DRURY LANE BOOKS12 E. Wisconsin St.PO Box 998Grand Marais, MN 55604888-887-3370 or 218-387-3370www.drurylanebooks.combooks@drurylanebooks.com

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore— Robin Sloan

“After that, the book will fade, the way all

books fade in your mind. But I hope you will

remember this:

A man walking fast down a dark lonely

street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all

wonder and need. A bell above a door and

the tinkle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and

warm golden light, and then: the right book

exactly, at exactly the right time.”

HOURS 2016Open 7 days a week May - Sept

MAY HOURS 11-4 Extended hours Memorial Day Weekend 10-5 Fri thru Mon

JUNE- SEPT HOURS Mon – Sat 10-8Sun 10-4

OCT, NOV, & DEC HOURS Mon, Thurs, Fri, Sat 10-4Closed Sun, Tues, Wed

WINTER HOURS 2017Open Fri & Sat 10-4Closed for the month of April

The Drury Lane Books Newsletter

In June 2015, I left my job in child care to have a child of my own. Grace was just two months old when I got a call from Joan Drury, published author and owner of Drury Lane Books. She invited me to lunch. I did not ask why. As a new mother, I was just excited to have an outing planned with another adult. Little did I know that that lunch meeting would lead to me becoming the new manager of Drury Lane Books! I have always loved to read, from picture books with my dad, learning to read from Mrs. Derewenko in first grade, devouring middle-grade chapter books, Harry Pottermania, and so on. I think I was the only student in my high school English class who read all the way through A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I graduated from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities with a degree in Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature. But like most Liberal Arts majors, I didn’t really expect to use my degree, much less when I moved back to my hometown of Grand Marais. Expert booksellers Lee Stewart and Bruce Stahly showed me the ropes here at Drury Lane, and now both are enjoying their retirement with more time to read. (Although you may see Lee here at the store from time to time).

Vol. 20, May 2016

TALKING BOOKS by Gwen Danfelt, New Manager at Drury Lane Books

WORDS BY THE WATER

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore— Robin Sloan

As I write this, it is a snowy morning in March, and nine-month-old Grace is taking a nap. This morning she practiced pulling herself up on the ottoman while I finished reading The Girls by Lori Lansens, a fictionalized autobiography of conjoined twins. Told in turns by each girl, it is funny, sweet, sad, and captures the common human experience in their unique physical situation. Next on my stack is Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik, a Minnesota author who delivers fun and funny novels, like this one about a book club whose members support each other throughout their lives in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Another recent favorite was Room by Emma Donoghue. At the heart of this thrilling, dark novel is the strong bond between mother and child, told entirely from the point of view of five-year-old Jack.

I mostly read novels but took a break recently to read The Wedding Heard ‘Round the World: America’s First Gay Marriage by Michael McConnell and Jack Baker. McConnell and Baker will be here at Drury Lane to tell their story on July 23rd. I’m enjoying reading through all the books featured in our upcoming Writer’s Salons. See page 3 for a full list and mark your calendar!

With Grace, I mostly read board books, so she can help me turn the stiff cardboard pages, and they can withstand chewing and banging and dropping. Our favorites include My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall, Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger, and classics such as The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.

I hope Grace grows up in a world where print and digital media co-exist peacefully side-by-side. Here at Drury Lane we are doing just that with a few technological updates.

Check out our updated website, www.drurylanebooks.com, designed by our new tech guru and bookseller Jane Gellner!

New store email address: store@drurylanebooks.com

Follow us on Facebook @“Drury Lane Books”.

“Shucks, said the little bunny. I might as well stay here and be your little bunny. Have a carrot, said his mother.”— The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown

Drury Lane Best Sellers 2016

2

“April may indeed be Minnesota’s cruelest month. Winter, like an ousted dictator, does not relinquish its grip

on the north country without mounting a scorched-earth retreat.”

— North Shore, Chel Anderson & Adelheid Fischer

NONFICTION North Shore: A Natural History of Minnesota’s Superior Coast by Chel Anderson & Adelheid FischerRock Picker’s Guide to Lake Superior’s North Shore by Mark StensaasLake Superior Rocks and Minerals Guide & Lake Superior Agates Field Guide by Bob LynchAgate Hunting Made Easy by James MagnusonAmazing Agates by Scott WolterBest Wild Rice Recipes by Beatrice OjakangasThe Boys in the Boat by Daniel James BrownGuide to the Superior Hiking Trail by Superior Hiking Trail AssociationThe Pie Place Cookbook by Kathy Rice

FICTION Go Set a Watchman by Harper LeeThe Land of Dreams, Only the Dead, and The Ravens by Vidar SundstølSilent Words by Joan DruryAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrBoundary Waters, Iron Lake, and Ordinary Grace by William Kent KruegerLittle Wolves by Thomas MaltmanStill Alice by Lisa Genova

CHILDREN’S BOOKSGoodnight Loon by Abe SauerMiss Rumphius by Barbara CooneyMoose on the Loose by Kathy-Jo WarginMagic Tree House Series by Mary Pope OsborneThe Peace Book by Todd Parr

POETRYThe Superior Life by Jean Miriam LarsonAt Home with Lake Superior by Ralph LathamThe Little Greens by Kay GrindlandWhy I Wake Early: New Poems by Mary OliverVisibility: Ten Miles by Sharon Chmielarz

3

Drury Lane Events Calendar 2016

WRITER’S SALONSAll salons are on Saturdays at 5 PM at the bookstore. Join us to hear authors read from their work, answer questions, and discuss writing and literature.

