Independent Bookstore Day at after-words bookstore

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April 22, 2021

 

Another quiet afternoon here at the bookstore.

 

With all the crazy in the world, we are still here.  I have learned to appreciate that daily, along with the support we continue to receive.

 

Again, my thanks to those of you who have come in to browse, despite the pandemic and our requirements in response to it.  I am also grateful to others who have shopped our store on Bookshop.org, bought gift certificates, donated books, or called or emailed us with words of support.

 

One customer who came by at the end of last year even posted a video of her visit on TikTok.  It went viral, and brought us quite a number of first time visitors.  To her, my heartfelt thanks.

 

Here is a link to the video, if you want to see it: https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?lang=en#/@souljagirlc/video/6910664781942885637--

 

By the way, if you are visiting us (or even if you aren’t), consider getting a meal from my neighbor, Star of Siam.  They are a local Thai restaurant and this pandemic has been hard on them, too.   We have been neighbors and friends for almost 25 years, and they have great food – super affordable.

 

Now, on to the news…

 

 

Earth Day, 2021

 

‘For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.’    —Jacques-Yves Cousteau

 

As we honor the earth this day, I am reminded of how fortunate we Chicago residents are to live beside the grandeur and majesty of one of the Great Lakes.   And to benefit from all they provide for us – drinking water, fish to eat, recreation, protection from extreme temperatures.  And. of course, the foreground for our iconic skyline.

 

We have many authors here at the store who have extolled the virtues of our natural landscape far more eloquently than I ever could.  From Walt Whitman with his classic Leaves of Grass - to modern writers like Peter Wolleben and his fascinating and romantic study on the possibility that trees are social beings The Hidden Life of Trees - writers have explored their surroundings with wit, intellect, and poetry.

 

Locally, Dan Egan examines our local landscape with his book Death and Life of the Great Lakes.   More globally, Barbara Kingsolver considers the meaning of shelter to the human condition in her brilliant novel Unsheltered. 

 

And, of course, nature has been kind enough to provide us the raw materials to create some truly extraordinary adult beverages.  So we celebrate those natural gifts in books like The Drunken Botanist.

 

This is just a small sampling of the riches available on our front table display this month.

 

 

 

April 24th, 2021

 

 

 

 

This Saturday, we are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day 2021!

 

And we have all kinds of goodies to help you celebrate with us.  Our friends at some of the major publishing houses have come up with specially priced Indie Bookstore Day editions of some of their books.  They have even released some new content and/or signed editions. Here are the books we will be putting on sale on Saturday:

 

 

Being Alive Is A Good Idea by Nikki Giovanni

$7

 

An edited transcript of the far-ranging conversation between Nikki Giovanni and Glory Edim (Well-Read Black Girl) at the fourth annual Well-Read Black Girl Festival in November 2020. In it they cover poetry, Tupac, Black Lives Matter, aliens, pencils, Kamala Harris, and much more.

 

 

 

 

In The Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill

$12.99

 

This scary story from the dark master and his apprentice begins with a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road.  They have heard the cries for help of a young boy - from beyond the tall grass. Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate. 

 

Originally published by Esquire magazine and released as a film on Netflix in 2019

 

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

Signed First Edition

 

$27

 

The new novel from the author of Annihilation, is a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things. Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best.   This novel wraps profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.

 

Exclusive extra content in the form of journal entries of an investigator digging onto the life of the main character

 

 

 

Embodied:  An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology

Exclusive foil cover and free poster included

Published 2 weeks before the regular edition releases

 

$16.99

 

 

Embodied brings contemporary American poetry to comic book readers and comics to poetry readers.

 

This unique volume is a graphic poetry anthology that showcases the relevance, urgency, and power of both genres.

 

It features new work on the themes of gender, identity, and the body from twenty-one of America’s premier, award-winning female, trans, and non-binary poets.

 

Rather than being merely illustrated, the poems have been adapted into sequential art stories drawn, lettered, and colored by top female, trans, and non-binary artists.

 

 

 

We also have in-store specials for customers who decide to visit us on Independent Bookstore Day:

 

Spend $20 or more, get a free poster of your choice

Poster #1

Poster #2

 

Spend $50 or more, get a free poster and

your choice between a Clifford plush red dog or a tote bag

 

Spend $75  or more and you get all 3

 

All promotional items will be available while supplies last.