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| October 15, 2015 |
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Hello, dear Readers,
Did you know that October is National Book Month? Of course, every month is one for the books to us. We hope fall is treating you well so far, and that you're prepared for rainy days with a good read (or in our cases, stacks of them).
Tonight, please join us for the Crazy Eights Author Tour, hosted by your local Corvallis public library -- it's "speed dating" with award-winning Oregon authors! Plenty more community literary events are cropping up this season, so keep scrolling to see what's coming up in your neck of the woods.
Along with a new limited shipment of bargain books -- including drawing, painting, jewelry-making and other arts & crafts titles -- book and album releases this week include a collection of love poems by Mary Oliver, extraordinary interviews with everyday people in Humans of New York: Stories, and new music from the Decemberists.
Read on!
~Marissa |
New Hardcovers
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by Mary Oliver
"If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger," Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver's love poems. Here, great happiness abounds. Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes with joy the strangeness and wonder of human connection.
Hardcover; $24.95
Publisher: Penguin Press; ISBN: 9781594206764
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by Garth Risk Hallberg
[Fiction]
"This magnificent first novel is full to bursting with plot, character, and emotion, all set within an exquisitely grungy 1970s New York City. Erstwhile fanzine writer Sam Cicciaro heads to Central Park on New Year's Eve and is found hours later barely clinging to life after being shot in the head. Why this charismatic punk-rock fan was shot is just one of the many plot strands. . .Graceful in execution, hugely entertaining, and most concerned with the longing for connection, a theme that reaches full realization during the blackout of 1977, this epic tale is both a compelling mystery and a literary tour de force." - Booklist, Starred Review
Hardcover; $30.00
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN: 9780385353779
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by Homer Hickam
[Fiction]
 In this long-awaited prequel to the bestselling memoir Rocket Boys, Elsie Lavender and Homer Hickam Sr. were high school classmates in the West Virginia coalfields, graduating just as the Great Depression began. Although Elsie sparked with dancing actor Buddy Ebsen, she eventually found herself back in the coalfields, married to Homer. Unfulfilled as a miner's wife, Elsie was reminded of Buddy because of his unusual wedding gift: an alligator named Albert who lived in the only bathroom in their little house. Eventually Homer gave Elsie an ultimatum: "Me or the alligator!" Elsie concluded there was only one thing to do: carry Albert home.
Hardcover; $25.99
Publisher: William Morrow & Company; ISBN: 9780062325891
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by Lynn Cullen
[Fiction]
"The extraordinary relationship between the popular, complicated author Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, and his longtime secretary Isabel Lyon is wonderfully reimagined in this absorbing novel. Cullen ( Mrs. Poe) depicts an immensely talented and virile, yet crude, hot-tempered, self-centered late-in-life Samuel. . .sordid realities that lie beneath the famous wit. Raised wealthy, Isabel must work after her father dies; she becomes social secretary to Livy Clemens, Samuel's seriously ill wife, but in reality, she works for Samuel. . .Isabel and Samuel's memorabilia are the basis of Cullen's fascinating interpretation of this early 20th-century literary immortal, distinguished by incisive character portrayals and no-holds-barred scrutiny." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Gallery Books; ISBN: 9781476758961
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by Brandon Stanton
[Non-Fiction]
"The latest from Stanton ( Humans of New York), creator of the Humans of New York blog, which currently has over 14 million followers, is another rich collection of photographs of people from the streets of New York City and their stories. The strength of his work is the range of perspectives and experiences he captures. His subjects vary in age, nationality, religion, and other demographics, and their individual stories reflect on different facets of the human experience, from struggles to heartbreak to inspiration. . . New readers and seasoned fans can't help but become engrossed with the stories Stanton tells." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $29.99
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; ISBN: 9781250058904
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New Paperbacks
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by Richard Ford
