It's another Sales Tax Holiday in Massachusetts this weekend, and we're celebrating with a 15% off sale throughout the store and online. In addition to all purchases being tax-free, on Saturday, August 10 and Sunday, August 11, you'll receive an additional 15% off your purchases. Online shoppers, use coupon code TAXHOLIDAY2013 to receive the discount. Find full details (including just a few restrictions) here.
Although tickets for our September 27 event with Stephen King  sold out in record time, that's only one of the more than twenty events we have on the docket for September, so be sure to read up and mark your calendars. Tickets go on sale this week for events with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Diaz and with Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy. You can find our full schedule of events here.
There has been a lot of talk in the book world this week about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's purchase of the Washington Post. Among the many responses, perhaps the most eloquent and relevant in the independent bookstore community is that of our friends Brad and Lissa, owners of DC's landmark indie bookstore Politics & Prose, and former Post reporters. Their full response, "Mr. Bezos Goes to Washington," can be found at www.politics-prose.com.
Finally, an announcement: After almost two years as marketing manager for the store, next week I'll be taking on a new role as head buyer, and so will be passing on stewardship of the marketing department and this newsletter to my fantastic colleague Alex. He's been doing a miraculous job managing our social media presence and working on graphic design and promotion projects for the store, so I know I'm leaving you in good hands. It's been a pleasure writing for you every week, and I'd like to thank you for being such thoughtful and loyal readers. And if you see me in the store, please don't be shy about saying hello and letting me know what you've been reading!
Be Well,
Rachel 
|  | New on Our Shelves: The Latest in Fiction, Nonfiction, Scholarly Books & In Store Book Printing
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Save Yourself
by Kelly Braffet
$25
Crown, hardcover
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| | Patrick's life can't get much worse. His father is in jail, he works the midnight shift at a grubby convenience store, and his brother's girlfriend, Caro, has pushed their friendship to an uncomfortable level. On top of all that, he can't shake the attentions of Layla, a goth teen who befriends Patrick for reasons he doesn't fully trust. Meanwhile, Layla's little sister, Verna, has become a prime target for her cruel classmates. Layla's bad-girl rep casts a shadow too heavy for Verna to bear alone, so she falls in with her sister's tribe of outcasts. But their world is far darker than she ever imagined.
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Mass Flourishing:
How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change
by Edmund S. Phelps
$29.95
Princeton University Press, hardcover
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Why did prosperity explode in some nations between the 1820s and 1960s, creating unprecedented wealth and also "flourishing"--meaningful work, self-expression, and personal growth? Edmund Phelps argues that modern values such as the desire to create, explore, and meet challenges aided this prosperity growth. These values fueled the grassroots dynamism that was necessary for widespread innovation. Most innovation wasn't driven by a few isolated visionaries--it was driven by millions of people empowered to think of, develop, and market new products and processes.
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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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Renovation of the Moon
by Emma Romeu
translated by
Michael L. Glenn
$19.95
Print on Demand, paperback
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Emma Romeu now travels from Cuba to the distant star Tau Ceti in Renovation of the Moon, a book of poetry reflecting the author's feelings on love, her native country, and nature. The book offers fifty-eight poems in Spanish with an English translation by Michael L. Glenn. The poems often include philosophical reflection on the contemporary world of the author.
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| | Bargain Books
| Bargain Books are new books at used-book prices. We have a limited number of copies of these titles, so if you see something that you're interested in, come in and check it out soon. To see more of our Bargain Books section, visit our Bargain Books page.
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Started Early, Took My Dog
by Kate Atkinson
$4.99, hardcover (originally $24.99)
| Retired police detective Tracy Waterhouse encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a child through town, and takes custody of the child. Meanwhile, Detective Jackson Brodie embarks on rescuing an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.
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American Movie Critics:
An Anthology from the Silents Until Now
edited by Phillip Lopate
$9.99, paperback (originally $24.95)
The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael edited by Sanford Schwartz $19.99, hardcover (originally $40)
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American Movie Critics is an anthology of narrative assessments of various cinematic experiences by some of the film industry's top critics and art reviewers. The Age of Movies is a compendium of top-selected, signature writings by the influential former critic of The New Yorker offering insight into her capacity for capturing cinematic details.
