DISPATCHES FROM THE HARDBOILED BOOKCLUB

SWEET THINGS


The Hard Boiled Bookclub has been going strong for 12 months now, and March marks the year anniversary between SLUG and Weller's partnership. I think back at about a year ago when this was just an idea, a baby idea at that, and am amazed at the turnout every month (not to say there's 30 people coming to chat about a book) but there are regulars, and that means something.
Last night we discussed Etgar Keret's collection of stories The Girl on the Fridge. All very short stories, most under 4 pages. It was a nice time, and I look forward to next month's meeting. I think about what the club has become and I am overwhelmingly grateful at the response from serious local readers. Because at the end of the day...or year, it's not just about selling X amount of books. What I think it is and should be about, is every member being mentally satisfied, and having a nice communal experience. And we have done just that.
Next month we're reading Ernesto Quinonez's Bodega Dreams, meeting Tuesday, March 31st at 6:30 at Weller's, on the balcony, we have a nice new spot to hypothesize, analyze and seek out answers.
That about does it--

So many options for queereads!

Guess what! Queereads is now on Twitter! But since there's a limited number of words to be used, most of the info will still be on the Facebook group and the blog as soon as I can update it (I'm afraid it's quite out of date, sorry). If any of you want to get a head start on our next meeting, which will be Wed. March 18th, we will be discussing Kevin Sessums' "Mississippi Sissy". The books are available at Sam Weller's for 20% off! I hope to see many faces there, will yours be one of them?

Call For Entries: The Video Show

In our further exploration of the bookstore as a non-traditional artspace, we are calling out now to all video artists (of any part in the spectrum) for an exhibition scheduled to open gallery stroll May 15th. The possibilities are pretty open: we will be accepting proposals for video displayed on tv monitors -to be placed throughout our gallery space on the mezzanine, as well as potential installation areas throughout the store. video projection is also a possibility, but combating the overhead lighting in the store may be a difficulty. We are willing to experiment with many formats and options, making this a dynamic and engaging show. All entries must be submitted for review by Saturday, April 3rd.
If you are interested in participating, please start out by emailing the following information: Submissions must include the following:
1. Your name and contact information
2. Proposal of project (description or artist statement)
3. Video file (quicktime is preferred). This can be a video link. If you don't have video online, please bring in a quicktime video file to Sam Weller's Bookstore Attn: Stephanie + Shari. If you are working solely through VHS, please let us know in email, and we can make arrangements to view your video.
email to stephanie@samwellers.com &
shari@samwellers.com
Please email us with questions, or call us at 801.328.2586
We want this to be a diverse show, so don't hesitate to enter your submission. Or, if you know video artists, send this call for entries their way.

The Man Behind the Curtain

If you've been in the store lately you'll notice that there's been a lot changes. Yep we spruced up for Winter Institute last weekend. It was a blast and really you should've been there. There's some great pictures of the reception in the last post and up on our flickr page.

I'd also like to point out one other picture. If you check out the store window adjacent to the door you'll see a completely new staff picture. Of course I'm in the picture as well as the rest of the crazy staff. Well here's an inside story for you blog readers: This picture is a technological marvel. It is very difficult to get the entire staff together at one time so the picture was taken in stages. I myself had my picture taken in the basement. However there I am on the stairs. Kudos for the seamlessness of the layering people in. I assume some graphics program was used, or maybe magic.

So check out the photo. There's the staff of Sam Weller's Books 2009.

Unwind

Shusterman's Unwind asks two questions: “If life is to be protected before birth, why isn't it protected afterwards?”, and “If life is to be protected after birth, why isn't it protected before?”

In the near future the pro-life vs. pro-choice battle has been fought and compromise has been reached. Human life is sacred from conception to thirteen, but from thirteen to eighteen parents can have their children shipped off to government run Unwind Camps where they are taken apart for spare body parts.

Connor is a bad seed whose parents have given up all hope, Risa is from an orphanage that has had a budget cut and needs to cut beds, and Lev is the tenth child of a family that is offering him as a religious tithe. They are on the run to save their lives. They only have to survive until they are eighteen, but the authorities are after them.

Shusterman amazingly never comes down clearly on either side of the abortion debate, but asks everyone to think about his or her own stance and reasoning.

Unwind is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, particularly in it's focus on reproductive issues.

Full of action, emotion, and a bit horror, Unwind pulled me in and kept me reading right to the end.
Unwind
Neal Shusterman
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers 2007 $16.99
9781416912040