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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 18. Other options: try
Indiebound.org
or
Bookshop.org
- keep it indie!
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“
You may have tangible wealth untold. Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be — I had a mother who read to me.
”
―
Strickland Gillian
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My mom and I have always had very different tastes in fiction, but we've always bonded over our shared love of fairy tales. We had our favorites, like
The Balloon Tree
by Phoebe Gilman and
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
by Marianna Mayer and Kinuko Craft (which made such an impression on us that my youngest sister is named Elise after the youngest of the princesses in the story). But what we loved to do most of all is go to the library, find the fairy tale section, and take out a dozen different versions of the same story.
Humorous
,
beautiful
,
an
interesting twist
, a
different cultural background
,
it didn't matter. We bonded over the many ways the same story could be told.
Which is to say, my love of fan fiction started early.
Now that I'm older, my tastes have changed some, but my love of fairy tales remains in both my reading and my writing.
Cinder
by Marissa Meyer features a future Beijing where Cinder is a mechanic with a cyborg foot.
Girls Made of Snow and Glass
by Melissa Bashardoust has unique and fascinating magic, a queer love story, and a central focus on the relationship between Snow White and the "Evil" Queen.
Indexing
by Seanan McGuire twists together a bunch of different stories to create a detective agency responsible for defusing fairy tales before they can wreak havoc on the rest of the world.
It's nice being able to come back to these same old familiar stories now that the world's gone insane. Nicer still that I can go back to them and not be faced with the passive princesses and extreme heteronormativity of the original stories. Mom taught me I didn't have to accept the first way a story was told as the only way it could be told. She's such a huge part of why I love reading, and I'm glad we still have these stories that continue to connect us through everything.
Happy Mother's Day.
-
Shana
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Join our next virtual event!
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Friday, May 22 @ 7pm
Welcome to the Neighborhood:
An Anthology Reading
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Welcome to the Neighborhood: An Anthology of American Coexistence:
Literary Collection
Join Porter Square Books virtually for a reading with contributors to the new anthology
Welcome to the Neighborhood: An Anthology of American Coexistence! Featured readers include Katherine Hollander, Aaron Devine, Sarah Green, Sonya Larson, Jennifer De Leon, Lynne Viti, and Lloyd Schwartz.
How to live with difference—not necessarily in peace, but with resilience, engagement, and a lack of vitriol—is a defining worry in America at this moment. The poets, fiction writers, and essayists (plus one graphic novelist) who contributed to
Welcome to the Neighborhood don’t necessarily offer roadmaps to harmonious neighboring. Some of their narrators don’t even want to be neighbors. Maybe they grieve, or rage. Maybe they briefly find resolution or community. But they do approach the question of what it means to be neighbors, and how we should do it, with open minds and nuance.
The many diverse contributors give this collection a depth beyond easy answers. Their attentions to the theme of neighborliness as an ongoing evolution offer hope to readers: possible pathways for rediscovering community, even just by way of a shared wish for it. The result is an enormously rich resource for the classroom and for anyone interested in reflecting on what it means to be American today, and how place and community play a part.
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Blessings in the Midst of Trials
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March 12 was THE DAY when all 3 ADULT CHILDREN decided to work from THIS HOME for the DURATION.
Fortunately I had planned for such a scenario by buying fabulous puzzles (thank you Katie) and many Indie top sellers, plus the games Taboo and Listography, during my last normal shift at the bookstore. Didn’t think of the food or the laundry detergent we would actually need, only the bare necessities, all from Porter Square Books, to entertain my family for an unknown period of time.
We have completed the puzzles and will pass them on when possible.
We have read
My Dark Vanessa, Afterlife, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Such a Fun Age, Nothing To See Here, Hidden Valley, Dark Matter
- a built-in book group. We have gardened and walked and biked (masked of course) and enjoyed family dinners and quality couch time.
Plus we all still have our jobs.
Amazing! These are my blessings.
The trials are not being able to hug my friends when they need support, not being able to see my 4 sisters, 3 in different states and 1 in Canada, reading about COVID 19 and the destruction and despair it causes, and seeing my surgeon husband leave to go to the hospital almost every single day of this quarantine. My trials can be born because of my blessings.
