“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”
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Markus Hertz
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“Grab some hand sanitizer on your way in, mask stays on and over your nose while you’re in the store, and touch base with me on your way out because we’re limiting the number of people in the store at once.” By the time you read this, I’ll have said that phrase well over a hundred times. I’ll also likely have said “hanitize” and “check base,” more times than I’d like to admit. I’ll also have heard many versions of “thank you for being open,” a dozen versions of “we missed you,” and at least two versions of “I think I might cry.”
For the past two weeks, I’ve been at the front door most of the days I’ve worked at the store, greeting people, going over the protocols, telling people when the cafe is open (8AM-2PM Wednesday through Saturday) counting people with a stitch counter, and occasionally answering questions and even recommending a book or two.
We had no idea what to expect when we opened to the public again. We’d been essentially a fulfillment center for three months or so. We were just catching up on the surge of orders for antiracist books at the beginning of June that overwhelmed book stores all over the country and still smarting a bit from the very few number of people who sent angry emails because we couldn’t conjure books from thin air. We’d seen the videos flying around the internet of people refusing to wear masks. We’d had a number of challenging interactions during our own curbside pickup. And it is 2020 after all. We were nervous for both rational and irrational reasons.
And being open these two weeks has been...great. Just...really great. I generally try to be more descriptive with my prose, more evocative, more detailed but it’s been...just….really great. I’ve seen the occasional nose, but everyone has been gracious and respectful, understanding that we need those protocols and my spiel to be open at all. Some people have bought stacks of books, going out of their way to use their money to keep something important in their lives open. Some people have just browsed for a few minutes and left, almost as if we weren’t fighting fascism, racism, and COVID-19 all at the same time. And there have been people in between, coming in for one specific book, coming in for one and going out with two, coming in just to be in a bookstore and finding something to read. One customer even came in specifically to see me and get a stack of recommendations.
I’m writing this on Thursday, so there’s a chance by the time you read this, something will have changed. The COVID numbers have been good in Mass for a few weeks now, but with other parts of the country really struggling, who knows how long that will last. And then there’s the fall. And who knows what the rest of the year will look like. But there is one thing I know, one thing I am certain about despite all this, one thing I already knew but had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt these last two weeks.
Being in a bookstore is….just great.
--Josh
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Read our reopen procedures and policies!
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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!
In-Store Shopping Hours, starting
Tuesday, July 14:
Tuesday-Friday: 3PM-7PM
Saturday: 10AM-2PM, with 10AM-12PM set aside for vulnerable customers
We really appreciate your support.
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Join our next virtual events!
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Alaya Dawn Johnson with Kate Elliott
Trouble the Saints,
Monday, July 27th at 7PM
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Porter Square Books is delighted to present Alaya Dawn Johnson, author of the new novel
Trouble the Saints
, in conversation with Kate Elliott! This virtual event is hosted on Crowdcast, and is free and open to all.
The dangerous magic of
The Night Circus meets the powerful historical exploration of
The Underground Railroad in Alaya Dawn Johnson's timely and unsettling novel, set against the darkly glamorous backdrop of New York City, where an assassin falls in love and tries to change her fate at the dawn of World War II.
Amid the whir of city life, a young woman from Harlem is drawn into the glittering underworld of Manhattan, where she’s hired to use her knives to strike fear among its most dangerous denizens. Ten years later, Phyllis LeBlanc has given up everything—not just her own past, and Dev, the man she loved, but even her own dreams. Still, the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she keeps in her heart. And so Phyllis will have to make a harrowing choice, before it’s too late—is there ever enough blood in the world to wash clean generations of injustice?
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**Were you looking forward to last week's event with J. Courtney Sullivan and Joanna Rakoff for
Friends and Strangers
? Us, too! Unfortunately, we had some technical difficulties with our host platform - our first in all these months, and we're so sorry about it. The good news is that it's rescheduled for Thursday, July 30 - all the details
can be found here
!**
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Want to show your love of Porter Square Books? Order your very own Porter Square Books T-shirt!
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Visit your friends at Cafe Zing!
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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.
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I have never had any real art training. I've taken the odd class or two at Montserrat College of Art in my hometown, a disastrous children's illustration course at the MFA school where I quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing. In a kids' art course at Montserrat, I remember my five-year-old self asking the instructor, after starting a papier-mâché project, when we were going to get to the "real art." (That poor, poor teacher.) The joke was on me, really, because I have yet to get to the "real art."
But still I draw and paint and do hand-lettering. Mostly, I've learned how to use a new technique or medium because I had to for the project I wanted to do, and most of the time, those projects are for friends. One of my love languages is making, and while that usually means food, it also often means a painting or a silly cartoon of that person. Making things can be intimidating, but I'm so much more motivated when I care about the person who will be receiving it.
