|
|
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!
|
|
“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”
– Logan Pearsall Smith
|
|
Hi friends!
I hope you are all safe and healthy.
I did my first round of deliveries last Thursday and it was such a delight to have the opportunity to hear from a few of you via text. I got the most wholesome and kind responses, we are truly so lucky to have such sweet customers. It is nice to be reminded of how many lovely people there are to look forward to reconnecting with on the other side of this.
Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly when that may be. So I’d like to talk a bit about what to do until then. I’ve been feeling quite a lot of pressure from the media that this time can be used to do things such as learn an instrument or get super fit. I think it’s important to remind ourselves amongst all this pressure to “make the most out of this time” that these times are completely unprecedented and quite unnerving. I want to remind you that if all you are doing in these times is simply surviving, you’re doing more than enough and I am proud of you.
For many, these times are a constant battle to stay in a healthy headspace due to the lack of distractions, structure, and social interaction. Even if you are someone who hasn’t struggled with mental health prior, we as humans simply are not meant to be in complete isolation. We are social creatures. Of course this isolation is taking a toll on each and every one of us. So please, give yourself some credit. Don’t stress about how many more jumping jacks Amy from the gym is doing or how much more reading/writing a friend of yours is doing than you. If your way of surviving this is to binge mediocre reality TV and inhale popcorn, so be it.
There is no right way to pass time in a global pandemic. You are doing just fine.
-Hannah @ PSB
|
|
Join our next virtual event!
|
|
Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
|
The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home: Fiction
Porter Square Books is pleased to bring you a *virtual event* with Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, brilliant co-creators of Welcome to Night Vale and authors of
The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home
! This event takes place on Thursday, April 30th at 7pm from the comfort of your own home (the secret faceless old woman who lives there is also invited). To join this event via Crowdcast, register at the link below.
From the
New York Times
bestselling authors of
Welcome to Night Vale
and
It Devours!
and the creators of the hit podcast, comes a new novel set in the world of Night Vale and beyond.
In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from...until now. Told in a series of eerie flashbacks, the story of
The Faceless Old Woman
goes back centuries to reveal an initially blissful and then tragic childhood on a Mediterranean Estate in the early nineteenth century, her rise in the criminal underworld of Europe, a nautical adventure with a mysterious organization of smugglers, her plot for revenge on the ones who betrayed her, and ultimately her death and its aftermath, as her spirit travels the world for decades until settling in modern-day Night Vale.
Interspersed throughout is a present-day story in Night Vale, as
The Faceless Old Woman
guides, haunts, and sabotages a man named Craig. In the end, her current day dealings with Craig and her swashbuckling history in nineteenth century Europe will come together in the most unexpected and horrifying way.
Part
The Haunting of Hill House
, part
The Count of Monte Cristo
, and 100% about a faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home.
Joseph Fink
created the Welcome to Night Vale and Alice Isn’t Dead podcasts. He lives with his wife in the Hudson River Valley and Los Angeles. He is the author of the novel
Alice Isn’t Dead
.
Jeffrey Cranor
co-writes the Welcome to Night Vale and Within the Wires podcasts. He also co-creates theater and dance pieces with choreographer/wife Jillian Sweeney. They live in New York. Together, they are the authors of the New York Times best-selling novels
Welcome to Night Vale, It Devours!
, and four Welcome to Night Vale episode script books: Mostly Void, Partially Stars, The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe, The Buying of Lot 37, and Who’s a Good Boy? In 2016, Fink and Cranor announced their podcast network
“Night Vale Presents”
which has produced 14 original fiction and non-fiction podcasts. For more on Welcome to Night Vale, upcoming events, and the books, visit:
www.welcometonightvale.com
|
Featured Staff Pick for Adults
|
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Mandel's book is like the glass in her title: her language glitters yet also offers clarity and reflection, and her characters are like broken shards, mesmerizing in one light, and dangerously ordinary in another. Combining the humanity and structure of
Station Eleven
with the brutal realism of her earlier works,
The Glass Hotel
is an exceptional novel.
--
Marika
|
Recommendations from the Zodiac
|
Last week, we gave out over 150 book recommendations based on your astrological sign!
|
We've compiled all those recommendations in one place for you
here
by
sign. Super useful if you've got a Taurus friend with a birthday around the corner, but also pretty fascinating to see what books were associated with what signs! And if you have no clue what all of this means but now you're curious - we'd suggest picking up a copy of
Astro Poets
as an excellent place to jump in.
|
|
Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
|
Events are back, baby! Want to stay up to date on the full upcoming line up of virtual happenings? Make sure you're signed up for our events newsletter!
|
For all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
|
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!
|
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!
|
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.
|
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers. We'll be adding more of these so stay tuned.
|
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!
|
|
Books You Can Rock Out To
|
|
Maybe the lists of things we miss in quarantine are getting a bit old, but I’m going to add another item to the list. Concerts. I miss them so much. I miss the chat static and the ghosts of cigarettes past in small venues where friends and the band fight for attention. I miss the sensory deprivation dark of a ballroom where you’re squeezed in with strangers who know as much of the lyrics as you do. There are few things better than a really good gig. If you’re missing live music as much as I am, I’ve got a few book recommendations to tide you over.
