Harry Potter Travel

I just can't resist sharing these photos my daughter took on a recent trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Friends and customers know what Harry Potter fans we are in our household, so of course my daughter, who is currently studying in London, had to go visit the coffee shop where J. K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter. Doesn't it look like a comfortable place to sit and write?

Speaking of writing, you've got to love all of the Harry Potter inspired graffiti on a bathroom wall in the cafe, and the nearby graveyard with a gravestone for a certain Tom Riddell. Apparently, J.K. Rowling discovered the names of quite a few of her other characters on the gravestones there as well, from Potter to McGonagal to Granger.

What a thrill for my daughter, who grew up with Harry Potter, to see these in person and to learn that inspiration and opportunity are all around you.

Earlier this year, the whole family met in London and found some Harry Potter sites in Oxford, including the dining hall, the hospital and the big old tree from the Goblet of Fire. Finally, the kids couldn't resist a goofy pose at the fake Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station in London.

If any families are planning a trip to the U.K. and want some more Harry Potter travel trips, just stop in The Bookstore on a Friday, and we can have a fun chat.

--Margie

Bookfest Military and History Authors

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to welcome a group of military and history authors who will be appearing at Bundles of Books, 560 Crescent Boulevard, Glen Ellyn, on Saturday, June 18, 2011 from 10am to 1pm.

The authors include John Domagalski, an expert on military history, with an emphasis on the Pacific side of World War II. His articles have appeared in World War II History and World War II Quarterly Magazines. He will be discussing and signing his book, Lost at Guadalcanal. A member of the United States Naval Institute, he has interviewed almost fifty naval veterans who served in the South Pacific during World War II. His book tells their dramatic stories of heroism, sacrifice and survival during the early days of the critical battle for Guadalcanal on board two American warships, the USS Astoria and the USS Chicago. John has a degree in marketing and an MBA from Northern Illinois University, and resides in the Chicago area. An excerpt from Lost at Guadalcanal is available at the author's website.

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is also pleased to welcome military historian David Argabright, Editor of In the Land of Nine Dragons, a book dedicated to the history of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry in Southeast Asia 1966-1970. This book, a detailed unit history, is based on more than 200,000 pages of government documents, orders and Battalion Yearbooks. The book took over 12 years and more than 14,000 volunteer hours to complete.

Bookfest Author: Susan Magnuson Walsh

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Susan Magnuson Walsh will be appearing at this year's festival. She is the author of Walking in Broken Shoes: A Nurse's Story About Haiti and the Earthquake. Susan will be appearing at Ten Thousand Villages, 499C Pennsylvania Avenue, from 10am to 1pm on June 18, 2011.

Susan will greet the public and discuss her book, which is a poignant account of her medical work in Haiti at the time of the January, 2010 earthquake. Susan and her medical team were just completing a week long medical mission at Mountain Top Ministries' clinic in Gramothe when the earthquake hit. She and her team became the first responders at a nearby hospital which had very limited supplies, one doctor, and a few nurses.

For more information about Susan's mission, listen to her interview with WBEZ's Global Activism segment of World View on March 17, 2011.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Little by Little, a nonprofit 501(C)(3) organization that supports medical mission work for improved health and well-being in Haiti.

We are please to welcome Susan Magnuson Walsh to Glen Ellyn.

Bookfest Author: Shayne Moore

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that Shayne Moore, Wheaton mom and global activist, will be appearing at this year's festival. Shayne the author of Global Soccer Mom: Changing the World Is Easier Than You Think. She will be appearing from 10am to 1pm at The Bike Shop, 495 Main Street in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Shayne will greet readers, neighbors and bicycle enthusiasts, and will discuss her book and her work with World Bicycle Relief. Come meet this dynamic neighbor who can teach us how to change the world one bike at a time. The event is free and open to the public. Book sale and signing available.

