February 2009 - Vol 3, Issue 8
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It's February, the shortest month of the year, yet still packed with holidays. There's Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents' Day.

Here at Magers & Quinn, we're also celebrating music with a sale and some great events. Come in soon and feel the love.

Whether you're just starting out down the path to true love or have just celebrated your silver anniversary, we've got the book for you. Our relationship section is crammed with helpful hints for lovers of every stripe.

The Secret Language of Love
New
M&Q Price$4.99
Publisher's price: $8.95
Ninety-Nine Names of Love
New
M&Q Price: $6.99
Publisher's price: $12.95

The Dating Repair Kit
New
M&Q Price$7.99
Publisher's price: $14.95
You Know He's a Keeper...
You Know He's a Loser
Near New
M&Q Price: $6.99
Publisher's price: $12.95

The Bastard on the Couch
Near New
M&Q Price$6.99
Publisher's price: $13.95
QuirkyAlone
Near New
M&Q Price: $6.99
Publisher's price: $13.95

It was a big year for books-turned-movies at this year's announcement of the Oscar nominees. Four adaptations were among the various lists.

In the store: $14.35
Online: $11.21 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.95
The movie based on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was nominated for best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actress, and best adapted screenplay. It received thirteen nominations in all, more than any other film this year.

Fitzgerald's short story first appeared in Colliers magazine in 1921 and was later collected in Tales of the Jazz Age. The original Benjamin was born in 1860. For the movie, the story was updated; Brad Pitt's Benjamin was born in 1918.

In the store: $13.50
Online: $11.25 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.00
Slumdog Millionaire, based upon Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A, was nominated for best picture, best director, and best adapted screenplay. In total, the film earned ten nominations.

Vikas Swarup's novel was made into both a radio play and a stage musical before becoming a movie sensation. It's the story of an Indian "slum rat" who manages to succeed at the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

In the store: $12.55
Online: $10.46 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $13.95
The movie The Reader, based on Bernhard Schlink's novel of the same title, is up for best picture, best director, best actress, and best adapted screenplay.

Bernhard Schlink was best known for his detective novels before he published The Reader in 1995. It was the first German novel to top the New York Times bestseller list. Playwright David Hare adapted Schlink's novel for the screen.

In the store: $7.25
Online: $6.39 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $7.99
Revolutionary Road, adapted from the novel by Richard Yates, was nominated for best supporting actor, best art direction and best costume design.

Yates' novel was well recieved when it was published in 1962. William Styron called it "a deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic." Kurt Vonnegut said it was "the Great Gatsby of my time." Yet the novel fell into relative obscurity until this year.
February 12 is the anniversary of the birthdays of two great men--Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. To celebrate, our entire stock of books on presidents and books on things scientific will be 20% off.

No coupon is required. Just stop in and browse our selection.
Yeah, Pride and Prejudice is a classic romance, but wouldn't her work be even better with a few zombies thrown in? Seth Graeme-Smith thought so, and the result is his new novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance -- Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

From the publisher's blurb: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead."

P&P&Z will be available April 15.
As far back as 2003, Magers & Quinn was recognized as a good place to meet eligible singles by the City Pages. It's just as true today, whether you're browsing the shelves or chatting up audience members at a reading. So come in and find true love--or at least a good book.

February's Events
Visit our events page

for full details.


Feb 2 Local poets John Krumberger and Diane Jarvenpa read from their work, 7:30pm

Feb 3 Elissa Elliot (Eve) 7:30pm

Feb 3 The Loft Presents: Kathleen Jesme (The Plum-Stone Game)--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 5 Daniel Lancaster (John Beargrease: Legend of Minnesota's North Shore) 7:30pm

Feb 6 The Loft Presents: Honor Moore (The Bishop's Daughter), with Scott Bloom and Rodney Nelsestuen--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 8 Vicky Lansky (101 Ways To Tell Your Sweetheart "I Love You" and 101 Ways To Tell Your Child "I Love You") 2:00pm

Feb 9 The Loft Presents: Kyle Minor (In the Devil's Territory), Kathleen Rooney (Live Nude Girl), and Rebecca Kanner--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 10 BOOKS & BARS discusses The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff--Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake St, Minneapolis, doors open at 6:00pm, discussion begins at 7:00pm

Feb 10 The Loft Presents: "Raking Through Books" Fourth Annual Literary Love Fest, Kieran's Irish Pub, 330 Second Ave S, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 15 Peter Eichstaedt (First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army) 6:00pm

Feb 16 Don Warner (Walks on the Beach with Angie) 7:30pm

Feb 18 The Loft Presents: "Pinocchio: Civilizing and Tormenting Boys through the Fairy Tale: --The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 20 The Loft Presents: Sheila O'Connor (Where No Gods Came), with Amy Bethke and Emily Bright--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 21 The Loft Presents: Marisha Chamberlain (The Rose Variations)--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 24 BIG BANG BOOK CLUB discusses The Other Side of Desire: Four Journeys into the Far Realms of Lust and Longing) by Daniel Bergner--Grumpy's Bar & Grill, 1111 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 24 TALKING VOLUMES: Michael Greenberg (Hurry Down Sunshine)--Fitzgerald Theatre, 10 Exchange St, St Paul, $18.00-24.00, 7:00pm

Feb 24 The Loft Presents: Kim Ki-Taek and Jennifer Kwon Dobbs (Contemporary Korean Poetry through Translation and Diaspora)--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 21 The Loft Presents: Marisha Chamberlain (The Rose Variations)--The Loft Literary Center at Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Minneapolis, 7:00pm

Feb 26 Charles Baxter (The Soul Thief) 7:30pm
Sunday, February 8, 2:00pm--Celebrate Valentine's Day early with author and publisher Vicky Lansky as she signs copies of two books about love: 101 Ways To Tell Your Sweetheart "I Love You" and 101 Ways To Tell Your Child "I Love You"

Online: $6.71 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $8.95
101 Ways To Tell Your Child "I Love You"--This endearing collection offers a wealth of ideas to remind children they are loved. There is an illustrated idea per page. It is easy to use and can be implemented with little prep or expense. And there are blank love coupons included.

