March 2010 - Vol 4, Issue 8
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The days are getting longer. There's more time to curl up in the sunshine with a cup of tea and a good book. We've got some suggestions for you to enjoy the coming spring.

Here are just a few of the fine new books that will be available in March.

Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

In the store: $14.35
Online: $12.00 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $16.00
Available Now
Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country's political revolution. A girl's pain over family secrets; a young woman's discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval--these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again "reminds us of why we read in the first place" (Newsday). Things I've Been Silent About is, finally, a deeply personal reflection on women's choices, and on how Azar Nafisi found the inspiration for a different kind of life. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled country is a stunning new triumph from an author who is a modern master of the memoir.

The Shaking Woman or A History of My Nerves by Siri Hustved

In the store: $20.65
Online: $17.25 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $23.00
Available Now
While speaking at a memorial event for her father in 2006, Siri Hustvedt suffered a violent seizure from the neck down. Despite her flapping arms and shaking legs, she continued to speak clearly and was able to finish her speech. It was as if she had suddenly become two people: a calm orator and a shuddering wreck. Then the seizures happened again and again. The Shaking Woman tracks Hustvedt's search for a diagnosis. During her investigations, Hustvedt joins a discussion group in which neurologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and brain scientists trade ideas to develop a new field: neuropsychoanalysis. She volunteers as a writing teacher for psychiatric in-patients at the Payne Whitney clinic in New York City and unearths precedents in medical history that illuminate the origins of and shifts in our theories about the mind-body problem. In The Shaking Woman, Hustvedt synthesizes her experience and research into a compelling mystery: Who is the shaking woman?

The Field Guide to Fields: Hidden Treasures of Meadows, Prairies, and Pastures by the National Geographic Society

In the store: $23.40
Online: $19.49 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $25.99
Available March 16
Illustrated with 300 photographs and handsome linocut-style prints, the book explains how different landscapes, climates, and cultures produced a variety of field types, from the terraced rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the impenetrable hedgerows of Northwest Europe, each reflecting both ancient traditions and agricultural progress. We see how Old World methods were adapted to new environments like the American prairie, the Australian outback, the African veldt, and the Argentinean pampas. We trace the development of the implements we've devised to work our fields, from hand tools to modern tractors and mechanical harvesters. Detailed identification guides catalog a wealth of plant and animal life, and wide-ranging sidebars discuss everything from how to plow a field and sow seeds to how to plant a hedge, build a dry stone wall, and shear a sheep.

Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran by Roxana Saberi

In the store: $23.40
Online: $19.49 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $25.99
Available March 30
On the morning of January 31, 2009, Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist working in Iran, was forced from her home by four men and secretly detained in Iran's notorious Evin Prison. The intelligence agents who captured her accused her of espionage--a charge she denied. For several days, Saberi was held in solitary confinement, ruthlessly interrogated, and cut off from the outside world. For weeks, neither her family nor her friends knew her whereabouts.

After a sham trial that made headlines around the world, the thirty-one-year-old reporter was sentenced to eight years in prison. But following international pressure by family, friends, colleagues, various governments, and total strangers, she was released on appeal on May 11, 2009. Now Saberi breaks her silence to share the full account of her ordeal, describing in vivid detail the methods that Iranian hard-liners are using to try to intimidate and control many of the country's people. Between Two Worlds is also a deeply revealing account of this tumultuous country and the ongoing struggle for freedom that is being fought inside Evin Prison and on the streets of Iran. From her heartfelt perspective, Saberi offers a rich, dramatic, and illuminating portrait of Iran as it undergoes a striking, historic transformation.

Roxana Saberi was born in New Jersey and raised in Fargo, North Dakota. She has reported for ABC Radio, the BBC, Feature Story News, Fox News, NPR, and PRI. Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 and currently lives in North Dakota.

Pearl of China by Anchee Min

In the store: $21.60
Online: $18.00 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $24.00
Available March 30
In this ambitious and moving new novel, Anchee Min, acclaimed author of Empress Orchid and Red Azalea, brings to life a courageous and passionate woman who loved the country of her childhood and who has been hailed in China as a modern heroine. When the Boxer Rebellion rocks the nation, Pearl's family is forced to leave China to flee religious persecution. As the twentieth century unfolds in all its turmoil, through right-wing military coups and Mao's Red Revolution, through bad marriages and broken dreams, the Pearl clings to her love for the Middle Kingdom. Pearl will grow up to be Pearl S Buck, the Pulitzer- and Nobel Prize-winning writer and humanitarian activist.

Anchee Min will read from her new novel at the Central Library in downtown Minneapolis on April 29. Details are here.


These are just a few of the fantastic books coming to Magers & Quinn. Stop by to browse the full selection.
Magers & Quinn Booksellers is pleased to host a discussion about regional planning issues-- Thursday, March 11, at 7:30pm. Myron Orfield is the Executive Director of the Institute on Race & Poverty, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and an affiliate faculty member at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He has also served in both the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate. His latest book Region: Planning the Future of the Twin Cities (University of Minnesota Press, March 2010) looks at how we can create thriving integrated neighborhoods and job growth throughout the region. (Learn more about the book and read the introduction here.)

In the store: $35.99
Online: $29.96 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $39.95
Available Now
Region details the rapid demographic, commuting, and land use changes facing the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Orfield and Luce examine both the successes and shortcomings of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council's regional planning and policy. They thoroughly investigate the economic and political trends impacting Twin Cities residents' quality of life--including sprawl, population growth, economic and racial injustice, a lack of affordable housing, traffic congestion. Extensive maps, graphs, and charts accompany the authors' argument for careful, coordinated regional development in the Twin Cities and explanations about how such an approach should be a model for other regions around the United States.

This event will not only be book reading, it will also be a community forum, at which citizens and stakeholders alike can share views and discuss our common future. Myron Orfield will be joined by
  • Meg Tuthill. Meg Tuthill is the new Council Member for Ward 10.
  • Dave VanHattum, Transit for Livable Communities: Transit for Livable Communities is a nonprofit organization working to reform Minnesota's transportation system. Through advocacy, organizing, and research, they promote a balanced transportation system that encourages transit, walking, bicycling, and thoughtful development.
  • Jesse Mortenson, Metro IBA. MetroIBA is a non-profit organization working to support and preserve locally owned, independent businesses in the Twin Cities region. MetroIBA's mission is to help the Twin Cities maintain its unique community character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build economic strength, and create an environment where locally owned, independent businesses grow and flourish.
All are welcome at what is sure to be a fascinating and useful evening of conversation and education-- Thursday, March 11, at 7:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.
March's Events
Tuesday, March 9 Books & Bars discusses The White Tiger, 6:30pm, at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake St, Minneapolis

Thursday, March 11 Myron Orfield and Thomas Luce lead a panel discussion about Region: Planning the Future of the Twin Cities, 7:30pm

Monday, March 15 Jana Laiz reads from Weeping Under This Same Moon, 7:30pm

Friday, March 19 M&Q mnartists.org celebrate the launch of John Jodzio's If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now, 7:30pm

Tuesday, March 23 Books & Bars discusses City of Thieves, 6:30pm, at Bryant-Lake Bowl, 810 W Lake St, Minneapolis

Tuesday, March 23 The Big Bang Book Club discusses How We Decide, 7:00pm at Grumpy's, 1111 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis

Monday, March 29 Erin Hart reads from False Mermaid, 7:30pm

Monday April 5 Wendy Webb reads from The Tale of the Halcyon Crane, 7:30pm

Visit our events page

for full details.
All events are at Magers & Quinn unless noted otherwise.
Monday, March 15, 7:30pm --Jana Laiz reads from Weeping Under This Same Moon

In the store: $12.60
Online: $10.50 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.00
Available Now
Jana Laiz, author of Weeping Under This Same Moon, will make her only Minneapolis appearance at Magers & Quinn Booksellers. Her latest book has been named both ForeWord Magazine "Book of The Year" (2008) and and International Reading Association Notable Book. It is also a 2010 selection for "Valley Reads 2010." Events will be held March 1-14, at a variety of venues in the St. Croix Valley; details are here.

