SORE WINNERS: American Idols, Patriotic Shoppers, and Other Strange Species in George Bush’s America | By John Powers | Anchor | 416 pages | $14 paperbackNewly released this month is the paperpack edition of L.A. Weekly columnist
John Powers’ jab at the bloated underbelly of “Bushworld,” an informed, humorous
and critical assault on both pilfering politicians and their portrayal in the
media.

TRANSLATION NATION | By Hector Tobar | Riverhead Books | 320 pages | $25 hardcover
Pulitzer Prize–winner Hector Tobar marks the established American landscape as a malleable plateau for the exponentially burgeoning Latin American population. The novelist (The Tattooed Soldier) and former Weekly staffer documents an evolving Americanismo: a dialogue of culture, customs and citizenship that questions the concept of what it is be an American when, by the middle of the 21st century, a quarter of the nation will be of Latino descent.

GENTLE’S HOLLER | By Kerry Madden | Viking Juvenile | 237 pages | $17 hardcover
Silver Lake author Madden brings uncommon depth to the characters in this young-adult novel set in the Maggie Valley of Tennessee. Young Livy Two Weems (the first Livy died) transcends her poor Gentle’s Holler family through music, love and an inner spark that ought to make her a star — in and out of this book, the first in a series from Viking. PG-rated movie, anyone?

WHORES: AN ORAL BIOGRAPHY OF PERRY FARRELL AND JANE’S ADDICTION | By Brendan
Mullen | Da Capo Press | 324 pages | $26 hardcover
Brendan Mullen, expat Scot drummer, DJ, author, club booker and founder of the L.A. punk venue the Masque, documents these musical icons’ addictions as well as their pop-cultural rise, fall and de rigueur resurrection.

A VOICE FROM BELOW | By Ben Quiñones | Circle 1 Press | 71 pages | $5 paperback
This collection of poetry by the Weekly’s Quiñones blends urban issues
with a political voice, portraying East Los with a vivid intensity reminiscent
of the late Tupac Shakur. Available via benq90242@yahoo.com.

PERMANENT MIDNIGHT | By Jerry Stahl | Process | 371 pages | $17 paperback

I, FATTY | By Jerry Stahl | Bloomsbury Publishing | 277 pages | $15 paperback
Stahl’s memorable memoir of his own personal drug war is back on the streets from nascent L.A. publishing house Process, while Bloomsbury releases the paperback version of his latest novel, which traces Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s (mis)steps through the evolving Hollywood landscape.

PARCHED | By Heather King | Chamberlain Bros. | 288 pages | $20 hardcover
A memoir with a hefty chaser of humor and redemption before last call, Parched follows King’s descent into alcoholism, her rescue by a supportive family and her saving grace: a recognition and understanding of the past and the self.

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STORIES FROM THE ALTERNATIVE PRESS
| Edited by Nancy Armstrong | Chamberlain Bros. | 368 pages | $15 paperback
Ben Ehrenreich leads off this anthology with “Hobohemians,” a 2002 L.A. Weekly
cover story (www.laweekly.com/ink/02/36/features-ehrenreich.php).
Also included are pieces by O.C. Weekly’s R. Scott Moxley, Jennifer Gonnerman
of The Village Voice and The Stranger’s Dan Savage.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.