How to Order Books...
1) Check our website to determine if the book is on our shelves. If so, order online
2) Order through Bookshop
3) Call the store (608-283-9332) during our bookseller in-store hours for recommendations, and we'll suggest the best way for you to get what you want.
4) Email us with your questions and/or your wish list. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.
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Bestselling Immortalists Author Chloe Benjamin on Living in Madison and Reading & Writing During a Pandemic
By Doug Moe
The other day, Madison author Chloe Benjamin did a book event for Green Apple Books, a beloved bookstore in her native San Francisco. Benjamin interviewed author Rufi Thorpe about Thorpe’s new novel, The Knockout Queen, which Benjamin much enjoyed, calling it “fearless, tender and savagely alive.” (editor's note: this book is also on order for the store).
Of course, times being what they are, the event was virtual, on Instagram Live.
“It was a little weird to do it that way,” Benjamin told me, in a recent phone chat. “Kind of disjointed. We had the technology fail at one point.”
Even though there wasn’t a large virtual crowd, Benjamin judged the event a success.
“People wrote saying thank you so much for this conversation,” she said. “It hammered home that even if there are only a few people who come away really having enjoyed it – that’s enough.”
Benjamin, who moved to Madison a decade ago for graduate school, garnered a huge readership with the runaway success of her second novel, The Immortalists, in 2018.
She’s grateful, yet the success inevitably raises the ante for the novel she’s writing now.
“To be honest there is some performance anxiety,” she said.
The smart bet is that Benjamin will find her way. She knows it’s a nice problem to have and was upbeat, funny and thoughtful when we spoke, while acknowledging the unsettling circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In some ways it’s been easier for me to adjust than my husband [Nathan],” she said. “He works for the university and has a more traditional job where he’s always seeing coworkers and having meetings. It’s been a shock for him. As for me, I’m used to working in a pretty solitary way.”
But there have been time demands associated with the success of The Immortalists – promotion, travel, a development deal with a TV network.
“I am constantly aware of how lucky I am to be a full-time writer,” Benjamin said. “But in some ways my writing life was easier and more straightforward when I was working a day job.”
It has hindered progress on her third novel.
“With The Immortalists I wrote the first draft in about two and a half years,” she said. “And I was working a day job Monday through Thursday. With this book I’ve been technically a full-time writer and it’s been four years and I’m halfway through.”
Of the high bar set by The Immortalists, Benjamin said, “I want to write a book people will love, but at the same time you can’t write a book like that. You can’t write while trying to please people because you’ll never please everyone. The motivation and the story have to come from you and what you’re obsessed with or driven by.”
Like most good writers, Benjamin is an avid reader, generous to colleagues, cognizant that the community of authors, readers and booksellers is a special place.
When I asked what books she might recommend, she replied with enthusiasm.
“I’m reading Emily St. John Mandel’s second book,” Benjamin said, then quickly corrected herself, noting that Mandel wrote three suspense thrillers prior to the breakout success of her 2014 novel, Station Eleven.
Mandel’s new novel – her fifth – is The Glass Hotel. (Editor's note: Mystery to Me will be getting another shipment of Mandel's book on Tuesday afternoon. In the meantime, it is available via Bookshop).
“I just love her work,” Benjamin said. “There’s something so humane about the way she writes. She really gives personhood to every character, no matter how small. And she writes with such compassion about people who do good and bad things.”
Another recommendation, a new nonfiction book: Before and After the Book Deal, by Courtney Maum.
“It’s a fantastic guidebook about how to make a life as a published writer,” Benjamin said. “Told with humor and wisdom. I just think it’s wonderful.”
Maum interviewed some 150 publishing industry people for the book, and Benjamin was one of them. She shared with Maum that she has a “special smile” for people who refer to The Immortalists as her debut. (Benjamin’s first novel was 2014’s The Anatomy of Dreams.)
“I don’t want to embarrass them,” she said. “But I also feel like I’ve earned my stripes and want people to know I’ve worked hard enough to have two books out.”
Benjamin and her husband bought a home last summer. Nathan has started a garden, and Benjamin hopes to do some canning this summer, a passion she wrote about in a Real Simple magazine piece in 2018.
She is sold on Madison.
“I am here indefinitely,” she said. “We love it. I moved here 10 years ago now, thinking I would do my two years in the MFA program and then move back to San Francisco, or maybe go to New York.”
She continued: “I call myself a born-again Midwesterner. I just fell in love with it. Madison is a wonderful town to be a writer.”
Much of Benjamin’s new novel is set in Wisconsin.
“In a way,” she said, “it’s a bit of a love letter to this adopted state.”
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Mystery to Me Virtual Author Events
All author events listed are presented through Crowdcast. You may register via the link provided next to each of the listed events (or through our website). Pre-registration is recommended, but not required. At the time of the event, simply click on the link and you'll be connected!
TONIGHT -- Monday, May 4 -- Crowdcast Link
7 pm
Sara Paretsky will talk with us about her new V.I Warshawski novel Deadland
Signed bookplates are available with purchase. And, if you've already purchased the book, let us know if you would like a bookplate. We can mail it or make it available for curbside pickup!
Wednesday, May 6 -- Crowdcast Link
7 pm
Beloved New York Times illustrator Grant Snider will talk with us about his new book I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf
Thursday, May 14 - Crowdcast Link
6 pm
Local author Joy Ann Ribar will talk about the second book in her new series Deep Bitter Roots.
Monday, May 18 - Crowdcast Link
7 pm
Comedian Tom Papa will join us to talk about his new book You're Doing Great
The book is not on our shelves just yet as it is released on May 12! The link here takes you to Bookshop. You're welcome to pre-order through the link or send us an email and we'll hold one for you when it arrives!
Wednesday, May 20 - Crowdcast Link
7pm
Jazz musician Ben Sidran will discuss his new book, The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma, with Doug Moe.
The book is not on our shelves just yet. It is released today, May 4. Books are ordered! Nonetheless, The link above takes you to Bookshhop. You're welcome to order through the link or send us an email and we'll hold one for you when it arrives!
Friday, May 22 - Crowdcast Link
10:30 am
Virtual Storytime with Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek. They will be reading their new book Summer Song.
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For the past several years our bookstore has been a sponsor for the Madison Area Children's Dyslexia Center Walk! This year we will be adjusting our plans (more than) a bit by asking you to participate by walking wherever you happen to be on Saturday, May 16! When you click on the registration link, we invite you to sign up as part of the Mystery to Me team.
The t-shirts have been designed by one of the Center students and are, once again, simply awesome. Team members will be able to pick up their t-shirt at Mystery to Me a few days after the Walk (Joanne will collect the team's shirts from the Center). So, please, join us on Saturday, May 16. Register here (and, remember to enter Mystery to Me as the team name!...).
The Walk for Dyslexia is the Center's largest fundraiser of the year, and funds raised from the event allow the Center to provide life-changing one-on-one tutoring services to children with dyslexia in our community. Thanks, in advance, for your support.
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Yet another way to support LOCAL!
Metcalfe's Market is hosting an on-line gift card sale for participating Dane Buy Local members from Monday, May 4 to Sunday, May 17.
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Stay Tuned...
In concert with the Governor's directive, we hope to be able to open our doors to in-store shopping on Tuesday, May 26. Nevertheless, we are playing the wait-and-see game to determine what's best for our booksellers and for you, our customers. In the meantime, we hope you'll stay tuned.
Our Facebook, Instagram, and our website are updated frequently, and we're always happy to get your phone calls and emails.
We hope to see you soon.
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