Magers & Quinn Booksellers

Meet Henry Rollins and See the World at M&Q

2011-10-18T16:15:00.004-05:00

For the past twenty-five years, Henry Rollins has searched out the most desolate corners of the Earth—from Iraq to Afghanistan, Thailand to Mali, and beyond--articulating his observations through music and words, on radio and television, and in magazines and books. Though he’s known for the raw power of his expression, Rollins has shown that the greatest statements can be made with the simplest of acts: to just bear witness, to be present.

In his new book Occupants, Rollins pairs visceral full-color photographs--taken in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and elsewhere over the last few years--with writings that not only provide context and magnify the impact of the images but also lift them to the level of political commentary. Simply put, this book is a visual testimony of anger, suffering, and resilience. Occupants will help us realize what is so easy to miss when tragedy and terror become numbing, constant forces--the quieter, stronger forces of healing, solidarity, faith, and even joy.

You can meet Henry Rollins, see more photographs, and learn much more at M&Q tomorrow. Rollins will be in the store at 7:30pm, Wednesday, October 19. Details are here.--David E

2011-09-24T13:44:00.001-05:00

Susan Niz's new novel Kara Lost has gotten great reviews. Alison McGhee called it "a masterful debut,” and David Housewright thinks it's “smart as hell."

Sixteen-year-old Kara fless the suffocation of her surburban life, trading in her home and family for a gritty, anonymous existence on the streets of Minneapolis. She begins a perilous journey, naive, well-intentioned, and isolated as she struggles to reconnect with her older sister.

Part of the book's charm also comes from it's setting: Uptown in the 1980s. If you visited M&Q when it first opened 17 years ago, you'll recognize Niz's description of the neighborhood:

Walking down the street, I asked myself what was so exciting about Uptown in the first place. There was plenty to look at, that's for sure. People with nose rings and spikes and patches on their black clothes. Fire-engine red and eggplant-plant purple hair, dyed with this Manic Panic stuff, drew attention from a block away. I had always shown up as is, looking suburban or not. I would watch the people as they panhandled for money to buy a case of beer, a meal, or a pack of smokes.

In Uptown, I got off by Calhoun Square and walked the block toward McDonald's. There were more street kids out in the April weather than when I left in February, but most of them wouldn't come out until after dark. Looking down at the sidewalk dotted with embedded wads of gray gum, I wondered what had been so fun about hanging out there. All I wanted was a safe little place to live and I could give up ever going there again.

Susan Niz comes to M&Q at 7:30pm, next Tuesday, September 27, to read from her new novel Kara, Lost.--David E

Cookbook recommendations from Chef Lucia Watson

2011-09-01T11:21:00.002-05:00

If it weren't for a steady diet of tea, coffee, soups, salads, sandwiches (and cookies!) from Lucia's To Go, just around the corner from our store, we here at Magers & Quinn would have a difficult time doing much of anything. We asked Lucia Watson herself to recommend a handful of her favorite cookbooks. Here's what she had to say.

M&Q:How long have you been in business? And why?
LW:: "26 years!!! For 26 years, Lucia's has been creating weekly menus, selecting delicious wines and greeting our wonderful customers! Our Restaurant, Wine Bar, and Lucia's To Go are inspired by high quality local foods, exceptional cooking, and genuine hospitality. The seasonal, nourishing, and cultural properties of cooking continue to be our passion.

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi "My newest love is a book called Plenty by London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi. It's just vegetables. So inspiring and so beautiful!"
Simple French Food by Richard Olney "To me, this is the authentic hands on book that describes how to cook the way the French do. I just love this book. I go back to it over and over..."
Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland by Lucia Watson and Beth Dooley "Can I say my own book? It is true that it is the one I turn to always for the basics of how I like to cook: seasonal foods, roasted chicken, soups, etc."

"Other books I love and refer to frequently are Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller, The River Cafe Books by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers and all of Deborah Madison's books ."

M&Q is full of good cookbooks. Come by today to find the right one for you.

Brooklyn, Burning Is Hot Reading

2011-08-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

Steve Brezenoff--one of Minnesota Monthly's recent "Artists We Love"--reads from his latest novel at Magers & Quinn this Friday. Join us at 7:30pm, Friday, August 26, for a rather adult Young Adult reading.

When you're sixteen and no one understands who you are, sometimes the only choice left is to run. If you're lucky, you find a place that accepts you, no questions asked. And if you're really lucky, that place has a drum set, a place to practice, and a place to sleep. For Kid, the streets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, are that place. Over the course of two scorching summers, Kid falls hopelessly in love and then loses nearly everything and everyone worth caring about.

Brooklyn, Burning is a fearless and unconventional love story that addresses the challenges of teens questioning their gender or sexuality. Throughout the entire book, Brezenoff never identifies the gender of his two main characters, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions about Kid and Scout.

Steve Brezenoff is the author of two young adult novels, The Absolute Value of -1 and Brooklyn, Burning (both published by Minneapolis-based Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group). Born in Queens, Steve spent much of his twenties and early thirties living in Brooklyn. He writes about Greenpoint, the northern-most Brooklyn neighborhood, in vivid and unmistakable detail. Steve left his apartment in Greenpoint when he moved to Minnesota with his dog, Harry. It was in that apartment that he proposed to his wife, Beth (the reason he moved to Minnesota). He lives in St. Paul with Beth, their son, Sam, and Harry.

Punch-Worthy Events

2011-08-20T10:10:00.002-05:00

Three local bookstores (Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Common Good Books, and Micawbers), three local publishers (Graywolf Press, Milkweed Editions, and Coffee House Press), one literary journal (Rain Taxi Review of Books), and the Loft Literary Center have joined forces to offer the TCLPC. Attendees can get their cards punched--as you'd do at any coffee shop--at readings and other literary events. After twelve punches, the punch card becomes a fifteen dollar gift certificate.

Join Twin Cities literary organizations for a happy hour gathering--5:00pm, Wednesday, September 14, at Club Jäger (923 Washington Ave. N, Minneapolis). Receive your Literary Punch Card, learn about the card and the events coming this fall, drink punch, and celebrate the vibrant literary community. Oh and get punched for the first time (at least by us)!

Details on the program are at www.litpunch.com.

Tuula

2011-08-13T13:34:00.013-05:00

We love our animal friends here at Magers and Quinn. Not only do almost all of us have one or more pets, but one of them, Tuula, a 1.5 year old Poodle/Miniature Pinscher mix, visits the store. Tuula, as the Finns spell it, is shy and spends her time at the store napping and, at times, venturing out for treats. If she had to choose, her favorite books would be Bones: Those Delicious Treats and 20 Places to Bury Them Indoors by Ima Dog, The Joy of Chasing Squirrels by Miniature Pinscher, Poodle: The Seven Most Highly Effective Ways to Be Cute, Just by Being Yourself by The Poodle Association.

--Mary

See a glimpse of Tuula at play:

Wine Book Recommendations by La Belle Vie's Bill Summerville

2011-08-09T14:36:00.005-05:00

With more than 16 years of restaurant experience, Bill Summerville has developed his own following; his attention to detail and taste in wines have been responsible for creating some of the best wine lists in the Twin Cities. One of La Belle Vie's three owners, Bill is the restaurant's managing director. With a residence mere blocks from the store, he can often be found strolling through our enormous cookbook selection.

Here are a few of Bill's recommendations for all you budding oenophiles out there:

"Karen McNeil’s Wine Bible is hands down the best overall book on wine. And it's written in a style that is so easy to read and understand."

"Anything, and I mean anything, by Andrew Jefford - articles, blogs, everything - but I especially like The New France. He writes on a level that is not for the beginner, but that does not mean a beginner should not read it as it will spark more interest on the more complex topics."

"Champagne by Don & Petie Kladstrup. Great look at the history of the amazingly tenacious people of Champagne."

"What to Drink with What You Eat by Dornenburg and Page is a great book on pairing written in a manner that makes it easy to understand with lots of great examples from sommeliers and chefs."

"Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's Drink This: Wine Made Simple is great because she makes some very good points that other wine writers don’t approach."

Retail Life

2011-08-02T15:00:00.000-05:00

After losing her job as a journalist, Caitlin Kelly was hard up for cash. When she saw that The North Face--an upscale outdoor clothing company--was hiring at her local mall, she went for an interview almost on a whim. She tells the story of what happened next in her book Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail and at M&Q. She'll be in the store at 7:30pm, Thursday, August 11. Details are here.

Suddenly she found herself, middle-aged and mid-career, thrown headfirst into the bizarre alternate reality of the American mall: a world of low-wage workers selling overpriced goods to well-to-do customers. At first, Kelly found her part-time job fun and reaffirming, a way to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth. But she describes how the unexpected physical pressures, the unreasonable dictates of a remote corporate bureaucracy, and the dead-end career path eventually took their toll. As she struggled through more than two years at the mall, despite surgeries, customer abuse, and corporate inanity, Kelly gained a deeper understanding of the plight of the retail worker.

In the tradition of Nickel and Dimed, Malled challenges our assumptions about the world of retail, documenting one woman's struggle to find meaningful work in a broken system.

A regular contributor to The New York Times since 1990, Caitlin Kelly has also written for USA Today, New York Daily News, Toronto Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Glamour, and More. Born and raised in Canada, she has lived in the U.S. since 1988.--David E

Spooky Minnesota

2011-07-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

M&Q brings you great Minnesota-made young adult fiction when Rebecca Davis reads from Chasing AllieCat--Monday, July 25, at 7:30pm.

Dumped with relatives in a small Minnesota town for the summer, Sadie Lester is relying on her mountain bike to save her from total boredom. Then she meets Allie, a spiky-haired off-road mountain biker who's training for a major race. Allie leads Sadie and Joe, a cute fellow cyclist, up and down Mount Kato, and the three become close friends. But the exhilarating rush comes to a halt when they find a priest in the woods, badly beaten and near death. After calling for help, Allie disappears from their lives.

As they search for Allie and try to find out why she left so suddenly, Sadie and Joe discover more about Allie's past, including her connection to the priest. Only on the day of the big race does Sadie finally learn the complete, startling truth about Allie--and the terrible secret that forced her into hiding.

Rebecca Fjelland Davis, of Good Thunder, MN, is a serious cyclist and the author of Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged. She teaches English and humanities at South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota. Visit her online at www.rebeccafjellanddavis.com.

Details on this and all our author events are here.--David E

A Real Gem

2011-07-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

If you missed last night's reading by Sapphire, you missed a good time. The poet and author of Push gave a mesmerizing reading from her new novel The Kid.

But don't despair. We'll post video of the event soon at www.youtube.com/magersandquinn.--David E

From Down South to Up North

2011-07-15T13:57:00.000-05:00

Author Ben Westhoff discusses his book Dirty South: Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Thursday, July 21. Details are here.

Rap music from New York and Los Angeles once ruled the charts, but nowadays the southern sound thoroughly dominates the radio, Billboard, and MTV. Coastal artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and Ice-T call southern rap “garbage,” but they’re probably just jealous, as artists like Lil Wayne and T.I. still move millions of copies, and OutKast has the bestselling rap album of all time.

In Dirty South, author Ben Westhoff investigates the southern rap phenomenon, watching rappers “make it rain” in a Houston strip club and partying with the 2 Live Crew’s Luke Campbell. Westhoff visits the gritty neighborhoods where T.I. and Lil Wayne grew up, kicks it with Big Boi in Atlanta, and speaks with artists like DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez, dance-craze originators accused of setting back the black race fifty years. Acting both as investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff probes the celebrated-but-dark history of Houston label Rap-A-Lot Records, details the lethal rivalry between Atlanta MCs Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and gets venerable rapper Scarface to open up about his time in a mental institution. Dirty South features exclusive interviews with the genre’s most colorful players. Westhoff has written a journalistic tour de force, the definitive account of the most vital musical culture of our time.

“Ben Westhoff possesses the ear of a skilled hip-hop critic, the cadence of a poet, and the nerves of a pro boxer. Dirty South reveals not just the grit and spirit of Southern hip-hop, but the intensity of old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting--mixed with a dash of Gonzo journalism for good measure.” --Mara Shalhoup, author of BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family

“Ben Westhoff brings journalism back to hip-hop, and hip-hop back to journalism, by reclaiming the lost art of reporting. As a result, Dirty South is a most fascinating trip through Southern hip-hop’s origins and current reign. Great book.”--Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

Ben Westhoff is a former staff writer for St. Louis’ Riverfront Times, whose work has also appeared in the Village Voice, Creative Loafing, Spin, and Pitchfork.--David E

American Gothic

2011-07-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

Donald Ray Pollock will read from his chilling new novel The Devil All the Time at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Tuesday, July 19. Details are here.

Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

“Pollock--who spent three decades working at an Ohio paper mill before his 2008 story collection, Knockemstiff (the name of his real-life hometown), garnered widespread acclaim--doesn’t get a word wrong in this super-edgy American Gothic stunner.”--Elle Magazine

Donald Ray Pollock, recipient of the 2009 PEN/Bingham Fellowship, made his literary debut in 2008 with the critically acclaimed story collection, Knockemstiff, of which the San Francisco Chronicle said, “This is as raw as American fiction gets. It is an unforgettable experience.” Pollock worked as a laborer at the Mead Paper Mill in Chillicothe, Ohio, from 1973 to 2005. He holds an MFA from Ohio State University.--David E

Local History, Part 3

2011-07-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

To compile their new book Lyn-Lake, Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips drew upon both private and public collections to bring together a fascinating compilation of seldom-seen images from the area 's long and often quirky past. They'll visit M&Q on July 14, to share stories from the neighborhood.One of the photos from the book is this early shot of the Wedge Co-op.(Click it to see a larger version.)
As interest in the co-op increased, the Wedge outgrew its space and moved to an old 7-Eleven on Lyndale Avenue just south of Franklin Avenue. Membership and sales continued to grow, and by 1991 the co-op’s membership coordinator, Elizabeth Archerd, said that it was “a supermarket by industry standards . . . operating out of a convenience store.” In 1992, the Wedge tripled its space in a new building adjacent to the 7-Eleven. Dan Foley, the general manager of the co-op in 1992, said that the expansion was a “reflection of the community needs” as “it was so crowded, people couldn’t shop there. The customers wanted more selection, more room, more hours, more service, and healthy, natural foods and organic foods.” Not everyone was happy with the expansion. Prior to opening, vandals dumped buckets of paint in the store and tried to it up by opening propane gas tanks. However, the community embraced the store, and the Wedge saw memberships increase from 550 to 6,000 between 1991 and 1998. (Photo by Jeremy Nichols.)
Learn more about Lyn-Lake's past when Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Phillips discuss their new book at M&Q--7:30pm, Thursday, July 14. Details are here.--David E

Local History, Part 2

2011-07-10T09:30:00.001-05:00

Crazy Good

2011-07-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

The world took notice of Lynne Jonell in March, 2010, when President Obama bought a copy of her book The Secret of Zoom during a stop in Iowa City. Minnesotans, however, have long recognized the talented author in our midst. Lynne Jonell visits Magers & Quinn to read from the third book in the acclaimed Emmy series, Emmy and the Rats in the Belfry--1:00pm, Saturday, July 16, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Emmy is just an ordinary girl who can talk to rats. She can shrink to the size of a rodent, too. And just a few weeks ago, she even became a rodent to defeat her evil former nanny, Miss Barmy, and save some little girls from a fate worse than death.

But Emmy’s parents do not know about their daughter’s other life. So when mysterious things start happening that Emmy seems to be lying about, they ship her off to visit two elderly aunts in order to learn responsibility. Ratty, her rodent friend, comes along to search for his long-lost mother in Schenectady; and other friends of Emmy’s get involved in the search, too. Little do they know that Miss Barmy, bent on revenge, will follow.

Lynne Jonell lives in Plymouth, Minnesota, with her husband. She teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Learn more at www.lynnejonell.com.--David E

A Fall Preview

2011-07-09T09:39:00.000-05:00

Magers & Quinn is pleased to announce a reading by “the best English novelist working today” (Guardian). Alan Hollinghurst will read from his novel The Stranger's Child at M&Q at 7:30pm, Thursday, October 27.

The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst’s first novel in seven years, is a magnificent, century-spanning saga about a love triangle that spawns a myth--and a family mystery--across generations. In 1913, George Sawle brings charming, handsome Cecil Valance to his family’s modest home outside London for a summer weekend. George is enthralled by his Cambridge schoolmate, and soon his sixteen-year-old sister, Daphne, is equally besotted by both Cecil and the stories he tells about Corley Court, the country estate he is heir to. But what Cecil writes in Daphne’s autograph album will change their and their families’ lives forever: a poem that, after Cecil is killed in the Great War and his reputation burnished, will be recited by every schoolchild in England. Over time, a tragic love story is spun, even as other secrets lie buried--until, decades later, an ambitious biographer threatens to unearth them.

UK press on The Stranger's Child has been very good. The Guardian called the book "one of the British literary world's most keenly awaited events", and said "Hollinghurst has a strong, perhaps unassailable claim to be the best English novelist working today."

Alan Hollinghurst is the author of The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Spell, and The Line of Beauty, which won the Man Booker Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. He lives in London.

Sapphire reads from her novel "The Kid"

2011-07-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award–winning film adaptation Precious, Sapphire brings us the story of Precious's son, Abdul. You can meet the author when she visits Magers & Quinn next week summer--7:30pm, Friday, July 15.

A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind.

In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty-first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.

Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry and the bestselling novel Push. The film adaption of her novel, Precious (2009), received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, in addition to the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. In 2009 she was a recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship. She lives in New York City.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Cookbook Recommendations from Chef Doug Flicker of Piccolo

2011-07-08T12:17:00.007-05:00

Doug Flicker is the acclaimed chef behind Piccolo, the south Minneapolis gem that Anthony Bourdain has called "terrific" and "really cutting edge." In a quaint space on the corner of 43rd St. and Bryant Ave, Flicker and company have been serving exquisitely executed small plates for the past 18 months. Doug took time out of his hectic schedule to provide us a list of his top five cookbooks.

White Heat by Marco Pierre White

"One of the greatest English chefs and the first to stand tall against the French. White is the original bad boy. Every cook in my generation wanted to be him. The book is full of outlandish quotes. If you look closely at the photo of the kitchen fight scene, you'll see that one of the commis is actually Gordon Ramsey."

The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller

"Any cook who hasn't had to repurchase this book at least once because they have worn out the pages looking at it or spilled sh** all over it when it was sitting on their cutting board because they were referencing it...isn't a good cook. This is THE book that changed everything."

COCO : 10 World-leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs

"Ten of the worlds best chefs each name ten of their favorite chefs. The best go-to book to see what is happening right now in the world of restaurants and who is taking us there."

Quay by Peter Gilmore

"An incredibly beautiful and inspiring book by Australian chef Peter Gilmore. Throughout the book, Gilmore shows a strong connection to the land while demonstrating amazing technique and vision. Every page echoes Gilmore's personality and strength as a chef."

La Riviera d'Alain Ducasse : Recettes au fil du temps by

Alain Ducasse
"A very personal book for me. I bought this book on my first trip to Europe. I had no idea at the time who he was but it was the most beautiful book I had ever seen at the time. Never translated into English, a lot of the book remains somewhat of a mystery to me ...and that in some way continues to make it special."

Piccolo is located mere blocks from M&Q at 4300 Bryant Avenue South.

Sun-Mon: 5:30-9pm
Weds-Thurs: 5:30-9pm
Fri-Sat: 5:30-10pm

Phone: 612.827.8111

New Postcards from Adam Turman

2011-07-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

M&Q has a big selection of postcards by Minneapolis' own Adam Turman. You've doubtless already seen his work on a CD, T-shirt, or a poster for any of the various bands, music venues, record labels, or clothing companies he's worked for around town.
We recently unpacked some new postcard designs. Stop in and get them before they're all gone. The cards are a great way to send a bit of Minnesota cool, even in the summer time.--David E

Dark Star Rising

2011-07-06T13:04:00.004-05:00

Yeah, it's summer outside, but we're getting a little dark this month at M&Q. The Devil All The Timeis a gritty, gothic thrill ride of a novel. John Jodzio, author of If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home, is a fan of Donald Ray Pollock and his new book. Here's what John has to say:

"What you see is what you get with Donald Ray Pollock’s new novel The Devil All The Time and here that’s a brilliant thing. Set in post-WWII and into the early 60s mostly in Ohio and West Virginia, the book is an ensemble piece that largely explores much of the same hardscrabble terrain as his excellent short story collection Knockemstiff. It’s a shooty and stabby pressure cooker where most of the characters search desperately for redemption or to settle old scores, but where much of their redemptive search/score settling is usually badly (or in a couple of cases, horribly) misguided. Pollock prose is unsentimental and beautifully spare and adds to a backdrop where everyone is only a half-step ahead of something ominous. Everyone says Pollock’s work reminds them of Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, etc) but in my mind Pollock's storytelling makes Palahnuik look like a g******n sissy."

Donald Ray Pollock reads from The Devil All the Time--Tuesday, July 19, 7:30pm. Don't be scared; be there.--David E

Telling All

2011-07-05T16:21:00.001-05:00

As an investigator for Minneapolis attorney Ron Meshbesher, Vincent Carraher has seen it all. In his book Whatever Happened to Lady Justice? he tells all. And he'll do it at Magers and Quinn at 4:00pm, Sunday, July 10.

Carraher writes, “After 40 years of being a criminal defense investigator I felt it was time to inform the public of some of the misconceptions of the legal system. ...I write about cases I have investigated. These cases involve high profile attorneys and local and national issues. I focus primarily on the legal system and the criminal justice system in particular. The cases I cite illustrate abuse of power by police, prosecutors, government, informants and various state and federal agencies.

“It is an unfortunate reality that many citizens do not truly understand what is going on in our legal system--well, not until they read this book.”

Vincent Carraher has been involved in some of the most famous and infamous cases in the country. From the Congdon murders to the Scott county child abuse cases Vinnie has been an eyewitness to overzealous prosecutors and police. He has worked with the best defense attorneys in the country and has worked on wrongful conviction cases including Ralph "Plookie" Duke and others.

Carraher will be introduced by Cathy Wurzer, host of Almanac on Twin Cities Public Television and host of Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio. Cathy Wurzer is also the author of Tales of the Road: Highway 61. Details are here.--David E

Local History, Part 1

2011-07-05T09:30:00.004-05:00

Lucky You, We've Got Lucky Peach

2011-06-25T10:40:00.001-05:00

The inaugural issue of Lucky Peach is available now at Magers & Quinn. The magazine--produced by the good folks who also bring you McSweeneys--is packed full of foodie goodness. There are recipes (salt cod omelet, anyone?), a very short graphic novel, and even a history of ramen noodles. Contributors include Ruth Reichl, Harold McGee, and Anthony Bourdain.

Come get your copy now. They're going to go quickly.--David E

Two Poets in a Single Evening

2011-06-21T19:55:00.003-05:00

Two local poets visit Magers & Quinn Wednesday, June 29, at 7:30pm.

Cindy Gregg is the author of Suddenly Autumn, a book of easy-to-understand poems covering topics as diverse as language, a love of globes and garlic. Gregg has been writing poetry for over twenty years. Her work has appeared in numberous small press literary magazines as well as in Minnesota Monthly. Two of her poems have been read by Garrison Keillor on his daily NPR program, The Writer's Almanac. Cindy has also written a book of short, whimsical essays called The Learning Curve: Lessons on Life, Love and Laundry.

Margaret Hasse’s three books of poems--Stars Above, Stars Below; In a Sheep’s Eye, Darling; and Milk and Tides--have been prizewinners and bestsellers. She is recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, Loft Literary Center’s Career Initiative Program, Minnesota State Arts Board, and Jerome Foundation. More information is available at www.margarethasse.com.

Details on all our events are here.--David E

Don't Run Away

2011-06-20T14:24:00.001-05:00

“Rebecca Makkai is a writer to watch, as sneakily ambitious as she is unpretentious."--Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire Falls

The Borrower is the story of Lucy Hull, a twenty-six-year-old children’s librarian in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, who finds herself both kidknapper and kidknapped when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home.

Ian is an incredibly bright and quirky boy and obsessed with reading. Although Ian’s mother, a strict evangelical, has requested that Lucy censor the books Ian checks out, Lucy slips books to Ian that his mother would never approve of. When Lucy learns that Ian’s parents have enrolled him in a weekly “anti-gay” class with celebrity Pastor Bob, she finds Ian stowed-away at the end of the children’s fiction aisle, prepared to run away.

Desperate to save him from Pastor Bob and the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian. What follows is a comical journey that takes the pair from Missouri to Vermont, (via Chicago and Cleveland), but time is running out, and they are being followed.

With clever riffs of famous children’s books, including Goodnight Moon, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, sprinkled throughout, The Borrower will delight readers of all ages.

You can meet Rebecca Makkai when she visits Magers & Quinn. She'll be here at 7:30pm, Monday, June 27. Details are here.--David E

Book Learnin'

2011-06-19T20:52:00.000-05:00

Magers & Quinn and Minneapolis College of Art and Design are teaming up to help you get smart--and save some money. M&Q newsletter subscribers are elligible for $25.00 off any adult education course at MCAD this summer. Just mention the discount code "MQDeal" when you register. (Limit one redemption per student. Offer is valid until July 31, 2011.)

