Hello Gift Giving Season

 

December is here. In sunny San Diego that means periwinkle and orange sunsets and scarf weather. 

Hillcrest has options to celebrate the arrival of the winter holidays! Enjoy a San Diego Fog Latte at Hazel and Jade to warm your heart. Shop for the creatives in your life at the Artist & Craftsman Supply. Connect with your spiritual side at Wonders of the Earth. And, of course, dip into literature here at Bluestocking Books! The bookstore is chock full of delights for the season, including gently used books in all genres; LIFE Magazines from the 1940s-1970s; and new reprints of classics and customer favorites. Our staff is prepared to assist you in finding just the right tomes for however you celebrate the season - Jolabokaflod, Solstice, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas. Place your orders before December 15 for best arrival times. We love fulfilling your requests, so bring ‘em on! Please inquire NOW so that we may procure the best copies in time for Santa’s Christmas Eve visit. Bluestocking Books also has gift wrapping available for a fee, greeting cards, antique Christmas and New Year postcards.

Shop Hillcrest For The Holidays

Would you like a chance at winning a shopping spree in Hillcrest? Along with our neighboring restaurants and other retail businesses, we are participating in Shop Hillcrest for the Holidays from Friday November 28 through Wednesday December 24. When you spend $15 or more (one ticket for one purchase per day) at Bluestocking Books you will be offered an opportunity-drawing ticket to fill out and submit for a prospect of winning a $2000 shopping spree in Hillcrest! Every participating business has treats for you to win. Find out more at Fabulous Hillcrest. Each participating business may have different entry qualifications, so do inquire when you visit those shops and restaurants. 

Taste ‘n’ Tinis

If you enjoy a tipple in the winter wonderland of brisk Hillcrest, Taste ‘n’ Tinis may be the event for you! Taste ‘n’ Tinis returns in 2025 on Thursday, December 11 from 5:30PM until 9:00PM. Local shops and restaurants will be designing and serving signature cocktails to sip while you shop. Participating Hillcrest restaurants will offer an array of signature dishes, specialty appetizers, and decadent desserts. Get tickets at Fabulous Hillcrest for this 21+ event.

 Holiday Hours

Bluestocking Books will be open on Wednesday, December 24th (Christmas Eve) between 11AM and 2PM for last minute shoppers. But here’s the thing - books produce an instant holiday and can be given because it’s Tuesday, because it’s sunny, because it’s overcast, and because your loved one needs a hug. Books can express “I See You”, “Thank You”, and “You’re Superl!” 

Bluestocking Books will be closed December 25 and December 31. As for Jan 1, 2025 - call when you wake up to see if we showed up!

Gumball Poetry

Bluestocking Books recently installed a Gumball Poetry dispenser featuring seven San Diego poets. Twenty-five cents - one lone quarter - will give you something to chew on (metaphorically-speaking). Enjoy some poet-treats when you visit the book shoppe!

We should just be thankful for being together

"We should just be thankful for being together. I think that's what they mean by 'Thanksgiving', Charlie Brown."  Marcie, 1973

Click on image to order the book "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"

Autumn is in the Air!

Spooky Reads at Boooostocking Booooks!

Shadows close in as the days get shorter and the evenings cool and settle into sweater weather. During the remaining hot days, especially if you don't have air conditioning, you may want to cool down with a chilling story. Bluestocking Books has some spine-tingling recommendations in our thoughtfully curated horror section in-store and online.

If horror is not your genre, never fear - Bluestocking Books stocks and orders all genres of books. Stop by, call, or email with your book wish lists and we will locate the titles for you.

Bluestocking Books has some suggestions for the younger set this 'ween season:

The "Little Ghostie Finger Puppet Book" illustrated by Emily Dove is a rhyming board book with built-in ghost finger puppet suitable for humans aged 0-3 to engage motor skills and to learn to count down from the number 5 to the number 1. Illustrated with witches, black cats, and pumpkins, this book makes a perfect gift for baby's first Halloween! Purchase in-store and online.

Another mysterious baby board book title we have available for purchase in-store and online at Bookshop.org is Sandra Boynton's "Boo! Baa, La La La!" Who replied "BAA" to the gentle cow's "BOO" on a moonlit Halloween night?

Is your little goblin over the age of three? If so, we suggest "The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat: A Halloween Book for Kids and Toddlers", appropriate for ages 3-7. Available in the children's books section at Bluestocking Books and on Bookshop.org.

Fill Your Ears With Fears

Libro.fm has some classic and modern vampire audio books that will bring on the chills while you clean your home or complete your workout.

