Save 20% on any one in-store book when you say the magic words “Celebrate Independents Week!” This offer is good on in-store books only, no special orders, sideline items, or previous purchases. Not redeemable for cash or pirate’s gold. Only valid one time per customer during the month of July, so choose wisely! There are loads of good books to choose from, so maybe you should come peruse our shelves before you take the plunge and scream “Celebrate Independents Week” across the counter to us! Just sayin.
Offer Expires: July 31, 2010

Save 25% off any in-store book by using the magic words “Shop Local.” This coupon is good on new and used in-store books only, no special orders, sideline, cafe, or imaginary items. While it is good at saving your hard-earned book-buying allowance, it is not good for trade in money, cash, dough, greenbacks, benjamins, c-notes, or dolla dolla bills y’all, sorry. One coupon per customer for one transaction only. Otherwise that would mean that the whole store’s on sale and that doesn’t make ANY sense.
Offer Expires: June 30, 1010

New in hardcover non-fiction

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

By Chelsea Handler

Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group, 2010, $25.99

I thought I’d travel to extremes in my bi-weekly book recommendations this week, and take you on a journey from total raunch (thank you, Ms. Handler) to the sublime (see below). I’ve never completed a Chelsea Handler collection before, because I’ve known what to expect — sex, giggles, self-reflexive jokes. I had no intention of really reading this new one, either. Perhaps I’m becoming slightly more tolerant in my bookish ways, but I opened the book and laughed out loud, literally, at the first sentence: “I was eight years old and in third grade at Riker Hill Elementary School when I fell head over heels in love with myself.” It gets funnier and much, much dirtier when you read on to find out that she’s talking about masturbation. Again, though, this is the sort of humor I expected. What pleasantly surprised me was the chapter about her dog, Chunk — the furry guy looking up her skirt on the jacket photo. My personal form of stereotyping would predict Chelsea Handler of buying a Chihuahua to bedazzle and drag around with her in a Fendi bag. In fact, she adopted Chunk because he was on the chopping block at a shelter and she saved him from being euthanized. The chapter, aptly entitled Chunk, is almost heartwarming, in a cynical, self-obsessed, booze-laden sort of way. If you like your humor dripping with acid and diamonds, then congratulations, you’ve just found your perfect summer reading.

New in hardcover fiction

An Unfinished Score

By Elise Blackwell

Unbridled Books, 2010, $24.95

Elise Blackwell is a writer’s writer, for sure. Her books are noticeably well-researched, her characters complex and fleshy, and her subjects and vocabulary full of nuance and acrobatics. They’re not necessarily easy reads, and I respect that. If you’re the type of reader who doesn’t like having to do some guesswork and reading between the lines, this might not be for you, though I would encourage you to take the challenge. In Blackwell’s new novel, a married woman loses her long-time lover in a plane crash. He was a world-renowned (married) composer and she’s a concert violinist. Stuck in a house in which she lives with her staid husband, her needy best friend and her needy best friend’s deaf daughter, Suzanne, our protagonist, is a spinning compass and unanchored boat; she is cut adrift. The book raises more questions than it answers: who is allowed the right to grieve? How many different layers of love can one wear, and how, and why? What is music without a listener?

New in hardcover

Scranton: The New Electric City

Written by Jennifer Mahalidge, Mark Olderr, Debbie Dunleavy, David J. Wenzel, Robin Walker; foreword by Mayor Chris Doherty; featuring photographs by an array of photographers

M & M Publishing, Inc; 2010, $39.95

Hot off the presses of independent Mississippi publisher M & M, this vastly photographed book of Scranton’s past and present will surprise and enlighten. Forgiving some of its minor flaws (pixilated photos in places; odd uses of Photoshop-altered skies; an empty jacket flap featuring captions but no photos; some hyperbolic language) the book does a good job of making Scranton look good. Thanks to a bevy of photographers and a slew of mostly well-written captions, we watch the history of Scranton unfold before our eyes. Scranton: The New Electric City does a good job of reaching across boundaries to explain what makes Scranton work: our thriving arts culture, our natural beauty, our gorgeous architecture, our progress, our hospitals and colleges. Of course, like any over-arching pictorial, it misses a few things along the way (the local media, ethnic diversity) but the good vastly outweighs the bad here. For an intense historical look at Scranton, make sure to supplement this with gems like Kashuba’s A Brief History of Scranton or any of the local history titles from Tribute Books. For a beautiful, lavishly photographed, up-to-date hardcover tome, this is a must-have for every coffee table-top in the greater area.

New in paperback

I didn’t realize until after I decided to read and review this book that it had already had the distinction of being reviewed twice in The New York Times Book Review, once by Edmund White and once by Michiku Kakitani. So, a word of advice — if you’re interested in my brief treatment, do yourself a favor and look up the full reviews. There is a reason that this book was recommended twice by the NYT, added to countless Best of 2009 lists and compared to everyone from Charles Dickens to Charles Bukowski: because it’s uncomfortably good. These creepy small-town narratives mostly feature pathetic, sexually-stilted men and at times, the women who try to love them. Towers’ trick of imbibing humor and poetic syntax into these vignettes is what makes you want to read them. There is a variety represented here, a story with an adolescent female protagonist (in “Wild America,” arguably one of the strongest) and the title story, which takes us out of modern-day America and crashes us into a boatload of vikings, ready to pillage, ravage and, well, burn. Every story is water-tight, solid and full of ordinary magic. Try it and see.

Hey there! Stop by Anthology and save money by using the super not-at-all-secret-but-still-way-cool magic password INDIEBOUND, which is a great website that showcases all the many things that are so lovely about independent bookstores. Anthology is a bookstore member of Indiebound, Andrea is a personal member, and you can log on and become one, too. But for now, use this coupon to save on any in-store purchase, meaning YES, you can apply it to your greeting card, Scranton coaster, banned book bracelet and copy of Emma purchase but NO you may not apply it your special order or your book purchase from last week. You may not sell this coupon for cash, because it is worth nothing in legal tender. You may not use this coupon as a tshirt – the coverage would be scant at best, and you wouldn’t want your actual tshirts to get jealous and feel underutilized. This coupon is valid one time on one purchase. This coupon is not an exit.
Offer Expires: May 31, 2010

Saturdays at noon: Open writers discussion group, led by Leslee Clapp. Bring an original piece of work to discuss.

Save 20% on any one in-store book by saying the magic word “FRANKENSTEIN.” Yeah, you might feel a little strange at first, just walking up to a stranger and saying the name of a literary character, but hey, this is a bookstore, attached to a place that calls itself “Outrageous” with good reason. Unleash yourself from your social tethers and let loose with a great roar of “Frankenstein” and save a little cash! This offer does not apply to special orders, sideline, or cafe items, or the fancy expensive collectible books that are kept in glass cases. It is not tradeable for cash, gold, lottery tickets, health care, or anything else that is dreamt of in your philosophy. So there.

Offer Expires: March 31, 2010

The newly-forming Guerilla Photography Club is looking for fun and creative adults who are interested in photography and developing their skills (no pun intended). The objectives are to discuss work, critique and inspire each other, and also to show and display work. So come out and join us – bring your camera and your enthusiasm!

This group will meet twice a month at Anthology, on the first and third Thursday of the month from 6-8pm.

FIRST MEETING: THURSDAY, FEB 18th, 6-8PM