MCAD offers hundreds of courses, of course. Two particularly bookish ones are

In a Bind: Introduction to Book Binding
Have you ever wanted to make your own sketchbooks, journals, or idea books? Adding the element of handmade paper makes them even more unique. In this course, students will learn a variety of binding techniques to do just that. We will begin with simple structures held together with folds and stitches. No previous experience necessary.
Children's Book Illustration
Capture a child’s imagination with your own original artwork while learning the tricks of the illustration trade. This course will explore the wide range of children’s book illustration, from traditional to contemporary.
Students will learn what makes a children’s book unique, how to communicate through illustration, and how to conceptualize and storyboard ideas. Demonstrations will be given on materials that can be used to illustrate a book. Students will then be encouraged to experiment with different media and begin to create their own children’s books, from the sketch phase to final illustrations. Tips will be given on how to enter this competitive field and navigate the
business practices of working as a children’s book illustrator.

A full list of courses is online at www.mcad.edu.--David E

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

2011-06-17T12:53:00.002-05:00

“Half my life ago, I killed a girl.”

So begins Darin Strauss' searing memoir Half a Life. What begins as a personal tale of a tragic event and ends up opening into the story of how our lives are about defining moments, how we are affected by them, how they shape us. It is the true story of how one outing in his father's Oldsmobile resulted in the death of a classmate and the beginning of a different, darker life for the author. We follow Strauss as he explores his startling past--the collision, the funeral, the queasy drama of a high-stakes court case--and what starts as a personal tale of a tragic event opens into the story of how to live with a very hard fact: we can try our human best in the crucial moment, and it might not be good enough.

"Darin Strauss' Half a Life is the best anything I've read--novel, memoir, story--in a very long time. Incredibly, it's also the most moving."—David Lipsky, author of Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

Darin Strauss is the author of the books Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy, and the bestseller More Than It Hurts You. He won the 2010 NBCC Award for Autobiography for his memoir Half a Life. Strauss currently teaches at New York University.

Darin Strauss reads from his memoir at Magers & Quinn on Wednesday, June 22, at 7:30pm. Details are here.--David E

Pride Week Readings, Pt 2

2011-06-15T14:51:00.001-05:00

Magers & Quinn Booksellers and Quatrefoil Library present two nights of GLBT readings--7:30pm, Tuesday, June 21, and Thursday, June 23. Four authors visit Magers & Quinn during Pride Week. Their work--history, fiction, memoir, and essays--showcase the GLBT experience both past and present.

7:30pm, Tuesday, June 21:

Will Fellows discusses Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s
Bronson Lemer discusses The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq

7:30pm, Thursday, June 23:

Ryan Van Meter reads from his memoir If You Knew Then What I Know Now
CM Harris reads from her novel Enter Oblivion

These events are co-sponsored by Quatrefoil Library. Quatrefoil Library is celebrating our 25th Anniversary in 2011. The volunteer-run, non-profit library collects, maintains, documents, and circulates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer materials and information in a safe and accessible space. Quatrefoil’s collection includes books, videos, DVDs, and sound recordings, which members may check out, as well as a large collection of non-circulating periodicals. Learn more at www.qlibrary.org.

7:30pm, Thursday, June 23

Ryan Van Meter reads from his memoir If You Knew Then What I Know Now.The middle American coming-of-age has found new life in Ryan Van Meter's coming-out, made as strange as it is familiar by acknowledging the role played by gender and sexuality. In fourteen linked essays, If You Knew Then What I Know Now reinvents the memoir with all-encompassing empathy--for bully and bullied alike. A father pitches baseballs at his hapless son and a grandmother watches with silent forbearance as the same slim, quiet boy sets the table dressed in a blue satin dress. Another essay explores origins of the word "faggot" and its etymological connection to "flaming queen." This deft is an argument for the intimate--not the sensational--and an embrace of all the skinned knees in our stumble toward adulthood.

“Ryan Van Meter’s is both a charming and wounding intelligence. To read a book this observant, this fiercely honest, and this effortlessly beautiful is to feel the very pulse of contemporary American essays.”--John D’Agata

Ryan Van Meter grew up in Missouri and currently lives in California where he is an assistant professor of creative nonfiction at the University of San Francisco.His essays have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, Arts & Letters, and Fourth Genre.

CM Harris reads from her novel Enter Oblivion. CM Harris’ novel is the story of Vince, a young, moody boxer from Brooklyn with an oozing bullet wound and a spot awaiting him in the Narducci crime family. When Vince returns travelers' checks he's stolen from a British tourist, he soon finds himself in 1980s London, the epicenter of New Wave culture, unsure whether he will become a rock star, a rent boy, or a laughingstock. Vince's journey brings an awkward friendship with a glamorous drag queen, a stint in a post-punk rock band, a frustrating romance with a Bowie-esque pop star, and bloody quarrels with a misfit skinhead--Vince's own cracked reflection. In this quirky yet charming story of love and family and culture clash, Vince discovers his place in a rapidly changing world.

“C.M. Harris has the savvy to create a rousing tale, as well as the language, imagery, and wit to deliver it.”--Lavender Magazine

Solid

2011-06-15T10:49:00.001-05:00

Adam Mandebach's smash hit not-a-kids-book Go the F**k to Sleep is the summer's hottest ticket. (We're sold out at the moment, but will have more soon.) And the phenomenon shows no sign of slowing down. The audio version of the book is read by none other than Samuel L Jackson. Oh yeah.--David E

Poetry that Brings You the World

2011-06-14T12:54:00.003-05:00

"Make no mistake about it. R. M. Ryan's poems are big and baggy, novelistic and comprehensive. They bulge with plunder," said Robert Dana, former Poet Laureate of Iowa. You can meet Rick Ryan when he visits M&Q--7:30pm, Monday, June 20.

Sometimes funny, sometimes somber, the poems in Vaudeville in the Dark range from an elegy on the death of a miner in Sago, West Virgina, to a meditation on the life of Rembrandt. Tony the Tiger, Glenn Gould, and even Chaucer--each appears in RM Ryan’s poetry. He creates a world both frightening and funny as we reach for a "heart dissolved in melody."

"Ryan's poetry both uncovers and creates the connections between the past and this moment, startling us with a quiet, visionary power."---Naomi Wallace

R. M. Ryan is the author of Goldilocks in Later Life and the novel The Golden Rules. He lives on the Sonoma coast of California with the biographer Carol Sklenicka.

Details are here.--David E

Pride Week Readings, Pt 1

2011-06-13T12:05:00.004-05:00

Will Fellows discusses Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s
Bronson Lemer discusses The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq

7:30pm, Thursday, June 23:

Ryan Van Meter reads from his memoir If You Knew Then What I Know Now
CM Harris reads from her novel Enter Oblivion

7:30pm, Tuesday, June 21

Will Fellows discusses Gay Bar: The Fabulous, True Story of a Daring Woman and Her Boys in the 1950s. Vivacious, unconventional, candid, and straight, Helen Branson operated a gay bar in Los Angeles in the 1950s--America’s most anti-gay decade. After years of fending off drunken passes as an entertainer in cocktail bars, this divorced grandmother preferred the wit, variety, and fun she found among homosexual men. Enjoying their companionship and deploring their plight, she gave her gay friends a place to socialize. Though at the time California statutes prohibited homosexuals from gathering in bars, Helen’s place was relaxed, suave, and remarkably safe from police raids and other anti-homosexual hazards. In 1957 she published her extraordinary memoir Gay Bar, the first book by a heterosexual to depict the lives of homosexuals with admiration, respect, and love.

Will Fellows interweaves Branson’s chapters with historical perspective provided through his own insightful commentary and excerpts gleaned from letters and essays appearing in gay publications of the period. Also included is the original introduction to the book by maverick 1950s psychiatrist Blanche Baker. The eclectic selection of voices gives the flavor of American life in that extraordinary age of anxiety, revealing how gay men saw themselves and their circumstances, and how others perceived them.

Bronson Lemer discusses The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq. In 2003, after serving five and a half years as a carpenter in a North Dakota National Guard engineer unit, Bronson Lemer was ready to leave the military behind. But six months short of completing his commitment to the army, Lemer was deployed on a yearlong tour of duty to Iraq. Leaving college life behind in the Midwest, he yearns for a lost love and quietly dreams of a future as an openly gay man outside the military. He discovers that his father’s lifelong example of silent strength has taught him much about being a man, and these lessons help him survive in a war zone and to conceal his sexuality, as he is required to do by the U.S. military.

The Last Deployment is a moving, provocative chronicle of one soldier’s struggle to reconcile military brotherhood with self-acceptance. Lemer captures the absurd nuances of a soldier’s daily life: growing a mustache to disguise his fear, wearing pantyhose to battle sand fleas, and exchanging barbs with Iraqis while driving through Baghdad. But most strikingly, he describes the poignant reality faced by gay servicemen and servicewomen, who must mask their identities while serving a country that disowns them. Often funny, sometimes anguished, The Last Deployment paints a deeply personal portrait of war in the twenty-first century.

The More You Know...

2011-06-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Bob Mould wrote the theme song for Jon Stewart's Daily Show? That's just one of the useful facts you can learn in Bob Mould's new autobiography See a Little Light. Impress your friends and confound your enemies, with the simple knowledge in books!

You can learn even more when Bob Mould himself stops by M&Q this Tuesday, June 14, at 9:00pm, to talk about his life, his music, and his new book. Details are here.--David E

________[adv.] Departed

2011-06-11T09:10:00.000-05:00

Leonard B. Stern was a writer on The Honeymooners and executive producer of Get Smart, but he'll likely be remembered most for his literary creation, the Mad Lib. He and partner Roger Price couldn't find a publisher for the first Mad Libs, so they paid for the first printings and stored 14,000 of the game in Stern's dining room. Eventually their determination paid off, of course. Stern's New York Times obituary is here.

Celebrate this pioneer of American games with a Mad Lib of your own. We've got a big selection to choose from. Browse them online or stop in the store.--David E

Local History

2011-06-09T21:33:00.003-05:00

Minneapolis history comes alive in hundreds of historic photographs. Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips draw upon both private and public collections to bring together a fascinating compilation of seldom-seen images from Lyn-Lake's long and often quirky past.
Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips will visit Magers & Quinn to talk about their book and Lyn-Lake's colorful past--7:30pm, Thursday, July 14. Details are here.

Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips will visit Magers & Quinn to talk about their book and Lyn-Lake's colorful past--7:30pm, Thursday, July 14. Details are here.

The Lyn-Lake area of Minneapolis, centered around the intersection of Lyndale Avenue and West Lake Street, is one of the city's most distinctive neighborhoods. The core commercial district is one of the oldest in South Minneapolis, thanks in part to its strategic location along several early streetcar lines. A rail line along Twenty-ninth Street, now the Midtown Greenway, brought an industrial element to the neighborhood and provided additional jobs for the thousands of residents who lived in the surrounding houses and apartment buildings. As the neighborhood evolved, it took on a distinctive bohemian bent and filled with a diverse mix of artists, musicians, and writers living side by side with blue-collar industrial workers, along with those who worked at professional office jobs downtown. Lyn-Lake retains its unique flavor today, characterized by its blend of both the historical and the cutting edge.

Cedar Phillips is an author and an independent historian. Thatcher Imboden is a local business district leader and a Minneapolis commercial real estate development specialist. The siblings grew up in the area and together authored Uptown Minneapolis, also in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series.--David E

From Norway with Love

2011-06-08T15:45:00.000-05:00

Get a taste of contemporary Scandinavian literature. Norwegian author Johan Harstad’s debut novel, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion, is a bestseller in eleven countries. He will read from his book at Magers & Quinn Booksellers at 7:30pm, Tuesday, June 14.

Harstad tells the story of Mattias, a thirtysomething gardener living in Norway whose idol is Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon, who was willing to stand in Neil Armstrong’s shadow in order to humbly work for the success of the Apollo 11 mission. Following a series of personal and professional disasters, Mattias finds himself lying on a rain-soaked road in the treeless Faroe Islands with a wad of bills in his pocket and no memory of how he got there.

Mattias’ odyssey through a world of unconventional psychiatry, souvenir sheep-making, the Cardigans, and the space between himself and other people is a journey as remote and dangerous as the trip to the moon itself.

Paolo Giordano, author of The Solitude of Prime Numbers says, “There's so much music, exuberance, bewilderment and sweet melancholy in Johan Harstad's Buzz Aldrin. It's rock 'n' roll, then heartbreaking, then rock 'n' roll again. I devoured every line.”

Johan Harstad is the winner of the 2008 Brage Award (previously won by Per Petterson). He lives in Oslo.

This event is co-sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Honorary Consulate General. The Consulate General in Minneapolis provides consular services for the State of Minnesota. We represent the Norwegian government and serve Norwegian nationals that live in the area. The purpose of our presence is to take care of Norwegian interests ranging from consular services to the individual to promoting Norwegian culture, assisting Norwegian businesses and reporting on political and economic affairs of importance for Norway.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

The Tiger's Wife Wins the Orange Prize

2011-06-08T13:45:00.023-05:00

Tea Obreht's debut novel The Tiger's Wife has been awarded the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction. The £30,000 prize is given annually to the best novel written in English by a woman. At 25, Obreht is the youngest recipient ever. Details are here.

