August 2006 - Vol 1, Issue 3
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Once again, Magers & Quinn brings you the latest news from the world of independent bookselling. From the best new fiction to the coolest readings, you'll hear it here first.

You can always find the latest news on our website www.magersandquinn.com. Check our current inventory, order a book, or learn about our upcoming events. Check us out today!

Japan's most popular contemporary author has a new book in English. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a collection of twenty-four short stories from the past thirty years of Murakami's career.

To read Haruki Murakami is to enter a modern world that is like the one we already know, but just a bit off. It's a slower, quieter world, for one thing. It's a place where people simmer rather than boil over, and revelations enter silently. And sometimes cats talk to you, and hotels turn out to be gateways to other lands. But if the books are at times fantastic and surreal, Murakami's recurring themes--human connection and its failings, self-discovery and discarded innocence, the sting of life's progress--are regular and true.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a brilliant blend of surprise and delight. If you're new to Murakami's work, you can find no better introduction than the story "The Year of Spaghetti." Five quick pages show us failed romance in less time than it takes to boil water: "Like a lonely, jilted girl throwing old love letters into the fireplace, I tossed one handful of spaghetti after another into the pot."

If you're already a Murakami fan, this collection of twenty-four short stories written over the past thirty years reminds you why you can't forget his ideas. Many of the author's recurring images are there: ominous corridors, zoos, secret forests, cats. Still, even the most familiar situation is more than it first appears, and the shock and awe of discovery here are as great as in any of Murakami's novels.

The twenty-four stories in this collection span Murakami's entire career. The author's introduction helps readers sort out when each story was written (Murakami writes his short fiction between his longer works) and even points out a few stories which have been incorporated into later novels. It's a great behind-the-scenes glimpse for longtime fans and new readers alike.

It doesn't matter if his subject is a hurricane or a hat; Murakami finds new sights everywhere. These are not the memoirs of a geisha. These are the stories of the world we live in every day, whether we can see it or not.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman will be available for sale on September 1. Pre-order your copy at Magers & Quinn, where even the latest bestsellers are always discounted.
Why would a cow lick a tractor? Why are collies getting dumber? Why do dolphins sometimes kill for fun? How can a parrot learn to spell? How did wolves teach man to evolve? Temple Grandin, author of (Emergence, Thinking in Pictures and Animals in Translation, addressed these questions in a recent appearance at Magers & Quinn. She drew upon a long, distinguished career as an animal scientist and her own experiences with autism to deliver an extraordinary message about how animals act, think, and feel. Her perspective is like that of no other expert in the field, and her appearance at our store was a great evening of fun and science.

Magers & Quinn is more than a bookstore. We're also one of the best places in the Twin Cities to see your favorite authors live and in person. Hear them discuss their work and their working methods. Ask the questions you've been dying to ask. Meet your fellow book lovers.

Our website always has the most up-to-date information about our events.
It's been a busy summer at Magers & Quinn. We've put in new shelves, expanded our new fiction and travel sections, and begun selling the StarTribune and New York Review of Books. And we've thrown open the door to host events every week. Magers & Quinn is one of the best places in town for author readings and other book-related events.

Among the summer's events so far, we've hosted the bus that travels around the country taping author events and interviewing authors for BookTV, 48 consecutive hours of book shows on C-Span2. Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson taped a segment on the bus and the public toured the bus and got a glimpse behind the scenes.

And we've brought you local authors including Ann Bauer (Wild Ride Up The Cupboard) and poet Ray Gonzales (Consideration of the Guitar).

Coming up this month, Magers & Quinn is hosting an event as part of this year's No Direction Home: Deja Du scooter rally from August 11th to 13th is expected to be even larger. As the finale of the rally, the scooter gang will descend on Magers & Quinn bookstore to celebrate the publication of two new scooter books: The Scooter Bible and Scooters Everything You Need to Know by local authors Michael and Eric Dregni.

Coming up in the next few months, you can hear from Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Bait and Switch and Nickel and Dimed) and meet the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor and graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis and the forthcoming Chicken and Plums). Or hear tales of the Cities' underbelly when local authors read from the collection Twin Cities Noir. Whatever your interest, there's an event you'll like coming up soon. Check our website for the most current information and join us soon.

Magers & Quinn is more than just books. We're one of the best places in town for bookish fun. Stop in today.
Books are good, but they won't jump up and lick your face when you get home. For that you need a dog. And for all the information you need to keep your dog purring like a kitten, Magers & Quinn has got your book.


Stop in the next time you and your dog are out walking around Uptown. They're welcome in the store, too.
If you haven't heard about Relentless Aaron, sit back and prepare to have your heart warmed. Don't worry, Aaron's story doesn't involve angels or orphans. But it's inspirational nonetheless

While Dewitt Gilmore was in prison for check fraud, he began to write. Following the dictum to "write what you know," he penned over thirty stories of life on the mean streets.

After his release, Aaron began his second career: selling his books. He sold them on the bus to the prison to family members making visits. He got in his car and sold them at every opportunity. He got out there and sold and sold and sold some more. He set up a website, and he sold his books, um relentlessly.

Then it happened. Relentless Aaron announced a four-book deal with St. Martin's Press. His first book from the deal, Extra Marital Affairs, comes out September 5.

We're not suggesting that you kite checks to find your muse, but surely there's a little lesson here for all us struggling writers: Get out there and find your audience. If you can do that, the publishing world will find you.
You may not be heading back to school come Labor Day, but that's no excuse for letting your mind rot. There are millions of great nonfiction books out there. Stop in today and browse our store from African History to Zoology. Or try one of these great new titles.

The bestselling Collapse is now available in paperback. Jared Diamond surveys cultures ranging from Easter Island to present-day Washington state to answer the question "Why do societies fail?" His answers are provocative and thought-provoking.

Now that you've finished An Inconvenient Truth (or just seen the movie), we'd like to point out that Australian scientist and conservationist Tim Flannery has a new book. The Weather Makers : How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth gathers the current scientific thinking on global warming. Though originally a skeptic, Flannery has become one of the clearest voices on this challenge, and his suggestions for future action are both specific and accessible. It's an unlikely choice for the summer, I'll grant you, but it's too important a topic to ignore, and Flannery is a great writer. (Check out Throwim Way Leg, his story of working as a botanist among the last remaining cannibals of New Guinea, and see what we mean.)

Philip Gourevitch's chilling story of the genocide in Rwanda, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families is now available in paperback. This gripping account is the Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and deserves a place on everyone's reading list.
The next meeting of Books and Bars will be held at Green Mill Pizza at 2626 Hennepin Ave S in Uptown. The event will be on the lower level, so go to the back and down the stairs.

This month's book is Confessions of a Memory Eater. It's the story of a man who agrees to test a drug that allows him to live inside his memories and lose himself in the best moments of the past.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide an atmosphere for lively discussion of lesser known authors, good food and drinks. You're welcome to join us even if you haven't read the book.

September's event will be held at the Bryant Lake Bowl, as usual.

There's always something new at Magers & Quinn. Stop in today or check our inventory on our website any time.

We'll be back next month with more book news.

Stay cool,
David Enyeart
Magers and Quinn Booksellers

Call us: 612/822-4611
Or visit our website: http://www.magersandquinn.com
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