The Many Faces of April: Mirrors and Windows
One of the delights of reading is the way a book can take you to a place you’ve never been–a place that might not even exist. Reading helps us imagine ourselves into lives very different from our own.
April has many faces, including being Arab-American Heritage Month! Read our recommendations for adults and kids.
April Is Poetry Month!
April is National Poetry Month, when poems blossom everywhere like the daffodils, crocuses, and cherry and crabapple blossoms in my backyard. (Click through for great poems about each of those flowers.)
Readers of this newsletter know that we have been hard at work on Celia Bookshop’s initial inventory, which of course includes our poetry section. We’ve gotten help from friends, neighbors, and readers everywhere–thanks to the many of you who have chimed in!–but the most amazing poetry suggestion email came from poet (and Swarthmore College professor emerita) Nathalie Anderson.
What You Want
Beth and I spend a lot of time talking about what Celia Bookshop is going to be like when it opens on Park Avenue in Swarthmore next fall. People want to know what our vision is: inviting, cozy, beautiful, friendly–a place to find community and where books and people find one another.
But we’re also trying to find out what you want. What books? What events? What nonbook items? What services? What vibe? Last month we asked you to fill out a survey telling us what genres of books you’re most excited to browse. Read on for the results.
Plus book recommendations!
First Events: On British Language and American Sex
Celia Bookshop won’t be open in bricks-and-mortar until the fall, but our events series launches this month with author appearances by two Swarthmore writers we love.
Ben Yagoda’s talk about Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English is coming right up on Monday, March 10 at 7PM, accessible from anywhere and everywhere on Zoom! And Rebecca Davis‘s talk about Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America follows the next week on Tuesday, March 18 at 7 PM, in person at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County.
Community Survey (and Recommendations)
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time choosing books for Celia Bookshop’s opening inventory. This exercise in categorization is hard and also interesting! Beth and I think we have a pretty good sense of what books our customers will like–both titles you’ve already heard of and titles you haven’t yet—but as we continue building our inventory, we would love to have your input. Please click here to fill out a quick survey and let us know what kinds of books you love most–and also what kinds of events are likely to entice you into the store.
Deep Winter Reading: Audiobook Classics to Keep You Warm
Each year when the days get short, I find myself wanting to dive deep into a long, sustaining book. I want a sprawling story to slip inside, a sustaining refuge until warmer weather comes. Often, too, I want the book to be read to me, as though I’m a child at bedtime for the length of the cold season. I love audiobooks all year round (they’re great for gardening!), but never more than in winter when the expert voice in my ears both comforts me and transports me elsewhere.
Holiday Books and Thoughts
Shopping for books at the holidays is different from buying books at other times of year. Choosing for others is not the same as choosing for ourselves. We think about our loved ones’ sensibilities, remembering what they like, considering how they see the world, and pondering what will bring them pleasure. Below are a handful of recommendations in several holiday shopping categories.
Books and beginnings
I once heard John Irving say, “A writer has exactly 47 seconds to hook a reader.” He was on a publicity tour for The World According to Garp. Its first line: “Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater.” That sentence made a lot of people keep reading. We wanted to find out why Jenny Fields had wounded a man, and how, and what happened after she got arrested. (Make the reader curious, then make them wait, says the writer Bret Anthony Johnston.)
About First Words
The first words of a book set the tone for what’s to come. The writer aims to draw you in immediately–to care about their characters, fall in love with their voice, and be curious about what will happen next. The First Words newsletter will offer recommendations we hope you’ll love–some new titles but also a lot of our favorites from recent years (and sometimes from long ago).
For many of our recommendations, we’ll pull out the first line and consider why the writer started here. What can we learn about what kind of book this is from its very first words? What expectations are set up? What keeps us reading? We hope this will give you a deeper sense of the book than a quick plot summary or teaser would, helping connect you to the right book at the right time.