Matt Inman, AKA, The Oatmeal, will appear for his New Book How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You.  

Mr. Oats delivers a sidesplitting serving of cat comics in his New Book, How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You.   If your cat is kneading you, that's not a sign of affection.   Your cat is actually checking your internal organs for weakness.   If your cat brings you a dead animal, this isn't a gift.   It's a warning.

This Event is Monday, October 22, 2012 at 7:00 PM at Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112.

Read full details about this Event on our Website.

Kate Morton, New York Times Bestselling Author of The House at Riverton, joins us for a Book Club Evening!  Kate appears for New Book The Secret Keeper. 

This Event is Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 7:00 PM at Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112. 

Vivien Jennings, Founder & President of Rainy Day Books, will present selected suggestions for Book Clubs to read from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM.  At 7:00 PM, Kate Morton will discuss her New Book The Secret Keeper In Conversation with Vivien Jennings.  The Conversation will last approximately One Hour. A Booksigning will follow the Conversation.

Read full details about this Event on our Website.

New York Times Bestselling author Kate White appears In Conversation celebrating the release of her New Book I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know.  This Event is Co-Sponsored by Rainy Day Books and KC Magazine in partnership with Go Red For Women. 

This Event is Monday, October 29, 2012 at 7:00 PM at Unity Temple on The Plaza, Sanctuary, 707 W 47th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64112. 

Kate White will join in a "Gutsy" Conversation about her New Book and career with Vivien Jennings, Founder & President of Rainy Day Books and Dara Macan, President of Anthem Publishing.  The Conversation will last approximately One Hour.  A Booksigning will follow the Conversation.

Read full details about this Event on our Website.

Back to Blood

Tom Wolfe

Little, Brown and Company

As a police launch speeds across Miami's Biscayne Bay-with officer Nestor Camacho on board-Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night-until lately, the love of Nestor's life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin' little brother; a billionaire porn addict, crack dealers in the 'hoods, "de-skilled" conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair, "spectators" at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night's orgy, yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an "Active Adult" condo, and a nest of shady Russians. Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe's previous bestselling novels, BACK TO BLOOD is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.

The Racketeer

John Grisham

Doubleday

Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five. Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge's untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland. On paper, Malcolm's situation isn't looking too good these days, but he's got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge's body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied. What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price-especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett's death. And the Racketeer wasn't born yesterday.

The Dark Winter

David Mark

Blue Rider Press

What Ian Rankin is to Edinburgh, David Mark is to Hull, the northern England port as old and mysterious as its bordering sea. There, a series of suspicious deaths have captured the attention of Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy, whose keen intelligence leads him to notice a pattern missed by others: All of the victims were at one time the sole survivors of tragedies large and small. As McAvoy strives to connect the cases to a single culprit, he is continually torn between his duties and his aching desire to spend more time with his wife and child-both of whom he adores. In McAvoy, Mark has created an unforgettable hero: a family guy obsessed with being a decent cop, a physically imposing man far more comfortable exploring databases than being gung-ho with his muscle.

The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel

Alexander Mccall Smith

Pantheon

In this latest installment of Alexander McCall Smith's endearing Isabel Dalhousie series, the Edinburgh philosopher and amateur sleuth answers an unexpected appeal from a wealthy Scottish collector who has been robbed of a valuable painting. One afternoon over coffee at Cat's delicatessen, a friend of Isabel's shares a call for help from Duncan Munrowe. Crafty thieves have stolen a prized painting from his collection, a work by the celebrated French artist Nicolas Poussin that was earmarked for donation to the Scottish National Gallery. Munrowe has been approached by the thieves and hopes that Isabel will assist him in recovering the painting. Never one to refuse an appeal, she agrees, and discovers that the thieves may be closer to the owner than he ever would have expected. Against the backdrop of this intriguing case, Isabel copes with life's issues, large and small. She and Jamie have begun to suspect that their three-year-old son, Charlie, might be a budding mathematical genius. What should be done about it? Then there is the question of whether Isabel should help a young couple who want to move in together-against the wishes of the girl's parents. The boyfriend is hoping Isabel might intercede. As she wrestles with these problems, Isabel finds herself tested as a parent, a philosopher and a friend.

One for the Books

Joe Queenan

Viking Adult

Joe Queenan became a voracious reader as a means of escape from a joyless childhood in a Philadelphia housing project. In the years since then he has dedicated himself to an assortment of idiosyncratic reading challenges: spending a year reading only short books, spending a year reading books he always suspected he would hate, spending a year reading books he picked with his eyes closed. In One for the Books, Queenan tries to come to terms with his own eccentric reading style-how many more books will he have time to read in his lifetime? Why does he refuse to read books hailed by reviewers as "astonishing"? Why does he refuse to lend out books? Will he ever buy an e-book? Why does he habitually read thirty to forty books simultaneously? Why are there so many people to whom the above questions do not even matter-and what do they read? Acerbically funny yet passionate and oddly affectionate, One for the Books is a reading experience that true book lovers will find unforgettable.