Kathy Rice Secrets of the Pie Place Café: Recipes & Stories Through the Seasons MAY 28

Linda Legarde Grover The Road Back to Sweetgrass JUNE 11

William Kent Krueger Manitou Canyon JUNE 25

Mary Sharratt The Dark Lady’s Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare’s MuseJULY 9

Kim Alan Chapman & James Armstrong Nature, Culture, and Two Friends TalkingJULY 23

Michael McConnell & Jack Baker The Wedding Heard ‘Round the World: America’s First Gay MarriageAUGUST 13

Mary Casanova Wake-Up Island and Ice-Out AUGUST 27

Faith Sullivan Goodnight Mr. Wodehouse WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31 4:30 PM

Lucie Amundsen Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-changing Egg Farm - from Scratch SEPTEMBER 10

Rose Arrowsmith Decoux The Marvelous Imagination of Katie Addams SEPTEMBER 17

Paul Gilk Get Poor Now, Avoid the Rush OCTOBER 1

FULL MOON READINGSEach full moon we gather outside around the fire to hear a local writer read their own work or the work of others. Join us to enjoy the spoken word and the rising moon.

Monday June 20 5 PM Linnea Hendrickson & friendsTuesday July 19 7:30 PM Hannah Barker Nickolay *Music Event*Thursday August 18 5 PM Reed SchmidtFriday September 16 5 PM Erin WatsonSaturday October 15 5 PM Tom McCann & Nancy Haarmeyer

THE MUFFIN MAN STORY HOURStories for young children.Saturdays 11 AM June, July & AugustMoose – a – Rama with the Muffin Man Saturday Oct 22

4

Joan Recommends

Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

A biographical novel about Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s artist sister. Wonderfully written and a fascinating study of the time, the extraordinary group of friends referred to as the Bloomsbury Group, and the two very creative sisters and their enigmatic relationship. Virginia Woolf does not fare well in this portrayal of the sisters, but the most fascinating part of the book (for me) was the description of the Bloomsbury Group. This extremely intellectual group of friends adored literature and art and talked endlessly about both plus “issues” and the value of friendship above all.

“I’m not defending their views. I’m defending their right to have their views. There’s a difference.”

― The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, Mohja Kahf

The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf by Mohja Kahf

A stunning non-fiction book about growing up in a devout Muslim family in the 1970s in white, middle-America Indiana. It abounds with the labels that Muslims have of white America and vice versa, of course. When seeing “us” (white Americans) through the eyes and stereotypes of pious Muslim immigrants, “we” come off badly. This book is written from the perspective of a young daughter (a “good girl” trying to please her parents) of a Muslim family and depicts all the stages of maturation she experiences. It is, I believe, a genuine and credible story that is well-written and illuminating, teaching us once again that people are people.

The Race for Paris by Meg Waite Clayton

During WWII, women journalists weren’t allowed at the front. This is the fictional story of two such women — a journalist and photojournalist, both based on a composite of such women who covered the war -- who broke all the rules and followed the front from Normandy (after D Day) into Paris and on to Germany. It’s a fascinating read filled with the horrors of war, facts that the folks “back home” were protected from because they might, if knowledgeable of the horrid situation, insist their “boys” come home. Engrossing and engaging, inspiring and tragic!

801 BOOK CLUBMe Before You by Jojo MoyesSmilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter HoegJitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

AVID READERSA Man Called Ove by Fredrik BackmanOrphan Train by Christina Baker KlineInto the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

BLUE STOCKINGS BOOK GROUPThe Martian by Andy WeilThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootThe Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

BOOK LOVERS CLUBThe Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary LovellLilla’s Feast: One Woman’s True Story of Love and War in the Orient by Frances OsborneThe Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea

BOOKS THAT BINDThe Boys in the Boat by Daniel James BrownThe Nightingale by Kristin HannahMy Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

THE BOOKIES Between the World & Me by Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe Girl on the Train by Paula HawkinsAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

THE BOOK TROUTSHonolulu by Alan BrennartSouth Moon Under by Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsBehind The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

BOUNDARY READERS BOOK GROUPBehind The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine BooTelegraph Avenue by Michael ChabonThe Goddess by Kelly Gardner

CARE CENTER BOOK GROUPTravels with Charley: In Search of America by John SteinbeckThe Fur Person by May SartonEx Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader By Anne Fadiman

NO GUILT BOOK GROUPThe Girls by Lori LansensRoom by Emma DonoghueMy Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

READ IT OR NOT, HERE I COMEAngry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna LandvikModern Romance by Aziz AnsariThe Hungry Coast by Marlais Brand

WESTEND BEER AND BOOK POSSEThe Leisure Seekers by Michael ZadoorianThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsThe Known World by Edward P. Jones

WEST END BOOK GROUPWhen Breath Becomes Air by Paul KalanithiThe Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle ZevinDrinking the Rain by Alix Kates Shulman

WHOLE LOT OF WOMEN WINE AND WORDSSome Luck by Jane SmileyThe Lifeboat by Charlotte RoganCircling the Sun by Paula McLain

SHAKESPEARE READERS GROUP This group is public and meets October - May to read Shakespeare plays. King Lear and the Merchant of Venice

What Book Groups in Cook County are Reading

5

“What I had come to love about book club (besides the fabulous desserts and free liquor) was how in hearing so many opinions about the same book, your own opinion

expanded, as if you’d read the book several times instead of just once.” ―Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, Lorna Landvik