France declaring war on Great Britain; the British army leaving Philadelphia; and George Washington's troops leaving Valley Forge. Meanwhile, domestic drama has erupted on the home front of Jamie Fraser (presumed dead), most astonishingly the fact that his wife has married his best friend. The Frasers feel solace in knowing, at the very least, their daughter Brianna is safe in Scotland, but the truth is she is being pursued by the kidnapper of her own son, a man determined to learn the family secrets.
Paperback; $18.00
Publisher: Bantam; ISBN: 9780553386882
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New For Young Readers
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by Cale Atkinson
[Fiction]
Ages 2 to 5
 Sometimes Tim feels invisible at school -- until one day, when Tim meets Sam. But Sam isn't just any new friend: he's a blue whale, and he can't find his way home! Returning Sam to the sea is hard work, but Tim is determined to help. After all, it's not every day you meet a new friend! "Children will cheer as Tim ties Sam to a rope behind his bike and pulls and pedals and huffs and puffs him all the way to a seaside cliff...and over! A whale's tale that dives deep and surfaces with useful lessons about making, keeping, and helping friends." - Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover; $16.99
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion; ISBN: 9781484708132
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by Mo Willems
[Fiction]
Ages 4 to 7
 "Poor Gerald the elephant -- all he wants is to take a nap. A bleary-eyed Gerald blinks out at readers from the cover, blanket and Knuffle bunny tucked in his arms. Piggie's head pokes into the frame from the side at a 90-degree angle, hinting at the disruption to come. . .Readers will not find it at all surprising, though they will find it funny, that pretty soon Gerald's cranky mood spreads to Piggie, who decides that she will take a nap, too. . .As naps go, this is. . .as funny as it gets." - Kirkus Reviews
Hardcover; $9.99
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion; ISBN: 9781484716304
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by Jennifer Donnelly
[Fiction]
Young Adult
 Deep in the ocean, in a world not so different from our own, live the merpeople. Serafina, a mermaid of the Mediterranean Sea, finds herself haunted by strange dreams that foretell the return of an ancient evil. Her dark premonitions are confirmed when an assassin's arrow poisons Sera's mother. Now, Serafina must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the Mer nations. Led only by her shadowy dreams, Sera searches for five other mermaid heroines who are scattered across the six seas. Together, they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood and uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.
Paperback; $9.99
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion; ISBN: 9781484713105
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New Music
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Dawes
Genre: Pop/Folk This marks the popular folk rock band's fourth studio record. All Your Favorite Bands bears a sound that combines the lyricism of Jackson Browne with the roots elements of Ryan Adams and a fine studio polish. ($13.98) |
Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard
Genre: Pop/Folk Two of country music's foremost legends collaborate for a third collection. A combination of originals and covers, the record is inspired by the duo's heroes Django Reinhardt and Jimmie Rodgers. ($11.96) |
Indigo Girls
Genre: Pop/Folk The folk duo's new record is their first in four years. Under the guise of a new producer, the songs range from personal ballads to political reflections and celebratory odes, with Amy and Emily's trademark traded vocals. ($15.98) |
Melody Gardot
Genre: Jazz Gardot's story follows her through a long series of setbacks and personal challenges, leading her up to her present status alongside fellow jazz crossover artists like Norah Jones. Gardot's smoky voice is equally at home with blues, jazz, and pop settings. ($10.99) |
Events at Grass Roots
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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.
Margaret Grundstein
Tuesday, June 16, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
 In 1970, Margaret Grundstein abandoned her graduate degree at Yale and followed her husband, an Indonesian prince and community activist, to a commune in the backwoods of Oregon. Together with 10 friends and an ever-changing mix of strangers, they began to build their vision of utopia. Naked in the Woods chronicles Grundstein's shift from reluctant hippie to committed utopian -- sacrificing phones, electricity, and running water to live on 160 acres of remote forest with nothing but a drafty cabin and each other. Grundstein, (whose husband left, seduced by "freer love") faced tough choices. Could she make it as a single woman in man's country? Did she still want to? How committed was she to her new life?
Margaret Grundstein is a photographer, a psychotherapist in private practice, and the owner/ director of a preschool in Venice, California. She has a B.A. from Goddard College, a Masters in Urban Planning from Yale University, and a Masters in Family Therapy from Loyola Marymount. Naked in the Woods is her first book.