In the last few weeks, my extra time has been spent on two projects: a watercolor and ink poster listing the Discworld books for a dear friend to give to her partner, and the other a sign drawn in marker for my neighbor's weekend "taco stand." I am usually atrociously bad at planning things out; the fact that I measured out where components should go and how large they should be was an obvious, but nonetheless huge, lesson in efficiency. I learned that letting watercolor layers dry in between applications is the best way to create shading. I learned, mostly by tinkering around on scrap paper, how to blend watercolor to paint outer space and my best guess at what octarine magic might look like. I got a lot of practice drawing flamingos and tacos and 90s geometric pop art patterns.
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What I'm trying to say is that motivation can be even more useful than inspiration when you find it, and people you care about are good motivators. Even if you're just drawing them stupid cartoons of themselves.
--Meaghan
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As a graduate student at Columbia University, Deirdre Bair serendipitously decided she would write a biography of author and playwright Samuel Beckett; she wrote to him and he replied, saying he would neither help nor hinder her work. “So you are the one who is going to reveal me for the charlatan that I am,” he told her. And so,
Samuel Beckett: A Life was written and for this much-acclaimed biography, Bair won the National Book Award in 1981.
A decade later she followed up that book with a biography of French author, philosopher and feminist icon, Simone de Beauvoir (author of
The Second Sex) in 1990. Although difficult and demanding, de Beauvoir was willing to share her life with Bair as a way of escaping the shadow of her literary and sexual partner, Jean-Paul Sartre.
Her experiences working with, and writing about, these two most fascinating literary and philosophical figures of the 20th Century, bore her fascinating memoir:
Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Me, published in 2019 by Doubleday. This book has been described as: sparkling, gripping, delicious, and vivid, one critic wrote: “Full of encounters, reflections, tribulations, and revelations—an enthralling account of a biographer’s lot, by one of the art’s most distinguished practitioners.”
The recipient of Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships, Deidre Bair’s other books include biographies of Anaïs Nin, Carl Jung, Saul Steinberg, and Al Capone. Ms. Bair passed away in April 2020.
--Nathan
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We want to hear from you!
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Friday Fun Edition: Anyone else being haunted by ice cream trucks? What's your go-to treat?
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Sherbet cartoon characters.
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Ice cream sandwich - a classic for a classy person like me.
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Ice cream truck? I'm an adult, 'scuse you.
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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.
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Antiracism Books: A Place to Start
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Mini Illustration Giveaway!
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The wonderful authors/illustrators
Ruth Chan
and
Elisha Cooper
organized #kidlitartsurprise. Through their efforts, we have received gorgeous mini illustrations (originals) by several illustrators who wanted to help support indie bookstores right now.
For every order with a hardcover kids picture book, you will receive one mini illustration chosen at random -- they're all lovely! You can get an original by one of the following awesome creators:
You don't have to get a book illustrated by one of the contributors, though they'd surely appreciate it (several have new books! Each name above is linked to the illustrator's work on our website). Check out some of the awesome illustrations below:
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A Burning
by Megha Majumdar, featuring a cast of readers
For readers of Tommy Orange, Yaa Gyasi, and Jhumpa Lahiri, an electrifying debut novel about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise--to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies--and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
“Majumdar’s suspenseful narrative holds a mirror up to society at large, reflecting the lies people tell themselves to rationalize sacrificing morality for personal gain. Unintended consequences from an impulsive social media post explode against a backdrop of deep economic insecurities and centuries-old prejudices. A searing debut, this novel is timely and timeless. It packs a punch way above its weight. Brilliant.”
--
Lisa Johnson, Penguin Bookshop
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Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
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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!
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Our 'get 3 paperbacks' bundle options have expanded to include Caleb, Meaghan, and Shana! Get 3 paperbacks handpicked by the bookseller that fit in with their theme. You can find all bundles.
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EXPANDED OPTIONS:
Journals, Stationery & Crafts
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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."
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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!
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Book Bundle Offerings
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
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For those of us missing live music,
Trombone Shorty read by Angela Bassett might offer a little relief.
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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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They're here! Check out our bookseller's favorite books this month, and enjoy that sweet, sweet discount.
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You've seen those author interviews where the question is inevitably asked, "if you were to host a dinner party and could invite anyone you wanted who would you invite and why?" In this volume, Erica Heller, daughter of author Joseph Heller, makes it lunch and brings together the responses of 50 notable personalities like Michael Douglas, Daniel Bellow, and Bob Balaban to name a few. Questions one has always wanted answered by a loved one or admired mentor are fully fleshed out over a shared meal. Lovely distracting reading for our current times.
--Ellen
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When a city reaches a certain point, it stops being a location on a map and starts being a massive living entity. It's New York's turn now, but nothing is going the way it usually does. The city's six new human avatars need to figure out how to work together and use their powers fast or New York is doomed. A love letter to the weirdness and wonder that is New York City written in N. K. Jemisin's stunning prose.
--Shana
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See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
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Did you miss an installment, or want to share with a friend? The Shelf Stable Archive has all our past issues!
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And don't forget to subscribe to our Events Newsletter for the full line up of events coming up, and our Kids Newsletter for
all the latest on events, new books, reviews, and more for young and young-at-heart readers.
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Looking for other ways to keep up with us? Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube:
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25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
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