Featured Bookfest Author: Melanie Benjamin

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Melanie Benjamin will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011. Melanie will be appearing at Teas and Toes, 413 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn, from 10am to 11:30am, where she will discuss her historical fiction in a fun and relaxed setting. The event is free and open to the public, no registration is required.

Melanie is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Alice I Have Been, which has been The Bookstore's bestselling novel since Harry Potter. She is also getting prepared to launch her second novel in July, The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. Melanie will greet fans and discuss the characters who have inspired her historical fiction, from Alice Liddell to Lavinia Warren Bump.

The Bookfest is thrilled to have a local treasure like Melanie Benjamin. Come show your support and enjoy some tea and perhaps a foot soak! More information about the full schedule of Bookfest activities is available on the Downtown Alliance website. You may also follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Bookfest Keynote Speaker: Mary Doria Russell

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is pleased to announce that the Keynote Speaker for this year's festival is the New York Times Bestselling Author and Lombard native, Mary Doria Russell. Mary will deliver the Keynote Address at 2pm at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Registration is available on the Glen Ellyn Public Library website, or by phone at (630) 469-0879.

As many of Mary's loyal fans know, Mary grew up in Lombard, Illinois, attended Glenbard East High School, and worked at the Helen Plumb Library as a teenager. In 2009, Glenbard East High School inaugurated the Mary Doria Russell Chapter of the National English Honor Society. Mary even named a character in her book Dreamers of the Day after her favorite high school English teacher from Glenbard East, Agnes Shanklin. We first met Mary when she appeared at the Helen Plum Library in 2009, where she absolutely charmed the crowd. (More about her prior appearance on our blog post here.) We are thrilled to welcome Mary back to the area.

Mary is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including The Sparrow (1996), Children of God (1998) Thread of Grace (2005 - Pulitzer prize nominee), and Dreamers of the Day (2008). Mary's newest book is Doc (Random House, May 3, 2011), the fictional account of a year in the life of Doc Holliday.

Mary Doria Russell has a broad range of talent, from science fiction to historical fiction and now western fiction. She admits she was addicted to books as a child, including the westerns of Zane Grey. You can tell. Doc has the voice and all of the hallmarks of a good western tale. As Mary herself said: "it's about vice, bigotry, violence and living with a terminal disease. Doc will break your heart."

Doc focuses on one year in the life of John Henry Holliday, who was born a Southern gentleman in Atlanta and was on the road to becoming a tame Dallas dentist before he lost his job in the economic panic of 1873. By 1878, he was a professional gambler in the wild west town of Dodge City Kansas, living with a Hungarian prostitute and nursing a horrible cough caused by tuberculosis. It's where his unlikely friendship with Wyatt Earp begins.

Fans of Mary Doria Russell will be delighted with this book. It's a new direction for her, but it's got all of the incredible storytelling talent that we have come to love in her writing. It's funny and colorful, compassionate and heartbreaking. It's got it all. For readers who have never discovered Mary Doria Russell, you're in for a new treat.

Mary will discuss her new book, as well as the myths and truths of Doc Holliday's life. Mary is a highly entertaining public speaker - this is an event you do not want to miss. The book is available at The Bookstore starting May 3, 2011. With a purchase of the book you will receive a priority ticket to the line for the book signing, which will follow the address.

We hope you can join us in downtown Glen Ellyn for a day during which a village celebrates books! The full schedule of events is available here. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Leah Stewart

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that author Leah Stewart will be appearing at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. She will be appearing at Knickers of Glen Ellyn from 10am to 1pm, where she will meet readers and sign copies of her books.

Leah is the author of Husband and Wife (also available in paperback), The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she was the editor of the student newspaper, and received an MFA from the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of an 2010 NEA Literature Fellowship. She currently teaches in the University of Cincinnati's writing program, and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Knickers owner Kathryn Hudson is a big fan of Leah Stewart's books, and is thrilled to be able to host an event called "Husband and Wife at Knickers." The event is free and open to the public.

