Did you know...?

...that we have some wonderful displays up throughout the store? Perhaps you are a creature of habit and only go to your favorite spot? Well, let me give you a virtual tour of some amazing books and sections we are highlighting these days.

 The Teen Reader. It's not just The Hunger Games. LOOK at all of those fabulous covers. I see some fanciful, adventurous reads (Wildwood by Colin Meloy), some thoughtful teen angst (Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer) and some heart tragic love drama ( Wake by Amanda Hocking, local author by the way!)

 Then we head over to something a little darker. A little Finnish crime fiction? Oh yes, sign me up. The world of genre fiction is bigger than you Girl with that Dragon Tattoo. Local publisher Ice Cold Crime has the scoop of what edgy book to read next.

 Okay, so maybe super charged Finnish crime fiction is not for you. Perhaps you would like to learn another language? Why stop at Spanish or French? How about try a little Hindi or Arabic? We got a whole shipment of language tapes and books. Come and check them out!

These are just a few around the store. Stop on in and take a tour. You may find something new!

Customer Reviews #1

We value our customers. 

We learn from our customers. 

Our customers are voracious readers and we love that!

To highlight some of the fabulous folks that come through our doors, we would like to start a feature called Customer Reviews. (pretty catchy, huh?)

Our very first loyal customer to share their review with us is Mary. Here is what she thinks of the upcoming new release by local author Louise Erdrich, The Round House, due out October 2 from Harper Collins.

The Round House

 "Edrich has a written a real winner here. Louise weaves an excellent story within the lives of a close knit Native American family in the 1970's. A time of National growth and economic despair were the average American is trying to figure out how this "new" Individualism will survive without losing the basics of being part of a family. Discover life on a Midwest reservation. Joe, a teenager, struggles with coming of age, keeping his most sacred of Native traditions; family, honor and spirit."

Mary, one of our awesome customers

Interested in sharing with us your thoughts on a great book? Stop by and talk to Michelle.  

No lengthy essays needed. Just a few thoughts would suffice.

Be our Guest, Be our Guest!

The Lovely Ladies of  Scandia Shores Senior Housing

 We had the pleasure of hosting a tour of our bookstore just a few weeks back with the lovely ladies of Scandia Shores Senior Housing of Shoreview. Gary, our Outreach and Sales Manager, led the tour along with several other staff members.They feasted on cookies and learned about the wonderful history of our store and the building. They also learned some of the ins and outs of independent bookselling. 

Gary and Emma

Their feedback warmed our hearts. The residents were quoted as saying, "You will never know what this means to me!"  This makes us feel wonderful! We enjoy giving back to our community and showing to others what we do every day.

We are open to giving tours to groups who are interested. Please contact Gary Mazzone at 612-822-4611. Emma, one of our fabulous shop dogs, can also be a part of the tour!

Welcome Dylan Hicks, our new bookseller.

Just kidding.

He isn't really our new employee but he does read a heck of a lot. During his book signing event a few weeks back, he let us know some of his favorites. 

Curious to know what he recommends?

Check these out.

We gave him his own display.

That's how we roll. 

Mystery Train by Greil Marcus

Stone Arabia by Dana Spiotta

Actual Air by David Berman and Let's Talk About Love: a journey to the end of taste by Carl Wilson

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

Chronicles by Bob Dylan and Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang

Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus

If you want more, read his book Boarded Windows. Actually, read that one first. You can find that on his display too.

Dog Days of Summer

You didn't think summer was over, did you?

We are still knee deep in summer reading, folks especially for the students of Southwest and Blake High Schools.

Students have been reading. And it's not just The Hunger Games.

We are fortunate to have been working with these wonderful schools in ensuring we have the books that are on the reading lists. Displays for both schools have been up for the last few months and we keep the very extensive lists at our front registers for easy access.

Non-fiction titles like Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov,The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, and Out of Africa Isak Dinesen are just a few of the eclectic mix these students get to choose from.

Fiction titles include Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and The Call of the Wild by Jack London and Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

Far from The Hunger Games and Divergent but students are buying them, from what I have witnessed, with enthusiasm.

We are so excited to supply the books for these students that we offer a 10% discount to each student who makes their own purchase (and shows their student ID).

You may see some Back to School ads out there but here at Magers and Quinn, we are still kickin' back enjoying our summer reading.