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April 30, 2014    

Happy rainy Wednesday! We have some news that may brighten your day. We just scheduled an event on May 27th with Cassandra Clare, who will be interviewed by Jodi Picoult. Tickets are on sale now.

Marina Keegan Marina Keegan's writing captures the hope, possibility, confusion, and passion of her generation. Although she died at 22, her words live on in The Opposite of Loneliness. Join Marina's family tonight, Wednesday, April Anne Fadiman30th at 7:00pm. Anne Fadiman, renowned author and Marina's professor at Yale, will read alongside two of Marina's classmates, sharing the essays and stories that have made her an icon for her generation. Refreshments will be served.

Sara Hoagland Hunter On Saturday, May 3 at 3:00pm, local favorite Sara Hoagland Hunter reads from her newest children's book, Every Turtle Counts, a beautifully illustrated story that motivates children to seek the wonder and beauty of the natural world. Join Sara at Wellesley Books to eat turtle cookies, learn about the rescue of rare sea turtles on Cape Cod, and compete in a Turtle Trivia contest.

Marie Bostwick It's a Quiltapalooza Book Bash Tuesday, May 6 at 7:00pm with bestselling author Marie Bostwick. With her trademark warmth, wit, and depth of feeling, Marie continues her much-loved Cobbled Court Quilts series with Apart At The Seams, a fresh story of one woman's quest to find a new pattern for living. Marie will be celebrating her book's release with a packed evening of trivia, prizes and refreshments co-hosted by fellow quilter Sue Bleiweiss.

ChopChop Magazine Yogurt Parfait On Wednesday, May 7th at 2:30pm, bring your kids and learn how to make delicious yogurt parfaits with ChopChop Magazine Editor Sally Sampson. The mission of ChopChop Magazine is to inspire and teach kids to cook and eat real food with their families. Sally will talk about her new cookbook,  ChopChop: The Kids' Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family, which redefines what it means to cook and eat healthily by bringing kids and adults together in the kitchen. It's sure to be a fun afternoon!

Andrea Cremer Andrea Cremer, young adult author of the wildly popular Nightshade series, joins us on Thursday, May 8 at 7:00pm for the launch of her new book, The Inventor's Secret. This steampunk novel is the first in a new series that brings together history and fantasy - a world of imperial warfare and espionage in 19th century North America...but in this world the American Revolution failed.

Contact Us

Wellesley Books

82 Central Street

 Wellesley, MA 02482

 781.431.1160

www.wellesleybooks.com

In This Newsletter...
Bookseller Recommendations
New in Hardcover
New in Paperback
In the Kids Section
In the Gift Aisle
Downstairs at Wellesley Books
Dog of the Week
What We Are Reading...

Upcoming Events

Anne Fadiman - Wednesday, 4/30
Sara Hoagland Hunter - Saturday, 5/3
Marie Bostwick  - Tuesday, 5/6
Sally Sampson - Wednesday, 5/7
Andrea Cremer - Thursday, 5/8
Lunchtime Book Group - Tuesday, 5/13
Molly Wizenberg - Tuesday, 5/13
Bret Anthony Johnston - Wednesday, 5/14
Dr. Lillian Cheung - Thursday, 5/15
Joani Geltman - Friday, 5/16
Jennifer Mann & Jennifer Salvato Doktorski - Saturday, 5/17
J. A. White & Paul Durham - Wednesday, 5/21
George Howe Colt - Thursday, 5/22
Cassandra Clare w/Jodi Picoult - Tuesday, 5/27
Jo Walton - Wednesday, 5/28
Bill's Book Group for Guys - Thursday, 5/29
Ellen Kanner - Friday, 5/30
Bill & Willie Geist - Saturday, 5/31

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Mother's Day
"The bookshop has a thousand books, all colors, hues, and tinges,  
and every cover is a door  
that turns on magic hinges."  
~Nancy Byrd Turner 

Betty Sudarsky   Americanah Betty's Lunchtime Book Group    
Tuesday, May 13 at noon
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Join the fun!  Join the dialogue!  Be in the know!  Come to Wellesley Books's lunchtime book club.  Munch your food while we chew on ideas with Betty Sudarsky, unparalleled bookseller and experienced book club leader.  Bring your own lunch, head downstairs and talk with your mouth full!  Drop-ins are welcome, whether or not you've read the book!  

Bill's Book Group for Guys  The Nick Adams StoriesBill's Book Group for Guys   
Thursday, May 29 at 7:00pm
The Nick Adams Stories
by Ernest Hemingway
Bill's Book Group for Guys is a relaxed evening in the store discussing a great book while enjoying a beer, glass of wine, or a select single malt whisky. $25 buys the book and a ticket to the event, including libations. 

