July 30 – To Kill A Mockingbird

                by Harper Lee

          Book of the Week #12

(Harper; $25.00 hardcover; 323 pages )  

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This summer marks the fiftieth anniversary of Harper Lee’s modern classic, To Kill A Mockingbird.  We are very excited to host Tom Brokaw at the Ellen Theatre next Friday, August 6th, and it seemed only fitting to make this weeks book of the week To Kill A Mockingbird in preparation. For many of us, it has been years since we have enjoyed Lee’s story of justice and timeless characters. For some, it may be a book that has somehow managed to go unread. Either way, this week is a great time to pick up To Kill A Mockingbird and enjoy one of the most cherished books of all time.

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“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel–a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice–but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

One of the best-loved classics of all time, “To Kill a Mockingbird” has earned many dis-tinctions since its original publication in 1960. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, and been made into an enormously popular movie. It was also named the best novel of the twentieth century by librarians across the country (“Library Journal”). HarperCollins is proud to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the book’s publication with this special hardcover edition.

— Publisher Marketing

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She attended Huntington College and studied law at the University of Alabama. She has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Pulitzer Prize, and many other accolades.

REVIEWS & RESOURCES  

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 Other books we are enjoying:

former Montana resident and debut author,

Robert D. Miller

will be here to sign his mystery novel,

Deep Stepping Stones.

About the Book:

Deep Stepping Stones by Robert D. Miller

(published March 2010; paperback $16.95; in stock)

Two FBI agents handling unrelated cases in Montana find bits and pieces that seem to pull them together. Are they related? What could connect them? And, most important, where do they lead? Senior agent Steve Madden combines the perfect mix of tenacity, intuition, and professionalism to solve most investigations, but when two fellow agents disappear without a trace, he and partner Jim Addis find the waters deep, turbulent and the path across unclear.

Robert D. Miller presents a tight tale of intrigue and quick-clipped action with an undercurrent of little-known historical facts of Montana. Against the backdrop of the state’s mining towns, where abandoned mines, filled with toxic wastes, destroy anything thrown in them, the deepest secrets can remain hidden forever and put an abrupt end to any agent’s investigation.

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About the Author:

Robert Miller was born in Butte, Montana and raised in Bozeman. After graduating from Bozeman Sr. High he earned a Bachelor of Science and then a Master of Science degree from Montana State University.  Miller taught in the Great Falls Public School system from 1969 through 1980 and then worked as a school administrator until 1998.

After living in Texas for several years, the Millers moved to Arlington, Washington in 2006 where they both are active in the community events, church and where Miller completed writing and publishing his first novel, “Deep Stepping Stones.”

                   July 22 – Just Kids

                        by Patti Smith

                  Book of the Week #11

(Ecco; $27.00 hardcover; 279 pages )  

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Patti Smith has a way of finding and creating beauty in the world. Her memoir brings to life the underground of New York in the 1970s and the characters she encountered throughout her young life- most vividly Robert Mapplethorpe. Her stories are rich with creativity, love, and a virulent passion for life even at the darkest of times.

If you are looking for a powerful memoir, look no further! Patti Smith delivers.

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“A touching tale of love and devotion.”

— Associated Press

““Just Kids” is the most spellbinding and diverting portrait of funky-but-chic New York in the late ’60s and early ’70s that any alumnus has committed to print. The tone is at once flinty and hilarious, which figures: she’s always been both tough and funny, two real saving graces in an artist this prone to excess. What’s sure to make her account a cornucopia for cultural historians, however, is that the atmosphere, personalities and mores of the time are so astutely observed.”

— Tom Carson, New York Times Book Review

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It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.

Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max’s Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. In 1969, the pair set up camp at the Hotel Chelsea and soon entered a community of the famous and infamous–the influential artists of the day and the colorful fringe. It was a time of heightened awareness, when the worlds of poetry, rock and roll, art, and sexual politics were colliding and exploding. In this milieu, two kids made a pact to take care of each other. Scrappy, romantic, committed to create, and fueled by their mutual dreams and drives, they would prod and provide for one another during the hungry years.

“Just Kids” begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists’ ascent, a prelude to fame.

