Subterranean Books is very excited to welcome James W. Erwin to the University City Library for a signing of his book, Guerillas In Civil War Missouri  on Thursday, April 26 at 7:00PM.

In his book Erwin has taken a forgotten chapter of Missouri’s difficult history during the Civil War and brought it to life in vivid detail. Beginning with the Kansas-Nebraska Act and how its passage rippled through our state through the bloody Centralia Massacre and winding up with the postwar violence that devasted the state, Erwin has richly rescued this turbulent chapter of our history from fading away into obscurity.

Like any good novel Guerillas In Civil War Missouri has its own share of great characters. Athough this is a work of nonfiction you could not ask for a more colorful or intereresting group of characters. Joseph C. Porter, ‘Bloody Bill’ Anderson,  General Thomas Ewing Jr, the soon-to-be-even-more- famous Frank and Jesse James and of course Willaim C. Quantrill (the most famous guerilla leader in the State’s history) all leap from the pages, larger then life. Erwin is dead on in that in order to understand the impact of guerilla warfare in Missouri you must also know who these men were and what drove them. 

A lot of people do not know what a bloody and dangerous place Missouri was during the Civil War. Its strategic location made it not only a coveted prize but also a hotbed for spies, recruting and especially guerilla warfare on each side.

As Erwin points out,  guerilla warfare in the Missouri was more then a series of random nasty skirmishes or petty raids. It was, in its own way, an ugly, bloody theater of the American Civil War. 

What: James W. Erwin Book Signing

When: April 26, 7:00pm

Where: University City Library (6701 Delmar Blvd.)

This event is free and open to the public.  Subterranean Books will have copies of Mr. Erwin’s book for sale at the event.

Missouri State Representative Rory Ellinger will introduce Mr. Erwin at the event.

For more information call (314) 862-6100.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock you may have noticed that the film adaption of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is in theaters. It has been a pretty big deal in the media and also in the book world as well.

This 2008 young adult novel and its follow-up titles have been big sellers for us at the store this month. As booksellers we get excited when a book gets some hustle to it and sells like crazy. There’s the fun of getting the book on the shelves and into the hands of customers. There’s also the joy of knowing we have a book that, in some cases, someone went all over town looking for. Plus, there is the joy of having the money come in which is, sadly, an essential part of the business. But the best part is that people are buying books and reading.

As for the book itself, it is set in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem where peace is kept by having an annual ‘tribute’ which collects warriors from 12 districts and throws them into a nihilistic gladiator arena of sorts where the participants must hunt, track and kill each other to survive.  It’s a very esoteric substitution for war that has been glossed over by the government and media and turned into entertainment.  However, when Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the Games all hell breaks loose.

One of the reasons for the success of The Hunger Games is that it touches on a lot of ideas. There are cultural and social clashes, the morality of killing for sport, sexual politics, regular sneaky politics, the ideas of family and community. Collins also tackles poverty, oppression, war while turning the notion of self-preservation on its ear. She’s also thrown in a wacky love triangle just to make things interesting.

Collins has also taken the Orwellian idea of Big Brother and merged it with our culture’s strange predilection for reality TV.  It’s a book with  a lot going on in it. We’ve found that kids and adults both are devouring the series and enjoying the books. It has a lot of intrigue, action and is written at a breakneck pace that makes it a pretty quick read.

I was told by a customer the other day that these books are not the next Twilight or Harry Potter series that get charged by Hollywood and turned into a pop culture event. It was pointed out to me that The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay are, like lots of other great fiction, books that have a soul that enables them to resonate with the times they mirror when they were published. 

Check out our website for all of your Hunger Games needs.

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!

Nick Flynn’s memoir, Another Bullsh**  Night In Suck City has been adapted into a film by Focus Features. The film stars Paul Dano as Nick Flynn and Robert DeNiro as his father John. It is directed by Paul Weitz and features music from Badly Drawn Boy.  Julianne Moore co-stars and Flynn himself has a brief cameo in the film.

You can read the Rolling Stone review of the film here: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/being-flynn-20120302

Nick Flynn is a diverse poet, essayist and teacher who has won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award and been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.  His other books include The Ticking Is The Bomb, The Captain Asks For A Show Of Hands, Some Ether, Blind Huber and A Note Slipped Under The Door (W/ Shirley McPhillips).

Subterranean Books is giving away three prize packs to celebrate the release of the film. Each pack contains Flynn’s paperback memoir plus a free run of engagment pass for two people to any Monday-Thursday screening of Being Flynn at The Tivoli Theatre.

