Rainy Day Books, Inc.


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Rainy Day Books
Rainy Day Books is located in
The Fairway Shops
2706 W 53rd Street
Fairway, Kansas 66205-1705
Phone: 913-384-3126

Store Hours:
Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri 10 to 6 and Saturdays 10 to 5
Sundays we are Home with our families and friends to read and rest!

In This Newsletter
Wednesday Night: Jeff Guinn will discuss Buffalo Trail: A Novel
Friday Night: Leonard Pitts will discuss Grant Park: A Novel
Next Wednesday: Tish Jett Reception for Forever Chic
Next Thursday: Refe & Susan Tuma Launch Party for What the Dinosaurs did Last Night: A Very Messy Adventure
Elian Weiss Friedman, AKA @TheDogist at BAR{K} a Happy Hour for Dogs!
Great New Books arrive on our shelves each Week!
HERE THEY COME!
Our World-Famous Author Events Calendar!

Jeff Guinn, Wednesday, October 14

Wednesday, October 21

Refe & Susan Tuma, Thursday, October 22

John "Jack" Danforth, Sunday, October 25

Geraldine Brooks, Monday, October 26


Susan Elia MacNeal, Tuesday, October 27

Ree Drummond: The Pioneer Woman, Thursday, October 29

David Mitchell, Friday, November 06

T. J. Stiles, Monday, November 09

Chelsea Clinton, Tuesday, November 10

Ted Koppel, Wednesday, November 11

B.A. Shapiro, Thursday, November 12

Gloria Steinem, Sunday, November 15

Isabel Allende, Tuesday, November 17

Jon Meacham, Wednesday, November 18

Jackson Galaxy, AKA Cat Daddy, Monday, November 23

Kate Morton, Thursday, December 03
Volume 763      UPDATE     October 12, 2015
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On Monday, October 5th Robert B. Reich gave a profoundly insightful Presentation of his New Book Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few at Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum for 900 concerned citizens & Customers!  A Documentary Film Crew shot our Author Event.
Robert B. Reich for Saving Capitalism at Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Truman Forum 10052015

On Tuesday, October 6th, Robert L. Bloch celebrated the Publication of his New Book My Warren Buffett Bible: A Short and Simple Guide to Rational Investing: 284 Quotes from the World's Most Successful Investor for Family, Friends and Readers at Rainy Day Books!
Robert L. Bloch for My Warren Buffett Bible at Rainy Day Books 10062015

On Thursday, October 8th, Richard Dawkins gave an illuminating Presentation of his New Book Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science for 1,200 Customers at Unity Temple on The Plaza!
Richard Dawkins for Brief Candle in the Dark at Unity Temple Sanctuary 10082015
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Read our Weekly Author Events Newsletters!  We work smart & hard to create exciting and unique opportunities as we celebrate 40 Years of bringing Author, Books and Customers together for memorable experiences!
Wednesday Night: 
Jeff Guinn will discuss Buffalo Trail:
A Novel of the American West

Jeff GuinnNew York Times Bestselling Author of Glorious and The Last Gunfight, will discuss his life, work, and his New Novel Buffalo Trail.  This Event is Co-Sponsored by Rainy Day Books & Mid-Continent Public Library.

"Full of historical notable figures from the Old West, this second volume in Guinn's trilogy not only provides a buoyant narrative but also several lessons in Western history.  This title is so well constructed that it could stand alone (for readers new to the trilogy).  Guinn skillfully ties his carefully constructed prolog outlining the Massacre at Sand Creek (1864) to a lone female warrior he imagines at the Second Battle at Adobe Walls." ~ Library Journal
 
This Complimentary OPEN HOUSE Event is Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 7:00 PM at Woodneath Library Center, 8900 NE Flintlock Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64157. 

Registration is Required at www.MyMCPL.org/Events or Call 816-883-4900.

Friday Night: 
Leonard Pitts will discuss
Grant Park: A Novel

Leonard Pitts, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist and Bestselling Author of Freeman and Before I Forget, will discuss his life, work, and his New Novel Grant Park.  This Event is Co-Sponsored by Rainy Day Books and The Black Archives of Mid-America.

Grant Park is a page-turning and provocative look at black and white relations in contemporary America, blending the absurd and the poignant in a powerfully well-crafted narrative.
 
