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Summer Smarter Than Others: Make the summer of 2009 one for the books!

By tom on June 13, 2009 | Add a Comment

We want Portsmouth to read smarter this summer!

Hey!  We challenge you to elevate your reading this summer.  We'll help you find engrossing, entertaining beach reads that are still literate, educational, and maybe even challenging.  We're calling it Summer Smarter Than Others, and we want you to join us.  Personally, I'm planning to read a bunch of Graham Greene that I've been meaning to get to, and at least one book by Henry James (it's true, I've never read him).

You want Spivet! You've got him.

By tom on May 06, 2009 | Add a Comment

We've been getting alot of calls about wunderkind Reif Larsen's novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, ever since the Boston Globe gave it a great big write up this week.  Well I'm happy to say that Michele, our events co-ordinator, is way out ahead on this kind of thing, and has already secured Larsen for a booksigning on June 26th at 7pm.

You can read the Globe article here.

Jody's winning poem!

By michele on April 09, 2009 | Add a Comment

It's probably no surprise that most booksellers are also writers themselves.  We're very proud of our very own Jody Hetherington, who just was named a winner in the 2009 Maine Literary Awards, sponsored by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.  You can see her superb poem, winner in the Individual Awards for Unpublished Work Poetry category, below.  Jody also received an Honorable Mention for her fiction, "House of Words", in the Individual Awards for Unpublished Work Fiction category. Go Jody! It's only a matter of time before we're hosting her as a featured reader and published author at RiverRun!

either oar

I

First, find a boat. It helps

to have a dream of water still

lapping in your ears and the salt

of regret in your eyes. Stay

within thought of the ocean, and listen.

Music at RiverRun: Subject Bias and Hateful Little Cakes

By tom on April 09, 2009 | Add a Comment

We occasionally have music concerts here at the bookstore after hours.  If you've never been to one, I encourage you to come this Saturday (that's April 11th) at 9pm to hear Hateful Little Cakes and Subject Bias.

Watching a show at RiverRun is a special experience.  Everyone is there to listen to the music-- there's no espresso machine chuggin in the background, nobody talking loudly and drunkenly into their cell phone.  Everyone is paying attention.

Both bands on Saturday night are great.  Hateful Little Cakes are from here in town, and are much nicer than their name suggests.  They play a kind of folk/electronic mix that I really like.  Subject Bias is out of Portland, Maine, and play well written alternative pop.  They've got great voices and are a really tight band.

Author interviews, blogs, literary links, and social networking

By michele on April 06, 2009 | Add a Comment

I've been busy these days not just booking and running author events here at RiverRun, but also interviewing authors and writing book reviews.  When Jedediah Berry and Samantha Hunt came to Portsmouth last month, I had a chance to talk with both of them about their thoughts behind their novels.  Now I have interviews with them published in the April issue of Bookslut.  Did I mention we have signed copies of Jedediah's book, The Manual of Detection, and Samantha's book, The Invention of Everything Else?read more