Tag Archives: Curbside Splendor

Coming to a Curbside Near You!

Curbside-splendor-Sq_LOGOIf you live in the Chicago area, you’ll soon be able to visit a brand new center of community and independent publishing, in the best form of all: a bookstore! This June, Curbside Splendor — a publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that has celebrated its Chicago roots since its inception in 2009 — is opening “Curbside Books and Records.”

The store was first announced in a Publishers Weekly article on May 24. While it will carry titles by Curbside Splendor (like Mickey, which HBO-TV/Girls star Lena Dunham recently touted in her online newsletter), it will also feature titles by indie publishers across the nation, as well as regional titles and records produced by independent labels. Curbside Splendor doesn’t produce music, but some of their titles do celebrate the rich entertainment history in Chicago, such as The Empty Bottle Chicago, which chronicles the famous venue’s 20+ year life through stories, photos, and ephemera.

Independent bookstore, independent publishers, independent labels—you may be sensing a theme here. The emphasis on independently-produced goods is entirely intentional. The goal, according to Curbside Splendor publisher Victor David Giron, is to expose people to new and exciting literature and music, to lift up voices and experiences that can get lost in chain bookstores and big business publishers.

The bookstore will be located inside a café in Revival Food Hall, a showcacover-draft-Chelsea9se for local chefs from 15 Chicago restaurants, which features communal seating and a wine bar that opens in the evenings. It’s not your average bookstore locale, and that was also an intentional choice.

“It won’t be a traditional bookstore,” Giron said. “The idea is that it’s going to fit into a larger communal space; it’s going to be part of this community center.”

Revival Food Hall is located near the famous Michigan Avenue, a commercial and cultural hotspot, as well as near several schools, including the School of the Chicago Art Institute, Columbia College, and Roosevelt University. In the future, Giron hopes to tap into the talent in MFA programs there to schedule programming and community events.

Is it July yet? We can’t wait! Congratulations, Curbside Splendor! Chicago is lucky to have you.

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With Book Love to Mom

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a mother in possession of one or more children must be a superhero. That’s how the Jane Austen quote goes, right? In the United States, we’re celebrating all mothers on Sunday, May 8th. From CEOs to stay-at-home types, from soccer moms to PTA-faithfuls, from teachers to carpenters to scientists and more, no two moms are alike. Finding a Mother’s Day gift that fits your mom(s) just right can feel like an impossible task.

That’s why we’ve made this special “Mom Edition” round-up of titles sure to pique the interest of even the most one-of-a-kind moms. They’ll be sure to thank you for your thoughtful gift, if they can stop reading long enough!

If your mother is the hippie gardener type…

soil sistersSoil Sisters: A Toolkit for Women Farmers (New Society Publishers) by Lisa Kivirist is a practical, hands-on guide for female farmers. Women in agriculture are sprouting up in record numbers, but they face a host of distinct challenges and opportunities. Blending career advice with sustainable agriculture practices viewed through a gender lens, Soil Sisters provides a wealth of invaluable information for fledging female farming entrepreneurs.

If your mother likes to use the word “patriarchy” in everyday conversation…

Men Explain Things to Me (Hamenexplainymarket Books) by Rebecca Solnit is a landmark essay collection based on the article that went viral, inspired the word “mansplaining,” and prompted fierce arguments. In Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit takes on the conversations between men who wrongly assume they know things and wrongly assume women don’t. The ultimate problem, she shows in her comic, scathing essay, is female self-doubt and the silencing of women.

If your mother knows “home” is a complicated word…

miles between meMiles Between Me (Curbside Splendor) is Toni Nealie’s debut essay collection. New Zealand native Nealie examines journeys, homelands, family, and motherhood. She details humiliating confrontations with airport security, muses on the color brown, and intimately investigates her grandfather’s complicated and criminal past, all while hearkening home—wherever and whatever that is.

If your mother knows that “family” isn’t just biological…

the mothersThe Mothers (Text Publishing) by Rod Jones is a moving multi-generational story of motherhood, adoption, and the inescapable presence of the past in all our lives. The Mothers interweaves the lives of three generations of women who learn that it’s often the stories we can’t tell that shape us and make us who we are. Rod Jones’ writing has been praised by the New York Times as “utterly original.”

If your mother was an English major…

you should pityYou Should Pity Us Instead (Sarabande Books) by Amy Gustine is a collection of short stories that explore love in its many guises—family, romance, friendship. You Should Pity Us Instead explores some of our toughest dilemmas: the cost of Middle East strife at its most intimate level, the likelihood of God considered in day-to-day terms, the moral stakes of family obligations, and the inescapable fact of mortality. Gustine’s complex characters and thoughtful turn-of-phrase will make you want to read this book again and again.

