Book Donations for Kids in Shelters

It is a very busy time of year, we know. But next time you are in the store, please take a moment to purchase a book for a child, newborn to age 18, and drop it in our donation box. For the last three years, we have been helping the Cambridge Public Library collect new books for kids in transitional housing in the Cambridge area. You will get a 20% discount on any books purchased for this program. The staff at the library then wrap and distribute the books to shelters. One among them houses over 300 kids so the need is great. Thanks in advance for your help.

Carlos Eire

I happened to catch yesterday's broadcast of Fresh Air while sitting in the cell phone lot at the airport. The time passed almost without notice as I listened to Carlos Eire's sonorous voice describe the experience of leaving his homeland, his parents, and all that was familiar to escape Castro's Cuba in 1962. He tells the story in his new book Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy. This can be read in conjunction with Eire's Waiting for Snow in Havana which describes his childhood in Cuba and won the National Book Award in 2003. Either would make a great gift and together they paint a fascinating portrait of a life lived very consciously.

Tree of Codes

The word is spreading about the "new" Jonathan Safran book, Tree of Codes. I say "new" since the novel is created by excising text from the novel Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz. Whatever its merits as a work of fiction, the production of the physical book is impressive (and so also carries an impressive price). New York Magazine just published a short piece with a terrific photo about it that's worth a look. Our original order was shorted by the publisher as the demand for the book outstripped the initial supply so if you would like a copy act soon. A reprint is expected in mid-December.

NEIBA Holiday Catalog

Every year the New England Independent Booksellers Association puts together a holiday catalog filled with great book recommendations. The catalog is organized into sections featuring suggestions in Cooking, Fiction, People, Nonfiction, Arts, Children’s, and Young Adult. It also highlights the 2010 New England Book Award Winners: Father of the Rain, by Lily King; Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell; and City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems.

You can see the full list here or pick up a physical copy in the store.

Borrowing a Critics's Brain

Too often, I find that contemporary criticism is more interested in proving a particular point than in helping readers deepen their understanding of the book in question. I believe book critics are like park rangers or tour guides in museums; readers don’t need critics to get a lot out of books, but critics provide the skill and knowledge to open up a whole new understanding of books. They give readers the opportunity to see things they otherwise never would have and to do so with a better overall understanding of the context of the book. Though I think there is a lot of value in “making a point” criticism (criticism whose first goal is to convince readers of something in relation to the book in question), I wish there were more general criticism; criticism that demonstrates the kind of exploration that great readers do while they read. (The New York Review of Books is filled with the latter and that's probably why I like it so much.)

One way to understand Declan Kiberd’s Ulysses and Us is as the story of an intelligent sophisticated reader, reading an intelligent and sophisticated book. Kiberd organizes his reading around daily actions that he believes are explored and celebrated in Ulysses; walking, eating, reading, ogling, teaching, etc, but his writing goes beyond a strict adherence to showing that episode X is devoted to mundane activity Y. He essentially allows us a look into his mind as he reads Ulysses; the mind of a Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at the University College Dublin, of the author of Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation and Irish Classics, and of the editor of The Annotated Students’ Ulysses.

You don’t have to have read Ulysses to enjoy Ulysses and Us and though I always hope more people read Ulysses, Ulysses and Us is interesting even for those with no plans whatsoever to read Joyce’s masterpiece. Kiberd gives us a chance to borrow the brain of a critic and use it to read for a while.

Harold McGee videos

These links were sent by the publisher for your enjoyment! Check them out.


Frying Veggies

Boiling Veggies

Measuring

“Instant” Thermometers

Freshness

Heat

Pasta

Fish

Ice Cream

Berries

Rut - Concord Free Press

Once again we have an offering of free books from the Concord Free Press. If you follow our posts regularly you might recall that they give away the books they publish only asking that you donate money to a person or organization that needs it and when you've finished the book to pass it along so the giving can continue. Ideally you'll also let them know that you donated on their website so they can keep tally of their impact. To date their readers have donated over $165,000!

This season's title is Rut by Scott Phillips. Stop in right away as it's first come first serve and we only have a case to distribute.