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| April 21, 2016 |
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Hello, Readers,
Tonight at 7:00, stop by the store for a celebration of the work of poet William Stafford featuring readings by local writers and an open mic!
Among the many fantastic author events at Grass Roots throughout spring, join our party on Saturday, April 30 celebrating Independent Bookstore Day! We'll be raffling off goodies, offering free and discounted bookish swag -- and did we mention cake?
Bestselling authors' books are hot off the publishing presses this week: the latest installment in Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series, Julia Cameron's creative crash course for midlife, and the newest short story collection by Chuck Palahniuk out in paperback.
Read on for our special Poem of the Week honoring National Poetry Month, the Pulitzer Prize winners, and book news galore...
~Marissa
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New Hardcovers
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by Dave Isay
"We're admonished to find a calling in order to live a fulfilled life. And while job is an ancient construct, storytelling is a far older one. . .Gleaned from the thousands of work-related interviews, Callings introduces readers to dreamers, healers, multigenerational xyz-ers, philosophers, and groundbreakers. . .These men and women proudly squeeze more out of their jobs than paychecks. They make things, serve others, create opportunities, endure sacrifices, and take risks. Callings will inspire readers at every stage of their careers to view work with a new appreciation for the possibilities it holds beyond the mundane." - Booklist
Hardcover; $26.00
Publisher: Penguin Press; ISBN: 9781594205187
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by Karl Ove Knausgaard
[Fiction]
"This penultimate installment of Knausgaard's masterful, six-part series opens in August 1988, with Karl Ove hitchhiking back home to Norway after backpacking through Europe. No longer a teenager in search of adventure, Karl Ove resolves to get serious about writing, having been accepted into an elite university program. He faces familiar battles against alcohol and love affairs (the two temptations are often intertwined) but also rejection from publishers and his father's impending death, which has cast shadows over the entire series. . .Fans of Knausgaard's indulgent style will revel in every last beer can and krone as the closing chapter of this infamous Norwegian saga approaches." - Booklist
Hardcover; $27.00
Publisher: Archipelago Books; ISBN: 9780914671398
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by Curtis Sittenfeld
[Fiction]
A bold literary experiment, Eligible is a brilliant, playful, and delicious saga for the 21st century. This version of the Bennet family and Mr. Darcy is one that you have and haven't met before: Liz is a magazine writer in her late 30s who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show "Eligible." Chip's friend neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . .And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.
Hardcover; $28.00
Publisher: Random House; ISBN: 9781400068326
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by Richard Zacks
[Non-Fiction]
"In 1895, at the age of 60, Mark Twain, the nation's highest-paid author at the time, faced financial disaster. To raise cash, he launched a yearlong lecture tour of 122 performances spanning several continents. As Zacks relates in this deeply entertaining account, Twain's rugged journey was redemptive. While restoring his spirit through the excitement of travel, the laughter of audiences, and the admiration of global high society, Twain made good money. . .Zacks's narrative is well-researched with rich detail, some drawn from unpublished archival material at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, and it will strike ardent Twain fans and history lovers as fresh and inspiring." - Publishers Weekly
Hardcover; $30.00
Publisher: Doubleday Books; ISBN: 9780385536448
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by Frank Deford
[Non-Fiction]
Frank Deford is one of the most beloved sports journalists in America, perhaps best known for his weekly commentaries on NPR's Morning Edition. Since 1980, Deford has recorded 1,600 of them, and he brings together the very best, creating a charming, insightful, and wide-ranging look at athletes and the world of sports. This page-turning compendium showcases the vast range of Deford's interests and opinions, including his thoughts on the NCAA, why gay athletes play straight, and why he's worried about living in an economy that is so dominated by golfers. Perfect for sports enthusiasts as well as sports skeptics, and a must-read for any Deford fan.
Hardcover; $25.00
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; ISBN: 9780802125248
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New Paperbacks
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by Julia Cameron and Emma Lively
[Non-Fiction]
Julia Cameron has inspired millions with her bestseller on creativity, The Artist's Way. Now, she turns her eye to a segment of the population that, ironically, while they have more time to be creative, are often reluctant or intimidated by the creative process. Cameron shows readers that retirement can, in fact, be the most rich, fulfilling, and creative time of their lives. A 12-week course aimed at defining and creating the life you want to have as you redefine and re-create yourself, this book includes simple tools that will guide and inspire you to make the most of this time in your life.
Paperback; $17.00
Publisher: Tarcherperigee; ISBN: 9780399174216
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by Leonard Mlodinow
[Non-Fiction]
A few million years ago, our ancestors came down from the trees and began to stand upright, freeing our hands to create tools and our minds to grapple with the world around us. Mlodinow takes us on a passionate and inspiring tour through the exciting history of human progress and the key events in the development of science. In the process, he presents a fascinating new look at the unique characteristics of our species and our society that helped propel us from stone tools to written language and through the birth of chemistry, biology, and modern physics to today's technological world.
