Thursday, December 14, 2017

"A Fool for Christmas" Tonight!

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A quick reminder...
that Allan Gurganus will perform his wonderful holiday tale, "A Fool for Christmas" at the bookshop tonight at 7:00. The fool in this story is a nerdy guy named Verne, who runs a pet shop in a mall along an interstate somewhere in North Carolina. As cold weather comes on, Verne befriends a pregnant teen-age girl who he notices hanging around the mall.  
 
Allan tells this marvelous story in the first person, in Verne's voice, and let's just say that by the story's end we are all fools for Christmas. To help celebrate the season we'll have on hand holiday cookies and lots of bubbly (Prosecco and sparkling water). You might want to bring along some kleenex--Verne can be a sentimental kind of guy, and he might just get to you! 
Check out our complete list of Holiday Sale Titles
by clicking on this link:

Forty three eminently giftable books, all 20% off
through the end of the year.
Upcomng Events
 ALLAN GURGANUS performs "A FOOL FOR CHRISTMAS"
Thursday, December 14, 7:00 p.m.
"A Fool for Christmas" is Allan's holiday story, told in the first person, of a socially awkward loner named Verne who manages a pet shop in a mall off an interstate, somewhere in North Carolina. A pregnant runaway teenage girl takes to hanging out at the mall, and out of sympathy for a fellow outcast, Verne befriends her.
Allan has performed his heartwarming Christmas tale at the bookshop five or six times over the last dozen or so years. Every time he changes the story a bit, and every time folks end up reaching for something to dab their eyes. Allan will reprise "A Fool for Christmas" at The Regulator on Thursday evening December 14th at 7:00.  Simply put, Brothers and Sisters, Allan Gurganus can flat out tell a story. And he knocks this one out of the park. Refreshments and merriment will be served.
 
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME--a special Christmas edition! 
Wednesday, December 20, 10:15AM
Join us for Preschool Storytime at The Regulator with Amy Godfrey. Free!
Amy Godfrey loves telling stories.With 10 years of experience as a Children's Librarian, Amy Godfrey is known for her energetic musical story times and is bringing that fun to The Regulator every Wednesday!
 
DAN ARIELY
Wednesday, December 20, 7:00PM
Join us for a special evening with Dan Ariely, author of Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, for a reading and book signing. Blending humor and behavioral economics, the New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delves into the truly illogical world of personal finance to help people better understand why they make bad financial decisions, and gives them the knowledge they need to make better ones.
Exploring a wide range of everyday topics-from credit card debt and household budgeting to holiday sales-Ariely and Kreisler demonstrate how our ideas about dollars and cents are often wrong and cost us more than we know; they gleefully cut through the unconscious fears and desires driving our worst financial instincts and teach us how to improve our money habits. Dollars and Sense is a sound investment, providing us with the practical tools we need to understand and improve our financial choices, save and spend smarter, and ultimately live better.
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Ariely publishes widely in the leading scholarly journals in economics, psychology, and business. His work has been featured in a variety of media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Business 2.0, Scientific American, Science and CNN. He splits his time between Durham and the rest of the world.
 
CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS and the day after
Monday, December 25 and Tuesday December 26 
The Regulator will be closed on Dec. 25 and 26 and reopen during regular business hours on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
 
NO PRESCHOOL STORY TIME THIS WEEK
Wednesday, December 27, 10:15AM
 
CLOSED FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY
Monday, January 1, 2018
 
Shop Independent Durham
Tom Campbell
Regulator Bookshop
720 Ninth St.
Durham, NC 27705
(919) 286-2700
http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/

Friday, December 8, 2017

More Present-a-Bull Books

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We recommend buying your book presents early!
...that way you might have time to read them yourself before you give them away!  
 
And yes, we have some suggestions.
We'll start with the books most frequently purchased by the folks who are The Best Judges of Good Books in the Entire Country (a.k.a. The Regulator's customers!). Here are our best-selling titles from the past two weeks: (as always, you can click on the titles to see more) 
 
 
Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
 
 The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan (a history of Biltmore House)
 
 Grant by Ron Chernow
 
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (young adult fiction)  
 
 Lincoln in the Bardo, a novel by George Saunders
 
Manhattan Beach, a novel by Jennifer Egan
 
  
And here are a few more titles we feel are eminently worth considering, with excerpts from reviews. Beginning with a couple of titles for the cooks on your list. Give one of these to the right person and some good meals may be in your future:
 
"Whether you're seeking an indulgent, impromptu breakfast, a speedy dinner culled from pantry staples and canned goods, or a bake sale best seller, you'll find something to love." -Library Journal (starred review)
 
The Farmhouse Chef: Recipes and Stories from My Carolina Farm by Farmhouse Chef Jamie Dement (of Durham's Piedmont Restaurant!)
"The Farmhouse Chef is a Southern cookbook beyond question, but it's from a changing South, one that's more diverse in its tastes and cultures. There are butterbeans and cole slaw, but there's also kimchi, kebabs, and Thai fish cakes."--News and Observer  
 
"DeMent's recipes have that unique southern flare but with the freshness of homegrown ingredients. She shows home cooks they don't have to live on a farm to be a farmhouse chef."--Booklist
 
A fun title for the doctor, nurse, or medical student on your list?
"Quackery brilliantly educates and entertains through the errors of doctors and scientists of the past. An entertaining read that will shock you and change how you view the health claims on products that we see daily." -David B. Agus, MD, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller The End of Illness and Professor of Medicine and Engineering, University of Southern California
 
