Skylight Books Podcast Series

Bream Gives Me Hiccups (Grove/Atlantic) Jesse Eisenberg is known for acclaimed acting roles in The Social Network, The Squid and the Whale, and other films, but his writing talents are no less impressive. His short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s and in the New Yorker and he is the author of three plays, including The Revisionist, which starred Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave. Now in his whip-...

Finale: The Reagan Years (Pantheon Books) From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate,  comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times.  Finale takes readers to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986; the wealthiest enclaves of southern California; and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the presid...

Oh the Moon (Harper Perennial) From actress, comedian, musician, and writer Charlyne Yi comes this collection of illustrated, interconnected short stories and anecdotes that blends comedy, fantastic adventures, and a storm of feelings that will make you want to laugh and cry at the same time reminiscent of the works of Demetri Martin, Shel Silverstein and John Cassavetes. Charlyne Yi takes readers...

There Is No Right Way to Meditate (Adams Media Corporation) In There Is No Right Way to Meditate, award-winning artist Yumi Sakugawa helps you tap into your inner self and finally find the peace that you've been seeking. Each page offers a unique perspective on how to lead a more mindful life, with captivating ink illustrations and encouraging words like, "it's okay if the only thing you did today...

Rookie Yearbook Four (Razorbill) Rookie  is an online magazine for teenage girls with monthly-themed content that includes life lessons, diary entries, DIY projects, playlists and interviews with cultural icons like Mindy Kaling, Shailene Woodley, Laverne Cox, Lena Dunham, Morrissey, FKA Twigs, and Sofia Coppola. NOTE: As with all Skylight Books in-store events, this reading is free and open to th...

Talk (New York Review of Books) Friendships are built on chatter, on gossip, on revelations—on talk. Over the course of the summer of 1965, Linda Rosenkrantz taped conversations between three friends (two straight, one gay) on the cusp of thirty vacationing at the beach: Emily, an actor; Vince, a painter; and Marsha, a writer. The result was Talk, a novel in dialogue. The friends are ambitious, co...

I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 (Ecco Press) Eileen’s poetry and fiction is known for its blend of reality and fiction, the sublime and the ephemeral, in which Myles not only lets her readers peer into existent places—notably the East Village, where she lives—but also lifts them into dreams, imbuing the landscapes of her writing with the vividness and energy of fantasy. I...

Essential Horror Movies: Matinee Monsters to Cult Classics (Rizzoli International) “Do you like scary movies?” If your answer is yes, and you are ready to come face-to-face with some of the most terrifying vampires, werewolves, ghouls, zombies, psychos (and other creatures that go bump in the night), you will want to check out Michael Mallory’s Essential Horror Movies: Matinee Monsters to Cult Cla...

The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed (Abrams Books) JUST ANNOUNCED: Former editor for Grantland, Chris Ryan will be joining the panel this evening. The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song From Every Year Since 1979, Discussed, Debated, and Deconstructed takes readers on a journey that begins in 1979, widely regarded...

Scrapper (Soho Press) In Scrapper, Kelly scavenges for scrap metal from the hundred thousand abandoned buildings in a part of Detroit known as “the zone,” an increasingly wild landscape where one day he finds something far more valuable than the copper he’s come to steal: a kidnapped boy, crying out for rescue. Briefly celebrated as a hero, Kelly secretly takes on the responsibility of avenging th...

Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles (University of California Press) In Sidewalking, David L. Ulin offers a compelling inquiry into the evolving landscape of Los Angeles. Part personal narrative, part investigation of the city as both idea and environment, Sidewalking is many things: a discussion of Los Angeles as urban space, a history of the city’s built environment, a meditation on th...

Moon Death Valley National Park (Avalon Publishing)  Los Angeles resident Jenna Blough reveals the must-see sights and best-kept secrets of Death Valley National Park, from the popular Amargosa Range to the remote expanses of the Saline and Eureka Valleys. Blough offers handpicked suggestions for experiencing the full diversity of Death Valley including “Best Hikes,” “Best Scenic Four-Wheel Drives...

