Fireside Books

Information may not be reliable

Fireside Books

Make the world give you time to read the books you love.

To Our Customers:
For the last nine years, you've made it possible for us to serve the Valley as a great place to browse, discuss, and buy from our wide, eclectic selection of new and used books
We want to say THANKS! So please join us for our "Customer Appreciation Days" celebration Nov. 18-20.
We'll have treats, specials, and prizes.

And on Saturday, Nov. 20 we'll have the Blues! The Valley's Blues Phenomenon, Forest Wilson, will be here to serenade our customers at noon.
(By the way, Forest is a fantastic guitar teacher. Find out how you or your kids could learn from the master at the Czar of Guitars shop just down the street from us.)

However you feel about this week's election, we're here to remind you that civilization will survive

as long as people continue to care about their neighbors in the broadest sense of the word;
as long as people continue to listen with just as much care and attention as they speak;
as long as people continue to celebrate the skeptics who ask the difficult questions;
as long as people continue to celebrate the faithful who nevertheless maintain an open mind;
as long as people continue to remember that the well-informed retail clerk has just as much authority as the well-informed billionaire; and
as long as people remember that an uninformed talking-head has less authority than either of them; and
as long as people continue to read and talk about good books.

Rise to the occasion. Make the world a better place. Read. Think. Talk to each other.

Of course, you already knew that, but here's affirmation from Psychology Today Magazine.

A study at the Journal of Research in Personality showed that frequent readers of narrative fiction scored higher on tests of empathy and social acumen than did readers of expository nonfiction. A follow-up study showed that fiction could actually hone these skills

Graveyard of Dreams: Dashed Hopes and Shattered Aspirations Along Alaska's Iditarod Trail

Craig Medred celebrates the mushers at the back of the pack, who give everything they've got to compete in the world's most grueling sport event. We have lots of copies on hand!

Graveyard of Dreams: Dashed Hopes and Shattered Aspirations Along Alaska's Iditarod Trail (Paperback)

As reported in Publisher's Weekly, Fireside Books employee Eowyn Ivey just landed a book deal with an imprint of Little Brown. Her book, "The Snow Child" is scheduled to appear on the shelves in November, 2011.

The world pushes. The world screams. Smart Phones. YouTube. Wii. Work. The Children. This page is here to remind you that what you really love to do is to read, to sit alone with a book, by the fireplace or on the sofa or on the bed, to sit quietly, with your own mind, your own thoughts, and read -- a story, a novel, an essay. The world pushes. You have to push back. Say it now: Go Away. I'm reading!

Way back in the later part of the 20th Century, David Cheezem and Melissa Behnke decided they wanted to open a bookstore. Both husband and wife were and are avid readers. Melissa's mother Peggy helped grow the small Wasilla library, and she grew up in a family of readers. David had just completed his Masters in Fine Arts degree in creative writing, and felt that his fellow writers deserved a place where good writing was honored and celebrated.

They found the perfect location for a bookstore in Palmer -- the small agricultural town in Alaska with a rich history and cultural heritage.

In 2001 David and Melissa discovered an empty storefront within a stone's throw of Vagabond Blues, their favorite Alaskan coffee-shop. It was the perfect location for a bookstore.

We love visionaries at Fireside Books. We love the ideas that seem to cut across the surface battles that take up so much of our time and attention -- and that delve into new ideas, new technologies, new solutions in creative and intelligent ways.
So how about this: a book about skyscraper farms? Here's a book that explores the innovative possibilities for hope -- farms closer to urban centers, reduced transportaion costs, fresher food and healthier food.
We're keep carrying books like these, because that's our job -- get the conversation started!

The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century (Hardcover)

Imagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm.
When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought "up. "Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations.
Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities.
Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner. Possibly the most important aspect of vertical farms is that they can built by nations with little or no arable land, transforming nations which are currently unable to farm into top food producers. In the tradition of the bestselling "The World Without Us," "The Vertical Farm "is a completely original landmark work destined to become an instant classic

If you haven't discovered Jo-Ann Mapson yet, you're in for the finest of treatsher books will move you from out-loud laughter to bittersweet tears.Jodi Picoult

Solomon's Oak is the story of three people who have suffered losses that changed their lives forever.

Glory Solomon, a young widow, holds tight to her memories while she struggles to hold on to her Central California farm. She makes ends meet by hosting weddings in the chapel her husband had built under their two-hundred-year-old white oak tree, known locally as Solomon's Oak. Fourteen-year-old Juniper McGuire is the lone survivor of a family decimated by her sister's disappearance. She arrives on Glory's doorstep, pierced, tattooed, angry, and homeless. When Glory's husband Dan was alive, they took in foster children, but Juniper may be more than she can handle alone. Joseph Vigil is a former Albuquerque police officer and crime lab photographer who was shot during a meth lab bust that took the life of his best friend. Now disabled and in constant pain, he arrives in California to fulfill his dream of photographing the state's giant trees, including Solomon's Oak.
In Jo-Ann Mapson's deeply felt, wise, and gritty novel, these three broken souls will find in each other an unexpected comfort, the bond of friendship, and a second chance to see the miracles of everyday life.

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance (Hardcover)

After recent events, some people might feel the need for a dose of accuracy.

Who is this guy and why are people listening?
Forget Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean HannityGlenn Beck is the rights new media darling and the unofficial leader of the conservative grassroots. Lampooned by the left and lionized by the far right, his bluster-and-tears brand of political commentary has commandeered attention on both sides of the aisle.
Glenn Beck has emerged over the last decade as a unique and bizarre conservative icon for the new century. He fantasizes aloud about killing his political opponents and encourages his listeners to embrace a cynical paranoia that slides easily into a fantasyland filled with enemies that do not exist, and solutions that are incoherent, at best. Since the election of Barack Obama, Becks bombastic, conspiratorial, and often viciously personal approach to political combat has made him one of the most controversial figures in the history of American broadcasting.
In Common Nonsense, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik explores Beck's strange brew of ratings lust, boundless ego, conspiratorial hard-right politics, and gimmicky morning-radio entertainment chops.

Separates the facts from the fiction, following Beck from his troubled childhood to his recent rise to the top of the conservative media heap
Zaitchik's recent three-part series in Salon caused so much buzz, Beck felt the need to attack it on his show
Based on Zaitchik's interviews with former Beck coworkers and review of countless Beck writings and television and radio shows
Examines Beck's high-profile obsessions (Acorn and Van Jones) as well as his lesser-known influences (obscure Mormon radicals like Cleon Skousen.)
Zaitchik's writing has appeared in the New Republic, the Nation, Salon, Wired, the New York Times, and Alternet

Beck, a perverse and high-impact media spectacle, has emerged as a leader in a conservative protest movement that raises troubling questions about the health of American democracy.

This feature require that you enable JavaScript in your browser.