Would you read Jane Eyre if the cover looked like Twilight?

Inquiring minds want to know.

We were recently interviewed on Fox 9 News about the marketing of classics, such as Jane Eyre and Romeo and Juliet, to appeal to the new teen reader. Is it working? Are kids lured in by the gothic covers of young girls in billowing dresses standing on a cliff?

Our very own, Aaron, says no.

"From our experience, I don't think the repackaging really makes much of a difference," said Aaron Rosenberg. "Our customers come in and buy used books and new books."

Here's the full story and video clip.

Marketing has definitely worked to boost the paranormal and dystopian genre within the young adult world. But I think content rules out. Teens want a good story, with characters they can relate to. And to most teens, reading is serious business and a serious passion.

If they want to read Wuthering Heights, they'll read it. Putting a Robert Pattinson-like boy on the cover, brooding and handsome, won't affect the serious teen reader too much.

What's your opinion, dear readers?

Walker Place Book Fair

Our thanks to Ashley and all of the residents at Walker Place in 
Minneapolis for making our book fair last week so much fun. 

The many book loving residents at Walker Place maintain a beautiful library 

and have an active book club. 

Recent book club reads 
have included The Master Butchers Singing Club and The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. 

They graciously welcomed
Magers and Quinn and the fair at which books on history, local interest 
and mysteries were favorites.
A portion of the proceeds went back to Walker to be used for their library.

Author Kelly Fern 

Local authors Colin T. Nelson (Fallout), Jessie 
Chandler (Hide and Snake Murder) and Kelly Fern
(Songs of my Families) joined us. 

A thanks goes to them as 
well for sharing their time and company. 

Author Jessie Chandler

Similar to the book fairs done at schools, Magers and Quinn partners 
with local senior residences to bring books to seniors and to help raise money for their 
libraries or other special initiatives. 

Life is good when for a few hours it brings 
together books and people who love to talk books.

For more information please contact 

Gary Mazzone at 612-822-4611.

The Blog is back!

  Hello dear Readers,

It has been some time since our last post. Slowly but surely we are coming back. Update your Google Readers, tell your friends, spread the word. Stay tuned for more exciting news from all of us here at Magers and Quinn Booksellers.

Cheers!

Meet Henry Rollins and See the World at M&Q

For the past twenty-five years, Henry Rollins has searched out the most desolate corners of the Earth—from Iraq to Afghanistan, Thailand to Mali, and beyond--articulating his observations through music and words, on radio and television, and in magazines and books. Though he’s known for the raw power of his expression, Rollins has shown that the greatest statements can be made with the simplest of acts: to just bear witness, to be present.

In his new book Occupants, Rollins pairs visceral full-color photographs--taken in Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and elsewhere over the last few years--with writings that not only provide context and magnify the impact of the images but also lift them to the level of political commentary. Simply put, this book is a visual testimony of anger, suffering, and resilience. Occupants will help us realize what is so easy to miss when tragedy and terror become numbing, constant forces--the quieter, stronger forces of healing, solidarity, faith, and even joy.

You can meet Henry Rollins, see more photographs, and learn much more at M&Q tomorrow. Rollins will be in the store at 7:30pm, Wednesday, October 19. Details are here.--David E

Susan Niz's new novel Kara Lost has gotten great reviews. Alison McGhee called it "a masterful debut,” and David Housewright thinks it's “smart as hell."

Sixteen-year-old Kara fless the suffocation of her surburban life, trading in her home and family for a gritty, anonymous existence on the streets of Minneapolis. She begins a perilous journey, naive, well-intentioned, and isolated as she struggles to reconnect with her older sister.

Part of the book's charm also comes from it's setting: Uptown in the 1980s. If you visited M&Q when it first opened 17 years ago, you'll recognize Niz's description of the neighborhood:

Walking down the street, I asked myself what was so exciting about Uptown in the first place. There was plenty to look at, that's for sure. People with nose rings and spikes and patches on their black clothes. Fire-engine red and eggplant-plant purple hair, dyed with this Manic Panic stuff, drew attention from a block away. I had always shown up as is, looking suburban or not. I would watch the people as they panhandled for money to buy a case of beer, a meal, or a pack of smokes. In Uptown, I got off by Calhoun Square and walked the block toward McDonald's. There were more street kids out in the April weather than when I left in February, but most of them wouldn't come out until after dark. Looking down at the sidewalk dotted with embedded wads of gray gum, I wondered what had been so fun about hanging out there. All I wanted was a safe little place to live and I could give up ever going there again.

