Shelf Stable: August 31st |
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“Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.”
― Alberto Manguel
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NOTE: On Wednesday, August 19, we scheduled our 100th issue of Shelf Stable. At around 8:30PM, I checked my email. Nothing. 8:35. Nothing. Then I checked my spam. For some reason, starting on the exact day we wanted to celebrate our email newsletter, some other setting was changed and nearly every single email we sent went into spam. I'm not gonna lie. This would have been frustrating on any day, but because it happened to Shelf 100, it was oddly devastating. Our email is fixed now, so we're resending Shelf Stable 100 (with a couple of updates). Make sure to note the contest in Meaghan's intro which is still very much on. We'll see you again on Wednesday for Shelf Stable 101.
Josh
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Well, here we are. Triple digits. And because of that, this issue of Shelf Stable will look a little different. None of us thought we'd be here – I came across a preorder from April the other day where we told a customer that we wouldn't be doing quarantine deliveries in July and laughed out loud – but it says a lot that we are. We've survived, and found a meaningful way to connect with our community. We've heard from enough of you to know that this newsletter is offering some solace for you, and it has for our contributors, too. The bulk of this issue consists of reflections from some of our regular contributors. But first, a giveaway!
Would you like some free books? That's a silly question, of course you would. One person who replies to the email will be randomly chosen and will win a stack of galleys picked out by our book bundlers. One email per person, please!
A heartfelt thank you from each and every one of us for continuing to support Porter Square Books and for reading Shelf Stable.
With love,
Meaghan
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Read our reopen policies and updated hours! |
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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!
Updated In-Store Shopping Hours:
Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday-Friday: 3PM-7PM
Saturday: 9AM-6PM, with 9AM-11AM set aside for vulnerable customers
Sunday: 3PM-7PM
Curbside Pick Up: Daily, 3PM-7PM
We really appreciate your support!
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Join our next virtual events! |
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Two staff picks, two events, one evening! Join us for a double feature on Wednesday, 9/2 at 6 pm and 7 pm - all books 20% off. |
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Wednesday, September 2 at 6:00PM
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Porter Square Books is delighted to partner with WBUR CitySpace to bring you a virtual event with Yaa Gyasi, author of the new novel Transcendent Kingdom! Gyasi will be joined in conversation by WBUR arts engagement producer, Arielle Gray. This event is hosted by WBUR CitySpace, and is free to attend, but advance registration is requested.
Why Meaghan Staff Picked It: "It's nothing new to say that a book is the book we need right now, but Transcendent Kingdom is the book we need right now. Narrator Gifty is both eloquently observant and clinical as she recounts the struggle of her Ghanaian immigrant family to survive in America while being Black, while being poor, while facing addiction and depression and tragedy. But she still finds hope."
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Ariel Sabar with Mark Goodacre, Veritas
Wednesday, September 2 at 7:00PM
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Join Porter Square Books for a virtual talk with Ariel Sabar, the author of Veritas, joined in conversation by Dr. Mark Goodacre! From National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Ariel Sabar, Veritas is the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that shook Harvard. This event takes place on Crowdcast, and is free and open to all.
Why Sarah Staff Picked It: "A journalist reveals how a con artist played on a researcher's passion for discovery -- and a dose of academic politics -- to sell the world on the Gospel of Jesus' Wife."
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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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It was a special 10AM zoom managers’ meeting. It wasn’t on a Monday when our meetings usually are, and it was earlier than they usually are. (Kate was still a few hours behind us in Utah so it was very early for her.) It had to be early, on a different day, because David and Dina were telling us we were the Publishers Weekly 2020 Bookstore of the Year. That moment of direct, tangible validation of a project you have been working on your entire professional life felt…
When the initial lockdown happened and we moved all of our ordering online, we had no idea what kind of sales we could expect. We just didn’t know at the time if our community would follow us online. You did. In amazing ways. It was another, direct, tangible validation of the Porter Square Books project that, to me, felt…
At the time (still really), I did not have the emotional space to feel the joy both of those validations deserved. I was too exhausted from the workload we all had. (Still pretty tired.) Too scared about what the future would hold. (Still pretty scared.) Too self-conscious about the very idea of celebrating when so many people are suffering and dying. (Still pretty concerned about that, too!) I felt like I was trying to hold my arms out straight, while a badger pulled one down and a condor pulled one up.
I feel the same diverging pressures about the 100th issue of Shelf Stable. One the one hand, I’m extremely proud of what PSB has accomplished with this newsletter. I mean, there were a couple of months where we were putting one out pretty much every day. We saw the coming isolation our community would suffer from and we did something about it. We wrote with honesty, vulnerability, intelligence, humor, and goofiness and, (judging from the many emails we’ve received) we actually helped people. I will always be proud of what the PSB team has done with Shelf Stable. I’m also, really fucking angry we still need to do it. This could have been over. This should have been over. We should have been able to transform Shelf Stable into a weekly collection of our bookish musings, something fun we can do as a staff that might also sell some books without the burdens we feel as human beings and the burdens we feel as booksellers serving our community.