EeBOO

Find Eeboo Products in stock at Bluestocking Books

Eeboo Puzzles make great gifts for yourself and others. Their 100-piece Haunted House Jigsaw Puzzle is a scrumptiously sweet alternative to bags of candy. We like women-owned Eeboo so much that we enjoy looking at the original artwork even when we are not constructing a puzzle!

For the up-and-coming writer - dare we say author? - or the artist in your life, we present The Alchemist's Cabinet Dotted and Lined Journal and Premium Sketchbook from Eeboo. Unleash your creativity or a loved one's genius with these whimsical inspirations.

October Events

Please note that the North Park Book Fair that was scheduled for October 18, 2025 has been cancelled.

Nightmare On Normal Street

 Boulet Brothers San Diego Drag Monster Vivvi the Force

Nightmare on Normal Street, Hillcrest's Ultimate Halloween Bash, returns on Friday, October 31, 2025 from 5PM until 11PM. This massive Halloween block party and costume contest is produced by Fabulous Hillcrest and benefits the San Diego LGBT Community Center and Fabulous Hillcrest. Note that while historically located on Normal Street, the 2025 event is on University Avenue.

The Nightmare on Normal Street event is a long-standing Hillcrest tradition. It began in 1992 as a community celebration outside the San Diego LGBT Community Center. In 2014, the Hillcrest Business Association took over as producer, and the event has continued to grow.

Event Highlights:

• Costume competition: A major feature of the event is a massive costume contest with over $2,000 in prizes. There is even a special pet contest for your costumed companions.
• Dance party: A gigantic dance party with live DJs will take over the street for the night.
• Entertainment and bars: The event offers late-night live entertainment, street food vendors, and multiple outdoor bars.
• VIP pass: For an enhanced experience, a VIP pass includes two complimentary cocktails, front-of-the-line access, and an exclusive 21+ VIP area with private restrooms.
• Age restrictions: The event is open to all ages, though a valid ID is required for attendees 21 and older to purchase alcohol.

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is October 5-11, 2025. The theme is "Censorship is so 1984". October 11 is Let Freedom Read Day - this is a day you can take multiple actions to help defend books from censorship and to stand with library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make banned books available. 

George Takei has been named as honorary chair of Banned Books Week 2025.

“Books are an essential foundation of democracy. Our ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’ depends on a public that is informed and empathetic, and books teach us both information and empathy. Yet the right to read is now under attack from school boards and politicians across America. I’m proud to serve as honorary chair of Banned Books Week, because I remember all too well the lack of access to books and media that I needed growing up. First as a child in a barbed-wire prison camp, then as a gay young man in the closet, I felt confused and hungry for understanding about myself and the world around me. Now, as an author, I share my own stories so that new generations will be better informed about their history and themselves. Please stand with me in opposing censorship, so that we all can find ourselves — and each other — in books.” 

- George Takei

Order Books by George Takei from Bluestocking Books:

• "It Rhymes With Takei"
• "My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story"
• "They Called Us Enemy"
• "Nos Llamaron Enemigo" ("They Called Us Enemy" Spanish Language Edition)
• "To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu"

Sentimental Books - A Piece of You

 Bluestocking Books associate Mary Lyons serves up a slice of literary life in her essay - 

Sentimental Books - A Piece of You

     Recently on a family text thread, my niece Haley told us (her sister, my brothers, her other aunt, my parents) that she had created A Room of Her Own in her new home and had a bookshelf which didn't have enough books. Imagine that! (I couldn't.) Finding a booklover with a sparse bookshelf - unless they are an excruciatingly disciplined minimalist - is like finding a rabid cat lover who doesn't already have three to five cats - who doesn't even have one cat! (For the record, Haley has seven cats.)

     My niece asked us a question which will always warm the hearts of older generations: what books do you love which you recommend to the people you love? Well, actually Haley said it best:" I want to add some sentimental books to my collection to have a piece of each of you." The responses flowed in on the text thread --

     Ashley (her sister): "I mean, Dracula or Dorian Gray. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft."

     AJ (her other aunt): "The first that came to mind was a book that G'ma read to me: The Shining. I remember being around 12 years old and plopping right down in front of her while she was reading and asking ‘what's going on in this chapter?’ She would read and I was riveted. (I knew that Joy/G was cool, but reading Stephen King to your 12-year-old daughter? That is badass.)"

     Her dad (my brother): " Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Mary, can you find me a copy?"

     Nana (my mom): "The Heaven Tree Trilogy. I cry every time I read the last 40 pages. It's so beautiful." (My mom is a gentle soul, but she is also very practical. She doesn't just cry willy-nilly like some people. A sentimental choice indeed.)

