Where the Love of Books and Music is Always Brewing

227 SW 2nd Corvallis, Oregon 97333 Tel: 541-754-7668
email groots@peak.org

Mon - Thur: 9am - 7pm;   Fri: - 9am - 9pm;   Sat: - 9:30am - 5:30pm;   Sun: - 11am - 5pm
 

After love, book collecting is the most exhilarating sport of all. -- A Book Hunter's Holiday, A. S. W. Rosenbach
 

In this issue:

• Farewell to summer, and to Melissa
• Author Craig Danner to visit with the GR Reading Group
• Jack on Jasper: GR Reading Group's lively discussion on "The Eyre Affair"
• Jane Kirkpatrick at the Corvallis Arts Center
• An evening with the Bard
• An afternoon's writer's workshop with author Ron Lovell

Farewell to summer and to Melissa
The languorous days of summer are drawing to a close. Perseid showers, sunsets after eight, and sleeping with wide opened windows give way to turning leaves, crisp breezes, and stumbling awake before the sun rises. It is at this interstice between true summer and true fall that our pace begins to quicken.

We resolve to apply ourselves with greater focus and verve, and thanks to the restorative summer, we've got the necessary energy on tap to see us through. For some, it means returning to school after a mere summer's hiatus. For others, it means returning to college after a few years. Melissa, a longtime employee and friend of those of us at Grass Roots, is such a one. You may well have been a benefactor of Melissa's warm smile as she concocted your brew or rung up your new pile of books and music, but she's just taken herself along with her smile to college. We wish her sincere best wishes and will miss her greatly. Though swamped with myriad tasks inherent in any transition, Melissa gamely agreed to supply us with her five all-time favorite reads (if you've ever tried to winnow your favorites to a count of five, you'll recall how tough yet engrossing this exercise can be). Take a look at Melissa's top five. (Thanks, Melissa!)
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Author Craig Danner to visit with the GR Reading Group
I trust no one showed up last Tuesday evening, wondering whatever happened to the Reading Group! Hopefully, we've given you sufficient notice that September's meeting was pushed pushed back one week to help ease the frenzied first week of school as well as to mesh with Craig Danner's schedule.

That's right. Craig Danner, author of the 2002 PNBA award winning novel, Himalayan Dhaba, will be sitting in on the discussion of his book and will avail himself to questions from the curious. If you crave more information ahead of time, head to his website.

If you haven't the time or the inclination to browse, here's an excerpt of an interview with Craig Danner (you'll have to read the rest on his web site): "I started writing Himalayan Dhaba during the winter of 1991, while my wife and I were working in a hospital in the mountains of Northern India.

The story began as a screenplay. The world we were immersed in was so visually stunning, it seemed a perfect setting for a movie. But as the characters evolved and their stories took hold of the writing, they demanded the time and development that can only be accomplished in a novel. I still think it would make a great movie, but it's an even better book."

Himalayan Dhaba made the Book Sense 76 list twice, accompanied by blurbs penned by Scott, our buyer. Copies of Danner's novel are available at Grass Roots for 10% off regular retail price, but only through September 9th. As well, Danner donates 25% of his royalty earnings to the Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali, India. Not only will you be getting a good discount for a good read, you'll be helping others in need.

Scott will be facilitating this very special Reading Group discussion. Hope you can make it.

October's Reading Group book will be Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande.

A few notable reviews: "No one writes about medicine as a human subject as well as Atul Gawande. His stories about becoming a surgeon are scary, funny, absorbing....Complications is a uniquely soulful book about the science of mending bodies.” —Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon

Complications is a book about medicine that reads like a thriller. Every subject Atul Gawande touches is probed and dissected and turned inside out with such deftness and feeling and counterintuitive insight that the reader is left breathless.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point

Jack on Jasper Fford's book, The Eyre Affair: A report on last month's Reading Group discussion
Last month's book discussion group was one of the wildest, most enjoyable events I have participated in. Jasper Fforde's breakthrough novel, The Eyre Affair, just seems to lend itself to a wide-open, free flowing conversation on all things book related. We were carrying on several conversations simultaneously, switching between them with ease. We explored the mysteries of time travel, the deeper nature of book loving, and the wealth of information conveyed through puns. For example, did you realize that (according to Fforde) when characters in a novel are not currently involved in the plot, they are free to move about anywhere in the novel, have adventures of their own, and even visit friends in other novels? By the way, the next "episode," Lost in a Good Book, is even better! All in all, even though we didn't spend much time exploring Bronte or Jane Eyre, I think we all came away with a fresh perspective on the creative aspects of writing and a new appreciation for the classics.

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Upcoming Events

We'll post more details about the following events by and by. For now and in brief, here's what's on tap for early fall at Grass Roots Books & Music:

Jane Kirkpatrick at the Corvallis Arts Center
Author Jane Kirkpatrick will read from her latest novel, Every Fixed Star, on Tuesday, September 23 beginning at 7:30 pm at the Corvallis Arts Center (700 SW Madison Avenue). Her books are especially popular among reading groups, and so this event might prove the perfect field trip for you to enjoy alongside your reading compadres. Kirkpatrick's reading is part of the Pacific Northwest Writers Series, co-sponsored by the Arts Center. To learn more about the author, visit her website.

An afternoon's writer's workshop with author Ron Lovell
Ron Lovell, author of the Thomas Martindale Mysteries (including his most recent novel, Dead Whales Tell No Tales) is offering a mini workshop for writers on Saturday, October 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at Grass Roots Books & Music. The afternoon's workshop is titled, "Turning Facts into Fiction." To learn more about Lovell and his novels, check out his website.

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