Promotional Information

* Review and feature coverage * Reading copies available

About the Author

Mark Oliver Everett, lead singer with Eels, is one of the finest singer songwriters of his generation. This is his first book.

Reviews

"Everett is the Kurt Vonnegut of the rock world."--"Rolling Stone"

"One of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist."--Pete Townshend "It is, like the music of Eels, intellectual, wry and unflinching as it conveys complex emotions with simple, graceful language."--"Los Angeles Times ""Everett captures the drama of a suburban Virginia family bedeviled by illness, early death, and madness, and illustrates how such adversities shaped his striking music gifts--and now this pitch-perfect memoir."--"Elle "

"One of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist."--Pete Townshend
"A great big grin of a book, winced out through gritted teeth."--"Kirkus Reviews""How do you think it felt finding out that one of my favorite rock stars in history is also a better, funnier, and more touching writer than I am after 10 years at "Time" magazine?"--Joel Stein
"Readers will just be plain enraptured by the story of a gifted man barely surviving tragedy with only his talent to guide him."--Robert Leleux, author of "The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy
"
"You trust every word coming off the tips of Everett's fingers. His book is a subtle, touching thing."--"Sunday Times (UK)
""I kept telling myself, "This guy is the next Kurt Vonnegut!" "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" shares less with a rock memoir than it does with the likes of" The Corrections,"" Middlesex," and" The Ice Storm," It's unexpectedly uplifting."--"The Word""Crackling with a staccato rage, he comes clean about bad times, good times and finally getting to be a grown-up on his own terms."--"The Times (UK)""His unique sensibility is as apparent in his prose as in his music. Even those unfamiliar with, or indifferent to, Everett's work will still vicariously enjoy meeting him."--"The Independent (UK)"

Adult/High School-Everett, also known as E, front man for the alt-rock EELS, has written a compelling memoir in which it is easy to see the songwriter in the author. The songs often feature catchy melodies and lyrics that are variously dark, witty, or just quirky, while the book is a quick read, both funny and tragic, with a distinctive voice: honest, self-deprecating, wistful. The author tells a few stories from his youth-his first drum set, a humiliating teacher, his obsession with Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, a plane crash, his sullen teenage years. At 18, he discovered the dead body of his father, the quantum physicist Hugh Everett. Not long after, he headed for Los Angeles, where he worked a succession of nothing jobs while writing and recording songs on a four-track tape recorder. As he was gaining fame as an alternative rocker, tragedies continued to haunt him. His sister and mother died within months of one another, and friends and fellow musicians followed. Despite the title (also an EELS song), Everett has no children, much less grandchildren, but he says, "it only takes a second for your life to change in huge ways." Fans will certainly want to read this, but so will anyone interested in the music business or just in how one interesting guy lives life from day to day, trying to understand who he is and how he got there.-Sarah Flowers, Santa Clara County Library, CA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

"Everett is the Kurt Vonnegut of the rock world."--"Rolling Stone"

"One of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist."--Pete Townshend

"It is, like the music of Eels, intellectual, wry and unflinching as it conveys complex emotions with simple, graceful language."--"Los Angeles Times ""Everett captures the drama of a suburban Virginia family bedeviled by illness, early death, and madness, and illustrates how such adversities shaped his striking music gifts--and now this pitch-perfect memoir."--"Elle "

"One of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist."--Pete Townshend
"A great big grin of a book, winced out through gritted teeth."--"Kirkus Reviews""How do you think it felt finding out that one of my favorite rock stars in history is also a better, funnier, and more touching writer than I am after 10 years at "Time" magazine?"--Joel Stein
"Readers will just be plain enraptured by the story of a gifted man barely surviving tragedy with only his talent to guide him."--Robert Leleux, author of "The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy
"
"You trust every word coming off the tips of Everett's fingers. His book is a subtle, touching thing."--"Sunday Times (UK)
"

"I kept telling myself, "This guy is the next Kurt Vonnegut!" "Things the Grandchildren Should Know" shares less with a rock memoir than it does with the likes of" The Corrections,"" Middlesex," and" The Ice Storm," It's unexpectedly uplifting."--"The Word""Crackling with a staccato rage, he comes clean about bad times, good times and finally getting to be a grown-up on his own terms."--"The Times (UK)""His unique sensibility is as apparent in his prose as in his music. Even those unfamiliar with, or indifferent to, Everett's work will still vicariously enjoy meeting him."--"The Independent (UK)"