We've long been big fans of The Tiger's Wife here at M&Q. Tea Obreht visited the store in March. If you missed her reading, you can still see it on our YouTube channel--www.youtube.com/magersandquinn.

M&Q brings worldclass authors to you right here in Minneapolis. Stay in touch so you don't miss out. Read our events page, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just stop in the store and talk to us. We'd love to see you soon.--David E

An African American Book Fair

2011-06-05T15:26:00.000-05:00

Eighteen African American authors from around the Twin Cities will gather at Magers & Quinn Booksellers to celebrate the strength and diversity of AA writing in Minnesota. Browse books from a range of local authors--ranging from children’s books and poetry to business and self-help books. Join us Thursday, July 16, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm for a great evening of community and fun.

Authors appearing are Candy Pettiford, Charles E. Cox, Jr., Coach Nakumbe, Deniesha Johnson, Derrick L. Williams, Dr. Verna Price, Jacinta Calhoun, Jeff and Shatona Groves, Joseph L. Mbele, Joyce Marrie, Lehman Riley, M. Ann Pritchard, Mahmoud El-Kati, Ms. Nique, Tommy Watson, Venita Johnson, and Zenobia L Silas-Carson.

The author fair is a unique opportunity to meet multiple authors, learn about their work, and purchase their books. Come support African American writers and writing at Magers & Quinn.

The Black Parent Group is a non-profit organization that works to connect families to local resources, provide opportunities for children to participate in artistic expression, and create events that celebrate the Black Family. Visit www.theblackparentgroup.com for more information.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Love and Money

2011-06-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Every day, women face new challenges that come with having control over and responsibility for their financial lives, and these issues always have an emotional side. Learn how to address and overcome those issues when Dr. Kate Levinson discusses Emotional Currency: A Woman's Guide to Building a Healthy Relationship With Money--4:00pm, Sunday, June 12 at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

“Here’s the book every woman (and most men) need: a clear, thoughtful, and beautifully written guide for how to cope with the myriad emotions caused by money.”--Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, author of Aftershock

Psychotherapist Dr. Kate Levinson offers fresh approaches to navigating the astonishing range of beliefs about the role of money in our lives, coming to terms with our feelings about being “rich” or “poor,” and exploring our inner money life so that we can put our feelings to work for us in a positive way. By understanding our intimate history and relationship with money we are better able to handle our money anxieties, solve our money problems, enjoy the money we have, and make room for other, more meaningful values.

“This is not just the best book about women and money that I have ever read, it is the best book about money—beautifully written, wise, accessible, practical, and profoundly healing.”--Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom

A psychotherapist for more than 25 years, Dr. Kate Levinson currently works with individuals and couples in her private practice in Oakland and is on the supervising and teaching faculty at the Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Levinson and her husband own Point Reyes Books in Pt. Reyes Station, CA.--David E

Northern Noir

2011-06-03T16:28:00.002-05:00

Rushmore McKenzie returns with a too-personal case that leads him up Minnesota’s Highway 61 in David Housewright’s eleventh novel--7:30pm, Tuesday, June 28 at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Rushmore McKenzie is a former cop, current millionaire, and an occasional unlicensed P.I. who does favors for friends. Yet he has reservations when his girlfriend’s daughter asks him to help her father Jason Truhler, the ex-husband of McKenzie’s girlfriend, and a man in serious trouble. En route from St. Paul to a Canadian blues festival on Highway 61, he met a girl, blacked out, and awoke hours later in a strange motel, with the girl’s murdered body on the floor. Slipping away unnoticed and heading home, he thought he’d got away--until he started getting texts with photos of the body and demands for blackmail payments he couldn’t pay. McKenzie soon finds that Truhler was set up in a modified honey trap, designed to blackmail him. But Truhler’s version wasn’t exactly the truth either. And McKenzie now finds himself trapped in the middle of a very dangerous game with some of the most powerful men in Minnesota on one side and some of the deadliest on the other.

David Housewright has won the Edgar Award once and two Minnesota Book Awards for his crime fiction. He lives in St. Paul. Learn more at www.davidhousewright.com.

Details are here.--David E

Say Cheese

2011-06-03T13:17:00.000-05:00

We were thrilled to host author and director John Sayles at Magers & Quinn earlier this week. He's driving around the country reading from his new novel A Moment in the Sun, and was kind enough stop by the store. The picture below shows just how thrilled we were. That's John's thrilled face too, I promise. He's just laconic.

If you missed the reading, you can see video of it on our YouTube channel. The first part is below; the rest are at YouTube.com/magersandquinn. And for heaven's sake, sign up for our monthly email newsletter here so you don't miss out on any of the great readings we have coming up.--David E

Minneapolis Steampunk

2011-06-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

A chilling, heart-wrenching tale of colliding worlds and forbidden love, The Vyne reinvents steampunk-fantasy for a whole new generation. Meet author Daniel Walls at M&Q--Thursday, June 9, at 7:30pm.

For as long as he can remember, Asher has possessed unexplainable abilities, which his widowed father has forced him to keep hidden. But when an elusive girl named Scar enters his village, Asher's life is forever transformed. Bound by despair, the teens plot to run away. However, when a mystical medallion finds its way into Asher's hands, they soon learn that running is not an option, it's imperative. Asher is thrust into the pursuit of a legendary treasure, believed to possess the power to save the world from the prophesied apocalypse. And the key to unlocking this power lies within the secret of his curse. While hunted by dark forces, Asher realizes that Scar has secrets of her own; she is not the girl he thought she was. Time is running out as he struggles to find the strength to let go of his feelings and summon the courage to embrace his destiny.

As a boy growing up on the Canadian border of northern Minnesota, Daniel Walls spent most of his free time writing and illustrating fantasy stories, sharing them with his devoted audience, an English Springer Spaniel. The Vyne is his first full-length novel, and he promises it will not be his last. Daniel lives with his wife, two children, three-legged dog, and sometimes-present cat in Minneapolis. Currently he is penning the second thrilling installment of The Vyne saga.

Stay on top of all our events, sales, and book news. Sign up for our email newsletter by clicking here.--David E

Don't Worry. Be Happy.

2011-06-01T12:02:00.000-05:00

Dean Bakopoulos reads from his novel My American Unhappiness--7:30, Wednesday, June 8, at M&Q.

“Why are you so unhappy?” That’s the question that Zeke Pappas, a thirty-three-year-old scholar, asks almost everybody he meets as part of an obsessive project, “The Inventory of American Unhappiness.” The answers he receives--a mix of true sadness and absurd complaint--create a collage of woe. Zeke, meanwhile, remains delightfully oblivious to the increasingly harsh realities that threaten his daily routine, opting instead to focus his energy on finding the perfect mate so that he can gain custody of his orphaned nieces. Following steps outlined in a women’s magazine, the ever-optimistic Zeke identifies some “prospects”: a newly divorced neighbor, a coffeehouse barista, his administrative assistant, and Sofia Coppola (“Why not aim high?”).

"Dean Bakopoulos is our next great Midwestern writer."--Davy Rothbart, founder and editor of Found Magazine, contributor to public radio's This American Life

A clairvoyant when it comes to the Starbucks orders of strangers, a quixotic renegade when it comes to the federal bureaucracy, and a devoted believer in the afternoon cocktail and the evening binge, Zeke has an irreverent voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit and heart-on-sleeve emotion, underscored by a creeping paranoia and made more urgent by the hope that if he can only find a wife, he might have a second chance at life.

Author of the award-winning debut novel Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon ("This is a wonderful book.”--Charles Baxter), Dean Bakopoulos is the founding director of the Wisconsin Book Festival and a creative writing professor at Iowa State University. He's online at www.deanbakopoulos.com.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

One Tough Mother

2011-05-29T12:20:00.000-05:00

Gail Rosenblum reads from A Hundred Lives Since Then: Essays on Motherhood, Marriage, Mortality and More--7:30pm, Monday, June 6, at Magers & Quinn.

Gail Rosenblum has gathered a collection of her wry observations on a host of experiences ranging from home remodeling and a parent’s late-life romance to a child’s show-and-tell and the neighborhood book club. With self-depreciating humor, she reminds us of how difficult it can be to hire a babysitter, how frightful to take a young child on an amusement park ride. She describes her daughter’s first crush, analyzes the stages of an exasperating family holiday, and explores the complicated process of choosing the right dog. She evokes the sense of vanishing time as a parent watches her children grow up and the craziness and sense of loss that accompany even the most well-mannered divorce. Her irrepressible humor is never far from the surface, but readers will also be moved by her ability to expose the enduring significance of the most quotidian observations and events.

Gail Rosenblum is a columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, writing two to three columns a week on current issues, trends and the complexities of human relationships.--David E

"And the writing ... oh, the writing."

2011-05-28T11:41:00.000-05:00

"Each story reads like a mini-novel because the paragraphs pack a punch; worlds are contained in a single page. And the writing ... oh, the writing."--San Francisco Chronicle

Robin Black’s short stories are populated with men and women who face losses both real and unexpected. A philandering father learns the limits of his ability to fool his blind daughter about who he is. An artist paints the portrait of a man suffering from dementia while she mourns the end of a long love affair. A fifth grade show-and-tell session reveals the world to be stranger and more dangerous than one girl ever imagined. A father commits suicide on the same day his daughter’s bathwater is charged with electricity, leaving her struggling to find meaning in the coincidence. A young widow finds herself envious of an acquaintance who has a prosthetic leg, and a living spouse. A dying woman fantasizes about persuading her selfish, bullying neighbor to see the value of her ebbing life. A mother gains sympathy for her adult daughter’s infidelity even as her own world begins to expand in surprising ways. A man whose life is newly filled with love tries to reconnect with the daughter who staged her own disappearance years before. An accident on an Italian holiday and an unexpected connection with a stranger cause a woman to question her lifelong assumptions about herself.

“Ten incisive tales peopled with characters so fully imagined you’ll feel they’re in the room.”--People magazine

Robin Black’s stories and essays have appeared One Story, Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellevue Literary Review, The Southern Review, and the anthology The Best Creative Nonfiction. She lives in Philadelphia.

Robin Black reads from If I Loved You I Would Tell You This at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Tuesday, June 7. Details are here.--David E

Famous Hair

2011-05-27T08:13:00.000-05:00

The David Thorne Hair Tour--details are here--has begun. The lovely locks were recently visiting Pudd’n’head Books in Webster Groves, Missouri, when who should stop by for a photo but Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and most recently In the Garden of Beasts.

Thorne's hair will be at Magers & Quinn from June 1 to 5. Stop by, have your picture taken with the hair, and donate a dollar to the National Children's Cancer Society. Just like Erik.--David E

Flash! Fiction!

2011-05-25T13:52:00.001-05:00

A rock-star line-up of writers comes to Magers & Quinn. It’s a triple bill of great authors—with no cover charge. John Jodzio, Dessa, and David Philip Mullins read from their short stories at 7:30pm, Thursday, June 2.

Yoga stalkers, guns and gold, babies with iron stomachs, drunkards with t-shirt cannons, and warlocks--lots of warlocks—populate John Jodzio’s latest short story, “Do Not Touch Me Not Now Not Ever.” It’s one of five pieces of flash fiction in They Could No Longer Contain Themselves from Rose Metal Press.

John Jodzio is the author of If You Lived Here, You’d Already Be Home and a winner of the Loft-McKnight Fellowship. His stories have appeared in McSweeneys, One Story, Opium, The Florida Review, and Rake. He’s won a Minnesota Magazine fiction. More information is available at www.johnjodzio.net.

--

Dessa is a Minneapolis musician and writer. Spiral Bound, her collection of essays and poetry, was dubbed a “dazzling literary debut” by the City Pages and “witty and desperately honest” by Alive Magazine.

--

What would have become of Nick Adams if he’d been born along the ragged edges of a new American city, one with more churches per capita than any other, and twice the suicide rate? Meet Nick Danze, the main character of David Philip Mullins’s vital debut collection, Greetings from Below. In these stories, Danze prowls Vegas, with its gilded casinos, neon-tinted suburbs, and dingy, outer-ring strip clubs. He visits a swingers’ club on Christmas Eve, obsesses over obese middle-aged women, and meets the love of his life, Annie, only he’s not sure he loves her and he’s compulsively unfaithful.

David Philip Mullins is the author of Greetings from Below (Sarabande Books), a collection of linked short stories, which won the 2009 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His work has appeared in The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, New England Review, Cimarron Review, Fiction, Ecotone, Folio, and Gulf Coast. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife and two children, where he teaches writing at Creighton University. Visit www.davidphilipmullins.com for more information.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Arrive Early for The Arriviste

2011-05-24T11:59:00.000-05:00

Milkweed Editions brings a new literary voice to the Twin Cities. James Wallenstein reads from The Arriviste at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Wednesday, June 1.