"A novel as significant as it is engrossing." ~ Booklist, Starred Review
 
"In the aftermath of this summer's racially motivated mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist, there's near-eerie prescience in Pitts' historical novel. . .[Grant Park], with urgency and passion, makes readers aware that the mistakes of the past are neglected at the future's peril." ~ Kirkus Reviews
 
This Complimentary OPEN HOUSE Event is Friday, October 16, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at The Black Archives of Mid-America, 1722 E 17th Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri 64127. 

Registration is Required at www.BlackArchives.org or Call 816-221-1600.

Next Wednesday Afternoon: 
Tish Jett will celebrate Forever Chic!
Tish Jett for Forever Chic 10212015

Tish Jett, celebrated French Author and Blogger, will celebrate at a Reception the Publication of her New Book Forever Chic: Frenchwomen's Secrets for Timeless Beauty, Style and Substance.  This Event is Co-Sponsored by Rainy Day Books & Nell Hill's.

This Complimentary OPEN HOUSE Event is Wednesday, October 21, 2015 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Nell Hill's at The Village at Briarcliff, 4101 N Mulberry Drive, Kansas City, Missouri 64116.

Reservations are Requested.  Please contact MelanieK@NellHills.com or Call 816-746-1578.

Next Thursday Afternoon: 
Refe & Susan Tuma will celebrate the Publication of
What the Dinosaurs did Last Night:
A Very Messy Adventure

Refe & Susan Tuma, the Creators of Dinovember, will celebrate the Publication of their New Children's Picture Book What the Dinosaurs did Last Night: A Very Messy Adventure with a Launch Party at Rainy Day Books!

This Event is
 Thursday, October 22, 2015 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at Rainy Day Books in The Fairway Shops, 2706 W 53rd Street, Fairway, Kansas 66205.

Join us for BAR[K]: A Happy Hour for Dogs featuring
Elias Weiss Friedman, AKA @TheDogist  !
BAR[K] with Elias Weiss Friedman, AKA @TheDogist 10272015

Elias Weiss Friedman, Instagram sensation @TheDogist will celebrate the Publication of his New Book The Dogist with an appearance at BAR[K]: A Happy Hour for Dogs.  This Event is Co-Sponsored by Rainy Day Books, Ink Magazine and LiveKC.  This Program will Benefit Great Plains SPCA.

This Event is Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM at Barney Allis Plaza, Downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Great New Books arrive on our shelves each Week!

City on Fire

City on Fire

Garth Risk Hallberg

Knopf Publishing Group

 

Big, juicy, and full-throated, City on Fire absorbs readers into an expertly crafted 1970s New York City and introduces them to character after lushly drawn character: the charismatic young woman with a hidden life, her asthmatic punk groupie friend, the wizened reporter, the obscenely rich and rebellious, the not-so-rebellious, and those who love them. Their lives create a rich tapestry, beginning with a murder on the brink of the New Year in 1977 and culminating later that year during the infamous blackout. With unequivocal skill, Garth Hallberg makes readers feel like they are holding the whole city in their hands. Breathe deep and enjoy the experience!

 

 Twain's End

Twain's End

Lynn Cullen

Gallery Books

 

In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both. He proceeded to write a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, calling Isabel "a liar, a forger, a thief, a hypocrite, a drunkard, a sneak, a humbug, a traitor, a conspirator, a filthy-minded and salacious slut pining for seduction." Twain and his daughter, Clara Clemens, then slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family. How did Lyon go from being the beloved secretary who ran Twain's life to a woman he was determined to destroy? In Twain's End, Lynn Cullen reimagines the tangled relationships between Twain, Lyon, and Ashcroft, as well as the little-known love triangle between Helen Keller, her teacher Anne Sullivan Macy, and Anne's husband, John Macy, which comes to light during their visit to Twain's Connecticut home in 1909. Add to the party a furious Clara Clemens, smarting from her own failed love affair, and carefully kept veneers shatter. Based on Isabel Lyon's extant diary, Twain's writings and letters, and events in Twain's boyhood that may have altered his ability to love, Twain's End explores this real-life tale of doomed love.

