(6.13) Book lovers should head downtown this Tuesday for the Providence Public Library Book Sale and snag some excellent secondhand reads. This is just one of the activities planned to celebrate their PPL Give Day, from infant storytime to karaoke to the all-ages open studio. At 5pm check out the Adult Open Studio and learn …
(6.2) And it’s a two-fer. Author T.J. Newman will be at BotS today and look at this special deal: Thanks to a generous local donor, you will get a FREE hardcover copy of her first book, “Falling” with every purchase of “Drowning”! T. J. Newman is a former bookseller and flight attendant whose first novel …
(5.11) Providence author Elizabeth Rau will discuss her new book, “The Good Slope: A Collection of Essays,” this Thursday at Books on the Square. Following a childhood in the Midwest, Rau moved to Providence, writing for the Providence Journal, East Side Monthly, Rhode Island Monthly, and many other publications. Several of these essays chronicle her …
(5.4) Head over to Books on the Square Thursday for a reading and discussion with Abraham Josephine Riesman, journalist, essayist, and author of “Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America.” Even if you’ve never watched a minute of professional wrestling, you are living in Vince McMahon’s world. In his four decades as the defining …
(4.29) Independent bookstores seem to have survived competition from a certain online behemoth (whose name will never appear here) as well as the Covid lockdown. The New York Times reported last year: Two years ago, the future of independent book selling looked bleak. As the coronavirus forced retailers to shut down, hundreds of small booksellers …
Just a reminder that Stages of Freedom, the state’s only African American Museum and Bookshop, is right downtown on lower Westminster Street by the river. And, as the sign in the window says, “All for a good cause.” That would be the Swim Empowerment program which provides free swim lessons for low-income BIPOC youth. But …
[Update: Last day, Sunday, January 29th, noon to 5pm] Last month it was announced that the Cellar Stories Bookstore would be closing at the end of January. And here we are. The shelves have probably been thinned out since this photo was taken a few weeks ago. While the store’s loyal customers may feel awkward …
The news traveled quickly: After 40 years, Cellar Stories Bookstore would be closing on January 31st. Current manager Victoria Forsberg-Lary made the announcement in the beginning of December, with a lovely history of the shop and personal memories of its founder Michael Chandley who died in 2018. We should all merit such a tribute. He …
(9.17) Books on the Square will be holding their 30th Anniversary Party this Saturday with raffles, giveaways, games, cookies, and cupcakes. Store personnel have made plans for keeping things lively. “The independent bookstore for independent minds” is celebrating 30 years in business. Adult Trivia: Starting at noon, at the top of each hour, Stephen will …
[Update: No more books needed! They reached their book drive goal in two days.] It’s time for spring cleaning, with or without the spring weather. Maybe those stacks next to the bed are getting dusty. Or maybe you already got to sorting and culling during the quarantine, but the boxes had nowhere to go. Good …
(4.30) If you want to have a bookstore in your neighborhood, you have to shop there. If that book costs a little more it’s because brick-and-mortar businesses have bills to pay: rent, utilities, paychecks, etc. But you get to browse and discover something you didn’t know existed. You can get advice and recommendations. They hold …
“Finding Me,” the memoir by Rhode Island state flower Viola Davis, goes on sale this Tuesday, and it includes a searing account of her life growing up in Central Falls. Not surprisingly, it’s an Oprah pick and she has this excerpt: We were “po.” We almost never had a phone. Often, we had no hot …
Thirty minutes. That’s how much lead time the folks over at Books on the Square in Wayland Square were given to prepare for the extraordinary fact that the Vice-President of the United States Kamala Harris would be stopping by! That simple phone call ended with the instruction: Don’t tell anybody. Seen here is store manager …
And it wasn’t easy. “Stan Lee’s story is where objective truth goes to die.” This from Abraham Riesman author of “True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee” out this Tuesday, February 16th. The Providence Journal interviewed the author at his East Side home — book tour on hold for now — and Andy …
Are books essential goods? Absolutely. And not only is my neighborhood bookstore, Books on the Square, still open for business, they are offering a drive-through service out the back door, as well as a local delivery service. The Providence Journal checked in on Twenty Stories, Paper Nautilus, and Books on the Square where . . …
(3.7) Head over to the Providence Athenaeum Saturday for the grand opening of Bibliomania: Book Arts at the Providence Athenæum. Rarely seen treasures will be on view, ranging from illuminated medieval manuscripts to extraordinary contemporary bindings. Join us at an open house for all ages. Celebrate the opening of the Bibliomania exhibit and check out …