The Blessings of the Animals is a wry, engrossing and moving story of a veterinarian’s journey through the aftermath of divorce - amid a motley crew of animals. The book will be published on August 3, 2010.

Verterinarian Cami Anderson has hit a rough patch in her life. Shaken by her recent divorce, she is on a quest to unravel the secret to a happy, long-lasting marriage. Are today’s wedding vows realistic, practical and applicable? Or is the entire institution of marriage outdated and obsolete?

As Cami’s parents prepare to celebrate their 50th anniversary, her brother and his partner find themselves legally blocked from marriage. Her best friend and soon-to-be-ex-sister-in-law has become newly engaged, while her teenaged daughter’s romance begins to develop its own complications. And now Cami’s ex-husband and two other men are 
becoming tangled in her own post-marriage love life.

Surrounded by several couples approaching different milestones in their relationships, Cami reflects on the meanings of love and partnership, sharing her hopes and fears with the damaged and frightenend horse in her care.

Katrina Kittle is the author of Traveling Light, Two Truths and a Lie, and The Kindness of Strangers. She graduated with degrees in English and Education from Ohio University. Kittle helped found the All Children’s Theatre in Washington Twp., OH, and previously taught middle school English and theater. She has also worked as a veterinary assistant. After a year of traveling, she recently returned to Dayton to begin working on her fifth novel.

Join us for a meeting of our monthly Comic Book Discussion Group, exploring and investigating the publishing industry’s biggest boom medium – comics and graphic novels! This month’s selection is the complete collection of Bone by Jeff Smith. Each monthly suggestion is 20% off.

Schuler is pleased to welcome Katrina Kittle, author of The Kindness of Strangers, 2006 winner of the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction. Katrina’s newest novel, The Blessings of the Animals, is a wry, engrossing and moving story of a veterinarian’s journey through the aftermath of divorce—all amidst a motley crew of animals. It’s already earning rave reviews, including one from Water For Elephants author Sara Gruen, who called it a “beautifully crafted novel….A must-read not only for animal lovers, but for anyone who has found the courage to come back from heartbreak and find love again, without reservation, without fear.” Enter at the event to win our drawing for a grab-bag of reading group titles!

Calling all players. A group of people play American Mah Jongg every Thursday afternoon in the Okemos Schuler Books & Music store’s Café. The group invites all players to join them Thursdays at noon for lunch and 1:00pm (until about 3pm) to play American Mah Jongg in the Café. If you don’t know how to play but would like to learn the game, the group recommends reading A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg by Elaine Sandberg.

Come escape the heat and listen to the musical styling of Vocal Point. Enjoy dinner in our Chapbook Café, shop, or just relax and watch the live performance.

Katie Williams was born and raised in mid-Michigan and grew up coming into Schuler Books. She earned her BA in English from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her MFA in creative writing from the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin. She currently lives, writes, and teaches in San Francisco, CA. The Space Between Trees, is her first novel.

This story was supposed to be about Evie how she hasn't made a friend in years, how she tends to stretch the truth (especially about her so-called relationship with college drop-out Jonah Luks), and how she finally comes into her own once she learns to just be herself but it isn't. Because when her classmate Elizabeth "Zabet" McCabe's murdered body is found in the woods, everything changes and Evie's life is never the same again.

Please join us as we welcome Katie back to Schuler Books and celebrate her debut novel!

Learn more about the sport sweeping the nation... Barefoot Running! Join author/barefoot runner Jason Robillard as he discusses the benefits of barefoot running, where to run and his personal experiences/trials and trails through his book, Barefoot Running. David Asselin, owner of PT360 Physical Therapy will discuss training styles and health/balance benefits to running barefoot. Gazelle Sports will be on hand to showcase some of their unique footwear products.

Each 4 member team was given the same list (within each respective category) of 6 books on July 1st . The teams had from July 1st until their competition date to read the books. Each battle will consist of a quiz style competition pertaining to the books on the reading list. The teams with the quickest and most accurate answers will advance until only one team in each category remains. Each last team standing will not only win an enormous amount of pride, but they will be awarded some awesome prizes too! And don’t worry, second and third place teams will not walk away empty handed!

