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River City Reads
Mattaponi Queen
"One of the best things I've read all year." -Susan Straight
Every two months, River City Reads and Chop Suey Books pick a book for a city wide
book club, encouraging the city of Richmond to read and discuss the same book. Through
River City Reads, residents of our great city are offered online forums, guides
for starting mini-book clubs and reading groups, and literary events during which
time they can meet and talk with various authors.
The August-September pick is Mattaponi Queen, a fantastic collection of short stories
by King William County, VA native Belle Boggs. This book is the winner of the 2009 Katharine
Bakeless Nason Prize for fiction, selected by Percival Everett and awarded by the
Middlebury College Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. At Chop Suey Books, it is our opinion
that Mattaponi Queen and Belle Boggs deserve this and all future accolades.
The short stories in Mattaponi Queen, set mainly in King and Queen and King William Counties, relate
the hardscrabble lives of the white, black, and native residents of rural Virginia
and its Native American Reservations. In the style of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio,
the stories begin to intersect over the course of the book, offering brilliant character studies that light up
as each reacts with and affects other characters. Belle's writing style is lyrically
stong and wonderfully creative, and she presents each story with touching humility. Fans
of the short fiction of Tobias Wolff and Breece D'J Pancake will love her work.
It is therefore a great pleasure for us to bring Belle Boggs to Richmond! On Sunday,
September 26th at 6 pm, we will host a reading and Q&A with Bell at Gallery 5. It is
our hope that many of you will read Mattaponi Queen by then (and you can -- it's hard to put down -- at Chop Suey, we are not particularly
fast readers, but Ward tore through this book in 2 days), but if you haven't, this will be
a great introduction to Belle's work.
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Upcoming Events
For a complete run down of upcoming events at Chop Suey Books, please visit our
Facebook Fan Page or our Blog. You can also write us at info@chopsueybooks.com
to be on our e-mail list. These digital outlets are also great places to keep
up with new arrivals, funny stories, and surprise sales!
Saturday, August 28th, 11-4 pm: Hopewell Humane Society will return to Chop Suey for another day of cat adoptions!
Saturday, August 28th, 6 pm: Emma Rathbone, author of The Patterns of Paper Monsters, and Marie Potoczny will read in our upstairs gallery.
Monday, August 30th, 6-8 pm: Tesco Vee will sign and discuss his new book, Touch and Go.
Thursday, September 2, 6 pm: Poets Julie Doxsee and Allison Titus will read in our upstairs gallery.
Friday, September 10th, 6-8 pm: Opening reception for Somethin Missing, an exhibition of little paintings by Don Schrader.
Saturday, September 11th, 5 pm: Michele Young-Stone, author of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors, and Justin Kramon, author of Finny, will read in our upstairs gallery.
Friday, September 17th, 6 pm: Sommer Browning, Tony Mancus, and Adam Chiles read poetry in our upstairs gallery.
Friday, September 24th, 6-8 pm: Zines on Toast, an event featuring readings by authors of zines, will take place in our upstairs gallery.
Saturday, September 25th, 3 pm: Poets Colin Cheney and Darren Morris will read in our upstairs gallery.
Sunday, September 26th, 6 pm: Belle Boggs, author of Mattaponi Queen, will read and discuss her book at Gallery 5.
Friday, October 15th, 6-8 pm: Opening reception for Three-Oh, an exhibition of new drawings by Kate Duffy.
Saturday, November 6th, 3 pm: Poets Gregory Kimbrell, Emilia Phillips, and Sebastian Matthews will read in our upstairs gallery.
Friday, November 12th, 6-8 pm: Opening reception for Makeout Creek, an exhibition of art that has appeared in the literary journal Makeout Creek.
Sunday, November 21st, 4 pm: Mike White, author of the zine Cashiers du Cinemart and the collection Impossibly Funky,
will read in our upstairs gallery.
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Books On Wheels
Founded in February of 2007, Books On Wheels is definitely Richmond's best
free book/free bike repair non-profit agency. With a fleet of 2 semi-functioning
school buses, Books On Wheels is a mobile organization that gives away thousands
of books and fixes hundreds of bikes a year. Their events usually take place in
the Richmond area, but the buses have carried them as far north at Chicago, and
as far south as Austin. They just returned from their third visit to New Orleans, and are
"gearing" up for a summer of great events. They are always accepting donations of
childrens' books and bikes of any size, all of which can be dropped off at Chop Suey
Books. If you have any interest in hosting a Books On Wheels event, please contact
them at booksonwheelsrva@yahoo.com.
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