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Open for Shipped Orders!
Our physical store is closed, but you can still get many books shipped to you directly from our warehouse. Here's how:
1. Only order titles with an inventory status of "Available at the Warehouse"
2. Select the "
UPS/USPS Ground Shipping"
option
3. Pay with a credit card
We are happy to fulfill other orders, but will not be able to process them until at least May 4. Other options: try
Indiebound.org
or
Bookshop.org
- keep it indie!
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“Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures anyone can have.
”
–
Lloyd Alexander
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These past few weeks, I've found myself reading a lot of books I wouldn't normally read. Part of it, of
course, is that with my whole life shifted inside my house, the shape of my free time has changed, and a
lot of it can now be devoted to reading all those books in my to be read pile, so the sheer volume of
reading material is higher. Part of it, a big part, is that I've had friends in lockdown reach out to each
other in search of fun long-distance group activities, and one of the most popular is the virtual book
of these at the same time, and yes, it's a fun and weird experience.)
There are so many ways to do a virtual book club. Maybe you have housemates with different reading
preferences than yours -- now is exactly the time for you to exchange books and see where your taste in
stories intersects! My pre-COVID book club used to meet monthly on Skype; we're biweekly now, and
it's so nice to see their faces, so if you're craving some variety of human contact (or any human contact
at all, if you live alone) Skype is a great way to go. The historical fiction book club was set up by a Twitter
friend, and we're hanging out on a Discord server, texting at each other as we read. Reach out to your
literary Twitter buddies, and see if anyone has been waiting until just the right time to read that book
they've been meaning to read for ages. That time is now!
It's wonderful to know, in these bizarre times, that stories still have the power to take us somewhere
else, to reveal something new, and to help us keep in touch with one another. Reach out to your friends
and talk with them about your favorite stories. I promise your week will be brighter for it.
Yours in books,
Ari @ PSB
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We'll be taking the day off tomorrow (4/12) so there will be no Shelf Stable and no social media from us for the day. One of the hardest things for all of us to remember is that we can take our time. As important as books are, they're not, you know, human organs. The words don't disappear if the book arrives a couple days later than expected and, well you all know that. All of our customers and community have been 100% understanding as we struggle to maintain the level of customer service we expect from ourselves. So this paragraph is really more a reminder to us that we can and should take the breaks we need.
In thinking about what the world will look like when we can go out again, how we can change "normal" so it's better than it was, I wonder if there is value in the patience we're all learning. A lot of things become easier and cheaper if we change our perspective from "Absolutely as fast as possible" to "Reasonably fast, I mean, imagine if you told someone in, I don't know, 1910 they could get pretty much any book they want in a few days during a pandemic!" And they certainly become greener. Something for us to think about on our day off.
We'll "see" you all again on Monday!
-Josh
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Featured Staff Pick for Adults
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The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
Imagine keeping a secret when everyone could be an informant, and every room could be bugged. A page turner and a nail-biter if there ever was one.
--John
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Can a Memoir Be Magical Realism?
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"Small Fry
, a memoir written by Lisa Brenna-Jobs, is one of the most melancholy, tender, and mesmerizing books that I’ve come across in the past few years. The writing evokes a mystical yet familiar feeling—which is a surprise since the memoir centers on a very specific experience: Lisa’s strained relationship with an absent father, Steve Jobs."
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A Book for Troubled Times: I Hotel
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Josh is a huge fan of
I Hotel
by Karen Tei Yamashita in general, but believes it has a special power and importance in our current troubled times. Set during the tumultuous decade from 1968-1978,
I Hotel
offers a possible way forward by making its hero, not a character in the store, but the idea of community. Learn more about the book and hear Josh read a passage from the beginning.
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Or Perhaps You'd Like to See a Professional Performance
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The Globe Theater is putting a number of their performances online for free, including this performance of Hamlet.
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Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
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For all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
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Virtual Bookseller
Looking to get some good book recommendations, personalized
just for you?
Check out our Virtual Bookseller! Just fill out the form with your likes and dislikes, genres and favorites, and we'll crowdsource a bunch of great picks for you with our crack team of
real life
booksellers. Give it a whirl!
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Preorders are a great way to support PSB while we're not able to actually be at the store for two reasons:
- They bring in income now while the store is closed.
- We can deal with them later!