Come out to watch as our only registered kids team competes against an all star bookseller team. Can the kids team overcome these book experts?

Calling all players. A group of people play American Mah Jongg every Thursday afternoon in the Okemos Schuler Books & Music store’s Café. The group invites all players to join them Thursdays at noon for lunch and 1:00pm (until about 3pm) to play American Mah Jongg in the Café. If you don’t know how to play but would like to learn the game, the group recommends reading A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg by Elaine Sandberg.

The Girls’ Night Out author series is thrilled to present a talk and signing with New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey to celebrate his new flaming-hot stand-alone novel set in the world of conmen and thieves. Filled with seduction and deceit, Tempted By Trouble takes place in Detroit, presenting a provocative and gritty thriller with haunting parallels to today’s society.

Over 10 of Eric’s novels have been NYT bestsellers, and he has been regularly nominated for awards including the NAACP Image Award, Best Contemporary Fiction and Author of the Year (2006 African American Literary Award Show) and Storyteller of the Year at the 1st annual ESSENCE Literary Awards. Don’t miss out on this great event featuring our Girls’ Night Out Grab-bag Giveaway!

Each 4 member team was given the same list (within each respective category) of 6 books on July 1st . The teams had from July 1st until their competition date to read the books. Each battle will consist of a quiz style competition pertaining to the books on the reading list. The teams with the quickest and most accurate answers will advance until only one team in each category remains. Each last team standing will not only win an enormous amount of pride, but they will be awarded some awesome prizes too! And don’t worry, second and third place teams will not walk away empty handed!

Watch our five adult teams battle it out to see who has the booky brains to come out on top!

Calling all players. A group of people play American Mah Jongg every Thursday afternoon in the Okemos Schuler Books & Music store’s Café. The group invites all players to join them Thursdays at noon for lunch and 1:00pm (until about 3pm) to play American Mah Jongg in the Café. If you don’t know how to play but would like to learn the game, the group recommends reading A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg by Elaine Sandberg.

Regaling audiences with a blend of Pre-War American Stnadards and Old-Time Country tunes, The Kent County String Band features a mixture of up-tempo songs and ballads that hearken a bygone era. Their large repertoire is well suited for dining, dancing, and merry-making by people of all ages.

Join us for the Fanged Fiction book group, Schuler’s monthly horror reading group! This month we are reading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard. Each monthly selection is 20% off at both local Schuler locations.

Calling all players.  A group of people play American Mah Jongg every Thursday afternoon in the Okemos Schuler Books & Music store’s Café.  The group invites all players to join them Thursdays at noon for lunch and 1:00pm (until about 3pm) to play American Mah Jongg in the Café.  If you don’t know how to play but would like to learn the game, the group recommends reading A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg by Elaine Sandberg.

Scrabble club will meet in the studio when no events are scheduled.  All ages and all skill levels welcome.

Join us in the Chapbook Café on the first and third Thursday of each month for our Bananagrams night! Fans and novices alike are welcome to play the hot new word game that pits you in a timed race to see who can take their lettered tiles and most quickly create a crossword grid of connecting and intersecting words. For more information, visit www.bananagrams-intl.com/index-us.asp

West Michigan Christian Writers Group meets featuring guest speaker Annette Guysen.

Scrabble club will meet in the studio when no events are scheduled.  All ages and all skill levels welcome.

Who says obsession is a bad thing?! Badenya grew out an obsession with (primarily) African rhythms and has evolved into a percussion ensemble playing both traditional African rhythms and original material. 2010 has been a year of tremendous growth for us! With our members juggling several projects, we (successfully!) recruited additional talent. Andrea, Matt, Sean and Tim have given us extra horsepower and flexibility through their hard work, built on the foundation laid by Steven, Kelli, Lee and Deb.  Growing to 8 members has allowed us to add some exciting new music and venues!

Heather McElhatton’s addictive new choose-your-own-ending novel for adults, you can find out exactly what you’d do. Would you buy a mansion? Save an endangered species? Have a debauched weekend on Sex Island?