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Mysteries:
An Investigation into the Occult, the Paranormal, and the Supernatural
by Colin Wilson$5.99, paperback (originally $19.95) Beyond the Occult: Twenty Years' Research into the Paranormal by Colin Wilson $5.99, paperback (originally $19.95)
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Through personal experience, Colin Wilson discovered that humans consist of a "hierarchy of selves," whose upper members may be called on for personal transformation and knowledge. Mysteries is an attempt to apply his theory to all paranormal phenomena. Beyond the Occult offers a wider examination of the mystical and paranormal.
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| | | Recent 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.
| | Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
by Albert Pike
Originally published by the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree for the Southern Juridiction of the United States in1872
$35 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition | Morals and Dogma is a collection of thirty-two essays that provide a rationale for the Scottish Rite degrees. It encompasses a study of Freemasonry, philosophy, ancient mysteries, mythology, ritual, and religion. It serves the purpose of putting Masonic morality and ethics within the context of general society.
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| | Strange Suspense:
The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1
edited by Blake Bell
Originally published by Fantagraphics in 2009
$35 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition | Before the Amazing Spider-Man, before the mysterious Doctor Strange, before the black-and-white world of the Ayn Rand-inspired Mr. A, the legendary comic book artist Steve Ditko was conjuring all manners of horrors at his drawing table. Strange Suspense features full-color reprints of every story from the first two years of his career.
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| | Little Boy:
The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture
edited by Takashi Murakami Originally published by Yale University Press in 2005
$50 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition | Little Boy examines the culture of postwar Japan through its arts and popular visual media. Focusing on the youth-driven phenomenon of otaku (roughly translated as "geek culture" or "pop cult fanaticism"), Takashi Murakami explores the complex historical influences that shape Japanese contemporary art and its distinct graphic languages.
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Author Events
Ticket on-sale dates
On sale August 13:
Junot Díaz (9/5)
Randall Kennedy (9/6)
On sale August 20:
Bob Odenkirk and
David Cross
with Brian Posehn (9/14)
Bill McKibben (9/16)
On sale August 27:
Margaret Atwood (9/19)
Subscribe to the Harvard Book Store Google Event Calendar here. 
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Junot Díaz
Thurs, Sept 5, 6PM
|  | Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz reads from This Is How You Lose Her, which comes out in paperback September 3.
| At the Brattle Theatre
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Randall Kennedy
Fri, Sept 6, 6PM
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| Prominent Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy discusses
For Discrimination:
Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law.
| At the Brattle Theatre
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Bob Odenkirk and David Cross
with Brian Posehn
Sat, Sept 14, 6PM
|  | Emmy-nominated writers and comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross discuss Hollywood Said No! Orphaned Film Scripts, Bastard Scenes, and Abandoned Darlings from the Creators of Mr. Show, with special guest
Brian Posehn.
| At the Brattle Theatre
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Bill McKibben
Mon, Sept 16, 6PM
|  | Bestselling author and environmental activist Bill McKibben discusses Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist.
| At the Brattle Theatre
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Margaret Atwood
Thurs, Sept 19, 7PM
|  | Booker Prize-winning novelist Margaret Atwood reads from MaddAddam, the final in the trilogy that began with Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.
| At First Parish Church
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Stephen King
Fri, Sept 27, 7PM
|  | THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.
| At Memorial Church,
Harvard Yard
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Things to know about our $5 tickets...
$5 tickets are also coupons good for $5 off a purchase at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire 30 days after the event, and cannot be used for already-discounted items, online purchases, event tickets, or gift certificates. Please note that your ticket only guarantees you admission until 5 minutes before an event begins.
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We appreciate the feedback we get from readers of this e-newsletter.
Please send your comments and suggestions to Rachel at rcass@harvard.com. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you in the store!
Rachel Cass
Marketing Manager
rcass@harvard.com
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