Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Kobo Mini Sale This Weekend

Don't you hate it when you hear about a great sale the day after it ends? Well if you missed our Black Friday/Small Business Saturday Kobo Mini Sale, you are in luck. This weekend December 21, 22, & 23, all Kobo Minis purchased in the store will be $49.99 while supplies last. I call it the "Kobo Saves Procrastinators Who Still Need the Perfect Gift for a Book Lover Before Christmas, Which, is, Like, FOUR-TWO DAYS AWAY!" Sale.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

On Our “Nice” List: Lisa Heyison

Lisa Heyison is the one-woman force behind Read While U Wait, an initiative to provide books to children and families waiting to be placed in Boston’s family shelters.  I spoke with her about how she became “the book lady”… and her vision for the future.



Tell me about your program a little bit.  How did you get started?

So I have Read While U Wait, which has been around for about 12 years.  I bring all my books to the Roxbury Department of Transitional Assistance and the DHCD, Department of Housing and Community Development, which is for people who are being placed in family shelters.  (The DHCD used to be part of the DTA and they had to separate it a couple of years ago.)  There are anywhere from—it’s going to sound like a high number—anywhere from 300 to 1,000 families a day that go through there.  If you’re going to a family shelter, your whole family has to be there.  So the kids may have to sit there for 3-6 hours or longer.  They miss school, but they have to be there to be placed.  If you go on a Monday or a Tuesday or right after a holiday, it’s stifling.  The case workers are great, but it’s tough. 

When I was a volunteer at Horizons, one of the shelters had all these books jammed in drawers.  It drove me crazy, so I asked if I could set up a library.  Since it used to be a hospital I asked if they would let me have an old nursing station.  That’s when somebody connected me with Read Boston.  They got funding from the city… Mayor Menino wanted a program started for literacy for kids and families in shelters.  There wasn’t really any prototype for this though. So somebody heard about my program and they asked if I would come to ReadBoston as a volunteer to duplicate it.  Eventually we expanded to 26 family shelters.  But because there is such limited staff, I became the person who ran it.  So it was wonderful and we did workshops with the moms, the dads, volunteers, the staff—we cleaned out libraries full of bad donations and developed new ones for these places.  It was called Families and Books. 

And while I was there somebody from the DTA asked me to help them to start a reading room.  So I teamed up with them, Horizons for Homeless Children, and Mass Literacy Coalition, and after five or six years we managed to get a room.  They have since closed that room because they needed to put food stamp machines in it.  So it lasted for a couple of years, but after I left ReadBoston I continued to supply the DTA with books. 

What’s your relationship to Reader to Reader (a charity dedicated to supplying books and computers to communities in need)?

So I was doing it all on my own, and then last year I spoke to a state rep about becoming a nonprofit.  Actually, it’s funny because I was on a train with him and the train broke down, so we started talking about a friend of his named David Mazzer, who started Reader to Reader.  Eventually I met David and we teamed up so that I didn’t have to become a nonprofit.  Reader to Reader helps to support me by writing grants and getting me the more difficult books to get… I don’t get a lot of Spanish books donated, and I don’t get enough board books donated.  I’m always in desperate need of those, so Reader to Reader tends to use its funds for that.  They’ll siphon off some of the adult donations that they receive also, including cookbooks.  A couple of years ago I had a few kids who needed to do community service and they were sorting all the books we were collecting and they said we should get rid of the cookbooks.  And I told them they’d be surprised, because people are sitting in those waiting rooms and they do cook. 

Anyhow, that’s how we became part of Reader to Reader.  They have a huge national program that helps people to get the books they need, though they don’t do a lot of shelter work.  They tend to supply disadvantaged schools, libraries, communities—like after Katrina they went in and were giving books out to everybody.  Whenever there’s a natural disaster and they know that books probably got destroyed, they go in, they organize, and they distribute books.  It’s amazing.  Also, their donors… Carly Simon is a big one.  She wrote a book, so sometimes they get her surplus.  There are quite a few famous people, some authors, who are generous to Reader to Reader.  It’s a very eclectic group that gives to them. 

Do you partner up with retailers or wholesalers at all?

Working with other organizations can be very tricky.  Birthday Wishes is an amazing organization that can sometimes give me books. 
Really, it’s mostly kids setting up book drives for community service hours, or local stores like PSB who will give me donations.  If I hear about a used book sale I’ll try to get there, but I also work full time—I’m a social worker at the Somerville Council on Aging.  I don’t get paid for the book work I do, I never have actually, not in all my years with Read Boston either.  I love to read and I’m fortunate that I can volunteer. 

