#Buy Indie Day

So the big day is here- Buy Indie Day.

Where did you go? What did you get? I'm so excited to hear about what you all are up to.

I went to the fabulous Porter Square Books in Cambridge, where I bought Esther David's Shalom India Housing Society. It's a light-looking novel about the Bene Israel Jewish community of India and the prophet Elijah, who comes to visit.

It's published by the Feminist Press at CUNY, which has a series on Jewish Women Writers. The Feminist Press also published the very good Dearest Anne by Judith Katzir and I'm optimistic that I'll enjoy Shalom India as well.

Porter Square Books is quite simply a great neighborhood bookstore. They have a good, standard selection of Indie Next picks and the like, but you can tell as you browse the shelves and displays, that they go the extra mile and hand-select wonderful, neighborhood-perfect small press and unusual books- a short story collection about Portuguese-Americans, novels that look homemade, poetry from around the corner, and more. I do a fair amount of book shopping and Porter Square Books is one of the very few general-interest indies that always has an ample selection of books I haven't seen anywhere else.

So I hope that lots of you will get the chance to buy indie today (or over the weekend, or anytime). Remember, if there isn't an indie near you, you can always log on to IndieBound.org and find one that can ship to you. Happy reading!

Friday Finds

I'm so excited about this week's new additions to my library.

First up is the incredible The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, drawn & written by Emmanuel Guibert with photographs by Didier Lefevre. I'm about halfway through it; it's an amazing combination of photojournalism and graphic novel. You'll be hearing more about this incredible book on an upcoming Graphic Novel Monday.

Next up, The Invisible Mountain, by Carolina de Robertis. I won this galley in a Random House giveaway. Thank you RH! I'm looking forward to reading it.

Finally, I borrowed Mystics, Mavericks and Merrymakers: An Intimate Journey Among Hasidic Girls, by Stephanie Wellen Levine. Levine is a member of my book club and her book is next month's selection; it's a series of profiles of young Lubavitcher Hasidic women discussing their lives, hopes and dreams. It's really great and I'm sure it will make for a terrific discussion.

Now I'm off to the bookstore to participate in Buy Indie Day. I'll be back later with my new book!