A follow-up to her bestselling debut, PRETTY LITTLE MISTAKES, MILLION LITTLE MISTAKES lets you indulge all your strange dreams and dark desires, taking you from the lap of luxury to the pits of despair depending on which road you travel. One beginning leads to over 50 different endings, which will surprise, shock, and delight readers as they hunt for happiness.

Woven into this wildly funny and unpredictable book is the deeper question, can money buy happiness? Twenty-two million dollars can buy a lot, but can it buy a happy ending? Will your fortune be lost in a Ponzi scheme? Will your luxury cruise be hijacked by South Seas pirates? Will your wildest fantasy bring you to new heights of pleasure or just to an STD clinic? Is your destiny to become a philanthropist, a pharmaceutical tycoon, a happy home maker or burlesque stripper?

About the Author: Heather McElhatton (MACKLE-hatton) is a writer and independent producer for Public Radio International. Her commentaries and stories have been heard nationally on This American Life, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money and The Savvy Traveler. She also produced the radio literary series Talking Volumes. Besides ongoing reporting and radio commentary, Heather appeared on Ira Glass’s very first episode of the television version of This American Life. Her debut novel was a choose-your-own-ending book for adults called Pretty Little Mistakes.

This group is open to the public.  Grab your axe and work through the writing process with other area songwriters.

Are you living the life you imagined? Is there anything you’d have done differently if you could? Those are the questions asked in Kristina Riggle’s unforgettable new novel.

In high school, Cami and Anna were as close as they could be...now, years later, both have returned to their hometown to face the people they had once left behind. Anna must confront her mother, still distraught over the abandonment of her husband, and come to terms with choices she had made years before. While Cami returns home to stay with her alcoholic father, she uncovers a secret he sought to keep which could change her life and salvage her future. They reconnect with their classmate, Amy, who can’t understand why achieving the thin body and handsome man of her dreams hasn’t given her the happily-ever-after she desired. This is a novel that digs deep and touches the heart of the issues so many women face-the quest for perfection, the hope of love, the value of family and importance of always striving for your dream.

Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, was praised by Publishers Weekly for its “humorous and humane storytelling” and by Booklist as “a moving and accomplished first novel.” 

Calling all players.  A group of people play American Mah Jongg every Thursday afternoon in the Okemos Schuler Books & Music store’s Café.  The group invites all players to join them Thursdays at noon for lunch and 1:00pm (until about 3pm) to play American Mah Jongg in the Café.  If you don’t know how to play but would like to learn the game, the group recommends reading A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg by Elaine Sandberg.

Greg Bliss currently cohosts the Smokin’ Spoken Word weekly show featured at The Eastown Hookah Lounge and Blaze’s Hookah Lounge on the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.  Before moving to Grand Rapids he was one of three founding members of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival in Jackson, Michigan.  After moving to Grand Rapids Greg served on the performance art committee at UICA for several years, co-founded the X-Performance Group, brainstormed the famous 24 Theatre sessions and has hosted many events and workshops at his Etage Bleu performance studios.  Currently, he is developing a series of video performances with Prose PC.  Over the course of the last ten years he has performed and competed across the nation including special performances in NYC, Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo.

Scrabble club will meet in the studio when no events are scheduled.  All ages and all skill levels welcome.

Join us for an exciting event that will explore an original approach to the climate change crisis which represents a call-to-action based on moral and spiritual premises. Moral Ground presents diverse viewpoints by writers from every walk of life, encompassing an engaging discussion with specific suggestions for personal action and a positive, hopeful, and forward-looking perspective on a divisive issue. With a forward written by Desmond Tutu, Moral Ground appeals to the sense of ethical values and moral responsibility that every human has to take care of the planet, for other species, for ourselves, and for future generations. Editor Michael Nelson, a professor of environmental ethics at Michigan State University – along with a number of his colleagues – will read from the book’s essays, written by over 80 visionaries, including the Dalai Lama, Thomas L. Friedman, John Paul II, Barbara Kingsolver and Barack Obama.