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Greetings from our nation's capital! I'm in DC right now, attending the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute, which is essentially a mini-college for independent booksellers. We swap ideas, discuss upcoming books, and--occasionally--enjoy a glass of wine in such schmancy locales as the Library of Congress. I'll report next week on all the new ideas we come up with, as well as any politician elbow-rubbing that may occur.
Local writers, give us your worst! In celebration of Steve Almond's new book Bad Poetry, we're taking submissions for all that awful poetry you've penned in secret, either as a lovelorn teen or as a lyrically-frustrated adult. We'll publish the best of the worst in a chapbook next month, so all the world may revel in your pained poetic attempts. Learn about Steve's event and the contest here!
Man-about-the-bookstore Alex M. has taken charge of our Facebook and Twitter presences and, along with posting funny/bizarre/interesting book and local news, is running several give-aways in the coming weeks. (Free tickets to local concerts! Chocolate! Advanced copies of new books!) If you're not following us already, do so here and/or here.
And across the river, our friends at the New Center for Arts and Culture are throwing an amazing food fest entitled "Beyond Bubbie's Kitchen." This stellar affair features a glut of food from many of my favorite local restaurants, including UpStairs on the Square, Journeyman, and Russell House Tavern. Check it out here!
Happy reading,
Heather
|  | New on Our Shelves: The Latest in Fiction, Nonfiction, Scholarly Books, & In Store Book Printing
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The Poison Tree
by Erin Kelly
$26.95
Pamela Dorman Books, hardcover
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"In its intensity and overwhelming sense of loss, the voice-over that opens Erin Kelly's terrific first suspense novel, The Poison Tree, is most directly reminiscent of the unnamed narrator of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.... Just as Rebecca has enthralled generations of female readers with its story of a mousy maiden's triumph over her glamorous beyond-the-grave rival, The Poison Tree also offers the twisted pleasures of vengeance within its eerie narrative.... Kelly gives readers a compelling creeper that intelligently invokes the conventions of the Gothic." --The Washington Post
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| | | Nonfiction | |
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Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skullduggery
by Jennis Erin Smith
$25
Crown, hardcover
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"Any work of nonfiction that contains the sentence 'He boarded a plane to Stuttgart with a Tasmanian devil in his hand luggage' is a title worth attending to, but when the man with the carnivorous marsupial in his carry-on is merely a supporting character--and not the most interesting one at that--it's time to cancel your dinner date and take the phone off the hook. Jennie Erin Smith's Stolen World is a book that fully justifies such measures, a flabbergasting chronicle of atrocious behavior, foolhardy schemes, and dangerous animals that reads like a real-life Elmore Leonard novel." --Salon.com
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| | | Scholarly | |
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Smoking Typewriters: The Sixties Underground Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America
by John McMillian
$27.95
Oxford University Press, hardcover
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"McMillian immersed himself in Bell & Howell's Underground Press Collection on microfilm to write this readable, richly detailed study of the hundreds of anti-establishment 1960s newspapers--from the Los Angeles Free Press to Rag (Austin, Texas) and The Paper (East Lansing, Mich.)--that 'educated, politicized, and built communities among disaffected youths in every region of the country.'... A welcome book on the '60s...and a vivid work of history for anyone curious about the journalism that jolted a decade." --Kirkus Reviews
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| | Printed on Paige
Each week, we'll feature a book printed in Harvard Book Store on Paige, our book-making machine. Featured books will range from fresh works from local authors to near-forgotten titles discovered in our extensive print-on-demand database.
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The History of Somerville, 2010-2100
by Tim Devin
$12
Print on Demand, paperback
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| | The History of Somerville, 2010-2100 is a community art project that explores what the future might be like. Between February 2009 and December 2010, Somerville artist Tim Devin talked to current and former residents about the future, gathered official plans, and collected think-tank vision statements. This book presents everything Tim found as a history of the future.
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| | | Bargain Books | Bargain Books are new books at used book prices. Limited copies are available of these titles, so if you see something that you're interested in, come in and check it out soon.
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Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
by Susan Sontag
$5.99, hardcover (originally $25.00) | |
"A fascinating document of Sontag's apprenticeship, charting her earnest quest for education, identity, and voice. What slowly emerges is a sense of Sontag's ferocious will.... She wanted to be a writer and would do almost anything to make that happen."