"A bubbling elixir of the comically useless, the wildly hyped, and the just plain weird in would-be cures through history. Peel away those quaint old patent medicine labels and add some modern buzzwords, and marvel at how much has (and yet hasn't really) changed."-Paul Collins, author of The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
 
"A wonderfully absorbing and revealing account, full of things I did not realize about A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, and the world of publishing. Once I started reading this book, truly, I could not put it down."-Dan Wakefield, author of New York in the Fifties

"The Man Who Invented Christmas is destined to be a classic about a classic. As Tiny Tim might say, 'God Bless Everyone,' in this case Standiford, for creating such a delightful and engaging gem-part history, part literary analysis, and all heart, just like the book that inspired it." -Madeleine Blais, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Uphill Walkers
 
"An effervescent work, brimming with tales and confounding ideas carried in the 'epic poem in our cells.' "-Guardian
 
"Rutherford raises significant questions and explains complex topics well, engaging readers with humor and smooth prose."-Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
"A sweeping new view of the human evolution story, using the latest science of DNA as the central guide . . . . Recommended."-Scientific American
 
"This is a lovely book: the kind of thing whose bite-sized morsels add up to 50 inventions a whole meal, but can be enjoyed and shared on their own." -Boing Boing

"Fantastically enlightening... Harford effortlessly leaps across time and continents to show readers various inventions in a new light, revealing unexpected insights into 21st-century society." -BookPage

"[Harford's] zest for his subjects makes them hard to resist; his lively, humorous style and wide-ranging curiosity make hard topics go down easily...Harford's contagious delight in his subject reminds readers not to take for granted the impact of objects and ideas so familiar they're easy to overlook."  -Kirkus Reviews 
 
 
Upcomng Events
APS Cat Adoption Event
Sunday, December 10, 2:00PM
Durham Animal Protection Society will hold a monthly cat adoption event at the Regulator. Come visit our furry friends from 2:00 - 3:30. Note the time and date.
 
NASTY WOMEN POETS
Monday, December 11, 7:00PM
Robin Kirk, Andrea Selch, and Jennie Malboeuf join us for a reading and signing from Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse. This timely collection of poems speaks not just to the current political climate and the man who is responsible for its title, but to the stereotypes and expectations women have faced dating back to Eve, and to the long history of women resisting those limitations. The nasty women poets included here sing, swear, swagger, and celebrate, and stake claim to life and art on their own terms.
Robin Kirk is the author of several books, including Peculiar Motion, a poetry chapbook (Finishing Line Press). She teaches human rights at Duke University and never grades on a curve.
Jennie Malboeuf is a Kentucky native and a good witch. She has published her poetry widely, including in Best New Poets 2016 (Meridian and Samovar Press). She teaches writing at Guilford College.
Andrea Selch is the author of the safer-sex poetry series "Twentieth-Century Valentines" (Oyster Boy Review) along with two other full-length poetry books. She has published her poetry widely. She lives in Hillsborough with her wife and two children.
                 
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME
Wednesday, December 13, 10:15AM
Join us for Preschool Storytime at The Regulator with Amy Godfrey. Free!
 
ALLAN GURGANUS performs "A FOOL FOR CHRISTMAS"
Thursday, December 14, 7:00 p.m.
"A Fool for Christmas" is Allan's marvelous story, told in the first person, of a socially awkward loner named Verne who manages a pet shop in a mall off an interstate, somewhere in North Carolina. A pregnant runaway teenage girl takes to hanging out at the mall, and out of sympathy for a fellow outcast, Verne befriends her.
Allan has performed his heartwarming Christmas tale at the bookshop five or six times over the last dozen or so years. Every time he changes the story a bit, and every time folks end up reaching for something to dab their eyes. Allan will reprise "A Fool for Christmas" at The Regulator on Thursday evening December 14th at 7:00.  Simply put, Brothers and Sisters, Allan Gurganus can flat out tell a story. And he knocks this one out of the park. Refreshments and merriment will be served.
 
PRESCHOOL STORY TIME
Wednesday, December 20, 10:15AM
Join us for Preschool Storytime at The Regulator with Amy Godfrey. Free!
Amy Godfrey loves telling stories.With 10 years of experience as a Children's Librarian, Amy Godfrey is known for her energetic musical story times and is bringing that fun to The Regulator every Wednesday!
 
DAN ARIELY
Wednesday, December 20, 7:00PM
Join us for a special evening with Dan Ariely, author of Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, for a reading and book signing. Blending humor and behavioral economics, the New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delves into the truly illogical world of personal finance to help people better understand why they make bad financial decisions, and gives them the knowledge they need to make better ones.
Exploring a wide range of everyday topics-from credit card debt and household budgeting to holiday sales-Ariely and Kreisler demonstrate how our ideas about dollars and cents are often wrong and cost us more than we know; they gleefully cut through the unconscious fears and desires driving our worst financial instincts and teach us how to improve our money habits. Dollars and Sense is a sound investment, providing us with the practical tools we need to understand and improve our financial choices, save and spend smarter, and ultimately live better.
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. Ariely publishes widely in the leading scholarly journals in economics, psychology, and business. His work has been featured in a variety of media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Business 2.0, Scientific American, Science and CNN. He splits his time between Durham and the rest of the world.
 
CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS and the day after
Monday, December 25
The Regulator will be closed on Dec. 25 and 26 and reopen during regular business hours on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
 
NO PRESCHOOL STORY TIME THIS WEEK
Wednesday, December 27, 10:15AM
 
CLOSED FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY
Monday, January 1, 2018
 
 
Shop Independent Durham
Tom Campbell
Regulator Bookshop
720 Ninth St.
Durham, NC 27705
(919) 286-2700
http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/