Laini Taylor celebrates the Publication of her New Book Days of Blood & Starlight, the sequel to her Bestselling Book Daughter of Smoke and Bone. 

This Event is Monday, November 19, 2012 at 7:00 PM at Rainy Day Books in The Fairway Shops, 2706 W 53rd Street, Fairway, Kansas 66205.

Read full details about this Event on our Website.

New York Times Bestselling Author Jim Butcher celebrates the Publication of his New Dresden Files Book Cold Days. 

This Event is Thursday, November 29, 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.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil will discuss his New Book How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed. 

This Event is Thursday, December 6, 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.

Calvin Trillin, author of the weekly column "Uncivil Liberties," has been acclaimed in fields of writing which are remarkably diverse.  Having published solidly reported pieces in The New Yorker for more than twenty years, Trillin has been called "perhaps the finest reporter in America."  His antic commentary on the American scene has earned Calvin Trillin renown as " a classic American humorist."  His books chronicling his adventures as a "happy eater" caused Business Week to say, "Trillin is to food writing what Chaplin was to film acting."  In whatever sort of writing he does, Calvin Trillin has an unadorned point of view that is deeply rooted in a Midwestern upbringing.  He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and he has never stopped writing about his hometown.

Calvin Trillin will discuss his New Book Dogfight: The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse.  Co-sponsored by Rainy Day Books & The Jewish Community Center.  

This Event is Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 1:30 PM at The Jewish Community Center, 5801 W 115th Street, Overland Park, Kansas 66211.

Read full details about this Event on our Website.

The Forgotten

David Baldacci

Grand Central Publishing

Army Special Agent John Puller is the best there is. A combat veteran, Puller is the man the U.S. Army relies on to investigate the toughest crimes facing the nation. Now he has a new case-but this time, the crime is personal: His aunt has been found dead in Paradise, Florida. A picture-perfect town on Florida's Gulf Coast, Paradise thrives on the wealthy tourists and retirees drawn to its gorgeous weather and beaches. The local police have ruled his aunt's death an unfortunate, tragic accident. But just before she died, she mailed a letter to Puller's father, telling him that beneath its beautiful veneer, Paradise is not all it seems to be. What Puller finds convinces him that his aunt's death was no accident . . . and that the palm trees and sandy beaches of Paradise may hide a conspiracy so shocking that some will go to unthinkable lengths to make sure the truth is never revealed.

Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality

Jacob Tomsky

Doubleday

Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, rising fast through the ranks, he ended up working in "hospitality" for more than a decade, doing everything from supervising the housekeeping department to manning the front desk at an upscale Manhattan hotel. He's checked you in, checked you out, separated your white panties from the white bed sheets, parked your car, tasted your room-service meals, cleaned your toilet, denied you a late checkout, given you a wake-up call, eaten M&Ms out of your minibar, laughed at your jokes, and taken your money. In Heads in Beds he pulls back the curtain to expose the crazy and compelling reality of a multi-billion-dollar industry we think we know.

Notes to the Future: Words of Wisdom

Nelson Mandela

Atria Books

Notes to the Future is the definitive book of quotations from one of the great leaders of our time. This collection-gathered from privileged access to Mandela's vast personal archive of private papers, speeches, correspondence, and audio recordings- features more than three hundred quotations spanning more than sixty years, and includes his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. These inspirational quotations, organized into four sections-Struggle, Victory, Wisdom, and Future-are both universal and deeply personal. We see Mandela's sense of humor, his loneliness and despair, his thoughts on fatherhood, and the reluctant leader who had no choice but to become the man history demanded. 

Saul Steinberg: A Biography

Deirdre Bair

Nan A. Talese

The issue date was March 29, 1976. The New Yorker cost 75 cents. And on the cover unfolded Saul Steinberg's vision of the world: New York City, the Hudson River, and then...well, it's really just a bunch of stuff you needn't concern yourself with. Steinberg's brilliant depiction of the world according to self-satisfied New Yorkers placed him squarely in the pantheon of the magazine's-and the era's-most celebrated artists. But if you look beyond the searing wit and stunning artistry, you'll find one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. Born in Romania, Steinberg was educated in Milan and was already famous for his satirical drawings when World War II forced him to immigrate to the United States. On a single day, Steinberg became a US citizen, a commissioned officer in the US Navy, and a member of the OSS, assigned to spy in China, North Africa, and Italy. After the war ended, he returned to America and to his art. He quickly gained entree into influential circles that included Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, Willem de Kooning, and Le Corbusier. His wife was the artist Hedda Sterne, from whom he separated in 1960 but never divorced and with whom he remained in daily contact for the rest of his life. This conveniently freed him up to amass a coterie of young mistresses and lovers. But his truly great love was the United States, where he traveled extensively by bus, train, and car, drawing, observing, and writing.

Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal

Chris Colfer

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal follows the story of outcast high school senior Carson Phillips who blackmails the most popular students in his school into contributing to his literary journal to bolster his college application; his goal in life is to get into Northwestern and eventually become the editor of The New Yorker. At once laugh-out-loud funny, deliciously dark, and remarkably smart, Struck By Lightning unearths the dirt that lies just below the surface of high school.