[Fiction]
"Frank Bascombe, the protagonist of The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land continues to reflect on the meaning of existence in these four absorbing, funny, and often profound novellas. The collection is set in New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2012. Frank considers the evanescence of life as he travels to the site of his former home on the shore; has an unsettling experience with a black woman whose family once lived in his present home in fictional Haddam; visits his prickly ex-wife, who is suffering from Parkinson's, in an extended-care institution; and meets a dying former friend. . ." - Publishers Weekly
Paperback; $14.99
Publisher: Ecco Press; ISBN: 9780061692079
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by Ali Smith
[Fiction]
"In this era of extolling genre fiction and the joys of story, Smith's latest novel makes a case for experimental, literary fiction. One half of this daring novel is the mostly conventional tale of a precocious teen struggling with the death of her arty, brilliant mother. George. . . is still living in a kind of stunned stupor. She sees a school counselor but is mostly helped by her first crush, the alluring H, who starts to pull her out of her shell. The other half of the novel is narrated by the disembodied voice of a fifteenth-century painter caught in the wave-laden air of twentieth-century Britain. . ." - Booklist, Starred Review
Paperback; $15.95
Publisher: Anchor Books; ISBN: 9780307275257
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by Denis Johnson
[Fiction]
"Roland Nair is a NATO intelligence operative assigned to report on his old comrade-in-arms Michael Adriko after Michael, currently an attache with a Green Beret unit in the Congo, mysteriously summons him to Africa. Arriving in Sierra Leone, Roland soon hooks up with Michael and his fiancee, Davidia St Claire, an American college girl and daughter of Michael's commanding officer. Michael wants Roland to accompany him to his home village to get his clan's blessing to marry Davidia and to participate in scamming Mossad about a flight load of highly enriched uranium rumored to have disappeared in a plane crash many years earlier. . ." - Library Journal
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Picador USA; ISBN: 9781250074911
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by Etgar Keret
[Fiction]
Brief, intense, painfully funny, and shockingly honest, Etgar Keret's stories are snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit the hidden truths of life. As with the best writers of fiction, hilarity and anguish are the twin pillars of his work. Keret covers a remarkable emotional and narrative terrain from a father's first lesson to his boy to a standoff between soldiers caught up in the Middle East conflict to a slice of life where nothing much happens. These wildly inventive, uniquely humane stories are for fans of Keret's inimitable
style and readers of transforming, brilliant fiction.
Paperback; $16.00
Publisher: Riverhead Books; ISBN: 9781594633249
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New For Young Readers
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 "Peter and his dog Harold are unhappy to find themselves on a journey with their dad through the dark woods on their way to a new home, [imagining] the woods could be filled with terrible creatures. . .Peter takes action by creating a watchman, Lenny, out of pillows and blankets, [but] Lenny needs a friend. So Peter and Harold create Lucy and the four become fast friends, making the home by the woods not so bad after all. . .This timeless story of a boy using his imagination to cope with loss and acclimate to a new environment is sure to draw in readers of all ages. . ." - School Library Journal
Hardcover; $17.99
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; ISBN: 9781596439320
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by Nicholas Gannon
[Fiction]
Ages 8 to 12
 Archer B. Helmsley wants an adventure. No, he needs an adventure. His grandparents were famous explorers . . . until they got stuck on an iceberg. Now Archer's mother barely lets him out of the house. As if that would stop a true Helmsley. Archer enlists Adelaide the girl who, according to rumor, lost her leg to a crocodile and Oliver the boy next door to help him rescue his grandparents. The Doldrums whisks us off on an adventure full of sly humor, incredible detail, and enormous heart. With approximately 20 pieces of breathtaking full-color artwork.
Hardcover; $17.99
Publisher: Greenwillow Books; ISBN: 9780062320940
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by Patrick Ness
[Fiction]
Young Adult
 What if you aren't the Chosen One? The one who's supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you're like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week's end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.
