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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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“Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people
―
people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.”
―
E. B. White
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I’m up in Maine now, and nearly done with my two weeks of quarantine. It’s been harder to come home than I imagined it would be, as I’ve readjusted to a new work-from-home environment, and grappled with the personal guilt I felt about having left the city in a time of protests to arrive in a small, coastal town that is by-and-large filled with privileged white people. In these weeks of anxiety and stress I did what I do best: spent money, by donating to organizations that support anti-racism and black lives. And of course I’ve been reading and listening, in multiple ways. Since so much antiracist literature is backordered due to high demand, this week I downloaded
Stamped from the Beginning
by Ibram X. Kendi which is currently $4.99 on Libro.fm.
But this week I’ve started to settle, and find the peace in being able to see the ocean from my window. Maine is an inspiring state and is of course home to many famous writers, past and present. One of my favorites is E. B. White, who may be most well known for his children’s literature, but if you haven’t given
One Man’s Meat
a try, I recommend it. Last summer his estate published
On Democracy
, a collection of essays and articles that he wrote during the 1930s and 40s. There are chapters on freedom, fascism, letters to delegates, and his dislike of the president. Despite the fact that White’s intended audience was probably not racially diverse, I think within the current context it’s still relevant. In addition to the books by BIPOC authors that you’re adding to your reading list, consider this one as well.
I also settled down this week with a book that I thought would be escapist. I’m reading
Severance
by Ling Ma, which is maybe the last book that could possibly be escapist in the midst of pandemic! (I confess that I bought this book solely on recommendations from friends without knowing what it was about). But it’s gripping and I haven’t been able to put it down. If you’re up for some end-of-the-world literature, I highly recommend.
--
Heather
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Join our next virtual events!
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A Bookseller's Bloomsday for Binc
- June 16th at 7PM
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Celebrate Bloomsday with Booksellers from around the country. Join
Loyalty Bookstore
's Hannah Oliver Depp and our own Josh Cook as well as other booksellers as they read their favorite passages from
Ulysses
, discuss the book, answers your questions, and perhaps enjoy an adult beverage while they do. A great event for
Ulysses
aficionados, the Joyce curious, and readers who just miss eavesdropping on the booksellers chatting behind the counter.
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Jabari Asim with Porsha Olayiwola,
Stop & Frisk
- June 19th at 7PM
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Please join us for a virtual Juneteenth poetry reading to celebrate the release of Jabari Asim's newest poetry collection,
Stop & Frisk: American Poems
, with Porsha Olayiwola (
i shimmer sometimes, too
), hosted on Crowdcast.
In
Stop and Frisk
, Jabari Asim ruthlessly interrogates entrenched injustice and its insidious echoes. Part rap sheet, part concept album, Asim lays down tracks that add conviction to our collective broken record: What could be more American than pretending truths were self-evident when they seldom were? Drawing defiant inspiration from the news and the Blues, these poems arrest our attention and burn grooves into us. These starkly revelatory poems expose the dark heart of our nation and call for a reckoning—the only way out before everything breaks / into hurt, noise, and ever after.
This event is part of our Be the Change: Community Action series. A portion of Porter Square Books online sales for June 19th will be donated to Black Lives Matter Boston, along with any direct contributions from the audience via Crowdcast's Donate button.
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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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Music & Book Recommendations: The K-Pop Phenomenon Edition
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If you haven't heard, K-Pop (Korean pop) artists have been dominating the global and domestic music charts with
BTS
leading the way. However, I don't want to make this an introduction to K-Pop because there are already several sources out there for you to check out, starting with:
How K-pop Became a Global Phenomenon
and
How K-Pop Conquered the West
. And more recently, if you haven't heard, BTS and BTS ARMY ("A.R.M.Y" stands for "Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth" and it carries quite some meaning behind it, given that "Army" is associated with the military, body armor, and how those two things are always together, the fandom name basically means that fans will always be together with BTS) have shown up for Black Lives Matter in a huge way. BTS donated $1M to Black Lives Matter, and in solidarity with BTS and Black Lives Matter, BTS ARMY set out to match that donation - and
we succeeded
!
