Monthly Archive for August, 2010

Page 3 of 4

Jean-Christophe Valtat Reads From Aurorarama

Published on August 19, 2010 0 Comments

Sep ’10

7:00 pm

Info about the book: Set in the glittering Arctic city of “New Venice,” Jean-Christoph Valtat’s Aurorarama imagines an intricate “steampunk” society populated with anarchists, hypnotists, rock stars, drug-addled bohemians, dapper secret police, and a secret society of subterranean garbage collectors. French author Jean-Christophe Valtat has drawn on a wealth of research about Arctic exploration, Victorian mysticism, and 19^th-century technology to create a truly unforgettable literary adventure tale that calls to mind Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the graphic-novel classics of Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, and such genre-bending literary sensations as Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell or Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Smart, playful, sexy, and surreal, Aurorarama marks the first book in an enchanting new trilogy.

So whether you’re into science fiction/fantasy or just fiction, whether you’re into steampunk or neo-Victorian, or you just want to come out and support an independent bookstore, you should come. And! Wine will be served. At least one french accent will be there for your enchantment. And of course there will probably at least one person with brass goggles. Come wearing your steampunk gear, and the best costume gets a prize! Need some help with understanding what steampunk is? Here’s some helpful info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

[Valtat] has a magical sense of shape, and a gift for lyrical prose that are rare in modern writing.

—La Croix

Jean-Christophe Valtat is a writer of “beautiful energy.”

—Le Monde

Nabokovian.

—Words Without Borders

For more info: http://mhpbooks.com

A Night With Continuum’s 33 1/3 Book Series

Published on August 18, 2010 0 Comments

Sep ’10

7:00 pm

33 1/3 is a series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the past 40 years. By turns obsessive, passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this series demonstrate many different ways of writing about music. The series now spans over 70 titles, covering a wide range of albums, from Public Enemy and Slayer to ABBA and Celine Dion. Indeed, this event is probably the only time in history that AC/DC and Belle and Sebastian will share a bill. Three writers, three albums. One event.

Joe Bonomo – AC/DC’s Highway to Hell

Joe Bonomo strikes a three-chord essay on the power of adolescence, the durability of rock & roll fandom, and the transformative properties of memory. Why does Highway To Hell matter to anyone beyond non-ironic teenagers? Blending interviews, analysis, and memoir with a fan’s perspective, Highway To Hell dramatizes and celebrates a timeless album that one critic said makes “disaster sound like the best fun in the world.”

Joe Bonomo teaches in the English Department of Northern Illinois University. He is the author of Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band (Continuum 2007), and Installations (Penguin), a collection of prose poems. His personal essays and prose poems have appeared in numerous literary journals.

* * * * *

Mark Richardson – Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka

“[A] wildly accessible, entertaining, and thoughtful book about the importance of an album that nobody talks about much anymore.” –The Stranger

The Flaming Lips’ 1997 album Zaireeka is one of the most peculiar albums ever recorded, consisting of four CDs meant to be played simultaneously on four CD players. Approaching this powerful and complex art-rock masterpiece from multiple angles, Mark Richardson’s prismatic study of Zaireeka mirrors the structure the work itself. Thoughts on communal listening and the “death of the album” are interspersed with the story of the Zaireeka’s creation (with assistance from Wayne Coyne) and an in-depth analysis of the music, leading to a complete picture of a record that proved to be a watershed for both the band and adventurous music fans alike.

Mark Richardson is the managing editor of Pitchfork. He was a contributing editor to The Pitchfork 500 and his writing on music has appeared in publications including the Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Metro Times Detroit.

* * * * *

Scott Plagenhoef – Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister

If You’re Feeling Sinister shows how Belle & Sebastian transformed themselves over the space of a decade, from a slightly shambolic cult secret into a polished, highly entertaining, mainstream pop group. Along the way, the book shows how the internet has revolutionized how we discover new music—often at the cost of romance and mystery.

Scott Plagenhoef is Editor-in-Chief for Pitchfork Media.

