May 2009 - Vol 3, Issue 11
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Spring at last, and Magers & Quinn is overflowing with a bounty of good books. Here's just a small sampling of what's waiting for you at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Come in soon to see the full selection.

Two months ago, I asked for M&Q customers who would review books for us. I got a great response--so much so that I fell behind in posting the reviews. My apologies to those of you whose fine work is still in the hopper; I have not forgotten. This month, April Nelson discusses Daniel Goleman's latest book. Goleman's previous book Emotional Intelligence showed that smart is more than IQ. His latest book aims to teach us all to be smarter consumers, too.

Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything
In the store: $23.35
Online: $19.50 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $26.00
My consumer's dilemma has to do with attempting to make ecologically responsible decisions in my day-to-day life, but not always having easy access to the information necessary. What Daniel Goleman proposes to combat this dilemma, in his book Ecological Intelligence, is the idea of radical transparency. Radical transparency, as Goleman defines the term, is "tracking every substantial impact of an item from manufacture to disposal-not just its carbon footprint and other environmental costs, but its biological risks, as well as its consequences for those who labored to make it-and summarizing those impacts for shoppers as they are deciding what to purchase."

While I was reading, thoughts kept bubbling up in the back of my mind about the pair of Nike workout pants I'd recently purchased and their questionable stigma. A few passing mentions in the book suggest that Nike has done a lot to improve their social impact. It would have been great if, when I was shopping for workout pants, I had been able to tell quickly each company's environmental, biological and social impacts. Goleman gives inspiring examples of retailers that have already taken it upon themselves to provide these services to their customers and innovative concerned citizens that have created databases providing easily accessible information to consumers.

I have always thought that if manufacturers were to change their ways (i.e., their manufacturing methods or the chemicals they use in their products), the change would have to come about through government regulations. I was very excited to read Goleman's support of the idea that our power as consumers, including business-to-business consumers, is considerable. The bottom line of this book is that businesses are prepared to cater to consumers' desires, whether they are centered around ecological responsibility or saving money. The inspiring thing: the two do not seem to be mutually exclusive.
By day, April Nelson is an attorney's sidekick. By night, she is a Minneapolis-dwelling, voraciously-reading, dog-loving, eagerly-bicycling student pursuing a biology degree.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.25 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.00
Also Available Now: The paperback version of Michael Pollan's runaway hit In Defense of Food is out to help you shop right at the grocery store. Pollan's credo--"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."--is just the beginning. The Washington Post said, "[W]hat makes Pollan's latest so engrossing is his tone: curious and patient as he explains the flaws in epidemiological studies that have buttressed nutritionism for 30 years, and entirely without condescension as he offers those prescriptions Americans so desperately crave."

This fascinating book will help you understand what's really on your plate. You'll be a much better shopper when you're done reading it.
In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.25 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.00
The long-awaited paperback edition of Jumpa Lahiri's book Unaccustomed Earth comes out this month. The collection of short stories garnered rave reviews when it came out in hardcover--including a place on the New York Times' "The 10 Best Books of 2008" list.

Michiko Kakutani wrote, "Ms. Lahiri possesses the elegiac and haunting power of tragedy-a testament to her emotional wisdom and consummate artistry as a writer." The Chicago Tribune said, "Lahiri is a genius of the miniature stroke and the great arc."

You can read an excerpt from the book here.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.21 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.95
The Prince of Frogtown, the third volume of Rick Bragg's memoirs, following up on All over but the Shoutin' and Ava's Man, is available now in paperback.

Bragg's latest book takes as its subject his father, who did not figure in the preceding memoirs. "I sawed my family tree off at the fork," Bragg has said , "and made myself a man with half a history." The Prince of Frogtown completes Bragg's family portrait.

See for yourself. You can read the first chapter here.

In the store: $12.55
Online: $10.50 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.00
Available May 5
Book clubs, rejoice! The paperback edition of Mary Ann Schaffer's bestseller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society goes on sale this month. The novel-in-letters tells the story of the British inhabitants of Guernsey--which was occupied for five years by the Germans during WWII--and how they found strength and courage in literature. The hardcover was on a slew of critics' "Best of 2008" lists.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.24 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.99
Louise Erdrich's novel Plague of Doves is on a roll. It was nominated for the Pullitzer Prizer and recently won the Minnesota Book Award for fiction. And that's after all the rave reviews from the critics. Even Michio Kakutani, writing in the New York Times, loved it: "Writing in prose that combines the magical sleight of hand of Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez with the earthy, American rhythms of Faulkner, ... she has written what is arguably her most ambitious - and in many ways, her most deeply affecting - work yet."