Bookfest Mystery Authors

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce there will be a Featured Group of Mystery Authors at this year's festival on June 18, 2011. They will be appearing in a free program called "Running into Trouble" at Run Today, 476 N. Main Street, from 10am to 1pm on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

The mystery authors confirmed as of this date include Joelle Charbonneau, the Chicago area author of Skating Around the Law, the first in the Rebecca Robbins mystery series by St. Martin's/Minotaur Press. The second book in the series, Skating Over the Line, will be released in September, 2011. Joelle is also working on a new show choir murder mystery called Murder for Choir, to be released in 2012 by Berkley Prime Crime.

Also appearing at the Bookfest Mystery Program is Robert Goldsborough, a Chicago area mystery writer. Goldsborough, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, has created a series about a wisecracking police reporter in Chicago in the 1930's and 40's. Terror at the Fair is his latest installment in his Snap Malek detective series, and is set during the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.

Book sales and signings will be available.

Featured Bookfest Author & Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is thrilled to announce that the Featured Children's Author for this year's festival is Tom Lichtenheld, a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of books for children. Tom will be appearing from 10-11:30am at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main St. in Glen Ellyn on June 18, 2011.

Tom is the illustrator of two New York Times bestselling children's books, Duck! Rabbit! and Shark vs. Train. He is the author of many other popular books, including the newly released Cloudette and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site.

Other bookstore favorites include Bridget's Beret, What Are You So Grumpy About and What's Wrong With This Room? The book Duck! Rabbit!, which he created with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was actually read at the 2010 White House Easter Egg Roll.

There are no tickets required for this event; however, please call The Bookstore at (630) 469-2891 or email us to reserve a spot for your child. The purchase of one of Lichtenheld's books is required for each child attending. Books may be purchased in advance or on the day of the Bookfest. When registering your child, be prepared to tell us their age, your phone number and which of Tom Lichtenheld's books you would like to order. (A full list of his books can be found here.) If the event is not sold out in advance, children will be welcome on a first come, first serve basis.

Tom Lichtenheld will give a short, kid-friendly talk with drawings and audience participation. Children will have a chance to see up close how he comes up with his ideas and drawings. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Featured Bookfest Author: Luis Urrea

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Luis Urrea will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Luis will join Brigid Pasulka, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore or the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. It will be a perfect event for your entire book club. Space is limited, so purchase your tickets early.

Friends of The Bookstore may know Luis from one of The Bookstore's most interesting events last year, our Cinco de Mayo party. Luis is one of the best storytellers around, and now he is finished with the sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter. The sequel is called The Queen of America, and although it won't be released until December, we hope Luis will be sharing bits and pieces of it with us. In both books, Luis explores the history of his Mexican ancestor, Saint Teresita, in a captivating blend of history, magic and miracles.

We are especially thrilled that Luis will be paired with two other Chicago area authors whose books share a similar theme. In A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True, Brigid Pasulka writes about her own Polish ancestry, and in Half the World, Cristina Henriquez writes about a girl discovering her roots in Panama, the home of her grandparents. Finally, author Sarah McCoy will be joining the luncheon to discuss her own Puerto Rican ancestry, which is the subject of her first novel, The Time It Snowed In Puerto Rico.

All of these featured books, as well as Luis' many other books, are available at The Bookstore now - pick them up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

Featured Bookfest Author: Brigid Pasulka

The 2nd Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Brigid will join authors Luis Urrea, Cristina Henriquez and Sarah Mccoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30pm. Tickets are $15 and are now available at The Bookstore and on the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Brigid is a Chicago area author, English teacher and graduate of the Dartmouth College and the University of Illinois at Chicago Program for Writers. Her first book, A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 2010, and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It also earned a blue staff pick card at The Bookstore!

We are very excited about Brigid's appearance, particularly since we read and reviewed A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True during our Chicago Writers Month project last October. Brigid based the book on her own travels to Poland after college, where she researched and learned more about her own grandparents' story. For more information, our earlier blog post can be found here. Brigid has a wonderful website with more information about the book, including a Reader's Guide, glossary and map.