* * * * *

For more info: http://33third.blogspot.com/

Matthew Gavin Frank Reads From Barolo

Published on August 18, 2010 0 Comments

Sep ’10

7:00 pm

After a childhood of microwaved meat and saturated fat, Matthew Gavin Frank got serious about food. His “research” ultimately led him to Barolo, Italy (pop. 646), where, living out of a tent in the garden of a local farmhouse, he resolved to learn about Italian food from the ground up. Barolo is Frank’s account of those six months. At once an intimate travelogue and a memoir of a culinary education, the book details the adventures of a not-so-innocent abroad in Barolo, a region known for its food and wine (also called Barolo). Along the way we meet the region’s families and the many eccentric vintners, butchers, bakers, and restaurateurs who call Barolo home. Rich with details of real Italian small-town life, local foodstuffs, strange markets, and a circuslike atmosphere, Frank’s story also offers a wealth of historical and culinary information, and musings on foreign travel, all filtered through food and wine.

Matthew Gavin Frank worked for over fifteen years in the food and restaurant industry in positions ranging from dishwasher to sous-chef, server to sommelier, menu consultant to catering-business owner, farmhand to janitor. A visiting assistant professor of writing at Grand Valley State University, he has published essays in Gastronomica, Creative Nonfiction, and Best Food Writing 2006.

“Aaahhh . . . ! Here are all the joys of being young and exuberant and passionate and in love with women, and life, and better yet . . . in Barolo. This remarkable and enchanting tale makes me want to set the clock back many years and to book passage to Italy and to the sips of the world’s greatest wine, and to be inspired by all the things that make life such a wonderful journey! Kudos to Matthew Gavin Frank for reminding us what really makes life worth living!”—Charlie Trotter, chef, author, and host of PBS’s The Kitchen Sessions with Charlie Trotter

“Suddenly you are in Italy, suddenly you are in love, suddenly you are picking the delicate Nebbiolo grape under a burning sun—and in a moment Matthew Gavin Frank has captured your unwavering attention, with a firm grasp that continues for all three hundred pages of this delightful and incisive book.”—Lee Gutkind, editor of Creative Nonfiction magazine and author of Almost Human: Making Robots Think

For more info: http:// www.matthewgfrank.com

Weekly Top 10

Published on August 17, 2010 0 Comments

1. Overqualified by Joey Comeau (ECW) $14.95

2. Whore Magazine #1 Sum 10 $12.00

3. Hearts Mini Zine by C. Uphues $1.00

4. They Met in a Dream by Jennifer Parks (Sparkplug) $4.00 – This little gem reads like an old silent film and combines a soft Renee-French-style panelling and pacing with a sense of smoky mystery that resembles some of Lilli Carre’s woodsy minis.

5. Seeds: An Anthology of Comics About Food (Tree & Hills Group) $5.00

6. Wax Poetics #42 Jul Aug 10 $9.99

7. Craphound #4: Clowns Devils and Bait $12.00 – Hi-con picture pages are brimming with the sauciest devils, the juciest bait and the most ambiguously legal clowns. Thrilling, terrifying, mind-blowing, hands down one of the world’s greatest zines! – EF

8. Bitch #47 $5.95

9. Giant Robot #66 $4.99

10. Henry and Glenn Forever Deluxe by Igloo Tornado (Microcosm) $6.00 – NEW PERFECT BOUND/LARGER SIZE EDITION! The gay love of Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig? I’d get in that van.-EF

New Stuff This Week

Published on August 14, 2010 2 Comments

Finally! Our AC is fixed. Just in time for it to sound like the apocalypse with the Air and Water Show in Chicago.

Here’s New Stuff!