Earlier, you mentioned “bad donations.”  What do you mean by that?

Encyclopedia sets!  People aren’t looking at them!  Most shelters will at least have access to a computer for kids to do homework, so those kids are not going to use outdated encyclopedias for their assignments.  So it’s stuff like that, or old textbooks, old travel books, no one is using those.

I’m surprised you don’t get many board books.  I don’t feel like people would keep those for posterity.

Kids chew on them.  I mean, which is the purpose of them, but we want books to be in good condition.  Sometimes we get donated ones that are in good shape, but mostly they’re chewed up.  I’m always concerned with germs too.  Board books are best incredibly gently used or new.  So a lot of times when people ask if they can do a book drive, I will have them focus on new board books. 

What else do you need? 

Children’s books, literally from birth through high school.  Picture books, the I-can-read type books…oh my gosh I go through so many of those so quickly.  Because we also use them for the parents.  When I was at Read Boston I would do workshops on how people can use those books to improve their reading skills.  For example, we’d teach the 5 finger method, which helps you learn whether a book is too hard or too easy (if there are five words on the page that you can’t read, it’s too hard, so go back a level).  They’re kid books, but that’s ok.  People need to know that it’s ok to take a chance and read anything that will help them learn.  And picture books are great for those who don’t speak English so well.  We have them create their own story to go with the pictures. 

So there are many different ways that we use children’s books but they’re some of the hardest books to get because people don’t want to give them up.  They think that they’re going to save them for their grandchildren.  It’s funny, because I have books from when I was a kid and there’s only one that I still look at, since the rest of them will fall apart if I open the pages.  It would have been better if I’d just given them to someone else.  We also tell people: When you give a book to somebody as a gift, don’t always inscribe it.  Often the child will read it a couple of times and then move on.  So it’s almost new, and if they bring it to a book drive, we can give another kid a book that’s almost new and that doesn’t have anybody else’s name on it, a book that becomes their own. 

The kids I work with don’t have books.  When they come into family housing, they come in with a garbage bag.  And if you’re going to carry all your stuff, you’re not going to bring books.  And they don’t.  Because books are heavy, and the mom’s the one who’s carrying everything because the kids are little.  So when they come and they see us with the books—like when I dropped off the boxes the other day—the kids stop and stare.  I tell them to take some.  And they are so hesitant to take more than one.  Like, “Really?  Can I take it… can I keep it?”  They’ve never had a book.  I mean, you can have 7 or 8 year olds who have never owned one. 

All these kids who are living in the shelters are stressed out, they struggle to get to school on time, their grade level is so erratic because they’ve moved too much.  Even their parents sometimes don’t know what to do with a book.  Nobody educated them on how to educate their child.  There was no model.  It’s not that they’re bad parents, they’re not!  It’s just that no one ever modeled certain things for them.  There’s a whole educational component.  Are you reading to your child?  Are you counting, doing colors?  If we don’t emphasize these things for the parents, when the kids get to preschool or kindergarten, parents expect the teacher to do it all.  And that’s the other big obstacle:  to get people to take a chance.  To just take the books.  Sometimes when I’m there I’ll just walk around to kids that are crying and stick a book in their hands, and they’ll stop. 

What do your volunteers do?

Usually it’s only me.  I have to admit, I usually get volunteers when kids either need to do community service, or they got in trouble, and they get into community service that way.  I am probably the only person who liked it when pot was criminal because I used to get enough kids… I actually had a whole little program with a file on my computer with the forms you need, the hours you have to complete, the whole setup. 

If someone offered to volunteer for a few hours, or a few times a week, how could they help you out?

I would actually have them mobilize other volunteers and help me figure out ways to expand the program.  I don’t know how to expand this, exactly.  I’ve have people express interest, but I don’t have the time or energy to do it all: reach out to more bookstores and libraries for advanced copies, find information about used book sales, get a list together of sources that accept donations or are donating.  I would love to have somebody help me figure out all those things!  I’d love to have someone help out with pickups or deliveries, or someone to talk to elementary schools and middle schools… if every kid, especially in some of the communities with healthier incomes, if every kid took the books that they are done reading or that they have never opened up and brought them to a book drive, that would be amazing.  There are just so many books sitting in homes… books that we can use…and I don’t always know how to open those channels.  I really am lousy at that.  It’s very difficult doing this mostly alone, but I mean, it’s worth it when I look at the kids and the staff and they’re just so excited.  I drive up and they all know me as the book lady. 

What’s your vision?

