Welcome to May 2020! Looks tad different than expected but we're rolling with the punches and nimble on our feet. Restrictions still in place here but we anticipate curbside pickups starting next week. Still working out specific details (hours, emailing invoices etc) but getting closer! In meantime we're expanding our online shop almost daily!
We're listing up items in stock on our
online shop. Mosey helps do inventory counts. I stock the virtual shelves. Can't replace the in-store experience but does help to provide a bit of maisieblue at your fingertips. We do free shipping with $75+ orders and there's a free Pickup option.
Need something not listed online? Just email me at
maisieblue@gmail.com
or call and leave message on shop phone 209-728-8261.
Yes, our outgoing
message still the same as before because I can't figure out how to
change it. Even my brianiac son couldn't figure it out either. We check
phone 2-3 times a week. And even answer it when there!
Pickup Orders
During
checkout you need select Pickup. See screenshot below-there's two blue "Change" options. Click on one and switch order to Pickup from Shipping. That's it! Finish your checkout process. We'll contact you with a
curbside pickup time. (Down the road maybe way we can have curbside time options too...but not today. It's dangerously close to tea time. Later this week I'll figure that out!)
Categories
I'm regularly adding to our virtual shelves. We have
bookshelf,
yarns,
puzzles. I've listed up our
teas,
classes, and available
kits filled with goodies you can order.
There's categories along the left you can click. Then sort the listings on the right drop down menu. There's also a search icon at top next to cart. Click there to type in an item to see what comes back!
Read on for a sampling of some new stuff added recently. Last week was a big photo shoot. There's plenty of stuff waiting in the queue, so check back often to see what new items appear.
Puzzles
Puzzles were a huge hit and great way for us to supply our customers with jigsaw happiness while stuck at home. We're still having delay getting White Mountain puzzles back in stock. But we've plenty of
eeBoo and
Cavallini and at the moment. Come June we'll have
6 new gorgeous Cavallini designs! Preorder now if you're wanting to snag them as soon as they arrive.
I've added a few new puzzles from
Pomegranate and
Galison. We don't want anyone to be puzzle-less during a pandemic!
Gradually adding up some of our notable favorite yarns. It's a small selection of what's available, so don't hesitate to contact us for something you don't see here. We're first listing the yarns most seasonal right now and those specialty yarns like Noro or sock yarns.
Click to see what's online so far:
Coming Online Soon:
Noro Kureyon, Silk Garden, Silk Garden Solo Geshi
Queensland: United Perth
Berroco: Summer Silk
This
is where you go to find the B
erroco Drop Ship Kits, Project of the
Week or our in shop kits. Any of the Berroco Project of the Week kits
you see we can order up, even if not listed on our website. Just means
my fingers can't type as fast as the Berroco gang dreaming up new kits! It's also where you'll find our
Mystery Boxes.
Our
online bookshelf filling up and I'm adding other titles often. Many are some of my all time-favorites titles you'll probably recognize. Last week I snapped loads of pictures so watch for more titles to be added up this week. Many of these are in stock at shop but if not, we'll order up. These are all perennial favorites we keep around year after year. Watch for new titles added up as well.
Remember: We also offer
Direct to Home orders for any title our distributor
stocks. If there's something particular you'd like (and want to order up
locally) just send us email (maisieblue@gmail.com) or leave message on
shop phone: 209-728-8261. Shipping media rate takes 5-7 biz days and
runs about $4 ea book. If you want faster, we can do it Priority which is
around $7-8 depending on how many books in order.
Pickup available instead of shipping. I'll just add your title to my
next order. May take a little longer as I need to reach a minimum to place the order. We'll let you know when it arrives at the shop.
Mentioned before is our current favorite mystery series is the
Lane Winslow Mysteries. Discovered this gem series last winter. I'm ploughing my way steadily through and now on #5. Each gets better and better! Not since my other perennial favorite, Maisie Dobbs Mysteries have I so enjoyed a series. It's an independent published so I've been busy stockpiling and now have a good supply. Don't think I've ever had so many copies of a series in stock like this before! That's how much I'm loving it.
