Monthly Archive for March, 2010

Chicago author Josh Wilker reads from Cardboard Gods

Apr ’10
29
7:00 pm

Cardboard Heroes Cvr

Cardboard Gods is the memoir of Josh Wilker, a brilliant writer who has marked the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child.  While it is rooted in a life obsessed with baseball, Cardboard Gods is much more than just a baseball book; it’s a touching family saga that perfectly captures an era, the late 1970s. Like Nick Hornby or Chuck Klosterman, Wilker finds something very large in the seemingly small.

Josh expertly shares his classic observations about his central artifacts, the baseball cards, while setting up the poignant tales of his youth.  He uses the magical bubble-blowing powers of journeyman Kurt Bevacqua to shed light on the weakening of the powerful childhood bond with his older brother; he considers the doomed utopian back-to-the-land dreams of his hippie parents against the backdrop of inimitable 1970s baseball figures such as “Designated Pinch Runner” Herb Washington and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych; he writes about an imagined correspondence with his favorite player, Carl Yastrzemski.  Cardboard Gods is both the perfect book for baseball fans and a great read for anyone compelled by the question, “What if what’s gone can return?”

“Josh Wilker’s Cardboard Gods is a poignant and vivid account of how and why he accessed baseball cards as a survival tool while negotiating a 1970s childhood marked by changing mores and confusing mixed messages.  This is a story of brotherly love, survival of the also-ran, and the hope that quickens a kid’s heartbeat each time he rips open a fresh pack of baseball cards, gets a whiff of bubble gum, and, holding his breath, sees who he’s got as opposed to who and what he needs.  If you love the writing of Dave Eggers or Augusten Burroughs, you just may love Josh Wilker’s Cardboard Gods, too.  I did.”
–Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of She’s Come Undone and The Hour I First Believed

“Josh Wilker writes as beautifully about baseball and life as anyone ever has.”
–Rob Neyer, ESPN

For more info: http://cardboardgods.net/cardboard-gods-the-book/

Librarian Zinesters and Zine Librarians at Quimby’s

Apr ’10
23
7:00 pm

LibrarianZines2010

Four card-catalog-holding librarians will ride into Quimbys on their book carts, zines in hands on April 23rd. These self-professed print culture nerd zinesters will read at what promises to be an entertaining evening stereotype busting. What, you thought all librarians shushed? Well, shush to you.

Zinesters reading include:

Celia Perez, author of the perzine I Dreamed I Was Assertive and mamazine Roots & Wings;

Library school student Jami Thompson of the long-running No Better Voice;

Lower East Side Librarian Winter Solstice Shout Out and Reading Log publisher Jenna Freedman

Nell Taylor, zine contributor and Executive Director of the Chicago Underground Library

There may even be limited references to Boolean operators. You won’t want to miss this chance to get your library geek on!

For more info: http://zinelibraries.info/2010/03/28/zine-librarians-zine-reading-at-quimbys

Patrick Wensink and Michael Allen Rose

Apr ’10
24
7:00 pm

SexDungeonForSale

Yes, there will be (a) Sex Dungeon for Sale! at Quimby’s. The book with that title, that is.

Combine an optimistic realtor selling a home with a sexual playground, a kindergartener convinced he’s actually French, and something called “Chicken Soup for the Kidnapper’s Soul,” and you get Patrick Wensink’s hilarious collection of short stories titled Sex Dungeon for Sale! (Eraserhead Press). Join Patrick Wensink as he reads from this new book.

Sex Dungeon for Sale! takes these bold characters and a few other outrageous situations to create an unforgettable and quick literary ride. While keeping an eye focused on the surreal, but both feet firmly planted in reality, these stories dissect a modern world so strange you have to laugh. Wensink’s punchy style is perfect for the brevity-obsessed Twitter generation, but saves room in his utility belt of brief tales for humor, humanity and an extra helping of WTF?.

“A deliciously dark and funny book” –Louisville Courier-Journal

“Unputdownable” –The Next Best Book

“Wensink’s evident writerly talents make this an auspicious debut.” –James Greer, author of Artificial Light and The Failure

“Sex Dungeon for Sale!  takes facets of everyday American life and twists them until they gag out comedic gold.” -Joey Goebel, author of Torture the Artist and The Anomalies

Also joining the bill is Chicago’s playwright Michael Allen Rose, who will read from his RoShamBo Theatre production Attack Ships on Fire.