Paperback; $16.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780345804433
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by Chuck Palahniuk
[Fiction]
A compilation of 21 stories and one novella that will disturb and delight. . .in "Zombies," the best and brightest of a high school prep school become tragically addicted to the latest drug craze: electric shocks from cardiac defibrillators. In "Knock, Knock," a son hopes to tell one last off-color joke to a father in his final moments, while in "Tunnel of Love," a massage therapist runs the curious practice of providing 'relief' to dying clients. And in "Expedition," fans will be thrilled to see a side of Tyler Durden never seen before in a precursor story to Fight Club.
Paperback; $15.00
Publisher: Anchor Books; ISBN: 9780345807120
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by Nora Pouillon
[Non-Fiction]
Growing up on a farm in the Austrian Alps and later in Vienna, Nora Pouillon was surrounded by fresh and delicious foods. So when she moved to Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, she was horrified to discover a culinary culture dominated by hormone-bloated meat and unseasonal vegetables. First as a cooking teacher, then as a restaurateur, and eventually as the founder of America's first certified organic restaurant, Nora redefined what food could be. As much the story of America's postwar culinary history as it is the memoir of a remarkable woman, My Organic Life encompasses the birth of the farm-to-table movement.
Paperback; $16.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9780345806390
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by Deborah Moggach
[Fiction]
In possession of a run-down bed and breakfast that leans more toward the shabby than the chic and is, quite literally, miles from nowhere, retired actor Buffy realizes that he needs to fill the beds and fast. Enter a motley collection of guests: Harold, whose wife has run off with a younger woman; Amy, who's been unexpectedly dumped and Andy, the hypochondriac postman whose girlfriend is much too much for him to handle. But under Buffy's watchful eye, this disparate group of strangers finds that they have more in common than perhaps they first thought. A charming romantic comedy that will captivate even the most determined urbanite.
Paperback; $16.95
Publisher: Overlook Press; ISBN: 9781468312584
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New For Young Readers
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New Bargain Books
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| Watch for a new shipment of bargain books next week! |
New Music
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Events at Grass Roots
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A William Stafford Birthday Celebration
Thursday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Local writers Ann Staley, Steve Jones, Jerri Otto, Jim Merrill, and Liz Schillinger will be reading from poet William Stafford's work and speaking about his influence on their writing and thinking. This will be followed by an open mic so that whomever shows up can share their favorite Stafford poem, a poem of their own (inspired by William Stafford), or a poem by another Oregon poet.
William Stafford, Poet Laureate of Oregon, Library of Congress Poet, beloved teacher at Lewis & Clark College, published over 6,000 poems and 60 collections of poems during his writing life. Stafford was a member of the Brethren, one of three pacifist religious sects, which also included the Quakers. His brother, Bob was a bomber pilot; Bill was a CO during World War II.
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Margaret Malone and Joe Wilkins
  Thursday, April 22, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
People Like You is a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Hemingway Award. In stories all at once funny, unsettling, subtle, and moving, Malone's people exist like most of us, in the thick of everyday experience absent of epiphanies, and they are caught off-guard or cast adrift by personal impulses even while wide awake to their own imperfections.
In When We Were Birds, Joe Wilkins wrestles his attention away from the griefs, deprivations, and high prairies of his Montana childhood and turns toward "the bean-rusted fields and gutted factories of the Midwest," toward ordinary injustice and everyday sadness, toward the imminent birth of his son and his own confusions in taking up the mantle of fatherhood, toward faith and grace, legacy and luck.
Margaret Malone is the recipient of fellowships from the Oregon Arts Commission, Literary Arts, and RACC. Joe Wilkins lives with his family in McMinnville, Oregon, where he teaches writing at Linfield College. The authors will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Readings from The Timberline Review
by Rick Attig, Henry Hughes, Jeanne Krinsley, and Keli Osborn
 Sunday, April 24, at 2:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Five featured authors will be reading from the Winter/Spring edition of The Timberline Review, a new literary journal published twice a year by Willamette Writers. The Timberline Review features new works of short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay from local, regional, national and international authors writing in the English language.
Rick Attig is a Portland essayist, fiction writer and former member of the Editorial Board of The Oregonian, where he shared two Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2006 prize for editorial writing and the 2001 prize for Public Service. Henry Hughes is the author of four collections of poetry, including Men Holding Eggs, which received the Oregon Book Award. Jeanne Krinsley has been writing since she was five, and is currently working on a fantasy novel set in the American southwest. Keli Osborn's poems appear in multiple journals and anthologies, including the 2015 Red Sofa Poets chapbook, How to Love Everything. The authors will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Ziggy Rendler-Bregman
The Gate of Our Coming and Going
 Thursday, April 27, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
The Gate of Our Coming and Going is a beautiful, self-published collection of both poems and prints created by Ziggy and just released in December 2015. She selected more than a dozen of her poems to be accompanied by a full color monoprint created and hand-pulled in her studio. Her poems tell of growing up in a family of nine children as well as capturing her years with her own children, her home, garden, travels and love for the California landscape.
