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Store Hours
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Mon - Wed 9:30 - 6:00
Thursday 9:30 - 9:00
Friday 9:30 - 6:00
Sat 9:30 - 5:00
Sun Noon - 5:00
Open 24/7 online at:
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Upcoming Events
3/21 (Thursday) at 7pm-
Lauren Scheuer visits with Once Upon a Flock: Life with My Soulful Chickens
4/4 (Thursday) at 7pm-
University of London philosophy professor
A.C. Grayling discusses The God Argument: The Case against Religion and for Humanism
4/7 (Sunday) at 3pm-
Elizabeth Graver reads from and signs The End of the Point
4/11 (Thurs) 6-7:30pm
Drop-in customer-led group discusses articles and essays in The Sun Magazine
4/21 (Sunday) at 3pm-
Tatiana Holway presents The Flower of Empire: An Amazonian Water Lily, the Quest to Make It Bloom, and the World It Created
4/25 (Thursday) at 7pm-
Henriette Lazaridis Power reads from and signs The Clover House
4/28 (Sunday) at 3pm-
An afternoon with memoirists Katrina Kenison (Magical Journey) and Margaret Roach (The Backyard Parables)
5/2 (Thursday) at 7pm-
We welcome novelist Julie Wu with The Third Son
5/16 (Thurs) 6 - 7:30pm
Drop-in customer-led group discusses articles and essays in The Sun Magazine
5/19 (Sunday) at 3pm-
Ted Reinstein, of WCVB-TV's "Chronicle," presents New England Notebook: One Reporter, Six States, Uncommon Stories
5/30 (Thursday) at 7pm-
Novelist Daphne Kalotay (Russian Winter) returns to the Bookshop with Sight Reading
6/2 (Sunday) at 3pm-
Novelist Meg Donohue presents All the Summer Girls
6/9 (Sunday) at 3pm-
Erika Robuck (Hemingway's Girl) returns to the Bookshop with Call Me Zelda
6/13 (Thursday) at 7pm-
Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Ellis discusses and signs Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence
6/14 (Friday) at 7pm-
J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement, Maine) presents her
new novel, The Engagements
6/20 (Thurs) 6-7:30pm
Drop-in customer-led group discusses articles and essays in The Sun Magazine
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Greetings! We're sending happy birthday wishes to author Philip Roth, who celebrated 80 years on March 19. His books have been much lauded, receiving the National Book Award twice, the National Book Critics Circle award twice, and the PEN/Faulkner Award three times. In 1997 he received a Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral. Roth's work includes novels, short fiction, and non-fiction ... which of his books are your favorites? It's time for our mid-week reminder of upcoming events: - Thursday, March 21 - Lauren Scheuer - Once Upon a Flock
- Thursday, April 4 - A. C. Grayling - The God Argument
Remember, if you're unable visit us in person to purchase a signed copy of the featured book, you're welcome to call or email before the event - we'll ask the author to personally inscribe the book to your specifications, and will arrange to ship the book or hold it for pick up. This is a great way to add to your collection, or to secure a gift for a special occasion.
Our newsletter features a biography of novelist Charles Jackson and reissues of two of his classic works. We also look a new paperback editions of the history of the theory of evolution and the history (and controversy) of olive oil.
We've added Megan Marshall's Margaret Fuller and The Peabody Sisters to our Signed Books Gallery. Also signed and on our shelves is an unconventional memoir by Danvers native Domenica Ruta.
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" and let us know what you're reading now.
Comments are always welcome via email to
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Our next event: local-area author memoir about family of chickens
Thursday, March 21 at 7pm
This delightful memoir about life with a spirited, sometimes reckless flock of backyard chickens -inspired by the author's popular blog, "Scratch and Peck."
Once Upon a Flock tells the whimsical, wonderful stories of Lauren Scheuer's backyard chickens, their friendships, rivalries, and secrets. By enthusiastically immersing herself in the flock, Lauren discovers that love, loss, passion and resilience are not only parts of the human experience, but of the chicken experience as well.
Throughout the book, Scheuer documents the humor and drama of the flock's adventures with beautiful photos and charming illustrations.
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Biography of Charles Jackson, author of The Lost Weekend
Farther & Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles Jackson by Blake Bailey
". . . Suavely written, magnetically readable."
--Booklist
This is the fascinating biography of Charles Jackson, the author of The Lost Weekend - a writer whose life and work encapsulated what it meant to be an addict and a closeted gay man in mid-century America, and what one had to do with the other.