We will make an announcement as soon as tickets for the Bookfest Literary Luncheon are available. In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information. The entire schedule and program will be available soon.

Bookfest Author: Cristina Henriquez

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest is proud to announce that Cristina Henriquez will be one of its Featured Authors at this year's festival on Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

Cristina will join authors Luis Urrea, Brigid Pasulka and Sarah McCoy in a Literary Luncheon called "Inspired by Our Ancestry" at the Glen Oak Restaurant from 12:00pm to 1:30 pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at The Bookstore, 475 N. Main Street in Glen Ellyn, as well as the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance website. Purchase of the book(s) is separate.

Cristina is a Chicago area author and a graduate of Northwestern University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has written two books: her first, a short story collection called Come Together, Fall Apart, and the second, a novel called The World in Half. Her first book was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection, and Virginia Quarterly called her one of literature's "promising new luminaries." For more information about Cristina, check out her website or this Chicago Tribune profile.

The World in Half is based on Cristina's own childhood visits to her grandparents in Panama every summer. Her father grew up near the Panama Canal. In The World in Half, a young woman travels from Chicago to Panama to locate the father she never met, and discovers that it's not just the Panama Canal that cuts the world in half.

We are very excited about Cristina's appearance, particularly since Jen Karsbaek at Devourer Of Books gave The World in Half a glowing review during our Chicago Writers' Month last October.

A perfect event for your book club! Cristina's book is available at The Bookstore now - pick it up and read it before the luncheon, and enjoy the discussion even more.

In the meantime, please follow the Glen Ellyn Bookfest on Facebook and Twitter for updates and information.

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

I'll admit it: I'm a Ms. Bradwell wannabe.

But first, a little background from Meg Waite Clayton's new book, The Four Ms. Bradwells. In 1869, Myra Bradwell was denied admission to the Illinois Bar because she was a woman. She appealed her case all the way up to the nine white males on the United States Supreme Court - and lost by a vote of 8-1. The Supreme Court said, as quoted in the book's epigraph:

"The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. … The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator.”

Yes, they really did say that.

Fast forward 110 years to a scene in the novel - a lecture hall at the University of Michigan Law School. It's 1979 and the student body is nearly half women. When a feisty female law student insists on being called "Ms." during a classroom discussion of Bradwell v. Illinois, several other female law students rise up in her defense, and a professor kiddingly names them the "Four Ms. Bradwells."

It's a name and a friendship to which the four young women become deeply devoted. They bond over casebooks, hot tubs and spring break road trips to a beautiful family compound on Chesapeake Bay. They remain friends for nearly 30 years, and are reunited when one of the Ms. Bradwells is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Yes, I'm jealous. I also went to law school during the Ms. Bradwells era, but unfortunately, I didn't know anybody with a hot tub, a fireplace in their dorm room or a "family compound." I spent most of my time in the law library drinking bad instant coffee, playing Pac-Man in the student lounge, and hanging out in dive bars with the Thursday Night Study Club. Makes me really wish I'd gotten into Michigan Law. But it's more than that. It's the four Ms. Bradwells. How many women truly have four lifelong friends who have been with them through nearly everything?

But enough about me and my Ms. Bradwell envy.

The Four Ms. Bradwells is a great read for any woman, no matter what your age or alma mater. There are three generations of women: mothers, daughters, mentors, friends. First, there is a first-wave trailblazing feminist lawyer with a boat named Row v. Wade. Then there are the four Ms. Bradwells, second-wave feminists who graduated from law school in the early 80's, when women first entered the legal profession in sizable numbers (with our floppy silk ties, male lawyer wannabes). Then there are their daughters, young women in college and law school, looking for their own path after so many decades of the women's movement.

