Category: books

  • Scott Jacobs on The Once and Future Bucktown 11/15

    In Scott Jacobs’ new book Never Leave Your Block (Dead Tree Press), Bucktown is the setting for 33 stories about life in Chicago’s fabled blue collar neighborhood. Jacobs recounts his first years living in Bucktown in 1974 as well as more modern adventures in a fast-gentrifying community. He spends a season with the players in the Holstein Park adult basketball league, goes gambling with the Bucktown Seniors at an Indiana casino, visits Bucktown’s barbershops and Laundromats and delves into the mystery of how Chicago collects its garbage, plows its streets and chooses its St. Patrick’s Day Queen. On this special evening, he will read excerpts from Never Leave Your Block and talk about whether Bucktown’s best days are over.

      “A born storyteller . . . What sets this book apart is Jacobs’s sharp and compulsively readable observations of family, friends, neighbors, and even places like Whole Foods . . . How going to the grocery store can captivate a reader for more than a few pages is a testament to Jacobs ability to write what he knows and write it well.”                                                                                                                 – Chicago Pipeline

     “An intriguing study of modern Chicago, very much recommended reading.”  – Midwest Book Review

     “I’ve covered Chicago for almost 50 years, and every time I want to know what people are really thinking and doing in the neighborhoods, I turn to Scott.”      – Bill Kurtis

    Scott Jacobs is a Chicago writer and filmmaker whose work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, Slate and The Week Behind. Under the pen name Stump Connolly, he has produced three books about the presidential campaigns of 1996, 2004 and 2008. His DVD collections Road to The Presidency: Inside The Clinton Campaign (1992) and True Life Video Stories (2000) ­ are also available at Quimby’s. For more info visit www.deadtreepress.com.

    Thursday, November 15, 7pm – Free Event

  • Jobie Hughes Celebrates Release of At Dawn

    Based on Jobie Hughes’ own life journey, Jobie Hughes’ new novel, At Dawn, presents a raw and gritty coming of age tale that powerfully captures the angst and big questions of today’s generation. Set against the background of the recent American recession, former high school wrestling champion Stratton Brown, escapes a dark past in his small Ohio hometown for a new beginning in the Windy City. Beneath the gruff labor of building a new life, he eventually discovers a way past the ghosts of his past and a new path to the American dream.

    “Hughes combines coming-of-age tale, portrait of the artist as a young man, and father-son saga in a well-crafted novel…[with] pathos, wit and insight into the relationships that define our lives.” ––Publishers Weekly

    Jobie Hughes is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of the Arts. He made national headlines as “Pittacus Lore,” the mysterious co-author of the # 1 New York Times science-fiction bestsellers I Am Number Four (co-written with James Frey) and The Power of Six  which have sold over a million copies worldwide. His work has been translated into twenty-six languages and published in forty-eight countries.

    For more information on Jobie Hughes, visit jobiehughes.com

    Thurs, Oct 25, 7pm

  • Thomas Frank Reads From Pity the Billionaire 10/23

    From the bestselling author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?, this witty and highly provocative book asks a simple question: How is it possible that the disastrous collapse of the free market economy in 2008 could have heralded a popular revival—of the right?

    In Pity the Billionaire, a brilliant, funny, and disturbing tour de force, Thomas Frank analyzes the sleight of hand involved in the right’s resurgence—all the upside-down grievances that have transformed economic suffering into valentines for the rich and powerful. This great chronicler of American paradox dissects the contradictions at the heart of the country’s politics, and in this “dazzling” book once again shows himself as “one of the best left-wing writers America has produced” (The Guardian).

    Founding editor of The Baffler, Thomas Frank is the author of One Market Under God, The Conquest of Cool and other titles. He is also a contributor to Harpers, The Nation, and the New York Times op-ed pages.

    Tues, Oct 23rd, 7pm

  • A Night of Ritual Filth: Adam Parfrey & Peter Sotos at Quimby's 10/17

    Adam Parfrey Presents Ritual America & Peter Sotos Discusses Pure Filth

    ADAM PARFREY presents the strange history of secret societies in America in a slide show.

    “Adam Parfrey is one of the nation’s most provocative publishers.”—Seattle Weekly

    Based in Port Townsend, Feral House and Process Media are two of the most adventurous, often surprising publishers in the U.S., with a bent for revealing the otherwise obscured, undisclosed or under-documented. Adam Parfrey, himself a writer but also the publisher of both these presses, comes to Quimby’s, to talk and show images from his own new book, Ritual America: Secret Brotherhoods and Their Influence on American Society: A Visual Guide (Feral House)  co-authored with Craig Heimbichner. Ritual America illuminates the context and preponderance of American males who belonged to fraternal orders and the place of things today in new ways.”

    Ritual America won a silver medal from the IPPY awards for American history.

    For more info: feralhouse.com/ritual-america/

    PETER SOTOS describes his collaborative effort with “Gonzo” porn maven Jamie Gillis.

