“ I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year. ”  

— Edna St. Vincent Millay

I have noticed since the pandemic first began that many people's literary response to it was to read big fat books (or at least to buy them - while we at the bookstore can see what you purchase from us we haven't yet developed a way of knowing whether you actually read it). Many people told me that they were specifically aiming at books they had "always meant to read" but never before had the impetus or the time or the patience to tackle. Now we are in the midst not just of a pandemic but of summer, which is another time that frequently motivates the reading of big fat books. (For convenience, let's just say "big fat books" means 500+ pages.) In fact, one of the book groups I'm in always chooses, for our summer read, a big fat book - often a classic and often one that many of us feel we should have read at some point but as of yet just haven't. This summer we're reading Tom Jones, the book that many say invented the English novel in the 1750s - and which was made into a rip-roaring film in 1963 starring Albert Finney and won the Oscar for Best Picture. At one point I would have said it was my favorite novel, but I don't think I've read it in 40 years so I'll let you know in September.

My own pattern with big fat books - at least ones written well before my lifetime, i.e. big fat classic books - is that I have a set that I like, and I try to read them more or less regularly, say once every ten years or so. They hew to the traditional - I was after all an English major back in the days when that meant there was a set canon which included many of these books, and of which you would have had to read most or all in the course of graduating. They're heavily weighted to the 19th century, partly because that's the area I did most of my academic work in and partly because that was the halcyon period of big fat books. They were called "three-deckers" because they were often published in three volumes. (Henry James, with apparently no sense of self-irony, referred to these Victorian tomes as "large, loose, baggy monsters".) Sadly, my own definition of big and fat excludes two of my favorite 19th century authors, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen (I'm even in a two-person Jane Austen book group that has been cycling through her six novels for about two decades), because their books, while marvelous, just aren't long enough.

So this Saturday it's August. You still have a good long month of languid days, late sundowns, sweltering heat that favors passive over active pursuits, and maybe if you're lucky, some vacation. So here are a bunch of my favorites. I've read every one of these books multiple times and not with one single rereading have I ever thought "Well, that was a waste of time - no need to read that thing again." Au contraire, I usually say "I can't believe it's been so long since I read this." And I'm going to give you mostly links to the Penguin editions because those have been the ones I've always loved, especially back in my academic days when the Penguin classics - at least English and American novels - had those wonderful orange covers. I've had to replace some of the oranges over the years with the newer black ones, but I've still for sentimental reasons kept most of the Penguins together in a single area of my study. I attach a photo.

So here you go. First,  The Odyssey I've given you Emily Wilson's translation because I think it's simply astounding. If you prefer Robert Fagles, his translation's terrific as well. I am not recommending both the Iliad and the Odyssey together because it's just too much, and because personally I like Odyssey better, but if you insist on Iliad you won't go wrong. The aforementioned Tom Jones, which was groundbreaking not just because it kind of started off the English novel thing but because Fielding was very meta about it - he is completely aware that he's inventing a new genre and spends lots of time talking about the new type of book he is creating and why it's worthwhile.  The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot. Everyone says you have to read Middlemarch (and you probably do), but this is Eliot's first big novel and was written before anyone knew who she was. An incredible book about a young girl. (Dickens, always looking for exciting new writers, read it and wrote to Eliot something like "if your name were not George I would swear this book was written by a woman.")   Moby-Dick, no need to say more except that Penguin came out with this beautiful new edition a couple of years ago and so now I have four different Mobys. Also available as a board book.  Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last complete novel. I love many of his novels a lot, especially Tale of Two Cities, but I've chosen this one because it's so much less known. It's wonderfully complex and has lots of brilliant social commentary and satire, with an extraordinarily satisfying ending. And if you read it you'll probably be the only one of your friends who has.  The Way We Live Now is Trollope's giant novel of Victorian manners and society. If you were assigned Trollope in college you were probably assigned one or more of his early Barsetshire novels, which I don't think much of, or maybe if you were lucky you were given the Palliser novels, which I really like but there are six of them so that's asking too much. So stick with Way We Live Now - you'll thank me. I know I said no Hardy, but the first chapter of Mayor of Casterbridge is I think my favorite first chapter of the 19th century. And the book is a little over 400 pages, which probably qualifies it as big or fat if not both. Finally, Josh would stone me if I didn't break just slightly into the 20th century with Ulysses, which is the book of which I would most say that it is different with every single reading. It is your great introduction to modern fiction and you will thank me even if you sweat all the way through.

So there you have it. I figure if you read one of these every few days we can have a lovely conversation around Labor Day.

--David

Thanks to all our friends who've visited so far - it's been wonderful to see everyone's face (well, the top half above the mask anyway) and we're so grateful to everyone who has been so respectful of our policies!

In-Store Shopping Hours, starting Tuesday, July 14:

Tuesday-Friday: 3PM-7PM

Saturday: 10AM-2PM, with 10AM-12PM set aside for vulnerable customers

Read our in-store shopping policies and procedures here!