There are meaty issues in this book that will keep your book club up late, like sexual harassment, fellow woman-envy, gay ex-husbands, Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas, women's sexuality, and mothering daughters in the post-feminist era. You'll want to discuss whether you would encourage your own daughter to follow in your footsteps - and why or why not. You could discuss the mixed feelings we have when we abandon a successful career for motherhood or an alternative vocation (writing poetry for instance, like one of the Ms. Bradwells did -- writing novels, like Meg Waite Clayton did -- or bookselling, like I did).

See what I mean? This book is really discussable.

But don't be overwhelmed - this is no dark and depressing book. There's plenty of fun and frivolity too, the kind of skinny-dipping silliness us gals can have on a memorable girls' weekend. There's a mysterious death from the long-ago spring break on Chesapeake Bay that threatens to derail the Supreme Court nomination. There are secrets and suspicions and a surprise letter from the grave. There's a ridiculously nutty scene at the end of the book that might make you spit out your coffee. The Four Ms. Bradwells has got it all.

That's why I am so very pleased to announce that Glen Ellyn area readers will have the chance to meet Meg Waite Clayton at a reception and book signing at The Bookstore on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 7:00 pm. In the meantime, you can find The Four Ms. Bradwells on our staff pick shelf. If you would like to place it on hold until the next time you pop in, just click here.

March Madness Strikes The Bookstore

Glen Ellyn pedestrians have been stopping dead in their tracks as they pass by on Main Street. They're checking out The Bookstore's new window display.

A giant red rooster, spinning orange basketballs? Of course! It's March Madness at The Bookstore!

The Bookstore's March window display is celebrating the The Morning News Tournament of Books, which starts Tuesday, March 8th and goes through April 1st. If you haven't heard of it before, it's an NCAA-style tournament for books, brackets and all. Every weekday, go to The Morning News for that day's match-up and commentary. It's lots of fun.

The good news for our customers: all books featured in the Tournament will receive a book club discount. Stop in and stock up on some of the best books from the past year.

Then, mark your calendars and join us on Friday, March 25th from 10am to Noon for a "Fourth Friday Coffee Talk" about the Tournament: the brackets, the judges, the upsets, but most of all, . . .

THE ZOMBIES.

Let the games begin!

Book Club Night at The Bookstore

We had a great turnout of dedicated book club reps at our 11th Annual Book Club Night on Tuesday, March 1st. If you couldn't make it, below is a list of each bookseller's recommendations as well as the books that were chosen as the "Best Discussion Book of 2010" by local book clubs.

Here is a photo of Jenny discussing one of her faves, Paul Auster's Sunset Park. This was after the crowd gave her a big round of applause for being the Chicago Tribune's Indie Bookseller Cover Girl on February 26th!

Jane's Picks:

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

The Passage by Justin Cronin

A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse

Global Soccer Mom by Shayne Moore*

*Jane was totally inspired by Shayne's book launch last week, and wants us all to join Shayne's mission to go out and get things done!

Jenny's Picks:

Sunset Park by Paul Aster

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard*

Caribou Island by David Vann

Father of the Rain by Lily King

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein

The Surrendered by Chang Rae Lee

*Jenny freely admits she totally stole this one from Margie, but Jenny gave it such a great blurb ("this could be set in Glen Ellyn") all Margie had to do was give her the thumb's up from the back of the room.

Sue's Picks:

Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier*

All Is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang

Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Memory Wall: Stories by Anthony Doerr

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

*Sue's already announcing this might be her favorite book of 2011. And it's only March!

Margie's Picks:

Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka*

*We are very excited to announce that Brigid Pasulka will be appearing at the Second Annual Downtown Glen Ellyn Bookfest on June 18, 2011. We're encouraging our book clubs to read this terrific book in advance and come to our Featured Author Luncheon ready to chat.

Book Clubs' Own Best Discussion Books of 2010:

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (3 book clubs agreed)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Cutting for Stone by Adam Verghese

Look Me In The Eye by John Robison

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shafer & Burrows

Beneath the Marble Sky by John Shorts

Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper