The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan

What would you do?

This would make a great book club question for a late-night discussion of The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan. (St. Martin's Griffin, May, 2013).

What would you do if your ex-husband died, leaving you with two grieving children, but also a second wife and a new baby who come knocking, asking for your help? 

Before you give a quick magnanimous answer, what if the second wife is way younger than you, and by that I mean young enough to sport a tattoo? And what if she'd been your husband's mistress before your divorce?

It's getting complicated, isn't it? 

But yet, your children have a connection with their stepmom and the baby. They spend every other weekend together. You can't just slam the door in their face like you're  dying to.

It's a great premise for a book, isn't it? There's plenty more good stuff within the pages that you'll just have to discover for yourself. There are betrayals and discoveries, surprises and secrets. But most of all, it's a lovely story of unlikely friendships, forgiveness and what it means to be a  family. 

If you're interested, we hope you'll stop by The Bookstore on Thursday, May 30th at 7pm for a reading and book signing by Amy Sue Nathan. She's got her own interesting story behind the book that we think you'll love to hear. Please join us!

May Staff Pick at The Bookstore

The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan

St. Martin's Griffin paperback ($14.95)

On Sale May 14, 2013

For more author information: http://amysuenathan.com

Chicago Author Month: John McNally Appearing October 14th

Ghosts of Chicago by native Chicagoan John McNally has been released in paperback just in time for Halloween.

I know what you're thinking: creepy noises in the middle of the night, a cold white mist? Actually, not that kind of ghost. The ghosts in this book are different, and so much better. They're lost souls, dead or alive, searching for someone to listen to their lovely, haunting stories.

This short story collection includes a series of stories written in the imagined voices of lost Chicago legends, including John Belushi, Gene Siskel, Walter Payton, Richard J. Daley, George Pullman and Nelson Algren. This is really creative stuff: imagine Walter Payton and Refrigerator Perry on a road trip after the '85 Superbowl, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert in a snowball fight, or John Belushi remembering the acres of pot fields near Champaign, Illinois. For native Chicagoans, there is even a story about WGN's Creature Features and the silent goose. (The same goose my husband's side of the family always brings up when they're "in their cups" and reminiscing about their Chicago area childhood.)

One of the things I love about short story collections, especially for book clubs, is the way you can pick out your favorite stories and compare your list with others. My favorites in this book included The Immortals and the strange and funny so-called Contributor's Notes at the end. At first you wonder why anyone's Notes would be so long (26 pages), but you give McNally the benefit of the doubt. An introductory paragraph is the funniest and most honest author biography I've ever read, but you'll be left puzzling for days, how much is fiction? Check it out:

"After attending a famous writers' workshop in the Midwest, he worked as a short-order cook, bouncer, grave digger, lumberjack, carnival barker, florist, disc jockey, and busboy. Most recently, he was employed as a groundskeeper. He has no permanent place of residence. He owns a 1976 Ford LTD, inside of which he could, if necessary, store all his worldly possessions, This is his first published story."

For fans of McNally's novel After the Workshop, Contributor's Notes offers more sharp wit and McNally's smart, satirical take on the pretensions and idiocy of the publishing world and the creative writing programs that feed it.


Perfect, then, that McNally has also written The Creative Writer's Survival Guide: Advice From an Unrepentant Novelist, a "subjective and idiosyncratic take on the writing life." It's an honest guidebook for aspiring writers who want the truth, and not just the "you can do it!" reassurance of family, friends and many magazines and writing conferences.

Whether you're an aspiring writer or merely a reader who appreciates good, smart fiction, please join us for an evening of cocktails, cheese and crackers with John McNally on Thursday, October 14th from 7:00-8:30pm. We will mingle and chat from 7-7:30, and then we'll hear John talk about his books. (I for one am dying to know about John's supposed jobs as a lumberjack and carnival barker.) Book signing to follow. Please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us to let us know you're coming. We'd hate to run out of cheese.

Ghosts of Chicago was another great discovery for Chicago Area Author Month. You can find this and McNally's other books on our new Chicago Area Author Shelf at The Bookstore. Highly recommended.

October is Chicago Area Writers Month at The Bookstore

Welcome to our month long celebration of Chicago area writers. Throughout the month of October, The Bookstore and its blogging partner Jen Karsbaek ("Devourer of Books") will feature book reviews, author events, book discussions and guest posts with Chicago area authors.

Together, we will be reviewing new books by debut authors, new releases by some of Chicago's well known authors, as well as some of our old favorites by Chicago literary heroes. In addition, The Bookstore be celebrating the introduction of its new Chicago Area Author Shelf, which will include these books as well as many other Chicago notables.

We hope you can join us for our various Chicago Area Writers events in October. The first is on Thursday, October 14th at 7pm with native Chicagoan John McNally. McNally is the author of Ghosts of Chicago (a Chicagoland Indie Bestseller, 2008), After The Workshop (Indie Next Pick and Bookstore Staff Pick 2010), the Creative Writers Survival Guide and more. McNally will talk about his books and give advice to aspiring writers from his guide book. Free wine and cheese with the purchase of at least one of his books. Please call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail to register.

