Next up in our Women Writers Series...

Join us for lunch on Monday, March 2. Jacqueline Winspear, author of Among the Mad

Jacqueline Winspear speaks about her latest Masie Dobbs mystery, Among the Mad. Set in 1930s England, this heart-stopping story has Masie in a race against time to catch a madman before he commits murder on an unimaginable scale. In "Among the Mad," Jacqueline Winspear combines a heart-stopping story with a rich evocation of a fascinating period to create her most compelling and satisfying novel yet. These events are sponsored by The Book Stall at Chestnut Court for our WOMEN WRITERS SERIES. Full Schedule.

(posted by Helen)

Anniversary Sale - February 14th - All Day

This is our 27th year at The Book Stall and we continue to enjoy our role in the community as your local bookstore. Tomorrow on Valentine's Day, we want to thank you for your support and your ongoing loyalty - come into the store and enjoy a 20% discount on everything. Come in to share stories with us - or to purchase that book you've been waiting to buy. Roberta

The Joy of Being No. 2

My favorite bookshop has invited me to stop by as a guest blogger. Please share your thoughts with me in the Comment section below. It seems the Book Stall has been around forever, and I guess I have been too, because I've been a customer here for almost twenty years.

Yet every week we read of difficulties in the publishing industry and the hardships that befall many of America's treasured neighborhood bookstores. But they only thrive with loyal patrons who take part in the rare breed of a good book store hosting quality events.

So, I'm proud to share this fantastic news with you. The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, with its erudite staff of experts has been chosen #2 in the country for holding the most author events.

Read the full list here: http://booktour.com/events/popular_venues

Roberta Rubin brings great authors to the shop who entertain and inform us, and who add a delightful magic to the evening sidewalks of Elm Street.

It takes an enormous effort to be No. 2 on any good or great list, and it happens because the Book Stall staff cares deeply about literature. But, mostly, it happens because we who care deeply about the store return again and again, as the years add up, to the backroom at The Book Stall to share in the pleasure.

Thank you to Roberta Rubin & the superior staff at The Book Stall.

Helen Gallagher
www.releaseyourwriting.com

The Children’s Department at the Book Stall is busy, busy, busy this winter! We have some really fun events coming up for all different ages.

February 12th from 4-6 pm, the Book Stall welcomes Debbie Miller, author of countless children’s books on Alaska. These great non-fiction titles include Arctic Nights, Arctic Lights, Polar Bear’s Journey, Big Alaska, The Great Serum Race and many more. Each book is accompanied by wonderful illustrations that the whole family will enjoy.

February 21st at 11:00 am, author Mary Jo Reinhardt and illustrator Paula Nathan will be at the Book Stall with their new book Grinelda the Mad Hatter, a great story about being yourself. They will be leading a craft activity for all kids interested! (Ages 3-7, but younger siblings are welcome!)

My favorite book of the week

Abraham Verghese has ventured into the world of fiction - and he has scored a home run!! His new book, Cutting for Stone, is a brilliant novel about a family of doctors, Indian by birth, living in Ethiopia in the time of change - from the 1950s into the 1970s. Twins are born to a beautiful Indian nun and a surgeon who runs the mission hospital in Addis Ababa. The boys are raised by a mother and father who love them dearly. The birth father, Thomas Stone, is the spector that rises throughout the book. The reader feels so connected with the boys, their parents, their cultural background, the birth father and their dead mother, who died of childbirth. It is a story that you don't want to see end - and the characters live on in your life in so many ways.

Blogging from The Book Stall

Welcome to our new blog at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court! It's a new beginning - with all our expertise and knowledge about books here on the page for you to peruse. We as booksellers will be updating the blog every week - and we look forward to hearing from you as well! We experience this "give and take" every day over the desk - now we can talk online. Looking forward to our new adventure - Roberta

Link to our store website: thebookstall.com

Head straight for our Event calendar

Shop online Click to "Browse Subjects," Bestsellers, or type anything in the white search box to search by author or title.
(You can save on postage by picking your order up in the store too).

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court

Welcome! The Book Stall at Chestnut Court is a North Shore institution since 1986.