Neil Fox has made a fortune off the “head we win/tails you lose” venture capital deals negotiated by his brother, costing him almost everything but money. His ex-wife and daughter spurn him, and he lost his young son. He now lives a carefully plotted life, working as a lawyer at a small investment banking firm and spending nights at home with a drink.

When the affable Bud Younger moves in next door--on a parcel that Neil had sold off-Neil takes an almost instant dislike to him. Bud is nearly everything Neil is not--a gregarious, energetic striver loved by his intact family. When Bud asks Neil to fund a new business venture, he reluctantly accepts, setting in motion events that hurtle to a startling and haunting conclusion.

James Wallenstein’s work has appeared in GQ, The Believer, Antioch Review, Boston Review, and Hudson Review, among other publications. He lives in New York. The Arriviste is his first novel.

Details on this and all our author events are here.--David E

A Moment with John Sayles

2011-05-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

John Sayles reads from his novel A Moment in the Sun at Magers & Quinn--Tuesday, May 31, at 7:30pm.

It’s 1897. Gold has been discovered in the Yukon. New York is under the sway of Hearst and Pulitzer. And in a few months, an American battleship will explode in a Cuban harbor, plunging the U.S. into war. Spanning five years and half a dozen countries, this is the unforgettable story of that extraordinary moment: the turn of the twentieth century, as seen by one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

Shot through with a lyrical intensity and stunning detail that recall both Doctorow and Deadwood, A Moment in the Sun takes the whole era in its sights--from the white-racist coup in Wilmington, North Carolina to the bloody dawn of U.S. interventionism in the Philippines. Beginning with Hod Brackenridge searching for his fortune in the North, and hurtling forward on the voices of a breathtaking range of men and women--Royal Scott, an African American infantryman whose life outside the military has been destroyed; Diosdado Concepcíon, a Filipino insurgent fighting against his country’s new colonizers; and more than a dozen others, Mark Twain and President McKinley’s assassin among them.

Traveling from the Yukon gold fields, to New York’s bustling Newspaper Row, to Wilmington’s deadly racial coup of 1898, to the bitter triumphs at El Caney and San Juan Hill in Cuba, and to war zones in the Philippines, A Moment in the Sun is a book as big as history itself.

John Sayles’s previous novels include Pride of the Bimbos, Los Gusanos, and the National Book Award–nominated Union Dues. He has directed seventeen feature films, including Matewan, Lone Star, and Eight Men Out, and received two Academy Award nominations.

Details are here.--David E

Greil Marcus discusses Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes

2011-05-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

Minnesota music history comes alive at M&Q when rock’s preeminent historian sits down with a local legend to discuss Bob Dylan. Greil Marcus and Papa John Kolstad visit M&Q at 7:30pm, Thursday, May 26

Previously published as Invisible Republic and already considered a classic of modern American cultural criticism, The Old, Weird America is Greil Marcus's widely acclaimed book on the secret music (the so-called "Basement Tapes") made by Bob Dylan and the Band while in seclusion in Woodstock, New York, in 1967--a folksy yet funky, furious yet hilarious music that remains as seductive and baffling today as it was more than thirty years ago.

As Mark Sinker observed in The Wire: "Marcus's contention is that there can be found in American folk a community as deep, as electric, as perverse, and as conflicted as all America, and that the songs Dylan recorded out of the public eye, in a basement in Woodstock, are where that community as a whole gets to speak." But the country mapped out in this book, as Bruce Shapiro wrote in The Nation, "is not Woody Guthrie's land for made for you and me... It's what Marcus calls 'the old, weird America.'" This odd terrain, this strange yet familiar backdrop to our common cultural history--which Luc Sante (in New York magazine) termed the "playground of God, Satan, tricksters, Puritans, confidence men, illuminati, braggarts, preachers, anonymous poets of all stripes"--is the territory that Marcus has discovered in Dyaln's most mysterious music. And his analysis of that territory "reads like a thriller" (Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly) and exhibits "a mad, sparkling brilliance" (David Remnick, The New Yorker) throughout.

“Marcus draws bold freehand loops around Dylan's music, loops so wide and loose that they take in not just the breadth of American folk music, but huge chunks of American history as well. This is the best kind of history book, one that acknowledges that mythology is sometimes the truest kind of fact."--Stephanie Zachareck, Newsday

One of America's most original and incisive critics of pop music and pop culture, Greil Marcus is the author of Double Trouble, Lipstick Traces, and Mystery Train. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Papa John Kolstad is a longtime Minneapolis musician--and mayoral candidate.

Such a Deal

2011-05-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

The Magers & Quinn email newsletter is chock full of news you can use. Each month, you can learn about new books, fantastic author readings, and much more.

This month, the newsletter will include a special offer from MCAD. Newsletter subscribers can get $25.00 off any class at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

If you're not already getting our newsletter, you can sign up here. The next issue goes out June first.--David E

Hair Club... It's Not Just for Men

2011-05-15T14:36:00.001-05:00

Did you know that a lock of Justin Bieber's hair is currently on tour--with a bodyguard no less? Frenzied fans are lining up across the nation to get their picture taken with Bieber's hair for $1. (The money raised is being donated to the tsunami relief.)

Not to be outdone, David Thorne, creator of the hilarious website www.27bslash6.com and author of The Internet is a Playground: Irreverent Correspondences of an Evil Online Genius, is sending a few of his own gorgeous tresses around the country. The locks will be at Magers & Quinn from June 1 to 5. Stop by, have your picture taken with the hair, and donate a dollar to the National Children's Cancer Society. Everybody wins.

[Note to the Bieber Feverish everwhere: David Thorne does not hate JB. To quote his website www.helpmesellmorebooksthanjustinbieber.com, "I personally have nothing against Justin Bieber. I haven't seen him in anything but I am sure he is a fine actor. ...I'd like to think that Justin and I would get along quite amicably under normal circustances but if we were both shipwrecked, washed ashore on a small desert island, and had to fight over a single can of peaches, I would get the peaches." Feel better?]

Sit. Stay. Enjoy.

2011-05-15T11:51:00.003-05:00

All dogs are allowed when Martin Kihn comes to Magers & Quinn Booksellers--4:00pm, Sunday, May 22.

Hola is a nightmare, but it’s not her fault if she tackles strangers and chews on furniture, or if she runs after buses and fried chicken containers and drug dealers. No one ever told her not to. Hola may be the most beautiful Bernese mountain dog in the world, but she’s never been trained. At least not by anyone who knew what he was doing.

Hola’s supposed master, Marty, is a high-functioning alcoholic. A TV writer turned management consultant, Marty’s in debt and out of shape; he’s about to lose his job, and one day he emerges from a haze of peach-flavored vodka to find he’s on the verge of losing his wife, Gloria, too, if he can’t get his life--and his dog--under control.

"This tale of a man who forgot he was a man and the dog who ultimately reminded him is the most touching, original buddy story I've come across in ages. Sit. Stay. Read."--Walter Kirn, author of Up in the Air

Martin Kihn is a writer, digital marketer, dog lover, balletomane and spiritual athlete. He was born in Zambia, grew up in suburban Michigan, has a BA in Theater Studies from Yale and an MBA from Columbia Business School. His articles have appeared in New York, the New York Times, GQ, Us, Details, Cosmopolitan, and Forbes, among many others, and he was on the staff of Spy, Forbes, New York, and Vibe. Until recently, most of his writing could be called satirical or snarky, meticulously researched and office-based. More information is available at www.martinkihn.com.

Details are here.--David E

Rebecca Rasmussen

2011-05-13T17:55:00.001-05:00

The inspiration for The Bird Sisters came to Rebecca Rasmussen while reading her grandmother Kit's journals. Kit lost both her parents at age 17 just after a crisis revealed the failings in their marriage. As she grew older, she grew away from her only sister, Virginia. This novel is Rasmussen's imaginings of what could have been, had Kit and Virginia learned to cling to each other rather than turn away.

You can meet Rebecca Rasmussen and learn more about her first novel when she visits Magers & Quinn--Thursday, May 19, at 7:30pm.

"The Bird Sisters is that immensely satisfying combination of indelible characters and a suspenseful and cunningly revealed plot. ...Full of wonderful surprises, The Bird Sisters is a splendid debut that will stay with the reader long after the last page."--Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street

Milly and Twiss weren’t always two old spinsters known to everyone in Spring Green, Wisconsin as the Bird Sisters. There was a time when people called Milly “Goldilocks” because of her beautiful hair, and Twiss played Lewis and Clark on the course with her golf-pro father. Rebecca Rasmussen's masterfully written debut novel, The Bird Sisters, takes readers though the routines of a single day in the lives of these elderly sisters, from waking up in their childhood beds to sharing a glass of ice tea on the porch of the wind-worn house they grew up in. Their minds are fixed on the summer of 1947, the summer their Cousin Bett came down from Deadwater, Minnesota to stay and nothing was ever the same again. The two narratives twist and turn like the Wisconsin River, ultimately revealing how the sisters’ hearts came to be broken and why they have spent their lives healing birds and sometimes people.

"Rebecca Rasmussen’s gorgeous debut is infused with a certain grace: there remains hope that damaged things, wild or tame, can still be nursed back together again."--Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone

Rebecca Rasmussen teaches creative writing and literature at Fontbonne University. Her stories have appeared in Triquarterly magazine and the Mid-American Review. She was a finalist in both Narrative magazine’s 30 Below Contest for writers under the age of thirty and Glimmer Train’s Family Matters Contest. She lives with her husband and daughter in St. Louis.

Rebecca will be joined by Kate Ledger, author of Remedies. Simon and Emily Bear look like a couple who have it all. Simon is a respected doctor; Emily shines as a public relations expert who spins away her corporate clients' mistakes. Yet as their 13-year-old daughter's troubled summer reveals, all is not perfect inside this home. Simon has stumbled upon an obscure drug that may revolutionize the treatment of pain. In his excitement, he barely notices that Emily is seeking relief from the family's tragic past. And neither fully realizes how much danger their daughter is in. Soon, everything they have will be on the brink of collapse, and there will be no masking the symptoms or hiding the truth any more.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Wising Up

2011-05-08T13:12:00.000-05:00

Local authors Wendy Brown-Baez, Patricia Barone, Emilio De Grazia, Benjamin Doty, and Jane Levin, Mary Kay Rummel visit Magers & Quinn to talk about their contributions to various anthologies from Wising Up Press--Sunday, May 15, at 4:00pm.

The authors will discuss:

Double Lives, Reinvention & Those We Leave Behind--We frown upon double lives, but laud reinvention as the perpetual rebirth of our best self. But are these two states so very different for us as we live them?
Families: The Frontline of Pluralism--The difficulties of living up close and personal with diversity--of sensibility, race, culture, class, or religion--is the subject of the stories, memoirs, and poetry in this anthology.
Illness & Grace, Terror & Transformation--In this anthology of personal memoirs, stories, and poetry contemporary writers explore themes of illness and trauma and the wide variety of ways in which we respond to them.
Love After 70--What is love, in all its forms, like after 70? If you didn’t know most of these writers were over 70, you would not think so as you listen to their most personal of voices.
View from the Bed, View from the Bedside--Thirty-eight contemporary writers explore with memoir, story, and poetry the different ways we talk about, to--and through-- each other at the doctor's office, hospital, or sickbed.

Wising Up Press, of Decatur, Georgia, publishes books about creative acculturation, social forces and psychological resiliency, illness and meaning, spirituality and embodiment. More information is available at www.universaltable.org. Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

And We Like Sheep

2011-05-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

Discover the advantages of having sheep as the planet’s “self-propelled lawn mowers” and the scary truth behind “wrinkle free” clothing as Catherine Friend reveals what it really means to be sheepish--and why it might not be such a bad thing after all--when she reads from her latest book Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet--7:30pm, Thursday, May 12, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

What do you do when you love your farm... but it doesn’t love you? After fifteen years of farming, Catherine Friend is tired. After all, while shepherding is one of the oldest professions, it’s not getting any easier. The number of sheep in America has fallen by 90 percent in the last ninety years. But just as Catherine thinks it’s time to hang up her shepherd’s crook, she discovers that sheep might be too valuable to give up. What ensues is a funny, thoughtful romp through the history of our woolly friends, why small farms are important, and how each one of us—and the planet—would benefit from being very sheepish, indeed.

“Fans of Hit by a Farm will get another dose of Catherine Friend’s signature wit and moxie with Sheepish, as she faces a rough patch on the farm, but still manages to be hilarious. In the end, Friend’s enthusiasm will make you want to raise sheep, or at least wear wool undies.”--Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City

Catherine Friend is the author of Hit by a Farm and The Compassionate Carnivore, as well as seven children’s books and three novels. She farms in Minnesota with her partner of twenty-seven years.