There is a Halloween Open House event for families planned on Saturday, October 16th from 2-5pm, featuring Glen Ellynite J.D. Gordon, author of Kritterkreep, a spooky middle grade/junior high school level Halloween story set right in Glen Ellyn. The open house will include free candy, silly bandz, coloring pages and raffles. Anyone who purchases a copy of Gordon's book will be invited to join in free pumpkin painting. Pumpkins may be purchased outside The Bookstore (proceeds going to St. Mark's DuPage PADS Pumpkin Patch fund) or at St. Mark's. For every book purchased, Gordon will donate $2 back to St. Mark's Pumpkin Patch. Support your local bookstore, a local author, and the local homeless all at the same time.


Finally, mark your calendars for Thursday, October 28th at 7pm for a Chicago Author Night Party at The Bookstore. Area readers and writers are invited to share wine and cheese, and enjoy a book discussion with area authors, including Kevin Guilfoile and Joelle Charbonneau. Kevin is from LaGrange, and is the author of the hot new thriller set in Chicago, The Thousand. Joelle is the debut author of the fun, sexy mystery, Skating Around the Law.

In the meantime, stay tuned to The Bookstore's and Devourer of Books' blogs for more news about our exciting line-up of events and reviews. And stop in to check out our new Chicago Area Author Shelf at The Bookstore. Local authors interested in getting their book on our new bookshelf should come introduce themselves at our events!

Treat Yourself to a Good Chuckle This Saturday, Come Meet Local Author Charlene Ann Baumbich

On Saturday, June 6th, local award-winning author and humorist Charlene Ann Baumbich will be at The Bookstore to sign copies of her latest book, Don't Miss Your Life!: An Uncommon Guide to Living with Freedom, Laughter, and Grace (paperback, $14.99). You don't want to miss this event! Charlene's irresitable charm will brighten your day.

Publisher's Weekly gave the book warm praise: "[Baumbich] has set out to accomplish what few Christian humorists have succeeded in achieving: making her readers laugh deep from the belly while simultaneously trouncing on their faulty “religious” beliefs. Baumbich's writing style is such that readers will feel as though she's conversing with herself and they are her most fortunate eavesdropping audience. . . . Readers are also treated to poignant essays on the power of imagination, the importance of questioning assumptions, awakening every sense, living in a balanced way or falling with a splat. Baumbich's text is just what the doctor ordered for a time such as this; laughter is good medicine indeed and there are plenty of guffaws to be found on every page. "

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of Charlene's latest book, and I found myself really touched by her insights. Thanks to Charlene, I now have a special bowl with little objects I just hadn't known what to do with, like my dad's dog tags and my grandmother's rosary. Now I feel a little grace every time I pass by my bowl. And that's just one little idea I picked up from her book. There are so many more.

I've had the chance to chat with Charlene about how much I enjoyed her book. Her e-mail responses had me chuckling with appreciation for her gifts of humor and insight. In Charlene's own words, she's "wonky and wonderful." I asked her if she would mind it if I shared some of our conversation. Here's a taste:

Margie: I realized as I picked up your book that I am one of those stubborn people who doesn't really like advice. I'm not often drawn to the self-help section of a bookstore, but yet I really enjoyed your book! What advice do you have for people who don't think they need advice (or your book)?

Charlene: Please tell me I did NOT write a self-help book because that would mean people would expect that I’d first helped myself. Which I did, of course, but mostly to chips and dip.

On the topic of self-help books, I’m with you. I do not naturally gravitate toward the self-help section in book stores. I like humor and good storytelling, not even always together or in that order. Typically, the self-help section feels too … um … needy and self-helpy. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but in a “way too serious about me” way. Thus, in Don’t Miss Your Life! An Uncommon Guide to Living with Freedom, Laughter and Grace (DMYL), I give us ALL permission to bypass “self help” and instead approach the book and our lives as a pluck-and-play. In other words, pluck what you like from these pages and play it into your life. (Hear the music and laughter already?)

Nor have I set forth a ten-step program. Why? Because I would forget step two, then we’d all be lost. That is the beauty of humor and story: jump in here or there, skip around, laugh until you cry, cry until you laugh and forget about the “order” of things. After all, we are each a little wonky and wonderful, and in ways unique to us. Thus, my hope is that readers don’t look for my advice and answers within the book, but that they ultimately find themselves in their own stories. That is why I write: to help bring to life one’s own stories. I do this by telling mine, and by giving readers permission to be real. Personally, I don’t know how to be anything but that. And what would be the point? To live the rest of our lives acting like other than who we are? What a DRAG!

So, go to the DMYL section of your book store, buy DMYL, and plan on at long last finding your True Self.

To answer your question (at last!), I hope I don’t give advice. I hope the power in my stories helps readers latch onto the power in their own.

******************************************************

See what I mean? Isn't Charlene wonderful? Trust me, you'll enjoy this refreshing book. Come to The Bookstore, buy one for yourself and several for the birthdays and gift-giving occasions coming up on your calendar.