Hardcover; $17.99
Publisher: Harper Teen; ISBN: 9780062403162
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New Bargain Books
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Among the myriad subjects in our ever-growing and changing selection of bargain books, why not browse these titles all about the love of books and literacy in celebration of National Book Month?
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New Music
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The Decemberists
Florasongs
Pop/Folk
January saw the Portland indie legends release What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, one of the most successful records in their career. This EP presents five additional songs written and recorded for those sessions.
($8.98)
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Alison Brown
The Song Of the Banjo
Pop/Folk
Over the span of her career, Alison Brown has all but reinvented the banjo. Her new collection finds her exploring sounds in jazz, bluegrass, folk, and classical.
($16.98)
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Josh Ritter
Pop/Folk
Indie-folk singer-songwriter Josh Ritter burst on the scene with his 1999 self-titled debut. His seventh release features his most upbeat, positive music to date.
($13.98)
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Various Artists
Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording
Pop/Folk
Music from one of the most talked about Broadway musicals in years. Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, set to a blend of hip-hop, jazz, and r&b.
($27.98)
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David Wax Museum
Pop/Folk
David Wax Museum features David Wax and his wife Suz Slezak. With their cohorts, they make an original blend of Americana, Mexican folk, and pop.
($12.98)
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Jake Shimabukuro
World
Shimabukuro is widely considered the world's foremost ukulele master. This new record features tunes mostly written by the man himself, and played on solo ukulele.
($13.98)
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Events at Grass Roots
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 10/16-10/22
-Coming Home -PG-13 Lu and Feng are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. He finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife no longer remembers him. Subtitled Mandarin. 92% on RT!
-Goodnight Mommy -R Twin boys move to a new home with their mother after she has face-changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don't recognize. Subtitled German.
-Knock Knock -R Stars Keanu Reeves as the family man who falls into temptation and Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas as the seductresses who wreak havoc upon his life, turning a married man's dark fantasy into his worst nightmare.
-Meet The Patels -PG A laugh-out-loud, real-life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian-American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams...and his parents. This hilarious and heartwarming film reveals how love is a family affair.
-Grandma -R Lili Tomlin is Grandma, who with her granddaughter spends the day trying to scrape up $600 in cash by making unannounced visits to old friends and flames, which end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets. 92% on RT.
Arts/Literary Events
Literary Northwest Reading Series: Justin St. Germain
Friday, October 16, at 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Valley Library Rotunda
Corvallis, OR
Justin St. Germain's first book, the memoir Son of a Gun, was published by Random House. It won the 2013 Barnes & Noble Discover Award in non-fiction and was named a best book of 2013 by Amazon, Amazon Canada, Library Journal, BookPage, Salon, Publisher's Weekly, and the Pima County Public Library. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, the Guardian, Hobart, Barrelhouse, and various other journals, magazines, and anthologies, including the Best of the West series. He is the recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and Sewanee Writers' Conference, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow and Marsh McCall Lecturer at Stanford University.
Willamette Writers on the River: Monthly Meeting
with Sarina Dorie
"The Clowning Linguist: How to Write Comedy"
Monday, October 19, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church
114 SW 8th St.
Corvallis, OR
With humor, grace, and various interactive exercises, Sarina will share some of the tricks of her trade. She deals in the unexpected, in curious juxtapositions, in wordplay, and even funny sounds. Learn how to have fun with the hard work of comedy writing. She'll also answer your questions -- if you show up. So be there!
Sarina Dorie is the author of the award-winning YA paranormal romance novel Silent Moon. Her Puritan and alien love story, Dawn of the Morning Star, is due to come this year with Wolfsinger Publications. She has sold more than 70 short stories to markets like Daily Science Fiction and Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Salem Chapter of Willamette Writers: Monthly Meeting
with Leslie Gould
"Street Teams: Why You Need One, When to Create One, & How to Keep It in the Game"
Wednesday, October 21, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Salem Public Library
585 Liberty St. SE
Salem, OR
Word of mouth is the best marketing there is. But how do you generate it? Whether you love promotion or consider it a chore, you need a street team! Find out how to start, sustain, and nurture a group of readers who want to promote your work. Your team can make all the difference when it comes to building your platform and your sales.