I want more books!  I want more crayons, coloring books, workbooks, paper, stickers.  I want people making little bags so the shelter staff can give out goodie bags full of stories and fun art stuff.  These kids don’t have that.  They get three crayons to work with.  For that reason I just buy crayons whenever I see them on sale.  I want to get bigger and better but I also want someone else to help me get it there.


Kim Prosise

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

They’ve Read Everything

We all have that person on our holiday list; the person who has read everything. When you ask them what they want they say “books,” but it is almost impossible to find something for them they haven’t already read. So they unwrap the gift, thank you politely or perhaps profusely and either exchange the book for something they haven’t read or re-gift it. Gift cards are nice and always appreciated but it’s just not the same. There’s something special about handing a book across the room and there’s something extra special about seeing someone’s eyes light up with joy and expectation. (Especially when they were totally just practicing their polite “It’s the thought that counts” face.) So the staff of Porter Square Books has dug deep into our brains to put together a list of gift ideas for people who have read everything. Some of the books are so new there’s just no way they could’ve gotten to them (unless they’ve got a connection in the business.) Some of the books just didn’t get the attention they deserved when they first came out however long ago that was. Some of the books are a little...out there. But they’re all good books and sure to make impressive gifts, whoever ends up receiving them. We’ve lightly categorized and added specific descriptions of the books to make it easy to find the perfect match. And we’d love to hear your suggestions too. Add them in the comments field below.


For the reader on the cutting edge of the contemporary literature, the best bet is to go foreign.

Cyclops: A kind of Croatian Catch-22 starring a theater critic who starves himself to avoid being drafted into the army. Also, drinking, art, palmists, affairs, and satire.

Parallel Stories: Massive, beautiful, baffling, challenging, perplexing, discursive, the latest novel in English by perennial Nobel hopeful spans decades, families, and nationalities and includes the absolute longest sex scene Josh has ever read. (If that sort of thing interests you.)

Notturno: Book length prose-poem composed on one-line strips of paper while the poet was blindfolded recovering from an injury. Impressive even before you open it and it just gets more mind-blowing after you do.

The Minus Times Collected: Have you have heard of The Minus Times? Me neither, but for ten years they published works by Wells Tower, Patrick DeWitt, Barry Hannah, Dan Clowes, and a not-yet-famous Stephen Colbert


Latin for Gardeners: A perfect gift book for both the novice and experienced gardener, reasonably priced, with exquisite illustrations. Especially terrific for the gardener that has all the “how to” books they need.


For the rarefied reader who relishes acidic black comedy British class dissection: who's already burned through Edward St. Aubyn's Patrick Melrose novels, early Martin Amis and at the source Evelyn Waugh, there's Philip Hensher's King of the Badgers.


The Late George Apley: A lesser-known Pulitzer winner, full of Beacon Hill intrigue. Perfect for those who prefer a bit of Brahmin restraint with their family drama.


Weslandia: For the kid who's blown through the picture book section, a beautifully illustrated take on a boy who founds a new civilization over summer vacation.

Deadline Artists: A blend of classic gems and hidden treats for any journalism fan in this compilation, drawn from more than a century of newspaper columns.

The Kayla Chronicles: Journalism, feminism, and the school dance team fill this novel pitched at young teens who love Sarah Dessen but aren't quite ready for her books.

The Making of the English Working-Class: The history buff who's read everything probably hasn't made it through these 800 pages of thoroughly fascinating labor and cultural history.

Art and Artists: Poems: This wonderful little book came out this past summer, but got lost among all the beach reads. It's a beautiful, inspiring anthology, with wide-ranging art forms, and the size is perfect for toting around.

And a couple from the "I totally have no idea" section.

Dancers Among Us: The perfect gift for someone you have no idea what to give them – sure to bring a little joy into anyone’s heart.


Cairns: The random piles of stones you see on hiking trails might not be so random after all. Not just for hikers, this book is a detailed pick into one specific avenue of human communication.

Friday, November 30, 2012

e-lumination

Earlier this week Richard Mason was at the store discussing his latest novel, The History of a Pleasure Seeker, now out in paperback. A special feature of the evening was his presentation of his exciting new product he's calling an e-lumination. It's a digital edition of his novel unlike any other ebook you've ever seen, designed from the beginning to be a visually stunning, multi-media, interactive experience. Currently it is only available for Apple mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch and we are one of a very few stores selling cards with a code that you can redeem on iTunes. Come into the store and view our demo of this unique reading experience.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Food Books for the 2012 Holidays

In the way crocuses signal the onset of spring, the arrival of pallets of cookbooks heralds the impending holiday season. As food and food writing continue to grow in cultural importance the amount and variety of cookbooks grow apace. If you’ve got a cook or food lover on your list, this post will be a guide to cookbooks and food writing of the 2012 holiday seasons.

