May 1, 2008
|  |  | phone: 541-754-7668 address: 227 SW 2nd Street, Corvallis, OR
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| | | Five Good Books
| | | | A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father
Maps and Legends
The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
The Stone Gods
The Plague of Doves
| | A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father Augusten Burroughs
In his first full-length memoir in five years, Burroughs returns to his literary roots as one of the most famous memoirists of our time. Here, he makes a quantum leap forward into untapped emotional terrain: his terrifying relationship with his father. Told with shocking honesty and penetrating insight, A Wolf At The Table is more than the companion volume to Running with Scissors — it's a story of psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope. Hardcover, $24.95
Publisher: St. Martin's Press , ISBN-13: 9780312342029
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Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon's first book of nonfiction is a love song in 16 parts: a series of linked essays in praise of reading and writing. He shares with readers some of the books that have helped shape his writing career — ranging from ghost stories to comic books, Sherlock Holmes to Cormac McCarthy. Chabon argues that there's a place for both high and low art in literature and that what really matters to readers is a connection to the story. (Chabon is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.) Hardcover, $24.00
Publisher: McSweeney's Publishing, ISBN-13: 9781932416893
| | | | | | The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music Steve Lopez
Lopez was mesmerized when he discovered Nathaniel Ayers playing his partially-strung violin on Los Angeles' skid row. Thirty years earlier, Ayers had been a promising student at Juilliard until he was overcome by schizophrenia. When Lopez met him, Ayers was homeless, paranoid, and deeply troubled, but glimmers of brilliance were still there. Over time, the two men formed a bond as Lopez intervened to try to change Ayers's life. Along the way there were triumphs and disappointments. But neither man gave up, and both men were transformed. Hardcover, $25.95
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA); ISBN-13: 9780399155062
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Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson's ninth novel applies her fantastical touch to a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic setting. Heroine Billie Crusoe appears in three different end-of-the-world scenarios, allowing Winterson to explore the repetitive and destructive nature of human history and the inability of people to learn from previous mistakes. The book combines a love story, a traveler’s tale, and a hymn to the beauty of the world. Hardcover, $24.00
Publisher: Harcourt; ISBN-13: 9780151014910
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Louise Erdrich
Erdrich's new novel centers on an unsolved mystery — the 1913 murder of a farm family in the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for the crime and the distortions of truth transform the lives of both the town folk and the Ojibwe living on the reservation. The intertwining stories with multiple narrators reveal multiple generations bound by love and torn by history. Hardcover, $25.95
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; ISBN-13: 9780060515126
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| Featured Book for Young Readers
| | | | | The Penderwicks on Gardam StreetJeanne BirdsallRecommended ages: 8 to 12 Birdsall won the National Book Award and Child magazine's Best Children's Book Award in 2005 for her first Penderwicks book, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. Now, the Penderwick sisters are back home on Gardam Street and ready for an adventure! But the adventure they get isn’t quite what they had in mind. It’s high jinks, big laughs, and loads of family warmth as the girls embark on a brilliant, bold and funny plot. (Birdsall is working on a third book and plans to write five in all.) For more information , visit Jeannae Birdsall's website. Hardcover, $15.99
Publisher: Random House Children's Books; ISBN-13: 9780375840906
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| New in Paperback
| | | | Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
The Assault on Reason
After Dark
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Out Stealing Horses
| | Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life Barbara Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp, Camille Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood. Kingsolver becomes an ardent gardener and preserver, following the rituals of her farming forebears. She’s also an dedicated and skillful cook, which leads to some lovely food writing. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life. Paperback, $14.95
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; ISBN-13: 14.95
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Al Gore
The Assault on Reason is Gore's indictment of the Bush-led radical Right and their disdain for the principles of reasoned decision-making. His larger goal is to explain how the public sphere has evolved into a place hospitable to reason's enemies, to make us more aware of the forces at work on our own minds, and to lead us to an understanding of what we can do to restore the rule of reason and safeguard our future. It is a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking. Paperback, $16.00
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA); ISBN-13: 9780143113621
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Haruki Murakami
After Dark is a short book that's hypnotically eerie, full of foreboding, sometimes funny, and always suspenseful. The entire action takes place in Tokyo over the course of just one night, starting at four minutes to midnight and ending in the morning. The action is conveyed to us from a hovering eye-in-the-sky viewpoint. The "night people" are haunted by secrets and needs that draw them together, and the story moves from drama to metaphysical speculation. Paperback, $13.95
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group; ISBN-13: 9780307278739
| | | | | | The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon
The premise of Michael Chabon's novel rests on a single historical fact: on the eve of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested that Jewish refugees be resettled in Alaska. From this tiny nugget, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist constructs a richly hued alternate history/mystery fable. The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a gripping whodunit, a love story, an homage to 1940s noir, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption. Paperback, $15.95
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; ISBN-13: 9780007149834
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Per Petterson
Out Stealing Horses tells the story of Trond Sander, a 67-year-old man dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. It was his plan to live out the rest of his life quietly. But a chance encounter with a neighbor immerses him in memories of a childhood summer that precipitated a lifetime of loss. The story is written with haunting prose and expert pacing. Paperback, $14.00
Publisher: Picador USA; ISBN-13: 9780312427085
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| Music
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Tommy Emmanuel $15.95
Genre: Pop/Folk
Australian finger-picking guitarist Emmanuel gained prominence after an NPR feature spotlighting his previous album. Here, recorded live and acoustic over two discs, Emmanuel performs tracks from his previous offerings, including several instrumentals and a few vocals.  Recommended if you like: Leo Kottke, David WilcoxHear samples at allmusic.com
| Rarities, B Sides, & Other Stuff, Volume 2 Sarah McLachlan $18.95
Genre: Pop/Folk
In the spirit of Rarities & B Sides, Vol 1, Canadian songstress McLachlan releases a second collection of tracks culled from her recording career — live performances, rare recordings, remixes, and soundtrack contributions. In addition, the album includes duets with Bryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper, and Emmylou Harris. Hear samples at allmusic.com
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Carly Simon $18.95
Genre: 18.95
This is Simon's follow-up to last year's surprise hit, Into White. Just as surprising, the album features several originals, all tinged with a Brazilian flavor. Many songs are co-written, and the album was produced by legendary country songwriter Jimmy Webb. Hear samples at allmusic.com
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Steve Winwood $13.95
Genre: Pop/Folk
A former member of classic rock groups Traffic, Blind Faith and the Spencer Davis Group, Winwood continues his three-decade solo career with an album of restrained, adult rock tinged with eclectic influences — blues, Afro-pop, Latin, folk, and R&B. Eric Clapton joins Winwood on one song. Hear samples at allmusic.com
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Dathi Sproule $16.95
Genre: Irish/Celtic
Sproule (his first name is pronounced "Da-hee") is best known as the guitarist for the Irish band Altan. For this second solo album, he applies his acoustic guitar to covers and originals inspired by the music of John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. Hear samples at allmusic.com
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| Special Events
| | | | | Herb Smith, Cairo: The Mother of the World Grass Roots Loft Wednesday May 14, 3:00pm, Grass Roots loft Cairo: The Mother of the World explores the heart of a city that most tourists never see. Smith has written an affectionate, humorous close-up of the aggregation that is Cairo; it's an adventure among the streets, tombs, houses, and monuments.