For more info: http://www.patrickwensink.com

Top 10 This Week

1. Baffler vol 2 #1 $12.00

2. Believer #70 Mar Apr 10 Film Issue $10.00

3. Make Shift #7 Spr Sum 10 $5.95

4. Comedians Feb Mar 10 $4.50

5. Six By Six #20 Big Ships Straddle the Horizon $5.00

6. My Alaskan Summer $10.00

7. Culture Slut #20 $2.00

8. Seattle Review vol 2 #2 and #3 $10.00

9. Wax Poetics #40 $9.99

10. In These Times Mar 10 $3.50

News & New Stuff This Week

The sincerest form of flattery:

proximity_mag08Logo

vs.

ClicheLogoHmmmmmm…

— — — —

Anyz, here’s new stuff!

bestfriends

Best Friends by Marian Runk $10.00

High Soft Lisp by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics) $16.99

Part of Rebellion #3 Erosie You Have One New Message by C100 (Publikat) $19.95

Flux Designer Toys by Shawn Wright (Gingko) $29.95

Way cool postcard books (see below for an example of just one of the Ian Stevenson ones) from the amazing Concrete Hermit folks overseas. Cool stuff rom these artists: Andrew Rae, Anthony Burrill, John Slade, Koichiro Takagi, Jeremyville, Cody Hudson. Prices vary.

lostheroes

Spring Goals zine by Jay Krevans $3.00

Seattle Review vol 2 #2 and #3 $10.00

True History of the Elephant Man: A Definitive Account by M. Howell and var. (Skyhorse) $12.95

It Was the War of the Trenches by J. Tardi (Fantagraphics) $24.95

A variety of Moleskine 18 month planners, starting July 2010 to Dec 2011, variety of prices

Paper Apr 10 $4.00

Small Stakes Music Posters by Jason Munn/Small Stakes (Chronicle) $24.95 – Foreward by Nicholas Harmer of Death Cab For Cutie.

Lists To-Dos Illustrated Inventors Collected Thoughts and Other Artists: Enumerations From the Smithsonians Archives of American Art by Liza Kirwin (Princeton) $24.95

Print and Pattern Bowie Style by Bowie Style {aka Marie Perkins} (Laurence King) $35.00

Dot Dot Dot #19 (Princeton) $16.95

Hip Snips: Your Complete Guide to Dazzling Pubic Hair by Pablo Mitchell (Quirk) $9.95

Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today by Kate Bingaman Burt (Princeton) $19.95

The Addams Family: An Evilution by Chas Addams (Pomegranate) $39.95

Dong With a Luminous Nose by Edward Gorey (Pomegranate) $14.95

Jumblies by Edward Lears, illustrated by Edward Gorey (Pomegranate) $14.95

Sinister Truth MK Ultra graphic novel by Jason Ciaccia and A. Norhanian (Pop Indsutries) $11.95

El Propio #3 Somer Season mini-comic $.25

musenewsnoose6

The Muse the News and the Noose #6 Quiet Songs by John Wawrzaszek $2.00

No Dogs Allowed: Buffy the Cat by Paul Smulson $17.93

Me Magazine #19 Spr 10 by $7.50

Flaunt #108 $8.95

Thor: Tales of Asgard HC by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby etc. (Marvel) $29.99

Newsboy Legion vol 1 HC by Joe Simon/Jack Kirby (DC) $49.99

Krazy and Ignatz in Tiger Tea HC by George Herriman, Craig Yoe (IDW) $12.99

Book of Grickle HC by Graham Annable (Dark Horse) $17.99

Black Blizzard The Legendary 1956 Thriller by the creator of A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi

(DQ) $19.95

Beachbum Berry Remixed a Gallery of Tiki Drinks: The Recipe Books Intoxica and Grog Log combined with 107 New Drinks by Jeff Berry (Club Tiki Press) $24.95

Wacky Packages Includes Bonus Pack of Rare and Unreleased Stickers (Topps/Abrams) $19.95

120 Days of Simon: A Graphic Odyssey Through Sweden by Simon Gardenfors (Top Shelf) $14.95

Hey Princess by Mats Jonsson (Top Shelf) $14.95

Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis HC (Abrams) $24.95

Phonogram vol 2 The Singles Club TPB by Kieron Gillen and var. (Image) $14.99

Invincible Iron Man vol 1 Marvel Masterworks by Stan Lee and var. (Marvel) $24.99

Dapper Caps and Pedal Copters: Many Marvelous Wondermark Comic Strips by David Malki (Dark Horse) $16.99

Dodgem Logic #1 (Knockabout) $6.00 – Alan Moore’s (yes, that Alan Moore of Watchmen etc. fame) mini-tribute to the region he lives in.