Online to Offline

Two of the best food websites have gone to print with excellent cookbooks. If you’ve ever stared blankly at a refrigerator full of ingredients with no idea what to cook for dinner and you’ve had an internet connection, you’ve probably searched Epicurious for an answer. The Epicurious Cookbook collects 250 of their “four-fork” or highest rated recipes. As practical (some would say lifesaving) as the website is, it doesn’t provide the joy of flipping around to find a recipe that catches your eye. Organized thematically, The Epicurious Cookbook is both a reference, like the website, and an avenue for discovery like all the best cookbooks are.

After years of being one of the absolute best food blogs on the internet with some of the absolute best recipes and the best pictures, Smitten Kitchen has finally come to the printed page. Deb Perelman is a self-taught cook and a self-taught photographer, which makes the quality of her photography and her recipes that much more impressive. She’ll be stopping by the store so we’ll have signed copies for the holidays.

Cookbook as Work of Art

Some cookbooks are collections of recipes, reference guides filled with practical solutions to practical problems. Others try to capture the complete experience of food, with beautiful pictures, cultural explorations, personal stories, and recipes, becoming as much works of art as they are books of recipes. Uniquely bound, uniquely organized, and uniquely covered Polpo might be the most interesting object in our cooking section. Its recipes come from Russell Norman’s Soho restaurant but it’s presentation and photographs come from a commitment to discover the soul of Venice’s back streets.

All of Thomas Keller’s cookbooks are beautiful and amazing. His newest is Bouchon, and it’s beautiful and amazing.

Food Writing

The best food writing going on today isn’t in a book, it’s in Lucky Peach, the quarterly magazine and brain child of Momofuko’s David Chang. With writing by Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Harold McGee, Peter Mehan, and a host of other cooks and writers it is absolutely one of the best magazines out there. And it comes with recipes. Each issue is organized around a theme, the current one is “Chinatown.”

Somewhere between a cookbook and food writing and between photojournalism and travelogue is Saveur’s The Way We Cook: Portraits from Around the World. Like Hungry Planet: What the World Eats and Material World: A Global Family Portrait, The Way We Cook features pictures of people, well, cooking. As simple as that sounds, the book is absolutely fascinating. And if you happen to feel inspired, there are recipes in the back.




On the Edge

If there is one cookbook that encompasses the innovations, experiments, and revolutions of cooking over the last ten years or so, it’s the encyclopedic Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet. Unfortunately, at six volumes, 2,400 pages, and $625 it was too encyclopedic for just about anybody not striving for a Michelin star. This year, however, the authors have released a pared down version called Modernist Cuisine at Home. It’s 456 pages contain recipes at all skill levels and detailed information on equipment and techniques. And Modernist Cuisine at Home also boasts one of the best innovations in cookbooks, I’ve ever seen. One of the problems with beautiful (and expensive) cookbooks is their beauty makes me reluctant to cook with them. Cooking can be messy and I don’t want to destroy a book I spent $50 on. Along with the shmancy, full color photographs, at home on the coffee table as well as on the kitchen table, edition of the book, Modernist Cuisine at Home comes with a spiral-bound, text only, tear resistant, WATERPROOF, book of all the recipes. You can cook from Modernist Cuisine at Home without fear of damaging Modernist Cuisine at Home. I truly hope other cookbook publishers will follow suit.

Book Recommendations Are Like Fruit Cake

Last year I wrote A Very Foodie Holiday for the Porter Square Books Blog, and, just like fruit cake, book recommendations keep for over a year. Check out the post and all the suggestions here.


Friday, November 16, 2012

Kobo Mini 2-Day Sale

UPDATE: Good news everyone. If we run out of Minis during the sale, we will be able to place paid special orders at the sale price. You still need to make the purchase on Friday the 24th or Saturday the 25th to get the $30, but now you don't have to worry about elbowing your fellow reader out of the way for the last Mini.

Kobo is running a big two-day sale on the Mini. All Kobo Minis purchased on Friday November 23 (maybe you’ve heard of this whole “Black Friday” thing) and Saturday November 24 (Small Business Saturday to all you American Express Users) will be $30 off. On those two days instead of being $79.99 all Minis will be $49.99. A top of the line, fully featured, fits in the palm of your hand e-ink reader will be about $50. If you participate in American Express’s Small Business Saturday (sign up and more info here) you could get a $25 credit. In that case, you’ll get a top of the line, fully featured, fits in the palm of your hand e-ink reader for about $25. On top of that, all Kobo accessories will be 10% off those days with the purchase of a device. Personally, I think these are great little devices and at $50 or even $25 they make outstanding gifts for readers.