Weeping Under This Same Moon is a young adult novel based on the true story of two teenage girls from different cultures. Mei is an artist whose life has been disrupted by the Vietnam War. Her anguished parents send her away on a perilous escape during the exodus of thousands of Vietnamese refugees known as "Boat People." In Mei's words we learn of the dangers she faces caring for her two younger siblings on a sea journey fraught with hunger, thirst and deprivation, leaving behind everything she loves, to find refuge for her family. Hannah is an angry seventeen-year-old American high school student--friendless, neurotic, a social misfit. Through Hannah's voice, we get inside her head, there to discover a gentle soul beneath all the anger and turmoil. Destiny brings Mei and Hannah together in a celebration of cultures and language, food and friendship, and the ultimate rescue of both young women from their own despair.

Monday, March 29, 7:30pm --Erin Hart reads from her latest mystery False Mermaid

In the store: $23.40
Online: $19.50 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $26.00
Available Now
Minnesota author Erin Hart blends her Midwestern roots with her love of Ireland in her latest novel, False Mermaid. Erin Hart's Haunted Ground was one of the most praised mystery debuts in recent years, and its follow-up, Lake of Sorrows, also received outstanding acclaim. Now Hart combines her page-turning storytelling skills and deep knowledge of Ireland and Irish myth with a Minnesota setting close to her heart.

After failing to bring her sister Triona's killer to justice, Nora fled to Ireland, throwing herself into her work and taking the first tentative steps in a new relationship with Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire. She's driven home by unwelcome news: Tríona's husband--and the prime suspect in her murder--is about to remarry. Nora is determined to succeed this time, but as she digs ever closer to the truth, the killer zeroes in on Tríona's young daughter, Elizabeth.

Monday, April 5, 7:30pm--Wendy Webb reads from The Tale of Halcyon Crane

In the store: $13.50
Online: $11.20 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.00
Available March 30
The first novel from Minnesota's own Wendy Webb's first novel is a haunting story full of delicious thrills and family secrets.

"Set on a mysterious time-warped island in Lake Superior, The Tale of Halcyon Crane is a delicious ghost story, by turns chilling and heart-warming. The perfect cozy read."--Mary Sharratt, author of The Vanishing Point

A young woman travels alone to a remote island to uncover a past she never knew was hers in this thrilling modern ghost story. When a mysterious letter lands in Hallie Jamess mailbox, her life is upended. Hallie was raised by her loving father, having been told her mother died in a fire decades earlier. But it turns out that her mother, Madlyn, was alive until very recently. Why would Hallies father have taken her away from Madlyn? What really happened to her family thirty years ago? In search of answers, Hallie travels to the place where her mother lived, a remote island in the middle of the Great Lakes.

Sunday, April 11, 5:00pm--Peter Schilling will read from his novel The End of Baseball, and Doug Grow discusses We're Gonna Win, Twins!

Baseball fans in Minnesota have a lot to look forward to this spring. Target Field opens April 12, and the night before two great baseball minds will meet to discuss America's pastime.

In the store: $13.50
Online: $11.21 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.95
Available Now
In Peter Schilling's The End of Baseball, a team that "almost was" becomes real, and the extraordinary season of 1944 comes vividly to life. Bill Veeck, the maverick promoter, returned from Guadalcanal with a leg missing and $500 to his name, has hustled his way into buying the Philadelphia Athletics. Hungry for a pennant, young Veeck jettisons the team's white players and secretly recruits the legendary stars of the Negro Leagues, fielding a club that will go down in baseball annals as one of the greatest to play the game.