We appreciate our customers! If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Just click to send us e-mail: Books@thebookstall.com

Or give us a call at (847) 446-8880

Toll-free (800) 678-2242 Fax (847) 446-2894

Winter Hours:
Monday - Friday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Need directions:

Google Maps will help you find us

"We are a community bookstore that caters to our customers," says Roberta Rubin, owner of the Book Stall at Chestnut Court. With over 68,000 titles in our 5,000 sq. foot store, the book selection has something for everyone: fiction, travel, cooking, children's books, biographies, and many more. Autographed books are a specialty as well. The Book Stall is classified as a general trade book store.

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court is known for its many special events. You will often find literary and best-selling authors signing their books. The store also sponsors reading groups, poetry sessions and weekly story-telling time for children.

The twenty plus employees of The Book Stall are knowledgeable, friendly and ready to help with special orders, book searches and gift wrapping.

Established in 1940 as Chestnut Court, we became The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in 1986. The store is connected to the popular Caribou Coffee Shop. We are one of the Chicago area's most popular and busy bookstores with events happening almost every day. It is easy to see why we were awarded The Haslam Award for Excellence as an Independent Bookseller in 1993 by The Ingram Book Company and The American Booksellers Association.

Valentine's Day

What could be more romantic than a love story?

Love and Special Savings

From The Book Stall

SATURDAY, FEB. 14, 2009

20% off All Items in the Store!

Some of our favorite new love stories...

A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker

In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld

The Little Book by Selden Edwards

Alexander and Alestria by Shan Sa

Our Children's Book Club

We've made it super easy for you to give a wonderful gift to a child with our Children's Book Club. The Children's Book Club is designed for busy parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends who want to encourage the habit of reading in their special child. Here's how it works: Regularly, in a time frame you choose, we will select a book for the child, charge it to your credit card, and mail it directly via UPS. Selections appropriate to age and interest will be made by one of our children's book specialists who will choose from recently published favorites. In addition, our staff will maintain an ongoing record of your child's growing Book Club library. As a member of the Children's Book Club, you may elect to send either hardcover books at an average cost of $16.00, or paperbacks, which average $6.00 (plus tax when applicable). You may also choose to send twelve selections per year (one a month), or six selections per year (every other month). Duplications may be exchanged but, sorry, shipping charges are not refundable. Number Ten Club memberships will apply. Application forms for The Children's Book Club are available at The Book Stall, or just call 847-446-8880 and we will be happy to sign your child up today!

Mystery Selections

Alison Thomas, our very own sleuth, is always on the trail of new, fantastic mysteries... Alison's Pick for Mystery of the Year: In Where Memories Lie by Deborah Crombie, a priceless heirloom and a murder long hidden send Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James in search of a ruthless killer. This is the latest addition to this award-winning series.

TV Tune-out Week March 2-8, 2009

Turn off your TV and head to the Book Stall

for some fun!

Monday, March 2nd

Winnetka Alliance Book Fair 9:30-5:00

Celebrating Pat Wroclawski’s Children’s Book List

Tuesday, March 3rd 10:00 am

Wake yourself out of hibernation with an animal story time! We will be reading our favorite animals stories for all of you! (Birth to 4)

Tuesday, March 3rd- 4:00-5:00 pm

Hamlet Meneses, Local children’s artist and musician invites you to learn the art of book making. (Ages 7-10)

Wednesday, March 4th-4:00-4:45 pm

Lucia Luckett -Kelly, a creative story teller, will charm our younger set with her entertaining and enlightening stories from around the world. (Ages 4-9)

Thursday, March 5th-10:00 am

Come join us for story time at the Book Stall! Think spring with us! We will be reading some of our favorite springtime stories. (Birth to 4)

Thursday, March 5th-4:00-5:00 pm

Head your covered wagons west on Chestnut Court and join local author, Patricia J. Murphy, for a journey along the Oregon Trail as she reads her book A Journey of a Pioneer, and engages young readers and writers to write about their own journeys.

Friday March 6th- 5:00-5:30 pm

A beary fun pajama story-time. Bring your teddy-bears and wear your pj’s for some favorite old and new stories about our favorite cuddly creatures. (Ages 3-7)

Saturday, March 8th-4:30-5:15 pm

Bring your appetite and help us read If You Give a Cat a Cupcake and then decorate your very own cupcake. You must pre-register for this event. Sign up by Thursday, March 5th! (Ages 4-7)

Book Stall Events for Children

February 12, 2009 4-6 pm

DEBBIE MILLER

Book Stall favorite Debbie Miller is making her yearly stop at the Book Stall!! The author of many childrens' books on Alaska and nature, Debbie will be here to sign books and answer any questions.