Monday, November 12, 2012

Shop Indie Anywhere


It’s a sad truth that many people don’t have a local independent bookstore. Maybe their hometown is too small to support one or the ones that used to be there went out of business for one reason or another. Some people may want to shop independent but can’t.

The new partnership with Kobo can make it convenient and economical for those of you without a store nearby to still shop independent. Porter Square Books, and other independent bookstores around the country are now selling Kobo devices, the Glo and the Mini. Both devices have Wi-Fi, high resolution e-ink touch screens, an integrated dictionary, and social reading functions and come with easy access to the Kobo ebooks store. If you purchase a Kobo from an independent bookstore all the ebooks you buy on that device will credit that bookstore. You’ll be shopping independent with every single ebook purchase. The same goes if you give the Kobo to someone else. If they’ve written “Kindle” on their wish list, the Kobo devices will give them all the features and convenience of Kindle, with a comparable catalog, easy access to .epub files, competitive prices, and higher resolution screens, AND you’ll be sharing your independent spirit.

Most indie bookstores have websites that sell and ship books, but the Kobos offer a catalog of millions of ebooks, all competitively priced, all available instantly with a tap or two on the touch screen, and all supporting independence.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Kobo Live On Our Website



We started selling Kobo devices in the store on Monday and are now selling Kobo ebooks on our website. They are readable on pretty much every device except the Kindle. If you’re looking for ebooks just start with the search box on the left hand side of the webpage. You can also click on the “Other Editions of This Title” link in title listings to see the ebook edition of a particular title.

Once you find the book you want click on “Buy Ebook Now.” The first time you do this a window will pop up letting you know you’ll be completing your order on the Kobo website. You’ll also need to create a new Kobo account. When you do, you’ll be able to save your credit card information. If you stay signed in to Kobo, clicking on the “Buy Ebook Now,” will take you directly to the payment screen and then you’re one click away from your book. If you want to shop for more titles, click on the “continue shopping” button. You’ll stay on the Kobo website, but all your purchases will support Porter Square Books.

Click here for device specific instructions.

If you have any questions about Kobo or ebooks in general please email me at josh@portersquarebooks.com. 

And if you’re in the neighborhood stop in to check out our device display at the front counter. You’ll be able to try out a Mini and a Glo. So far, everyone who has tried one out has really liked it. They’re comfortable in the hand, clear to read with many different display options, have an integrated and easy to use dictionary, and have a very smooth highlighting and annotation feature. (There’s even a translation function for all of you struggling with the Spanish in This Is How You Lose Her) I think a lot of holiday lists where updated with a Glo or a Mini. And if a friend or family member wrote “Kindle” on their wishlist, you can get them a Kobo instead.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Kobo Ebooks Announcement


Kobo Mini

On Wednesday November 7th, Porter Square Books will officially begin selling Kobo ebooks on our website and sometime between now and then (perhaps even tomorrow!) we will be selling the Kobo Mini, the KoboGlo and a range of Kobo accessories  in the store and online. Kobo ebooks will work on pretty much every device except the Kindle, either on the Kobo reading app or by using Adobe Digital Editions to transfer the .epub files onto your device. If you’ve already purchased Google ebooks from us, everything will be pretty much the same. Use the search box to find the ebook you want or follow the “related editions” link in print book listings. Then it’s just like any other online purchase. The first time, you’ll need to establish a Kobo account. Please visit our How to Read an Ebook for all the info you need.


Kobo Glo

If you’re looking for a device both the Kobo Mini and the Kobo Glo are getting good reviews. I personally think the Mini is very cool. Fits in a pocket, fully featured including WiFi, $79.99, with a very sharp screen. The Glo is a bit larger and comes with an ambient light that is supposed to make reading in the dark much more comfortable. Both devices come with an integrated store and if you buy a Kobo from us, all of the purchases you make through that device will credit Porter Square Books, making it the most convenient way to buy ebooks and support us. We’ll have a display model of both the Mini and the Glo at our front desk if you’d like to try one out.  


Glo Sleepcover Case
As always, our goal at Porter Square Books is to get books to readers in whatever format they prefer. If you prefer ebooks, Kobo is how we’ll get those ebooks to you. Questions, comments, or concerns? Just send me an email at josh@portersquarebooks.com and thank you for all of your support over the years.

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