|
|
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 April 7. Other options: try
Indiebound.org
or
Bookshop.org
- keep it indie!
|
|
“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
– Alan Bennett
|
|
Hello readers,
Above is one of my favorite quotes from
The History Boys
, a play by Alan Bennett. In the theatre, we often talked about the visceral connection between the performers and the audience, allowing you to reciprocally share energy and emotion with complete strangers. It was what kept bringing us back to the stage.
As readers, you of course know that you can find that same heady feeling in a good book. Words allow you to experience someone else’s passion, pain, or joy from across continents and centuries. You share moments of catharsis with every other reader who’s laughed or cried at the same passage. You can even find a community of other people with the same love of reading--social media has made this easier than ever before.
In this time of isolation, I’m so grateful for this community of readers. Your love of books and support of independent bookstores is vitalizing and inspiring, and I think I speak for the entire staff when I say we love interacting with you through newsletters, messages, social media videos, and especially book recommendations. We’re always here to help you find some literary hands to hold.
Yours in books
,
Kate @ PSB
|
|
Go To Sleel (I Miss You): Graphic Memoir
We are such huge fans of Lucy Knisley's work, and we know you all are as well, based on the huge line we had last time we hosted Lucy at the store! We're truly sorry to have missed her for this one, which was a last minute score for our March calendar.
Lucy Knisley is one of the great memoirists of the graphic novel format. Following the completion of her pregnancy memoir
Kid Gloves
(and the birth of her baby), Lucy embarked on a new project: documenting new motherhood in short, spontaneous little cartoons, which she posted
on her Instagram
, and which quickly gained her a huge cult following among other moms.
The best of those wildly popular little cartoons are collected in this adorable gift book,
Go to Sleep (I Miss You)
, a perfect read for expecting parents, new parents, and anyone who loves funny, relatable comics storytelling.
If you're not following Lucy on
Twitter
or
Instagram
yet, we suggest it - especially for relatable mom content and snippets of material, like her Virus Diaries series.
|
Featured Staff Pick for Adults
|
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
What is the best way to live in a cruel and barbaric world? How should we value the lives of animals compared to those of humans? Who is worthy of a voice? These are the questions confronting Janina—an elderly astrologist living in a rural Polish village. Translated from its original Polish in 2018, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a dark fable with a complicated morality and eccentric humor fit for our contemporary predicaments. --
Justin, Writer in Residence for Adults
|
We're celebrating our own impromptu bookish holiday! Check out how a few of our friends are joining the virtual party:
|
|
Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
|
For all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
|
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!
|
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!
|
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.
|
|
I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a guess that I'm not alone in being a major collector of notebooks. There's just that thrill of finding a gorgeous blank book to fill, especially when it's the right size, page treatment, design you've been looking for. Sometimes the physical notebook itself is what launches a the inspiration for a project!
But did you know it's actually not hard to make one yourself? If I can do it, anyone can, so give it a try if you've got a spare sketch pad and some thick thread (waxed is best) on hand. There's something unique about writing your thoughts in a creation of your own. Check out this short tutorial on one of the simplest ways to be a bookbinder at home using the Coptic style.
|
|
Don't forget that the best part is decorating your notebook - you can write or draw on the cardboard before you use it, wrap it in paper, make a collage or use stickers, and so on - endless opportunities to customize for your own purposes.
Here's a handbound book from a professional - I purchased this in Kyoto from one of the oldest paper factories, situated along the Path of Philosophy. The print is actually taken from recycled kimono patterns. One pitfall: it's so beautiful I've yet to fill it! Maybe this is my chance.
|
Of course, if all this seems a little ~*ambitious*~ for you--never fear. You can always go the easier route of creating and then personalizing a paper cover for your notebooks! (Remember doing that back in high school to protect your textbooks?) Here's one a friend made for me for Galentine's Day. It doesn't need to be fancy - it's special just because it was made specially for me. Sometimes that's all it takes!
|
|
Don't miss our live bedtime stories!
|
|
At around 8:45pm each night on Instagram Live, the PSB booksellers you know and love will be regaling you with renditions from some of our favorites. We'll do our best to save these and add them to our YouTube channel - but not going to lie, it's pretty lovely to have a live audience to enjoy it!
Tune in at 8:45pm weeknights on our Instagram story to be read to!
|
|
You gotta catch 'em while they're happening with wee Meg - save your reading videos for the people, Meaghan! - but last night featured costumed readings from
Hemingway's A Moveable Feast
. Reasons to follow us on Instagram, people!
|
|
Introducing a new series from your PSB booksellers: PSB Cribs! We can't share the shelves in our store with you right now, so we'll do you one better - we're bringing you into our homes to show off our shelves, reading nooks, memorabilia and more! Here's Shana giving you the tour of their new place. Stay tuned for future installments!
|
|
Got a great set up of your own? We'd love to see - send us a photo!
|
|
Support Cafe Zing baristas!
|
|
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?
|
|
Featured Staff Pick For Kids
|
Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura
A speed skater and a figure skater team up for training -- and fall in love.
--Sarah
|
|
We want to hear from you!
|
|
Got a great Porter Square Books story? A favorite memory, purchase, interaction you'd like to share? We'd love to hear them! Send us a paragraph and let us know if you're OK with us sharing. We'll try not to cry!
|
|
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
"
Oona Out of Order
is a work of fiction that genuinely encouraged me to reflect upon my own mortality and the trajectory of my life. Oona wakes up on her birthday every year in a different part of her life. The difficulty this imposes is fascinating. Pop culture and music is ever-present, as Oona is a musician and chapter titles are taken from song titles or lyrics. What would it be to live your life out of order? To instinctively want to second guess and redo what you saw as failures? At the heart,
Oona Out of Order
is about mastering the art of living in the moment and it is a terribly fun romp."
-Rachel, Avid Bookshop
|
|
See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
|
|
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
:
|
|
25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
