Shelf Stable: September 23rd
|
|
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” - C. S. Lewis
|
|
As Josh teased on Monday, our Poetsona issue coming on Friday. My Poetsona is Persephone St. Trimble, author of the fictional "Before the Massacre, the Mass"; I imagine she's every bit as pretentious as I can occasionally be and has none of the embarrassment about it. She thinks everything she does is fantastic, even when it's not; I assume everything I do is mediocre, even if it's good. She is a poet; I am very intimidated by poetry. We're pretty good foils, Persephone and I; I genuinely don't know if we'd like each other.
I'm an anxious procrastinator. If I'm intimidated by a task (usually either creative or finance-related), I will continually push things off on Later Meaghan; Later Meaghan really gets the worst of it. I am intimidated by poetry. It's all murky to me, having to mentally rearrange the words from their verse-order to parse the thought that's being conveyed. I don't really know what "good poetry" looks like. I have tried to write some of my own prose poetry and genuinely don't know if what I've done counts? As poetry?
I don't imagine I'm the only one who has felt this way; there are thresholds and gatekeepers to all art, and poetry is the one that, for me, has the big scary door with a guard who ignores my insistent knocking. But diving into writing some poetry for Persephone, I'm finding the directive to just be pretentious and not worry about it to be pretty freeing. I'm realizing that maybe this was the attitude I should have always had -- not to embrace pretension, but to just not care so much. Maybe the poetry gatekeeper is actually me.
Jury's out on how I do writing Persephone, but if it makes you laugh, I definitely did that on purpose. And try those genres that intimidate you, whether you shy away from poetry like me, or are afraid to be seen reading children's literature on the T. There isn't actually anything to be scared of.
--Meaghan
|
|
Read our reopen policies and hours!
|
|
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!
|
|
Join our next virtual events!
|
|
Friday, September 25th at 7PM
Virtual: Helen Macdonald with Kathryn Schulz, Vesper Flights [Ticketed]
Porter Square Books is pleased to present a virtual talk with Helen Macdonald, author of H Is For Hawk, for the release of her new book Vesper Flights, in conversation with Kathryn Schulz! An entry link will be emailed to ticket holders in the week of the event. The signed book included in your ticket can be shipped or picked up, simply choose your preferred method at check out. Books will be available prior to the event.
Animals don't exist in order to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.
In Vesper Flights Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep.
By one of this century's most important and insightful nature writers, Vesper Flights is a captivating and foundational book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make sense of the world around us.
|
|
Thursday, September 24th at 7PM
Virtual: Debut Voices with Cathleen Barnhart, Lorien Lawrence, Cat Scully, Kaela Noel, and Josh Roberts
A heartfelt and powerful debut novel for fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and John David Anderson, That’s What Friends Do is a book for anyone learning how to have the hard conversations about feelings, boundaries, and what it means to be a true friend. Cathleen Barnhart holds a BA in creative writing from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. That’s What Friends Do is her first published novel.
The Stitchers is the start of a spine-tingling new horror series perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Goosebumps. Lorien Lawrence is a writer and middle school English teacher from Connecticut. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found hunting ghosts with her family. The Stitchers is her debut novel.
A fast-paced and splattery romp, fans of Supernatural, Buffy, and Evil Dead will enjoy Jennifer Strange - the first illustrated novel in a trilogy of stylish queer young adult horror books with big scares for readers not quite ready for adult horror. Cat Scully is the author and illustrator of young adult horror series Jennifer Strange, out July 2020 from Haverhill House Publishing. When she's not writing or drawing world maps, she works in video game development for the Deep End Games on their next title.
In Coo, one young girl’s determination to save the flock she calls family creates a lasting impact on her community and in her heart in an unforgettable animal story about friendship, family, home, and belonging. Kaela Noel was born in San Francisco and grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Coo is her first novel.
It's not easy being a teenage witch. Seventh grader Abby Shepherd is just getting the hang of it when weird stuff starts happening all around her hometown of Willow Cove... Josh Roberts writes the kind of middle-grade and young adult novels he always enjoyed when he was a kid growing up in a spooky Victorian funeral home. He is currently at work on the second book in the Willow Cove series, The Curse of Willow Cove.
|
|
Want to show your love of Porter Square Books? Order your very own Porter Square Books T-shirt!
|
|
|
Climbing Out of Ye Olde Reading Rut
Beowulf is known for his heroic deeds and derring-do, the latest of which is getting me out of my reading rut. I've been having a hard time really focusing lately, quieting my brain enough to digest words on a page, instead of just letting my eyes trip over them while retaining nothing. Far too many nights, I have sat in bed with a stack of books next to me, flipping through a few of them before rolling over to watch a cartoon, or Pride and Prejudice, AGAIN. I think I've finished 3 books in the last month.