South Asia Author Night: June 9th from 7-9pm at the Glen Ellyn Public Library

Please Join Us!

The Bookstore and The Glen Ellyn Public Library are hosting a South Asia Author Night on June 9th from 7-9pm. Please join us for readings and book signings by authors from the lands that gave us Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie. Our featured authors include Tania James, Minal Hajratwala and Mary Anne Mohanraj.

We are fortunate to be able to bring such talent to Glen Ellyn. Although Mary Anne Mohanraj is a Chicagoan (she teaches creative writing, Asian American literature and post-colonial literature at U of I - Chicago), the other authors are in town for the Third Biennial Kriti Festival in Chicago. The Kriti Festival is sponsored by the DesiLit Foundation in order to celebrate and support the writers and literature of the South Asia and its diaspora. For more information about the Kriti Festival, go to: http://www.desilit.org/.

By way of background, South Asia is a subregion of Asia, usually taken as comprising the modern countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There are more than 30 million members of the South Asian diaspora throughout the world, and their literature often focuses on themes of immigration, identity, history and the crossing of cultures.

The books featured at this special event have a great deal to offer whether you're a part of the South Asian culture, or like me, open to learning more about it. These books are good even without the cultural angle, because when it comes to reading, a good story makes a good read, regardless of setting. (Customers: remember that great staff pick last year about Bangladesh? A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam? Case in point.) Each book featured at this event offers something different: there is one novel, one memoir and one short story collection.

I just finished Atlas of Unknowns by Tania James ($24.95 hardcover), an IndieNext pick for May, and I really enjoyed it. It's the story of two sisters and their family, from India to the U.S. and back, but it's the story of sisters everywhere, with secrets, betrayals and forgiveness. The sisters are smart and independent, and even if they're flawed, (actually, because of their flaws?) you'll find yourself cheering for them in their struggle to come to America. There's great storytelling, including hilarious scenes at a bikini waxing salon in Queens, and a character who would be an Indian-American Elizabeth Hasselbeck from The View. Slowly, and with great tenderness, James reveals the history of the girls' parents in India, which fills you with great hope for future of the young sisters. It's a great read. For more information on Tania James, including a beautiful video and glowing reviews of her book, go to: http://www.taniajames.com/

Leaving India, My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents by Minal Hajratwala ($26.00 hardcover) is a memoir of one extended family's flight from India to Fiji, South Africa, the U.K., the U.S. and more. Minal herself grew up in suburban Detroit as the daughter of immigrants, graduated from Stanford and Columbia, and then worked as a journalist in California. She spent 7 years travelling and studying her family's history. It's a universal story about leaving one home and trying to build another, a story we all share as Americans (didn't all of our fathers or grandfathers have a treasured copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie?). One of my favorite passages from the book is deeply personal: "For the children of immigrants are also migrants; we cross the waters daily. Some of us become seasick, others close our eyes and inhale the salt wind. Its fragrance is always bittersweet." Minal's website can be found at: http://www.minalhajratwala.com/. For a review of the book from the Washington Post, click here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301272.html



Bodies in Motion by Mary Anne Mohanraj (paperback, $13.95), was a finalist for the Asian American Book Award. It's a collection of short stories that follow two generations of two Sri Lankan families, revealing the intimate tug-of-war between generations and genders dealing with the ebb and flow of the immigrant experience. They are thoughtful, sensuous stories covering everything from love to arranged marriages, and the pressure to succeed in America. It's been called "historically ambitious, deeply felt, and provocative in its embrace of a wide range of love and family stories." It presents us with an enlightening view of characters with one foot in Sri Lanka and one foot in America.


Amy Bloom (author of Away, 2007) once said that there are only two stories in all of literature: the story of a man who comes to town, and the story of a man who leaves on a quest. And in fact, she said, that means there is really only one story, told from two points of view: the one who travels, or the one who welcomes. Maybe that explains why these immigration stories are so captivating. Stories of travel and immigration, of leaving and coming, of cultures foreign and unfamiliar, are inherently satisfying to the human soul curious about the unknown, whether it's coming or going, welcoming or assimilating.

These authors will read from their new releases, answer your questions, and sign copies of their books, which will be available for puchase at the event, or by pre-order from The Bookstore by calling, (630) 469-2891, e-mailing (justbook475@yahoo.com) or visiting our website http://www.justthebookstore.com/. For directions and further information from the library, see http://www.gepl.org/. The event itself is free.

Celebrity Chef Art Smith and Author Helen Puckett De France at Cookbook Signing

Cookbook author Helen Puckett De France came to The Bookstore on Sunday, Dec. 14th to sign copies of her newest cookbook, At Home Cafe. Accompanying her was her good friend and celebrity chef Art Smith, who wrote the forward to her book. Art Smith has been Oprah's longtime executive chef, and is rumored to be on the shortlist for White House chef. Extra signed copies of the cookbook are still available. Just call (630)469-2891 and we will hold one for you.