I am lifted up by Shelf Stable, by the Porter Square Books community, and by the other Porter Square Books booksellers, and pulled down by you know, <vaguely gestures at all of this.> But the choice between giving up and writing on isn’t even a choice. Like books, joy doesn’t have an expiration date. It will wait until for us. See you on Friday, for Shelf 101.
Josh
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From Page to Screen
In March when Kate asked me if I was interested in writing for the new Porter Square Books newsletter – Shelf Stable – it didn’t take me much time to say: Yes, indeed! However, I wasn’t quite sure what I could contribute. After searching for a topic I realized that Hollywood – and the entertainment business in general – relied on books, short stories, and plays for source material. What fun it would be to explore that enchanting world starting from the 1900s onward. Both Kate and I have an interest in movies and theatre so she was more than happy to okay my idea. Et Voila! Old Hollywood: From Page to Screen was born.
I’ve tried to write mostly about books and short stories that have been adapted for the screen; however, on occasion a play, or an original screenplay will appear only because it has become an important film – Casablanca (1942) and any Shakespeare are perfect examples. I’ve also tried to highlight the authors, as well as those who adapted the work. Without writers Hollywood would never have existed – and all too often they have been the unsung heroes of Tinseltown. So, my pieces are just a small celebration of writers and all who contribute to the magic of the movies.
Nathan
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Dressing up in costumes and reading bedtime stories is one of the things that kept me going through quarantine. I really like costumes. |
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It's weird to think about the good things that have happened to me because of COVID-19.
There's so much I miss from the before times. Going to cafes. Hugging friends. Not hearing about rising death tolls every day. The calm, blissful lack of anxiety I felt when I saw the bottom half of a stranger's face.
But I got my cat when there were the first rumors of quarantine. When I realized I might not be able to go visit my parents' cats whenever I wanted and knew that I didn't want to be stuck for a few weeks (ha) without a cat. Mira (named for Mira Grant, one of my favorite writers who writes a lot about fictional plagues because I'm hilarious) has brought so much joy to my life. She's so talkative. I've never met a cat who meows and trills and purrs so often. She loves staring out the window, her whiskers all shoved forward as she thinks about how she could hunt everything she sees. But doesn't, because she's an indoor cat and is actually terrified of the outside when there's not a window screen between her and it. I have a butterfly dangly toy that she goes completely nuts for and makes the stupidest faces. She loves belly rubs. She's the love of my life and I can't imagine not having her with me.
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And then there's Shelf Stable. I've had so much fun writing articles these past few months. I've improved as a writer and even as a bookseller, despite not being able to talk to customers until very recently. I've been able to take the weird random stuff in my head and show it to others, to recommend books I love and give more than a staff pick's worth of context for why, and to share more pictures of Mira. Or, in one case, to get my dad to write about a book I gave him. Why didn't I start making him do my homework for me sooner?
And my other favorite thing has been how much YOU all love Shelf Stable. So many people have told me they read every issue, that it's been their connection to the outside when those are hard to come by, that it brings them joy in this terrible time. This is a community, and it's good to know we can still reach each other while staying safely socially distant. I'm so glad to know you're still there, reading.
Shana
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Hello Shelfees,
I've taken some time off writing for Shelf Stable to do more in-store and personal work, but I am still here! And once I'm all done with moving, there will be new recipes coming your way with a side of weeping. I'm going to rush past saying how difficult these past couple months have been and go right to how thankful I am for such a supportive community within Porter Square Books. Thank you for sticking with us, for reading our Shelf Stable, for writing us wonderful notes, and of course, for supporting us through this pandemic. Hopefully, at least one or a hundred of you enjoyed all my Kpop/Kdrama pieces. (There's also lots more of that coming because BTS is releasing a new single on Friday!!) If you need any recommendations on Kpop related books or if you would like a stellar cookbook recommendation, please email us! Thanks and I'll see you soon in future Shelf Stables, cheers!
Sinny
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Need some inspiration?
Imagine this: once, really not so long ago but long enough to feel near-mythic, you wrote words at least five days a week. Only a handful at a time, and always while moving, your body braced among the crush of commuters on a packed train while your fingers scrambled and jangled with tiny phone keys. When jolted you’d look up wonderingly, hoping whoever’s sharp elbow had jostled you is reading over your shoulder, there with you on this perfect turn of phrase that tumbled hapless from your fingertips to your phone screen. And, amazingly, even when they turned out to not much care – you sought out other readers. You shared. You weren’t even particularly afraid.
And then: not. Was it sudden? No, a slow slide. You’d open the google doc. Scroll up to the top, reread. Peck out a sentence, delete it, close the app, open it, repeat. And then you wouldn’t open it at all. Your characters languished and your fingers grew tongue-tied when they tried to talk to each other. Kinder to let them be, really, in your state. Years pass: one and then two, and you hardly feel guilty anymore. Work, you’d think. Stress. When it’s quieter. But when does it become quieter? The sounds around you shift but never soften.