We really appreciate your support.

Heroines, History, and Hope: Jennifer Rosner, Alka Joshi and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Heroines, History, and Hope, Tuesday, July 28th at 7PM

Please join Porter Square Books virtually for an event with debut authors Jennifer Rosner ( The Yellow Bird Sings), Alka Joshi ( The Henna Artist) and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai ( The Mountains Sing) for a panel discussion on their path towards writing their debut works, the research process, and common themes in these three works of heroine-led historical fiction! This event is free and open to all, and is hosted on Crowdcast.

The Yellow Bird Sings is Jennifer's debut novel. It is being translated into more than a dozen languages and published around the world. Jennifer's previously published books include the memoir, If A Tree Falls: A Family's Quest to Hear and Be Heard, and the picture book, The Mitten String. Her short essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Massachusetts Review, The Forward, and elsewhere. In addition to writing, Jennifer teaches philosophy. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Currently, she teaches the Clemente Course in the Humanities, a college-level course for women living in economic distress. She lives in western Massachusetts with her family. Learn more at  http://jennifer-rosner.com.

Register to join the event on Crowdcast here:   https://www.crowdcast.io/e/heroineshistoryhope

*New date!* Virtual: J. Courtney Sullivan with Joanna Rakoff

Friends and Strangers , Thursday, July 30th at 7PM

Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome J. Courtney Sullivan, author of  Friends and Strangers, to your computer screens for a virtual book talk and reading, in conversation with Joanna Rakoff! This event takes place on Crowdcast, and is free and open to all. This event was rescheduled from its original date and now takes place on Thursday, 7/30!

Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she's always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She's worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth's father-in-law, the true differences between the women's lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences.

A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms,  Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.

Register to join the event on Crowdcast here:   https://www.crowdcast.io/e/friendsandstrangers

Hollywood Goes to War:  World War I

The war to end all wars turned out not to be the last war of the Twentieth Century, but Hollywood found a great deal of material to dramatize and dozens of films were produced. 

Starting in 1917 with Cecil B. DeMille’s  The Little American  written by Jeanie MacPherson, Hollywood began to make World War I dramas that included D.W. Griffith’s  Hearts of the World  (1918); Charlie Chaplin’s  Soldier Arms  (1918) and in 1921 Metro Pictures’ searing drama  The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse .  Based on the novel (1916) by Vincente Blasco Ibåñez, it was adapted by June Mathis and starred the dashing Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry. The movie, directed by Rex Ingram, was a huge hit.  Interesting trivia: this film inspired the tango craze of the 1920’s.

Another popular silent film was  The Big Parade , made in 1925, and based on an original story by Laurence Stallings. This film is regarded as one of the greatest movies made about World War I.  What Price Glory?  was a 1926 drama based on the 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson.  Wings , produced in 1927, was directed by William Wellman and starred Clara Bow and Charles Rogers; it was based on a story by author John Monk Saunders. Interesting trivia:  this film is the first to win the Best Picture Oscar in 1928.

In 1930 Universal produced  All Quiet on the Western Front , an adaption of the 1929 epic novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Opening to wide acclaim, this film won the Best Picture Oscar and Best Director for Lewis Milestone. Lew Ayres starred. The same year  Hell’s Angels , produced and directed by Howard Hughes  opened to solid reviews. Originally shot as a silent, Hughes re-edited the film adding scenes with dialogue and color. Starring Jean Harlow.

One of Greta Garbo’s most successful films, M-G-M’s  Mata Hari  (1931) was an original screenplay based on the life of the exotic dancer and courtesan Mata Hari. Co-starring Ramon Navarro, this film was highly censored due to nudity and sexual innuendo. The next year Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes starred in the first version of Ernest Hemingway’s  A Farewell to Arms  (1929) with a screenplay by Oliver H.P. Garnett and Benjamin Glazer. In 1938 Errol Flynn and David Niven starred in  The Dawn Patrol  based on the short story  The Flight Commander  (1930) by the prolific John Monk Saunders.

Based on the diary (1925) of Sergeant Alvin C. York and adapted by four writers including John Huston,  Sergeant York  (1941) starred Gary Cooper in his first Oscar-winner performance. Alvin York was one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War I.  To Each His Own  (1946), was a World War I drama written by Charles Brackett and starring Olivia de Havilland (RIP) in her first Oscar winning performance. Author Humphrey Cobb’s novel (1935)  Paths of Glory  was made into a critically acclaimed movie in 1957. Adapted and directed by Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas starred. Dalton Trumbo’s novel  Johnny Got His Gun  (1939) was made into a film in 1971 with Trumbo writing and directing. Interesting trivia: Famed Spanish-Mexican director Luis Buñuel was an uncredited co-screenwriter.