February 21, 2009 11:00 am

Mary Jo Reinhart and Paula Nathan

The Book Stall welcomes the author and illustrator of Grinelda the Mad Hatter. They will be doing a storytime and craft activity. Bring the whole family!

February 25, 2009

N.D. Wilson

The author of 100 Cupboards, Wilson follows up with the sequel, Dandelion Fire. We'll keep you posted with more information!

April 6th, 10:00 am

Musica Baby

Hamlet Meneses is back with his bilingual music, storytime, and art for children 6 months - 36 months.

The program runs for six weeks and meets Mondays at 10:00 am. The cost is $220 for the entire program.

Call the Book Stall to sign up!!

(847) 446 8880

Happy Birthday Abe Lincoln

JON GRAND, one of The Book Stall’s resident history experts, weighs in on Lincoln.

As we approach the 200th anniversary of his birth, our interest in Abraham Lincoln remains unabated. Yet despite the fact that he is perhaps the most studied of our Presidents, he is still in many ways a mystery. The number and range of new books on Lincoln reflect continued fascination with this enigmatic giant.

Perhaps the most revealing and important of the newer works is Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (hardcover/paper, $34.95/$21). Goodwin traces how Lincoln used his political acumen, his powers of persuasion, and the certainty of his vision to meld a group of talented individuals, who often had no love for each other or him, into a formidable team of advisors.

Two new books, Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James McPherson ($35) and Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan ($27.95) answer questions about Lincoln's persona. McPherson focuses on Lincoln's development as commander in chief, his growing confidence in his own decisions, and redefinition of the presidential role that resulted. Kaplan traces the maturation of Lincoln's ideas and his skill as a writer through letters, speeches, and notes. It is, thus, a somewhat more intimate biography.

If we are fascinated with Lincoln's public life, his private life has the elements of soap opera. The excess shopping of Mary Todd, her screaming rages, the death of their sons, not to mention Lincoln’s own brooding visions of his own death—these serve less to titillate us than to draw us to his humanity. In The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage, author Daniel Mark Epstein (new in paperback, $16) traces a relationship that although turbulent and difficult, was nonetheless based on love.

Finally, I suggest The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family by Charles Lachman ($24.95). This is an interesting look at the descendants of Abraham Lincoln until the line dies out and brings a closure to a Lincoln history that I had not read before.

Staff Favorites

Our Staff Picks for 2008 Book of the Year

NANCY RANDALL Abraham Verghese's first novel, Cutting for Stone ($26.95, available February 3) is even more phenomenal than his two works of nonfiction. The story of an Ethiopian twin, Marion Stone, shares archetypal themes with many other literary works, yet has a vibrancy and originality all its own. Each scene is poignantly rendered and each character is memorable. This is a must read for 2009. Ammitav Ghosh is one of our unsung authors. His most recent novel, Sea of Poppies ($26) is not an easy read but well worth the effort. It tells the story of the slave ship Ibis and its international cast of passengers and crew members who sail from India to China. The man who wrote the definitive book on the Beatles now narrows his scope and chronicles the life of John Lennon. Beginning with his grandfather singing in a minstrel show in America and ending with his senseless murder, Philip Norman gives an insightful view of a very complex individual. John Lennon: The Life ($34.95) describes an artistic genius, as well as the men and women who helped him become the leader of the greatest musical group of the 20th century. KATHY RILEY Fault Lines by Nancy Huston ($14 in paperback). Four generations tell their stories from the present in California to Europe during World War II. The ties that bond families can hide secrets, weave tales of loss, and connect in unexpected ways. Winner of the Prix Femina Prize, this is an outstanding read. The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan ($25.95). In this autobiography by the author of Marley & Me, Grogan remembers growing up in a strict Catholic family near Detroit. With this funny and poignant story of adolescent/parental conflict, the author captures us again. Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum ($26, available in February). Covering over 40 years, Dan Baum follows the lives of nine residents of New Orleans including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Through these true stories, we are convinced of how truly unique a city sits along the Mississippi in Louisiana. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford ($24, available in February). Tradition and conflict surround the young love of Chinese Henry and Japanese Keiko in Seattle during World War II. Forty years later Henry learns to understand his youthful decisions and to accept his own son’s adulthood.

Links to our friends

Family Awareness Network

Pritzker Military Library

Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood

The Women's Exchange