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Open for Shipping, Delivery, & Curbside Pickup!
Our physical store is closed, but you can still shop online!
DUE TO THE HIGH VOLUME OF SALES & THE LIMITED NUMBER OF BOOKSELLERS THAT CAN SAFELY BE IN THE STORE WE ARE RUNNING SEVERAL DAYS BEHIND IN PROCESSING ONLINE ORDERS.
This is a wonderful problem to have and we are so thankful for your support. Please see the website for more details.
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“
Reading is like thinking, like praying, like talking to a friend, like expressing your ideas, like listening to other people's ideas, like listening to music, like looking at the view, like taking a walk on the beach.”
―
Roberto Bolaño
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The banter came to a close. The host thanked the panelists and the audience several times, rambled for a minute about the importance of independent movie theaters, thanked the panelists again and thanked the audience again. I closed my browser and thought, “That was the most quarantine-specific fun I’ve had!” My partner and I had just finished watching the classic kung-fu movie
Wu-Tang vs. the Shaolin
with commentary from a film archivist/amateur scholar/theater manager from Seattle (whose name I didn’t catch) and Rza from Wu-Tang Clan (whose name I did), through the online film company 36Cinema (
psst - they're offering this feature again on Friday 7/3 if you're intrigued!
). I learned a ton about a genre of film I love and saw a great movie I’d never seen before. Most importantly, this was an activity I almost certainly never would have experienced without the quarantine. As important as it is to find safe versions of the things we love to do, I think it’s equally important to find new things, activities and experiences that are really only possible when you’re staying home for weeks at a time (hello sourdough starters!) or when everyone has moved their events online or were developed to fill some of the gaps in our daily lives caused by quarantining.
The bookseller surprise bundle is one of those fun things that has grown out of closing stores to customers. It is the closest thing available to walking into a store and saying “Josh, I need a few great books.” But it’s not exactly that. It’s something new. The surprise element is key. Because you don’t get the opportunity to say “no,” you end up with books outside your comfort zone, books you would never buy, books you’d never expect to like, maybe even books you end up actively disliking. You put your trust completely in someone else and hope it works out. The most important idea I got from Anthony Bourdain’s work (and I’m not sure if this is a direct quote or not) is: if you eat in fear of a bad meal, you’ll never have a great meal. Or to put this another way, if you only order dishes you’re certain you will like, you’ll never discover new dishes that you love. Or to put this another way, if you only buy books you’re certain you’re going to like, you’ll never discover new and different books that you love. (There’s a political element to that as well, about how books are marketed, how tastes are developed, how certain types of stories get told over and over and over again so we are inherently comfortable with them, but that’s for a different letter.)
So even though I work in a bookstore, I've bought three surprise bundles (to date) from some of my bookselling friends so I could have that quarantine specific experience of a surprise bundle of books. Part of it was me just being curious what booksellers would pick out for another bookseller. (They picked out amazing books!) But another part of it was me looking for a new and different way to connect. All three booksellers are friends of mine, either from the internet (Astoria Bookshop in NYC), from conferences (Riffraff in Providence), and one of them was even a former college roommate of mine (hello hello books in Rockland, ME). None of us can hang out together now, and, well, by now we all know how both vital and hollow video chats are, so this was a chance for us to have a very specific type of new conversation.
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I’d read/owned a couple of the books I got but many of the nine were books I not only hadn’t read, but hadn’t even heard of. Every now and then the world of books stands up and reminds you just how vast and wonderful it is. I never would have done this without the quarantine and even though I’d much rather have a world without COVID, I’m still glad I had these unique conversations with these friends. And even if I only read books from these bundles, I’d have a hell of a reading summer ahead of me.
-
Josh
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Join our next virtual event!
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Tomorrow!
Paul Tremblay with Emma Danforth [
ticketed
]
Survivor Song
and
Plain Bad Heroines
-
Thursday, July 2nd at 7PM
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Porter Square Books is excited to welcome Paul Tremblay and Emily Danforth for a virtual event to celebrate the release of
Survivor Song! This event is ticketed and takes place on Crowdcast. Your ticket comes with a book--you'll have the option at check out to choose a copy of
Survivor Song, on sale July 7, or preorder Emily's forthcoming book
Plain Bad Heroines, on sale in October. Your ticket includes the cost of shipping and handling, or if you'd prefer to pick up your book, use coupon code iwdlj5 to remove the shipping charge.
More info here.
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In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering...
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In
Plain Bad Heroines, the award-winning author of
The Miseducation of Cameron Post makes her adult debut with this highly imaginative and original horror-comedy centered around a cursed New England boarding school for girls—a wickedly whimsical celebration of the art of storytelling, sapphic love, and the rebellious female spirit. A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period illustrations,
Plain Bad Heroines is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding, and wonderfully luxuriant read.
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Want to show your love of Porter Square Books? Available for 2 weeks only, order your very own Porter Square Books t-shirt!
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Porter Square Books is proud to partner with the
Prison Book Program to help provide access to books to people in prison. Order any title off this wish list and select the "Curbside Pick Up" shipping option and we'll give to the Prison Book Program to distribute.
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A Quick Tour of the Store
Wondering what's going on behind our still-closed doors? As we look to reopen to the public, Josh gives a tour of the store and talks about the challenges we face and what to expect in this short video.
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Miss getting great recommendations from your favorite booksellers? Never quite got the hang of the whole online orders thing? Now you can sign up for a time slot to chat with a bookseller! Currently available on Saturday and Sunday between 10-4 pm.
