Recycled

We're busy today, so I'm going just quote the original post from gizmodo.com, entitled "Some Germans Built This Outdoor Library Out Of Beer Crates."

"Designed by a group called KARO, the library started out as an art installation consisting of beer crates stacked up in an abandoned district center in Magdeburg, Germany. Now sheltered seating areas and extra cozy nooks constructed out of wood from an old warehouse have been added to complete this crazy design. I've got no clue how they keep books dry when it rains, but I definitely wanna snuggle up with a novel in one of those corners."

There are more photos here.--David E

Carl's Big Red Dream Book

Carl Jung's recently rediscovered Red Book records his visions of his own subconscious mind. The Swiss psychoanalyst never published it, perhaps out of a fear that he would be thought mad. A few years ago, a draft manuscript version of the book surfaced, and the work was eventually translated and is at last available to the public. (Read more about this story here and here.)

The BBC has posted more images from the book. You can see them here.

The Red Book has been a surprising hit--surprising not least because at $195.00 it's hardly an impulse purchase. The publisher is currently sold out and demand is strong. If you want a copy, call us and we'll order one for you when they become available again.--David E

Just Drawn that Way

The New York Times' ArtsBeat blog reports that director Jonathan Demme is planning a film adaptation of Dave Eggers' book Zeitoun. The book tells the story of a man who stayed behind Katrina-ravaged New Orleans to save his home. Demme is skirting the obvious difficulty of filming a flood by making an animated version of the story.

The Times reports that Demme was inspired not only by the book but also by it's cover. "'I was staring at the book,' Mr. Demme said in a telephone interview, 'and there’s this wonderful line drawing on the cover, the character of Zeitoun in his canoe, paddling through a submerged neighborhood. And I suddenly imagined, What if we could do an animated film and visualize the experiences of the Zeitoun family and all of New Orleans?'"

Details are here.--David E

Hurry Down, Reader

Times Literary Supplement columnist Michael Greenberg follows his acclaimed debut memoir--2008's Hurry Down Sunshine--with a collection of essays about the writer's life. He will read from Beg, Borrow, Steal Thursday, November 5, at 7:30pm, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

“In its detail, depth, richness, and sheer intelligence, Hurry Down Sunshine will be recognized as a classic of its kind, along with the memoirs of Kay Redfield Jamison and John Custance.”--Oliver Sacks, The New York Review of Books

Details are here.--David E

Flash Fiction by Kristin Swanson

Kristin Swason's short story "In the Event that I am not Paranoid" is this week's winner in our flash fiction competition miniStories. miniStories is a part of mnLIT, which is presented by Magers and Quinn Booksellers and mnartists.org.

All the winning stories, as well as the poems from our What Light contest will be published on magersandquinn.com and mnartists.org in the months to come. So come back soon!

Click here to read Kristin's story and to learn more about the mnLIT contest.--Jay P

Halloween Treat

The blog A Journey Round My Skull--which is a compendium of "Unhealthy book fetishism from a reader, collector, and amateur historian of forgotten literature"--has posted a fantastic series of aquatints by Alexander Alexeieff which accompanied an edition of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher printed in Maastricht, Holland by Halcyon Press in 1930. Emjoy them all here.--David E

Writing It Down

Hella Buchheim will discuss her book Remembering: Life Story Triggers at Magers & Quinn Booksellers--Tuesday, November 3, at 7:30pm.

Minneapolis author and personal historian Hella Buchheim has helped people remember and record the stories of their lives for the last five years. Her new book Remembering: Life Story Triggers and Memory Essays is a step-by-step guide to help people write a life memoir or story.

Buchheim originally designed a monthly newsletter which included her own childhood memories to stimulate thoughts and writing opportunities for others. Those essays have now been compiled into this book. Each story and list of triggers helps elicit memories of events not thought of in years. The book includes reflective questions and practical tips to help guide the writer from conception to idea gathering to printing.

Details are here.--David E

Ghost Stories

Halloween isn't over on the 31st. At 7:30pm, Monday, November 2, Annie Wilder will read from Spirits Out of Time, her collection of truly strange tales spanning generations of her sprawling yet close-knit Irish-American family.

At turns heartwarming and heart-pounding, Spirits Out of Time combines family oral history, memoir, and vintage photographs to chronicle the strange, spooky and sometimes even mystical stories of an otherwise down-to-earth Midwestern family. From her great-grandfather outsmarting the “death coach” coming for his daughter Maggie, to her great-grandmother seeing a falling star each time one of her children died, these personal vignettes illuminate the mysteries of the spirit world in ways that will touch anyone who has ever lost a loved one.

Details are on our events page.--David E

A Good Book Burning

Paster Marc Grizzard of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, NC, is bringing the community together this month for a "Halloween Book Burning." And it's not just any book that they're going to roast. It's the Bible itself. You see, the only true Bible is the King James translation. The other versions are just God's kindling.

If you're in the area, stop by and help out. No worries if you work up an appetite. According to the church's website, "We will be serving Bar-b-Que Chicken, fried chicken, and all the sides."

Last but not least, here's something you won't read much on this blog: Thanks to Fox News for the catch.--David E

Stocking Stuffer

Dylan Meconis' Grammar Nerd Corrective Label Pack lets you "dole out frontier-style grammar justice." Just affix the stickers to offending verbiage to instantly transform any error into a teaching moment.