And then something happens that blankets over the noise, something happens to all of us, not exactly the same experience, but a shared one nonetheless. An inspiration none of us asked for. Now after days of long silence you spend every other evening editing this newsletter, sifting through words from your colleagues, your friends, and you want to respond to every one. Your fingers start tingling again and you write the longest and truest paragraphs in years, words that are about your confusion and frustration and isolation but words that feel good, feel cherished, because you know exactly where they’re going. You know exactly how they’ll be nestled, shelved between a book that Shana loved and a photo Stacey snapped of Bear in a t-shirt. Safe and warm and stable, if only in the bounds of one email, and then the next, and the next: we can write again.
Leila
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Reflections on Shelf Stable? Sure, I can do that.
*puts on Man in the Mirror*
*stares thoughtfully out the window*
It’s funny being a part of the cogs of Shelf Stable (even if only a small cog) because it’s easy to feel like I’m just caught up in the grind. A lot of my job feels that way lately, if I’m being perfectly honest. That’s not to say I don’t adore what I do, because I really do, but sometimes we’re so close to things it’s hard to see the forest for the trees I keep crashing into. I’m trying to be better about that this week.
Being a bookseller in a pandemic can be exhausting. It is exhausting, but more and more lately I start to think about why it’s so exhausting. It’s because so many people want to read. People want to give gifts! People want to get books into the hands of kids who are discovering reading for the first time. That’s why I love being a bookseller so much, and while it looks different right now, it’s still happening. Yesterday I was processing donation orders for the release of Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From and I started to get overwhelmed by the massive, rapid influx of orders. I quickly felt like I was drowning. And then I looked a bit closer. I was drowning in support. I was drowning in the desire our community (and people waaaaay outside of our community) has to support a local author, to support a local high school, and to support stories that are making a difference. Wow! One person donated twenty-five books. TWENTY-FIVE! I thanked him profusely for his generosity and he sent a short note back saying he was just excited for kids to get their hands on such an important story. I love that. That’s the sort of thing that makes me excited.
So yeah, it can all be a lot, but there’s a lot of good too.
And speaking of good, have I mentioned lately how much I love my coworkers? Each and every one of them are wonderful people, and I feel really fortunate to get to work with them and be friends with them. That’s another thing that I’ve loved about Shelf Stable. Given our necessary staffing restrictions lately, I haven’t gotten to see everyone as much as I’d like. But I see their words in the newsletter, and that’s something. It’s a reminder that we’re all still here, just as all the work we do in the store and online is a lovely reminder that our readers and customers are still here.
This pandemic isn’t fun. I’m over it, and this week I have been especially stir crazy. But I’m still here, and so are the people I care about. If you’re reading this there’s a good chance you’re one of those people! Or maybe you’re someone I’ve never met, but you probably care about stories, and that means something too. It means we’re going to get through this because we have each other and we have our stories, the stories we read and the stories we live.
That might sound corny, but if I can’t get a bit emotional in issue 100 then what’s the point? I appreciate you all and hope to see you around sooner than later. If not, read a book for me!
Caleb
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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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Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline, read by Michelle St. John
A bold and brilliant new indigenous voice in contemporary literature makes her American debut with this kinetic, imaginative, and sensuous fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou—a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people’s communities.
“Cherie Dimaline’s latest novel packs a wallop of a story. Absolutely stunning in every way, this latest offering follows the story of Joan, whose husband has disappeared, and her courage when confronted with truths and lies. She and her husband, Victor, live in a Métis community, close and tight knit. As Joan deals with the fallout of her emotions after Victor disappears, she comes across another man, Eugene Wolff, who bears her husband’s face. He does not carry Victor’s memories and insists he has no idea who Joan’s husband is. Turning over rocks to find the truth, Joan reaches out to whomever she can in her community for help. What waits for her at the end of her quest is incredible. This novel will have you at the edge of your seat!” --Annie Carl, The Neverending 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, Shana, and Sarah! 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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Additional Book Bundle Offerings
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
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Let's jump way back, back only a few months, so though it feels like years, to one of our first bedtime stories. Here is Kate reading Winnie the Pooh.
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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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New month, new discounts! Check out what our booksellers are loving this summer. |
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Featured Staff Pick for Children |
This is an important book. When wrongfully incarcerated, 16-year-old Amal's life and that of his family are changed forever. A novel in verse written by Ibi Zoboi in collaboration with Yusef Salaan of the Exonerated Five, it powerfully portrays the profound losses of those betrayed by our justice system.
-Robin
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Featured Staff Pick for Adults |
Makumbi writes small stories that somehow encompass the entire world, turning the story of one one woman into an x-ray revealing the bones of society. Broken bones. Healed bones. Brittle bones. Strong bones. Powerful and wise, A Girl is a Body of Water is like a long conversation with an elder; the struggle of life is no less difficult at the end, but you feel you understand it more and can struggle better tomorrow.
-Josh
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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 to 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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