ZINES!
People I’ve Slept With #2 by Hannah Miller $4.00
Still Warm #1 The Post Incubation Issue by Hannah Miller and Frankie Pan $5.00
Bangor Photo Zine by Sarah Sorg $7.50
Broken Pencil: Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts #48 DIY Issue $5.95
Various zines from Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd!!: Fliptard #1 When You Work Together It Works $4.00, Beauty Across America $5.00, Vegas Pack: 2 Mini Zines From The Nostalgic Memories Series $5.00, Butts And Crotches $3.00, Disneyland Deaths $2.00, Hero Land #s 1-6 $4.00 each, Erric Parris World #1 Bands Fashion Gangs $5.00
Serial Killers Unite #3 $1.00
Unedited Repititions by Leslie Everhart $4.80
Uh Yeah $86 27 Open Close $5.65
Video Game Trick and Two Pots 4.23 Lideo Rideo $5.65
Cat Cat Cat $25 00 Blur Vision Is Only One of the Signs $5.65
Put a Egg On It Tasty Zine #2 Sum 10 by Ralph McGinnis and Sarah Keough $5.00 – When you up and get over your omnivore’s dilemma, Put A Egg On It will be right here waiting for you! Issue #2 is a brassy ode to hearty comfort food including a write up of one of my favorite diners, the Haven Brother’s Food Truck. Plenty of beyond delishus looking photos of homemade lasagne and beef stew all lit up brighter with saucy illustrations by Aaron Renier, who’s some kinda genius when it comes to drawing faces on okra. Double Yum. -EF

South Side Chicago Anti Racist Action July 31 2010 Zine $2.00 – If you wanna kick some Nazi ass, this zine is namin’ names.

COMICS & MINICOMICS!
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep #13 $3.99
Heavy Metal Sep 10 $6.95
Spider Who Had Arachnophopia by Xenia O’Keefe James $2.00
Lake Shore Drive by Riverser $3.00
To All the Good People I’ll Never Be Friends With $1.00
I Don’t Understand Farming #2 $.50
Into The Woods by Lisa Cline $1.00
Call All My Dawgs #5 by Sam Gaskin $2.00
Big Title #1: A Comic About Pro Wrestling by Alec Lewellyn $4.00
Reach #1 by Ron DelVillano $.75 – For any person who wishes giant tentacles would swoop up from the earth and violently terminate obnoxious assholes, this mini goes out to you, my friend! -EF

You Don’t Get There From Here #15 by Carrie McNinch $2.00 – Back for more? Plenty of YDGTFH core concepts here, especially running in the hills and fighting the blues. I’m seeing a lot more acupuncture sneeking in too, and if you ever want to think about all the the great foods of Los Angeles you miss, this issue might rekindle a few old flames. -EF

Big Sexy (Trees & Hills Comic Group) $6.00 – A True Porn-style anthology minicomic that takes time to indulge in some flights of fancy as well.

Shelter: A Trees and Hills Anthology (Trees & Hills Comic Group) $4.00
Play A Trees and Hills Anthology (Trees & Hills Comic Group) $5.00
Seeds an Anthology of Comics About Food (Trees & Hills Comic Group) $5.00
Morgenmuffel #17 Late 08 Cartoons and Rants by Isy $2.00 – A nice comic book account of a British radical vegan anarchist traipsing the US West Coast, hugging redwoods and figuring out biscuits and gravy. -EF
Rum Muffel A Rumlad Morgenmuffel Collaboration $2.00
Animania #1 by Monica Ray $2.00

FICTION!
Stories from the Asphalt by John Sparger $12.95
Letters to Emma Bowlcut by Bill Callahan (Drag City) $12.98 – Fiction from former Chicagoan also known as the band Smog.
I Remember by Joe Brainard (Granary) $14.95 – Out of print for a decade, these are memoirs of the artist and writer who died of AIDS.
Code Name Kalistrat: Secrets Of The Rosenberg Spy Case by Arno Baker (Enigma) $15.00 – Historical fiction of the Cold War espionage thriller sort.
It Feels So Good When I Stop by Joe Pernice (Riverhead) $15.00 – “One can accept, reluctantly, Pernice’s apparently inexhaustible ability to knock out brilliant three-minute pop songs-Just about any Pernice Brothers record contains half a dozen tunes comparable to Elvis Costello’s best work. But now it turns out he can write fiction too, and so envy and bitterness become unavoidable.” -Nick Hornby, The Believer
Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers (Picador) $15.00 – This book is the fictioanal story of a Chicago-based creative non-fiction writer, once pursued by NPR talk shiw hosts, is washed up and lonely. And he’s only in his early thirties. He takes a writing class teaching gig and is taken with a woman who may possess a gene that makes her insanely happy. I would like to read this. Book group anyone? -LM
Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell (Holt) $15.00
Sporeville: The Wellborn Conspiracy by Paul Marlowe (Sybertooth) $10.95 – OK, so this novel is a little older but we just got it in. It falls into the “new weird”, a.k.a. speculative fiction genre. For fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, Gothic literature, science fiction, fantasy and history. What’s in it? Sleepwalkers, mushrooms, jars of eyes. Maybe some werewolves too. -LM