A Question of Identity: A Simon Serrailler Mystery

Susan Hill

Overlook Press

A particularly unpleasant murder, that of a very old woman in a housing project, rocks the town of Lafferton. The murderer has left a distinctive "sign" on the body and at the scene of crime. A couple of weeks later, a similar murder occurs, and a month or so later, so does another. Initial investigations discover that the mysterious "sign" left on the body was the calling card of a suspect who was charged with several murders in the northwest of the country, tried but acquitted on the grounds of insufficient evidence. All indications suggest that this person has simply vanished. Or is he right under their noses? Simon Serrailler is obliged to make delve deeper and scratch out answers.

The Divinity of Dogs: True Stories of Miracles Inspired by Man's Best Friend

Jennifer Skiff

Atria Books

The Divinity of Dogs is about the moments you learn something profound about life from an experience with a dog. Featuring more than seventy stories culled from hundreds of submissions to the author's website, these inspiring and heartwarming true stories show where love, tolerance, comfort, compassion, loyalty, joyfulness, and even death have provided experiences that have led to spiritual enlightenment. You'll meet Little Bit, the Chihuahua who detected a small lump in her owner's breast, a growth even doctors couldn't find. There's Emma, the devoted Rottweiler who ferociously grabbed her owner's arm at the moment he was trying to commit suicide, saving his life. You'll be inspired by Luna, the Retriever who dragged her owner to safety after she collapsed late at night in a field. And you'll fall in love with the many dogs who simply provide steady comfort when needed- dogs like Bo, the Boxer who soothed his mistress after the loss of her son. The author also weaves her own experiences with dogs throughout the book, showing how they comforted her through mistreatment as a child, a divorce, and a cancer diagnosis.

The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information

The Onion

Little, Brown and Company

Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need: The Onion's compendium of all things known. Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, THE ONION BOOK OF KNOWN KNOWLEDGE is packed with valuable information-such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail." With hundreds of entries for all 27 letters of the alphabet, THE ONION BOOK OF KNOWN KNOWLEDGE must be purchased immediately to avoid the sting of eternal ignorance.

Lidia's Favorite Recipes: 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes, from Basic Sauces to Irresistible Entrees

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

Knopf

Lidia Bastianich gives us a fresh look at her favorite dishes, the ones that have made it to the table time and time again: more than 100 of her signature recipes, revised to be more concise and clear, but just as soul-satisfying as ever. From Baked Clams Oreganata, Marinated Winter Squash, and Spaghetti with Quick Garlic Tomato Sauce to Braised Beef Rolls, Shrimp Scampi, and Chocolate Bread Parfait, each recipe includes new information about the affordability, seasonality, and nutritional value of the ingredients. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full-color photographs, Lidia's Favorite Recipes will give both new cooks and longtime fans something delicious to celebrate.

The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle

Tom Douglas

William Morrow

Want to fry up the doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and mascarpone that Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis called the "best thing I ever ate"? Are you pining for the peanut butter sandwich cookie recipe that legendary writer Nora Ephron proclaimed "the greatest cookie ever ever ever"? Do you long to dazzle friends with the triple coconut cream pie that New York food writer and Serious Eats founder Ed Levine called "one of the best pies in the country"? Or do you just want to get your hands on the crazy-rich, streusel-topped monkey bread with caramel dipping sauce that has people lining up outside the Dahlia Bakery's door? Now, those sweet dreams can come true, thanks to The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. Seattle's most popular chef and James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur Award winner Tom Douglas shares his secrets for 125 scrumptious treats. Here, you will find chef-tested recipes for breakfasts, pastries, tarts, pies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, puddings, ice creams, sandwiches, and jams that are guaranteed to work in the home kitchen.

Theodosia and the Last Pharaoh

R. L. LaFevers, Yoko Tanaka

Sandpiper

In this fourth book in the series, Theodosia sets off to Egypt to return the Emerald Tablet-embedded with the knowledge of some of the ancient world's most guarded secrets. Accompanied by her cat, Isis (smuggled along in a basket), Theo plans to return the artifact, then explore the mysteries surrounding her own birth and oh, yes- help her mother dig up treasures on her archeological expedition. But nothing ever works out as planned, especially when a precious treasure appears suddenly, and then just as suddenly disappears . . . When the Serpents of Chaos get involved, Theo finds she's digging up a lot more than she expected!

The Twinning Project

Robert Lipsyte

Clarion Books

Tom is a smart, talented loner with a chip on his shoulder and a big secret: an imaginary twin on another planet. Eddie is Tom's opposite, a friendly, athletic kid who always looks on the good side. Tom worries sometimes: does confiding in Eddie mean he's nuts? The truth is even crazier than that. Eddie and his planet are just as real as Tom and his Earth, but fifty-some years in the past. And the twins are caught up in an alien master plan that might just mean Earth-both Earths-will be destroyed. Switching places and identities, "slipping" between planets and across decades, a desperate escape, and the unraveling of deeper secrets leave Tom and Eddie aware of the danger they're facing and the tools they can use to overcome it.

"Who Could That Be at This Hour?"

LEMONY SNICKET!

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume.