Friday, May 1, 2009

#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!

6 comments:

Ruth King said...

I was planning to visit my local indie, Trappe Book Center in Trappe, PA today. However, I'm a bit under the weather today and will be making that trip later in the week.

I had the pleasure of highlighting Aaron's Books in Lititz, PA during the Buy Books for the Holidays campaign and since then have connected with them on Twitter. I've been to their store several times on trips to Lancaster and have always gotten great service. Since I couldn't make it to my local indie today, I purchased Maisie Dobbs and Sherlock Holmes in America online from Aaron's Books.

bermudaonion said...

I went to The Open Book in Greenville, SC and they didn't even know about Buy Indie Day. Their cafe was busy, but I was the only one browsing books. I came away with THE BOOK THIEF, STRAWBERRY FIELDS, SPEAK and BLESS YOUR HEART, TRAMP.

Unknown said...

Hi Marie, I came over to see what you did for Indie day. I was pleasantly surprise to see the same book that I saw at Barnes and Noble. I did not buy it though. But it did perk my interest. For the indie- book store. Unfortunately the closest one is in Litchfield, SC.
About a 1-1/2 from my house to far for me. As I just got off work. I am probably going to do what you suggested and go online. I would be very interested to see what you have to say about this book when you finish. Thanks for sharing.
Susan at Seaside Book Worm

Tasha said...

Hmm, well, I went to work. But I work at an independent bookstore, if that counts. And I did make a purchase! I bought The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton.

Serena said...

I'm banned from buying any new books until the review copies are cleared from the shelves. glad to hear everyone supported their local indie!

Becca said...

Would you believe me if I told you I completely forgot about Indie Day? I am just going to erect my own Indie Day soon.