Details are here.--David E

Describing the Indescribable--A Books and Bars (Pre)View

2011-05-04T15:53:00.002-05:00

This month's Books and Bars pick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad gets a closer look from book club regular Courtney Algeo in the books section of the TC Daily Planet.

In her review, Algeo sniffs out hints of Faulkner, marvels at author Jennifer Egan's ability to "describe the indescribable" and plucks this gorgeous phrase from the pages of Goon Squad, “We’ll rise up out of our bodies and find each other again in spirit form. We’ll meet in a new place, all of us together, and first it’ll seem strange, and pretty soon it’ll seem strange that you could ever lose someone, or get lost.”

Click here to read the rest of Courtney's review.

Books & Bars meets at 7:00pm, this coming Tuesday at Aster Cafe, 125 SE Main Street, St Anthony Main, Minneapolis. The club is presented by Jeff Kamin and Magers & Quinn Booksellers, sponsored by Aster Cafe, Metro Magazine and Fulton Beer.

The Path of Compassion and Wisdom

2011-05-03T11:37:00.001-05:00

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's book Modern Buddhism is a dynamic and comprehensive presentation of Buddha’s teachings, including practical explanations on how to attain lasting happiness and freedom from problems for ourselves and others. With clear and accessible language, Gyatso guides the reader from the fundamentals of Buddhist meditation and philosophy and offers practical advice to solve daily problems. His inspiring handbook for daily practice is designed for those seeking solutions within Buddhism to the problems of everyday life, as well as to encourage people of all faiths to deepen their understanding and enjoyment of the spiritual paths.

Gen Kelsang Drubwang is a resident teacher at the Akanishta Buddhist Center in Madison, Wisconsin. He will discuss Modern Buddhism at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Join us at 7:30pm, Wednesday, May 18. Details are here.--David E

Giving It Away

2011-04-29T13:49:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Marquita Jaeger. She won our first drawing for a Book Club Bag, donated by Algonquin Press. In addition to the bag, Marquita received four books to read and discuss

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell
A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein

M&Q has suggestions for any book club. Stop in today and ask us for one.--David E

Lockdown

2011-04-27T16:30:00.001-05:00

Joshua Page will discuss his book The Toughest Beat: Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California --7:30pm, Thursday, May 5, at Magers & Quinn.

In America today, one in every hundred adults is behind bars. As our prison population has exploded, "law and order" interest groups have also grown-in numbers and political clout. Committed to punitive justice, these organizations perpetuate America's imprisonment binge. The Toughest Beat forcefully demonstrates how this cyclical process has unfolded in California.

In crisp, vivid prose, Joshua Page argues that the Golden State's prison boom fueled the rise of one of the most politically potent and feared interest groups in the nation: the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA). As it made great strides for its members, the prison officers' union also fundamentally altered the composition and orientation of the penal field. It promoted extreme punishment and moralistic conceptions of prisoners, helped institute ultra-tough penal policies such as Three Strikes and You're Out, obstructed efforts to privatize prisons, and empowered sympathetic political figures and groups, including crime victims' organizations that it helped create. To understand the nature, purpose, and scope of California's penal system, Page explains, we cannot neglect the story of this group so often known simply as "the powerful prison guards union."

Details on this and all our event are here.--David E

The Story Continues

2011-04-25T08:27:00.004-05:00

Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award–winning film adaptation Precious, Sapphire brings us the story of Precious's son, Abdul. You can meet the author when she visits Magers & Quinn this summer--7:30pm, Friday, July 15.

A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid (available July 5) brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind.

In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty-first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.

Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry and the bestselling novel Push. The film adaption of her novel, Precious (2009), received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, in addition to the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. In 2009 she was a recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship. She lives in New York City.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Rock'em Sock'em Robots

2011-04-23T15:55:00.000-05:00

From the book industry newsletter Shelf Awareness comes news of used book pricing run amok. Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Red Sox fan, tells the story.

It's no secret that online booksellers often use computer programs to set their prices. Most of the time, prices are fairly stable, but Eisner noticed one instance when the system didn't work. Only two copies of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly were available. Each seller was clearly setting the his or her price in relation to the other. When one went up, the other soon followed suit. Eventually, the unchecked algorithms took the price all the way up to a whopping $23,698,655.93. As charming and useful as Lawrence's work on the Drosophila no doubt is, no one bought either copy.

Eisen's full article is here.--David E

On Books

2011-04-23T11:00:00.001-05:00

Laurie Hertzel--book editor at the Star Tribune, author, and Minnesota Book Award winner--now has her own blog. "On Books" brings you book news both local and national. Check it out to stay on top of all the news that's fit about print.

"On Books" is here.--David E

Closed Sunday

2011-04-20T16:59:00.000-05:00

Magers & Quinn Booksellers will be closed on Sunday, April 24, in order to allow staff time to bathe and comb their rabbits. We will be open Saturday and Monday as normal.

Two Kisses for Maddy

2011-04-18T18:07:00.001-05:00

Matthew Logelin reads from Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love--Thursday, April 28, 7:30pm, at Magers & Quinn.

Matt and Liz Logelin were high school sweethearts. After years of long-distance dating, the pair finally settled together in Los Angeles, and they had it all: a perfect marriage, a gorgeous new home, and a baby girl on the way. Liz's pregnancy was rocky, but they welcomed Madeline, beautiful and healthy, into the world on March 24, 2008.

"Two Kisses for Maddy is less a conscious piece of writing than a spontaneous eruption from the heart. It will make you cry but not only out of sadness. Some of your tears will be for the beauty of love and its miraculous power to heal even the deepest wounds."--John Grogan, author of Marley and Me

Just twenty-seven hours later, Liz suffered a pulmonary embolism and died instantly, without ever holding the daughter whose arrival she had so eagerly awaited. Though confronted with devastating grief and the responsibilities of a new and single father, Matt did not surrender to devastation; he chose to keep moving forward--to make a life for Maddy. In this memoir, Matt shares bittersweet and often humorous anecdotes of his courtship and marriage to Liz; of relying on his newborn daughter for the support that she unknowingly provided; and of the extraordinary online community of strangers who have become his friends.

"No one wants to read a depressing book. But how can you possibly call depressing what is so filled with love and life and the unstoppable message of how lucky we are to have what we have."--Brad Meltzer, author of Heroes for my Son

Born and bred in Minnesota, Matt Logelin was a project manager at Yahoo! until he left the company to focus on writing this book and raising his daughter, Madeline. The two live in Los Angeles, traveling often to see as much of the world as possible. Visit them at www.mattlogelin.com.

Details are here.--David E

Go Wild(er)

2011-04-17T15:54:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has ever wanted to step into the world of a favorite book, Wendy McClure's new book The Wilder Life is a pioneer pilgrimage, a tribute to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and a hilarious account of butter-churning obsession. You can meet the author at Magers & Quinn Booksellers--7:30pm, Wednesday, April 20.

"Anyone who loved the Little House series is in for a treat, because in a new book, writer Wendy McClure really put her money where her sunbonnet is.--Jezebel.com

Wendy McClure is on a quest to find the world of beloved Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder--a fantastic realm of fiction, history, and places she's never been to, yet somehow knows by heart. She retraces the pioneer journey of the Ingalls family--looking for the Big Woods among the medium trees in Wisconsin, wading in Plum Creek, and enduring a prairie hailstorm in South Dakota. She immerses herself in all things Little House, and explores the story from fact to fiction, and from the TV shows to the annual summer pageants in Laura's hometowns. Whether she's churning butter in her apartment or sitting in a replica log cabin, McClure is always in pursuit of "the Laura experience." Along the way she comes to understand how Wilder's life and work have shaped our ideas about girlhood and the American West.

Wendy McClure has been writing about her obsessions online and in print for nearly a decade. In addition to her 2005 memoir, I'm Not the New Me, she is a columnist for BUST magazine and has contributed to The New York Times Magazine. McClure holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She lives in Chicago, where she is a senior editor at the children's book publisher Albert Whitman & Company. You can read more from Wendy at www.wendymcclure.net. Details on the event at M&Q are here.--David E

Confessions of a Very Literary Economic Hitman

2011-04-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

While writing about economics in Ecuador for a nonprofit think tank straight out of undergrad, Mountford noticed his title was “Senior Associate” for a hedge fund he’d never heard of. It turned out the think tank was running the hedge fund out of its back office--and Mountford found the inspiration for his first novel. Mountfrod will read from A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism at 7:30pm, Thursday, April 21, at Magers & Quinn.

“A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism is, quite simply, one of the most compelling and thought-provoking novels I’ve read in years. It’s extraordinarily vivid, populated by characters whose fates I cared about desperately, beautifully written, timely beyond measure, but above all it conveys--with impressive precision and nuance--how we are vectors on the grid of global capital; how difficult it is to even attempt to be an authentic, let alone admirable, human being when we are, first and last, cash flow.”--David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

On his first assignment for a rapacious hedge fund, Gabriel embarks to Bolivia at the end of 2005 to ferret out insider information about the plans of the controversial president-elect. If Gabriel succeeds, he will get a bonus that would make him secure for life. Standing in his way are his headstrong mother, herself a survivor of Pinochet's Chile, and Gabriel's new love interest, the president's passionate press liaison. Caught in a growing web of lies and questioning his own role in profiting from an impoverished people, Gabriel sets in motion a terrifying plan that could cost him the love of all those he holds dear.

"In Mountford's novel, the stakes of international finance and the personal lives of those involved intersect in a beautifully drawn Bolivia. A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism accomplishes that rare trick of being a book of ideas and politics while remaining, at its core, a profoundly intimate, character-driven story and a tremendously good read."--Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Peter Mountford has lived in Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles, as well as Scotland, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, and Mexico. His fiction has appeared in Best New American Voices 2008, Boston Review, and Conjunctions. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter. Find him online at www.petermountford.com.

Details are here.--David E

Shared Interests

2011-04-13T16:26:00.000-05:00

We got a charming email this week from an M&Q fan who'd attended our recent reading by Philip Connors, author of Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout.

"My name is Jordan Wiklund, a writer and editor from St. Paul. Last week I attended the Connors' reading and just had a blast; hadn't been in the store for a year or two and picked up a copy of The Know-It-All in addition to Connors' book. If you were there, I was the young guy in the Twins cap who asked him about cribbage.

"...During the signing, I told Connors about the project and he actually gave me his card for a future conversation about cribbage on his mountain.

"Long story short, his eyes grew wider than mine when he said, "I was on your website yesterday!" So I've followed up with a blog post about that experience found here. All the dialogue is verbatim because I taped the whole reading, a literary bootleg!"

We love bringing authors and readers together. Leave us a comment and let us know about your favorite experience.--David E

Whoa, Nellie

2011-04-12T09:39:00.005-05:00

"McClure owns seven sunbonnets, two butter churns, a Laura-themed charm bracelet, a corncob doll, many Little House-themed magnets, a bottle of Laura Ingalls Wilder wine (red), a Little House on the Prairie shot glass and a Laura bobblehead, to name only part of her collection."

So begins the Chicago Tribune's review of Wendy McClure's new book The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie. In addition to a partial contents of McClure's memorabilia collection, you'll about the Wilder World--up to and including Laurapalooza. (The full review is here.)

You can find out even more about Wendy's Laura Ingalls Wilder obsession when McClure visits M&Q. She'll be here Wednesday, April 20, at 7:30pm. Details are here.--David E

A Trip to Old St Paul

2011-04-09T15:07:00.001-05:00

History comes alive when Peg Meier visits M&Q to discuss Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl's Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age by Coco Irvine. Join us at 7:30pm, Monday, April 18, for a fascinating evening of history and hijinks.

On Christmas Day, 1926, twelve-year-old Clotilde “Coco” Irvine received a blank diary as a present. Coco loved to write, and her new diary gave her the opportunity to explain her side of the messes she created: “I’m in deep trouble through no fault of my own,” her entries frequently began. The daughter of a lumber baron, Coco grew up in a twenty-room mansion--which is now the governor's residence--on fashionable Summit Avenue at the peak of the Jazz Age, a time when music, art, and women’s social status were all in a state of flux and the economy was still flying high.

Coco’s diary carefully records her adventures, problems, and romances, written with a lively wit and a droll sense of humor. Whether sneaking out to a dance hall in her mother’s clothes or getting in trouble for telling an off-color joke, Coco and her escapades will captivate and delight preteen readers as well as their mothers and grandmothers.

Peg Meier’s introduction describes St. Paul life in the 1920s and provides context for the privileged world that Coco inhabits, while an afterword tells what happens to Coco as an adult--and reveals surprises about some of the other characters in the diary.

Peg Meier was a reporter at the Star Tribune for thirty-five years. She is the author of many popular books, including Wishing for a Snow Day, Bring Warm Clothes, and Too Hot, Went to Lake.