Linda Ly
The CSA Cookbook will help you cook your way through a CSA box (or farmers' market or backyard bounty) with 106 seasonal recipes that utilize every edible part of the plant, from leaves and flowers to stems and seeds. Think of it as a nose-to-tail approach -- for vegetables! You'll find globally inspired recipes that turn a single plant into several meals with as little waste as possible. If you grow your own food at home, you might be surprised to learn you can eat the leaves from your pepper plants, or pickle the seed pods from your radishes.
Linda Ly is the voice behind the award-winning blog Garden Betty, called the "Best in Gardening" by Country Living and seen in HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens. As a member of Slow Food USA, Linda delights in growing, harvesting, preserving, and cooking all the food that comes from the earth.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 6/5-6/11
-100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared -R Eccentric, wry, and highly entertaining.
-Slow West -R Slow West serves as an impressive calling card for first-time writer-director John M. Maclean -- and offers an inventive treat for fans of the Western. A very dark, dry comedy. Ethan Hawke.
-Iris -PG-13 A small, insightful feature with a deceptively thoughtful thesis, Iris adds a bittersweet postscript to director Albert Maysles' filmography. 98% ON RT!
-5 Flights Up -PG-13 What a pleasure to see a simple, finely tuned dramedy about real adults with real emotions in a real-life situation. Morgan Freeman, Diane Keaton.
-Lambert & Stamp -R Opens the window on a pivotal time in 1960s (and early 1970s) pop culture.
Arts/Literary Events
by Katy Butler
Reviewed by Cliff Hall; sponsored by the Friends of the Library
Wednesday, June 10, at 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
Sizzling Summer Book Sale
Saturday, June 27, at 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and
Sunday, June 28, at 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library (Main Meeting Room)
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
The Friends of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library will have a Sizzling Summer Used Book Sale on Saturday and Sunday, June 27-28. Fiction, gardening, cooking, travel books & more on sale. Quality hardbound and paperback books will be available for all ages. CDs and DVDs also! Most books are $1-$4. Doors open at 9:00 a.m. for members of the Friends of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Become a member at http://friendsofthecbclibrary.org/.
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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Store News
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ALL event recap
The Academy for Lifelong Learning featured a course with Grass Roots co-owner Jack Wolcott and author M. Allen Cunningham: "Bookstores, Printed Books, Ebooks, and the Future of Reading"! The lively discussion covered some of the relevant market changes and challenges that bookstores and printed media are facing today.
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Jigsaw
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Reading Group Selection
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Tuesday, July 7, at 6:30-8:00 p.m.
 Join Claire as she leads our July Book Group with If Not For This by Pete Fromm, a four-time winning author of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Literary Award.
After meeting at a boatman's bash on the Snake River, river runners Maddy and Dalt embark on a lifelong love affair. They marry on the banks of the Buffalo Fork, sure they'll live there the rest of their days. Forced by the economics of tourism to leave Wyoming, they start a new adventure, opening their own river business in Ashland, Oregon: Halfmoon Whitewater. They prosper there, leading rafting trips and guiding fishermen into the wilds of Mongolia and Russia. But when Maddy, laid low by dizzy spells, both discovers she is pregnant and is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, they realize their adventure is just beginning.
Regular Price: $15.95
On sale for: $13.56
Until Tuesday, July 7
Publisher: Red Hen Press
ISBN: 9781597095389
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Night Stands
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Linda
by Elizabeth V. Warren
[Non-Fiction]
 Quilts, quilts, quilts! This is an absolutely gorgeous full-sized book containing beautiful photographs of 200 quilts from the American Folk Art Museum in New York. Each quilt picture has an accompanying enlargement or two of an individual square or panel. The detail and stitching is a marvel to look at and admire. This lovely book is an excellent representation of the art of quilting throughout American history from the turn of the 1800s to 2002. The index of pictures at the back is clever and gives a good overall view. This is an excellent graduation gift for those who love quilts and American history!
Hardcover; $19.98
Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications; ISBN: 9780789329073
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Marissa
by Carol Rifka Brunt
[Fiction]
 After young June loses her beloved uncle to AIDS, her world -- and her family -- falls apart. But the arrival of a mysterious stranger in her life may help to put the pieces back together. This is a story about healing after loss, but also a coming-of-age story, and a love story -- not just in the traditional sense, but how we can "come of age" many times in life, and how we love in many different ways. This novel is as heartwarming and delicate yet strong as a good cup of tea. And Brunt's gorgeous prose is a treasure.
Paperback; $15.00
Publisher: Dial Press; ISBN: 9780812982855
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