“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
—
Madeleine L'Engle
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The character Harry Potter would be forty today. Like so many people my age (I'm 28), the Harry Potter series was incredibly important to me growing up, and had an indelible effect on the person I've become. A few years ago, today might have been something to celebrate. This year, I will take even the smallest excuse to celebrate, but I won't be celebrating Harry Potter, and I especially will not be celebrating his author.
[Content warning for transphobia. We're not here to ruin your Friday.]
For those of you who may not be as invested in Book Twitter, over the last year or two, but especially in the last few months, J. K. Rowling has made a lot of hateful statements denying trans people's right to exist and to live as their authentic selves. She seems to think that allowing trans women to share in womanhood as a threat to her sense of self as a woman. This is, frankly, nonsense. It boggles the mind to see her express, and double down on, a prejudiced worldview that so closely echoes that of her fictional villain, Lord Voldemort, who wanted to eradicate non-magical Muggles and, more relevant to this particular discussion, the suppression and eradication of Muggle-born magical folks who threatened "pureblood" wizards by their mere existence.
Though the hatred and hypocrisy continue to rankle, this has unfortunately become familiar rhetoric for Rowling. Even still, it feel like a betrayal every time this author who taught me and so many people of my generation to fight prejudice says something so hateful. Thinking about Harry Potter aged forty, I wonder if he aged into someone I would continue to admire, or if would have also aged the way J. K. Rowling did, into someone I can no longer admire. No person is a monolith, and from confronting J. K. Rowling's bigotry to the conversations of reckoning with white supremacy that we've all had to have in the last few months, I've realized that in terms of morality and mentality, the most dangerous thing is to think that we've finished growing. I don't know what Harry Potter would be doing for his fortieth birthday, or who he'd be, but I hope he's still able to listen and admit when he's wrong.
--Meaghan
(Yes that is a picture of a younger me with Lord Voldemort)
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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!
Starting Saturday, August 1,
we will be expanding our weekend in-store shopping hours.
Updated In-Store Shopping Hours:
Tuesday-Friday: 3PM-7PM
Saturday: 9AM-6PM, with 9AM-11AM set aside for vulnerable customers
Sunday: 3PM-7PM
We really appreciate your support.
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Join our next virtual events!
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Erin Hahn with Karen M. McManus
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Porter Square Books is delighted to host a virtual talk with Erin Hahn, author of
More Than Maybe, in conversation with Karen M. McManus! This event is free to attend and is hosted on Crowdcast.
Growing up under his punk rocker dad’s spotlight, eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love isn’t in front of a crowd, it’s on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the locally popular podcast he co-hosts with his outgoing and meddling, far-too-jealousy-inspiringly-happy-with-his-long-term-boyfriend twin brother, Cullen. But that’s not Luke’s only secret. He also has a major un-requited crush on music blogger, Vada Carsewell.
Vada’s got a five year plan: secure a job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom’s boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil’s music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley’s prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check), manage Ann Arbor’s summer concert series and secure a
Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So what if his self-deprecating charm and out of this world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really, really wishes it was her?
In
More Than Maybe, Erin Hahn’s swooniest book yet, Luke and Vada must decide how deep their feelings run and what it would mean to give love a try.
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William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
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Today’s black-white wealth gap originated with the unfulfilled promise of 40 acres in 1865. The payment of this debt in the 21st century is feasible—and at least 155 years overdue. In
From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen advance a general definition of reparations as a program of acknowledgment, redress, and closure. Acknowledgment constitutes the culpable party’s admission of responsibility for the atrocity; admission should include recognition of the damages inflicted upon the enslaved and their descendants and the advantages gained by the culpable party. Redress constitutes the acts of restitution; the steps taken to “heal the wound.” In this context, it means erasure of the black-white wealth gap. Closure constitutes an agreement by both the victims and the perpetrators that the account is settled.
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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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What we remember is an act of power. Not remembering that modern American policing grew out of slave patrols, or, in the case of Boston, efforts to violently oppress the labor movement, is an act of power that helps sustain our racist systems. Not remembering that most monuments to the Confederacy were built in the context of Jim Crow era assaults on the civil rights of African Americans is an act of power that helps sustain our racist systems. In one of those odd convergences that sometimes happens, Yuri Herrera’s latest work of genius, A Silent Fury, also starts with a moment of sorts and directly unspools the act of power embedded in what and how that monument tries to remember a tragedy. From the plaque to a press release, to a mislabeled photograph, like a paleontologist drawing a beast from a jaw bone, Herrera tells a story greed, imperialism, and complicity from a few fragments of information. The El Bordo Mine Fire is just one almost forgotten tragedy but, like Rukeyser's Book of the Dead, the bright, poetic light Herrera shines on it with A Silent Fury, casts a shadow on our biggest questions.
--Josh
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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 am
terrified of riding a bike in the city. I am uncoordinated and my spacial awareness, well...it could be better. But I just acquired a new-to-me vintage commuter bike so that I have to get over it. I was the child who, when I was about to start basketball practice, went to the library first to learn all about basketball (I learned a lot of history, but never learned how to play well), so I've been looking into some books on bikes and cycling and figured I'd share what I've found.
- Urban Cycling by Madi Carlson (The book I'm hoping will help me not die!)
--Meaghan
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We want to hear from you!
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Re: our website, which page would you prefer was easier to access?
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Staff picks and recommendations
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Books from the future (aka pre-orders)
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Giving, donations, and charitable partnerships
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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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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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Miss our event with Alaya Dawn Johnson and Kate Elliot? Go to our Youtube page to check out the video from the event!
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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 booksellers' favorite books this month, and enjoy that sweet, sweet discount.
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Featured Staff Pick: Fiction in Translation
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A weird, sometimes sad, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny commentary on the pressure to conform and the rules we depend on to order our lives.
--Katie
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Featured Staff Pick: Essays...?
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Bluets, an essay of sorts told through 240 loosely-linked prose poems, is an intricate and dreamlike reading experience. At its core, the writing focuses on the author’s attraction to the color blue, the end of a romantic relationship, and the care of a friend who becomes quadriplegic after an accident. These intensely personal experiences—presented alongside the ideas of other writers, artists, and philosophers—create new ways of thinking about perception and personal suffering.
--Justin, Writer in Residence for Adults
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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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