All you need to do is be one of the first three people to repsond to this blog’s posting on our Facebook site.  We will select the winners who will be notifed via Facebook. Winners will then need to come by the store to claim their prizes.

Getting a free book and a free film on us is a pretty great deal. However, if you want to buy this book or any of Nick Flynn’s other titles from us you can do so as well coming by the store or visitng here:

If you want more info on the film visit the Landmark Theatres website: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=113922

Lionel Shriver’s bestseller We Need To Talk About Kevin has been made into a feature film. The book won the 2005 Orange Prize and has been critically acclaimed by book lovers everywhere.

This captivating novel about motherhood gone crazy tests our perceptions of what is evil by centering the plot around the fractured relationship between a mother named Eva and her manipulative and devious son. 

Eva wants to be a good mom very badly. But sadly she realizes early on that she is the mother of a particularly nasty son. Kevin has a proclivity for evil and houses a darkness inside of him that is worrisome and troublesome. As mother and son combat each other the tense drama of the book ascends to an unexpectedly powerful climax.

The New York Observer hails the book as ‘An Underground Feminist Hit.’

The Independent called it ‘An awesomely smart, stylish and pitiless achievement’

Following the success of the novel, Shriver has teamed up with co-writer and director Lynne Ramsay for a film adaptation starring Academy Award Winner Tilda Swinton and Oscar nominee John C. Reilly. Both stars turn in amazing performances in the film with Swinton being nominated for several drama awards. The film has also been a success on the film festival circuit and was a nominee for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2011.

We have the book in stock and are excited about the release of the film. In fact we are so excited that we decided to give our patrons the hook up! We Need To Talk About Kevin is opening at The Tivoli Theatre on March 9th and to celebrate Subterranean Books is giving away free passes!

Beginning today we will be giving out FREE run out of engagment passes (good for free admission for two people to any Monday-Thursday screening of the movie at The Tivoli) to our cutomers with any purchase. We have a limited number of passes so don’t dawdle.  We also are giving out free posters to all customers.

For more information on the film & showtimes visit the Landmark Theatres’ Tivoli website: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=109212

You also can visit the official site for the film: http://kevin.oscilloscope.net/

To learn more about this potent book vist our website:  http://store.subbooks.com/book/9780061124297

Back in the day we were a used bookstore. But that is neither here nor there. What matters is that as a result we still have a nice selection of great used art titles waiting to be loved.

These selections cover almost every movement and even consist of catalogs of entire collections. If you dig deep enough there is some nifty stuff to explore.

We also have a kickass selection of new art books as well. The new Caravaggio biography is getting high praise, revealing an entirely new dimension of the artist and his work.

There also is a new biography of Vincent Van Gogh out that has the art world abuzz with new theories about his death. Van Gogh’s life and work is reevaluated like never before with a freshness and renewed spirit.

In addition to these best sellers, there are  many great Taschen titles to choose from as well. Taschen never disappoints in their titles which are wonderfully written and exquisitely designed.

 If you are a stickler for the classics, fret not. We have the hits as well; Monet, Holbein, Klee, Gaughin, DaVinci and even Munch who screams off the bookshelves for your attention. Graphic design, poster art, contemporary art and even surrealism are represented as well.  We also have a mighty fine selection of photography, grafitti art and contemporary art as well.

We have tried to build an art book selection that is expansive and covers a broad variety of movements, artists asnd subjects. Come in and browse the section on your next visit and you will find a treasure or two.

HENDRIX ROCKS SUBTERRANEAN GALLERY

John Hendrix has returned with another amazing art show in our gallery to coincide with the release of his book,  A Boy Called Dickens.

John’s art show features the drawings and sketches that featured in his new book. This offers us a glimpse of how the book came together while highlighting his incredible talent.

Below are some of the pictures from his current Gallery show at Subterranean Books which you can see in our store! We think you need to see these in person because they are amazing.

 John has previously written and/or illustrated several books.

Nurse, Soldier, Spy : Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero   

John Brown : His Fight for Freedom 

Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek: A Tall, Thin Tale (Introducing His Forgotten Frontier Friend

Each of these titles sees a historical person brought to life in an enthralling way.

Finally, we really appreciate the support John gives the store by having his event in an independent bookstore. we think he’s the bees knees!

…are what we have right now for our January and specifically for a very exciting event we’re hosting next Thursday, Jan. 26. All of us at Subterranean are proud to be the venue for another John Hendrix author appearance and signing — this time for John’s brand-new book, A Boy Called Dickens (Schwartz & Wade Books, $17.99). Deborah Hopkinson, who’s worked with JH before, has written the text and John’s supplied the beautiful illustrations. Really, this guy is extremely talented and he happens to live right here in St. Louis. It’s a win-win for this lucky bookstore and the entire community. Please attend if you can; the event starts at 6 p.m. and of course it’s free. For further details please check our website.

