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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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“I love the smell of book ink in the morning.”
– Umberto Eco
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Hello everyone,
Highlights from my first full week in lock-down:
I already miss the store, I miss our staff, and I miss our customers; in short I miss our community. I am granted an early reprieve from all of this when given the task of delivering books! As I pick up the bins of books from Dina and David’s porch, I practice social distancing, but am able to visit with them in person! Driving through our neighborhoods on a crisp, sunny spring day was balm in itself; but better is visiting, via phone, with our customers taking delivery. It is fun to hear familiar voices, and new ones, exclaiming the pleasure of receiving books.
My first Zoom meeting. What a pleasure it is to see everyone, exchange thoughts, and to laugh.
My second Zoom meeting, where we learn PSB has been named 2020 PW Bookstore of the Year! Thrilling and humbling, it is welcome good news.
I discover it is mysteries that hold my attention, after bouncing from non-fiction to fiction, from kids’ books to adult books. They are a pleasant diversion. I place an online order with PSB, and stock up!
I am compiling returns, and scrolling through our publisher’s Fall 2020 catalogues. They abound with beautiful, intriguing, and engrossing books. I can’t wait to introduce them to you.
Lastly, I make my first mask. Without a sewing machine it is slow going, and certainly not pretty, but I’m going to make
more. I’m afraid, for now, it is the right thing to do.
Be well, stay safe, and I’ll see you at the bookstore.
Robin @ PSB
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Julian Hoffman
with Terry Tempest Williams
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Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save Our Wold Places: Nonfiction
All across the world, irreplaceable habitats are under threat. Unique ecosystems of plants and animals are being destroyed by human intervention. From the tiny to the vast, from marshland to meadow, and from America to England, Greece, and India, they are disappearing.
Irreplaceable
is not only a love letter to the haunting beauty of these landscapes and the wild species that call them home, including prairie chickens, nightingales, lynxes, hornbills, redwoods, and elephant seals, it is also a timely reminder of the vital connections between humans and nature, and all that we stand to lose in terms of wonder and well-being. This is a book about the power of resistance in an age of loss; a testament to the transformative possibilities that emerge when people come together to defend our most special places and wildlife from extinction.
Exploring treasured coral reefs and remote mountains, tropical jungle and ancient woodland, urban gardens and tallgrass prairie, Julian Hoffman traces the stories of threatened places around the globe through the voices of local communities and grassroots campaigners as well as professional ecologists and academics. And in the process, he asks what a deep emotional relationship with place offers us-culturally, socially, and psychologically. In this rigorous, intimate, and impassioned account, he presents a powerful call to arms in the face of unconscionable natural destruction. We were planning to have Julian here all the way from Greece, along with part-time local and store favorite Terry Tempest Williams.
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Featured Staff Pick for Adults
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Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer
Trying to start that new sci-fi/fantasy novel during quarantine? Just looking for some inspiration to keep your spirits up? Do you enjoy reading snippets about storytelling from some of your favorite authors? How about creative and zany illustrations? This book's for you!
~ Stacey
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So. Many. Book. Recommendations.
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We played one of our favorite Twitter games today: who needs a book recommendation??
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PS: miss out on playing our game, but still want a recommendation just for you? Don't forget our
Virtual Bookseller
!
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Old Hollywood: From Stage to Screen
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Ever since the dawn of Hollywood the most important source material for filmmaking has always been novels, short stories, memoirs, stage plays and original scripts.
Starting at the turn of the last century most films, called shorts, were made primarily for the Nickelodeon shows (the name derives from the cost of a nickel plus Odeion Greek for theatre). Soon one-reelers appeared and then finally movies as we know them - features - became the norm.
Considered the first feature film shot in Hollywood, Cecil B. De Mille’s
The Squaw Man
(1914) was based on a best-selling novel by Edwin Milton Royle. That same year Charlie Chaplin starred in a filmed version of the stage play,
Tillie’s Punctured Romance.
