Shelf Stable: September 18th
|
|
"Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have." - Lloyd Alexander
|
|
It feels like just yesterday I was writing one of my first Shelf Stable articles about how weird it was celebrating Passover through Zoom. Now, it's Erev Rosh Hashana, and wow does 5780 feel like it's gone on FOREVER. Really hoping 5781 is better.
Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year, and it and Yom Kippur are known as the High Holy Days. Yom Kippur is known as the Day of Atonement, and it's always been cool to me that one of our biggest holidays is all about apologies and forgiveness. Not a thing that's always big in American culture, but it should be. There's a power in admitting you're wrong and a power in forgiving people. We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn and grow from them.
Despite, or even in some cases because of this year's strangeness, I do feel like I've learned and grown a lot, and probably made my share of mistakes. I'd say I'm excited to see what the next year brings, but honestly? I'm terrified. Everything feels so insurmountably awful right now. We can't go five minutes without another news story about bigotry or voter suppression or California being literally on fire. Oh, and the ongoing pandemic. Can't forget that. Really wish I could.
So what will Rosh Hashana look like this year? Well, very different. We'll probably still have the same food, even if we have to eat it in a socially distant fashion. I know my synagogue has already been doing services on Zoom. Will they put a mask on the shofar, or will the shofar blower be on their own where their spit can't hit anyone? I don't know. I'm sure the synagogue's made a plan, but I only realized Rosh Hashana was almost here like a week ago. I haven't looked into it yet. Seriously, how is it already fall? This year doesn't feel real.
Anyway, shanah tova to everyone celebrating tonight! Take care of yourselves, and may you have a sweet, healthy new year.
-Shana
|
|
Read our reopen policies and hours!
|
|
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!
Updated In-Store Shopping Hours:
Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday-Friday: 3PM-7PM
Saturday: 9AM-6PM, with 9AM-11AM set aside for vulnerable customers
Sunday: 3PM-7PM
Curbside Pick Up: Daily, 3PM-7PM
We really appreciate your support!
|
|
Join our next virtual events!
|
|
Friday, September 18th at 7pm
Virtual: Hannah Abigail Clarke with Rory Power and Emily A. Duncan, The Scapegracers
|
|
Porter Square Books is delighted to present Hannah Abigail Clarke for their debut novel The Scapegracers, in conversation with Rory Power and Emily A. Duncan! In The Scapegracers, an outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school -- and performs some seriously badass magic in the process. This event is free and open to all, and takes place on Crowdcast.
|
|
Friday, September 25th at 7pm
Virtual: Helen Macdonald with Kathryn Schulz, Vesper Flights [Ticketed]
Porter Square Books is pleased to present a virtual talk with Helen Macdonald, author of H Is For Hawk, for the release of her new book Vesper Flights, in conversation with Kathryn Schulz! An entry link will be emailed to ticket holders in the week of the event. The signed book included in your ticket can be shipped or picked up, simply choose your preferred method at check out. Books will be available prior to the event.
Animals don't exist in order to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.
In Vesper Flights Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep.
By one of this century's most important and insightful nature writers, Vesper Flights is a captivating and foundational book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make sense of the world around us.
|
|
Want to show your love of Porter Square Books? Order your very own Porter Square Books T-shirt!
|
|
|
One of the rules I've developed over the course of reading all. the. books. (because in addition to bookselling, I also review for Kirkus and the Horn Book) is that any book of more than 400 pages has to earn its length. If you want me to commit that much time to your work, every paragraph has to deserve its spot on the page. None of this could-have-been-an-article-but-the-author-wanted-an-ISBN business. No main-character-explains-the-backstory-the-exact-same-way-four-different-times verbosity.
But some writers absolutely justify their length. Their books are unwieldy because their narratives demand it, and they reward the reader by making every word count. If you're looking for a book that will keep you busy for a while, I recommend these.