Charles Jackson's novel The Lost Weekend - the story of five disastrous days in the life of alcoholic Don Birnam - was published in 1944 to triumphant success. The actor Ray Milland, who would win an Oscar for his portrayal of Birnam, was coached in the ways of drunkenness by the novel's author, whose novel was all but entirely based on Jackson's own experiences, and his valiant struggles fill these pages.
Rich with incident and character, Farther & Wilder is the moving story of an artist whose commitment to bringing forbidden subjects into the popular discourse was far ahead of his time.
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In related news ... reissues of Charles Jackson classics
Two classic Charles Jackson works have just been reissued with new introductions by biographer Blake Bailey (see above):
The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson
The classic tale of one man's struggle with alcoholism, this revolutionary novel remains Charles Jackson's best-known work - a daring autobiographical novel that paved the way for contemporary addiction literature.
It is 1936, and in a rundown neighborhood of Manhattan, Don Birnan - a would-be writer with a little rye problem - succumbs to a drink. And then another, and then another, until he's in the midst of what becomes a five-day binge. The Lost Weekend moves with unstoppable speed, propelled by a heartbreaking but unflinching truth. It catapulted Charles Jackson to fame, and endures as an acute study of the ravages of alcoholism, as well as an unforgettable parable of the modern man's condition.
The Sunnier Side and Other Stories by Charles Jackson
Here Jackson exposes  the seamy undercurrents of prewar, small-town American life in this masterful collection of short stories.
Throughout most of his career, Don Birnam - the main character of The Lost Weekend - was Jackson's alter ego and fictional surrogate. In this collection, we bear witness to Don's coming-of-age as Jackson describes the pains and delights, the tortures and revelations of growing up in the early twentieth century in "Arcadia," a fictionalized village in upstate New York based on Jackson's own hometown. Set against the "sunnier side" of small-town life and mores, the stories explore alcoholism, latent homosexuality, nymphomania, obesity, accidental death, unhappy marriages, suicide, and the sexual tensions of teen life.
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History and scandal of olive oil - now in paperback
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller
This book covers both the sacred history and the profane present of a substance long seen as the essence of health and civilization.
For millennia, fresh olive oil has been one of life's necessities - not just as food but also as medicine, a beauty aid, and a vital element of religious ritual.
But what if this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt? Starting with an explosive article in The New Yorker, Tom Mueller has become the world's expert on olive oil and olive oil fraud - a story of globalization, deception, and crime in the food industry from ancient times to the present, and a powerful indictment of today's lax protections against fake and even toxic food products in the United States. A rich and deliciously readable narrative, Extra Virginity is also an inspiring account of the artisanal producers, chemical analysts, chefs, and food activists who are defending the extraordinary oils that truly deserve the name "extra-virgin."
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The story behind the story of evolution - now in paperback
Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution
by Rebecca Stott
The real story behind the discovery of evolution - the surprising tale of the geniuses, the renegades, and the infidels who dared to seek out truth and who paved the way for Darwin's Origin of Species. Evolution is one of the great ideas of our time, but contrary to popular belief, it was not discovered single-handedly by a British genius in the middle of the nineteenth century. It is an idea that emerged over many centuries, and that was cultivated by daring men across the globe who had the imagination to speculate on nature's extraordinary ways and who had the courage to articulate such speculations at a time when to do so was often heresy. Stott tells the story of the collective discovery of evolution, from Aristotle in Greece in 300 B.C. to the Arab world in the first century through Europe in the mid-eighteenth century and up to the publication of Darwin's book in 1859.
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New in our Signed Books Gallery
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall
It was standing room only for Megan Marshall's visit to the Bookshop on Sunday!
We were treated to a brief introduction by Ms. Marshall, then enjoyed listening to her reading an excerpt of Margaret Fuller. What an interesting and engaging Q&A!
After taking time to sign books for those who were in attendance, she generously signed more stock for the store, along with paperback editions of The Peabody Sisters, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography.
Signed First Editions of Margaret Fuller are here!
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With or Without You: A Memoir by Domenica Ruta
We were charmed by Domenica Ruta when we met her a few months ago; those who've had the chance to read her memoir are taken by her strong unflinching prose in this tale of survival.
With or Without You is the story of her unconventional coming of age - a darkly hilarious chronicle of a misfit '90s youth and the necessary and painful act of breaking away, and of overcoming her own addictions and demons in the process.
In a brilliant stylistic feat, Ruta has written a powerful, inspiring, compulsively readable, and finally redemptive story about loving and leaving.
Signed editions are on our shelves!
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In our window
West Concord Give Back Day: March 23
The Third Annual "West Concord Give Back Day" will take place on Saturday March 23, 2013.
Over a dozen participating shops will donate 5% of their sales for the day to local non-profits.
A fun way to give back to your community!
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