Bookseller recommendations 

Americanah Americanah   
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah is a wonderful story full of robust characters, love, loss and what is means to be African in America.  Ifemelu emigrated from Nigeria to the US to finish her undergraduate degree. Here she encounters racism and true poverty for the first time but eventually finds fame writing an edgy blog about being Non-American Black in America.  Adichie sprinkles the blog posts -- which are funny but with an undercurrent of uncomfortable reality -- throughout the novel like little nuggets.  Concurrently, Obinze, Ifemelu's true love, chronicles his misadventures in England and then back in Nigeria. Add in a host of family, friends and acquaintances -- from hair weavers in Trenton, NJ to oil nouveau-riche in Lagos -- each with their own issues and lessons learned.  Never preachy, Adichie finds her mark and forces you to think about your own perspective and set of prejudices.  Thought provoking and real.
American Crucifixion American Crucifixion    
by Alex Beam

Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of Mormonism, is unquestionably one of the most fascinating, most puzzling, and most polarizing figures in American history. Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam focuses on the latter part of Smith's career--the Nauvoo, Illinois period--which culminated in his violent death in 1844.
If you read Beam's column with any regularity, you know he's a stylish writer, but this book demonstrates that he's also a judicious, evenhanded historian with a knack for mixing in colorful details without overdoing it. I know a fair amount about Mormonism, but I learned a lot from American Crucifixion--even though it's aimed at the intellectually curious general reader and not the specialist historian of religion (I'm somewhere in between the two, but tilting toward the latter). Alex Beam has done a first-rate job of excavating a relatively obscure but massively consequential corner of American history.
My Life in Middlemarch My Life in Middlemarch   
by Rebecca Mead

I read this book because my ridiculously stunning friend loved it, and if she said that the phonebook was an engrossing read then I would have read that. I would totally lie to her and tell her that I loved it regardless of my opinion on the book, but I have no reason to lie to you -- this book is fantastic. Told in a scholarly yet personal way, it's a biography of Eliot, autobiography of the author, and review of Middlemarch. You emerge from the book fired up to re-read Middlemarch, so it's like getting two wonderful books in one.
Lies You Wanted to Hear Lies You Wanted to Hear   
by James Whitfield Thomson

I like that each chapter alternates between the voices of Matt and Lucy. I found myself on an emotional rollercoaster with these characters. I enjoyed not only the satisfying plotline, but also the author's insights on relationships and life. 
 

New in Hardcover

The Other Story   Natchez Burning The Serpent of Venice Lovers at the Chameleon Club The Steady Running of the Hour   Fallout The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden A Fighting Chance   Capital in the Twenty-First Century Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty 

The Other Story by Tatiana de Rosnay
Natchez Burning by Greg Iles
 The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
  Lovers at the Chameleon Club by Francine Prose
The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go
Fallout by Sadie Jones
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty by Diane Keaton 

 

New in Paperback 

  Gone Girl   Cuckoo's Calling Fin & Lady  Dad is Fat Dog Gone Back Soon  

 Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine
Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan  

Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout 

In the Kids Section

  • Children's Book Week  
Children's Book Week 2014 Children's Book Week originated with the belief that children's books and literacy are life-changers.  Established in 1919, it is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes -- wherever young readers and books connect.

To celebrate Children's Book Week, Wellesley Books will be hosting authors Jennifer Mann and Jennifer Salvato Doktorski on Saturday, May 17th at 3:30pm.  They will be discussing their books, Sunny Sweet Is So Not Sorry, Sunny Sweet is So Dead Meat, Famous Last Words, and How My Summer Went Up in Flames as well as presenting the workshop, How to Become a Wizard of Words Without Using a Magic Wand, which will lead participants in a creative writing activity.  Stop by and join in the fun.

In the Gift Aisle

  • Mother's Day  
Mother's Day MOTHER'S DAY is MAY 11th!

 

We have EVERYTHING for your wonderful MOM!  Pamper her this year with a foot massage kit, fancy soaps or scented candles.  Or she can make a fashion statement with a beautiful scarf, cool jewelry, fun socks or trendy tote bag.  Tell her she is special with a Mom Journal or picture in a fabulous frame or make her life a little easier with a nice mug, water bottle or head massager.  How about a foodie gift from our growing assortment of kitchen gadgets?  Top it all off with a unique Mother's Day card and perhaps a little guilty pleasure from our candy selection.  

 

 

 

  

Downstairs at Wellesley Books 

  • What's New       
Don't forget to check the used book cart and then come downstairs to look at our selection of remainders (half-price but new) and more used books.  We also have some excellent gift items on sale.

The trading floor was busy this Saturday. Many titles came in for a fleeting visit.  The Goldfinch and The Lowland were sold within thirty minutes. The Light Between the Oceans and Angle of Repose are still here. We have some great non-fiction: Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson and The Second World War by John Keegan. Lots of Nancy Drew and A - Z Mysteries came in too.

We are looking for more non-fiction, science fiction and fantasy.If you were excited to read it, someone else will be excited to find it, and by trading it to us you will have more shelf space at home for new finds.

Trade Your Used Books:

Saturdays from 11am - 3pm

Downstairs at Wellesley Books is always open for browsing during regular store hours
except during author events.
We will be happy to look for a title after the event and place it on hold for you. 

Dog of the Week 

  • Bandit Wiggles       

On Sunday, April 20th, we had the pleasure of hanging out at Fenway Park with Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman and his lovely fianc�e, Erin, selling copies of his new book, Stronger. Dog lovers that we are, talk soon turned to pets and Erin shared this picture of their dog, Bandit Wiggles. How could we not make him Dog of the Week?  

 

Of course, we brought signed copies of Stronger to the store, come in and grab one while they last!   

 

Thank you for sharing the picture, Erin and Jeff! 

 

 

 

What We're Reading Now...

Love Medicine
Betty
Thunderstruck
Sally
The Marseille Caper
Lorna
Remember Me Like This
Kym
Plato at the Googleplex
Jeremy

 

Thank you for supporting your community

independent bookstore!

 


 
Sincerely,

Kym Havens 
Wellesley Books
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