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Powell's Q&A, Q&A | June 29, 2009
By Janna Cawrse Esarey
"I fell in love with Crosby, Stills, and Nash's song 'Southern Cross' when I was fifteen. By the time I got to college, 'I'm going to sail around the world someday' was sort of my pickup line."
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We don't care if Barbara Walters is our interview subject — we are not going to cry! No matter how many tearful confessions she might wring from Dave while he's trying to control the interview, we shan't shed a tear. True, original essays from Marisa Silver ( The God of War) and Simon Winchester ( The Man Who Loved China) are deeply touching. And we're practically moved to tears of joy by the INK Q&As from Elizabeth George ( Careless in Red), Victor Wooten ( The Music Lesson), and Taras Grescoe ( Bottomfeeder) — practically, but not quite. I have to confess, guest blogger Mary Roach ( Bonk) prompted some tears of laughter, but those don't count. You won't get us, Barbara! Not even... oh, damn. [ Sob!]
signed editions
 Audition is "compulsively readable," Publishers Weekly marvels. "Walters's amiable persona perfectly translates to the page." The New Yorker calls it "an unusually ambitious and successful book," concluding, "Walters knows how to put on a show." And Liz Smith, in the Baltimore Sun, agrees that Audition is "the crowning glory of a remarkable career." Preorder signed first editions now, while quantities last.
 In this diverse, insightful, and easy-to-use cookbook, James Beard Award winner Lynne Rossetto Kasper with Sally Swift, co-creators of National Public Radio's The Splendid Table, put their vast knowledge to use, sharing how to break down recipes into their simplest forms and create quick, savory dinners full of international flavors. Get your signed editions while they last!
 more signed editions |
FEATURED INTERVIEW
The first woman to co-anchor a network news program. Arguably the most influential interviewer of the 20th century. An America icon. In her incredible new memoir, Barbara Walters addresses it all. But it's her own family story, as a daughter, sister, wife, and mother, and the challenges she faced in those roles, that forms the backbone of Audition. "All these things that people don't know," she reflects. "I knew I didn't want to do a book simply on interviews." In conversation with Powell's, Walters discussed Gilda's impersonation, Oprah's ambition, W's muddy barn, Lou Walters's career in show business, and much more.
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NEW ARRIVALS
HARDCOVER
 The Film Club by David Gilmour
"What kind of father would allow his son to drop out of high school as long as the kid would agree to watch three movies of the father's choosing each week? Yes, there's plenty inside for film geeks to savor, but, casual moviegoers, don't be deterred." —Dave, Powells.com
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Sale $15.39 | Hardcover
List Price: $21.99 (You Save: $6.60) |
 The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
"I loved The Gift of Rain and will recommend it to all my bookselling friends. It's a beautiful work of historical fiction, but its themes also make it timely and relevant — a look at the excruciating choices that war inflicts on civilians." —Miriam, Powells.com
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Sale $16.76 | Hardcover
List Price: $23.95 (You Save: $7.19) |
 Lars and the Real Girl
Lars and the Real Girl is a heartfelt comedy starring Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling as Lars, a lovable introvert who introduces his family to his new girlfriend: a life-sized plastic doll that he treats as real. "[A]n endearing, intelligent and tender comedy," cheers the Wall Street Journal. As always, all DVDs ship free from Powells.com.
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Sale $25.15 | DVD
List Price: $27.98 (You Save: $2.83) |
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PAPERBACK
 Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken
"Feeling crushed beneath the weight of ominous news, borderline-apocalyptic statistics, and global warming alerts that offer no recourse but panic? Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest is the book you've been waiting for. Here is a call to arms with concrete suggestions on how to fix our wounded planet, from environmental issues to social justice. A must-have for the social activist who wants to get active!" —Hank, Powells.com
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Sale $11.20 | Trade Paper
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 After Dark by Haruki Murakami
After Dark is a short, sleek novel that features various encounters set in the witching hours of Tokyo between midnight and dawn, and is every bit as gripping as Murakami's masterworks The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore. "[H]ypnotically eerie, sometimes even funny, but most of all, it's [a book] that keeps ratcheting up the suspense," praises the Washington Post Book World.
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Sale $9.76 | Trade Paper
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 Announcing the return of the Harlequin Love-O-Meter! Let its magical, mystical wisdom guide you to your ideal eBook romance! From sweet to sexy, sultry to blazing, Harlequin has a galaxy of eBook titles to perfectly suit your current mood. While you're there, sign up for our upcoming Romance newsletter and be entered for a chance to win $100 in books!
