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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. Five or fewer books per order if possible.
We are happy to fulfill other orders, but will not be able to process them until at least May 4. Other options: try
Indiebound.org
or
Bookshop.org
- keep it indie!
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“I like best to have one book in my hand, and a stack of others on the floor beside me, so as to know the supply of poppy and mandrogora will not run out before the small hours.”--
Dorothy Parker
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Like most of my friends and family I have taken up the task of cleaning my house. So, I’ve summoned my inner Martha Stewart and have begun cleaning my apartment usually in a frenzy of determination. First, is dusting: furniture, artwork, baseboards, tops of cabinets, windowsills, etc. Then I vacuum the entire apartment – rugs and floors. After polishing the wood furniture, I scrub down the kitchen and bathroom. I’ve used Ajax, Lysol Spray Cleaner, Mr. Clean, Clorox Foam Cleaner, plain soap and water, a homemade bleach and water spray. But what I found works best on nearly everything is what I describe as My Beloved Windex.
Windex, now owned by SC Johnson, was invented in 1933 as a glass and hard surface cleaner. It comes in many varieties including Windex Multi-Purpose Spray that not only disinfectants, but it guarantees no streaks. Another version is made with vinegar; another one with lavender; then there’s the original Windex that works on dirt, grime and grease. That product has a soothing blue color that comes from something called Liquitint Sky Blue Dye.
Anyone with stainless steel appliances knows about fingerprints so I decided to clean my refrigerator, stove and dishwasher with my magic friend. Sure enough: I miraculously had perfectly clean and shiny appliances with no streaks or prints.
The kitchen floor – why not? Spraying the Windex directly onto the ceramic tiles I take a clean cloth and carefully wipe the floor. Again, no streaks and as an added bonus, the floor is now disinfected. I could, if I was so inclined, serve dinner on my floor. I’m reminded of Gus in
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
; he was a celluloid lover of Windex.
The one negative is that it can be a bit toxic if you spray it on, or too close to your face – you also don’t want to breathe it in, or get it in your eyes, and although it has been suggested, under no circumstances should you inject or ingest it. That means NO WINDEX SPRITZERS!
Yours spotlessly, Nathan
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Join our next virtual event!
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Tell-All Boston with Maya Lang
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Porter Square Books is pleased to bring you Tell-All Boston--virtually! With special guest Maya Lang and featuring readings from Susan McGee Bailey, Alicia Googins, Shirley Jones-Luke, and Linda K. Wertheimer. To attend, register
here
.
In caring for her aging mother and her own young daughter, writer Maya Shanbhag Lang—“a new voice of the highest caliber” (Rebecca Makkai)—confronts the legacy of family myths and how the stories shared between parents and children reverberate through generations: a deeply moving memoir about immigrants and their native-born children, the complicated love between mothers and daughters, and the discovery of strength.
Maya Shanbhag Lang grew up idolizing her brilliant mother, an accomplished physician who immigrated to the United States from India and completed her residency, all while raising her children and keeping a traditional Indian home. She had always been a source of support—until Maya became a mother herself. Then, the parent who had once been so capable and attentive turned unavailable and distant. Struggling to understand this abrupt change while raising her own young child, Maya searches for answers and soon learns that her mother is living with Alzheimer’s.
When Maya steps in to care for her, she comes to realize that despite their closeness, she never really knew her mother. Were her cherished stories—about life in India, about what it means to be an immigrant, about motherhood itself—even true? Affecting, raw, and poetic,
What We Carry
is the story of a daughter and her mother, of lies and truths, of receiving and giving care—and how we cannot grow up until we fully understand the people who raised us.
Our goal is to foster a community of honesty and discovery, through the power of memoir.
Join us!
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Featured Staff Pick for Adults
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Summer Solstice
by Nina MacLaughlin
A short and sweet essay about the season I'm sure we're all desperately looking forward to now
.
--
Heather
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Get your Fresh Rolls here!
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Fresh roll Tuesday with Cafe Zing is back! Order your favorite Vietnamese fresh rolls (in packs of 10), chocolate croissants and/or coffee beans for curbside pickup on Tuesday, 5/5.
Make sure to get your order in by 4pm on Monday, and get 'em while they're cold, crisp, and oh-so-delicious.
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Stacey's Semi-Satirical Suggestions for Self-Improvement
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Have you also been bombarded with content telling you now is the time to learn a new language, a new instrument, how to bake, a new hobby? Are you also feeling bummed because you don’t have the motivation/can’t find flour/can’t go to a musical instrument store? Don’t despair. Success is all in how you frame things.
For example, my new hobby is bugging other PSB booksellers on slack to fight my growing suspicion that nothing is real.
Other ways of looking at things:
- Don’t worry about learning a new language. I’m sure after so much time in isolation, your current languages will feel rusty. Practice talking to everything. Narrate your life. I’m sure any partners or housemates will love it.