Sadly the publisher is out of #2 but they're on order and will arrive eventually! Having read it, I can suggest, if desperate, jump to #3 and come back to #2 for those so inclined and not sticklers for reading in order.
People often ask the story behind our shop name. It's from the Maisie Dobbs Mysteries by Jacqueline Winspear. Long
ago during my bookselling days I read the uncorrected proof of a new
debut mystery called Maisie Dobbs. I adored it so much our Events
Coordinator booked an event. At same time I was just pregnant but even
the awful nausea didn't keep me from the event. If our son was a
girl...he would have been a Maisie.
Years later when brainstorming possible shop names, maisieblue was clear favorite. So I did eventually get my Maise! What's
to love about this series? It's well written and pulls you right into
the story line. Each book the author gently introduces just enough
historical events or themes to bring this inter-war era to life.
Thoughtfully plotted and developed, it's truly a gem of a series. #15 is now out in paperback: American Agent and we've got it at the shop! Fans will have to savor this because there's no new Maisie published this year. Watch for author's next release Nov 2020: It's her memoir!
One of my all time favorite historical fiction
authors is Edward Rutherfurd. He writes big, thick novels that span
centuries (some 10,000yrs) documenting the ebb and flow of time to a
specific location. He creates four to five families and follows them
through the generations. Somehow he manages to deftly shift through the
various characters with a rich continuity that carries you along,
wanting to learn what happens next. Eventually you finish his hefty
tomes (500-1000pps) satisfied with a rich understanding of a wide swath
of history. We have copies of New York and The Forest at shop. His others we can order from publisher so might take a couple of weeks but well worth the wait.
A favorite historian is
Ben Macintyre, one of the best at shedding light upon all thing spies, both pre-World Wars and Cold War.
One of the best historians of spies and spy
craft of our era. Anything by Ben Macintyre is fantastic. He made his
mark with the true story of Operation Mincemeat, the story how the
Allies, with a dead body deceived the Nazis into thinking that Allied
forces were planning to attack southern Europe by way of Greece or
Sardinia, rather than Sicily, as the Nazis had assumed, and the Allies
ultimately chose.
His latest, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. is a gripping tale of Russian KGB
intelligence operative Oleg Gordievsky, revealing how his secret work as
an undercover MI6 informant helped hasten the end of the Cold War. He
defected to the UK and Macintyre worked directly with him for this book
from his undisclosed location. (audio book here) You can't go wrong with any of his books if you love history and all things spies.If you're a fan of John Le Carre then this is even better...because it's real!
One of my favorite micro-history books from
years past: A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield It's the history of the
color red. A color we take for granted in our modern world was once one
of the most sought-after, mysterious almost magical colors in the
natural world. The author vividly describes how coveted, color prompted many acts of espionage before its source was finally discovered.
Side
note: The cover art is The Man in the Red Turban, also known as Self
Portrait of Jan van Eyck, my absolute favorite painter. In a galaxy
far, far away in another lifetime I might have devoted my life to
studying this artist. This painting captures his amazingly realistic
gaze and demonstrates his uncanny ability to photographically capture
his world with his brush.
One last all-time favorite non-fiction read of mine is Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World. I adored this book. Chocked full of historical details, fascinating insight into the lives of these two intrepid, maverick women journalists and countless cultural nuances as they race each other around the world. Today women travel all the time. But back then not only was it unusual for a woman to have a career but to travel alone around the world was unprecedented. The country was captivated by their race and their publications made it headline news daily, reporting their progress. This is a great read on so many levels. It's why I love to keep it on our shelf-both physical and now virtual bookshelf!
Audio Books
All the titles we stock usually available as audio books from our special
maisieblue audiobook website over on Libro.fm. Here's
Ben Macintyre's books,
Maisie Dobbs series.
Edward Rutherfurd big fat historicals. No Lane Winslows in audio format, just in paperback. But there's audo for
Eighty Days!
That's it for today! Still so much I've not highlighted but I'll save for another day! Becasue I'm now hungry and ready for a tea break!
Take care everyone!
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