In the store: $15.25
Online: $12.71 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $16.95
Available May 5
Steve Horowitz and Julie Schaper--the editing duo behind Twin Cities Noir--are back with another exciting compliation. Their new book Amplified brings together fifteen short stories by contemporary songwriters, including Mary Gauthier, Chris Smither, Maria McKee, Patty Larkin, Jim White and Rennie Sparks. Publishers Weekly tells how it all started. "According to Horwitz, he and Schaper conceived of the project while listening to a Maria McKee album. "I asked Julie, what would happen if [McKee] tried to write a short story," Horwitz said, explaining that he and Schaper subsequently approached some contributors at concerts, others directly through e-mail, and others via management. "Mary Gauthier said, 'I've never written dialogue before,' Horwitz recalled. "I said, 'Oh yes, you have.'"

Call us anytime at 612/822-4611. We'll be happy to check our stock and set aside a copy of any book for you to pick up later.
Magers & Quinn Booksellers is pleased to be one of only three stores in the mid-west participating in Taschen's upcoming Warehouse Sale. We have hundreds of books on sale from one of the world's premier art publishers. Browse beautiful, fully-illustrated art, photography, and design books--all at substantial discounts.

The Taschen Warehouse Sale runs through May 5 or until these great books are gone. Don't miss out.
If you're looking for a good novel or an interesting memoir, we've got a few suggestions for you.

In the store: $23.35
Online: $19.49 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $25.99
I've been looking forward to Coop by Michael Perry for a while now. His earlier books, Off Main Street, Truck, and my favorite Population 485, are charming of his life in rural western Wisconsin. Perry is a witty and perceptive observer of human foibles--his own as well as his neighbors'. In Coop, he also turns his attentions to his stock. I learned for example, that pigs will eat people, given a chance. "Yes, they're omnivorous, and that includes you," Perry says. "It's nothing personal; the pig's just hungry. And to be fair to the pig, I don't know why we're shocked about them eating us when many of us quite happily eat them."

You can learn much, much more when Perry reads at the University of Minnesota Bookstore on May 4.


In the store: $23.35
Online: $19.49 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $25.99
Paulo Coehlo's twelve novels have sold 150 million copies around the world. Now the author The Alchemist is back with a new novel. In The Winner Stands Alone Coelho looks for spirituality and meaning in a very unlikely place: the Cannes Film Festival. "I wrote it in February last year, before this [financial] collapse. We have lost contact with reality, the simplicity of life. This book is about how we complicate our lives and how our dreams are manipulated," Coehlo told The Guardian.

In the store: $12.55
Online: $10.46 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $13.95
Jeanette Winterson doesn't write everyday novels, but her previous books--including Lighthousekeeping and her most famous novel Oranges are Not the Only Fruit--have won her critical acclaim and a cult following. In her latest novel The Stone Gods she goes in another unexpected direction. The Boston Globe described it as "Part apocalyptic sci-fi adventure, part love story, part polemical essay, "The Stone Gods" gives us three different, but painfully similar, scenarios that evoke the idea of repeating world." It was also nominated for the The Arthur C Clarke Award, the UK's top prize for science fiction.
In the store: $22.45
Online: $18.71 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price:24.95 $24.95
Available May 5
Pygmy, the newest novel from cult author Chuck Palahniuk will be released May 5. The publisher's blurb calls it "The Manchurian Candidate meets South Park." The story follows a group of foreign exchange students from an unnamed totalitarian country who are sent to the United States. Their leader Pygmy records his impressions of the US--and he doesn't like what he sees. Pygmy is a sharp social satire from one of the most interesting authors writing today.


The posters for Chuck's upcoming reading tour were designed by Minneapolis' own David Dwitt. You can still buy one for only $20.00 here. Dwitt is also one of eight local poster artists who will be showing and selling their work at Magers & Quinn on June 14. We'll have more details in next month's newsletter, or you can visit our events page for information right now.

Pygmy will be released May 5.
May is bursting with great events. Here's our schedule, we hope you can attend one of these readings. You won't be disappointed.

May's Events
Visit our events page

for full details.