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
Pariah by Bob Fingerman (Tor) $14.95 – Zombies in NYC. More text than usual for this artist.
Felix The Cat: The Great Comic Book Tails by Otto Messmer, ed. by Craig Yoe (IDW) $34.99
Big Book O’Ditko by Steve Ditko (Pure Imagination) $25.00
Another Suburban Romance TPB by Alan Moore etc. (Avatar) $2.00 – Because Alan Moore is so suburban.
Unwritten vol 2: Inside Man TPB by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo) $12.99
Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier (First Second) $13.99 – Don’t miss Aaron Renier’s event here at Quimby’s to celebrate the release of this wonderful book on Thursday, August 26th, 7pm!

John Stanley Library – Nancy HC vol 2 by John Stanley (D+Q) $29.95 – Nancy, the world’s weirdest looking little kid, is once again put at the mercy of John Stanley’s whimsical whims. It seems no matter how much Aunt Fritzi chides her, the kid just can’t help bustin’ out the hijinx all over the place. -EF

Eden by Pablo Holmberg (D+Q) $16.95
Tank Girl Skidmarks TPB by Alan Martin etc. (Titan) $16.95
Brain Camp: A Summer at Camp Fielding Will Really Change You by Susan Kim etc. (First Second) $16.99
Indoor Voice by Jillian Tamaki (D+Q) $19.95 – Part of Drawn and Quarterly’s Petit Livre book series. Gestural and inky, Tamaki dissects some of her illustration process and throws in some nice comics to boot.
War Is Boring: Bored Stiff Scared to Death in the Worlds Worst War Zones by David Axe and Matt Bors (New American Library) $12.95

ART BOOKS!
Weirdo Noir Gothic and Dark Lowbrow Art, ed. by Matt Dukes Jordan (Chronicle) $24.95 – Now in soft cover for an affordable price.
Made For Skate: The Illustrated History of Skateboard Footwear by var. (FauxAmi) $29.95 – Now in soft cover.
Blackbook Sessions #4 Stylefile Sketches Scribbles FullColorBlackBookStyles (Publikat) $24.95 – New volume of this street art publication.
Photobooth Dogs by Cameron Woo (Chronicle) $14.95 – Exactly what the name says. And some of the dogs are tiny!
There Are Many of Us: A Companion to the Short Film I’m Here by Spike Jonze (McSweeneys) $35.00 – Includes the complete thirty minute film and soundtrack plus bonus materials, DVD and CD.
Drawings by Marcel Dzama, From The Bernardi Collection (DAP) $35.00 – An old book, but one that we are glad to finally get of this playful artist. -LM
Cemetery of Reason by Ed Templeton (SMAK) $39.95 – The next art book from this skater-artist-photographer.
Diaries of a Young Artist by Ellen Altfest, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (Darte) $15.00
Glastonbury Another Stage by Venetia Dearden (Kehrer) $50.00

MAGAZINES!
Eye Magazine #76 Sum 10 $30.00
Swallow Magazine The Trans-Siberian Issue $25.00
Fortean Times #265 Sep 10 $11.99
Taps paraMagazine vol 6 #4 $5.95
High Times Oct 10 $5.99
Scootering #290 $8.99
Hyphen #21 Fall 10 $4.95
Whore Magazine #1 Sum 10 $12.00
Dazed & Confused #88 Aug 10 $9.95
Wire #318 Aug 10 $10.99
Ghetto Blaster #25 $3.95
Under the Radar #32 $4.99
Mojo #202 Sep 10 $9.99
Green Teacher #89 Sum 10 $7.95
Against the Current #147 $5.00
Tattoo Life #65 $6.99
Urban Ink #54 $8.99
Rebel Ink Magazine Sep 10 $5.99

LITERARY JOURNALS & CHAP BOOKS!
McSweeneys #35 $20.00 – By now, you should know the drill. This issue with a color portfolio and captivating cover by Jordan Crane.