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You can see all of the books from the future we're excited about here.
But you can preorder more than just what we're excited for. Any book with an inventory status (who knew you'd have to get to know our online inventory statuses so well) of "Coming Soon--Available for Pre-Order Now" or "On the Horizon--Available for Pre-Order Now," is, uh, available for preorder now.
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Miss one of our bedtime stories? Or one of the tours of our libraries in the epic YouTube series PSB: Cribs? Good news! We've made playlists on YouTube so you can catch up on all of them.
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Are you missing out on our recommendations, pining for our Staff Pick display?? Our April crop of staff picks is now live on our website! We'll feature titles throughout the month, but you can browse the full list at the link below. As ever, all staff picks are 20% off - so go crazy!
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Right before non-essential businesses closed, I went to Gather Here in Cambridge and purchased a sweater’s worth of sunshiny yellow, deliciously soft cotton yarn that I’d been hankering after (pun intended). Over the past few weeks I’ve found that knitting is one of the few things I can focus on. During the good days I can read, but even on the bad days I can knit. I’m sure psychology says it’s about doing something with your hands, or the result of seeing a finished product, that makes it so therapeutic. For me it’s mindless. I can let my thoughts wander, or feel like I’m accomplishing something while binge watching a show. I also like to knit while I listen to audiobooks, and I’ve been especially enjoying
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel from Libro.fm.
Knitting and reading at the same time = two birds, one stone.
It’s also sheep shearing season! (My new favorite Instagram account, @jugglingdaisies, was sharing videos of shearing their sheep and goats last week. Follow immediately if you need to see some adorable + happy farm animals). One of the books I can’t stop recommending is
Vanishing Fleece
by Clara Parkes. It’s a fascinating and fun account of how wool goes from sheep to finished product, and the wool industry in America. If I were going to put a book in someone’s Easter basket, it would be this one!
Need some knitting pattern inspo? Here’s a few books I love.
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Doesn’t look like much yet, but this is the start of my sweater! Pattern is the Weekender Sweater designed by Andrea Mowry.
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Summer is coming which means so is linen season! I knit this cropped linen tee a few years ago and I still wear it all the time. Pattern is the Zara by Dianna Walla.
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Scarves/shawls/wraps are always handy, and who doesn’t need to wrap up in something comforting right now? Pattern is Paris Toujours by Isabell Kraemer. --
Heather
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We're not the only ones reading bedtime stories online. Here are some of our favorites:
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We'll be back on Monday at our Instagram story at 8:45pm for a live bedtime story with Leila!
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Support Cafe Zing baristas!
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Although Cafe Zing is its own business separate from ours, we really don't see it that way: Zing workers are part of the Porter Square Books family. They keep us well supplied - very well supplied - with caffeine, kindness, and some great tunes. Sometimes they give us staff picks; sometimes we give them exact change because we've bought the same, perfect, comforting, delicious beverage twice a day five days a week for how long, now?
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Featured Staff Pick For Kids
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Sunny by Celia Krampien
A colorful, silly story about a girl who makes the best of everything. A good story for looking on the bright side of things.
--Stacey
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We Want to Hear from You!
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What's the 1st thing you look at after picking up a book?
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Look for blurbs from authors I like
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Flip it over for the summary on the back
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Open it for the description on flap
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Start reading from the beginning
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Start reading someplace random.
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Deacon King Kong by James McBride
“Deacon King Kong is a quintessential New York story. Set in the Brooklyn projects in 1969, a perpetually inebriated deacon called Sportcoat aims a gun at the neighborhood’s main drug dealer in the public plaza and pulls the trigger. Incredibly well-constructed and hilarious at times, McBride’s story entwines a number of storylines that are kickstarted by this central event. The local Italian gangster, the veteran cop, the meddling churchgoers, and the drug pushers all have their own agendas, hopes, and dreams that are affected. And though Sportcoat doesn’t remember his actions and is always under the influence of gut-rot moonshine, I couldn’t help but root for him as I was reading this. His delightful ineptitude and absence of clarity made this book impossible for me to put down. If you’ve never read McBride before, this is a great introduction.”
--Stuart McCommon, Novel.
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See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
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We'll get out our next issue as soon as we can. In the meantime, don't forget about all the other places you can catch up with us from afar, on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
:
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25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
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