 

We That Are Left

We That Are Left

Clare Clark

Houghton Mifflin

 

"Two sisters, born into privilege, are forced to make their way in a world turned upside down by war. One man transforms them both." 1910. Jessica and Phyllis Melville have grown up at Ellinghurst, a family estate fraught with secrets. A headstrong beauty, Jessica longs forLondon the glitter and glamour of debutante life while bookish Phyllis dreams in vain of attending university. Into their midst walks Oskar Grunewald, a frequent visitor fascinated by the house but alternately tormented and ignored by the Melville children. Oskar seeks refuge in Ellinghurst's enormous library. Meanwhile Theo, the adored Melville brother, eclipses everyone around him. The Great War arrives to devastate and reshape their world. In a country unrecognizable from the idylls of their youth, the Melville sisters struggle to forge new paths without the guidance of the old rules. But Oskar's life has become entwined with theirs once again, in ways both immediate and unimaginable-- that will change all of their futures.

 

See Me

See Me

Nicholas Sparks

Grand Central Publishing

 

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. At 28, he's focused only on walking a straight line - getting his teaching degree, working out at the gym religiously, and avoiding all the places and people that proved so destructive in his earlier life. The last thing he's looking for is a serious relationship. But when Maria Sanchez crosses paths with him on a rainswept night in North Carolina, his plans are upended in a way that will rattle the foundations of his carefully structured life. As for Maria, the hardworking lawyer and daughter of Mexican immigrants, Colin will challenge every notion she's ever had about herself and her future, making her question what truly makes her happy. Before the couple has a chance to envision what a life together might look like, however, menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface. And as the threat of violence begins to shadow her every step, she and Colin will be tested in increasingly terrifying ways. Will demons from their past destroy the tentative bonds they have forged, or will their love protect them, even in the darkest hour?

 

Winter Stroll

Winter Stroll

Elin Hilderbrand

Little Brown and Company

 

Christmas on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn and his family busily preparing for the holiday season. Though the year has brought tragedy, the Quinns have much to celebrate: Kelley has reunited with his first wife Margaret, Kevin and Isabelle have a new baby; and Ava is finally dating a nice guy. But when Kelley's estranged wife Mitzi shows up on the island, along with Kevin's devious ex-wife Norah and a dangerously irresistible old fling of Ava's, the Inn is suddenly overrun with romantic feuds, not to mention guests. With jealousy, passion, and eggnog consumption at an all-time high, it's going to take a whole lot more than a Christmas miracle to get the Quinns--and the Inn--through the holidays intact.

 

Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing

Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing

Jamie Holmes

Crown Publishing Group

 

Life today feels more overwhelming and chaotic than ever. Whether it's a confounding work problem or a faltering relationship or an unclear medical diagnosis, we face constant uncertainty. And we re continually bombarded with information, much of it contradictory. Managing ambiguity in our jobs, our relationships, and daily lives is quickly becoming an essential skill. Yet most of us don t know where to begin. As Jamie Holmes shows in Nonsense, being confused is unpleasant, so we tend to shutter our minds as we grasp for meaning and stability, especially in stressful circumstances. We re hard-wired to resolve contradictions quickly and extinguish anomalies. This can be useful, of course. When a tiger is chasing you, you can t be indecisive. But as Nonsense reveals, our need for closure has its own dangers. It makes us stick to our first answer, which is not always the best, and it makes us search for meaning in the wrong places. When we latch onto fast and easy truths, we lose a vital opportunity to learn something new, solve a hard problem, or see the world from another perspective. In other words, confusion that uncomfortable mental place has a hidden upside. We just need to know how to use it. This lively and original book points the way.

 

Thirteen Ways of Looking: Fiction

Thirteen Ways of Looking: Fiction

Colum McCann

Random House

 