--The New Yorker
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The Lightness of Being
by Frank Wilczek
$7.99, hardcover (originally $26.95) | The 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics offers this readable and authoritative work for the general public. It explores basic questions about space, mass, energy, and the longed-for possibility of a fully unified theory of nature.
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On the Road: The Original Scroll
by Jack Kerouac
$6.99, paperback (originally $16.00) | |
Originally typed on eight long sheets of tracing paper and taped together to form a 120-foot scroll, Kerouac took three weeks in April of 1951 to finish this, his first satisfactory draft of On the Road. Word for word as Kerouac composed it, the scroll rolls with a vibrancy and joy rarely seen in American literature.
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The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times
by Tristram Stuart
$6.99, hardcover (originally $29.95) | |
A fascinating trek through the history of vegetarianism, a political movement cultivated by Western Christianity and Eastern philosophy. "Both scholarly and entertaining, The Bloodless Revolution is a huge feast of ideas." -- Mark Kurlansky, The Washington Post
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| | | Finds Downstairs in the Used Book Department | |
Featured used books go fast, so if any titles interest you, stop in to check them out soon. We will hold the book if you are the first caller to reserve it. To reserve a book, call (617) 661-1515 and ask for our Used Department. We're also always looking for books to buy. Learn about selling your used books, including textbooks, here.
| | The Library of Babel
by Jorge Luis Borges
Originally published by David R. Godine in 2000
$40.00 (hardcover) in Very Good condition | |
Jorge Luis Borges's famous 1941 meditation on language, alphabets, and the library that contains all knowledge is an allegory of our universe. This edition is complemented and enhanced by the etching of the French artist, Erik Desmazières.
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| | Islamic Calligraphy
by Sheila S. Blair
Originally published by Edinburgh University Press in 2006
$45.00 (softcover) in Very Good condition | |
This stunning book is an important contribution to a key area of non-western art, being the first reference work on the beautiful writing in Arabic script. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, Islamic Calligraphy is ideal for anyone interested in Islamic art
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Picturing the Celestial City: The Medieval Stained Glass of Beauvais Cathedral
by Michael Cothren
Originally published by Princeton University Press in 2006
$55.00 (hardcover) in Very Good condition | |
"Picturing the Celestial City presents the Gothic stained glass of Beauvais Cathedral in the first and only serious scholarly venture ever undertaken, and it does so superbly."
-- Meredith P. Lillich, Professor of Art History, Syracuse University
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Author Events
Tickets for our event with V.S. Ramachandran (2/2) are on sale now! Tickets may be purchased at Harvard Book Store, online at harvard.com, or over the phone with a credit card at 617.661.1515.
Subscribe to the Harvard Book Store Google Event Calendar here.
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Allen Shawn
Thurs, Jan 20, 7PM | 
| | Pianist and composer Allen Shawn discusses his newest memoir, Twin, about growing up as the twin brother of a sister with autism. | At Harvard Book Store .gif) |
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Christian Lander
Sat, Jan 22, 4PM | 
| | Blogger Christian Lander, founder of the website Stuff White People Like, discusses his new book, Whiter Shades of Pale. | | At Harvard Book Store |
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Seth Mnookin
Mon, Jan 24, 7PM | 
| | Journalist Seth Mnookin explores the controversy around childhood vaccines in his new book The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear. | | At Harvard Book Store |
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Amy Bloom
Tues, Jan 25, 7PM | 
| | Award-winning novelist and short story writer Amy Bloom reads from her collection of linked stories, Where the God of Love Hangs Out. | | At Harvard Book Store |
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Jared Duval
Wed, Jan 26, 7PM | 
| | Jared Duval is a new face in political activism and author of the new book Next Generation Democracy: What the Open-Source Revolution Means for Power, Politics, and Change. | | At Harvard Book Store |
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Lewis Hyde Wed, Jan 26, 7PM | 
| | A Cambridge Forum event | |
At First Parish Church
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Robert and Ellen Kaplan
Wed, Jan 27, 7PM | 
| | The husband-and-wife mathematics education team presents their new book, Hidden Harmonies: The Lives and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem. | |
At Harvard Book Store
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| | | Did you know: All our $5 tickets are also $5 coupons that you can use at the event or in the store? | | |
We appreciate the feedback we get from readers of this newsletter. Please send your comments and suggestions to Heather at hgain@harvard.com. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you in the store!
Heather Gain
Marketing Manager
hgain@harvard.com
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