May 3 Steve Vander Ark (The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials) 5:00pm

May 7 TALK OF THE STACKS: David Rhodes reads from Driftless--7:00 pm at the Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

May 7 Dr. Steven Miles (Oath Betrayed: America's Torture Doctors) 7:30pm

May 8 Rakesh Satyal (Blue Boy) 7:30pm

May 9 Mei-Ling Hopgood (Lucky Girl) 3:00pm at Children's Home Society, 1605 Eustis St., St. Paul

May 12 BOOKS & BARS discusses Bonk by Mary Roach--Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake St, Minneapolis, doors open at 6:00pm, discussion begins at 7:00pm

May 13 David Bollier (Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own) 7:30pm

May 14 Jeff Forester (Forest for the Trees) 7:30pm

May 19 Dean Hulse (Westhope: Life as a Former Farmer Boy) 7:30pm

May 21 TALK OF THE STACKS: Arthur Phillips reads from The Song Is You--7:00 pm at the Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

May 24 Philip S. Bryant (Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: A Jazz Memoir In Verse) 6:00pm

May 26 BIG BANG BOOK CLUB discusses Rock Paper Scissors by Len Fisher--7:00pm at Grumpy's Bar & Grill, 1111 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis

May 27 Andrew Bacevich (The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism) 7:00pm at St Joan of Arc Church, 4537 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis

May 29 Tim Hodapp (Itty Bitty Kitty Ditties) 7:30pm

June 4 Tom Standage (An Edible History of Humanity) 7:30pm

All events are at Magers & Quinn unless noted otherwise.
Sunday, May 3, 5:00pm--Steve Vander Ark discusses his highly litigated book, The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials

In the store: $24.95
Online: $18.71 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $24.95
The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials, an unauthorized guide to the popular series by author J.K. Rowling, is a 400-page companion work perfect for the curious reader who wants to know more about these remarkable books. Extensive new commentary, which does not appear on Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon website (www.hp-lexicon.org) adds to the fun of reading this reference work.

Thursday, May 14, 7:30pm--Jeff Forester discusses his book The Forest for the Trees

In the store: $17.99
Online: $14.96 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $19.95
Author Jeff Forester describes how humans have occupied and managed the northern borderlands of Minnesota, from tribal burning to pioneer and industrial logging to evolving conceptions of wilderness and restoration forestry. On the surface a story of Minnesota's borderlands, The Forest for the Trees more broadly explores the nation's history of resource extraction and wilderness preservation, casting forward to consider what today's actions may mean for the future of America's forests.

"A meticulously researched and richly detailed history of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This is a book that can and should be embraced by conservationists, members of the timber industry, backpackers, hunters, and anyone who has hiked through a stand of timber, looked up through the sun-streaked canopy, and felt a giddy, primeval sense of wonder that only a still-wild forest can provoke."--David Weddle, author of Among the Mansions of Eden

Wednesday, May 27, 7:00pm at St. Joan of Arc Church, 4537 3rd Avenue South, Minneapolis --Andrew Bacevich discusses The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

In the store: $14.00
Online: $10.50 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.00
From an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer comes a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problems.

The Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; U.S. involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.

Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America's urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.

Friday, May 29, 7:30pm--Tim Hodapp reads and shows artwork from Itty Bitty Kitty Ditties

In the store: $8.95
Online: $7.46 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $9.95
People who like cats will love Itty Bitty Kitty Ditties, a treasury of felines from A to Z in quirky pen-and-ink illustrations and short, witty poems. Reminiscent of T. S. Eliot's Practical Cats and Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies, Itty Bitty Kitty Ditties has the makings of a brand new classic in its own right. The collection is an absolutely charming celebration of fat cats, curious cats, clever cats, vain cats, scaredy cats, boozy cats, and proud cats for the more discerning cat fancier.

Writer Tim Hodapp has been a teacher, priest, ad copywriter, usability expert, and marketing and communications strategist. He currently helps companies with corporate identity and print and web-based ad campaigns. He lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Information on all our readings is always on our events page. Check it out any time.

A scholar at Oxford University's Bodleian Library has uncovered the oldest known dustjacket. The cover had become separated from its book--Friendship's Offering for 1830 (Smith, Elder, & Co., 1829). I would have thought there were older dustjackets in existence, but apparently not.

Thanks to Wessel & Lieberman for the tip. You can always find news from the world of books on the Magers & Quinn blog.
The deadline for submitting your poetry or flash fiction (under 300 words) to Magers & Quinn and mnartist.org's mnLIT competitions has been extended to May 15.

Details on how to enter the contests are here.
The next meeting of the Twin Cities' most unusual and interesting book club is Tuesday, May 12. 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: $11.65
Online: $11.65 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $12.95
May's book is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance -- Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! This is 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."

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!

Magers & Quinn is the largest independent bookstore in the Twin Cities. Stop in today or check our inventory on our website any time.

We'll be back soon with all the latest books for April reading.

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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