Leslie Gould is the #1 bestselling and Christy Award winning author of 20 novels. She received her MFA from Portland State University in 2009 and teaches writing Warner Pacific College as an adjunct professor.
Wild in the Willamette: Book Launch 
Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
Wild in the Willamette is a guidebook and literary compendium to natural areas in the mid-Willamette Valley, published by OSU Press. The goal of the book is to introduce readers to those areas of the mid-Willamette Valley that may be new to them, through enticing trail descriptions, engaging essays by noted authors, and clear maps. Wild in the Willamette is a not-for-profit project originated in 2011 through the vision of the late Gail Achterman, a pioneer for the protection of Oregon's natural resources. Featuring author readings, guest speakers, and book signings and sales. All proceeds from the publication will be directed to Greenbelt Land Trust!
Reviewed by Patricia Lacy; sponsored by the Friends of the Library
Wednesday, November 18, at 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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Crazy Eights Author Event (Corvallis)
Thursday, October 15, at 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Corvallis-Benton County Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
Speed dating, only with authors! Each author will have eight minutes to address the audience about their life as a writer and introduce a featured book. It will be a fast-paced literary slam. A mixer, wherein the authors will interact one-on-one with members of the audience to discuss their work and personally sign books, will follow the rapid-fire presentations. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
Authors include:
- Dan DeWeese (Oregon Book Award fiction nominee, You Don't Love This Man)
- K.B. Dixon (Oregon Book Award finalist, The Sum of His Syndromes; Eric Hoffer Award)
- Cai Emmons (Oregon Book Award winner, His Mother's Son; new work Weather Woman)
- Lisa Ohlen Harris (Oregon Book Award finalist, The Fifth Season)
- Lauren Kessler (Oregon Book Awards; on David Letterman twice; newest: Raising the Barre)
- Phillip Margolin (Nationally known for NYT best selling legal thrillers; Woman With a Gun)
- Ismet Prcic (Bosnian author of Oregon Book Award winner novel, Shards; NYT Notable Book)
- Ellen Waterston (Award winning poet and essayist, novel of verse Via Lactea most recent)
- Emcee: George Byron Wright (Noted for Oregon-based novels; In the Wake of Our Misdeed)
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Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Corvallis Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR
In death-ravaged Verona, Angelica, a mother mourning her day-old infant, enters the household of the powerful Cappelletti family to become the wet-nurse to their newborn daughter Juliet. Over the next 14 years, Angelica becomes caught up in the Cappelletti's darkest secrets. But when those secrets erupt across five momentous days of love and loss, Angelica must confront her own deepest grief to find the strength to survive.
Award-winning author Lois Leveen's work has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Review of Books, the Chicago Tribune, the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic and on NPR, as well as in numerous literary and scholarly journals and in film and performing arts festivals. She lives in a bright green house in Portland, Oregon, with two cats, one Canadian, and 120,000 honey bees. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
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The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger
Friday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)
Whiteside Theatre
361 SW Madison Ave.
Corvallis, OR
 The Mid-Willamette Valley's premier literary event, The Magic Barrel: A Reading to Fight Hunger, is held each fall in Corvallis to raise funds for Linn Benton Food Share. This unique event is named after Bernard Malamud's short story collection,The Magic Barrel, and features writers from around Oregon sharing their fiction, poetry, and works of nonfiction in brief readings. The evening begins and ends with music, drinks, and complimentary food, with all proceeds benefiting Linn Benton Food Share. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event, with all proceeds donated to Linn Benton Food Share. For more event details and this year's list of readers, visit https://magicbarrel.org/. |
Crazy Eights Author Event (Albany)
Saturday, November 14, at 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Albany Public Library
2450 14th Ave. SE
Albany, OR
Speed dating, only with authors! Each author will have eight minutes to address the audience about their life as a writer and introduce a featured book. It will be a fast-paced literary slam. A mixer, wherein the authors will interact one-on-one with members of the audience to discuss their work and personally sign books, will follow the rapid-fire presentations. Grass Roots will be selling books at this event.
