Join Oprah and her book club tomorrow when they discuss James Frey’s explosive raunchy memoir, A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey.
Frey, now in his 30s, began his downward slide into the hellhole of multiple addictions when he was 10 and stayed there until friends and family put his bloodied filthy body on a plane to Minnesota where he cleaned up at the renowed Hazelden Clinic.
Frey’s quirky disregard for conventional writing details (punctuation, capitalization, paragraph breaks) and his blisteringly honest self-examination of his messy scramble to sobriety, has earned him comparisons to Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. His rejection of the time-tested 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous has caused deep concern among those institutions and professionals trained to help addicts.
Frey’s unapologetic tale of survival offers plenty of provocative talking points.

If you enjoyed the film Secretary, adapted from a story by Mary Gaitskill of the same title, you will find much to like in her latest novel – Veronica, which has been short-listed for the National Book Award.

New York Times book review describes Veronica as ‘...a rumination on the relationship between beauty and cruelty”. Megan O’Rourke said it best – “Gaitskill's brand of brainy lyricism, of acid shot through with grace, is unlike anyone else's. And it constitutes some of the most incisive fiction writing around.”. Watch the NBA announcement on November 16th. I am betting on this one.

Rosa Parks, known as the mother of the civil rights movement in America, died last night in Detroit's East Side. She was 92 years old. Parks is best known for her refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, and was kicked off the bus. Her refusal started a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, which eventually ended in a Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation. Mrs. Parks moved to Detroit after the boycott, and has lived there until her death. Mrs. Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, which is the highest award given to a civilian.

A number of books have been written about this amazing woman, and her even more amazing life.

Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

You've seen the capital A inscribed in a circle, but what does anarchism really stand for? Check out some of these books and CDs in the library's collection to learn more about anarchism. For a historical perspective, try something about Emma Goldman or Peter Kropotkin, or most anything written by historian Paul Avrich. If you're interested in more contemporary anarchist thought and activism, try Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book or Corrinne Jacker's The Black Flag of Anarchy: Antistatism in the U.S. And if you'd like to listen to anarchist or other left-wing music, check out the following:

John T. Edge travels the country and food byways in these conflations of recipes, travelogue, social history, and food lore. Issued so far in this charming new series are Hamburgers and Fries : an American Story, Apple Pie : an American Story, and Fried Chicken : an American Story. Still to come is the volume on Donuts.

The award winning illustrator, E.B. Lewis brings this old negro spiritual to life with illustrations of a boy who spreads his own light by helping others.

Award winning author Walter Dean Myer’s new book, Autobiography of My Dead Brother, is a realistic, gritty, look at how even the smallest events and situations can have huge impacts. This book, which has already won the National Book Award for Young Adult Literature, combines elements of street lit, sketch book illustrations, and graphic novels, to create an accurate and compelling look into the lives of some of Harlem’s residents.
*Special Note – If you have read Adam Mansbach’s Angry Black White Boy, or met Mansbach at the Neutral Zone, check this book out! Different topics, same way of sticking with you days after you have finished.

Adele Griffin tells a compelling story about two sisters, Jane and Lily. In alternating chapters, from Jane's, then Lily's point of view, it gradually becomes clear that Jane is telling the story after her death in a car accident. Lilly is telling hers from the present. Jane had struggled most of her life with mental illness, often having difficulty separating the real from the unreal and only found solace with her loving grandparents. Lilly is attractive and popular but with her loss, tightens her grip on Caleb, her understanding boyfriend.

Just Like That is the eighth novel by award-winning author Marsha Qualey. Hanna, 18, is opinionated, independent, and finds refuge with her artistic talents. One night she happens upon a scene by a frozen lake that turns tragic and challenges her integrity and character. Hanna meets Will; there is a strong attraction. They realize they both have a connection to the tragedy on the lake. There's an interview with the author and interesting background to this book at her website http://www.marshaqualey.com/.

Five authors with previous appearances on the list return this week with their latest releases.

At #1 is The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly: taking a break from Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch, Connelly has created a new unforgetable character with this slightly shady lawyer who takes a case and finds himself quickly in over his head.

At #2 is Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts: an arson investigator finds herself threatened by a sociopath in the latest romantic thriller by this prolific author.