Edward Curtis, Three Chiefs, 1900
Dear Readers,
November is National Native American Heritage Month, and November 24th is Native American Heritage Day. This year’s theme is Celebrating Tribal Sovereignty and Identity. National Native American Heritage Month was recognized federally for the first time in the United States in 1990. This is a time to recognize the history, culture, and contributions of Indigenous people, and it provides an opportunity to reckon with our past and reflect on the treatment of Indigenous people throughout American history. Here at Book Beat we have a variety of Native American history and literature, including new titles such as Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America and The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction finalist by Ned Blackhawk). For highlights and happenings across the Nation check out: Native American Heritage Month.gov.
Our Sunday, October 29 signing with local author Beverly Jenkins, celebrating the release of her newest novel A Christmas to Remember, was a big hit! Thank you Beverly and her fans for making this event one to remember! If you weren’t able to attend, signed copies are available while supplies last. Please call us at (248) 968-1190 or email bookbeatorders@gmail.com if you’d like to reserve a copy.
Read small press book reviews, author interviews, and indie recommendations from our resident intrepid bibliophile Tom Bowden who turned in his latest column from China: i arrogantly recommend… Mr. Bowden has also sent in a report on the indie Shanghai bookseller Lekai Books.
For the past three years author and curator Julie J. Thompson and Cary Loren of Book Beat have hosted an online celebration of artist Ray Johnson around his birthday October 16. This year’s guests were Ray Johnson scholars Alex W. Landry and Kira Houston. The Zoom meeting was recorded and can be watched on YouTube at: Ray Johnson (Un)birthday III.
Our repost this month is A Key to Boofland Babylon, that describes some background to a 2015 art installation by Cary Loren and Michael Zadoorian, inspired by a 1962 photograph from the J. L. Hudson’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that featured Milky the Clown, Captain Jolly, Poop-Deck Paul, Johnny Ginger, Jingles the Jester of Boofland, Jerry Booth, Ricki the Clown, and five-year-old Michael Zadoorian.
Thank you for your continued support of Book Beat.
Happy November reading!
— Cary, Colleen, and the Book Beat staff
UPCOMING EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8: INTO THE WRITER’S MIND
Wednesday, November 8 from 6-7 PM, join us at the Southfield Public Library for Into the Writer’s Mind: A Young Adult Author Panel featuring Rebecca Mix, Andrea Hannah, Aimée Carter, and Meriam Metoui. There will be a Q&A followed by a book signing with books sold on site by Book Beat.
THURSDAY-FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16-17: ROYAL OAK MARKET: ART FAIR EDITION
Now in its 8th year, the Royal Oak Market: Art Fair Edition is produced by The Guild of Artists and Artisans and will take place indoors at the Royal Oak Farmers Market [316 E Eleven Mile Rd, Royal Oak, MI] from 11AM – 9PM Thursday and Friday, November 16-17.
This festive event will feature 60 jury selected artists, live entertainment, food vendors, and several adult beverage offerings including: cider from Bløm Meadworks, wine from Riboli Family Wines featuring Stella Rosa + Highlands 41 Wines, and beer from Brew Detroit, Drafting Table Brewing Company, and Ascensions Brewing Company. Check out this list of participating artists.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29: BOOK BEAT READING GROUP
Wednesday, November 29 at 7 PM our reading group discussion will be held online via Zoom. The reading group selection for November is The Hive by Camilo José Cela. Read more about this book on our reading group post. The Zoom link will be sent the afternoon of the meeting to anyone interested in attending. Email bookbeatorders@gmail.com to sign up. Books are in stock now and discounted 15%. Please call (248) 968-1190 for more information.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1-2: TRINOSOPHES FUNDRAISER
Friday-Saturday, December 1-2 Book Beat will be hosting a fundraiser for Trinosophes Projects, a non-profit Detroit performance space and gallery, cafe, and producer of other projects such as Three Fold and Two Rooms Records. Mention the words “Trino” or “Trinosophes Fundraiser” and we will donate 20% of your sale at Book Beat to the non-profit. If you happen to miss our fundraiser, consider donating directly to Trinosophes Projects with their Paypal link. Read more about Trinosophes Projects here.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3: BOOKRAISER FOR GESU
Sunday, December 3 from 12PM-5PM join us for the 8th annual bookraiser for the Library of Gesu Catholic School. For those interested in supporting Gesu, 20% of your purchase can be donated to the library, along with any books purchased directly for the library. A list of books that the library has requested will be available that day.
Check out a Month of November literary events at the Royal Oak Public Library.
SLEEPER ALERTS, GIFT BOOKS & NEW ARRIVALS
Deus X
Stephen Mack Jones
Soho Crime
Detroit ex-cop August Snow puts his life on the line to protect a friend from modern-day Templars sworn to protect the name of the Catholic church at all costs.
“The arrival of a new August Snow is a true gift. Clever, witty, and packed with danger and fun, Deus X is a brilliant thriller. His latest proves why Stephen Mack Jones has fast become one of our best living detective writers.” –Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of the Robert B. Parker Spenser novels and The Heathens
“Stephen Mack Jones’s Deus X is a finely crafted mystery; a slow burn that crackles with suspense and intrigue, as ex-Detroit cop turned PI, August Snow, unravels depraved secrets desperate to stay hidden and learns the lengths some will go to punish those who profess to be holy. With Deus X, Stephen Mack Jones further solidifies himself as an author at the top of his game and the August Snow series is worthy of all the praise.” –Aaron Philip Clark, author of Under Color of Law and Blue Like Me
A recent interview with Stephen Mack Jones and a discussion on Deus X appears in Hour Detroit’s November 2023 issue.