— Publisher Marketing

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR  

Patti Smith is known as a singer and songwriter for her albums, which include “Horses, Easter, ” and “Wave” from the Patti Smith Group, and “Dream of Life” recorded with her late husband, Fred Sonic Smith. Her latest album is “Gone Again” (1996). She is the author of “Early Work: 1970-1979″ and lives with her two children in New York.

REVIEWS & RESOURCES  

His latest book is The Coming Population Crash and Our Planet’s Surprising Future (hardcover $26.95).

Pearce chronicles nearly 200 years of demographic issues, beginning with efforts to contain the demographic explosion, from the early environmental movement’s racism and involvement in eugenics to coercive family-planning policies in China and India.�
“Demography is destiny. But not always in the way we imagine, begins Pearce (“When the Rivers Run Dry”) in his fascinating analysis of how global population trends have shaped, and been shaped by, political and cultural shifts… Highly readable and marked by first-class reportage.” — Publisher’s Weekly

“Consistently interesting, informative and inspiring reporting.” — Kirkus Reviews

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Confessions of an Eco-Sinner: Tracking Down the Sources of My Stuff (paper $16)

Pearce exposes the hidden worlds that sustain a Western lifestyle, and does it by examining the sources of everything in his own life. This work offers a fascinating portrait of the effects the world’s 6 billion inhabitants have on the planet, as well as their various working and living conditions.

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When the Rivers Run Dry: Water — The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century (paper $16)

In this groundbreaking book, veteran science correspondent Fred Pearce travels to more than thirty countries to examine the current state of crucial water sources. Deftly weaving together the complicated scientific, economic, and historic dimensions of the world water crisis, he provides our most complete portrait yet of this growing danger and its ramifications for us all.
“A strong–and scary–case that a worldwide water shortage is the most fearful looming environmental crisis. With a drumbeat of facts both horrific (thousands of wells in India and Bangladesh are poisoned by fluoride and arsenic) and fascinating (it takes 20 tons of water to make one pound of coffee), the former New Scientist news editor documents a ‘kind of cataclysm’ already affecting many of the world’s great rivers.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Oil we can replace. Water we can’t–which is why this book is both so ominous and so important.” –Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Eaarth
“An enriching and farsighted work.” –Jai Singh, San Francisco Chronicle
“Pearce cogently presents the alarming ways in which this ecological emergency is affecting population centers, human health, food production, wildlife habitats, and species viability. Having crisscrossed the globe to research the economic, scientific, cultural, and political causes and ramifications of this under publicized tragedy, Pearce’s powerful imagery, penetrating analyses, and passionate advocacy make this required reading for environmental proponents and civic leaders everywhere.” –Booklist

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With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change (paper $15)

Fred Pearce has been writing about climate change for twenty years, and the more he learns, the worse things look. As Pearce began researching this book, numerous scientists sought him out to recount their findings and fears: where once they were concerned about gradual climate change, many now worry that we will soon be experiencing abrupt change resulting from triggering tipping points. With Speed and Violence is the most up-to-date and readable book yet about the constantly accumulating evidence for global warming and the dramatic effects it may unleash.
“[Pearce's] grasp of [scientists'] work is exceptional. What’s more, he has a talent for explaining science in terms understandable to the nonscientist . . . This enjoyable read was difficult to put down.” –Library Journal, starred review
“If you want to quickly get up to date on climate change and its consequences, I recommend With Speed and Violence. If you can read only one book on climate change, this is it.” –Lester Brown, president, Earth Policy Institute

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About the Author:

  Fred Pearce is a freelance author and journalist based in London, England. He has reported on environment, science and development issues from 64 countries over the past 20 years. Trained as a geographer, he has been environment consultant of New Scientist magazine since 1992. He writes regularly for the Guardian newspaper, and recently publish a 12-part investigation of the “climategate” emails affair at the University of East Anglia. He is a frequent lecturer, having spoken on all six continents in the past four years, and is a frequent contributor to US newspapers and magazines. Fred’s books have been translated into at least 14 languages. They include When the Rivers Run Dry, Confessions of an Eco Sinner, Earth: Then and Now, With Speed and Violence (on climate change), Deep Jungle and The Coming Population Crash, published in April this year.

Copies of New American Poets of the American West are in stock now ($24).

