Get ready for warm winter reading...

When Daylight Savings Time Ends,

the Best-Time-of-the-Year-to-Read Begins

We'll lose an hour of afternoon daylight when we turn the clocks back this weekend, but we'll also be heading into the best time of the year to curl up in a cozy chair with a good book. The Book Stall's shelves and tables beckon readers, and our staff have been busy keeping up with them all.

We have ideas for good reads galore, and our November newsletter, on its way to the post office, has many recommendations and reviews. There's an eclectic mix from Stephanie: The Book of Strange New Things (also reviewed by her daughter Katie) by Michel Faber, author of the iconic The Crimson Petal and the White; Hector Tobar's Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free; Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End; and Caitlin Moran's How to Build a Girl. 

Jon singles out Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S.C. Gwynne and Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution, Peter Ackroyd's continuation of his history of England. 

 

 

Owen reviews Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood(mentioned in last week's e-news) and Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr. 

  

Sarah is trumpeting her enthusiasm for the Iraq war novel Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre, who'll be at the store on Saturday, November 8. Liz picked Us by David Nicholls and The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. 
 

Click on the titles above for more information. Better yet, please stop by and let us tell you about them!

2014 Spring Book Discussion Group

The Book Stall's Book Clubs

 Wednesdays, 9:30 - 11 am at the store

  

2014 Spring Book Discussion Group

Wednesday, April 16

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

by Anthony Marra

Led by Suzanne Hales

Wednesday, April 23

The Goldfinch

by Donna Tartt

Led by Ellen Sandrock

Wednesday, April 30

The Illusuion of Separateness

by Simon Van Booy

Led by Jane Levine

Wednesday, May 7

Shotgun Lovesongs

by Nickolas Butler

Led by Nancy Buehler

Wednesday, May 14

We

by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Led by Julia Denne

Wednesday, May 21

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

by Alice Hoffman

Led by Holly Marihugh

Wednesday, May 28

Americanah

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Led by Elise Barack

There is a $5 charge to participate in book discussion groups, fully redeemable for merchandise in the store.

April is National Poetry Month

Join us as we honor National Poetry Month. 

We'll celebrate in the store on Saturday, April 21, 2012, with a "Breakfast with the Poets" brunch at 10:30 am.  Come for poetry readings, scones, and coffee.

and for children...

Our Children's Department will "Shelabrate Poetry Month 2012" on Saturday, April 28, at 3 pm.  Kids will write their own poems, based on the new Shel Silverstein collection Every Thing On It. Watch for more details. It's free, but please call us at 847 446-8880 to register.  Recommended for ages 8-11.

An Alan Cheuse essay

Honoring National Bookstore Day, Nov. 7, 2009

Author Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio’s longtime “voice of books” and reviewer on All Things Considered, is a frequent, and favorite, visitor to The Book Stall. Mr. Cheuse was last in the store to sign his novel, To Catch the Lightning, a wonderful exploration of the intertwined plights of the famous frontier photographer Edward Curtis and the American Indian (just out in paperback). At the time, he composed for us these recollections of his earliest bookstore experiences.

Enjoy reading his full essay here.

A Tribute to Frank McCourt

Remembering
Frank McCourt
Aug. 30, 1930 – July 19, 2009

Join us at the store for a special reading of
selections from Mr. McCourt’s books on
Monday, July 27, 2009, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Friends of The Book Stall (with deep Irish roots)will read from Frank McCourt’s memoirs Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, and Teacher Man.


We at The Book Stall recall few visiting authors as personally as we do
Frank McCourt. Our newsletter of September-October 1996 carried this probably little-noticed calendar item:

Wed., Sept. 25
Frank McCourt
Angela’s Ashes
Reading and signing at Cullen’s Bar,
3741 N. Southport, Chicago


Little did we know at the time of the signing—three weeks after the book’s publication––that Angela’s Ashes would become one of The Book Stall’s major bestsellers of the decade. By the time he came to sign ‘Tis, at the North Shore Country Day School, in November 1999, the book was already a #1 bestseller—and the event attracted more than 500 McCourt fans! Then six years later, he spent a Saturday afternoon at the store, on November 19, 2005, reading from and signing Teacher Man. His last visit was in November 2007, when he signed his children’s book, Angela and the Baby Jesus, along with its illustrator Loren Long.

