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Store Hours
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Mon - Fri 9:30 - 6:00
Sat 9:30 - 5:00
Sun Noon - 5:00
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Upcoming Events
2/5 (Sunday) 3pm-
Alan Lightman returns to the Bookshop with his latest novel, Mr. g: A Novel About the Creation
2/9 (Thursday) 2pm-
Visit with Theodora Goss, author of the unique and beautifully formatted The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story
2/12 (Sunday) 3pm -
We welcome Toby Lester with his newest book, Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image
2/19 (Sunday) 3pm -
We welcome Sarah McCoy with The Baker's Daughter
2/26 (Sunday) 3pm -
Award-winning author Margot Livesey presents The Flight of Gemma Hardy
3/11 (Sunday) 3pm -
Kate Flora returns to the Bookshop with her latest novel, Redemption
3/18 (Sunday) 3pm -
We welcome Madeline Miller with Song of Achilles
3/22 (Thursday) 7pm-
Howard Frank Mosher returns to the Bookshop with The Great Northern Express
3/25 (Sunday) 3pm -
Natalie Dykstra presents Clover Adams
4/1 (Sunday) 3pm -
Two authors present their non-fiction books: Deborah Kops with The Great Molasses Flood, and Heather Lang with Queen of the Track
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Greetings!
Our next event is Sunday, February 5, when author Alan Lightman returns to the Bookshop with his most recent work, Mr. g: A Novel About the Creation.
On the afternoon of Thursday, February 9, we'll have a visit with Theodora Goss and The Thorn and the Blossom. See below for photos of this unique novel, a lovely and thoughtful Valentine's gift.
The left sidebar of this note contains our complete events calendar; you can also check details on our website and/or rsvp on our Facebook page.
If you're unable to attend an event, but would like a signed copy of the book, simply call us to pre-order. We'll ask the author to inscribe it to your specifications, then hold it for pick up or arrange to have it shipped.
This week we feature a brightly illustrated book that pays homage to Paris and to New York, a paperback guide to everything you've ever wanted to know about raising chickens, and a new thriller set in a world where high finance meets artificial intelligence. 
When you're in the bookshop, be sure to take a peek at our Valentine's Day table in the center of the store. From Sophie Blackall's whimsical Missed Connections to Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility; from love stories to volumes of poetry, you'll find something to make your sweetheart smile.
We've got a great new product in our children's section! Chat Packs keeps kids entertained while waiting (doctor's office, in the car, at a restaurant), and they're fun for everyone!
Our community window features The Concord Players and Amateurs, which will be performed throughout the month.
As always, we look forward to chatting with you in the Bookshop! When you come in to take a closer look at an item mentioned here, please tell us "I saw it in the newsletter!"
Comments are always welcome via email to
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Our next event - Alan Lightman on Sunday, February 5
Alan Lightman and Mr. G: A Novel About the Creation
Please join us at the Bookshop Sunday, February 5th at 3pm as local author Alan Lightman returns with his most recent work, Mr. g: A Novel About the Creation.
"As I remember, I had just woken up from a nap when I decided to create the universe." So begins Alan Lightman's playful and profound new novel, Mr g, the story of Creation as told by God. Barraged by the constant advisements and bickerings of Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, who live with their Nephew in the shimmering Void, Mr g proceeds to create time, space, and matter. Then come stars, planets, animate matter, consciousness, and finally intelligent beings with moral dilemmas. Mr g is all powerful but not all knowing and does much of his invention by trial and error.
Even the best-laid plans can go awry, and Mr g discovers that with his creation of space and time come some unforeseen consequences-especially in the form of the mysterious Belhor, a clever and devious rival. An intellectual equal to Mr g, Belhor delights in provoking him: Belhor demands an explanation for the inexplicable, requests that the newly creatred intelligent creatures not be subject to rational laws, and maintains the necessity of evil. As Mr g watches his favorite universe grow into maturity, he begins to understand how the act of creation can change himself, the Creator.
With echoes of Calvino, Rushdie, and Saramago, combining science, theology, and moral philosophy, Mr g is a stunningly imaginative work that celebrates the tragic and joyous nature of existence on the grandest possible scale.
A theoretical physicist and a writer, Alan Lightman's novels include The Diagnosis, a finalist for the National Book Award, Ghost, and the international bestseller Einstein's Dreams.
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Upcoming event - a unique love story
Theodora Goss presents
The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story
Please join us at the Bookshop Thursday, February 9th at 2pm for a "meet and greet" with Thoedora Goss and her novel(s)The Thorn and the Blossom.
A novel about lovers who meet in a bookstore - how fabulous! This uniquely-bound book is packaged in a slipcase and printed on accordion-folded paper - start at one end to read Evelyn's story; when you reach the end, turn it over to read Brendan's story.
If you're unable to attend the event,
please call to pre-order a personally inscribed volume ... The Thorn and the Blossom is a lovely Valentine's Day gift.
Ms. Goss is also a writer of poems, short stories, and essays. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University.
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Upcoming event
with the award-winning author of
The Fourth Part of the World
Toby Lester and
Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image
Please join us at the Bookshop Sunday, February 12 at 3pm when Toby Lester reads from and signs Da Vinci's Ghost.
Highly visual and interactive in nature, Da Vinci's Ghost contains an eye-opening variety of little-known medieval and Renaissance images, all of which in some way or another are precedents of Da Vinci's famous drawing. These images don't just adorn the book, but more importantly they form a core part of the story, and will fundamentally change the way readers will look at Da Vinci's image.
Because the book tells such a visual story, and since Da Vinci himself was such a visual thinker, the author will accompany his presentation with a slideshow.