After receiving a BA in Aesthetic Studies at UC Santa Cruz in 1973, Ziggy Rendler-Bregman co-founded the children's literary and art magazine, Stone Soup. She and her husband Jesse live in Santa Cruz where they raised their three children. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Clemens Starck and Donald Levering
reading from their new poetry collections
Thursday, April 28, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
The thoughtful design of Old Dogs, New Tricks, printed on creamy paper in an oversize format and accented with Kevin Clark's woodblock prints, perfectly complements the unsentimental beauty of the poems within. Clemens Starck is a Princeton dropout, a former merchant seaman, a retired union carpenter and construction foreman, and the author of five books of poems -- three times a finalist for, and once a recipient of, the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. His books are Journeyman's Wages, Studying Russian on Company Time, China Basin, Traveling Incognito, and Rembrandt, Chainsaw. His poetry has been featured in The Oregonian and on NPR's The Writer's Almanac. He lives outside of Dallas in the foothills of the Coast Range.
Coltrane's God is a book of poetry about music, primarily jazz, blues, and bluegrass. Donald Levering is a former NEA Fellow in poetry and the author of seven full-length poetry books and six chapbooks. His previous book, The Water Leveling with Us, placed 2nd in the National Federation of Press Women competition in creative verse. He has been a featured poet in the Academy of American Poets online forum and a Duende Series Reader.
This event is sponsored by the Spring Creek Project. The poets will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Independent Bookstore Day Celebration
Saturday, April 30, at 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
Join us at the bookstore for our 2nd annual celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, complete with reader- approved special deals and treats throughout the day:
- Cake and punch refreshments
- Free raffles with great prizes (enter all day, raffle pulled at 4:00 p.m.)
- Extra raffle tickets with purchase
- Free Litograph temporary tattoo (while supplies last)
- Free books for children attending
- Free Indies First shopping bags to the first 15 to make a purchase
- Grass Roots T-shirts on sale at 25% off, while they last
We'll see you there!
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Lawrence A. Landis
 Sunday, May 1, at 2:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
A School for the People tells the story of OSU's nearly 150 years as a land grant institution through more than 500 photographs, maps, documents, and extensive captions. In-depth chapters focus on themes such as campus development, the growth of academics, the evolution of research as a major focus of the university, campus life and organizations, and, of course, athletics. A capsule history includes many of the iconic photographs associated with the university. Written by a longtime archivist at OSU's Special Collections & Archives Research Center, it tells the full, dynamic story of this multi-faceted and living university.
Lawrence A. Landis has been an archivist at Oregon State University since 1991. During that time, he has served as assistant university archivist, university archivist, and since 2011, director of the Libraries' Special Collections & Archives Research Center. He has researched many aspects of OSU's history, particularly its built environment.
The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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A.E. Sullivan
 Saturday, May 7, at 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
After having children, Ami Sullivan started paying much closer attention to the words we commonly use as society and felt horrified at the concepts we almost unconsciously inundate our children with. The Truly Terrible C Word is the first book in this series -- a fun, over-the-top way to raise our awareness of potentially damaging language. Through this engaging story, young readers learn more about the word that can stop people from doing anything and it must be stopped! It will definitely stunt a person's growth! Are you ready to change your lexicon to achieve your dreams?
Ami Sullivan is a full-time mom and non-profit consultant for people with developmental disabilities. She has an active family life with her husband, Dan, and their two home-schooled sons and two boxers. On the weekend they can be found hiking the Saddle and enjoying life in Corvallis, Oregon. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Bill C. Hall
 Wednesday, May 11, at 7:00 p.m.
Grass Roots Books & Music
227 SW 2nd St.
Corvallis, OR
McCallandia is a novel that imagines a world where Oregon's colorful, iconic Governor, Tom McCall, becomes president of the United States. In the pages of McCallandia, you'll visit a world where Tom McCall is Richard Nixon's successor. President McCall brings his unique style, candor, and environmental ethic to Washington, and the world changes. For the better. McCallandia features an outside cast of supporting characters, including Hunter Thompson, Ken Kesey and Steve Prefontaine. Publisher Matt Love calls McCallandia "The best political novel ever written about Oregon."
McCallandia is the first novel by Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall, who, like Tom McCall, made the transition from journalism to politics. Bill is a native Oregonian and met Tom McCall in 1978, when he volunteered for his ill-fated comeback campaign. Hall lives in Newport. The author will be reading and signing books at this event.