Over the years, we missed no opportunity to connect with Mr. McCourt. Once, after the phenomenal success of Angela’s Ashes and upon its paperback publication, Roberta was determined to “borrow” him from his Chicagoland book tour and have him do an impromptu signing at the The Book Stall. Off we went, out to a far suburban Sam’s Club, where he was signing books in the tire section of the store. He was most gracious.

Frank McCourt, we will miss you. Thank you for your friendship.

Be sure to join us for this unique event: Monday, July 27, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
Irish readers so far will include:

Helen Gallagher
Carol LaChapelle
Bill McGrane
Marguerite O'Connor
and more.

Roberta Blogs Ogden Nash

April is National Poetry Month and I have always loved to celebrate it by reading more poetry as well as quoting a poem or two in our newsletter. As I sit here in mid-April, I am reminded of “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots…” from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

Now I look to some cheerful and uplifting poetry! Ogden Nash comes to mind—and in a recently published book, Essential Pleasures, edited by Robert Pinsky (our U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997 -2000), I found a fanciful poem about Christopher Columbus in the section of “Long Lines, Strophes, and Parallelisms.”

Just before Ogden Nash, there are the first three chapters of Ecclesiastes, and always a favorite, Chapter 3 begins with: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die: a time to plant, and time to pluck up that which is planted…”

Back to Ogden Nash, and his poem, "Columbus":

Once upon a time there was an Italian,
And some people thought he was a rapscallion,
But he wasn’t offended,
Because other people thought he was splendid,
And he said the world was round,
And everybody made an uncomplimentary sound,
But his only reply was Pooh,
He replied, Isn’t this fourteen ninety-two?….
So Columbus said, somebody show me the sunset and somebody did and he set sail for it,
And he discovered America and they put him in jail for it,
And the fetters gave him welts,
And they named America for somebody else,
So the sad fate of Columbus ought to be pointed out to every child and every voter,
Because it has a very important moral, which is, “Don’t be a discoverer, be a promoter.

I suppose I like this poem not only because of its humor and wit, but because I often feel that in this business, I am the “promoter!” I ask you to come into the store to buy books, or to attend one of our wonderful special events, or to call or email us with your requests. We will stay in business with your support. And so I say “thank you” for all you do for us—I know so many of you are concerned and appreciative of having an independent book store in your area. By the way, this month we are offering a $10 coupon (with a $50 purchase) in our May newsletter. Stop by and pick up a copy if you are not on our mailing list. I hope you will take advantage of it!

Reading is better than tea...

It's true. The Daily Telegraph from London writes:


Reading 'can help reduce stress'
Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds, according to new research conducted on a group of volunteers at the University of Sussex.

Reading works better and faster than other methods to calm frazzled nerves, such as listening to music, going for a walk or settling down with a cup of tea, research found.

Psychologists believe this is because the human mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction of being taken into a literary world eases the tensions in muscles and the heart.

Their stress levels and heart rate were increased through a range of tests and exercises before they were then tested with a variety of traditional methods of relaxation.

Reading worked best, reducing stress levels by 68 per cent, said cognitive neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis.

Subjects only needed to read, silently, for six minutes to slow down the heart rate and ease tension in the muscles, he found. In fact it got subjects to stress levels lower than before they started.

Reading reduced stress by 68 percent
Listening to music reduced the levels by 61 per cent
Having a cup of tea of coffee lowered them by 54 per cent
Taking a walk by 42 per cent.
Playing video games brought them down by 21 per cent from their highest level but still left the volunteers with heart rates above their starting point.

Dr. Lewis, who conducted the test, said: "Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation. This is particularly poignant in uncertain economic times when we are all craving a certain amount of escapism."

-- posted by Helen