In 1915 T
he Birth of a Nation
based on the novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr. was a huge, if highly controversial, hit directed by D. W. Griffith. (We suggest you take a look at Dick Lehr's
The Birth of a Movement
to learn more.)
Mary Pickford, dubbed America’s Sweetheart, although born in Canada as Gladys Smith, made dozens of films, many based on novels. Her
Rebecca of
A versatile actor from New York named Richard Barthelmess, now long forgotten, rose to fame playing the dreamy Armand in the silent version of Alexandre Dumas fils’ enduring novel,
Camille
. His co-star was the original
vamp Theda Bara – in reality, a nice Jewish girl from Ohio. He soon followed that role as Cheng Huan, in the D. W. Griffiths’s 1919 hit, co-starring Lillian Gish,
Broken Blossoms
- based on a short story by author Thomas Burke. Considered a classic, it is now seen as embarrassingly racist.
Unfortunately, many early Silent Films are lost; however, some can be found
at
www.kinolorber.com
and there is a vast library of books dedicated to the Silent Pictures.
Next up: The Roaring Twenties.
-Nathan
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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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Don't forget to tune into our first virtual event on Thursday, April 9th at 7pm!
Join us to spend some time with familiar bookseller faces as we read you a sampling of our favorite poems, including:
And more!
See you there. Pajamas welcome!
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Hello readers! Sinny here, your favourite paper addict. In the world of technology and google calendars, a lot of people have left paper behind, understandably. However, quarantine has given us extra time for colouring, drawing, writing, dragon-slaying, etc.
"Planning"
- Choose a paper planner or a blank notebook (my planner is the Hobonichi Techo Steiff, from Japan, and my blank notebooks are this one and this one.)
- Have nothing planned whilst everything is canceled? No worries! Fill in the blank pages with quotes from your favourite book and drawings of all the places you miss. Draw your fave coffee/tea. Make bucket lists of everything you've ever wanted to do or see. Make up a spell for better days to come.
- Get wild with coloured markers and highlighters!
- Most importantly, leave your planner/notebook OPEN when you go to bed so the pages are staring at you when you wake up and you can start again.
- ENJOY YOURSELF!
Snail Mail
- A simple "hello" and "how are you doing" would brighten your family and friend's days. This beautiful stationery set is a great way to send snail mail.
- Perhaps you want to thank grocery store clerks or delivery personnel or hospital workers, or maybe all of them. These "thank you" boxed cards are the perfect way of letting people know how much you appreciate them: Option A, Option B, Option C. - Sinny
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Last night Leila read from cult classic
The Princess Bride.
If you've only ever seen the movie, check out the book!
Here's a fun fact that didn't make it into the video: Leila played the Queen in a play adaption of
The Princess Bride
in high school (not much of a role, if you recall) and was so busy chatting away in the dressing room that she showed up for a scene about 5 minutes late - hours in stage time! Prince Humperdinck had to ad lib a whole monologue on his own, which ended up being possibly the funniest part of the production.
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Meet us over at our Instagram story at 8:45pm for tonight's live reading with Shana!
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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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The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons
Private academy for teenage con artists! What's not to love? Fast-paced, fun, diverting, and there's a sequel once you've finished this one!
--Rebecca
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We want to hear from you!
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*Send your entry by Thursday!*
For some reason, we've been thinking about the apocalypse lately, (insert joke about moving dystopian fiction into current affairs) which, of course, got us thinking about the Apocalypse Team game. The rules are simple and presented here in their bookish version. Build a team with three realistically human or animal characters from literature. So no picking characters with magic or super powers or anything like that. Once everyone in your group has assembled their team, each person makes the argument for why their team will survive the longest. Debate until a winner is chosen or you get sick of debating. Rinse and repeat with whatever other rules you want to add.
Respond to this email with your Literary Apocalypse Team and your argument for why you'll survive.
We'll pick a favorite and share the winner in next Thursday's shelf.
The winner will get a stack o' galleys sent to them via media mail!
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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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