My recent inability to actually read books has not lessened my enthusiasm for them, and I was EXCITED about Maria Dahvana Headley's new translation of Beowulf, especially after I got to hear her discuss it with Emily Wilson and Madeline Miller for a Center for Fiction virtual event. And it got me excited at the prospect of reading this ancient epic poem that I only pretended to read to pass a test in high school.
|
|
Headley's writing is so erudite and engaged that the book is worth pick up for the introduction alone. But she mentioned that the original Beowulf manuscript, the only one extant in Old English, as been fully digitized by the British Library, and is open access on their website. So I put down Beowulf and clicked around the British Library site and found it. This manuscript of Beowulf is collected together with a variety of writings in Latin and French, all bound together by Sir Robert Cotton in 1631 (though the documents themselves are of course much older). There isn't even a title on the first page of Beowulf, it just begins: Hwæt. The digital images are so high res that you can zoom in and you can see the lines of skin cells on the vellum.
I sat in silence, clicking through the manuscript, marveling at the scribe's handwriting, trying to determine where and how punctuation was used, searching for words I could decipher. Marveling that my own tongue bears any relation to script that looked as indecipherable to me as something written using Cyrillic or Arabic texts. And reading felt a bit more important (it always feels pretty important), and thinking about the quiet of where the manuscript was transcribed help me quiet my own thoughts. So I turned back to the Beowulf I could read, and reading it finally felt like diving in, like submerging in the cool waters of the whale-road.
I say all of this to suggest that seeking alternate routes back to reading might do the trick, even if that requires staring at pictures of browned pages covered in a dead language you can't read.
|
|
Visit your friends at Cafe Zing!
|
|
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.
|
|
Antiracism Books: A Place to Start
|
|
Our bookseller bundles have expanded again! Hannah has joined the fun with her new horror bundle! Having trouble getting into spirit this unusual Halloween? Hannah will hand pick you three spine-chilling paperback novels that will make you double check your locks and hide beneath the covers. Let’s embark on a journey of short story compilations, female horror writers, horror poetry, Halloween books for youth, and classic horror together. Now light that pumpkin spice candle and let’s take a ride to Halloween Town.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
Missed our event on Tuesday?
|
|
You can re-watch all of our virtual events on Crowdcast. Check out our event from Tuesday with Arvin Ahmadi, Adam Silvera, and Becky Albertalli for Ahmadi's new book, How It All Blew Up.
|
|
|
When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, read by Susan Dalian & Jay Aaseng
Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…
“Cole’s thriller exposes the underbelly of gentrification and prosperity, taking a searing look at systemic racism. When a pharmaceutical firm plans to move its headquarters to a historically Black Brooklyn neighborhood, an influx of rich white people displace Black residents from their homes and their roots. Timely, groundbreaking, and thought-provoking, When No One Is Watching is essential reading for the #BlackLivesMatter movement.”
--Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books
|
|
|
|
Digital Audio Books:
A terrific way to support local indies!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
|
EXPANDED OPTIONS:
Journals, Stationery & Crafts
|
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."
|
|
|
|
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!
|
Additional Book Bundle Offerings
Make your shopping easy by buying bundles, handpicked by our expert booksellers!
|
|
|
|
Check out what our booksellers are loving this month.
|
|
|
Featured Staff Pick for Children
|
Kiki's Delivery Service is a classic for all those who love Hiyao Miyazaki films and this is the story that inspired the film. Kiki is such a delight and I don't know about you, but a whimsical story about a witch who travels to the seaside village of Koriko whilst forging new friendships is the kind of content that 2020 needs right now. Plus, there is a black cat, Jiji, who steals the scene.
Sinny
|
|
|
|
Featured Staff Pick for Adults
|
In this novel, seventeen-year-old Natalie Waite embarks on her first semester of college. She is an interesting character with a lot of demons that may or may not be figurative, she doesn’t quite know either. Littered with existential spiels and a constant feeling of unease, Shirley Jackson perfectly executed the hard to swallow truth that sometimes the scariest place is simply one’s mind.
Hannah
|
|
|
|
See you next time here at Shelf Stable!
|
|
Did you miss an installment, or want to share with a friend? The Shelf Stable Archive has all our past issues!
|
|
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.
|
|
Looking for other ways to keep up with us? Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube:
|
|
25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140
617-491-2220
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|