In such acclaimed novels as Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic, National Book Award winning author Colum McCann has transfixed readers with his precision, tenderness, and authority. Now, in his first collection of short fiction in more than a decade, McCann charts the territory of chance, and the profound and intimate consequences of even our smallest moments. " As it was, it was like being set down in the best of poems, carried into a cold landscape, blindfolded, turned around, unblindfolded, forced, then, to invent new ways of seeing. " In the exuberant title novella, a retired judge reflects on his life's work, unaware as he goes about his daily routines that this particular morning will be his last. In Sh khol, a mother spending Christmas alone with her son confronts the unthinkable when he disappears while swimming off the coast near their home in Ireland. In Treaty, an elderly nun catches a snippet of a news report in which it is revealed that the man who once kidnapped and brutalized her is alive, masquerading as an agent of peace. And in What Time Is It Now, Where You Are? a writer constructs a story about a Marine in Afghanistan calling home on New Year's Eve. Deeply personal, subtly subversive, at times harrowing, and indeed funny, yet also full of comfort, Thirteen Ways of Looking is a striking achievement. With unsurpassed empathy for his characters and their inner lives, Colum McCann forges from their stories a profound tribute to our search for meaning and grace. The collection is a rumination on the power of storytelling in a world where language and memory can sometimes falter, but in the end do not fail us, and a contemplation of the healing power of literature.

 

The Old Man and the Cat: A Love Story

The Old Man and the Cat: A Love Story

Nils Uddenberg

Thomas Dunne Books

 

The Old Man and The Cat is a story of how Nils Uddenberg, retired Professor of Psychology became a beloved cat-owner even though he had never wanted a pet of any kind. One winter morning the author discovered a cat whom he would later find was homeless sitting outside his bedroom window, staring at him with big yellow eyes. Slowly but surely the cat worked itself into his life. This award-winning writer who has a background in psychology could not stop himself from going deeper into the cat's inner life. Does she have a sense of humor? Is it possible to attach human feelings to her? And the trickiest question of all: Is our little cat actually interested in our attachment to her? With humor and self-awareness, Nils describes how his existence changed after the cat moved into his house. The feelings she stirs up are a surprise to him and he quickly finds himself falling in love with this speckled grey-brown little lady.

 

Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink

Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink

Elvis Costello

Blue Rider Press

 

Born Declan Patrick MacManus, Elvis Costello was raised in London and Liverpool, grandson of a trumpet player on the White Star Line and son of a jazz musician who became a successful radio dance-band vocalist. Costello went into the family business and before he was twenty-four took the popular music world by storm. Costello continues to add to one of the most intriguing and extensive songbooks of our day. His performances have taken him from strumming a cardboard guitar in his parents front room to fronting a rock and roll band on our television screens and performing in the world's greatest concert halls in a wild variety of company. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink describes how Costello's career has endured for almost four decades through a combination of dumb luck and animal cunning, even managing the occasional absurd episode of pop stardom. This memoir, written entirely by Costello, offers his unique view of his unlikely and sometimes comical rise to international success, with diversions through the previously undocumented emotional foundations of some of his best-known songs and the hits of tomorrow. It features many stories and observations about his renowned cowriters and co-conspirators, though Costello also pauses along the way for considerations of the less appealing side of fame.

 

 Drinking in America: Our Secret History

Drinking in America: Our Secret History

Susan Cheever

Twelve

 

In Drinking In America, bestselling author Susan Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history. This is the often-overlooked story of how alcohol has shaped American events and the American character from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Seen through the lens of alcoholism, American history takes on a vibrancy and a tragedy missing from many earlier accounts. From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a cherished American custom: a way to celebrate and a way to grieve and a way to take the edge off. At many pivotal points in our history-the illegal "Mayflower" landing at Cape Cod, the enslavement of African Americans, the McCarthy witch hunts, and the Kennedy assassination, to name only a few-alcohol has acted as a catalyst. Some nations drink more than we do, some drink less, but no other nation has been the drunkest in the world as America was in the 1830s only to outlaw drinking entirely a hundred years later. Both a lively history and an unflinching cultural investigation, Drinking In America unveils the volatile ambivalence within one nation's tumultuous affair with alcohol.

 

Felicity: Poems

Felicity: Poems

Mary Oliver

Penguin Press

 

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems. "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.

 

Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life

Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life

Michael Strahan

Atria / 37 Ink

 

From America's favorite football player turned morning talk show host--a man who makes just about everything look easy--a melange of stories and motivational advice to inspire the reader to turn up the heat and go from good to great in pursuit of their personal ambitions. Michael Strahan spent his childhood on a military base in Europe, where community meant everything, and life, though idyllic, was different. For one, when people referenced football they meant soccer. So when Michael's father suggested he work toward a college scholarship by playing football in Texas, where tens of thousands of people show up for a weekend game, the odds were long. Yet he did, indeed, land a scholarship and from there a draft into the NFL where he scaled the league's heights, broke records, and helped his team win the Super Bowl as a result of which he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. How? By developing "Strahan's Rules"--a mix of mental discipline, positive thinking, and a sense of play. He also used the Rules to forge a successful post pro-ball career as cohost with Kelly Ripa on "Live --"a position for which he was considered the longshot--and much more. In Wake Up Happy, Michael shares personal stories about how he gets and stays motivated and how readers can do the same in their quest to attain their life goals.