Susan Niz comes to M&Q at 7:30pm, next Tuesday, September 27, to read from her new novel Kara, Lost.--David E

Cookbook recommendations from Chef Lucia Watson

If it weren't for a steady diet of tea, coffee, soups, salads, sandwiches (and cookies!) from Lucia's To Go, just around the corner from our store, we here at Magers & Quinn would have a difficult time doing much of anything. We asked Lucia Watson herself to recommend a handful of her favorite cookbooks. Here's what she had to say.
M&Q:How long have you been in business? And why?
LW:: "26 years!!! For 26 years, Lucia's has been creating weekly menus, selecting delicious wines and greeting our wonderful customers! Our Restaurant, Wine Bar, and Lucia's To Go are inspired by high quality local foods, exceptional cooking, and genuine hospitality. The seasonal, nourishing, and cultural properties of cooking continue to be our passion.

1. Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi "My newest love is a book called Plenty by London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi. It's just vegetables. So inspiring and so beautiful!"
2. Simple French Food by Richard Olney "To me, this is the authentic hands on book that describes how to cook the way the French do. I just love this book. I go back to it over and over..."
3. Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland by Lucia Watson and Beth Dooley "Can I say my own book? It is true that it is the one I turn to always for the basics of how I like to cook: seasonal foods, roasted chicken, soups, etc."

"Other books I love and refer to frequently are Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller, The River Cafe Books by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers and all of Deborah Madison's books ."M&Q is full of good cookbooks. Come by today to find the right one for you.

Brooklyn, Burning Is Hot Reading

Steve Brezenoff--one of Minnesota Monthly's recent "Artists We Love"--reads from his latest novel at Magers & Quinn this Friday. Join us at 7:30pm, Friday, August 26, for a rather adult Young Adult reading.

When you're sixteen and no one understands who you are, sometimes the only choice left is to run. If you're lucky, you find a place that accepts you, no questions asked. And if you're really lucky, that place has a drum set, a place to practice, and a place to sleep. For Kid, the streets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, are that place. Over the course of two scorching summers, Kid falls hopelessly in love and then loses nearly everything and everyone worth caring about.

Brooklyn, Burning is a fearless and unconventional love story that addresses the challenges of teens questioning their gender or sexuality. Throughout the entire book, Brezenoff never identifies the gender of his two main characters, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions about Kid and Scout.

Steve Brezenoff is the author of two young adult novels, The Absolute Value of -1 and Brooklyn, Burning (both published by Minneapolis-based Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group). Born in Queens, Steve spent much of his twenties and early thirties living in Brooklyn. He writes about Greenpoint, the northern-most Brooklyn neighborhood, in vivid and unmistakable detail. Steve left his apartment in Greenpoint when he moved to Minnesota with his dog, Harry. It was in that apartment that he proposed to his wife, Beth (the reason he moved to Minnesota). He lives in St. Paul with Beth, their son, Sam, and Harry.

Punch-Worthy Events

Three local bookstores (Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Common Good Books, and Micawbers), three local publishers (Graywolf Press, Milkweed Editions, and Coffee House Press), one literary journal (Rain Taxi Review of Books), and the Loft Literary Center have joined forces to offer the TCLPC. Attendees can get their cards punched--as you'd do at any coffee shop--at readings and other literary events. After twelve punches, the punch card becomes a fifteen dollar gift certificate.

Join Twin Cities literary organizations for a happy hour gathering--5:00pm, Wednesday, September 14, at Club Jäger (923 Washington Ave. N, Minneapolis). Receive your Literary Punch Card, learn about the card and the events coming this fall, drink punch, and celebrate the vibrant literary community. Oh and get punched for the first time (at least by us)!

Details on the program are at www.litpunch.com.