Up this weekend: Josh on Saturday and Stacey on Sunday!
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Antiracism Books: A Place to Start
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Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
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Want book recommendations, personalized
just for you?
Fill out our 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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Afternoon Tea: Breaking the Standard
I love Afternoon Tea. My favourite Afternoon Tea experience was at the Luton Hoo Hotel in Luton, UK and it was an absolute dream. However, I want to break with traditional British teas and offer a twist on your afternoon tea menus. I've purchased a few new Black-authored cookbooks and these recipes are screaming to come together for an afternoon tea for a party of one or many (with social distancing of course).
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Tea Recipe Recommendations:
- Citrus-Honey Tea Punch page, 61
- Russian Tea, page 61
- Sorrel (Hibiscus) Tea, page 63
- For those who do not want tea, but coffee instead, this one is for you: Calypso Coffee, page 66
Savoury Recipe Recommendations:
- Maryland Crab Cakes, page 81
- Back-eyed Pea, Golden Corn, & Chanterelle Empanadas, page 122-123
- Curried Meat Pies, page 38-41
- Salmon Croquettes, page 43
- Oyster Loaf (Po' Boys), page 253
Biscuit Recipe Recommendations:
- Sweet Potato Biscuits, page 155
Sweet Recipe Recommendations:
- Lemon Tea Cake, page 271
- Caramel Cake, page 278
- Tea Cakes, page 290-291
- Sweet Potato Pie with Praline Topping, page 306
- Caramel Cake, page 278
- Lemon Curd Blueberry Tart, page 171
- Fried Apple Hand Pies, page 172-173
- Joe Froggers (molasses-spice cookies), page 178
Enjoy and cheers! -
Sinny
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A Burning
by Megha Majumdar, featuring a cast of readers
For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise--to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies--and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
“Majumdar’s suspenseful narrative holds a mirror up to society at large, reflecting the lies people tell themselves to rationalize sacrificing morality for personal gain. Unintended consequences from an impulsive social media post explode against a backdrop of deep economic insecurities and centuries-old prejudices. A searing debut, this novel is timely and timeless. It packs a punch way above its weight. Brilliant.”
--
Lisa Johnson, Penguin Bookshop
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Alert! New bookseller bundles available now!
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Our 'get 3 paperbacks' bundle options have expanded to include Caleb, Meaghan, and Shana! Get 3 paperbacks handpicked by the bookseller that fit in with their theme. You can find all bundles.
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EXPANDED OPTIONS:
Journals, Stationery & Crafts
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Sometimes a new notebook is what it takes to get the juices flowing!
We have now made a much wider variety of notebooks, journals, and even calendars available for order from our website,
like this classic Moleskin
. Now, along with items with an inventory status of "On Our Shelves Now," you can order journals, notebooks, diaries, calendars, planners, and more with an inventory status of "Available at Warehouses."
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Face Masks
Face coverings are going to be with us for a while, so
we’re now offering non-medical grade cloth masks (including kid size) from a variety of makers. Right now quantities are limited, but additional styles are on the way. We’ll keep you posted!
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Book Bundle Offerings
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
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Novels that span multiple generations of a family are not particularly uncommon, but it's hard to do them well. Christie, widely acclaimed in Canada but not well-known in the US, has done just that with this beautiful tale that opens and closes in the year 2038, and in between telescopes back through various points to 1908 and then forward again. He tackles issues of ecology and wealth and fidelity and greed and revenge, with a carefully wrought story and flowing, evocative prose. Trees are intrinsic to the book both actually and metaphorically, and the people who interact with them and with each other are drawn thoughtfully and richly. The book doesn't moralize but is deeply moral, and the heart of the story, of two brothers during the Depression, is riveting, Steinbeckian (is that a word?). The futuristic chapters are bleak but as the book layers on the history of which they are the culmination, they appear as an ecological inevitability, the workings of the destructive psychology of individual humans on the natural setting they have seized for their stage. This book will probably not cause you to take dramatic action to reduce your carbon footprint or force governmental action on climate, but it will certainly change how you think about the planet through the lens of one of its most critical, majestic, and enigmatic resources - trees.
--David
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Christina Hammonds Reed, author of the forthcoming summer YA novel
The Black Kids
, shares Ryan T. Higgins
We Don't Eat Our Classmates. Enjoy!
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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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Last chance to grab June staff picks at their discounted price! (Please note that many of these staff picks were chosen prior to recent events.) July's staff picks are en route!
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This fabulous(ly queer!) follow-up to Mitchell's lauded
All Out
anthology is sure to delight and inspire. --
Rebecca
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"I can't say much without giving it away, but I enjoyed how this book turns the (pretty well used) "Chosen One" trope on it's head." --
John
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We want to hear from you!
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What kind of virtual book events would you find most fun?
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An author I know and love talking about their new book.
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A bunch of new authors in a panel so I can discover some new great reads.
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Events highlighting local authors or topics.
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Kids or YA authors for a family friendly affair!
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Something interactive, like a workshop or book club.
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An event featuring bookseller recommendations!
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See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
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Did you miss an installment, or want to share with a friend? The Shelf Stable Archive has all our past issues!
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And don't forget to subscribe to our Events Newsletter for the full line up of events coming up, and our Kids Newsletter for
all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
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Looking for other ways to keep up with us? Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube:
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25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
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