| What's up at Green Apple Books
September 2012
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| Greetings! |
This time of year at Green Apple is particularly vibrant (and tiring). The publisher's best bets for vibrant holiday sales are piling up on our shelves, from big-name literary authors to gorgeous cookbooks. Our overstock areas are bursting with giftable gems like the (above) Chris Ware box of goodies. The kids section alone features hundreds of promising new entertainments. Not to mention last year's gems coming out in paperback. We hope you can drop in soon to treat yourself to some of these fine books. Or shop online 24 hours a day--we always offer free shipping for orders over $50.
In the interest of tempting you in, herein we present:
- our Book of the Month, guaranteed to please;
- six new books we love;
- three fine new cookbooks;
- October event reminders; and
- the our 2013 calendars.
Oh, and we posted a lovely new video on our YouTube channel, so if you have two minutes, this might fill a Green-Apple shaped hole in your heart.
If you can't stop in soon, keep in touch digitally via Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.
Read on!
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October's Book of the Month
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The Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang (Hogarth)
Our October Book of the Month, guaranteed to please, is The Dead Do Not Improve. Here's Green Appler Ronnie's shelf-talker:
 This book has it all! Murder, sex, drugs, love, surf, and even a car chase - all in one outrageous ride through San Francisco! After a neighbor in his apartment complex is shot and killed, Philip Kim, a lazy MFA grad, spins into a whirlwind of suspicion and paranoia. Convinced a burgeoning series of murders has something to do with him, Philip starts his own investigation, with the help of his super sexy neighbor (nicknamed Performance Fleece). Meanwhile, two homicide detectives, Sid Finch and Jim Kim, sift through classic San Francisco archetypes to find the culprits. As the suspect narrow down and the puzzle pieces fall into place, the characters embark on a wild goose chase that brings Philip and the two detectives to a final face off - guns in hand.--Ronnie Buy the book (or the $12.99 eBook) from Green Apple today!
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Six New Books We Like
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Rookie Yearbook One by Tavi Gevinson (Drawn & Quarterly) 
Edited by perennial cool girl Tavi Gevinson, this book is a physical extension of rookiemag.com, a website geared towards teenage girls but frequented by pretty much anyone who has ever spent a day in high school. Dreamy photo spreads and practical how-to guides (how to make a zine, how to look like you haven't just been crying, etc.) will pose the existential question: "Why wasn't I ever this cool?" Okay, maybe that's just me, and if you're still a teenager there's still time. Rookie is the friend who made you mix tapes, introduced you to The Wipers and drove you to the thrift store after school. Are you obsessed yet? (Sara)  Inferno: a New Translation by Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf) Do we need another translation of Dante's Inferno? And should we take said translation seriously if it sacrilegiously updates Dante's poem by including pop culture allusions to Jell-O and Woody Allen? That depends on your perspective, but from where I'm reading, I think poet Mary Jo Bang's new rendition (let's agree to call it that) is a welcome addition to what may be an already overstuffed canon. Illustrated throughout by Henrik Drescher, this new hell is guaranteed to provoke and might even introduce a few new readers to a classic.  This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz (Riverhead) In addition to the Pulitzer, Díaz has won a host of major awards and prizes, including the National Book Critic's Circle Award, the PEN/Malamud Award, the PEN/O. Henry Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Anisfield-Wolf Award. Oh, and he was just awarded a MacArthur " genius" fellowship. Now Díaz turns his remarkable talent to the haunting, impossible power of love - obsessive love, illicit love, fading love, maternal love. A must-have collection for those who love short fiction. [ $12.99 eBook]  Melville House's Neversink Series Melville House holds a special place in our hearts. Not only do they publish an array of fantastic and challenging books--from international crime to political exposes to classic novellas--they also maintain a steadfast dedication to a thriving literary culture. We celebrate their ten year anniversary by showcasing their unique Neversink Series: books that, for one reason or other, have been overlooked, forgotten, or misunderstood. Stop by to browse the series.  This groundbreaking collection of almost 300 letters and postcards has been edited and annotated by Hunter Davies, whose authorized biography The Beatles (1968) was published to great acclaim. With unparalleled knowledge of Lennon and his contemporaries, Davies reads between the lines of the artist's words, contextualizing them in Lennon's life and using them to reveal the man himself. Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts by David Shields and Matthew Vollmer (Norton)  It was Borges who first opened my eyes to the ambiguity of the fiction/non-fiction divide. I distinctly remember the uneasy feeling I had of reality slipping away or taking on a stranger color after finishing his Personal Anthology. Such is the feeling that I was left with after reading the new collection Fakes, an at times playful and bewildering compendium of faux-lectures and essays, fictional interviews, catalog entries for non-existent objects, etc. With contributions by Lorrie Moore, Amy Hempel, J.G. Ballard, and Lydia Davis among others.
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Three Lovely New Cookbooks
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The excellent cookbooks are filling our shelves quicker than you can say Gaeng Gai Sai Aloo! Here's a taste of what you may want under your proverbial tree.
I've worked within a few blocks of Burma Superstar and Mandalay for 19 years now, and I've seen no reason to try to recreate their magic at home. But I'm probably not as adventuresome as you, so come check out Burma: Rivers of Flavor ( after eating--or else you'll never be able to wait for your meal). It's 350 pages of noodles, curries, and fresh salads, all deliciously photographed to tempt you right into the kitchen. Faviken by Magnus Nilsson (Phaidon)  I spent a few weeks last summer in southern Sweden (via home exchange, which I highly recommend as a way to travel with kids). And I fell in love with the food, enough so that I have since actually gone to Ikea f or groceries only. Leagues above Ikea is Faviken, a northern Swedish restaurant that only serves food produced on site. How does this translate to someone without their own 20,000 acres? Well, most of the methods and recipes--for yogurt, breads, pickles, etc--are easily reproduced by the home cook. But this book may be better for inspiration (unless you have sourced the crispy reindeer lichen).  Here's the first book from SF's own Charles Phan, Chef-Owner of the Slanted Door. The book is everything you want from a cookbook: inspiring, easy to follow, thorough, and clear. Thanks to lots of photos, well laid out pages, succinct recipes, and a focus on technique and ingredients, Vietnamese Home Cooking makes Phan's food truly do-able for any semi-adventurous home cook. |
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October Author Event Reminders
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We have great lineup of authors coming through the store over the next few weeks. Click through for more info about any of these events. We hope to see you. 
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2013 Calendars are here!
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That's right, the future has arrived at Green Apple already. A wide variety of 2013 calendars are now available for your browsing pleasure. Wall calendars, planners, page-a-days, and journals--Green Apple has them all. Over 700 to choose from.
Note: Our calendars are in the annex this year, just inside the door to your left.
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Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
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Pete et al
Green Apple Books and Music
415-387-2272
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