CBevents's blog

Country Bookshelf Reading Challenge 2022

Join us in 2022 for the Country Bookshelf Reading Challenge and add some surprising delights to your reading year.

Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter for bookseller recommendations to fulfill all the categories, and more updates. Posting on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram? Tag us and use the hashtag #cbreadingchallenge and we might share it on our social media as well!

And if that isn't enough of a challenge, or you need to add more books to your reading list be sure to check out our digital audiobook partner Libro.FM's listening challenge as well!

Dowload the new Country Bookshelf Challenge sheet here.

New Section Alert: HORROR!

We are excited to announce our new horror section, championed and crafted by our bookseller Frances!

For our customers who are fans of reading scary, spooky, and terrifying stories, you no longer need to comb through our fiction section to get your next unsettling fix! These chilling titles can be found behind our New York Times Fiction Bestsellers shelf facing the Romance section. 

Check out some of our staff favorites!

Good Books Come To Those Who Shop Early

Welcome, November! There are some wonderful new books arriving this month, just in time for hibernating with a comfy blanket and a hot beverage, and of course, the gift giving season. With the onset of holiday shopping we also begin our supply chain lamentations. Our suppliers and distributors are saying that this holiday season the supply chain will be even worse than the previous two years. 

We rely on sales from the fourth quarter to pay off bills, run operations during slower seasons, and make sure our inventory stays fresh. We truly appreciate our community and all you've done to get us through these unprecedented times, and we hope to help you find the perfect gift for the season, wrapped by our friendly booksellers and delivered with holiday cheer.

Here are 4 ways you can help us right now!

  • Shop early for the holidays! See above - start shopping now to ensure you have gifts on time!
  • Buy stuff! Books, puzzles, stickers, fun finger puppets. We have lots of great titles and fun gift items to share with colleagues, friends, and loved ones. 
  • Buy a gift card! This is essentially a loan that gets us the cash we need now and you the book you need later.
  • Preorder books! Pay upfront and preorder that book you've been super excited about. Much like gift cards, this gives us an influx of cash now, and “future you” get's a gift later!

Some other deadlines to be mindful of: If we don't have the book on the shelf when you're shopping you'll want to request it in or order it by 12/9/22 in order to arrive in time for Christmas. As for shipping from Country Bookshelf for expected delivery by Christmas, you'll want to ship Media Mail packages by 12/1. Media Mail is the post office's lowest priority so these packages will get passed over for higher priority parcels. Speaking of priority - for Priority shipping we recommend shipping by 12/15. Many of these deadlines are a little earlier than the USPS website suggests so we have time to process everything and do our best to make sure parcels get where they need to go. Please note that our booksellers only APPEAR magical, so these deadlines are not guaranteed. 

We truly appreciate your support!

David Quammen and BREATHLESS

In a case of life imitating art, local science writer David Quammen—presently recovering from his own case of Covid-19, after writing about the virus in his new book Breathlesswill be rescheduling his talk at the Country Bookshelf, for the protection of the audience.

We have rescheduled Quammen's talk for Tuesday, October 25th at 6pm MT. All prior registrations and purchases remain valid. If you are unable to attend the event at its newly rescheduled date and time please cancel your registration through Eventbrite or contact the store via phone or email

Thanks so much for your understanding, and please reach out with any questions. 

- Country Bookshelf Staff 

Celebrating 65 Years!

We’re so excited to celebrate our 65th year of serving Bozeman and Gallatin Valley readers. Founded in 1957, this woman-led independent bookstore has become an anchor of Downtown Bozeman thanks to the support of our loyal and voracious readers. We are the bookstore everyone dreams of: two floors of hand-selected volumes, a knowledgeable and caring staff, and events to expand horizons. Country Bookshelf is a place to experience the power of literature and conversation, a place to feel welcomed and encouraged to explore ideas and identities. 

Country Bookshelf is a big store with a big heart – and even bigger ideas about how books can be a powerful tool for change. We believe books help us to better understand our neighbors near and far, and we strive as a business to help build a world where all feel welcome and have access to books.  

We would love to hear from you about your favorite memories of Country Bookshelf. You can submit memories to our virtual memory book, or post on social media using the hashtag #CB65th and tag @countrybookshelf. Keep an eye out for our podcast episode dropping this month with stories from booksellers past and present. 

