Looking Back While Looking Forward

Women's History Month 

March is Women's History Month. The theme for 2025 is "Moving Forward Together! Women Educating and Inspiring Generations", which inspires us to once more look back at our Suffragette Sisters who fought for the women's right to vote, and looking forward to the positive effects our current activism will achieve. 

Questions folks are asking in the current political climate are, "How can I protest?" and "What actions can I take?". The Commons Social Change Library is a good place to start browsing helpful publications. The staff at Bluestocking Books is prepared to assist in finding just the right books for you, wherever you are in your activism. 

One book we recommend for the younger set is pictured below - "A is for Activist" is an ABC board book for ages 3-7. This is the perfect book for families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and everything else that activists fight for. Click on the image to purchase online or contact Bluestocking Books to place an order - +1 (619) 296-1424.

Writerfest Nashville

WriterFest Nashville is a women-owned creative gathering for aspiring writers, published authors, screenwriters, poets, and songwriters, established by Ami McConnell in 2018. WriterFest hosts events, salons, soirées, and fundraisers throughout the year. The organization's Dolly Good Time event last November in support of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library raised enough funds to cover 161 children for one year.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is celebrating 30 years of building reading skills by gifting books free of charge to children from birth through age five in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland. Dolly was inspired to create the library in 1995 due to her father's inability to read and write. Dolly's efforts began in her home county in East Tennessee and have expanded to five countries; which just goes to show that local efforts can benefit the world. Despite recent defunding threats, the Imagination Library abides. Your donation to the Imagination Library helps maintain and expand the program. Dolly and over 3,197,250 children appreciate your support!

Mark Your Calendars!

Along with being Women's History Month, March is filled with holidays and observances - Mardi Gras, St. Urho's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Cesar Chavez Day, the vernal equinox, and more celebratory days that open our hearts to welcome the freshness of spring. Scroll down to view our March holiday reading picks.

Cowbellion: Mother of Mystics: The Origin of America's Mardi Gras explores the origins of America's Mardi Gras traditions, beginning with the "Cowbellion" Society, the first mystic parading organization. Following the Krafft family from Pennsylvania to New Orleans and Mobile, Cowbellion explores the origins of America's Mardi Gras tradition and the world of slave traders and cotton merchants in Antebellum America.

The full history of St. Patrick's day is captured here for the first time in The Wearing of the Green. Illustrated with photos, the book spans the medieval origins, steeped in folklore and myth, through its turbulent and troubled times when it acted as fuel for fierce political argument, and tells the fascinating story of how the celebration of 17th March was transformed from a stuffy dinner for Ireland's elite to one of the world's most public festivals.

The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement is a well-documented account of the farmworker's movement and it's prime mover, Cesar Chavez, featuring essays by Carey McWilliams, Victor Villaseñor, Alfredo Véa, Jr., Peter Matthiessen, Rudolfo Anaya, and others. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs.

Ostara - also known as the Spring Equinox - is a time of renewal, a time to plant seeds as the earth once again comes to life. Ostara: Rituals, Recipes, and Lore or the Spring Equinox is your guide to the history and modern celebrations of Ostara and shows you how to perform rituals and work magic to renew your power and passion for living and growing. 

One Book, One San Diego

Since 2007, One Book, One San Diego has been uniting communities by encouraging San Diego and Northern Baja residents to read and discuss the same book each year. Book nominations for the 2025 season are open until March 15, 2025.

The San Diego Book Crawl 2025

Independent Bookstore Day is on the last Saturday in April and the accompanying annual San Diego Book Crawl has become one of Bluestocking Books favorite events. Stay updated by following @sdbookcrawl

Celebrating Love at Bluestocking Books

The Year of the Wood Snake has begun. The element of wood can be fuel to burn it all down; however, fire cannot burn without oxygen, so remember to breathe. While you are shedding the old and welcoming the new, remember to stay as flexible as the wood of the trees in a storm - for in flexibility we find balance.

Celebrating Love

Whether you are celebrating love, looking for love, or loving yourself, February 14 ushers in the theme every year with Valentine's Day. A wonderful gift for yourself or your loved one is the first literary reference linking the Saint's day to romance, Geoffrey Chaucer's 1375 poem "Parliament of Fowls" - the title being a reference to the belief in Middle Ages France and England that February 14 was the beginning of mating season for birds.

Maybe you prefer a spookier read to celebrate Valloween? Check out author Kara Fleek's "Valoween: an erotic horror anthology" to spice up your evenings with your Valentine.

When gifting, remember the Valentine cards! Valentine's Day poetry and letters have been well-established since the Middle Ages. Continue the tradition with Bluestocking Books' selection of loving holiday greetings. We have both hot-off-the-presses cards and antique Valentine postcards to choose from.

Are you in the mood to read some Lunar New Year Romance? Two titles in this sub-genre made NPR's "Books We Love" annual year-end reading guide: "Lunar Love" by Lauren Kung Jessen and "Lunar New Year Love Story" authored by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Leuyen Pham.

In "Lunar Love", Olivia Huang Christenson is excited to take over her grandmother's matchmaking business, but when she learns that a new dating app has taken her Pâo Po's traditional Chinese zodiac approach and made it about "animal attraction," her emotions skew more toward outrage. Especially when L.A.'s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O'Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family's legacy. Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken. As the two businesses go head to head, Bennett and Liv make a deal - they'll find a match for each other, and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who's already adept at stealing business ideas, so what's stopping him from stealing her heart, too?

In "Lunar New Year Love Story", Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed as no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love. But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever? This young adult graphic novel has been chosen as best book of the year in 2024 by multiple reviewers.

Loving Community

Black History Month 

Black Lives and History Matter. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH®), founders of Black History Month, have dedicated February 2025 to the theme African Americans and Labor. Black History Month has come a long way since Black History Week was launched in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Purchase Woodson's books and biographies at Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores.

Southern California Wildfires

The devastating Los Angeles area fires have affected members of our book and comic community. Businesses were shuttered and more than seven booksellers have lost their homes. Thankfully, we have a caring community and the Binc Foundation (Book Industry Charitable Foundation) has amassed a $55,000 grant to match donations to assist bookstores, comic shops, and their employees facing the aftermath of the SoCal blazes. If you have the ability to help, here is the donation link.

New LGBTQ+ Travel Guide

Safety while traveling is paramount. Lonely Planet is releasing a new LGBTQ+ travel book guided by locals and highlighting queer-owned business and queer-friendly experiences around the world. Lonely Planet: The LGBTQ+ Travel Guide: Interviews, Itineraries, & Inspiration from Insiders in 50 Proud Places Around the Globe will be released on March 18, 2025. You can pre-order with Bluestocking Books on Bookshop.org by clicking on the book title above, or by visiting the bookshop at 3817 Fifth Avenue in Fabulous Hillcrest.

Book Business Love

Ebooks Now Available on Bookshop.org

Bookshop.org has made it possible for you to support independent bookstores with your Ebook purchases! Ebook purchases work just like your physical book purchases - just choose your bookstore affiliation and shop. Ebooks may be read in your browser or on the downloaded apps from the Apple Store or Google Play Store. For further information, and to browse the initial Ebook selection, starting at under $3.00, visit the Bookshop.org Ebook page.

Bookseller Love from Libro.fm

Libro.fm is the audiobook listening platform that shares profits with independent bookstores. Right now, you can show your support for local bookshops by purchasing merch. Use the discount code "booksellerlove" for 25% off your order at the Libro.fm online store!