Details are here.--David E

Way to Go, Matthew Zapruder

2011-04-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Matthew Zapruder. The poet--who read at M&Q just last month--has won a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. The grants are awarded "on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise." Three thousand writers, artists, and scienctists applied; 180 got the nod. Details are here.--David E

GigaPanBot

2011-04-08T08:50:00.000-05:00

You might have seen the enormous, 360-degree, clickable photograph of Prague's Strahov monastery library that went viral online earlier this week. If not, it's here. It's an incredible piece of technology, and I urge you to waste a few minutes zooming, panning, and otherwise enjoying this normally forbidden room.

Now Wired has the story behind the image. They interviewed Jeffrey Martin about his camera (robot-controlled), the program that drives it (euphoniously named GigaPanBot), and Two thousand nine hundred forty-seven photos later, Martin had his raw material. Initial processing took 111 hours. Martin himself spent 20 hours correcting misaligned pictures--and an eagle-eyed coworker of mine took about two seconds to spot one that Martin missed.

The full Wired article is here. Check it out--David E

Must-See TV

2011-04-07T17:09:00.000-05:00

Last month, Magers & Quinn hosted a reading by Joshua Foer, author of the spring's most memorable science book, Moonwalking with Einstein. Foer talked about his book and led the audience in a simple memory-building technique.

Ah, but readings are never exactly what you expect. Foer also talked about entering the German competitive Slip 'n Slide league championship. You won't hear that on The Daily Show.

Don't fret if you missed Foer's reading. You can see it all on the Magers & Quinn YouTube channel. The first part is below. Then join M&Q's mailing list, so you don't miss out on any of our other great author events.--David E

Details are here.--David E

Community Space

2011-04-05T16:00:00.002-05:00

Jonesing for a bookstore in Nordeast? Eric Brew feels your pain. In fact, he's launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to address the problem. Brew's Coffee & Books Community Space will be "a specialty coffeehouse in NE Mpls coupled with a bookstore, lending library, theater stage, writing studios and radical resources."

Brew and crew hope to raise $32,000 by May 4. They're collecting pledges now. Details--including instructions on how to donate--are here.--David E

Author Spotting

2011-04-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

The Bible and Biology

2011-04-01T16:06:00.001-05:00

Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Edward “Ted” Davis, Messiah College Professor of the History of Science. "The Bible and Biology: Understanding the Creation-Evolution Debate" will present many of the reasons why American Christians have found evolution so objectionable. Davis will outline the main ideas and attitudes associated with “scientific creationism,” draw a comparison with “intelligent design,” and conclude with examples of Christian thinkers who accept biological evolution. This lecture will be 7:00 PM, Thursday, April 7, at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue (94 at Lyndale) Minneapolis, MN 55403.

The event is sponsored by the Science and Theology Network. It is free and open to the public. Details are at www.hennepinchurch.org.--David E

Mother and Daughters

2011-04-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Rae Meadows reads from her novel Mothers and Daughters--Wednesday, April 13, 7:30pm, at Magers & Quinn.

"Rae Meadows has written a richly textured novel of three generations of mothers and daughters who by finding each other, find themselves. ...Mothers and Daughters is a powerful novel of women’s secrets and strength.”--Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author of Prayers for Sale and Whiter Than Snow

Mothers and Daughters is a rich and luminous novel about three generations of women in one family: the love they share, the dreams they refuse to surrender, and the secrets they hold. Samantha is lost in the joys of new motherhood, but she is still mourning another loss: her mother, Iris, died just one year ago. When a box of Iris's belongings arrives on Sam's doorstep, she learns that her grandmother Violet left New York City as an eleven-year-old girl, traveling by herself to the Midwest in search of a better life. But what was Violet's real reason for leaving? And how could she have made that trip alone at such a tender age? Moving back and forth in time between the stories of Sam, Violet, and Iris, Mothers and Daughters is the spellbinding tale of three remarkable women connected across a century by the complex wonder of motherhood.

Rae Meadows is the author of Calling Out, which received the 2006 Utah Book Award for fiction, and No One Tells Everything, a Poets & Writers Notable Novel. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Learn more at www.RaeMeadows.com.

Details are here.--David E

YA Isn't Just for Kids

2011-03-31T15:55:00.000-05:00

If you've read Steve Brezenoff's novel The Absolute Value of -1, you know that his so-called Young Adult books isn't just for kids. The love triangle at the center of the book is something anyone can relate to.

Brezenoff's newest novel is good reading for grown-ups, too. Brooklyn, Burning tells the story of sixteen-year-old Kid, who lives on the streets of Brooklyn. Kid loves Felix, a guitarist and junkie who disappears, leaving Kid the prime suspect in an arson investigation. Then, a year later Scout arrives, giving Kid a second chance to be in a band and find true love.

M&Q will be hosting a launch party for Brooklym, Burning on Friday, August 26. It'll be a grownup event with wine and a special musical guest. Pre-order your copy here.--David E

Lookout for Philip Connors

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Nearly a decade ago, Philip Connors ditched his job as an editor at the Wall Street Journal to spend his summers sitting in a glass-walled perch, 10,000 feet above sea level, watching for smoke. As a fire lookout, Connors follows in a venerable literary tradition--Jack Kerouac, Edward Abbey, Norman Mclean, and Gary Snyder were all firespotters--and in Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout (available April 5), Connors writes with eloquence and awe about his unusual job and the mythic landscape he watches. He will read from his book at 7:30pm, Wednesday, April 6, at Magers & Quinn,

“Philip Connors’s remarkable account of his seasons as a fire lookout on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico is enlightening and well-informed. The surprise in the book is the author’s willingness--his courage, actually--to examine his own naïveté about the natural world. His is a most welcome new voice.”--Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams

“The life of a lookout,” Connors writes, “is a blend of monotony, geometry, and poetry, with healthy dollops of frivolity and sloth. It’s a life that encourages thrift and self-sufficiency, intimacy with weather and wild creatures. We are paid to master the art of solitude, and we are about as free as working folk can be. To be solitary in such a place and such a way is not to be alone. Instead one feels a certain kind of dignity.”

“What a wonderful book. Philip Connors went up to the mountaintop to serve as a lookout—and he has come down with a masterwork of close observation, deep reflection, and hard-won wisdom. This is an unforgettable reckoning with the American land.”--Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families

Philip Connors has worked as a baker, a bartender, a house painter, a deliveryman, and an editor at the Wall Street Journal. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, the Paris Review, n+1, and in Dave Egger’s Best Nonrequired Reading anthology. Originally from Minnesota, he now lives in New Mexico with his wife and their dog.

Details are here.--David E

A Trip to the Islands

2011-03-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

Hear a singular Caribbean voice without leaving Minneapolis. Tiphanie Yanique discusses "How to Escape from a Leper Colony" with Marlon James--Sunday, April 3, at 4:0pm, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Lyrical, lush, and haunting, the prose shimmers in her nuanced debut, How to Escape from a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories, set mostly in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Part oral history, part postcolonial narrative, How to Escape from a Leper Colony is ultimately a loving portrait of a wholly unique place. Like Gabriel García Márquez, Edwidge Danticat, and Maryse Condé before her, Tiphanie Yanique has crafted a book that is heartbreaking, hilarious, magical, and mesmerizing. It is an unforgettable collection.

“I reached the end of How to Escape from a Leper Colony with the exhilarating sense that I had been on the best kind of journey—not, finally, to the Virgin Islands nor Trinidad nor Houston nor London, but to the imagination of a wonderfully talented young writer who has many more stories to tell.”--Margot Livesey, The Boston Globe

Read an excerpt here.

Tiphanie Yanique is from the Hospital Ground neighborhood of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She is an assistant professor of Creative Writing and Caribbean Literature with Drew University and an associate editor with Post-No-Ills. She lives between Brooklyn and St. Thomas.

----------

Tiphanie Yanique will be interviewed by Marlon James, author of The Book of Night Women and John Crow's Devil. Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica. A professor of literature and creative writing at Macalester College, he divides his time among Minnesota, New York and Jamaica.Details are here.--David E

Your Vote Counts

2011-03-25T18:17:00.000-05:00

Voting for the City Pages' Best of the Cities Readers' Poll 2011 ends March 30. You can write in your favorite bookstore (new and used) in categories 51 and 52. The full list is here.--David E

Building Community

2011-03-25T16:05:00.000-05:00

Jay Walljasper comes to M&Q Monday, April 4, at 7:30pm, to discuss new book All That We Share. The book is a wake-up call that will inspire you to see the world in a new way. As soon as you realize that some things belong to everyone--water, for instance, or the Internet or human knowledge--you become a commoner, part of a movement that's reshaping how we will solve the problems facing us in the twenty-first century.

Edited by award-winning journalist Jay Walljasper, All That We Share is an indispensable introduction to fresh ideas that touch all of us. Filled with practical solutions for today's economic, political, and cultural issues, it's a much-needed and thoroughly accessible field guide to the new world of the commons. Including success stories from communities across the country and around the world, this book is for anyone seeking new ways of thinking about our shared values.

"I have been studying the commons for several decades now; to my surprise and delight this wonderful book taught me many things I didn't know."--Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift and Common as Air

Jay Walljasper is the editor of the book All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons. He is a Fellow at On the Commons--a movement strategy center, connecting organizations, community leaders, and individuals with new ideas, practical solutions, and each other to create change--and co-editor of its website, OnTheCommons.org. He is also a contributing editor of National Geographic Traveler, Senior Fellow at Project for Public Spaces, an Associate of the Citistates group and a cities columnist for Shareable.net. He was editor of Utne Reader for fifteen years, during which the magazine was nominated three times for a National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He is author of The Great Neighborhood Book and co-author of Visionaries. He writes widely about travel, cities, ecology and politics.

Details are here.--David E

Staff Picked

2011-03-24T18:22:00.003-05:00

At the risk of having my mandatory bookstore cardigan taken away, I have to confess that I don't always read a lot of novels. I'm more likely to settle down with a history of Jacobean religious policy (God's Secretaries should be your first choice on the subject) or a good bit of reportage (I loved John Vaillant's book The Tiger). But I do love a good crime novel, and easily my favorite series has been the John Rebus novels by Scotland's most famous author who doesn't write about wizards, Ian Rankin.

Rankin pulled the plug on the Rebus books a few years ago--his protagonist had reached the mandatory retirement age for Scottish policemen, and so was retired. Happily, Rankin is back with a new hero in his latest book The Complaints. Malcolm Fox (and yes, he's wily) stalks Edinborough's finest, and he finds them at their worst. Fox, you see, is a cop who investigates other cops.

It feels disloyal to say so, but I think I prefer Fox over John Rebus. Rankin's new book is great.

You can read a lot more--including a teaser about a possible return for Rebus--in this recent interview from NPR's Morning Edition. There's also an excerpt from The Complaints.

Please check it out. If you like a good, foggy police story, you won't be disappointed by The Complaints.--David E

He's That Charming

2011-03-23T11:39:00.000-05:00

How did Joshua Foer convine Martha Stewart to wear these glasses? Find out tomorrow when Foer reads from his book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything at Magers & Quinn tomorrow at 7:30pm. Details are here.--David E

"For fun, I sift through archives of the Minnesota Historical Society."

2011-03-21T10:47:00.000-05:00

Peg Meier's idea of a good time--rummaging around in archives--may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly yields some good results. The author of Too Hot, Went to Lake and Coffee Made Her Insane unearthed the diary of Coco Irvine, a Summit Avenue scamp of the 1920s. Coco was the daughter of a St Paul lumber baron, but she was no slouch when it came to getting into trouble.

Meier knew the diary would appeal to today's readers, and she convinced the University of Minnesota Press to publish it for today's readers. The book Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl's Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age comes out March 30. You can read more details about both Coco and Peg's publishing story at the University of Minnesota Press Blog.

Peg Meier herself will visit Magers & Quinn to discuss her latest book. Join us Monday, April 18, at 7:30pm, for a lively evening of humor and history. Details are here.--David E

Steve Healey and Matthew Zapruder read from their poetry

2011-03-19T13:36:00.000-05:00

Two great poets read from their work at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Steve Healey and Matthew Zapruder share new poetry Saturday, March 26, at 7:30pm.

"Healey's work demands that we betray our allegiance to poetry schools and simply appreciate his rich imagination."--Bloomsbury Review

Fluid, lively, and referential, 10 Mississippi samples language from many cultural tributaries, performing sequels of celebrated twentieth-century poems, riffing on advertising slogans, tongue twisters, formulaic news reports, and everyone's favorite twenty-six-letter sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Like the proverbial river that is never the same twice, Steve Healey's poems channel the constant transformation of the modern world and embrace the human drama in a way that makes them a joy to read and revisit.

Steve Healey is the author of Earthling and most recently 10 Mississippi. His essays and criticism have appeared in the Writer’s Chronicle and Rain Taxi, and his poems have appeared in the anthology Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century and the journals American Poetry Review, Boston Review, jubilat, and others. He currently divides his time between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and East Lansing, Michigan, where he teaches creative writing and literature at Michigan State University.