I recently
read a chapter of this
on our bedtime stories because the movie is coming out soon (!!!), but if you A) are a girl; B) are not a girl; C) enjoy Britpop and other UK music of the early nineties; or D) enjoy laughing, you should read this book. It’s a fictionalized version of Moran’s own story, wherein sixteen-year-old Johanna Morrigan becomes a music journalist at one of the UK’s top music magazines and dives headfirst into the world of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll. The sequel,
How to Be Famous
, is just as good, and has a happy ending that I (a person that generally dislikes happy endings) actually loved.
It’s a classic, but few books come with better soundtracks. If you watched the recent Hulu series, or the John Cusack movie version, or perhaps even the musical, but haven’t read the book, I recommend going back to the source material. Soundtrack aside, no one writes an introspective sad sack quite like Nick Hornby. He’s in on the secret that the protagonist is kind of the worst, but Hornby makes you really care about him anyway.
This book covers the music and counterculture of Boston in 1968, and friends, there was a LOT happening in town that year. Van Morrison was hiding from his mafia record producer, performing around town, and writing one of his greatest albums,
Astral Weeks
. But this book is not just about Van Morrison, it’s about long-gone and storied Boston venues, local and visiting musicians, an LSD personality cult in Roxbury, a weird PBS show, a failed bank heist, and a Boston that we shouldn’t forget.
Yes, this is a book version of a podcast, but hear me out. Disgraceland is the “true crime rock’n’roll” podcast of Boston musician and podcaster Jake Brennan, where he reads stream-of-consciousness style retellings of the worst sins of music’s big names. Brennan is a stylish writer, but his work actually stands out when you read it yourself. And this book is full of entertaining true crime tales.
And finally, while not a book, I also recommend listening to live albums very loud. -
Meaghan
|
|
It was great to see how many people engaged with our horoscope book recommendations! I’ve taken this as a sign that many of our customers are woke and inspired by the mystical and magical. A year ago I received my first deck of tarot cards. I’m not a proficient reader yet but the act of shuffling the cards and picking one from the pile, or laying several out in a spread, is not only calming but insightful. The magic of the tarot comes from the energy you bring to the cards, and the ways in which you choose to intuit their meanings. Tarot can provide guidance, encourage creativity, and set a foundation for opening yourself up to more experiences. If you’ve been thinking about purchasing tarot cards for yourself, quarantine is absolutely the perfect time to do so.
There’s a lot of different answers online about the right tarot deck to start with. The Rider-Waite deck is probably the most universal. But below I’ve listed some decks that have caught my eye, and which I think would appeal to PSB customers especially:
- The Wild Unknown Deck is beautifully designed and comes with its own guidebook to help you interpret the cards. This would be a lovely gift for you or a friend.
- The Jane Austen Tarot Deck provides literary and mystical appeal! Honestly, I saw this and immediately wanted to tear into it.
- Cat Tarot is whimsical and mysterious, like all cats truly are.
- My friend has this Fountain Tarot deck and it is truly gorgeous. It also comes with its own guidebook.
Note: There’s a superstition that you’re not supposed to buy tarot cards yourself. But it’s just a superstition! Feel free to buy your own deck. The only thing you’ll want to do is make sure it’s a deck that speaks to you. --
Heather
|
|
Happy Birthday to the Bard! Last night, Kate read a short monologue from
Romeo & Juliet
in honor of Shakespeare's 456th birthday. We would've baked a cake, but that's a lot of candles!
|
|
And of course, don't forget to meet us over at our Instagram story at 8:45pm for tonight's live bedtime reading!
|
|
Support Cafe Zing baristas!
|
|
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?
|
|
Featured Staff Pick For Kids
|
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
Much like me, the last thing Norris wanted was to move across the country, leaving his friends (and his hockey team) behind to go to high school in Texas. It's hot, it's sticky, and it might as well be another planet. Guess he better find a way to make the best of it...or escape. This book charmed me, in spite of my resistance to go back to the land where football and church are the same thing.
--
Caleb
|
|
We Want to Hear from You!
|
|
|
What's your favorite part of an author event?
|
|
Hearing the author describe their writing process.
|
|
|
|
|
Listening to the author read a passage as they meant it to be read!
|
|
|
|
|
I love asking my own question & getting to listen to the answer.
|
|
|
|
|
Meeting/making friends with other attendees who love the same book.
|
|
|
|
|
Saying "hi!" at the end is the best part - if I'm not too starstruck!
|
|
|
|
|
The signed book I get to take home - duh!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
|
|
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
:
|
|
25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