Hendrix’s new book comes out as one element of the wave of publications and events worldwide coinciding with the great Charles Dickens’s upcoming 200th birthday celebration (he was born February 7, 1812). There’s far too much Dickensian stuff happening to try to summarize here, but let me mention a couple of other Dickens-related titles we have in stock — ones I can heartily recommend, along with John’s new one.

Claire Tomalin’s new biography, Charles Dickens: A Life (The Penguin Press, $36), is where I’d start if you’re wanting the life story of the man and the writer. Tomalin is in the first rank of literary biographers; she captures the human essence of her subjects and her knowledge of their work is second to none. Her study of Thomas Hardy from a while back was incomparable and one of the very best things I read that year (2007). I have great expectations that this new Dickens bio will be just as good.  

If you’d prefer a brief biography of the man, look no further than Jane Smiley’s superb offering, also entitled Charles Dickens: A Life (Penguin, $14). At 209 pages it’s half the length of Tomalin’s, but you won’t sacrifice depth of insight or erudition to brevity. Smiley’s biography is one of the best studies of a writer, living or dead, I’ve ever read. And, being a professional novelist by trade, she knows a thing or two about writers and their inner lives and motivations. This is a great, great little book.

My (and this store’s) friend Fergus O’Shingles stopped in last night and we had another chat about CD and his work. Fergus is a Dickens neophyte but I think I’m making progress on getting him hooked on the expansive ocean of the man’s writing and his supercharged imagination. If I succeed and O’Shingles dives in, I’m fairly confident he’ll enjoy the swim. Just wear some proper Speedos, Fergus: the nude swimming you’re used to won’t fly here. This isn’t Croatia.

It is a chilly and sunny Saturday in The Loop. Lots of people are coming in from the Ice Carnival who have never been in our store before.

It’s always exciting to see the magical look on someone’s face when they realize they have a real, honest to goodness local bookstore that they can shop at. The enthusiasm is pretty cool.

Again we are a locally owned, independent business and your support keeps us open. So please consider us for your literary needs.

We also want to remind you of the awesome other business neighbors we have in The Loop which are locally owned as well. Shop as many as you can since it keeps your money in our community.

I’ve had some wonderful conversations about books today which always makes our day as booksellers.

I WANT MY MTV

I spent lots of time watching MTV in my youth and have always been fascinated by the subculture it helped create. MTV shaped fashion, affected record sales and helped bring rap and grunge to the forefront in the 1980s and 1990s.

A new book, I Want My MTV not only gives a history of the network but also interviews the VJs, producers and creators who made the network happen.

It is a funny, insightful and informative read that sheds light on an interesting era in music history. The book also explores how MTV helped turn Madonna, Michael Jackson and others into stars via the video medium.

MTV also served as a filmic panorama of the politics, culture, music, style and history of the 1980s and 1990s. It created the reality show and made ‘alternative music’ a popular genre.

This has been a very fun read so far and is recommended for anyone who loves popular music, pop culture and the history of the 1980s.

 rob

You know that we are an independent bookseller who works hard 24/7 to feed your literary habit. You know we always strive to stock new and interesting titles that are often popular but also under the mainstream radar. However you may not be aware of some of the great extra services we offer for our patrons beyond selling books in the store.

BOOK CLUBS

If you are in a book or reading club we want your business! We can order the titles your group is reading on a monthly basis and give you a sweet discount on each title for those folks in your book club. All you need to do to register is come by the store and sign up with one of our booksellers. It’s really simple and it gives us a lot of business.

If you are interested in having your book club meet here we can arrange that as well. We also are here to suggest book club titles for your group if you require it. 

But the most important thing you can do to keep us afloat is to tell your friends, relatives and colleagues that we offer this service. Unlike Fight Club we want you to tell members about us.

REGISTRY

For devout bookworms we offer various registry services. You can do your birthday, wedding or holiday book gift registry here. It’s simple really. All you have to do is give us a list, then we’ll get the books and you don’t get a crap fruitcake or ugly sweater as a gift.  

LIBRARIES

Attention all librarians! We can get you books! We want to get you books! We need to get your books! If you work for a library please stop by, email or call us to see how we can be a provider for all or any of your literary needs. We have a strong title list and can get a lot more titles just for you. Also, if your school or library is hosting an author we would love to be on site to handle book sales for you.