If your mother knows her way around a kitchen torch…

Little Flower Baking (Prospect Park Books) by Christinlittle flower bakinge Moore, is a collection of recipes from one of California’s most acclaimed bakers, all adapted and carefully tested for the home cook. Extensively photographed and rich with Moore’s down-home warmth and wisdom, it inspires home cooks to make her rustically beautiful, always delicious cookies, cakes, pastries, savory baked goods, breads, rolls, bars, puddings, and so much more.

If your mother is a runway star no matter where she goes…

ysl coloringYves Saint Laurent Coloring Book (Arsenal Pulp Press) has been heralded by BuzzFeed as the “Chicest Stress-Reliever Ever”. This elegant, imaginative adult coloring book explores the dynamic, fanciful creations of iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. The book’s line drawings for coloring are based on many of the designer’s original sketches for dresses over the years, accompanied by full-color photos of original dresses for reference.

 

Find out where to purchase Soil Sisters, Men Explain Things to Me, Miles Between Me, The Mothers, You Should Pity Us Instead, Little Flower Baking, and Yves Saint Laurent Coloring Book here on the Consortium website!

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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Hispabooks, NubeOcho, Cinco Puntos, and Curbside Splendor!

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 through October 15), we’ve gathered together four titles that celebrate Hispanic and Spanish cultures. Check out these titles from Hispabooks Publishing, NubeOcho, Cinco Puntos, and Curbside Splendor to celebrate with some great reads!

The firstAugustOctober title we recommend is August, October, by Andrés Barba and translated by Lisa Dillman. Published by Hispabooks, a Madrid-based press that specializes in publishing contemporary Spanish fiction in English translation, August, October is a coming-of-age-tale, with the adolescent narrator struggling to reconcile himself to a world involving death and sexuality.

The next title CarlotaWoudn'tSayBoois from NubeOcho, another press based in Madrid that specializes in picture books and children’s fiction that promote respectful attitudes towards diversity. Published both in Spanish and in the English translation, Carlota Wouldn’t Say Boo by Emilio Urberuaga and José Carlos Andrés is a sweet and charming story about overcoming shyness and learning to speak up for yourself.

Our title from Texas-based Cinco Puntos is Sofrito Sofrito, by Phillippe Diederich. In this debut novel, Frank, a Cuban-American who disregards his family’s Cuban past, feels lost until he makes the decision to travel back to Cuba to steal a top-secret recipe that will save his failing restaurant in New York. Along the way, he falls in love with a prostitute and Cuba, and comes to terms with his father and his family’s roots. You’ll enjoy this entertaining and poignant work.

Last, but notMozos least, is Mozos: A Decade Running with the Bulls of Spain by Bill Hillmann and published by Curbside Splendor in Chicago, Illinois. In this memoir, Hillmann recalls his decade spent running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It is equal parts entertaining, wise, funny, and philosophical. By the end, you’ll either want to go run with the bulls, or choose to live vicariously through Hillmann.

 

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Bookslinger Update: “When the Weather Changes You”

The Bookslinger app has been updated with a new story!

9780983422877Today’s story comes from May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks, published by Curbside Splendor. May We Shed These Human Bodies peers through vast spaces and skies with the world’s most powerful telescope to find humanity: wild and bright and hard as diamonds. Here is humanity building: families reconstruct themselves, mothers fashion babies from two-by-fours and nails, boys make a mother out of leaves and twigs and wishes. Here is humanity tearing down: a wife sets her house on fire in revenge, a young girl plots to kill the ghosts that stalk her, a dying man takes the whole human race with him. Here is humanity transforming: feral children, cannibalistic seniors, animal wives—a whole sideshow’s worth of oddballs and freaks.

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Bookslinger Update: “Roger Ebert Critiques His Second Date With Oprah Winfrey”

The Bookslinger app has been updated with a new story!

9780983422853Today’s story comes from the anthology Chicago Stories: 40 Dramatic Fictions, edited by Michael Czyzniejewski and published by Curbside Splendor. Forty dramatic fictions each told in the persona of famous Chicagoan from Barack Obama to Oprah Winfrey. For everyone who’s always wondered what would happen if Roger Ebert had taken Oprah Winfrey to a critics’ screening of Revenge of The Nerds for their second date.

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