Now that intro is out of the way, I'm here to recommend some books on your favourite K-Pop idols--an idol (Korean: 아이돌; RR: Aidol), in fandom culture in South Korea, refers to a celebrity working in the field of K-pop, either as a member of a group or as a solo act.
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Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
by Kwame Mbalia, narrated by Amir Abdullah
Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade
American Gods set in a richly imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.
"Tristan Strong is a book about memory & storytelling, a clever reimagining of African & black American mythology, & a fun, fast-paced ride! Boxer Tristan feels he's failed his best friend & let down his family. When he accidentally punches a hole to another world, he'll have to rediscover his strength as he fights alongside legends like John Henry, Brer Rabbit, & Anansi. Tristan's voice is tough, tender, & hilarious; his story will appeal to adventure lovers of all ages."
--
Kate, about the hardcover version
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It seems like I am always writing about food for this column. Maybe because my “other job” is as a food editor, maybe because it’s something we all have to think about
literally every day
and I feel like it’s natural to look for inspiration in that area of our lives, maybe it’s something else. Regardless, here I am for another Friday talk about food.
Food and cooking can be comforting, distracting, enjoyable, and more and more I have found that cooking has brought some measure of calm to my days for much of these last three months. However, that doesn’t mean that I am always inspired or that I’m excited when the end of every workday rolls around and it’s time to make dinner. One strategy I’ve been using for at least the last six or eight weeks is that we have theme nights every week. On Tuesdays, we eat tacos or taco-adjacent foods, and on Thursdays we eat pasta (this is because by Thursday I’m tired and want something easy and tasty). On Sundays, we usually make dinner together.
These weekly recurring schedules have helped me plan my cooking and grocery-shopping better and taken some of the stress out of figuring out what to eat. Different weeks I do slightly different variations—ground chicken or shredded chicken, crispy tortillas or soft, guac or salsa, etc. It has been nice to have this sense of consistency from week to week (in a time when a lot of things in life aren’t consistent), and it means food-planning requires a little less thought. It can also be fun—I like asking my partner which week of tacos was best, or seeing which type of pasta was the easiest to prep!
I suggest trying a theme night in your household this week—a chef I know makes pizza on Saturdays (sometimes including frozen! Even chefs go frozen sometimes), you could do tacos on Tuesdays like me, or you could pick a cuisine and make dishes related to it! It’s fun to have a little more focus but also a little less planning, and if you’re feeling burnt out in the kitchen (or in life), I recommend giving it a try.
Happy cooking (and eating),
April
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New!
Plush Bundles
Craving a new plush? Know someone who could use a comfort stuffie? Some of our critters are now available online! New items will be added periodically. Some are available individually, others come in handy 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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Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
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Father's Day Gifts
Father's Day approaches! We've come up with a great list of gifts for you to browse from - socks, puzzles, books, joke books, oven mitts - all your favorites from the store! Remember to place your order early in order for us to have it ready for you in time for the holiday itself. Hope your dad or the guardian in your life loves it!
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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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To wind down your night tonight, might we suggest watching award-winning novelist, tireless advocate for children's literature, and all-around brilliant human Jacqueline Woodson's defense of slow reading?
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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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June staff picks are now live! Please note that many of these staff picks were chosen prior to recent events.
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A gorgeously drawn comics memoir of joining a college book club in South Korea 1983, and the thoughts, choices, and trials it sparked. Fast-paced, smart, and utterly compelling, this is the activist comics memoir YA readers are looking for.
--Marika
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This series is my biggest new obsession of quarantine. It's like grown-up
Oliver Twist
but in pseudo-Venice and with just the right amounts of fantasy elements. Locke, Jean, and their whole band of delightful con-artists are my new favorite bastards, and I can't get enough of their adventures! --
Caleb
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We want to hear from you!
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What's the first thing you'll order from Zing when it reopens?
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What's the first thing you'll order from Zing when it eventually reopens?
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Gotta have those sweet, sweet pastries.
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I need my latte, now, and I don't care if it's 80 degrees.
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One of Zing's specialty beverages!
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I don't even care. I just want to see my favorite baristas!
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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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