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Write Six Words, Win Cool Stuff
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By Rebecca Bialek
 In the coming weeks you might happen upon booksellers furiously scribbling notes and crossing out words as they work. Answering machines in the office may take on a mysterious, singsong quality in the coming days. Many of us are losing the fight against counting to six on our fingers as we mumble to ourselves inspired, frustrated, inspired again, and it's all thanks to Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure.
Edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith of Smith Magazine, the book was inspired by the famous challenge to Ernest Hemmingway to write a story in six words. (His response: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."). The magazine challenged readers to subvert the premise of National Novel Writing Month (November, in case you're interested), by submitting their own complete story in six words. The result is this small book that has captured the imaginations of our booksellers. Heartbreaking and hilarious stories of hope, regret, love found and lost, identity, opportunities taken and missed-they're all there in six simple words:
"Fifteen years since last professional haircut." -Dave Eggers
"Put whole self in. Shook about." -Melissa Delzio
"Revenge is living well without you." -Joyce Carol Oates
We want you to have as much fun as we have had reading this book and writing our own six-word memoirs, so we're inviting you to write your own for a chance to win great prizes like Schwartz Gift Cards, t-shirts, bookmarks and more! It's easy to participate:
First, pick up a copy of Not Quite What I Was Planning and get inspired. No purchase is required to participate in our contest, but I know that once you open this book you won't be able to put it down; you'll want to keep it handy so you can return to it over and over again for a laugh, or to simply enjoy during a quiet moment in your day. What's more, it's almost impossible to read this book without feeling the urge to write your own-that's half the fun!
Then, write your own six-word memoir and submit it to our contest. You can either send your six word memoir along with your name and contact information to us at sixwords@schwartzbooks.com or drop it off in our bookshops between March 27 and April 15. Just look for the Six-Word display and drop it in the box. Our panel of judges will read them all and choose three winners.
At the Schwartz on Downer: Six-Word Slam on April 25 the floor will be open and the mic will be on for anyone who'd like to read their own six-word creations. We'll announce the winners of our contest and present them with their prizes!
What are you waiting for? Write!
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New Releases
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 The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America by David Hajdu
The author of Positively 4th Street details the hidden history of the rise and fall of the comic book.
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings
Hailed in Britain as "Spectacular . . . Searingly powerful" (Andrew Roberts, "The Sunday Telegraph"), Retribution is a riveting, impeccably informed chronicle of the final year of the Pacific war.
The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide--time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.
Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein
Have you ever... Seen a Gritchen in your kitchen? Dared to dance with the One-Legged Zantz? Declined to dine with the Glub-Toothed Sline? You haven't? Well then, step inside--but only if you are ready to be amazed, tickled, astonished and entertained by this most unusual bestiary of silly and scary creatures. This book was originally published in 1964, the same year as Shel Silverstein's most famous picture book, The Giving Tree.
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New Webkins are Here!
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They're here! New Webkins have arrived in our shops just in time for Easter. Find your new pet at our Shorewood, Brookfield and Mequon shops. We have a variety of styles and quantities in each location, so if you're looking for a certain Webkinz pet make sure to call ahead.
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REEL Milwaukee at The Social
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 Join Vital Source and friends at The Social (170 S. 1st St.) on March 22 for a celebration of cinematic proportions. We're talking Cecil B. DeMille here! Enjoy a complimentary appetizer bar, $5 Coppola wine pours ($7 for Director's Cut), $3 Rehorst vodka drinks and Lakefront taps. You could win classic film books from Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, DJ Marcus Doucette will spin tunes to the tempo of a montage by Milwaukee filmmakers, and we'll have a tabletop film trivia quiz. You'll also have the very special opportunity to play Six Degrees of Mark Metcalf with your host-Mark Metcalf! Need we say more? 9 p.m.-Midnight: No cover. No joke! |
| Live at Schwartz
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Here
is a list of the authors coming soon to the Schwartz Bookshops. For a complete list of upcoming author appearances visit
our events page.
 Scott
Simon
Windy City
Friday, March 21 * 7:00 p.m.
reading * Shorewood
The host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition offers a
wise and funny novel of politics Chicago style in Windy City. Alderman
Sonny Roopini, a widower and transplant from India, finds himself
thrust into the spotlight when the gluttonous mayor apparently eats
himself into a fatal heart attack. But soon, Sonny begins to suspect
that the mayor's death has a more human and malicious cause
than cholesterol!
 
Kevin
Brockmeier * author of The View from the Seventh Layer
Tod Wodicka * author of All Shall
Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well
Thursday, March 27 * 7:00 p.m.
reading * Downer Ave.
