Cellar Door Books
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News & Events
 March 2020
5225 Canyon Crest Dr. #30A, Riverside CA | 951.787.7807 | cellardoorbookstore.com
Store Hours: Mon - Sat 10 am-8pm | Sun 10 am-6 pm
Upcoming Events
Kids and Young Adult
Adults
Friday, March 6 at 6 pm
Teen Advisory Board Meeting		 Friday, March 13 at 6 pm
In Conversation with Patrice Caldwell
Friday, March 13 at 6 pm
In Conversation with Patrice Caldwell		 Sunday, March 29 at 3 pm
James Brown with Orlando Ramirez
Saturday, March 28 at 11 am
Drag Queen Story Hour		 Wednesday, April 1 at 6 pm
Discussion with Matthew W. King
Thursday, April 2 at 6 pm
Reading with Ernesto Cisneros
February Best "Cellars"

1. Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings
     Harry N. Abrams |  9781419731334
2.  American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins
     Flatiron|  9781250209764
3.  Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
     Spriegel & Grau |  9780812984965
4. The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande
      Washington Square Press |  9781451661781
5.  Good Morning, Midnight, Reginald Hill
    HarperCollins. |  9780062945037
6.  Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, Isabel Quintero
     Cinco Puntos Press |  9781935955955
7. Nevermoor: The Trails of Morrigan Crow, Jessica Townsend
     Little Brown Books for Young Readers |  9780316508896
8.  Woman World, Aminder Dhaliwal
     Drawn and Quarterly |  9781770463356
9. Conversations with the Fat Girl, Liza Palmer
     Forever   |  9781538715987
10. Upgrade Soul, Ezra Clayton Daniels
     Oni Press |  9781549302923
March Staff Picks
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Deacon King Kong by James McBride (available 3/3):
"In the fall of 1969, the deacon of a church in the housing projects of Brooklyn shoots a young drug dealer in front of the neighborhood. Every character is infused with such depth and complexity that stereotypes are washed away in the cool water of these pages. McBride brilliantly gives us joy without diminishing the difficulties of poverty and racism, and humor so warm and loving you'll be sad to leave this community." - Linda
 
Pre-order your copy here.

Stamped by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi (available 3/10): " Jason Reynolds has remixed Stamped so that kids can understand, define, and explain racism. W e need to understand it as an insidiously woven justification of some of the ugliest policies and perceptions throughout US history. Read this book (it's not just for kids!); then gift it to a friend, a student, a teacher, a principal.   Go to your school board, demand it as a One Community/One Read.  There is hope within these pages but only with a commitment to acknowledge and work to change." -  Linda

  Pre-order your copy here.

Little Constructions by Anna Burns: "This book is so wild. It twists, turns, spirals, and honestly confuses at times, but its richness will keep you turning the pages. The history of the Doe's - a violent and dysfunctional clan - and their town unravels as you read, and when it all comes together... wow. If you can keep all the 'J' names straight, it's worthwhile sticking around for the pay-off. What an interesting and unique read!" - Karen

Purchase your copy here.

Real Life by Brandon Taylor: "This was one of those books that I needed to mark up; I put it down multiple times to let the words fully settle in. Wallace is black, gay, southern, and navigating life as a grad student in the biochem department at a Midwestern university. Real Life  breaks down the truth behind the emotional implications that face so many like Wallace . It should be read and talked about and shared. It is timely, necessary, and a complete feat of a debut novel." - Elisa

Purchase your copy here.
Patrice Caldwell in conversation with Nalo Hopkinson
Friday, March 13 at 6 pm

We're pleased to welcome Patrice Caldwell for her debut anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope (out 3/10)! She'll be in conversation with the amazing Nalo Hopkinson, a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor who teaches at UCR. 

Beyonce's Lemonade meets Octavia Butler in sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors (including Elizabeth Acevedo, Amerie, and Ibi Zoboi) that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science-fiction, and magic. Linda says of Phoenix, " If story is the ground in which we plant the seeds of our stronger, prouder selves, more comfortable in our skins no matter what shade, what gender or non-conforming gender, then give Caldwell's collection to every teen you know and watch the blooms."
Drag Queen Story Hour
Saturday, March 28 at 11 am

Join three of the most beautiful Drag Queens ever for a story hour filled with warmth, laughter, great stories,  and love!  Join us in welcoming back Kelly K, Scalene OnixXx, and Athena Monet Kills.

Tickets are required to attend our Drag Queen Story Hour. By purchasing a ticket you agree to comply with our code of conduct.

James Brown in conversation with Orlando Ramirez
Sunday, March 29 at 3 pm

Join us in welcoming local author and Cal State San Bernadino professor of English and Creative Writing, James Brown, for a conversation about his latest memoir, Apology to the Young Addict (out 3/3!). He'll be in conversation with Orlando Ramirez, author of [?].

Now sixty - with years of sobriety under his belt - Brown writes about finding a new path in life, making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease. These essays draw on Brown's personal journey of recovery to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing. Evocative and hopeful, Apology to the Young Addict is a reinvention of the recovery memoir and a lasting testimony from a master writing at his peak.
Discussion with Matthew W. King
Wednesday, April 1 at 6 pm

Join us and the History Book Club in welcoming assistant professor and author Matthew W. King for a discussion of his book, Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire.