Tuula

We love our animal friends here at Magers and Quinn. Not only do almost all of us have one or more pets, but one of them, Tuula, a 1.5 year old Poodle/Miniature Pinscher mix, visits the store. Tuula, as the Finns spell it, is shy and spends her time at the store napping and, at times, venturing out for treats. If she had to choose, her favorite books would be Bones: Those Delicious Treats and 20 Places to Bury Them Indoors by Ima Dog, The Joy of Chasing Squirrels by Miniature Pinscher, Poodle: The Seven Most Highly Effective Ways to Be Cute, Just by Being Yourself by The Poodle Association.

Wine Book Recommendations by La Belle Vie's Bill Summerville

With more than 16 years of restaurant experience, Bill Summerville has developed his own following; his attention to detail and taste in wines have been responsible for creating some of the best wine lists in the Twin Cities. One of La Belle Vie's three owners, Bill is the restaurant's managing director. With a residence mere blocks from the store, he can often be found strolling through our enormous cookbook selection.

Here are a few of Bill's recommendations for all you budding oenophiles out there:

"Karen McNeil’s Wine Bible is hands down the best overall book on wine. And it's written in a style that is so easy to read and understand."

"Anything, and I mean anything, by Andrew Jefford - articles, blogs, everything - but I especially like The New France. He writes on a level that is not for the beginner, but that does not mean a beginner should not read it as it will spark more interest on the more complex topics."

"Champagne by Don & Petie Kladstrup. Great look at the history of the amazingly tenacious people of Champagne."

"What to Drink with What You Eat by Dornenburg and Page is a great book on pairing written in a manner that makes it easy to understand with lots of great examples from sommeliers and chefs."

"Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's Drink This: Wine Made Simple is great because she makes some very good points that other wine writers don’t approach."

Retail Life

After losing her job as a journalist, Caitlin Kelly was hard up for cash. When she saw that The North Face--an upscale outdoor clothing company--was hiring at her local mall, she went for an interview almost on a whim. She tells the story of what happened next in her book Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail and at M&Q. She'll be in the store at 7:30pm, Thursday, August 11. Details are here.

Suddenly she found herself, middle-aged and mid-career, thrown headfirst into the bizarre alternate reality of the American mall: a world of low-wage workers selling overpriced goods to well-to-do customers. At first, Kelly found her part-time job fun and reaffirming, a way to maintain her sanity and sense of self-worth. But she describes how the unexpected physical pressures, the unreasonable dictates of a remote corporate bureaucracy, and the dead-end career path eventually took their toll. As she struggled through more than two years at the mall, despite surgeries, customer abuse, and corporate inanity, Kelly gained a deeper understanding of the plight of the retail worker.

In the tradition of Nickel and Dimed, Malled challenges our assumptions about the world of retail, documenting one woman's struggle to find meaningful work in a broken system.

A regular contributor to The New York Times since 1990, Caitlin Kelly has also written for USA Today, New York Daily News, Toronto Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Glamour, and More. Born and raised in Canada, she has lived in the U.S. since 1988.--David E

Spooky Minnesota

M&Q brings you great Minnesota-made young adult fiction when Rebecca Davis reads from Chasing AllieCat--Monday, July 25, at 7:30pm.

Dumped with relatives in a small Minnesota town for the summer, Sadie Lester is relying on her mountain bike to save her from total boredom. Then she meets Allie, a spiky-haired off-road mountain biker who's training for a major race. Allie leads Sadie and Joe, a cute fellow cyclist, up and down Mount Kato, and the three become close friends. But the exhilarating rush comes to a halt when they find a priest in the woods, badly beaten and near death. After calling for help, Allie disappears from their lives.

As they search for Allie and try to find out why she left so suddenly, Sadie and Joe discover more about Allie's past, including her connection to the priest. Only on the day of the big race does Sadie finally learn the complete, startling truth about Allie--and the terrible secret that forced her into hiding.

Rebecca Fjelland Davis, of Good Thunder, MN, is a serious cyclist and the author of Jake Riley: Irreparably Damaged. She teaches English and humanities at South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota. Visit her online at www.rebeccafjellanddavis.com.

Details on this and all our author events are here.--David E

A Real Gem

If you missed last night's reading by Sapphire, you missed a good time. The poet and author of Push gave a mesmerizing reading from her new novel The Kid.