The lilacs are blooming with their delicious fragrance, lily of the valley is starting to open, the mowed grass smells wonderful, the air is fresh, and the sky is oh so blue.
What will our dogs do when the house is empty again? The kitten has only known a full house so she too will miss the hubbub. What will I do? I am a mother, first and foremost, and my children came home to quarantine - how lucky am I!
Happy Mother’s Day.
-
Megan
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Featured Staff Pick for Adults
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Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
by Sonali Dev
In
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
, Sonali Dev creates a vibrant modern
Pride and Prejudice
retelling that manages to feel fresh. Trisha Raje is a prominent neurosurgeon and DJ Caine is a rising-star chef who quits his job and moves to California because his sister is sick. The two collide—explosively—throughout the novel, and the tension and slow burn will keep you reading and wondering what will happen even if you know how
Pride and Prejudice
ends. I flew through it, captured by the tension, the well-developed characters and families, and the many, many descriptions of DJ's cooking. Bonus: The sequel comes out at the end of May! --
April
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FRESH ROLL TUESDAYS at Cafe Zing!
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With Apologies to Edward Lear
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There once was a bookstore, not a chain, T’was an Indie of quite some fame. Customers flocked to Porter Square Books Where oft they would read, in small quiet nooks And rewards they did reap, buying books and some games.
Then to our dismay a pandemic caused fear And Porter Square Books had to jump into high gear. Selling books on our website and working from home One owner at a time through the shelves has to comb For novels and sci fi, and Katie’s puzzles so dear.
The buyers never stop, Ellen, Robin, and Dale Keeping Todd our receiver very hearty and hale. Shana, Ari and Meaghan drive and deliver Books around here and along the Charles River. While Sarah and Sinny work hard to shelve and answer email.
Stacey and Bear stay cozy and don’t roam Writing many good letters for all those at home Shelf Stables celebrates its 50th issue Spearheaded by our Josh and our Leila, in situ. And also with Caleb, whom we would so like to clone!
James, April, and Heather, Hannah and Claire Also create and have their own flare. As we wait with excitement for Carter’s newborn You can be sure we will celebrate him with a storm And Marika is hoping for a fall start of book fairs.
Nathan and his Windex story keep customers laughing, While all of us booksellers would like to be staffing Once again in the store among the shelves and the counter. For Kate to assemble a fine schedule, we do not doubt her. And Dina and David for their loyal customers will be clapping.
-
Megan
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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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Sign up for Shelf Stable recently and want to catch up on what you missed? Or maybe you want to share this whole Shelf Stable business with someone in your life who hasn't signed up for it? Check out the full archive!
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Stacey Approved Screen Time
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I don’t watch much; even now in quarantine, I’ve barely watched anything (I have various theories as to why, but that’s another topic). On the rare occasions when I do, I usually watch an animated movie or TV show that I consider all-ages. Anything by Studio Ghibli definitely falls into that category (please don’t imagine I’m sitting at home, binge watching
The Land Before Time series, ugh). I think many people are familiar with Studio Ghibli (I’m not going to talk about them here, but please check them out if you have not already), but I imagine fewer are familiar with other movies from their distributor:
GKids. It’s rare that I don’t like a GKids film, so I thought I would introduce a couple of my favorites.
Such an adorable move with beautiful artwork. Ernest the bear and Celestine the mouse are told by society that they cannot mix. The terrifying bears live above ground, and the mice stay below ground. As you might expect, that doesn’t stop Ernest and Celestine.
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Saoirse is the last of child of Selkies, but her powers have not manifested. With the spirit world in danger, she and her brother go on a mythical journey to save the world of magic and awaken her powers. Heartwarming, wonderfully animated, and loaded with Irish mythology.
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A masterful cacophony of music and colors. Follows the story of a boy who leaves his rural life in a village to find his father in the city. There’s so much in this movie, from the art to the subtler messages. It’s…a little hard to describe, but wonderful.
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A special Mother's Day themed NSI.
Making your own vinegar is a great quarantine activity. It's not labor intensive, you're going to be around anyway, homemade vinegars are amenable to fidgeting, futzing, poking, & prodding, and since you'll be using stuff you were likely going to throw out anyway, you don't really lose anything if it doesn't turn out well. I've been making my own vinegars for years now and I got started with a simple apple scrap vinegar.