New Poets of the American West

Lowell Jaeger

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In New Poets of the American West, we hear from Native Americans and first-generation immigrants, from ranchlanders and megaopolites, from poet-teachers and street-poets, and more. In fact, the West is so big, and home to such diversity that the deeper one reads in this anthology, the more voices and world views one encounters, the more textures of thought, emotion, and language one discovers, the less we may find ourselves able to speak of a single, stable something called the American West. Rather, we may find ourselves living in (or reading into) not one West, but many.

– Brady Harrison, Professor at University of Montana

Your introduction to Thomas Weston and the Fairview Felines has been rescheduled. Please adjust your calendars accordingly.

Michele Corriel, author of Fairview Felines: A Newspaper Mystery will now be at the Country Bookshelf on

Saturday, September 11th from 1-3pm.

There will be reading, book-signing, lots of opportunities for questions, and cupcakes! Kids, start the school year off right with new books, adventure, and a party.

About the Book:

Thomas Weston has newspaper ink in his veins. He also has funny headlines running through his head 24/7. If he can convince the principal at Fairview Middle School he has what it takes, maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to make his dream of school newspaper come true. But first he has to figure out why all the cats in Fairview are disappearing!

About the Author:

Michele Corriel is a childrens’ book author and freelance writer living and working in the Gallatin Valley.  Her work is as varied as the life she’s led, from the rock/art venues of New York City to the rural backroads of Montana. Published regionally and nationally, Michele has received a number of awards for her non-fiction as well as her poetry.  Her first book, FAIRVIEW FELINES: A NEWSPAPER MYSTERY, published by Blooming Tree Press, will be out in September. Her second book WEIRD ROCKS, published by Mountain Press, will be out later this fall. Michele is also Montana’s Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, an international non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of books for young readers.

If you purchased tickets that you find you can no longer use, please contact us as we have a waiting list of people who would like them.

If you have not yet purchased tickets and would like to be added to our wait list, please call 406-587-0166. We cannot guarantee that those on the waiting list will receive tickets, but we will promptly pass on any returned tickets to those on the list.

Thanks for your understanding and support. We’re just as excited as you are for this event and we look forward to continuing to provide great literary events to the Bozeman area. Watch our events calendar for upcoming author readings & signings.

 

 July 16 – Work Song

by Ivan Doig

 Book of the Week #10

(Riverhead; $25.95 hardcover; 275 pages ) 

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A new book for lover’s of Ivan Doig and the great state of Montana. Set in Butte in 1919, Doig’s latest work follows the story of Morrie Morris  (Whistling Season 2006). Yet another wonderful tale of the west, this book is soon to be a new favorite!

 “Recommend this to everyone you know; essential.”

—Library Journal

 
“Ivan Doig is an exemplary regional voice in American letters, which simply means he is a very fine writer who has chosen to site his work in the West, particularly in Montana, where he was born and grew up. “Work Song” is his 10th novel — a sequel to his bestselling “The Whistling Season” — and as enjoyable and subtly thought-provoking a piece of fiction as you’re likely to pick up this summer.”

—Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
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An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of his richest historical settings yet.

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]]> http://countrybookshelf.com/index.php/2010/07/book-of-the-week-10/feed/ 0 http://countrybookshelf.com/index.php/2010/07/tom-brokawmockingbird-event-update/ http://countrybookshelf.com/index.php/2010/07/tom-brokawmockingbird-event-update/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:53:14 +0000 countrybookshelf http://countrybookshelf.com/?p=1640

SOLD OUT

Wait List Available

New event details for the Tom Brokaw/To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Event:

**

Location change!

**

The main event will now be at the Ellen Theatre, just across Main Street from the Country Bookshelf.

Same date — Friday, August 6th –  and same time — 7pm; doors open at 6pm.

The Ellen’s address is 17 W. Main, and their website is http://www.theellentheatre.com. All tickets and event details are still being handled by the Country Bookshelf, but we owe a great debt of gratitude to John Ludin and the Ellen Theatre for this larger and far more comfortable space. This means that seats will be available for all ticket holders, and no one should have to stand up for the event. It will be open seating, so doors will still open at 6pm, and the event will begin at 7pm.  Refreshments will be available for purchase from the Ellen Theatre’s concessions.

After the reading & speaking, we will move back to the bookstore for the book signing. Mr. Brokaw has also agreed to sign copies of his two books, The Greatest Generation and Boom. Please call or email if you would like to reserve copies of either or both of these books.