    Jamie Gillis appeared in over one hundred films, and as such was a primary performer in pornography’s “Golden Age.” Gillis is also known for inventing the “Gonzo” genre of pornography, played out in the film Boogie Nights by Burt Reynolds’ character.

    Pure Filth appears as transcripts from the films Jamie produced during these early years of radical and highly personal pornography.

    Extreme novelist Peter Sotos was a good friend of Jamie Gillis, and Sotos’ unusual perspective makes this volume possible.

    Wednesday, October 17th, 7pm – Free Event


  • David Rees Reads From How to Sharpen Pencils 8/15

    In David Rees’s new book How to Sharpen Pencils (Melville House), the creator of Get Your War On and founder of ArtisanalPencilSharpening.com shares the secrets of his craft, empowering the layman to discover the pleasures (and perils) of sharpening pencils. Over the course of 18 chapters, Rees explains the difference between sharpening techniques, including:

    – Using a Pocketknife

    – Using a Single-Burr Handcrank Sharpener

    – Sharpening Pencils for Children

    – and many more!

    “How to Sharpen Pencils is very funny—it’s the work, let’s not forget, of the guy responsible for Get Your War On—but it’s no April Fools’ joke, and it’s no bathroom book. It’s a literary oddity that, even as it gleefully pursues the comic possibilities of its premise, subtly gestures towards its own secluded seriousness. And, for what it’s worth, it also marks the standard to which all future pencil-sharpening textbooks must now aspire.”

    – Mark O’Connell, NewYorker.com

    “I trust my bespoke pencils only to David Rees.”

    – Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

    “You may think that sharpening a pencil is easy, but David Rees makes it look hard, and that makes all the difference.”

    – John Hodgman, Areas of My Expertise

    The work of David Rees has been featured in such places as: Rolling Stone, GQ, Punk Planet, and The Nation. His work has also been in such anthologies as Ultimate Blogs: Masterworks from the Wild Web and The McSweeney’s Book of Politics & Musicals. He has been featured on podcasts and radio shows such as Bullseye with Jesse Thorn and The Best Show on WFMU.

    For more info: artisanalpencilsharpening.com

    Wed, Aug 15th, 7pm

  • Quimby's Participates In Bookstore Crawl 2012

     

    Participating:
    Heritage Bicycles • 2959 N Lincoln Ave
    Powell’s North • 2850 N Lincoln Ave
    Bookworks • 3444 N Clark St
    Unabridged • 3251 N Broadway
    Quimby’s • 1852 W North Ave
    Open Books • 213 W Institute Pl
    Powell’s • 1218 S Halsted St
    Crawl starts at 1pm at Heritage Bicycles! Spend the day with your two favorite inventions, bicycles and books!

    It finally ends at Powell’s in University Village (1218 S. Halsted) for the opening of “Bike Crawl: An Art Show,” which starts at 7pm.
    Featured local artists: Kyle Baker, Todd Irwin, Deborah Maris-Lader, Jay Ryan, Maria Sanchez, Shawn Stuckey, Michael Una, and Julia Victor Curated by Kyra Termini
    For more info, click the images above.

  • Roctober 20th Anniversary Book/Magazine Release Party 3/30

    WHAT:            ROCTOBER 20TH ANNIVERSARY RELEASE PARTY
    WHEN:           Fri March 30, 2012, 7pm

    Since 1992 Chicago’s own Roctober magazine has celebrated popular music at its most unpopular, exploring previously unexamined corners of music history to explore absurd, dynamic, and obscure musical heroes in passionate, heavily researched articles, exhaustive critical discographies and inane comics.

    On March 30th, Roctober celebrates its 20th anniversary with a shindig at its favorite store, Quimby’s. Copies of the epic Roctober #50 will be available, as well as two recent books by Roctober contributors, Flying Saucers Rock n Roll: The Best of Roctober (Duke University Press) and Aaron Cohen’s Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace (Continuum), his entry into the popular 33 1/3 series of books on iconic records.

    The event will include brief readings from both books, a Q&A about the history of Roctober, and Aretha/Roctober karaoke (including Chic-A-Go-Go host Ratso doing his tribute to Michael Jackson). Books will be available for purchase and signing by Cohen and Roctober editor Jake Austen, and Roctober#50 will be unveiled.

    For more info:
    facebook.com/roctobermagazine
    jake@roctober.com

  • Adam Levin & Tim Kinsella Read 3/13

    Adam Levin (The Instructions) Reads from Hot Pink with Tim Kinsella, author of The Karaoke Singers Guide to Self Defense

    Adam Levin’s debut novel The Instructions was one of the most buzzed-about books of 2010, a sprawling universe of “death-defying sentences, manic wit, exciting provocations and simple human warmth” (Rolling Stone). Now, in the stories of Hot Pink, Levin delivers ten smaller worlds, shaken snow-globes of overweight romantics, legless prodigies, quixotic dollmakers, Chicagoland thugs, dirty old men, protective fathers, balloon-laden dumptrucks, and walls that ooze gels. Told with lust and affection, karate and tenderness, slapstickery, ferocity, and heart, Hot Pink is already Flavorpill’s most anticipated books of 2012.