But don't despair. We'll post video of the event soon at www.youtube.com/magersandquinn.--David E

From Down South to Up North

Author Ben Westhoff discusses his book Dirty South: Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Thursday, July 21. Details are here.

Rap music from New York and Los Angeles once ruled the charts, but nowadays the southern sound thoroughly dominates the radio, Billboard, and MTV. Coastal artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and Ice-T call southern rap “garbage,” but they’re probably just jealous, as artists like Lil Wayne and T.I. still move millions of copies, and OutKast has the bestselling rap album of all time.

In Dirty South, author Ben Westhoff investigates the southern rap phenomenon, watching rappers “make it rain” in a Houston strip club and partying with the 2 Live Crew’s Luke Campbell. Westhoff visits the gritty neighborhoods where T.I. and Lil Wayne grew up, kicks it with Big Boi in Atlanta, and speaks with artists like DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez, dance-craze originators accused of setting back the black race fifty years. Acting both as investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff probes the celebrated-but-dark history of Houston label Rap-A-Lot Records, details the lethal rivalry between Atlanta MCs Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and gets venerable rapper Scarface to open up about his time in a mental institution. Dirty South features exclusive interviews with the genre’s most colorful players. Westhoff has written a journalistic tour de force, the definitive account of the most vital musical culture of our time.

“Ben Westhoff possesses the ear of a skilled hip-hop critic, the cadence of a poet, and the nerves of a pro boxer. Dirty South reveals not just the grit and spirit of Southern hip-hop, but the intensity of old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting--mixed with a dash of Gonzo journalism for good measure.” --Mara Shalhoup, author of BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family

“Ben Westhoff brings journalism back to hip-hop, and hip-hop back to journalism, by reclaiming the lost art of reporting. As a result, Dirty South is a most fascinating trip through Southern hip-hop’s origins and current reign. Great book.”--Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop

Ben Westhoff is a former staff writer for St. Louis’ Riverfront Times, whose work has also appeared in the Village Voice, Creative Loafing, Spin, and Pitchfork.--David E

American Gothic

Donald Ray Pollock will read from his chilling new novel The Devil All the Time at Magers & Quinn--7:30pm, Tuesday, July 19. Details are here.

Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain.

“Pollock--who spent three decades working at an Ohio paper mill before his 2008 story collection, Knockemstiff (the name of his real-life hometown), garnered widespread acclaim--doesn’t get a word wrong in this super-edgy American Gothic stunner.”--Elle Magazine

Donald Ray Pollock, recipient of the 2009 PEN/Bingham Fellowship, made his literary debut in 2008 with the critically acclaimed story collection, Knockemstiff, of which the San Francisco Chronicle said, “This is as raw as American fiction gets. It is an unforgettable experience.” Pollock worked as a laborer at the Mead Paper Mill in Chillicothe, Ohio, from 1973 to 2005. He holds an MFA from Ohio State University.--David E

Local History, Part 3

To compile their new book Lyn-Lake, Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips drew upon both private and public collections to bring together a fascinating compilation of seldom-seen images from the area 's long and often quirky past. They'll visit M&Q on July 14, to share stories from the neighborhood.One of the photos from the book is this early shot of the Wedge Co-op.(Click it to see a larger version.)
As interest in the co-op increased, the Wedge outgrew its space and moved to an old 7-Eleven on Lyndale Avenue just south of Franklin Avenue. Membership and sales continued to grow, and by 1991 the co-op’s membership coordinator, Elizabeth Archerd, said that it was “a supermarket by industry standards . . . operating out of a convenience store.” In 1992, the Wedge tripled its space in a new building adjacent to the 7-Eleven. Dan Foley, the general manager of the co-op in 1992, said that the expansion was a “reflection of the community needs” as “it was so crowded, people couldn’t shop there. The customers wanted more selection, more room, more hours, more service, and healthy, natural foods and organic foods.” Not everyone was happy with the expansion. Prior to opening, vandals dumped buckets of paint in the store and tried to it up by opening propane gas tanks. However, the community embraced the store, and the Wedge saw memberships increase from 550 to 6,000 between 1991 and 1998. (Photo by Jeremy Nichols.)
Learn more about Lyn-Lake's past when Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Phillips discuss their new book at M&Q--7:30pm, Thursday, July 14. Details are here.--David E