SIGNED FIRST EDITION COPIES ARE AVAILABLE AT BOOK BEAT ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Monica
Danuel Clowes
Fantagraphics
His long-awaited new graphic novel from Daniel Clowes (Ghost World and Patience) is a genre-bending thriller from one of the most innovative storytellers of all time.
“Clowes’ latest graphic novel weaves nine interrelated stories into a tale of curiosity, corruption, and humanity’s addiction to significance. …A timeless nugget of polished pulp.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“In classic fashion, Clowes offers another devastating, surreal examination of human nature… A hauntingly precise and compellingly strange study of the human struggle to reconcile a decentered past with a path forward.” —Booklist, starred review
“This eloquent end-times tale about a woman’s search for herself takes its time winding up to terror….Lucky new initiates to Clowes will want to dive into his backlist after this unnerving introduction to his oeuvre; for fans, it’s a must-have.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
Sonic Life: A Memoir
Thurston Moore
Doubleday Books
From the founding member of Sonic Youth, a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder.
“Electrifying… At its most evocative when describing the downtown music scene of the late 1970s and ’80s New York.”
—New York Times
“Thurston Moore’s all-embracing memoir Sonic Life works the way Sonic Youth did, with raging appetite for experience, with velocity and nerve, with a total devotion to making art from the resolute stance of starry-eyed fan and unabashed permanent novice. His recall is as amazing as his generosity.”
—Jonathan Lethem, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of Motherless Brooklyn
“He helped change the trajectory of rock music with Sonic Youth. But in his new memoir, “Sonic Life,” he’d rather talk about the musicians who enriched his world.”
–Thurston Moore interview in The New York Times.
SIGNED FIRST EDITION COPIES AVAILABLE
Opinions
Roxane Gay
Harper
From beloved and bestselling author Roxane Gay, “a strikingly fresh cultural critic” (Washington Post) comes an exhilarating collection of her essays on culture, politics, and everything in between.
“This is a must-read for not only fans of Gay’s work, but for everyone interested in reading intellectual, accessible, and important takes on timely topics.” —Booklist (Starred Review)
“Essays, op-eds, and pop-culture pieces from the acclaimed novelist and memoirist. . . . [Gay] has a gift for clean, well-ordered prose, and strong feelings on matters of race, gender, and sexuality. Most important, she possesses a fearlessness essential to doing the job right; though she can observe an issue from various angles, she never wrings her hands or delivers milquetoast commentaries. . . . she comes to her opinions more out of empathy than ideology. . . . Fierce and informed riffs on current events and enduring challenges.” —Kirkus Reviews
SIGNED FIRST EDITION COPIES AVAILABLE
America Fantastica
Tim O’Brien
Mariner Books
An American Master returns: the author of The Things They Carried delivers his first new novel in two decades, a brilliant and rollicking odyssey, in which a bank robbery sparks “a satirical romp through a country plagued by deceit” (Kirkus, starred review).
“Tim O’Brien is one American author whose works I look forward to the most. His new novel’s ironic depiction of a post-Iraq War, mid-COVID, and mid-Trump world is piercing and razor-sharp.” –Haruki Murakami
“Tim O’Brien is one of our greatest storytellers, and his latest–America Fantastica–is a beauty. Steeped in acute wisdom and hilarious wisecracks, this satirical romp through the ‘mythomania’ and ‘lying contagion’ that plagues our society is also a study in one man’s broken heart and the truths that have shaped it.”
–Jill McCorkle
SIGNED FIRST EDITION COPIES AVAILABLE
Lou Reed: The King of New York
Will Hermes
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
The most complete and penetrating biography of the rock master, whose stature grows every year.
“Lou Reed: The King of New York is a monumental work filled with first person accounts of the master’s life and a dizzying array of never-before-heard details. Through his all-encompassing focus on Lou, Will Hermes serves up a big slice of late 20th-century New York art history. This is an extraordinary achievement.” –Michael Imperioli, author of The Perfume Burned His Eyes
“There have been many biographies of Lou Reed, but Will Hermes has written the definitive life. He has probed into every corner, talked to people the others overlooked, dug up every last clipping and tape, but above all he has brought to the assignment a sharp eye, a clear head, a lucid prose style, and a determination to let Lou be Lou, without judgment.” –Lucy Sante, author of Low Life
Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine
Mark Davidson and Parker Fischel
Callaway
Several years ago, a treasure trove containing some 6,000 original Bob Dylan manuscripts was revealed to exist. Their destination? Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The documents, as essential as they are intriguing—draft lyrics, notebooks, and diverse ephemera— comprise one of the most important cultural archives in the modern world. Along with countless still and moving images and thousands of hours of riveting studio and live recordings, this priceless collection now resides at The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just steps away from the archival home of Dylan’s early hero, Woody Guthrie.
Nearly all the materials preserved at The Bob Dylan Center are unique, previously unavailable, and, in many cases, even previously unknown. As the official publication of The Bob Dylan Center, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine is the first wide-angle look at the Dylan archive, a book that promises to be of vast interest to both the Nobel Laureate’s many musical fans and to a broader national and international audience as well.
“In a way, the book enshrines a history that Dylan has already slipped away from, a history where he’s determined not to get trapped. It’s a road map of places he has left behind. But then, that’s how Bob Dylan stories usually go. While everybody kneels to pray, the drifter escapes.” —New York Times review
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