Come On All You Ghosts, Matthew Zapruder's third book, mixes humor and invention with love and loss, as when the breath of a lover is compared to "a field of titanium gravestones / growing warmer in the sun." The title poem is an elegy for the heroes and mentors in the poet's life--from David Foster Wallace to the poet's father. Zapruder's poems are direct and surprising, and throughout the book he wrestles with the desire to do well, to make art, and to face the vast events of the day.

"Zapruder's innovative style is provocative in its unusual juxtapositions of line, image and enjambments.... Highly recommended."--Library Journal

Matthew Zapruder is the author of two previous books, including The Pajamaist, which won the William Carlos Williams Award and was honored by Library Journal with a "Best Poetry Book of the Year" listing. He lives in San Francisco and is an editor at Wave Books.

Details are here.--David E

Yardley Likes Kennedy

2011-03-18T16:48:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post had some kind words for Thomas E. Kennedy's latest book. "Falling Sideways is that rarest of commodities in American literary fiction, a novel about men and women at work; it is part-satire and part-drama, and it is very smart." (The whole review is here.)

Thomas E. Kennedy returns to Magers & Quinn to read from his novel. He'll be here at 7:30pm, on Tuesday, April 12. See you there.--David E

Welcome to the Memory Palace

2011-03-18T12:03:00.001-05:00

"I saw Jerry Seinfeld sprawled out bleeding on the hood of a Lamborghini (five of hearts, ace of diamonds, jack of hearts)."

That's the image Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, used to help him remember three random playing cards. Foer spoke to CNBC recently about the "memory palace" technique which fuses places and pictures into a mind-jogging stories. The whole article is here.

You can learn this and much more, when Joshua Foer visits Magers & Quinn. He'll be here at 7:30pm, Thursday, March 24. Don't forget.--David E

Nothing Rhymes with Orange

2011-03-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

The Orange Prize for Fiction, awarded annually for outstanding writing by a female author, has announced its 2011 nominees. The longlist includes Jennifer Egan and Nicole Krauss--and also M&Q favorite Tea Obreht. Tea recently visited Minneapolis to read from her debut novel The Tiger's Wife. Video of her reading is here.

The winnner of the 2011 Orange Prize will be announced on April 12. Details are here.--David E

Don't Forget Joshua Foer

2011-03-16T13:31:00.001-05:00

Joshua Foer tells how he changed from chronically forgetful science journalist to U.S. Memory Champion--7:30pm, Thursday, March 24.

On average, people squander forty days annually compensating for things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we too often forget: In every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

"If you want to understand how we remember, and how we can all learn to remember better, then read this book.”--Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist

Moonwalking with Einstein draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of memory, and venerable tricks of the mentalist's trade to transform our understanding of human remembering. Under the tutelage of top "mental athletes," he learns ancient techniques once employed by Cicero to memorize his speeches and by medieval scholars to memorize entire books. Using methods that have been largely forgotten, Foer discovers that we can all dramatically improve our memories.

“You have to love a writer who employs chick-sexing to help explain human memory. Foer is a charmer, a crackling mind, a fresh wind. He approaches a complex topic with so much humanity, humor, and originality that you don’t realize how much you’re taking in and understanding. It’s kind of miraculous.”--Mary Roach, author of Stiff, Bonk, and Packing for Mars

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E

Stay Tuned

2011-03-16T10:58:00.000-05:00

If you missed Tea Obreht reading from The Tiger's Wife on Monday--or just want to relive the evening--you can watch it on M&Q's brand new YouTube channel. Parts one and two are up; look for the thirds and fourth installments later today.--David E

Yellow Tiger

2011-03-12T13:02:00.000-06:00

Covers often vary widely in the US and UK markets. What works in one country doesn't always work in the other. But the two covers for The Tiger's Wife could hardly be more different. While the US cover is dark and dare I say moody, the UK model is bright and sunny. Same book inside. Go figure.--David E

Vote Early and Often

2011-03-11T15:32:00.002-06:00

City Pages is collecting votes for its 2011 "Best of the Twin Cities" issue. You can vote for Best Lake and Best Weatherman and... I don't know... Best Bookstore (New) and Best Bookstore (Used) and Best Bowling Alley. Did I mention Best Bookstore? I'm sure that's on the list somewhere. [Editor's note: See items #51 and #52.]

Anyhoo, it would really be super if you voted. I'm sure there's a weatherman out there who'd really appreciate your support.--David E

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright

2011-03-10T20:49:00.000-06:00

Can we pick them, or can we pick them? Hot on the heels of a rave review of Moonwalking with Einstein--whose author Joshua Foer will be reading at M&Q on March 24--New York Times has written a love letter to another author who will be reading at our store this month. In her review today, Michiko Kakutani calls Tea Obreht's debut novel The Tiger's Wife "a richly textured and searing novel." It's also "a hugely ambitious, audaciously written work."

The Tiger's Wife is on sale now. Tea Obreht will be at M&Q on Monday, March 14, at 7:30pm. Come early to be sure you get a seat. This one's going to be big.--David E

Try to Remember

2011-03-10T15:25:00.000-06:00

The New York Times reports on the first reading by Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein. Foer read last night at Brooklyn's Freenlight Bookstore. "Mr. Foer said that Wednesday’s reading was the first he had ever done. 'You get to see my schtick before it gets honed,' he told the audience."

The schtick is to bring audience members forward and lead them through the "memory palace" technique, which makes it easier to remember a list of arbitrary words. Says the Times, "Despite having to remember such vague words as grace and sesquipedalian, the audience remembered all seven words perfectly."

Try your luck when Joshua Foer comes to Magers & Quinn. Repeat after me, he'll be at Magers & Quinn... at 7:30pm... on Thursday, March 24. Write it down if you have to.--David E

Discover New Fiction

2011-03-10T09:32:00.000-06:00

Peter Grandbois reads from his novel Nahoonkara--Tuesday, March 15, at 7:30pm, at Magers & Quinn.

"Peter Grandbois is a splendid writer I intend to follow very closely.”--Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize Winning author of A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain

Set simultaneously in the farm country of Wisconsin and a small mining town in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado during the nineteenth century, Nahoonkara, the new novel by Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” and Border’s “Original Voices” author Peter Grandbois follows the lives of three brothers as each strives to re-create himself despite the forces that work to determine his identity. Though told from the point-of-view of many characters, the novel revolves around Killian, the oldest of the three, as he attempts to recapture a childhood as ephemeral as a dream. While Killian’s brother Henry strives to make the town prosperous and his brother Eli prays to maintain the town’s spiritual center, it becomes clear as the novel progresses that the center will not hold. Violence, lust, and greed tear at the fabric of the town until the only possibility for healing arrives in the form of a snowfall that lasts for three months, burying the town.

"Vividly drawn, exquisitely crafted, Nahoonkara bespeaks not just the promise of its author, but also his undeniable power."--Laird Hunt, author of Ray of the Star

Peter Grandbois is the author of The Gravedigger (2006), a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” and Borders “Original Voices” selection as well as the hybrid memoir, The Arsenic Lobster (2009). His essays and short fiction have appeared in magazines such as Boulevard, Narrative, Post Road, Gargoyle, Zone 3, Eleven Eleven, The Denver Quarterly, Word Riot, Pindeldyboz, and The Writer’s Chronicle, among others, and have been short listed for the Pushcart Prize. He serves as associate editor for Narrative magazine and is an assistant professor at Denison University in Ohio.

Details are here.--David E

Citizen Reviews: The Tiger's Wife

2011-03-09T16:00:00.004-06:00

We continue our occasional series of customer reviews with Ben Paulson's impressions of the debut novelist from the youngest author on last year's "20 under 40" list from The New Yorker.

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

It's difficult to find a synonym for the word nice that doesn't sound in some way backhanded. The term itself is probably exactly what I'm looking for, but it carries with it a certain patronizing air, perhaps an unspoken accusation of quaintness and, if nothing else, it suggests a definite lack of effusion. Nonetheless, it seems the pitch perfect word to describe Téa Obreht's debut novel, The Tiger's Wife, because its restraint aptly reflects that of Obreht's writing. You see, The Tiger's Wife may be wonderfully composed, confidently coy, and, at times, entrancing. But effusive it is not.

In The Tiger's Wife, Obreht offers us the story of Natalia, a young doctor from a war-eroded Balkan country, travelling across a neighboring border to deliver medical aid to an orphanage. En route, she learns that her beloved grandfather has died in a clinic inexplicably far from their home. The novel that unfolds is Natalia's quest to understand the mysteries surrounding his death. This investigation begins literally but, over time, it shifts into something slightly more existential, as Natalia begins to examine and retell the stories that her grandfather has passed on to her. The first of these stories describes an escaped tiger that haunted the pastoral village of his childhood. The second recurrent tale is of the "deathless man," an unwillingly immortal man whose life intersects her grandfather's from time to time. It's this strange mix of traumatic reality and magical realism that gives The Tiger's Wife its strength. Obreht embeds this ethereal world of mythology into a contemporary backdrop of conflict and loss. She does so with such unflinching simplicity and deliberate pacing that the novel's oscillations between dreamlike folklore and lyrical truth quickly blur into a charming and surreal meditation on the nature of mourning and mortality; on truth and myth; on the nature of storytelling itself.

In The Tiger's Wife, Téa Obreht has given us an eloquent novel that is as charming as it is quietly confident. Delving into the patchwork narrative of this novel is a pleasure, and the world of The Tiger's Wife, is at once strange, captivating and resonant. Which brings me back to my point: The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht may be a nice book; but it is a really, really nice book. Please pick up this novel and read it. Do something nice for yourself.

Ben Paulson lives in St. Paul, where he obsesses about books, zombies and breakfasts.

Inner Beauty

2011-03-09T11:22:00.001-06:00

"Book surgeon" Brian Dettmer operates on old books--bending the, removing portions, and ultimately exposing their inner workings. He adds nothing.

See more of Dettmer's work here.--David E

Is Joshua Foer the New George Plimpton?

2011-03-09T11:08:00.000-06:00

The hard-to-please Michiko Kakutani might just have a crush on Joshua Foer. How else to explain her fullsome praise for the young author? To wit, "Joshua Foer tackles the subject of memory the way George Plimpton tackled pro football and boxing." And "His narrative is smart and funny and, like the work of Dr. Oliver Sacks, it’s informed by a humanism that enables its author to place the mysteries of the brain within a larger philosophical and cultural context."

Those are heady comparisons for Mr Foer, and the New York Times is hardly alone in its plaudits. The Washington Post called the book "passionate and deeply engrossing." The Seattle Times said it's a "inspired and well-written debut book about not just memorization, but about what it means to be educated and the best way to become so, about expertise in general, and about the not-so-hidden "secrets" of acquiring skills."

Joshua Foer will be at M&Q to read from Moonwalking with Einstein on Thursday, March 24, at 7:30pm. Details are here.--David E

Catch A Rising Star

2011-03-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

The youngest author on last year's "20 Under 40" list from The New Yorker comes to Minneapolis. Tea Obreht reads from her much-anticipated first novel The Tiger's Wife, at 7:30pm, Monday, March 14, at Magers & Quinn.

“Téa Obreht is the most thrilling literary discovery in years.”--Colum McCann

“A marvel of beauty and imagination. Téa Obreht is a tremendously talented writer.”--Ann Patchett

The Tiger's Wife begins in a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, when Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel.

“A novel of surpassing beauty, exquisitely wrought and magical. Téa Obreht is a towering new talent.”--T. C. Boyle

Téa Obreht was born in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia in 1985 and has lived in the United States since the age of twelve. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and The Guardian, and has been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. She was named by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best American fiction writers under forty and included in the National Book Foundation’s list of 5 Under 35. She lives in New York.

Details on all the events at M&Q are here.--David E

Two Poets at M&Q

2011-03-05T12:49:00.000-06:00

Minneapolis' poetry scene is as vibrant as ever. Come hear for yourself when two local authors read from their new work--4:00pm, Sunday, March 13, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Sharon Chmielarz’s fifth collection poetry is a cornucopia of small, lyric poems on various topics, encompassing Chopin and Pushkin, dolphins and cows, zippers and gourds, bar scenes and garden scenes.

"In The Sky Is Great, The Sky Is Blue, Sharon Chmielarz is singularly herself with her sharp eye, her quick ear, and her knowledge that 'one becomes full by merely remembering.'”--Tim Nolan, author of The Sound of It

Dylan Garcia-Wahl's poetry weds romanticism with a thoroughly modern sensibility. In Becoming, the poet travels from jazz bars to the Ganges, from the Boundary Waters to the boudoir, subtly tracing the outlines of the human condition.

"Dylan Garcia-Wahl's Becoming lingers with a reader, worldly, sparse and nuanced."--Bryan Thao Worra Details are here.--David E