Authors include:
- Bill Cameron (Friends of Mystery Award for County Line forthcoming title Accelerant)
- K.B. Dixon (Oregon Book Award finalist, The Sum of His Syndromes; Eric Hoffer Award)
- Molly Gloss (Oregon Book Award winner, Falling From Horses; PNBA winner)
- Lisa Ohlen Harris (Oregon Book Award finalist, The Fifth Season)
- Justin Hocking (Oregon Book Award winner, The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld)
- Jane Kirkpatrick (Noted for 23 historical novels, WILLA Awards, Oregon Book Awards finalist)
- Jody Seay (Oregon Book Award fiction finalist, The Second Coming of Curly Red)
- Molly Best Tinsley (Oregon Book Award winner, Throwing Knives; thriller Broken Angels)
- Emcee: George Byron Wright (Noted for Oregon-based novels; In the Wake of Our Misdeed)
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Store News
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National Book Award Finalists; Man Booker Prize Winner
Marlon James won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for A Brief History of Seven Killings, which was described by chair of judges Michael Wood as "an extraordinary book" that "we didn't actually have any difficulty deciding on -- it was a unanimous decision, a little bit to our surprise." James, who currently lives in Minneapolis, Minn., is the first Jamaican-born writer to win the Booker.
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Jigsaw
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Reading Group Selection
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Tuesday, November 3, at 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
 Join Kerry as she leads our November Reading Group with Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem, winning author of the National Book Critics Circle Award and MacArthur Fellowship.Rose Zimmer, the aptly nicknamed Red Queen of Sunnyside, Queens, is an unreconstructed Communist who savages neighbors, family, and political comrades with the ferocity of her personality and the absolutism of her beliefs. Her equally passionate and willful daughter, Miriam, flees Rose's influence for the dawning counterculture of Greenwich Village. Despite their differences, they share a power to enchant the men in their lives, including Rose's aristocratic German Jewish husband, Albert; her feckless chess hustler cousin, Lenny; and Miriam's (slightly fraudulent) Irish folksinger husband, Tommy Gogan. Through Lethem's vivid storytelling we come to understand that the personal may be political, but the political, even more so, is personal.
Regular Price: $15.95
On sale for: $13.56
Until Tuesday, November 3
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9780307744494
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Night Stands
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Mica
[Fiction]
A well-paced mystery inspired by an old newspaper clipping, Girl Waits With Gun focuses on a lively cast of three sisters -- one a stolid, towering stand-in matriarch with a caustic wit, one a curmudgeonly hermit, and the last a fluttery teenager enthralled by melodrama. After their buggy is destroyed by a newfangled automobile, their lives are turned upside down. In a quest for justice, the older sister takes on more than she ever realized, as the car's driver and his henchmen become ever more threatening. The plot thickens when the oldest sister begins to unravel a mystery -- one that reminds her of a secret in her family's past. The characters have nuance and the Stewart's settings -- turn-of-the-century New Jersey and Manhattan -- are especially enjoyable.
Hardcover, $27.00
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; ISBN: 9780544409910
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Kerry
[Non-Fiction]
I've read many of Oliver Sacks' books, most of them in a matter of days, some even in an evening. After his death, I decided to revisit Hallucinations. One of my favorite chapters is "The 'Sacred' Disease," in which we learn about a woman whose epileptic seizures transport her into "dreamscapes" based on experiences from her past. During this second time around, I realized that what I love so much about Oliver Sacks is not only how he translates complex neurological topics into terms I can understand, but also how he describes the bizarre stories of his patients with compassion and curiosity.
Paperback, $15.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780307947437
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