101 Ways To Tell Your Sweetheart "I Love You"--Whether you are romantically-challenged or not, here are ideas that will make a difference in your life. Be it a simple walk in the moonlight or leaving a love note under a pillow, here are suggestions that will charm and delight. Plus fill-in love coupons.
  • Write a check to your love for a million dollars (or some obviously un-cashable amount) as a token of your affection.
  • Add a dimmer to your bedroom light switch.
  • Hold hands. Hold hands when walking or talking. Over the dinner table or under it. In a movie. Even at a sporting event. Holding hands is good.
  • Whisper loving words in your love's ear even if no one is around. It makes for a very intimate moment.

Tuesday, February 10, 5:00pm-- The Loft Presents: Raking Through Books Happy Hour Book Club's Fourth Annual Literary Love Fest

Local literati present their takes on love, hate, bittersweet meetings and partings, rants about family, or whatever moves their hearts around Valentine's Day. Readers include: Antay Bilgutay, Jill Breckenridge, Carol Connolly, Pat Dennis, Lorena Duarte, Ann Rosenquist Fee, Cindra Halm, Phebe Hanson, Margaret Hasse, Neal Karlen, Lorna Landvik, Jim Lenfestey, Ardie Medina, Tim Nolan, P.A. Pashibin, Lynette Reini-Grandell, Faith Sullivan, and Katrina Vandenberg.

Raking Through Books takes place on the second Tuesday of the month and offers readers and writers the chance to discuss literature in a casual pub setting. Each Raking Through Books includes free appetizers and a cash bar.

Cosponsored by the Loft, Secrets of the City (formerly the Rake), University of Minnesota Bookstore, KFAI Radio, and Kieran's Irish Pub.

Thursday, February 26, 7:30pm--Charles Baxter reads from the paperback of his recent book The Soul Thief

In the store: $17.99
Online: $15.00 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $20.00
During Nathaniel Mason's first few months as a graduate student in upstate New York, he is drawn into a tangle of relationships with people who seem to hover just beyond his grasp. There's Theresa, alluring but elusive, and Jamie, who is fickle if not wholly unavailable. But Jerome Coolberg is the most mysterious and compelling. Not only cryptic about himself, he seems to have appropriated parts of Nathaniel's past that Nathaniel cannot remember having told him about. It is Jerome who seems to trigger the events that precipitate Nathaniel's total breakdown, and Jerome who shows up 30 years later--Nathaniel having finally reconstituted his life--to suggest, with the most staggering consequences, that Nathaniel's identity may in fact not be his own.

In The Soul Thief, Charles Baxter has given us one of his most beautifully wrought and unexpected works of fiction: at once lyrical and eerie, acutely observant in its sensual and emotional detail and audaciously metaphysical in its underpinnings. It is a brilliant novel--one that is certain to expand both his already-stellar reputation and his readership.


More information on these and all our upcoming events can be found on our events page.
Join us for the inaugural meeting of the the Big Bang Book Club. We're kicking it off with a hot title, one that's sure to stir some lively conversation even on a cold night.

In the store: $22.49
Online: $18.74 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $24.99
The BBBC's first meeting will be Tuesday, February 24 at 7:00pm, at Grumpy's (1111 Washington Av. S., Minneapolis) to talk about The Other Side of Desire: Four Journeys into the Far Realms of Lust and Longing. Author Daniel Bergner uses four case studies to explore the variety of sexual experience. The New York Times said, "The book is not written in clinical Krafft-Ebingese, but neither is it leering or salacious. The portraits are serious and even sympathetic, and their cumulative effect is to make readers realize that they understand a lot less about sex than they thought."

The Big Bang Book Club will meet on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Check out our events page for details on future meetings.
Enter the Water for Elephants Sweepstakes, sponsored by PARADE Magazine, for a chance to win an exciting trip for you and your book club (max. 5 members). You could be whisked off to a mountain getaway weekend in Asheville, North Carolina where you'll meet and dine with author Sara Gruen. The prize includes two nights lodging at the luxurious Inn on Biltmore Estate, round-trip airfare to Asheville, dinner with the author, signed copies of Water for Elephants, and a tour of Biltmore Estate! The sweepstakes begins today and ends on March 6, 2009. See official rules and enter today at www.parade.com/elephants.
The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday, February 10. Books & Bars meets at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake Street, in Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:00pm; the discussion begins at 7:00pm.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.21 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $
February's book is The Monsters of Templeton. Lauren Groff's novel brings the characters of James Fenimore Cooper into her modern-day family saga. Stephen King singled the novel out for praise, saying, "The sense of sadness I feel at the approaching end of The Monsters of Templeton isn't just because the story's going to be over; when you read a good one - and this is a very good one - those feelings are deepened by the realization that you probably won't tie into anything that much fun again for a long time." (The full review is here.)

Want a peek? You can read the first chapter here.

Books & Bars is not your typical book club. We provide a unique atmosphere for a lively discussion of interesting authors, fun people, good food and drinks. You're welcome even if you haven't read the book.

Visit booksandbars.com for details and to talk to fellow members!

PS: We still have a few Books and Bars tshirts available. Stop by the store to get yours.

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.

Until then,
David Enyeart
Magers and Quinn Booksellers

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