Powell's Books: Author Q and A

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03/10/09--16:42: Author Q and A with Lev Yilmaz (chan 1907531)

In the bestselling tradition of Matt Groening (Simpsons) and Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), YouTube sensation Lev Yilmaz delivers a thought-provoking cartoon book, Sunny Side Down, that explores the mundane, neurotic, and hilarious moments of life. "Yilmaz shows off his excellent drawing skills and a quirky worldview," hails Publishers Weekly.


03/23/09--15:32: Author Q and A with Michael Schaffer (chan 1907531)

A witty, insightful, and affectionate examination of how and why people spend billions of dollars on their pets, One Nation under Dog is about America's pet obsession — the explosion, over the past generation, of an industry full of pet masseuses, professional dog-walkers, and organic kibble.


03/23/09--15:42: Author Q and A with Chris Cleave (chan 1907531)

From the author of the international bestseller Incendiary comes Little Bee, a haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers — one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London. "Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself," cheers Booklist (starred review).


03/23/09--15:50: Author Q and A with Philip Kerr (chan 1907531)

Philip Kerr returns with his best-loved character, Bernie Gunther, in A Quiet Flame, the fifth novel in what is now a series — a tight, twisting, compelling thriller that is firmly rooted in history. "Kerr...cleverly and plausibly grafts history onto a fast-paced thriller plot," raves Publishers Weekly (starred review).


03/23/09--15:57: Author Q and A with Donald Ray Pollock (chan 1907531)

In Knockemstiff, his exhilarating fiction debut, Donald Ray Pollock peers into the soul of a tough Midwestern American town to reveal the lives of its stunted but resilient residents. One of the year's most highly praised books, Knockemstiff has been hailed as "powerful, remarkable, exceptional" (L.A. Times) and "an unforgettable experience" (San Francisco Chronicle).


04/07/09--11:58: Author Q and A with Arthur Phillips (chan 1907531)

In The Song Is You, bestselling author Arthur Phillips delivers a love story and a uniquely heartbreaking dark comedy about obsession and loss. It is a closely observed tale of love in the digital age that blurs the line between the longing for intimacy and the longing for oblivion. Jill from Powells.com enthuses, "The Song Is You is Phillips's best book yet, as smart and intricate as Prague, but more generous and poignant."


04/22/09--13:05: Author Q and A with Stacy Perman (chan 1907531)

With In-N-Out Burger, Stacy Perman investigates the inside story of the renegade, family-owned burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other.


05/05/09--11:01: Author Q and A with Lise Funderburg (chan 1907531)

Lise Funderburg's memoir Pig Candy is the poignant and often comical story of a grown daughter getting to know her dying father in his last months. "Charming and often moving," proclaims Kirkus Reviews, promising it "will appeal to a broad range of readers, from fans of Wendell Berry to those of Toni Morrison."


05/19/09--14:11: Author Q and A with Huston Smith (chan 1907531)

Renowned world-religion scholar Huston Smith has encountered many of the people who have shaped the 20th century — including Mother Teresa, Robert Oppenheimer, and Noam Chomsky. His amazing life and stories make up the inspirational memoir Tales of Wonder.


06/02/09--11:14: Author Q and A with Lisa See (chan 1907531)

From Lisa See, author of the bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls is a stunning new novel about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles. "[A]n accomplished and absorbing novel," cheers Publishers Weekly.


06/16/09--17:01: Author Q and A with Marie Brenner (chan 1907531)

Marie Brenner's Apples and Oranges asks a universal question: how can two people from the same family turn out so entirely differently? The New Yorker calls it an "elegiac memoir....At once comic and tinged with regret."


06/30/09--17:55: Author Q and A with Colum McCann (chan 1907531)

Award-winnining author Colum McCann's most ambitious work to date, Let the Great World Spin offers a dazzling and hauntingly rich vision of the loveliness, pain, and mystery of life in New York City in the 1970s. "[McCann] succeeds in giving us a high-wire performance of style and heart," praises Publishers Weekly.


06/30/09--19:03: Author Q and A with Adam Schell (chan 1907531)

In Adam Schell's extravagant, inventive debut novel, Tomato Rhapsody, love's heart beats tomato red under a sultry Tuscan sun. "Schell displays the finesse of a master chef as he spices up the story with a delicious array of humorous subplots — ranging from the bawdy to the sweet — guaranteed to appeal to discerning literary palates," praises Booklist.


06/30/09--19:23: Author Q and A with Janna Cawrse Esarey (chan 1907531)

The Motion of the Ocean is the humorous true story of Janna Cawrse Esarey who abandons her tidy life to honeymoon across the Pacific on a leaky, old boat, only to find that sailing 17,000 miles is easier than keeping her relationship off the rocks. "[A] funny, honest tale of how one woman found her Comfort zone — with the sea, with herself, and with the notion of happily ever after," cheers Michelle Goodman, author of "My So-Called Freelance Life."


07/15/09--14:55: Author Q and A with Margot Berwin (chan 1907531)

A rollicking debut novel about plant magic, spiritual discovery, and romantic fever in the jungles of Mexico, Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire follows a divorced advertising executive on an adventure she never meant to take in the Yucatan, alone, learning more than she ever wanted to know about the rain forest and herself.