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Community Events
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Darkside Show Times for 4/22-4/28
-Born to Be Blue -R Ethan Hawke lights up the screen as legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, whose tumultuous life is thrillingly reimagined with wit, verve, and style to burn. This semi-factual, semi-fictional treatment is set in the late 1960s during his comeback.
- Creative Control -R
An overworked advertising executive developing a high-profile marketing campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality glasses uses them to have an affair with a hologram of his buddy's girlfriend.
-Demolition -R As an investment banker struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash, his increasingly confessional series of letters to a vending machine company catch the attention of a customer service rep with whom he forms an unlikely connection. Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper.
-Rams -R In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two brothers who haven't spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what's dearest to them -- their sheep. Subtitle Icelandic. Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes! 97% on RT!
Arts/Literary Events
Reviewed by Rebecca Terry; sponsored by Friends of the Library
Wednesday, May 11, at 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Corvallis-Benton County Public Library 645 NW Monroe Ave. Corvallis, OR  Willamette Writers on the River workshop with Sarina Dorie
"The Nuts and Bolts of Writing and Selling Short Stories"
Saturday, April 30, at 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Comfort Inn Suites
1730 NW 9th St.
Corvallis, OR
Why write short stories, flash fiction and novellas? Come to this fast-paced workshop to find out. Learn how to sell short fiction, where to find markets, what you need to include in a cover letter for short stories and more. We will practice dissecting markets and magazines to find the right ones for you. Sarina Dorie will share the secrets to her success so that you can write short stories and make money selling them. Register here.
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Community Events with Grass Roots
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The Thin Green Line: Creative Resistance to Fossil Fuel Development in the Pacific Northwest
 Saturday, April 23, at 7:00 p.m. La Sells Stewart Center, Oregon State University 875 SW 26th St. Corvallis, OR
Featuring speakers, workshops, and seriously joyful movement building, The Thin Green Line will gather activists, artists, writers, scientists, and policy makers, and from all over the Pacific Northwest, to learn and strategize about resisting fossil fuel development. Grass Roots will be selling books at the keynote for this event.
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Store News
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National Poetry Month: This week's featured poem
The Canada Lynx
by Ursula K. Le Guin
We know how to know and how to think,
how to exhibit what is known
to heaven's bright ignorant eye,
how to be busy and to multiply.
He knows how to walk
into the trees alone not looking back,
so light on his soft feet he does not sink
into the snow. How to leave no track,
no sound, no shadow. How to be gone.
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born in 1929 in Berkeley, and lives in Portland, Oregon. As of 2015, she has published 21 novels, 11 volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, 12 books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many honors and awards including Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, and the National Book Foundation Medal.
Hardcover, $18.95
Publisher: PM Press; 9781629631226
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Earth Day is April 22
Be an advocate for a greener world and foster a more sustainable future with our top titles on climate change, cleaner energy, and preserving the natural wonders of our earth. Find these books and more in our Science section.
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Downtown Farmers Market
To celebrate the return of one of our favorite seasonal pastimes in downtown Corvallis, we've gathered some of the best cookbooks, gardening guides, and locavore literature to take your fresh food from farm to table. Enjoy!
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Jigsaw
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Reading Group Selection
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Tuesday, May 3, at 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Join Amber as she leads our May reading group with Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.
"Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet." So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia's body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait.
Regular Price: $16.00
On sale for: $13.60
Until Tuesday, May 3
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN: 9780143127550
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Night Stands
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by Sue Klebold
[Non-Fiction]
On April 20, 1999, the parents of Littleton were praying that their children would be safe, except for Sue Klebold. Sue was praying that her child, Dylan, would die before he could hurt anyone else. It's frightening to imagine that Dylan Klebold could be your child, raised in a loving and attentive household. That no matter how much your parenting was scrutinized there would be no clear reason for the tragedy. She reveals the gut-wrenching journey her family unwittingly embarked on, from living an idyllic suburban life to becoming the family that spawned a mass murderer. Throughout, she never asks for our empathy, just that we open our eyes to the serious reality of undiagnosed mental illness.
*All author profits from the book are being donated to research and to charitable organizations focusing on mental health issues
Hardcover; $28.00
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY); ISBN: 9781101902752
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by Donna Tartt
[Fiction]
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tartt ( The Goldfinch) evocatively portrays a study in Greek classics as no other novel has, making The Secret History a contemporary classic in its own right. Published more than 20 years ago, it is a story I continue to reread for its intoxicating prose, nail-biting tension, and some of the most pretentious yet strangely fascinating characters imaginable -- who are all in the quest for the sublime at the expense of morality. It's a commentary on high society, academic pursuit, and antiheroes, and it's a darkly alluring read.
Paperback; $16.95
Publisher: Vintage; ISBN: 9781400031702
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