To make apple scrap vinegar you need:
Apple scraps (any time you've peeled & cored an apple)
Water
Something to kick off the process
Simply leave the apple scraps out to dry for a little bit (not more than a few hours), cover them with water, and add either a sugar of some kind (
as in this recipe) or a little unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (more on that later), cover with cheese cloth or a towel and...wait. Depending on the temperature of your house, the bacteria in the air, in the starter, on the apples, etc., it can take a couple of weeks to well over a month to be ready. How do you know? Well you've just got to taste it. The stages of vinegar usually go something like this: Apply water, I can see where this is going, Oh, This Will Some Day Be Vinegar, Huh?, That's Weird, Oh God It's Poison, THIS IS DELICIOUS. Once it hits THIS IS DELICIOUS pull out all the solids, jar it up and put it in the fridge.
The only thing you really need to look our for is mold. If you see something green or blue or furry floating on top just scoop it out with a spoon. If you also have a sourdough starter going or have been hitting the craft beer pretty hard, you might end up with yeast in your vinegar. You can scoop it out just like mold or get rid of it by filtering the vinegar through a coffee filter. As you develop a palate for it (because, honestly, you can develop a palate for anything) you'll learn when to switch out the apple material, when to let it "cure' by pulling out the scraps, sealing it up, and leaving it for while, and when it might need an extra boost of starter.
But Josh, now that I've got all this vinegar, what do I do with it? Well it's lovely as part of a salad dressing. I think it makes a great base for homemade hot sauces and shrubs. You can also infuse vinegar with herbs and spices and use it like bitters. Or you could make
switchels. (I highly recommend making switchels.) Really, you can use your vinegar in any recipe that calls for apple cider vinegar, just know that your vinegar is likely to have less acid than commercial vinegar so adjust accordingly.
Finally, don't use it all! Vinegar is essentially made by herds of bacteria, herds that have generations just like every other living thing. Using your old vinegar to start your next batch adds complexity and depth of flavor, so each batch is a little different and also a little better. (I fully intend for my descendants to fight over my vinegar starter.) One more thing. Do you have an oozy, slimy, viscous disc of globule-ness floating around? (Not pictures, obviously.) Congratulations! You have a
vinegar mother! (See what I did there?) A vinegar mother is like a starter times 10. It will make the vinegaring process faster and produce better flavor. If you're not making another batch right away, just put the mother in a jar, cover it with vinegar, and seal it up. It will be reading for you next round whenever you are.
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But Josh, you might be thinking to yourself, apple season is, like, three months away. Good news, friend! Really anything that is mostly liquid but has some sugar in it will vinegar. Something like...let's see what's in here, ah, that beer you don't like that your buddy left in your fridge or that last cup or two of wine you weren't a fan of. Each different base will produce a different flavor. And, if you use your own starter, all of that depth of flavor will come along with you. An old can of Guinness and an even older Harpoon Winter Warmer (pictured here) produced two of my favorite vinegars.
-
Josh
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Meaghan reads from staff favorite
Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
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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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Eek, You Reek!: Poems about Animals That Stink, Stank, Stunk
by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple, illustrated by
Eugenia Nobati
This fun, dynamic collection of poems highlights animals that stink! Stellar illustrations featuring expressive animal characters and detailed backgrounds accompany each poem. With actual facts in the poems and strong back matter, this book will appeal to everyone from goofy kids to teachers.
--Marika
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A Porter Square Books Choose Your Own Adventure!
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You figure it's time to phone a friend, so you click on the address book and for a second, you wish you had thrown the phone into the ocean. Your gestures and expressions of frustration are so pronounced that they draw a hushed, "Zounds, does rage of some sort boil the blood and being our new companion. Pray, friends, such a rage be not infections and soil our noble pirating with incandescent fury." from Summit the Pirate and a cascade of worried glances from the rest. You're angry because you see the same three symbols again; duck, cake, and lamp. But before being overcome with despair you notice that you can scroll to a fourth contact! And...it's the witch who sent you for the rum in the first place (maybe this is Kanye's phone) grinning wide and throwing up an exuberant "call me" sign in the picture.
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You're seriously giving me the option of calling a lamp?!
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Call the witch. What's the worst that can happen?
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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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