- Did you cut your own hair? Perfect! Your new hobby is hair styling.
- Do you stare out the window wistfully? Turn your longing into birdwatching! It might just turn into pigeon watching, but at least they’re goofy.
- Have you been cooking more since being stuck at home? If so, then I’m sure there has been improvement there! Maybe not a hobby, but still something to feel good about.
- If you can’t find flour, baking without it can be done (more easily if you can digest dairy). Otherwise, reading about baking totally counts.
- Do you find yourself often just stuck in a chair, not feeling like getting up? Totally fine, just start leaning from side to side and looking all around. There, you’re stretching.
- Having trouble concentrating on reading? Find yourself picking books up and then just leaving them somewhere? You’re just slowly reorganizing your bookshelves. One book at a time.
- Stuck in your head just thinking all the time? Come up with curious ways to curse the times in the past where you thought it would be lovely to be stuck inside with some time for yourself.
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Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
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Events are back, baby! Want to stay up to date on the full upcoming line up of virtual happenings? Make sure you're signed up for our events newsletter!
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For all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers. We'll be adding more of these so stay tuned.
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Are you missing out on our recommendations, pining for our Staff Pick display?? Our May crop of staff picks is now live on our website! We'll feature titles throughout the month, but you can browse the full list at the link below. As ever, all staff picks are 20% off - so go crazy!
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I love to cook. Over the last year, I’ve probably cooked dinner at home 3-4 nights a week, and since social distancing began, I’ve been cooking about five nights a week. I am also a food editor at a food media company, so I essentially consume (pun intended) food-related content 24/7. I have a lot of cookbooks and I religiously follow a few food blogs and cook from them often. But last night, I did something somewhat unprecedented for me—I created my own recipe. I was in the mood for comfort food, i.e. pasta and cheese, and I was inspired by this
Bon Appétit article
, the America’s Test Kitchen recipe for Fettuccine with Butter and Cheese, and
this recipe
that my significant other and I made last weekend.
I browned butter, caramelized (
really
caramelized) mushrooms, made pasta, added some cream and parm to the mushrooms, and then added the mushroom mixture, some more butter, a LOT of parm, a bunch of frozen peas, and a LOT of pasta water to the pot with the (drained) spaghetti. I tossed it, covered it, and let it sit for five minutes before tossing it again and serving. It was silky and cheesy and delicious and super comforting—and it felt good to have drawn the parts together in my head and then made it happen.
So, anyway, the moral of the story is that if you’re cooking at home right now, maybe try something new this week. Think about what you’re craving and how you can combine those foods, read some food articles and mash them together. I hope you can all find ways to enjoy yourselves in the kitchen this week, and eat food that brings you joy. Also—if you make pasta this week,
please
put more salt than you think you need in the pasta water and
save some of your pasta water before draining and add it to your sauce and pasta! Your pasta (and tastebuds) will thank you.
Happy cooking (and eating),
April
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Kate's readings from
The Hobbit
have been a real highlight, so here is part three again. And if you've missed any of our bedtime stories, or want to revisit your favorite, you can see most of them
here
.
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And of course, don't forget to meet us over at our Instagram story at 8:45pm for tonight's live bedtime 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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Featured Staff Pick For Kids
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Clap When You Land
by Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Acevedo has done it again! Like in her award-winning
The Poet X
Acevedo gives us a beautiful, lyrical look into the life of her protagonists. What I love about this is that in spite of the gripping premise (two girls from opposite sides of the world discover they are half-sisters after their father dies) there’s such a focus on the specific lives of each main character. There are no blanket statements about the two cultures they hail from (though plenty of insights into both), just two people that seem so real they could walk off the page.
--Caleb
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A Porter Square Books Choose Your Own Adventure!
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You squint at the pages of the book in the phonelight for more cluees and notice you read the poem wrong the first time. It actually says "a letter beneath your PAWS." As soon as you notice that a series of large cat-like paw prints start shining on the floor in front of you. You follow them until they branch off in three directions. Each direction leads to a door with a different symbol on top. One door has the duck symbol from the spine of the book, another has what looks like a cake, and the third has a...is that floor lamp?
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Go through the door with the duck
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Go through the door with the cake
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Go through the door with the floor lamp
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Check the book again for more clues.
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The Bird King
by G. Willow Wilson
“Fatima is a concubine of the sultan of the last emirate in the Iberian Peninsula to submit to the Spanish Inquisition. When her dearest friend, Hassan, a mapmaker who can map places he has never seen (and that do not always exist), is singled out by the Inquisition, she flees with him and a jinn, following the trail of the elusive and mythical Bird King, who may or may not be able to grant them sanctuary. Wilson’s latest novel is rich with the historical detail, lush description, and fantastical elements that we have come to know and love from her. A story of resistance, freedom, seeking, and strength, and a true fable for our times.
”
--Anna Elkund, University Bookstore
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See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
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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:
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25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
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