Local History, Part 2

To compile their new book Lyn-Lake, Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Imboden Phillips drew upon both private and public collections to bring together a fascinating compilation of seldom-seen images from the area 's long and often quirky past. They'll visit M&Q on July 14, to share stories from the neighborhood.
One of the photos from the book is this picture of the CC Club in its early days. (Click it to see a larger version.)
The CC Tap, now the CC Club, has stood on the corner of Twenty-sixth Street and Lyndale Avenue since 1934, when it first opened to serve thirsty Lyn-Lake residents eager to raise a glass to the end of Prohibition. It is shown here in 1967. Nearly two decades later, the bar was memorialized in The Replacements’ song, “Here Comes a Regular.” (Minnesota Historical Society; photograph by Norton and Peel.)
Learn more about Lyn-Lake's past when Thatcher Imboden and Cedar Phillips discuss their new book at M&Q--7:30pm, Thursday, July 14. Details are here.--David E

Crazy Good

The world took notice of Lynne Jonell in March, 2010, when President Obama bought a copy of her book The Secret of Zoom during a stop in Iowa City. Minnesotans, however, have long recognized the talented author in our midst. Lynne Jonell visits Magers & Quinn to read from the third book in the acclaimed Emmy series, Emmy and the Rats in the Belfry--1:00pm, Saturday, July 16, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers.

Emmy is just an ordinary girl who can talk to rats. She can shrink to the size of a rodent, too. And just a few weeks ago, she even became a rodent to defeat her evil former nanny, Miss Barmy, and save some little girls from a fate worse than death.

But Emmy’s parents do not know about their daughter’s other life. So when mysterious things start happening that Emmy seems to be lying about, they ship her off to visit two elderly aunts in order to learn responsibility. Ratty, her rodent friend, comes along to search for his long-lost mother in Schenectady; and other friends of Emmy’s get involved in the search, too. Little do they know that Miss Barmy, bent on revenge, will follow.

Lynne Jonell lives in Plymouth, Minnesota, with her husband. She teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Learn more at www.lynnejonell.com.--David E

A Fall Preview

Magers & Quinn is pleased to announce a reading by “the best English novelist working today” (Guardian). Alan Hollinghurst will read from his novel The Stranger's Child at M&Q at 7:30pm, Thursday, October 27.

The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst’s first novel in seven years, is a magnificent, century-spanning saga about a love triangle that spawns a myth--and a family mystery--across generations. In 1913, George Sawle brings charming, handsome Cecil Valance to his family’s modest home outside London for a summer weekend. George is enthralled by his Cambridge schoolmate, and soon his sixteen-year-old sister, Daphne, is equally besotted by both Cecil and the stories he tells about Corley Court, the country estate he is heir to. But what Cecil writes in Daphne’s autograph album will change their and their families’ lives forever: a poem that, after Cecil is killed in the Great War and his reputation burnished, will be recited by every schoolchild in England. Over time, a tragic love story is spun, even as other secrets lie buried--until, decades later, an ambitious biographer threatens to unearth them.

UK press on The Stranger's Child has been very good. The Guardian called the book "one of the British literary world's most keenly awaited events", and said "Hollinghurst has a strong, perhaps unassailable claim to be the best English novelist working today."

Alan Hollinghurst is the author of The Swimming-Pool Library, The Folding Star, The Spell, and The Line of Beauty, which won the Man Booker Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has received the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. He lives in London.

Sapphire reads from her novel "The Kid"

Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award–winning film adaptation Precious, Sapphire brings us the story of Precious's son, Abdul. You can meet the author when she visits Magers & Quinn next week summer--7:30pm, Friday, July 15.

A story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind.

In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday; from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty-first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire.

Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry and the bestselling novel Push. The film adaption of her novel, Precious (2009), received the Academy Award for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, in addition to the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Awards in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance. In 2009 she was a recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship. She lives in New York City.

Details on this and all our events are here.--David E