WORD FROM WELLERS | APRIL 2020
A Word from Catherine
Dear Weller Book Works Customers,

I have a board book on my desk right now, Counting on Community by Innosanto Nagara . Though the book is for toddlers, it’s a wonderful read for anyone – especially in these times. It begins at One, as counting books do, “Living in community, it’s a lot of FUN! Let’s count the ways. Let’s start with ONE..“ and goes on to play dates, urban farmers, and bike helmets to share.

At this moment I am heartened by people helping one another with errands, chores, gifts of much needed paper products, and so much more. Likewise, the booksellers of Weller Book Works impress me with their dedication and generosity. Those unable to work have been accommodated by co-workers or have given their hours to someone more at ease in a public space. Another bookseller stepped away from his duties entirely so others not as financially well off could work his shifts. We started a Mutual Aid board so people with something to share could connect with a co-worker who needed something. They’ve all cleaned like we’ve never cleaned before and maintained safe distances from each other and customers
 All of that so we could maintain our bookstore community.

You, our customers have ordered over the phone and online in large numbers. You’ve called and written with your support. Thank you!!! Your efforts have helped keep our doors open and our booksellers employed thus far. We are always grateful for each and every of your purchases; we’re doubly so now.

Now, to keep our bookstore community safe, we must close our doors to the public until the Covid-19 emergency has abated. Tony and I made the difficult decision to furlough our employees so there will be a store for them to come back to when this is all over. In the meantime, as long as we can, Tony and I will be in the store processing orders for shipments and curbside pick-up.

We will continue to be your booksellers when this is over. You can help us, and our booksellers, by continuing to purchase books, ebooks, and audiobooks from us. Consider a gift certificate. After all, you’re going to want to come in as soon as it’s possible.

It’s times such as these when we can become as small as our fears make us or as large as our hearts allow. Let’s please continue to count on community so that after we’ve reached 10, as the book says, “I can count on you and you can count on me.”

Catherine Weller
From the Rare Book Room...





Scarce Church of Christ (Whitmerite) Nephite Records , better known as The Book of Mormon . Printed in Kansas City in 1899. We offer a copy of this unusual Book of Mormon from a now defunct Mormon branch. Our copy is a discarded library copy with fewer than usual library marks: black patch with white numerals on spine; library stamps on endsheets; an ink number and discard stamp on title page; stamps on text-block edges. It looks as though not many at the Tennessee library used this book. Seldom seen. $1250

You can still browse & order books on our website
and place orders over the phone!


We’ll be processing & shipping orders 
Monday - Saturday 12 - 5 PM

We’re glad to facilitate curb-side pickup during these hours, just give us a call & let us know when you arrive.



We ship world-wide! 🌏🌍🌎


📚 Phone orders - reach us at 801-328-2586

📚 Audiobooks are available on our website through our friends at Libro.fm

📚 Ebooks from Hummingbird and  Kobo


ï»żThank you for your support! 
We look forward to seeing you more when it’s again possible
💗


Bookseller Thoughts...
‌
Prescient Books for the Frustrated
By Holden Rasmussen


Pandemic, the cementation of capitalism, and the impossibility of any sort of collective liberation from exploitation has me down. Here are three prescient books for people feeling similarly frustrated.




ï»żMinor Angels by Antoine Volodine is a small, strange book cataloguing ‘narracts’ of forty-nine titular ‘minor angels’ living in a post-cataclysmic world, wherein a man made out of lint rebirths capitalism to his immortal, revolutionary grandmothers’ righteous fury. Yes, that is the best summary I have. What comes from crisis, revolutionary visions reified or the same disappointment?



ï»żDiscipline and Punish by Michel Foucault , one of the most influential studies of the twentieth-century, establishes how and why the plague city and its techniques proliferated across the Occident in the modern era. Not just a descriptive account of political, legal, and medical history, but also a philosophical account of how we are into the types of subjects we are. This is, in Foucault’s words, an exploration of the ‘modern soul’ forged in an age of surveillance and mass science.




Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein adroitly exposes just how crises and catastrophes are used to prevent people from confronting the systems that sowed their own annihilation (read, “the United States since the advent of 1980s neoliberal economics and policies that helped inform leaving public health infrastructure to the private sector”). By no means perfect and adequately nuanced, it is a timely book that, in the hands of a curious, critical reader, can serve as a jumping off point to more nuanced conclusions.
Community space is one of the most wonderful parts of a brick-and-mortar indie bookstore, but while we need to practice our social distancing, keep in mind that you can always give us a call to check on and purchase books , call us to provide delivery if you're nearby , and visit us online.

📚




Let us know if you'd like a curb-side pickup when you place an order

ï»żShop local, shop indie!




Don't see an event you were looking for?

All of our in-person events have been postponed until at least May in accordance with CDC COVID-19 recommendations.

ï»żWe'll get you revised details as soon as possible!
TUESDAY MARCH 31

Anti-Science & Pandemic , a discussion via Zoom

with Betsy Gaines Quammen
and David Quammen

6:30 PM
Webinar ID: 602 235 952

Our virtual discussion with Betsy Gaines Quammen & David Quammen , Anti-Science and Pandemic , will focus on the science behind the Covid-19 outbreak, the origins of disease and how our current anti-science administration and pockets of American culture have made our handling of outbreak so much harder. They'll talk about Betsy's new book American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God & Public Lands in the West , David's book Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic , and how current social issues intersect with the two. Special guest Boots the python will grace us with his presence. 🐍

Tune in this evening at 6:30PM!
(You can also find the link on our Facebook page)
P OSTPONED UNTIL JULY 25
WRITING VIOLENCE: A Creative Writing Workshop for Survivors of Domestic Violence

Facilitated by Kate Wisel
author of Driving in Cars with Homeless Men

We're sad to have to postpone this fantastic, important workshop, but looking forward to hosting it this July! We encourage anyone whose life has been touched by domestic violence to attend. Writing materials will be provided.

A fter the workshop, Kate will be available to discuss and sign her short story collection Driving in Cars with Homeless Men , a love letter to women moving through violence. These linked stories are set in the streets and the bars, the old homes, the tiny apartments, and the landscape of a working-class Boston. Serena, Frankie, Raffa, and Nat collide and break apart like pool balls to come back together in an imagined post-divorce future. With riotous energy and rage, they run towards the future in the hopes of untangling themselves from failure to succeed and fail again.
Thank you for supporting your local, independent bookstore!
Weller Book Works | 801-328-2586 | books@wellerbookworks.com | wellerbookworks.com
Store hours: Monday-Thursday, 11 AM-8 PM | Friday-Saturday, 10 AM-9 PM | Sunday, 12 PM-5 PM