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Rabih Alameddine recently blogged for Powells.com about his first novel, The Hakawati.
April 29, 2008:
On Imps, Rabbits, and Lies
I come from the lands of Scheherazade, who could not afford to be dull. Had she not dressed her tales in fineries — oy, vey. In the Lebanese dialect, to embellish is to "salt and pepper" a story, to add spice, so to speak, to make less bland. Without it, one might as well eat Kraft Singles.
I suppose it was inevitable that I would one day become a writer of fiction, using the same silly techniques from my childhood. I became a dying man, and his hallucinations were mine. I became a woman who couldn't write beyond the first chapter of her memoir (she lied throughout, of course). In my new novel, I became a hakawati — a storyteller — but the teller of the stories isn't really me. When I write, I fabricate. Art, after all, comes from "artifice." I've always considered novelists to be grifters, charlatans, the greatest of them marvelously proficient liars.
We readers tend to ascribe to fiction a certain level of veracity. I assume that for most of us, the more involved we are with a novel, the more likely we are to think it's real — so much so that something similar must have happened to the author. All of us do at some level, a few of us more than others....
Read more of Alameddine's post — plus daily guest bloggers and Book News, Read It Before They Screen It, and more — on our blog!
| From the Authors |
SAVE 30% |
ELIZABETH GEORGE: INK Q&A
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In her eagerly anticipated new novel, Careless in Red, New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth George brings back Scotland Yard's Thomas Lynley in a stunning mystery in which he's caught in the middle of a seemingly perfect crime. Read George's INK Q&A and save 30% on Careless in Red. |
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Careless in Red
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Sale $19.56 | Hardcover
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MARY ROACH: GUEST BLOGGER
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This week we're honored to feature Mary Roach as our guest blogger on Powells.com! The bestselling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and infectious wit toward the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. In Bonk, Roach shows how and why sexual arousal and orgasm can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place. Check out Mary Roach's daily posts on our blog and save 30% on Bonk. |
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Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
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Sale $17.46 | Hardcover
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You Save: $7.49
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ED PARK: GUEST BLOGGER
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In an unnamed New York-based company, the employees are getting restless as everything around them unravels. Rich with Orwellian doublespeak, filled with sabotage and romance, Personal Days is Ed Park's astonishing literary debut — at once a comic delight and a narrative tour de force. Next week we're thrilled to welcome Ed Park to the Powells.com blog. Check out his daily posts all week long and save 30% on Personal Days! |
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Personal Days
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Sale $9.10 |
Trade Paper
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You Save: $3.90
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in our stores
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Powell's subscription club delivers the best new books, with special attention to leading independent publishers. Signed first editions. Inventive, original sets. Exclusive printings... (read more) |
3. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin (Literature)
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MAY 12: Mark Sarvas
 A sophisticated, sterling debut by emerging talent Mark Sarvas — founder of the popular literary blog The Elegant Variation — Harry, Revised is the hilarious and tender story of a down-on-his-luck widower who tries to reinvent himself following his wife's untimely death. "[A] self-assured, comic and satisfying story," says Publishers Weekly. |
MAY 21: James Frey and Josh Kilmer-Purcell
 From the bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces comes Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey's sweeping, kaleidoscopic novel that captures the divided soul of America's most alluring city, L.A. Candy Everybody Wants by Josh Kilmer-Purcell is a novel about Jayson, a teenage boy determined to achieve the celebrity status he feels is rightfully his. Please note: This ticketed event takes place at the Bagdad Theater. Tickets, $27, include admission and a copy of Bright Shiny Morning.
Read a brief excerpt from Bright Shiny Morning. |
view all events
preorder signed editions by authors coming to Powell's |
IN OUR NEXT EDITION:
An original essay from Ann Hood ( Comfort) 
"No stories for a while," Bagheera suggests. "Let's just chill." "Is he pensive," Oreo mumbles to Zooey, "or just sick of the story?" Zooey's guess: "He wants to locate himself in the moment." "I'm tired of voices," Bagheera explains. "I like you all very much, and I don't want to miss the story. But let me stop paying attention to you. Just, how about for the rest of the night we let our brains wander?" Zooey nods. "Understood." The proposition makes good, sound sense, apparently, but Oreo has no idea why. After a few minutes of quiet, Chester settles down and stops pacing. "Anyone up for a walk?" Oreo asks. But their faces say, together: nap.
Send questions, comments, suggestions, and your most tearful interview confessions to newsletter@powells.com.
PowellsBooks.news
by Bolton and Dave
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