Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield, Oak Park, MI 48237. Phone: 248-968-1190, store hours: Mon-Fri 10 AM-9 PM, Sat 10 AM-7 PM, Sun 12-5 PM
Vist our online store at: THEBOOKBEAT.COM We have a fine selection of quality recommended new titles, plus thousands of rare and out-of-print titles and curiosities in over one hundred cataloges. Our book discussion groups, meet monthly during the last Wednesday of the month at Gayles Chocolates in Royal Oak. The "chums of chance" Pynchon group is reading Against the Day for the next 6-8 months, meetings are on weekday evenings. Please check out our complete events schedule at thebookbeat.com News & Events page or give us a call at 248-968-1190.
Visit our occasional and irreverent BACKROOM BLOG , you'll find reviews, rants, trivia, happenings, comments, and cultural events of obscure and limited interest. Leave us your comments, participate in discussions: get reading! get happy/or angry!
Author & Artist Signings: The Book Beat hosts many award winning author, illustrator and artist book signings. Some of these have been Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, National Book Award & Pulitzer Prize winning authors. If you'd like to be added to our email list and receive store news, special sales and future event notices, please send an email to: [email protected] --and write "subscribe to newsletter" in the subject section.
Some of our past events included these authors, illustrators and artists: Immaculee Illabagiza, Diane Wilson, Anne Rice, Linda Sue Park, Terry McMillan, John Agee, Brian Jacques, Tomie dePaola, Jonathan Safron Foer, Ultra Violet, Steven Kellogg, Ira Cohen, Christopher Paul Curtis, Chris Van Allsburg, Connie Briscoe, Lowis Lowry, Walter Dean Myers, Charles Johnson, Robert Sabuda, J. California Cooper, Jeffrey Eugenides, Kate DiCamillo, Paul O. Zelinsky, Valeri Wilson Wesley, Mark Leyner, David Almond, AVI, Will Clay, Jacqueline Woodson, Nikki Giovanni, David Kirk, E. Lynn Harris, Lynne Rae Perkins, Jerry Pinkney, Billy Name, Darlene Love, Floyd Cooper, Diane & Leo Dillon, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, David Macaulay, Eric Jerome Dickey, Jane Breskin Zalben, David Wiesner, Blue Balliet, Bernard Waber, Joel Peter-Witkin, Eloise Greenfield, Faith Ringgold, Robert D. San Souci, Demi, John Waters, Michael Hague, Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Destroy All Monsters, Mary Grand Pre, Eric A. Kimmel, Uri Shulevitz, Bill Ayers, Marcus Pfister, David Small, Sarah Stewart, Joan Blos, Jan Brett, Chris Rashka, Joseph Bruchac, Faith Ringgold, Faye Moskowitz, Rafe Martin, Gary D. Schmidt, Joseph Coulson, K.M. Grant, David Almond, Sonic Youth (Lee Renaldo & Thurston Moore), J. David Riva, Edward Hirsch, Laurie Halse Anderson,
Some of our local author & artist signings have included: Tracy Gallup, Matt Faulkner, Gloria Whelan, Ann Tomperts, Herbert Wong Yee, Tom Pohrt, Kathe Koja, Jim Gallert, Dan Gerogakas, Wendy Anderson Halperin, Devin Scillian, Lisa Wheeler, Rhonda Gowler Greene, Amy Goldman Koss, Lynn Cazabon, Marcy Heller Fisher, Nancy Shaw, Shutta Crum, Chris & George Tysh, Sandy Schrier, Tom Carey, James Semark, Jimbo Easter, John Sinclair, Pun Plamondon, Terry Blackhawk, Naomi Madgett Long, Vievee Francis, Leni Sinclair, Bill Rauhauser.