Larry Weinstein, Grammar for the Soul: Using Language for Personal Change
Saturday May 17, 3:00pm, Grass Roots loft Weinstein shows that simple grammar such as syntax and punctuation can be tools for change and growth, just as yoga and the martial arts are used for self-improvement. He compares the realm of grammar to a kind of psycho-social gymnasium, where — instead of weights, a treadmill, mats, and a balance beam — one finds active verbs, passive verbs, periods, apostrophes, dashes, and a thousand other pieces of linguistic equipment. He suggests that we change who we are when we change our verbal conduct.
David Barsamian
Presented by the Corvallis Oddfellows
Sunday May 18th, 3:00pm, Oddfellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St.
Suggested donation: $3 - $5 Barsamian is the award winning founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent weekly series based in Boulder, Colorado. He is a radio producer, journalist, and author of Targeting Iran and The Rise and Fall of Public Broadcasting. He will be speaking on "Stopping War in Iran and Iraq." The talk will be followed by Q&A and a book-signing. For more information, visit David Barsamian's Web Page.
Jo Dereske, author of the Miss Zukas mysteries
Friday May 23, 3:00pm, Grass Roots loft Jo Dereske is the author of seventeen published books: two mystery series and three books for young people. The New York Times called the Miss Zukas series, "a loving sendup of the stereotype of the prim and proper librarian." Jo lives in the foothills of Mount Baker near Bellingham, Washington. For more information, visit her web site.
Molly Gloss, The Hearts of Horses
Wednesday June 4, Corvallis Arts Center, details TBD
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| Reviews@Roots
| | | | |  You can submit a review by visiting: www.grassrootsbookstore.com and clicking Reviews@Roots in the navigation menu.
Gray Matter: Why It's Good to Be Old!
Bob Elsdale
Reviewer: Anna Ellendman  My nightstand book this week was a perfect birthday gift, since I love elephants and I'm not getting any younger. Elsdale obviously shares my passion for fiddling with photos in Photoshop. (Actually, he takes it one giant step further, having won numerous photography awards.) In Gray Matter, he's merged images of playful pachyderms with whimsical bits of inspiration to prove that growing older gracefully is all in the mind. When I showed it to a same-age friend who'd forgotten her reading glasses, she was grateful for the small magnifying glass tucked into a pocket inside the front cover. So, if you think there's both a serious and silly side to getting older, here's a way to have some fun.
Hardcover, $14.95
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; ISBN-13: 9780740762093 | | | ^ back to Table of Contents | |
| Reading Group News
| | | | | Next meeting: Tuesday May 6, 6:30-8:00 pm, in the Grass Roots loft.
Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak No experience or membership necessary: first-timers always welcome!
Markus Zusak’s novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich during World War II. Liesel scratches out a meager existence by stealing until she encounters something she can’t resist – books. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.  Paperback, $11.99
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
ISBN-13: 9780375842207
On sale for $10.19 until May 6.
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| On Our Nightstands
| | | | |  Here's what we've been reading this week.
 Jack:
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Pico Iyer
Hardcover, $24.00
 Sandy:
Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again
Roger Housden
Hardcover, $16.95
 Tiffany:
I Was Told There'd Be Cake
Sloane Crossley
Paperback, $14.00
 Melody:
Mutts Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed.
Patrick McDonnell
Hardcover, $16.99
 Deborah:
So Brave, Young, and Handsome
Leif Enger
Hardcover, $24.00
 Anna:
Gray Matter: Why It's Good to Be Old!
Bob Elsdale
Hardcover, $14.95
See "Reviews@Roots" for more information.
 Linda:
The Bookseller of Kabul
Asne Seierstad
Paperback, $12.99
 Corinne:
The Plague of Doves
Louise Erdrich
Hardcover, $25.95
See "Five Good Books" for more information.
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| | No GRR Next Week
| | | | | We know you anxiously await the arrival of your Grass Roots Reader every week. So, I wanted to let you know that there won't be one next week; I'll be back East visiting family. The GRR will be back on schedule the following week. - Anna P.S. If you're lucky, you've never had to visit the lost baggage area of an airport. | | | | ^ back to Table of Contents | |
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