I Can Give You Anything But Love (Rizzoli ExLibris)  The long-awaited memoir from one of the most acclaimed radical writers in American literature. Described by the London Review of Books as one of the most brilliant critics writing in America today, Gary Indiana is a true radical whose caustic voice has by turns haunted and influenced the literary and artistic establishments.  With I Can Give You...

The Mark and the Void (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) Presented in partnership with The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Mark and the Void is Murray's newest and funniest novel yet. What links the Investment Bank of Torabundo,  www.myhotswaitress.com  (yes, with an "s," don't ask), an art heist, a novel called For the Love of a Clown, a six-year-old boy with the unfortunate name of Remington Steele, a lo...

Tender Points (Timeless/Infinite Light)                                                 The Argonauts (Graywolf Press) Tender Points is a narrative fractured by trauma. Named after the diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia, the book-length lyric essay explores sexual violence, gendered illness, chronic pain, and patriarchy through the lenses of lived experience and pop culture (Twin Peaks, Teenage...

The Other Paris (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) A trip through Paris as it will never be again--dark and dank and poor and slapdash and truly bohemian. Paris, the City of Light. The city of the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, of soft cheese and fresh baguettes. Or so tourist brochures would have you believe. In The Other Paris, Luc Sante reveals the city's hidden past, its seamy underside--one populated...

Reconsolidation: Or, it’s the ghosts who will answer you (Penny Ante Editions) Memory assists perception, grounding our understanding of those around us and those who have left their traces through time – but how reliable is memory really? Memory is malleable, shaped and shifted through consolidation and reconsolidation. Consolidation is the neurological process that stores memories after an event...

Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Beyond Baroque Books) Join us for a special evening with four poets from one of our favorite local publishers. "What is this aesthetic? I’d call it offhand if that didn’t sound dismissive. Perhaps a better word is “self-aware.” This is how Lummis refers to it in her introduction, which cites, as emblematic, Florence Weinberger’s “The Light Gatherers,” w...

Infinite Home (Harper Collins) A beautifully wrought story of an ad hoc family and the crisis they must overcome together.  Edith is a widowed landlady who rents apartments in her Brooklyn brownstone to an unlikely collection of humans, all deeply in need of shelter. Crippled in various ways--in spirit, in mind, in body, in heart--the renters struggle to navigate daily existence, and soon come to...

Undermajordomo Minor (Ecco Press)  Patrick deWitt was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his last novel, The Sisters Brothers. Now, this brilliantly inventive writer takes readers in a new direction with Undermajordomo Minor a folktale re-imagined in a wholly original way—at once adventure, mystery, searing portrait of bad behavior and, above all, violent love story.  Lucien (Lucy) Minor, is...

The New Middle (Strebor Books)  As the 2012 presidential election is underway, five baby-boomers face the randomness of fate while navigating through the fast-paced life of 21st century culture, in this compelling, contemporary tale that illuminates the joys and woes of midlife. The parents of two lovely teenage daughters, Dianne and Torrick feel blessed and secure. But behind the facade of their...

The Suicide of Claire Bishop (Dzanc Books) A Greenwich Village housewife and a present-day schizophrenic find their fates inextricably linked by a mysterious painting as they both battle issues with family, mental illness, love, and the true nature of reality... Greenwich Village, 1959. Claire Bishop sits for a portrait—a gift from her husband—only to discover that what the artist has actually dep...

Chameleo: A Strange But True Story of Invisible Spies, Heroin Addiction and Homeland Security (O/R Books)  A mesmerizing mix of Charles Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, and Philip K. Dick, Chameleo is a true account of what happened in a seedy Southern California town when an enthusiastic and unrepentant heroin addict named Dion Fuller sheltered a U.S. Marine who’d stolen night vision goggles and per...

Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men (New York University Press)  A straight white girl can kiss a girl, like it, and still call herself straight—her boyfriend may even encourage her. But can straight white guys experience the same easy sexual fluidity, or would kissing a guy just mean that they are really gay? Not Gay thrusts deep into a world where straight guy-on-guy action is not a myth but...

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure (Disney Lucasfilm Press)  Join us today for a special Star Wars celebration! Show off your best Wookie roar! Compete in Star Wars trivia! And much much more! Costumes are encouraged!  Princess Leia returns for an all-new adventure in this thrilling upper middle grade novel. Set between Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Ba...