     Next up my brother Mike mentioned reading The Stand over Christmas break 1976, and soon enough Haley was talking about tearing through The Exorcist.

     I watched from the sidelines and realized that, like some of my family members, I have a macabre taste in books. Don't get me wrong, I have many kinds of favorite books, not just one or two titles. But the books that were blaring their car horns to get noticed in this company would not be ignored: Memento Mori by Muriel Spark and The Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson. Both are creepy, both have elements of the supernatural nudging up against the day-to-day reality of real humans and their hopes, dreams, and foibles. Both authors are great stylists. Both books leave an impression which resonates for me.

     Somehow, I couldn't share these titles - my recommendations - in the text thread. I waited a few days and chimed in: "Haley, I'm going to send you a couple books."

     It feels a little bit like choosing a very favorite book for a book club. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to introduce the book - I don't want to have to explain why I love it or justify why I picked it. I certainly don't want anyone to tear it apart. It's like poetry when it's obscure - I don't want to have to explain what it means, take a test, or break it down word by idiom. Can't I just love it and share it with you?

     A customer brought her daughter to the bookshop to pick out and share some of her favorite books while she could. She wanted her daughter to have a vast array of books to get to know her mom even better in the coming years. I have to admit, I got choked up. Our customer, with her beautiful smile and amethyst eyes comforted me and told me it would all be alright. I think she was right. She was sowing the seeds of a conversation her daughter could continue to have with her. She was writing the future, and some of her favorite authors were guiding her pen.

     If you love a book - really treasure it - you don't have to protect it from the scoffs and misreads of the reading public, you owe it to your most important people to share it. If it works out, they will invite it to dinner. They hear its stories, watch its manners at the dinner table, love or tolerate the way it laughs, then decide if they will never ever invite it in again or welcome it into their home with open arms and remember its favorite drink. I don't even like Muriel Spark as a person. At least, I don't think I do. But I will invite in anything she has ever written.

List of books mentioned in this essay:

(Click on the book titles to purchase from Bluestocking Books)

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

The Shining by Stephen King

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter (out-of-print : contact Bluestocking Books for a bespoke search)

The Stand by Stephen King

The Exorcist by William P. Blatty

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

The Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson

"Summer's Lease Hath all Too Short a Date" - W.S.

Bluestocking Books in San Diego Magazine!

For a last gasp of summer fun, spend a day exploring Hillcrest with San Diego Magazine as your guide! We were pleasantly surprised when a client told us Bluestocking Books was listed under “Where To Shop” in The Locals’ Guide. With so much great food, art, and shopping, Hillcrest should be on your rotation of must-experience neighborhoods!

One Book, One San Diego

The One Book, One San Diego selections for 2025 have been announced! 

• “Deacon King Kong” by James McBride for adult readers

• “Family Style: Memories From an American from Vietnam” by Thien Pham for teens and tweens

• “The Interpreter” by Olivia Abtahi and illustrated by Monica Arnaldo for children

• “The Interpreter” Spanish language edition for the One Book Sin Fronteras program

Visit the San Diego Public Library website to see a list of past One Book, One San Diego selections.

September Literary Birthday Spotlight!

September 11, 1862 was the birthdate of William Sydney Porter. Porter became legendary as the author O. Henry, who published more than 380 short stories and who has been the name of THE annual American award for 'best short story' since 1919.

"It ain't the roads we take; it's what's inside of us that makes us turn out the way we do” – from  the short story "The Roads We Take", published in the collection "Whirligigs".

September 15, 1890 was the birthdate of the “Queen of Mystery”, Agatha Christie – often cited as the best-selling and most famous mystery writer. Agatha started writing whodunnits in 1920, resulting in  Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot becoming characters known to readers in over 100 languages! 

“Very few of us are what we seem”, wrote Agatha Christie in 1929’s 'The Man in the Mist'.

September 19, 1972 welcomed into the world N. K. Jemisin, winner of 5 Hugo Awards, 2 Audie Awards, and 1 Nebula Award for her science fiction and fantasy writing that explores themes of cultural conflict and oppression.

She drops amazing truths throughout her books, like: “But for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress.” And, “He pretends to be less special than he is, because the world has punished him for loving himself.” Read The Broken Earth Trilogy to experience more from this amazing author!

Spooky Season Kicks Off with a Reimagined Hansel and Gretel

A classic fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm has been reimagined by author Stephen King and illustrator Maurice Sendak with the September 2 release of “Hansel and Gretel”.

The edition was created in close collaboration with The Maurice Sendak Foundation and features a personal introduction from Stephen King that kicks off this “deliciously daring” rendition of the beloved German tale, Hänsel und Gretel.