Sarah
|
|
It's not a sprawling history book when everything is focused on the central thesis.
|
|
Take a fast-paced Daniel Silva thriller and ask Armando Ianucci (the creator of Veep and In the Loop) to throw in some absurdity.
|
|
It's back on the bestseller list almost a decade after publication because it does such a great job of weaving together so many individual stories.
|
|
Kearsley's books usually include parallel narratives, one historical and one present-day, and Bellewether's are both winners.
|
|
A historical thriller explores race and gender boundaries while delivering all the snappy retorts and ridiculous slang you'd expect from a novel set in the Roaring Twenties.
|
|
This crime story cares about the victim and her family as well as the broader political implications of the killing -- and how the truth emerged is just as fascinating as what actually happened.
|
|
New Perspectives
I went for a long walk recently in a part of Boston that I don’t visit very often. There’s something compelling about a place that’s almost familiar: one you’ve seen before but don’t really know. Right now, I feel I know the few places I am seeing (bedroom ceiling, a few well-tread walks, my best friend’s backyard) like the back of my hand. Even rotating grocery store displays are a little thrilling at this point, if not exactly inspiring.
I walked in this area of Boston that I know but don’t, taking in all the grand houses, thinking about what lives were happening so near and far from me. I started wanting to put people in those houses. I stood in front of one and cataloged everything about it that I thought I could learn from it: the personality of a well-dressed yard, the contrasting dust in a stained glass window. The high, proud entry way and the small pile of worn shoes beside it. I gave myself just a minute -- maybe as a challenge, maybe so as not to worry the neighbors.
As I kept walking, back to my unchanging apartment, I thought about other places like this that I’d gotten just a quick but vivid impression of: A college admissions office for a college I didn’t apply to, in a tiny yellow Victorian cottage set in the middle of a wide grass expanse, filled with intimidating, gleaming wood furniture. A playdate held with a school friend at their house, just once, making shortbread in a kitchen filtered through a childhood memory. The waiting room for a dermatologist I didn’t end up visiting again: dark with plush carpeting and squashy low couches, a too-tall coffee table offering laminated advertisements for Botox treatments and eyelash implants.
As an exercise I started to chase these places in my imagination, see who else may have visited them and what could have happened there. I don’t know these places, not really, but who might? I’m investigating via paper and pen. I’d invite you to try the same.
-Leila
|
|
Visit your friends at Cafe Zing!
|
|
Did you know our beloved Cafe Zing is open for customers? Now you know!
Open Wednesday-Saturday, 8AM-2PM! See you and your extra-shot, biggest-size-you-have iced latte at the cafe.
|
|
Antiracism Books: A Place to Start
|
|
Our bookseller bundles have expanded again! For the kiddos Stacey will send you three middle grade (ages 8-12) paperbacks. They'll be quirky or heartwarming or maybe creepy or maybe esoteric or maybe all of the above! But whatever they are they'll be great books. Kate will send you 3 paperbacks from all over the store. Type a word or phrase in the order comments and Kate will pick out three paperbacks for you. Kate reads widely, but you may especially like her picks if you enjoy slightly-off-kilter fiction, works in translation, poetry, and little books about big landscapes.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
Time Travel to Past Events
|
|
Remember when we used to have booksellers sharing bedtime stories? Who needs a repeat of Josh sharing Rodrigo Fresán from his plant-filled solarium?
|
|
|
|
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, read by Susan Dalian & Jay Aaseng
Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…
“Cole’s thriller exposes the underbelly of gentrification and prosperity, taking a searing look at systemic racism. When a pharmaceutical firm plans to move its headquarters to a historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood, an influx of rich white people displace Black residents from their homes and their roots. Timely, groundbreaking, and thought-provoking, When No One Is Watching is essential reading for the #BlackLivesMatter movement.”
--Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books
|
|
|
|
Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
|
EXPANDED OPTIONS:
Journals, Stationery & Crafts
|
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."
|
|
|
|
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!
|
Additional Book Bundle Offerings
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
|
|
|
|
Check out what our booksellers are loving this month.
|
|
|
Featured Staff Pick for Children
|
This powerful and moving novel in verse by Ibi Zoboi, written in collaboration with Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five, portrays the deep losses of those betrayed by our justice system.
-Robin
|
|
|
|
Featured Staff Pick for Adults
|
Sometimes, we all need the most amazing notebook with plenty of pages to get us through a pandemic in September. If your life is a mess, this will not solve any of your problems, but it will make it so that you can transfer a lot of your mess onto paper and forget about it. If your life is perfect, then please share your secrets with us, but still get this great notebook.
-Sinny
|
|
|
|
See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
|
|
Did you miss an installment, or want to share with a friend? The Shelf Stable Archive has all our past issues!
|
|
And don't forget to subscribe to our Events Newsletter for the full line up of events coming up, and to 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:
|
|
25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|