Book Beat Gallery one person & group show exhibitions: Lynn Cazabon, James Van Der Zee, Harry Bertoia (Monoprints & Sound Sculptures), Ray Johnson (live performances), Leni Sinclair: Rock & Revolution, Jeffrey Silverthorne (four one person shows), Jim Shaw: Dream Drawings, Destroy All Monsters: band archives, Weegee, Jazz Portraits of William Gottlieb, Margaret Bourke White: Russia 1940s, Vintage 19th Century Egypt, Italian Landscapes of Mario Giacomelli, Bernice Abbott: Portraits of the 1920s, Marilyn Monroe, Bruce of Los Angeles (male nudes), Suda House, Women Photograph Mythology, The End is Here (Apocalyptic Art), Photographs of the Harlem Renaissance, Nina Glaser, Femme Fatales, Harvey Ferdschnider, SKID & NYC Klub Kidz, Detroit Images (group show/book signing), Carol Wald: Collages, Boblo Island Revisited, Vienna Aktionism of Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Wormhole, New Pictoralism, Alfred Steiglitz & Cameraworks, Frantisek Drtikol & Czech Modernism, Lost Hollywood (film stills), Day of the Dead Mail Art, Conspiracy Theory (group show), Lost Pictoralism, Haitian Voudou: Flags, Altars & Rituals, Haitian Photos by Tequila Minsky, Contemporary Czech Photography, Lynne Rae Perkins & Herbert Wong Yee: Book Illustration, Tracy Gallup's Beastly Banquet & King Cat, Detroit Revisited, David Griffith, YongSheng Xuan, Jamie Easter & Tom Carey, Davin Brainard, Daniel Clowes, Billy Name (Warhol Factory Fotos & Film Stills),
Reviews about Book Beat:
"In pace it's akin to a corner bookseller in London, a mood that encorages lingering among the artworks and greeting cards -- art books and children's literature are specialties." --Hour Detroit
"Specializing in quality literature, children's books and photography books, the Book Beat in Oak Park is the antithesis of the larger chain bookstore....The store also carries a variety of merchandise, such as handbags featuring a picture of artist Frida Kahlo, skeletons created in honor of El DÃa de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), origami paper and African and Asian art... In the children's section of the store are rows of books as well as a wall of large picture books, many of which are autographed by authors who may have visited the store or appeared at an event hosted by the store. "We work hard to connect with our customers... we want to make a contribution to the community," Kammer said. --Melanie D. Scott, Oak Park's Book Beat is more than a bookstore The Detroit Free Press
"Book Beat shelves offer plenty of whimsy to offset any aura of elitism: Micky Mouse flip books, sidewalk chalk, comic books, a micro-movie viewer,and a rubber stamp collection that would be the envy of anyone interested in serious mail art..." --Rebecca Powers "Oak Park's Book Beat is a picture perfect spot to browse", The Detroit News, April 12, 1990.
"a fascinating hodge-podge of old and new books stuffed in narrow aisles, obscure magazines, primitive sculptures, frieghtening African masks, handmade musical instruments... Together Loren and his wife Colleen Kammer, have built the Book Beat into a Metro Detroit institution by offering knowledge, service, and an emphasis on subjects such as art, photography and children's literature.... as an independent bookstore, the Book Beat belongs to a shrinking breed..." -- Joy Colby,"Quite a Novel Guy" The Detroit News
"There's one thing you can say about Book Beat -- the people here really know books." -- Cathy Nelson, The Daily Tribune
"...one of metro Detroit's last remaining -- and certainly one of the most irreplaceable --independent bookstores... Open since 1982, its the kind of cozy place you can get lost in for hours, browsing through stacks of unusual titles, from poetry and art books to graphic novels and bizarro cult classics. The children's section is so outstanding it could spark even the most stale grown-up imagination. The stuffed-to-the-rafters shop also serves as an artistic meeting place, hosting regular readings and literary events." -- Christina Kallery, Beatific DIY: craft, sass and vintige lingerie at Book Beat , The Metro Times
Book Beat Scrapbook: click on a page to move it. ..
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