The first book to explore the countermodern Buddhist monastic thought and practice along the inner Asian frontiers, it illuminates previously unknown religious and intellectual legacies of the Qing and offers an unparalleled view of Buddhist life in the revolutionary period. 
Reading and Signing with Ernesto Cisneros
Thursday, April 2 at 6 pm

We are so excited to welcome Ernesto Cisneros, author of Efrén Divided (out 3/31), for a reading and signing! 

 Linda says of Efren,"  Within these pages, Cisneros offers us a gift.  He intended the gift for his daughter who asked why people in this country don't want people like her here, but this book is a gift to parents, to educators, to children who in seeing the "issue" of immigration through the eyes of a middle school kid may finally understand the depth of the crisis.  Efren navigates the halls of middle school as does any other bright, kind student, but his family is poor and his parents are undocumented, so when his mother is caught in an ICE raid at a local market and sent back to Mexico, everything changes, and Efren and his family struggle to find a way to be whole again.  No matter what you think you know, please read this book.  It is a beautifully told story powerfully relevant to conversations and actions we must have to regain our humanity."

We're Running a Donation Drive!

Help get Torrey Maldonado's new book into the hands of kids who might otherwise not be able to have it!  

From now until Thursday, April 16th, you can pre-order a copy (or multiple copies!) of Torrey Maldonado's new book,  What Lane?, to give to students at University Heights Middle School and Loma Vista Middle School. Our goal is to reach 70 copies by April 16th! You can donate in-store with one of our booksellers, give the store a call at (951) 787-7807 and pay over the phone, or go online - just be sure to leave us a comment on your web order letting us know that you're pre-ordering for the What Lane? Donation Drive.  The Cellar Door team thanks you in advance!
Restricted Reading: The Bluest Eye Challenged in the Inland Empire

Colton Joint Unified School District recently decided to strike Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye from its approved reading list following "parental complaints." At a School Board meeting last week, teachers complained about the removal, but there was not enough time to hear them all, so the board has asked that "stakeholders" put their comments on  http://tinyurl.com/BluestEyeBan.  We are all stakeholders in our public schools, so I invite you to send your comments. It is not time to despair; it is time to stand with educators. "I tell my students, when you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else.  If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else." Toni Morrison
Book Clubs for Adults

Cellar Door Book Club (Meets the fourth Sunday of the month at 2 pm)
Sunday, March 8: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
*Sunday, April 5: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

Mystery Book Club  (Meets the third Thursday of the month at 6 pm)
*Wednesday, March 18: Good Morning, Midnight by Reginald Hill
Thursday, April 16: The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Science-Fiction & Fantasy  (Meets the third Saturday of the month at 5 pm)
Saturday, March 21: Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Saturday, April 18: Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan

Historical Fiction Book Club  (Meets the fourth Saturday of the month at 5 pm)
Saturday, March 28: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows and Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Agatha Christie Book Club  (Meets the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm)
Tuesday, March 17: Third Girl
Tuesday, April 21: Mrs. McGinty's Dead

Philosophical Horror  (Meets the third Monday of the month at 6 pm)
Monday, March 16: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Monday, April 20: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Black Lit Book Club  (Meets the final Friday of the month at 6 pm)
Friday, March 27: A Phoenix First Must Burn ed. by Patrice Caldwell
Friday, April 24: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Speculative Fiction Book Club  (Meets the second Saturday of the month at 4 pm)
Saturday, March 14: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callendar
Saturday, April 11: A Phoenix First Must Burn ed. by Patrice Caldwell

LGBTQ Book Club  (Meets the fourth Thursday of the month at 6 pm)
Thursday, March 26: Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis
Thursday, April 23: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Bucket List Book Club  (Meets the third Sunday of the month at 3 pm)
Sunday, March 15: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Sunday, April 19: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Phy-Sci Book Club  (Meets the fourth Wednesday of the month at 6 pm)
Wednesday, March 25: Possible Minds by John Brockman
Wednesday, April 22: Elemental by Tim James

Current Affairs Book Club  (Meets the second Sunday of the month at 4 pm)
Sunday, March 8: One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson

Feminist Book Club  (Meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6 pm)
Tuesday, March 3: The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West
Tuesday, April 7: She Said by Jodi Kantor

Graphic Novel Book Club  (Meets the first Monday of the month at 6:30 pm)
Monday, March 2: Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons and Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss
Monday, April 6: Two Brothers by Gabriel Ba

History Book Club  (Meets the first Wednesday of the month at 6 pm)
Wednesday, March 4: Joan of Arc by Helen Castor
Wednesday, April 1: Oce an of Milk, Ocean of Blood  by Matthew King (including a discussion with the author!)

NEW!  Outdoor Lit ( Meets  every other month the first Sunday at 2:00 pm)
Sunday, May 3: The Invention of Nature: Alexander Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf
Sunday, July 5?: The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant


Book Clubs for Kids and Youth

Early Readers Book Club (Meets the second Saturday of the month at 1 pm)
Saturday, March 14: Zoey and Sassafras #1 & #2 by Asia Citro
Saturday, April 11: West Meadows Detectives: The Case of the Snack Snatcher by Liam O'Donnell

Kid's Book Club (Meets the second Thursday of the month at 6 pm)
Thursday, March 12: Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Thrusday, April 9: Framed! by James Ponti

NEW! Teen Book Club (Meets the first Friday of the month at 7 pm)
Friday, March 6: Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Friday, April 3: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

There are no official sign-ups or fees for our offered book clubs, but we do ask that you purchase these books from us in order to participate. *Starred meetings are not held at their usual date and/or time. 

Visit our Book Clubs page here for more info.
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