Paul Clemens at Baldwin Library; Wednesday, February 1 at 7 pm

Detroit Author Paul Clemens will be at the Baldwin Public Library on February 1, 2012 at 7:00 pm speaking about his newest book, Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant. This is Clemens’ second book on Detroit, his first being Made in Detroit and it concerns the loss of manufacturing and the working class in Detroit and America.

From the New York Times,  “All this said, “Punching Out” is frequently rewarding. Mr. Clemens traces the colorful history of the Budd plant, which manufactured parts for a variety of car brands and which once employed nearly 10,000 people. He is a lovely, mournful observer of Detroit’s people.”

….read more here

Rock Legend Mitch Ryder signing at Book Beat on Sunday, Feb. 5th

Mitch Ryder, the legendary “unsung hero” of Michigan rock and roll will be presenting and signing his new autobiography Devils & Blue Dresses: My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend, at the Book Beat bookstore on Sunday, February 5th between 12:30 -2:30 PM. This is a rare opportunity to meet and hear Ryder speak about his life in a small and intimate setting. The Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield in Oak Park. This event is free and open to the general public. To reserve an autographed copy of Devils & Blue Dresses, you can order online or call (248) 968-1190 for more information.

Mitch Ryder’s autobiography goes well beyond typical eyewitness accounts of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll road stories. His account of rock stardom is one of the most lucid, original, darkly emotional and surreal in rock and roll. In 34 concise chapters, Ryder has penned a passionate and often experimental exposè, told in a distinctly introspective voice, a ‘long nights journey’ through the twisted alleyways of the music business and how his natural talent and notoriety was used and abused by himself and those around him.

…read more about Mitch Ryder’s Devils & Blue Dresses

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Coming on February 29th: Elmore Leonard Book Signing for Raylan at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial… details TBA

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Book Beat reading group selection for February

The Book Beat Reading Group  will meet February  29th  on leap year to discuss The Museum or Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel) - a book ahead of its time. Written during the 1930s and ’40s – the heyday of Argentine literary culture – Museum is in many ways an “anti-novel: It opens with more than fifty prologues – including ones addressed “To My Authorial Persona,” “To the Critics,” and “To Readers Who Will Perish If They Don’t Know What the Novel Is About” – that are by turns philosophical, outrageous, ponderous, and cryptic. The second half of the book is the novel itself, a story about a group of characters (some borrowed from other texts) who live on an estancia called “La Novelo”. Meetings are held at  the Goldfish Teahouse (117 W. Fourth, in downtown Royal Oak) at 7pm. Books are discounted 15% at Book Beat (26010 Greenfield Rd., Oak Park, MI). All are welcome!