 

Humans of New York: Stories

Humans of New York: Stories

Brandon Stanton

St. Martin's Press

 

In the summer of 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton began an ambitious project -to single-handedly create a photographic census of New York City. The photos he took and the accompanying interviews became the blog "Humans of New York." His audience steadily grew from a few hundred followers to, at present count, over fifteen million. In 2013, his book Humans of New York,  based on that blog, was published and immediately catapulted to the top of the NY Times Bestseller List where it has appeared for over forty-five weeks. Now, Brandon is back with the Humans of New York book that his loyal followers have been waiting for: Humans of New York: Stories. Ever since Brandon began interviewing people on the streets of New York, the dialogue he's had with them has increasingly become as in-depth, intriguing and moving as the photos themselves. Humans of New York: Stories presents a whole new group of people in stunning photographs, with a rich design and, most importantly, longer stories that delve deeper and surprise with greater candor.

 

Sarabeth's Good Morning Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch, and Baking

Sarabeth's Good Morning Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch, and Baking

Sarabeth Levine

Rizzoli International Publications

 

Legendary New York City baker and restaurateur Sarabeth Levine shares her most beloved breakfast and brunch recipes. The only thing better than brunch at one of Sarabeth's restaurants is brunch in her home. In this must-have collection of more than 130 classic morning recipes, Sarabeth delivers the comforting dishes she makes for family and friends, from fluffy scrambled eggs to warm sticky buns. Over thirty-five years ago, she launched her first restaurant's wildly popular weekend brunch. Today, morning lines still snake around the block at her New York City locations, as well as at her Florida and Japan outposts. Her fans will be thrilled to re-create the warmth and joy of brunch at Sarabeth's with recipes designed for home cooks. A comprehensive guide to morning meals, this beautifully photographed book covers the dishes everyone desires. Sarabeth's signature pancakes and muffins are quick enough for weekdays, while her quiches and coffee cakes are guaranteed to impress weekend guests. In addition to her sophisticated twists on the standards, Sarabeth surprises with such innovative breakfast treats as morning cookies. The foolproof recipes come with technique tips and make-ahead instructions to make entertaining effortless.

Thank You for Supporting Your Community Bookseller, Rainy Day Books, Since 1975!

Since November 04, 1975, we have pursued our Legacy of Literacy:  40 years of helping match readers to great Books, bringing famous and soon-to-be-famous names to Kansas City, and enjoying the excitement of sharing so many experiences.
 
Take the time to tell someone new about Rainy Day Books.  Each book that you purchase at Rainy Day Books makes Rainy Day Books a place authors ask to visit, a vibrant part of Kansas City's arts community, and a bookstore where people love books enough to talk about them all day long.  Please encourage your fellow readers to sign up for this E-Newsletter.  We have an exciting schedule of upcoming Author Events, and this is the first place to hear about them!  We also take Orders for Author Autographed Books, so your friends far and wide can share in the experience.
 
Rainy Day Books is located in The Fairway Shops, at the Northwest corner of the intersection of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Belinder Road.  Our address is 2706 W 53rd Street, Fairway, Kansas (KS) 66205.  Our Phone Number is 913-384-3126. 
 
Get Directions to Rainy Day Books and our Author Event venues by Clicking Here.
 
Store Hours: 
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Saturdays: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; and Sundays we read, rest and enjoy time with our families and friends.
 
When you shop at Rainy Day Books you're a part of our Legacy of Literacy for Kansas City.  We provide full service, knowledgeable Reading Recommendations and priceless Author Event experiences, all at a fair price.  To our faithful loyal Customers, we say Thank You for your Support!  We look forward to seeing again you soon!
 

We look forward to seeing you soon!

 

Roger & Vivien at Home with their Books

 

Life is Good and it just keeps getting Better, 

 

Vivien & Roger and all of your friends at Rainy Day Books