In Da Vinci's Ghost, Toby Lester brings the Vitruvian Man to life. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Brunelleschi of the famous Dome, Da Vinci's Ghost opens up a surprising window onto the artist and philosopher himself and the tumultuous intellectual and cultural transformations he bridged. Constructed as a vivid historical narrative that sweeps across centuries, Da Vinci's Ghost reveals the ancient and medieval origins of the image, and surveys the cultural forces that converged in 1490 to bring it into being.
By weaving together stories from antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance in a way that has never been done before, Lester shows that Da Vinci understood the image as a sort of idealized self-portrait: a mirror into which he could look and study the world as he pursued the ancient injunction Know thyself. With sparkling prose and a rich variety of illustrations, Lester captures the brief but momentous time in the history of western thought when the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance, art and science and philosophy converged as one, and all seemed to hold out the promise that a single human mind, if properly harnessed, could grasp the nature of everything.
Toby Lester is a contributing editor to and has written extensively for The Atlantic. His work has also been featured on the radio show This American Life. A former Peace Corps volunteer and United Nations observer, he lives in the Boston area with his wife and three daughters. He is an invited research scholar at Brown University's John Carter Brown Library. His previous book, The Fourth Part of the World, was critically acclaimed.
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New in our signed books gallery
Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It by Jeffrey D. Clements
It was standing room only when Jeff Clements visited the bookshop last week to talk about Corporations Are Not People and the implications of "Citizens United vs. FEC."
The audience was eager to discuss the history of the case, and to learn more about steps to overturn the decision.
Whatever your stand on the issue, Corporations Are Not People is sure to inspire lively discussion.
We have signed copies of the book on our shelves.
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For those who dream of "the city of light" or "the city that never sleeps"
Paris versus New York: A Tally of Two Cities
by Vahram Muratyan
A chic and humorous visual homage to two of the world's most iconic cities.
Vahram Muratyan presents his unique observations in this delightful book, featuring visually striking graphics paired with witty, thought-provoking taglines that celebrate the special details of each city.
Paris versus New York is a heartfelt gift to denizens of both cities and to those who dream of big-city romance.
Author Vahram Muratyan is a freelance art director and graphic designer based in Paris, where his clients include Chanel, the Opéra de Paris, and the Cannes Film Festival. He is the coauthor of J'ai toujours rêvé de d'être un artiste (2010), an illustrated guide to becoming an artist. He lives in Paris and, soon, New York City, too.
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For backyard breeders, or those merely chick-curious
The Chicken Encyclopedia: An Illustrated Reference
by Gail Damerow
The Chicken Encyclopedia is the go-to guide for chicken owners and enthusiasts of all levels.
From addled to wind egg, crossed beak to zygote, the terminology of everything chicken is demystified in The Chicken Encyclopedia, a comprehensive A-to-Z reference volume presented in a friendly, highly illustrated format.
Chickophiles will find breed descriptions; definitions of the most common conditions, situations, characteristics, and behaviors of chickens; and much more.
Whether it's the difference between wry tail, split tail, and gamy tail; the meaning of hen feathered, forced molt, or quill feather; the characteristics of droopy wing; the content of granite grit; or the translation of a chicken's alarm call, here are all the answers to every chicken question and quandary, from the practical to the curious.
Author Gail Damerow and her husband operate a family farm in Tennessee, where they keep poultry and dairy goats, tend a sizable garden, and maintain a small orchard. Damerow has written extensively on raising livestock and is a regular contributor to Backyard Poultry magazine. She is the author of Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, The Chicken Health Handbook, and numerous other books.
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Suspense in a world where high finance meets artificial intelligence
The Fear Index by Robert Harris
"Harris is a master of pace and entertainment."
-The Observer
At the nexus of high finance and sophisticated computer programming, a terrifying future may be unfolding even now.
Dr. Alex Hoffmann's name is carefully guarded from the general public, but within the secretive inner circles of the ultrarich he is a legend. He has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that predicts movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But one morning before dawn, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside mansion, and so begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him.
Fiendishly smart and suspenseful, The Fear Index gives us a searing glimpse into an all-too-recognizable world of greed and panic. It is a novel that forces us to confront the question of what it means to be human-and it is Robert Harris's most spellbinding and audacious novel to date.
Author Robert Harris's previous books include Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, Conspirata, and The Ghost Writer. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Compact fun for kids of all ages
Chat Packs - "creative questions to ignite the imagination"
New in our children's section, Chat Packs contain 156 conversation starters - open-ended questions that encourage children (and adults) to think outside the box.
Take them in the car, on a plane, at a restaurant while waiting for the food to come, or for after-dinner conversation. The snap-shut lucite box is easy to tuck into a purse, backpack, or tote bag.
Here's one to ponder:
If you had to create a brand-new letter to be added to the alphabet, what would this new letter look like and how would you pronounce it?
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In our window
The Concord Players present Amateurs
From the author of The Boys Next Door, Tom Griffin's Amateurs is both a poignant and at times an over the top comedic tale about the tangled desires and hopes of the guests at an opening night party of a New England community theater group.
Dorothy and her eccentric husband Charlie host an opening night party that will make you laugh and cry, where the dreams, loves, failures and successes of this assortment of personalities are explored with bittersweet humor and the relationship between risk and need is touchingly depicted.
The Concord Players will perform Amateurs at 51 Walden Street on February 10, 11, 17, 18, 19 (matinée), 24, and 25. For more information and to purchase tickets, phone 978-369-2990 or visit the Concord Players website.
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