Electric Literature #4 $9.95
Plat Journal #0.5 Spr 10 by Sarah Whiting $8.00
Flaneur Foundry Arts Journal #2 Spr Sum Sleep Prngrphr by Alexandra Lukens $20.00
Dragon Well by Sandy McCord $12.00
I Sense the Dimming 22 Ways to Kill Your God by James R. Onofrey $1.00
NIV 39 and 27 by Nicholas Alexander Hayes $10.00

MAYHEM & OUTER LIMITS!
Speed Speed Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine by Mick Farren (Feral House) $12.95 – Hey! Buddy! Why do I seem wired to you? What’s your social security number? Why do you want to know mine?! Why officer, was I speeding? Do I look like I’m sweating? Because I don’t really feel like I’m sweating. But you think I look like I’m sweating?! Wait! What was that? Do you hear something? -LM
Down Among the Dead Men: A Year in the Life of a Mortuary Technician by Michelle Williams (Soft Skull) $14.95
Beauty In Decay: Urban Exploration (Gingko) $34.95
Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley, The Definitive Biography by Richard Kaczynski (North Atlantic) $29.95
Girls of Murder City Fame Lust and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago by Douglas Perry (Viking) $25.95
Toilets Of The World by var. (Merrell) $9.95
Grimm Reader: Classic Tales of the Brothers Grimm, ed. by Maria Tatar (Norton) $16.95
UFOs: Generals Pilots and Government Officials Go On The Record by Leslie Kean (Harmony) $25.99

MUSIC BOOKS!
Totally Wired: Post Punk Interviews and Overviews by Simon Reynolds (Soft Skull) $16.95 – From the author of Rip it Up and Start Again.

DIY & FOOD!
Geometry of Pasta by var. (Quirk) $24.95 – Now that’s one arty cookbook. Almost as if design book publisher DGV did a book about pasta.

MUCKRAKING MEMOIRS & MISCELLANY!
Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward Professor, Tattoo Artist and Sexual Renegade by Spring (FSG) $32.50
Packing For Mars: The Curious Science of Life In The Void by Mary Roach, author of Stiff.

POLITCS & REVOLUTION!
Paradoxes of Utopia Anarchist Culture and Politics In Buenos Aires 1890 to 1910 by Juan Suriano (AK) $18.95
Sparking A Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition by Koyla Abramsky (AK) $24.00
Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court by Amy Bach (Holt) $18.00
Moving Politics: Emotion and Act Ups Fight Against AIDS by Deborah Gould (University of Chicago) $38.33
I’ve Got The Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Missisippi Freedom by Charles Payne (Univ Calif) $43.25

CHILDREN’S BOOKS!
Balloon Toons Super Crazy Cat Dance by Aron Nels Steinke (Blue Apple) $10.99
Bone Tall Tales by Jeff Smith and Tom Sniegoski (Scholastic) $10.99
Adventures in Cartooning Activity Book: Center For Cartoon Studies Presents Let’s Make Comics Together – Draw Here Cool by James Sturm etc. (First Second) $7.99

SEX & SEXY!
Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by var. (Seal) $16.95
Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex From Celibacy to Polyamory and Eve by Brad Warner (New World Library) $14.95
For Lonely Adults Only #8 Sum 10 $8.00
Spank #16 Homo Art Zine $6.50
Front #144 Sum 10 $9.99

OTHER STUFF!
Big Penis Diary 2011 Taschen Calendar $15.99 – Get yer 2011 er, ON. Ha ha ha. Time is popping up on you. Er, yeah.
Mountz Magnetic Ninja Toys $5.00 – More DiiLeets/Leets erasers.
Beci Orpin Journal Love Tree Birds Owl Hearts and Beci Orpin Journal Blindfold Girl Birds Guides (Gingko) $7.50 – Blank journals with art that looks part Nikki McClure, part Tara McPherson. We don’t sell a lot of notebooks, but this one is really cool and nice.

Monthly Archive for August, 2010

Page 3 of 4

Jean-Christophe Valtat Reads From Aurorarama