Literary fiction takes center stage at this event featuring two innovative
authors. Kevin Brockmeier, whose recent novel, A Brief History of
the Dead, was a bookseller favorite, offers a collection of inventive,
emotionally complex stories that reveal his remarkable range as a
writer. He will be joined by Tod Wodicka, whose debut novel introduces
Burt Hecker, a tunic-wearing medieval re-enactor and a man seemingly
at war with the modern world. The story unfolds to reveal the tragic
details of his life and it becomes clear why he prefers living in
a time other than his own.
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| Schwartz Select: Fiction
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 Murder
on the Ile Saint-Louis
An Aimée Leduc Investigation
Cara Black
In the seventh book starring Aimée Leduc, Aimée responds
to a telephone call from a stranger that leads her to an abandoned infant
in a courtyard on the Ile Saint-Louis. Meanwhile, a group of environmental
protesters is involved in two murders and an attempted bombing. It's
up to Aimée to solve two murders while she cares for the baby and
searches for the child's mother, but her search for the truth will
lead them both into danger. Paperback
$12.00
 The
Ghost War
Alex Berenson
When the CIA finds evidence of a surge in Taliban activity, backed by
an unknown foreign power, it takes little to convince John Wells, the
only CIA agent to penetrate al-Qaeda, to investigate. But what he finds
there is far from what he expected, and if he can't stop it, it
could trigger a world war.
$24.95
 The
Silver Swan
Benjamin Black, the pen name of John Banville
Two years have passed since the events of the award-winning Christine
Falls, and much has changed for Quirke, the irascible, formerly hard drinking
Dublin pathologist. His beloved wife is dead, his surrogate father lies
in a convent hospital and his long-denied daughter has grown increasingly
withdrawn. He should know better than to let his curiosity get the better
of him. But, when an almost forgotten acquaintance raises questions about
his wife's apparent suicide, Quirke's "old itch to cut
into the quick of things" is roused again.
$25.00
 Mad
Kestral
Misty Massey
"Anyone who has ever dreamed of the colorful adventure and swashbuckling
intrigue of a pirate's life at sea will find lots to like here.
Laced with magic and misdirection, Misty Massey's fast paced and
intriguing tale kept me guessing and guessing again as layers of mystery
unfolded right to the end."-Mark Ferrari, author of The Book
of Joby. Paperback
$14.95
 Roma
Steven Saylor
The national bestseller from one of the most critically acclaimed historical
authors brings to life Rome, the most famous city in the ancient world.
Told through the tragedies and triumphs of the descendants of two families,
Roma shows the major events, the people and the turning points of history
that have come to symbolize ancient Rome in the modern imagination.
It is an epic in the truest sense of the word. Paperback
$15.95
 Staff
Pick
In
the Country of Men
Hisam Matar
"In the Country of Men is written from the viewpoint of a nine-year-old boy who is learning the truths about his father's secret political life in Libya. It introduces us to a country which is one of the many places in the world that the overlooks in the news, in our education, and in literature. An excellent read!"-Wil Tietsort, Shorewood
Bookseller
$12.00
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| Schwartz
Select: Nonfiction |
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 The
Write Type
Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Custom Writing Plan
Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D.
In the follow-up to her bestselling guide to overcoming writer's
block, Write, Dr. Karen Peterson helps you identify your quirks and tendencies
as a writer and craft a writing system that capitalizes on them. The Write
Type's personalized system helps you enhance your creativity, increase
your output, and write the works you were born to write. Paperback
$12.95
 Jumbo
This Being the True Story of the Greatest Elephant in the World
Paul Chambers
His name entered our lexicon as an adjective for oversized things and
he was the inspiration for Walt Disney's Dumbo. Find out
how Jumbo, an orphaned elephant written off as a runt by his original
handlers, became the star of P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth
in this deeply moving true story.
$23.95
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Great Books at Bargain Prices
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This is a sampling of the terrific deals we have on good books. Stop in to
any of our shops to pick up any of these titles or browse our bargain section.
 
Cookie
Count
Robert Sabuda
Publisher $21.99
SCHWARTZ: $8.99 G
is for One Gzonk
Tony DiTerlizzi
Publisher $16.95
SCHWARTZ: $7.99
Eating
the Alphabet
Lois Ehlert
Publisher $6.95
SCHWARTZ: $2.99
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Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops
Milwaukee's Very Own Independent Bookshop Since 1927
Downer Ave., 2559 N. Downer Ave., 414-332-1181, ondowner@schwartzbooks.com
Bay View, 2262 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., 414-481-3401, bayview@schwartzbooks.com
Brookfield, 17145 W. Bluemound Rd., 262-797-6140, brookfield@schwartzbooks.com
Mequon, 10976 N. Port Washington Rd., 262-241-6220, mequon@schwartzbooks.com
Shorewood, 4093 N. Oakland Ave., 414-963-3111, shorewood@schwartzbooks.com
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