As we continue to unfurl through the Covid landscape, we have a growing event calendar full of both in-person and virtual events. We are increasing interaction with storytellers and readers through our social media, YouTube channel, and podcast, and are welcoming book clubs and other community programs back into our space. 

We invite you to stop in and celebrate with us: share your memories, stop in at our neighbor Wild Joe’s Coffee Spot for a Bookshelf Brew, and show your Bookshelf some love. We find that a recommended read from our amazing booksellers pairs very well with our limited edition 65th Anniversary stickers, t-shirts, and tote bags!

 


 

Taylor Brorby In-Person Wednesday 8/24 @ 6pm

Explore the searing coming-of-age memoir BOYS & OIL from a young, gay environmentalist, set against the arid landscape of rural North Dakota

RSVP on Eventbrite!

From a young, gay environmentalist, Taylor Brorby's searing coming-of-age memoir 'seems akin to a ticking bomb.'

"I am a child of the American West, a landscape so rich and wide that my culture trembles with terror before its power.' So begins Boys and Oil a haunting, bracingly honest memoir about growing up gay amidst the harshness of rural North Dakota, 'a place where there is no safety in a ravaged landscape of mining and fracking.' In visceral prose, Brorby recounts his upbringing in the coalfields; his adolescent infatuation with books; and how he felt intrinsically different from other boys. Now an environmentalist, Brorby uses the destruction of large swathes of the West as a metaphor for the terror he experienced as a youth. From an assault outside a bar in an oil boom town to a furtive romance, and from his awakening as an activist to his arrest at the Dakota Access Pipeline, Boys and Oil provides a startling portrait of an America that persists despite well-intentioned legal protections.

BOYS AND OIL cover image

“The story of North Dakota is then the story of self-destruction. Everything leaves North Dakota full and comes back empty. The only way I’ve understood my home is by getting out, escaping its crushing weight, watching the destruction, now from the outside.”

In Boys and Oil, a bracingly honest memoir, Taylor Brorby brings new focus to a chronically ignored region of the country whose rich resources—its land and its people—are too often ravaged for America’s expedient purposes. In his hometown, Center, North Dakota, there are no stoplights, grocery stores, or motels, just a few bars and churches, with pews filled on Sundays by men who will return to the coal mine or the power plant on Monday and every day after. Here Brorby recounts his story, and that of the prairie, too, interweaving historic coal- country vignettes with scenes from his youth to forge a new path across a notoriously unforgiving landscape.

In visceral prose, Brorby recalls his upbringing in a trailer house in Center, and later in Bismarck; his adolescent infatuation with books; and how he felt intrinsically different from other boys in his home state, a state that ranks first in binge drinking. Childhood memories of picking chokecherries and fishing for bluegill with his beloved grandfather are soon replaced with the recollections of a closeted adolescent—of taunting and mocking, even beatings, from peers. Still, Brorby remained in North Dakota until he was outed to his family, and it became clear that to survive home, he had to leave first. Drawing readers into the tumultuous relationships of his early adulthood, Brorby relays his decision to flee North Dakota—physically, but never spiritually—for Minnesota, and eventually to come out on his own terms. Now an environmentalist, Brorby casts the prairie as a place of vulnerability, “where humans and animals must be resilient to survive.” Using the terror he experienced as a youth as a metaphor for the destruction of his homeland, Brorby describes his awakening as an activist, his arrest in Iowa at the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the yearning for the lush green grass and brown buttes of his childhood, “for a way to return.”

Haunting and deeply affecting, BOYS AND OIL is as much a book about growing up gay in rural America as it is an extraordinary paean to the natural environment, and a plea to stop destroying the land we call home.

“I have been waiting for this book. Boys and Oil is more than a memoir, it is a protest. Taylor Brorby has created a bridge between daydreams and nightmares, the gentle stirrings of the prairie and the violence of the oil and gas industry. We see through the lens of a gay man how character and identity are shaped by the landscapes that raise us. There is nothing sentimental in these pages. The literary West is more complete because of this stand-up story of beauty and brokenness by a fearless writer named Brorby.”                              —Terry Tempest Williams, author of Erosion: Essays of Undoing

Taylor Brorby image

Taylor Brorby is an essayist and poet. The coeditor of Fracture: Essay, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America, his work has appeared in the Huffington Post, Orion, and North American Review, where he is a contributing editor.

Celebrate Bookstore Romance Day!