    Adam Levin’s novel The Instructions won the NYLP’s Young Lion’s Fiction Award. His stories have appeared in Tin House, McSweeney’s, and Esquire. Winner of the 2003 Summer Literary Seminars Fiction Contest and the 2004 Joyce Carol Oates Fiction Prize.

    In Tim Kinsella’s novel The Karaoke Singers Guide to Self Defense, a family reunites for a funeral, leery of one another, comparing splintered memories. Will bathes his grandmother. Mel gives her wig a haircut. Norman is not prepared to take over his father’s club. Jesse has never known how old he is. They each cope with limited options and murky desires. Long bus rides through a post-industrial Gothic Midwest, Classic Rock, and compulsive brawls hum a requiem for the late night life of Stone Claw Grove.

    Tim Kinsella has fronted such bands as Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Friend/Enemy and Joan of Arc. His writing has appeared in The Chicago Reader, Monsters & Dust, and Stop Smiling.

    For more info:

    Click here for info about Adam.

    Click here for info about Tim.

  • Joyland Magazine and Dzanc Books present The Fiction Feed: AWP Edition 3/1

    Joyland Magazine and Dzanc Books present
    The Fiction Feed: AWP Edition

    Joyland Magazine and Dzanc Books are two innovative publishers pushing fiction with great writing and new means of print and digital distribution. Join us for an evening with four writers, hailing from Chicago, New York and Vancouver. Hosted by Joyland co-founder Brian Joseph Davis and Dzanc co-publisher Dan Wickett.

    READERS

    Eugene Cross has published work in Narrative Magazine, American Short Fiction, Story Quarterly and Callaloo, among other journals. He is the recipient of scholarships from the Chautauqua Writers’ Festival and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He currently lives in Chicago. Fires of Our Choosing (Dzanc) is his first book.

    Kevin Chong is the author of four books, including his acclaimed debut Baroque-a-Nova (Penguin) and the travelogue Neil Young Nation (Douglas & McIntyre). His new novel from Arsenal Pulp is titled Beauty Plus Pity. He lives in Vancouver and is a section editor for Joyland.

    Jeff Parker is the author of the novel Ovenman (Tin House) and the story collection The Taste of Penny (Dzanc). He co-edited the anthologies Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States and Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia. His nonfiction book Igor in Crisis: A Russian Journal is forthcoming from HarperCollins.

    Megan Stielstra is a writer, storyteller and the literary director for 2nd Story, Chicago’s urban storytelling series. She has performed for the Goodman Theatre, the Chicago Poetry Center and National Public Radio. She teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College. Her debut collection of stories, Everyone Remain Calm, is now available from Joyland/ECW Press.

    For more info: joylandmagazine.com and dzancbooks.org

    Thursday, March 1, 7PM

  • David David Katzman reads from A Greater Monster With Illustrator Caitlin McKay 11/10

    David David Katzman’s second novel, A Greater Monster (Bedhead Books), is a groundbreaking multimedia work that includes 65 pages of illustrations, numerous graphic design elements, visual text poetry, and links to two websites, one of which features original music composed to mirror events in a scene of the book and another featuring an animated sequence.

    This story itself is a psychedelic fairytale for the modern age, influenced by Alice in Wonderland, Williams S. Burroughs, and graphic novelist Grant Morrison. This darkly poetic tale takes you on a trip into a twisted alternate reality that reflects civilization like a funhouse mirror. A Greater Monster breathes new life into the possibilities of fiction.

    “Brilliant, insane, and utterly unique…”—Jen Knox, author of To Begin Again (2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award winner)

    “I can’t express how brilliant my favorite scenes in A Greater Monster are. In this extraordinary work, Katzman pushes language to do things, which are truly astounding.”—Carra Stratton, Editor, Starcherone Press

    “This is bizarro fiction at its most intense. It contains scenes and unique designs that seem engineered by some Mad Hatter and Chuck Palahniuk cross-breed.”—Lavinia Ludlow, author of alt.punk

    David David Katzman’s first novel, Death by Zamboni follows anti-hero Satan Donut through a world of mimes, TV stars, zombies, blockheads, mad scientists, riot grrls, and werewolves. It continues to be an acclaimed cult success. Katzman ‘s work has been published in Bridge Literary Magazine and Tailspins. He has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from University of Wisconsin-Madison and has performed as an actor and improviser throughout Chicago.
    Also in attendance will be the book's illustrator Caitlin McKay, who contributed over 60 pages of sequential illustrations to the book!

    For more info:
    daviddavid.net
    goodreads.com/daviddavid

    Thurs, November 10th, 7pm

    Click here to download the press release for this event.