Buy yours at the Temple of Commerce.--David E

We're Number 61!

Magers & Quinn is number sixty-one on a recent list of Twittering bookstores, ranked by the number of people following them. Granted there are some cults out there with ten thousand followers, but we're not aiming for world domination or anything. We're just getting out the word about events and spreading the word on some of the quirky things going on in the book world.

Follow us on Twitter here.--David E

Tote that Bale... or Book

The new crop of Magers & Quinn totebags is in--and they're blue this time. Get them while they last. They're a bargain at $2.99.--David E

Who Loves You, Baby?

Saved: Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform is a collection of 28 true stories from coast to coast about people healing the damage done to animals and how animals heal suffering humans--with outstanding and moving photographs by Judy Olausen. Dr. Jane Goodall calls it "inspired"; author Jim Harrison calls it "an extraordinarily poignant book… a road map for our possible redemption;" and New York Times-bestselling writer Susan Richards hails it as "an homage to the profound power of mutual healing. A definitive and compassionate book and essential reading for the new century."

Author and Twin Cities journalist Karin Winegar will be at Magers & Quinn to discuss her new book on Friday, October 30, at 7:30pm. Details are here.--David E

Local Man

You Can't Do That: Marv Davidov, Non-violent Revolutionary follows the career of Marv Davidov from his years in the Army (He received an honorable discharge "for the good of the army"), living among the Beats on the U of M campus, participating in the Freedom Rides that helped bring racial integration to the American South, and on to rallies, conferences, and demonstrations in Minnesota serving to raise public awareness of locally manufactured bombs and weapons designed to kill and maim. “I write good letters from prison,” says Davidov, who has been arrested over 50 times for acts of civil disobedience.

Marv will be discussing his new memoir Thursday, October 29, at 7:30pm, at Magers & Quinn. Details are here.--David E

Bring Your Appetite

Four hungry brothers. Three ravenous sons. A husband who loves to eat. Lucinda Scala Quinn has spent much of her life feeding the men and boys in her life and teaching them how to feed themselves. Now Scala Quinn--chef, television personality, and Martha Stewart Omnimedia's resident food guru--shares winning strategies for how to sate the seemingly insatiable, trade food for talk, and get men to manage in the kitchen.

Along with her cooking techniques and survival strategies ("Never be caught without bacon"), Mad Hungry includes Quinn's musings about life in a predominantly male household and provides empowering advice to feed guys' spirits as well as fill their bellies. With her help, homemade meals become second nature, nourishing both diner and cook.

Lucinda Scala Quinn will be at Magers & Quinn at 7:30pm on Wednesday, October 28. Details are on our events page.--David E

Read Todd Pederson's winning poem "Flatiron: On Market Sunday"

Todd Pederson's poem "Flatiron: On Market Sunday" was selected by poet Dobby Gibson (author of Skirmish)as this week's winner in our What Light Poetry Contest.

All the winning stories, as well as the poems from our What Light contest will be published on magersandquinn.com and mnartists.org in the months to come. So come back soon!

Click here to read Todd's poem and to learn more about the What Light contest.--Jay P

Joni Tevis at the West Bank Social Center

Join me and the crew over at the West Bank Social Center for a reading by Joni Tevis. Joni's book The Wet Collection was one of my favorite books of 2007. She'll be reading from that book as well as excerpts from a forthcoming book about ghost towns and atomic frontiers.

Hope to see you there!--Jay P.

What's Up(stairs)?

We get a lot of questions about our upstairs neighbors. They're a design firm called mono, and they have some pretty snazzy digs. Charlie Lazor--of Flatpak house and Lazor Office--worked with mono co-founder Chris Lange to design the second floor space. You can tour their office--virtually, that is--courtesy of officesnapshots.com and see the results.--David E

Reading Green

Dutch design magazine designboom is back with a rocking chair that powers its own reading light. Says the designer, Rochus Jacob, "Advanced nano-dynamo technology which is built in to the skids of the chair and more efficient light sources such as the newly developed OLED generation makes it possible to build a rocking chair with a reading lamp running on electricity generated from the rocking motion. During daylight the energy gets stored in a battery pack."

Thanks to are Treehugger for the catch.--David E

Straight Up

On Saturday, October 24, Rachel Coyne will be at Magers & Quinn to read from her new novel Whiskey Heart at 7:00pm. Alcohol is the villain in this novel, and Coyne tells her story of grief and redemption in a heightened language that will captivate readers. It’s a literary soap opera that forces its narrator to deal with one predicament after another in a world of anger, denial, and moments of fierce joy. When Rachel Coyne was fifteen, her estranged father entered alcohol rehab after drinking himself into a coma that lasted so long he claims he heard the dead whispering to him.

“Whiskey Heart lays bare the destructive power of family love, and yet Coyne’s voice--as clear and sweet as water--charges the novel with a visionary light. Rich in character, place, and incident, the story moves like fate toward its final chapter.”--Lin Enger

“Coyne understands the human heart--she knows all the dark corners, twisted by the heat and hurt of love, and she knows the odd paths back from ruin. I couldn’t put it down.”--Jonis Agee

Details of this event are here.--David E