Tickets are still available SOLD OUT; ask about the WAIT LIST at the bookstore or by calling the store at

406-587-0166.

• One ticket is available with each purchase of the book Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of 50 Years of To Kill a Mockingbird by Mary McDonagh Murphy (hardcover only for $24.99; the book features an interview with Tom Brokaw).
• Individual tickets are available for $10 each.

Dear Country Bookshelf Book Clubs,

Please let me introduce myself: I am Shana Mahaffey author of the debut novel, Sounds Like Crazy. I write this note to the sound of a rushing stream, chirping birds, and peace one is hard pressed to find in San Francisco, CA—my home town. And now I’d like to invite you to consider spending some time in New York City with Holly Miller, the narrator of Sounds Like Crazy.

Holly is an Emmy Award winning voiceover artist with co-conscious multiple personality disorder. Some call the book a darkly comic, ultimately healing journey of self discovery. For me, it is a tale about the world one woman created to cope with a world she couldn’t face. All of this is told with as much humor a lapsed Irish Catholic can muster.

I’ve included a longer book description and my author bio below. And it goes without saying that I’d be honored and thrilled if your book club chose Sounds Like Crazy for one of your reads. It also goes without saying that there is nothing I enjoy more than talking to readers. Since logistics may make a personal appearance at your book club meeting, I am also available via telephone or Skype. And, now that I’ve fallen in love with Montana, I am sure another trip here will happen sooner or later… should you want to wait. Either way, to arrange an appearance—personal, phone, whatever—please drop me an email.

In the meantime, you can find the book club discussion guide on my website or in the back of the book.

I hope you enjoy Sounds Like Crazy and I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

Shana Mahaffey

Who am I?

Shana  Mahaffey lives in San Francisco, California, in part of an Edwardian compound that she shares with an informal cooperative of family, friends, and five cats.  She’s a survivor of catechism and cat scratch fever, and is a member of the Sanchez Grotto Annex, a writers’ co-op.  Her novel, Sounds Like Crazy was named a notable book for Fall 2009 by the San Francisco Chronicle; and her work has appeared in publications such as Sunset Magazine, SoMa Literary Review, Spectrum Literary Journal, Reflections Literary Journal, and assorted literary blogs. In addition to writing fiction, Shana has contributed articles, white papers, and product reviews to various technology publications. She welcomes all visitors to her website and is happy to meet with book groups in-person or in cyberspace (phone/webcam/the works). Her cat blogs for her at www.shanamahaffey.com.

Sounds Like Crazy—what’s it all about?

   Sounds Like Crazy is as a darkly comic and ultimately healing story about Holly Miller, an Emmy Award winning cartoon voiceover performer who has actual voices in her head, multiple personalities who make her career a huge success, and shield her from a terrible secret in her past.

   “I couldn’t tell her that even when you decide you’ve paid-in-full, if what you’ve paid for has become part of the framework of your life, you can’t let it go that easily. But if Sarah had forgiven herself, maybe it was time for me to try.” 

   It’s Holly Miller’s thirtieth birthday. Her older sister Sarah has flown across the country to encourage her to forgive herself and try to have more than a barely there boyfriend and two cats. The question is, can she? Holly has a secret she’s kept most of her life. She has a Committee of five people living inside her head. One of them called Ruffles is so large her bulk makes Holly’s head tilt permanently to the left. Another one, Betty Jane, is a mean modern day Scarlett O’Hara who makes her carry Charmin toilet paper everywhere because she refuses to use anything else. To keep the Committee under wraps, Holly moved from California to New York City when she turned eighteen. Her mother didn’t ask why, she just started sending Holly’s Christmas gifts in October to make sure she stayed put. Holly’s estranged father covers her expenses, but she hasn’t seen or spoken to him since she left home. Then Holly is offered the chance to become a voiceover artist for an animated television show. Sarah tells her this is like asking Sybil to play the part of Lisa Simpson because the job requires ceding control to Betty Jane. But Holly wants a better life so she takes the job anyway and in doing so, she discovers that the Committee is not her deepest secret after all.

Book Trailer

Here is a book trailer German filmmaker, Ma Raab, created for Sounds Like Crazy. It has gotten a lot of attention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXg9ruqzNAM&feature=player_embedded