joshc's blog

We have added a new feature to our website: Online bundles!

Independent Bookstore day is Saturday April 28th. We’re still planning the fun so stay tuned for more information about the day’s events. Here are the IBD exclusives that will be available at Porter Square Books while supplies last.

Sixteen-year-old Mina's mother is dead and her father--a magician who cut out her heart and replaced it with one made of glass--is cruel. When the two move to Whitespring Castle, Mina plans her escape in the arms of the king. She does not love him, but he is good and kind.

There was a moment near the end (that I won’t spoil for you) when I realized just how special In the Distance is, how much Diaz had played with our expectations, stretched the norms of storytelling, and created something totally unique. It’s a moment when (OK, a tiny spoiler) essentially nothing happens, but the way that nothing happens shows the real depth of Diaz’s novel.

Do You Like?

Once again, we did a cycle story or exquisite corpse with as many of the authors who read at PSB as we could wrangle. The authors were only allowed to see the last entry and had an inch and a half of space to write what happens next. Here is the result.  

The audience had all left and the stock for the store had been signed. It was a great event and The Author was looking forward to a quiet night before the next leg of the tour. Unfortunately for The Author, the parking lot outside of Porter Square Books was in utter chaos.

The holidays are upon us and the rush to get the perfect book for everyone on your list is on. If you are ordering something for the holidays please let us know in the comments so we can prioritize your order. Here is more information about inventory statuses and online shopping for the holidays.

In what is sure to be the biggest poetry chapbook of the holiday season, here are all the poems written for #PoemMonday. These were all written by PSB booksellers, especially for the individual orders. Some of them, connect directly to the books that were ordered, while others...drift...a bit from the source material. Enjoy.

Books are a chance to gather with friends, a refuge from the world, an answer to a problem that felt impossible, a connection to distant people, a lifetime of inspiration. They get to you after hundreds, even thousands of hours, of work by authors, editors, copy editors, and booksellers and they stay with you, in one form or another, for your whole life.