Bookstore Romance Day is a day we love to celebrate!

Dedicated to Romance fiction—its books, readers, and writers—and  strengthening the relationships between bookstores and the Romance community, Bookstore Romance Day is in it's fourth year!

Virtual Event Program

11am - Gotta Have Faith--explore elements of faith in Romance outside the white, evangelical Christianity usually associated with the Inspirational sub-genre alonside authors Stacy Agdern, Rosie Danan, Farah Herron, Uzma Jalaluddin and Preslaysa Williams. Moderated by Olivia Waite
1pm - Authors to Grow With--authors who have published books specifically for the MG/YA market and specifically for the Adult market. Our friends at Loyalty Books will moderate this panel of amazing cross-category authors: Alisha Rai, Suzanne Park, Kosoko Jackson, Ashley Herring Blake, and Megan Bannen.
2pm - History in Color--Historical Romance by and about people of color reflects some of the best writing in Romance. Blogger and Indie Bookseller Kristian Beverly leads this conversation with Beverly Jenkins (the great and honorable Miss Bev herself!!! We're screaming!), Vanessa Riley, Adriana Herrera, Diana Quincy, and Amalie Howard.
3pm - Is This a Kissing Book?--S-F/F w/Romance elements & Romance w/ S-F/F elements,  either way you look at it, this panel has chemistry! Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Bookshop takes use to faraway and fantastical lands with CL Polk, Ilona Andrews, Travis Baldree, Alexandra Rowland, and Rachel Gillig.
4pm - Love is Queer--Romance by and about the LGBTQIA+ community is the perenial favorite of Bookstore Romance Day! Featuring TJ Alexander, Erica Ridley, Timothy Janovsky and Chencia Higgins, and moderated by Bettie's Pages!

Check out this catalog of all the authors celebrating Bookstore Romance Day virtually this year!

Win Fabulous Prizes!

Bookstore Romance Day will have some great book giveaways happening on Bookstore Romance Day. There are prize packs from Atria Books, St. Martin's Press, and Avon. Entry is easy. On Saturday, August 20, share a photo of your Bookstore Romance Day haul (or any Romance novel) to social media using the hashtag #IndiesLoveRomance & tag Bookstore Romance Day (@bookstoreromanceday) and your favorite independent bookstore. Winners will be chosen randomly from all eligible entries and contacted by August 31. (Sorry. Giveaways are open to US readers only.)

Sourcebooks publishing is also offering two extra-special prize packs that include a selection of Sourcebooks titles and some really excellent swag, including a Kate Spade tote! Full details on the prize and how to enter can be found by clicking on the adjacent image. 

 

Looking for some Bookstore Romance Day swag? Check out their Bonfire site for t-shirts and more! 

Happy Book Birthday to PIGEON & CAT by Eddie Hemingway

We're so excited to welcome local author Edward Hemingway to launch his newest picture book for young readers Pigeon & Cat. Eddie will read and sign copies of this heartwarming story about being houseless in the city, and the unexpected friendships that arise from hardship.  

 

In an abandoned city lot, Cat lives alone in a cardboard box. He leaves only to find food. One day, Cat discovers an unbroken egg too beautiful to eat. Soon, out pecks Pigeon, and they become fast friends. Cat is happy to share his box with Pigeon. But when Pigeon flies far away from where they live, Cat must brave the city in order to rescue his friend. This journey will forever transform his understanding of home. This heartwarming story explores unlikely friendships, the creative spark within us, and how to give comfort and kindness in small, impactful gestures. It is also a celebration of urban community.
 

Edward Hemingway is the acclaimed creator of many popular books: Tough Cookie: A Christmas StoryField Guide to the Grumpasaurus, and Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship. His writing and artwork have been published in the New York Times, Nickelodeon Magazine, and GQ Magazine, among others. He lives in Bozeman, Montana. He invites you to visit him at edwardhemingway.com.

Event Guidelines

This event is free and open to the public. To join the signing line and have books signed by the author at this event, please consider purchasing your copy of Pigeon & Cat from Country Bookshelf, either in-store, over the phone, or online (scroll down). The author's previous titles will be available for purchase at the event as supplies last.

Can't make it to the event, but still want to purchase an autographed or personalized book? Place your order below, enter "signed copy" plus any personalization details in the comments section of your order, and we'll have the author sign your books and ship them to you after the event!

Pages