Australian writer/director Peter Weir’s story  Gallipoli  was adapted by David Williamson in 1981 and starred an unknown Mel Gibson. The 2005 war drama  Joyeux Noel  was based on the Christmas truce in December 1914 and was written by French writer/director Christian Carion. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.  Testament of Youth  is one of most extraordinary memoirs of World War I written by Vera Brittan and published in 1933. There was a 1979 TV series based on her book and in 2014 a film starring Oscar winner Alicia Vikander and adapted by Juliette Towhidi was released.

Last year’s  1917  was a realistic British film directed and co-written by Sam Mendes. Inspired by stories he heard from his paternal grandfather, the film was nominated for ten Oscars winning three; nine BAFTAs and three Golden Globe Awards.

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.   Ernest Hemingway, 1946.

-- Nathan

Next Up:  Hollywood Goes to War – World War II

Believe it or not, there was a time once, long ago, that I struggled to get people to read the books I liked.

There were a lot of reasons for this struggle: I wasn't great at choosing my audience, I didn't have much of a book recommending platform, the people I was recommending to were my sisters and thus refused to like things I liked on principle… lots of things. But the biggest one, the one that's specifically changed most since I became a bookseller, is that I didn't know how to write a good recommendation. 

Now, I'm guessing as readers of Shelf Stable, you're probably also book-lovers, and probably also spend a lot of time trying to get people to read your favorite books. Maybe you're good at it, or maybe it's a struggle for you too, but either way, let's look at some of my staff picks and see if we can't figure out what makes a good blurb.

This was my first ever staff pick for reference, from way back in March 2015. The book, Feed by Mira Grant, is one of my all time favorites.

This isn't a bad blurb, mind you. It tells you what the book is about, what's interesting about it, and why I think it's good. But it's all information you could get by reading the back of the book. That's one of the things I most struggled to learn about giving book recommendations, especially in quick blurb form. You really don't need to summarize the book. In fact, it's better if you don't. That information is easy to find. Your job is to pique their interest enough that they want to.

Fortunately, four years later, a new collected edition of Feed and it's two sequels came out in the form of The Rising . I seized my chance, and, in March 2019, I staff picked the new version and wrote a new, improved blurb.

The first sentence is so much stronger. Kind of gets the same thing across, zombies but from a different angle, but instead of just saying it I use an intriguing play on words. Has anyone ever actually wondered if the pen is mightier than the desiccated corpse? Well, they probably are wondering now. I've still got perhaps more plot than I need, but you can't really tell what they're going to face from this blurb, just that it's going to be more than they're prepared for, and that the truth is important to them and politicians are bad. It's catchy, it's intriguing, and I don't bother telling you it's a refreshingly different take on the zombie apocalypse cause that's clear in what details I've given you.

I'm really pleased with this blurb in general, but just for fun, let's see how I'd write it in July 2020. Now, if I were to staff pick this now, I'd be doing it with full knowledge of everything going on in the world, and sadly, this book about a zombie disease and politics that was published in 2010 is ALARMINGLY on point for today's world. Mira Grant knows her epidemiology and it's horrifying. 

I'm a little disappointed I couldn't work in that "pen is mightier than the desiccated corpse" line, but this is where knowing your audience and current events is so important. That line is great, and entirely appropriate to the text, but too light for the tone I'm striking with this version of the blurb. Now, I've got almost no plot at all, except that there are lying politicians and our good guys are armed with the truth, and, of course, there are zombies. 

I also have some words that might chase readers away, but that's on purpose too. I don't want someone coming to this book expecting a delightful romp only to be blindsided by how close the book is to real life, with a huge focus on disinfecting everything immediately and tests to make sure you're not going anywhere while infected. I want people to read my favorite books, but only if they'll actually enjoy them. That's recommending responsibly. 

There are a lot of factors that go into if I want to read a book, but when someone is recommending it, the first thing I look for is enthusiasm. Did this book make them laugh or cry or stare up at the ceiling in wistful pleasure? Could they put it down when they tried to read it before bed? Have they been able to stop thinking about it since they finished? It's hard to fit all that in a blurb, but if you're excited, if you love the book you've recommended, that should come across. That, more than anything else, is what will sell it.

-- Shana

Antiracism Books: A Place to Start

Audio Book of the Month

From The Tutu Teacher: Let’s Talk About Race (by Julius Lester , Karen Barbour (illus.): A Children’s Guide

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?

They're our family, and they could use a hand. If you are able, please considering donating to the Cafe Zing GoFundMe; 100% of proceeds go to baristas. What might you have spent at Zing over the past weeks if it we were in normal times? If that $10 is still in your wallet, consider putting it in their tip jar. We love you, Zing!

They're here! Check out our booksellers' favorite books this month, and enjoy that sweet, sweet discount.

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.

Looking for other ways to keep up with us? Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube:

Porter Square Books

25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140

617-491-2220