Maximumrocknroll #323 Apr 10 $4.00

Laphams Quarterly vol 3 #2 Arts and Letters $15.00

Neural #35 $8.00

IdN vol 17 #1 $17.50

IDN Extra 02 Midnight Sessions $25.00

Death and Taxes Mar Apr 10 $4.99

Venus Zine #42 Spr 10 $4.50

Art Lies #65 $7.00

Sovereign #9 Apr 10 $3.95

spank15

Spank #15 Homo Art Zine $6.50

XLR8R #132 $4.99

Best of Skunk vol 2 $6.99

Tattoo Society #21 $7.99

Wax Poetics #40 $9.99

Tattoo Ideas #38 Mar 10 $7.95

Bizarre #160  $10.50

Bomb #111 Spr 10 $7.95

Bust Apr May 10 $4.99

Left Turn #36 Apr May 10 $5.00

Turnstile #1 Win 09 10 $4.95

Modart No 1 Forget Art In Order to Feel it The Best of Modart Magazine (Modart) $29.95

Emigre No 70: The Look Back Issue Selections from Emigre Magazine #1 through #69 (Gingko) $49.95

Hammer Making Movies Out Of Sex and Life by Barbara Hammer (Feminst) $19.95

Pen and the Sword Conversations with Edward Said by var. (Haymarket) $15.00

Academic Repression Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex by var. (AK) $24.95

How The Economy Was Lost The War of the Worlds by Paul Craig Roberts (AK) $15.95

Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America by Mark Ehrman (Process) $16.95 – updated edition.

Read Hard: Five Years of Great Writing from the Believer, by var. (McSweeneys) $18.00

Misadventure by Millard Kaufman (McSweeneys) $22.00

Goth Vamps and Dandies by Gavin Baddeley (Plexus) $19.95

Dawn of the Dreadfuls Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Steve Hockensmith (Quirk) $12.95

Economics Anti Textbook: A Critical Thinkers Guide to Micro Economics (Zed) $35.00

Band of Bikers photo book by Scott Zieher (PowerHouse) $24.95

Gristle From Factory Farms to Food Safety by Moby and var. (New Press) $14.95

Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America by William Kleinknecht (Nation) $16.95 – Now in soft cover.

Ronald Reagan My Father by Brian Joseph Davis (ECW) $17.95 – We’re sensing a pattern here.

Pinstripe Planet 2: More Fine Lines From the World’s Best by Herb Martinez (Korero) $37.95

Hyperart Thomasson by Genpei Akasegawa etc. (Kaya) $17.95

ovulation2010

Ovulation Awareness Sex Ed and Social Commentary (2nd ed.) by Sam $4.00

The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno (W.W. Norton) $14.95

Performing Guzzling by Kim Gordon (Nieves) $60.00 – Includes a signed print! We only got one, so ya better hustle if you want it.

Song is You by Arthur Phillips (Random) $15.00

Black Jack vol 10 by Osamu Tezukah (Vertical) $16.95

Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Vintage) $7.99 – Now in mass market paperback, following The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

The Comedians Feb Mar 10 $4.50

Purge Zine (stream of consciousness) $1.00

Ninth Letter vol 6 #2 $14.95

Very Hungry Caterina by Katherina Audley $3.00

Mysterias Mansion Annual 2010 by Nik Havert $6.25

Razorcake #55 $4.00

hermanthemanatee

Herman the Manatee vol 1 Gets Hit By a Boat min-comic by Jason Viola $3.00

Sunward mini-comic by Jason Viola $4.00

Vervm Corpvs #1 by var. $4.99

El Propio #4 $.25

JS Bound Struggles #7 $5.00

Paranoia The Conspiracy Reader vol 1 by Joan D’Arc and Al Hidell $14.00