TEACHERS

Did you know that several professors at Washington University use Subterranean Books to provide books for their classes?  We would love to do this for your school or classroom. Getting your books here saves you some time, energy and money while getting new business for us.

BUSINESS TO BUSINESS

Subterranean Books has a special program for organizations of all shapes and sizes whereby we can provide books for you at discounted pricing. This is a great service for your business, church or non-profit and we encourage you to ask us about being your book provider before you consider other options.

By doing this your company keeps money in the community and sustains an independent bookstore.  Bulk sales not only help us keep the lights on they allow us to make new friends in the community and spread the word about our business to new audiences.

This service is great for any conferences you may be hosting as well as training sessions or for just keeping your staff up to date on current goings on. Churches and civic organizations can participate as well. We also will offer direct and bulk shipping options if needed.

The bottom line is that this is a win/win situation. Your organization or company get books at a reasonable price and can boast of supporting a local small business and we reap the rewards of making your clients happy and getting new business.

CONVENTION SERVICES

In addition ot the Business To Business services we offer we want you to know that if you are having a convention or attending one, ask us about providing items for your gift bags.  We also can have booksellers on site to sell books for your conference, convention or meeting.

LOCAL AUTHORS

If you are a local author and have a new title to sell we offer consignment services that allow you to get your book on our shelves. Stop by and fill out some simple paperwork to make this happen. We also are willing to host events and readings for local authors. Again just call or stop by for information.

AUCTIONS/TRIVIA NIGHTS

We care a lot about the town we live in. That’s why we can provide gift certificates or even books in some cases for your triva night or charity auction. What we require from you is a letter on your organization’s letterhead with a copy of your non-profit certification. What we ask in return is recognition at your event and maybe even the opportunity for signage or bookmarks.

ONLINE SERVICES

We are always happy when we get to ship books to fun and far off places. We have several regular out of town customers who use us for their book needs. We love that.

So we want you to know that we are happy to ship books to family, friends and colleagues for you. Additionally, we can bulk mail books for your ogranization as well.

If you want to save paper or are always on the go, we sell ebooks online as well so you don’t need to rely on Amazon.

At Subterranean Books we are all about meeting your literary needs. Whether this is in our store, over the phone or online, we are here for you. However we want you, our valued customer, to know what services we provide outside the normal realm of a bookstore.

We are a part of this community and are always looking to broaden our business by forming partnerships, collaborating and providing extra special services to meet your literary needs in these changing times. Hopefully this overview of our services will encourage you to use us for your business needs as well as for pleasure reading. Please tell your friends and networking circle about Subterranean Books and don’t forget us for your business needs!

Everyone here at Subterranean wants to wish all of you a Happy 2012.

We also want to thank those of you who made an effort to help us out in 2011. It began as a dark year as we really thought we were done for. It ends today with the conclusion of a holiday season filled with new customers and lots of returning friends. We’ve had a great holiday season! Again, thanks to everyone who shopped with us online or in person in 2011.

As for 2012, remember that we are an independent business and literally every dollar you spend keeps us going (really, we are not kidding). This means that in order to keep things chugging along in 2012 we’ll need you to come back. So, please come back and tell all of your friends about us so we can grow the business even more.

We are trying to turn a corner and grow the business. Don’t panic we are not planning anything ridiculous. We are talking about increasing awareness in the community about us and having more great books in stock all year long. In 2012 we’ll continue to sell great books, provide awesome customer service and host cool events to tingle your literary hearts.

But we cannot do this without you, our customers. You all have given us the best present ever this year, your support and business. You stepped up for us and we are SO grateful!

It was has been an honor for all of us to engage you in conversation about books of all sorts. We love the fact that we have such an eclectic customer base who are wonderful and intelligent.

The new friends we have made each day (some who had never been here before) are also to be credited for taking a gamble on a local business. Your dollars are staying where you live and they make a difference in the lives of all of us involved with this store. So please stick with us!

We are a family of sorts here and we each enjoy what we do. We love books and talking to our patrons about their reading interests. We know you hear a lot of slosh about loving customers from other companies and businesses, but we sincerely mean it.

The bottom line is that you have made a difference this year in our survival and that is pretty awesome! Because of you we are still standing and working to improve our selection and services.

2011 was a great year for books. Having the year end with new titles by Stephen King, Murakami, Eugenides, George R.R. Martin and Peter Nadas, amongst others, didn’t hurt either.

Finally, as 2012 promises an even better slate of new reads that we cannot wait to get them into your hands, we want to wish all of you a happy and healthy 2012. Mayan calendar be damned we assure you we’ll be here to provide all of your literary needs!