"The End of Baseball is so engaging and convincing that it accomplishes something truly special: it makes you wish desperately it were true."--Brad Zellar, The Rake

In the store: $23.35
Online: $19.46 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $25.95
Available March 19
From open air to the Dome to blue sky again in 2010, Doug Grow covers a half century of Twins baseball. In We're Gonna Win, Twins! the longtime sports reporter and columnist chronicles a half century of Twins baseball, season by season. Grow captures the changing economics of baseball and vividly portrays the characters that defined the times--from the "holy cow" of original radio color man Halsey Hall to the sweet moments and struggles of players like Zoilo Versalles, the first Latin MVP, to the 2006 season when the major leagues' batting title, MVP, and Cy Young Award all went to Minnesota Twins.

"There will always be people who say that baseball is just a game--until they read this book."--Don Shelby, WCCO-TV

Doug Grow covered the Minnesota Twins as a sports columnist from 1979 to 1987, and as a metro columnist he wrote about the 1987 and 1991 World Series as well as the long debates over stadium funding. He is currently a journalist working for the online publication MinnPost.


To keep up with all the latest news on readings at Magers & Quinn, just visit the events page on our website.
In the store
and Online: $11.65 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $12.95
Available March 19
Minnesota's literary scene is alive and kicking, and John Jodzio's short story collection If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home is proof of its vitality. Jodzio has published his short stories in a variety of publications, including The Rake, Minnesota Monthly, and mnartists.org, where he twice won the miniStories fiction contest. Now, with the assistance of a McKnight-Loft Fellowship, Jodzio has compiled his first short story collection. The book will be released in March 2010 by another local literary start-up, St Paul's Replacement Press. Replacement Press was established in August 2009 to "cultivate the literary voices of the next generation by publishing culturally-engaged fiction by new and emerging writers." Their first publication is a fantastic start to that mission.

In twenty-one brief, funny stories, John Jodzio's new book If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home tells of his characters' disappointment, frustration, and longing for a home that seems forever out of reach. By turns bleak and hopeful, cruel and tender, this is an exciting literary debut by a writer to watch.

"You may think you've read enough stories about penniless gay clowns who can't get over the loss of a dog, but--I assure you--you have not. John Jodzio is the best kind of modern fiction writer: a thematic traditionalist who feels totally new."--Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs

Magers & Quinn Booksellers is pleased to celebrate Minnesota's resilient book culture and to host the launch party for John Jodzio's short story collection If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home. Join us at 3038 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis--7:30pm, Friday, March 19. This event is free and open to the public.
The Big Bang Book Club is a science book club for non-scientists. Our next meeting will be 7:00pm, Tuesday, March 23, at Grumpy's Bar, 1111 Washington Ave S, in Minneapolis.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.21 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $14.95
Available Now
This month, we'll discuss How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. His goal is to answer two questions: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better? Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason--and the precise mix depends on the situation. The trick is to determine when to lean on which part of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think.

The Big Bang Book Club mixes arts and science into a heady brew. It is sponsored by

There's so much love in this news story from the Palm Beach Post.

First off, the setting is Ozzy Osbourne's recent reading at the local Barnes & Noble. Yes, I Am Ozzy is on bookstore shelves right now. Next, we learn that a fan there apparently forgot where he was and lit up a joint. Finally, when police searched the miscreant, they found not only more pot but also--wait for it--homemade fireworks. Because it's not really a rocking book signing without fireworks, is it?

Details are here.

PS: The photo above shows Ozzy Osbourne at a recent signing in LaJolla. It comes to us via Shelf Awareness. There's no reason to think marijuana was involved.
To accommodate the ever-growing crowds clamoring for their regular dose of beer, books, and conversation, Books & Bars is meeting twice a month in March. Plow through the winter doldrums with a double dose of fiction. Join us on the ninth and the twenty-third at Bryant-Lake Bowl. Doors open at 6:00pm. The discussion starts at 7:00pm. Visit www.booksandbars.com for more details and to start talking to fellow book club members today.

In the store: $6.25
Online: $5.59 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $6.99
Available Now
On March 9 Books & Bars discusses The White Tiger. It's a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen. Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life--having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

In the store: $13.45
Online: $11.25 (plus S/H)
Publisher's price: $15.00
Available Now
March 23, Books and Bars discusses City of Thieves. During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful Soviet colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible.

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 next month with more great 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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