All posts by Emily Berg

An Evening with Susan Conley and Judy Blume

Books & Books presents…
An Evening with Susan Conley and Judy Blume
To celebrate the publication of Landslide

 

Tuesday, March 2nd, 7:30pm

REGISTER FOR THE LIVESTREAM HERE

From the author of Elsey Come Home, a stunning novel about a mother caring for her two teenage sons while the crumbling fishing industry her New England community relies on threatens to collapse around them.

After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys–“the wolves”–alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn’t as stable as she once believed. As one disaster gives way to the next, she begins to think that it’s not enough to be a caring wife and mother anymore–not enough to show up when needed, to nudge her boys in the right direction, to believe everything will be okay. But how to protect this life she loves, this household, this family?

With remarkable poise and startling beauty, Landslide ushers us into a modern household where, for a family at odds, Instagram posts, sex-positivity talks, and old fishing tales mingle to become a kind of love language. It is a beautiful portrait of a family, as compelling as it is moving, and raises the question of how to remain devoted when the eye of the storm closes in.

ORDER THE BOOK NOW

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SUSAN CONLEY grew up in Maine. She is the author of four previous books including Elsey Come Home. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Harvard Review, New England Review, and Ploughshares. She has received multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, as well as from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She has won the Maine Literary Award and the Maine Award for Publishing Excellence. She is a founder of the Telling Room, a youth creative writing center in Portland, Maine, where she lives and teaches on the faculty of the Stonecoast Writing Program.

 

ABOUT THE MODERATOR:

Judy Blume spent her childhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey, making up stories inside her head. Adults as well as children will recognize such Blume titles as Are You There God? It’s Me, MargaretBlubber; and the five book series about the irrepressible Fudge. She has also written four novels for adults, In the Unlikely EventSummer SistersSmart Women, and Wifey, all of them New York Times bestsellers. Four years ago Blume and her husband, George Cooper, longing for a bookstore in Key West where they live, founded the independent, non-profit Books & Books @ The Studios.  “After 50 years of writing, I’m enjoying meeting so many readers and introducing them to some of my favorite authors.”

Virtual Event with Valeria Luiselli

Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair presents…
A VIRTUAL EVENING WITH
VALERIA LUISELLI
author of LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE

Wednesday, October 28th at 7PM

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER HERE FOR THIS FREE EVENT

In Valeria Luiselli’s fiercely imaginative follow-up to the American Book Award-winning Tell Me How It Ends, an artist couple set out with their two children on a road trip from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. As the family travels west, the bonds between them begin to fray: a fracture is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet.

Through ephemera such as songs, maps and a Polaroid camera, the children try to make sense of both their family’s crisis and the larger one engulfing the news: the stories of thousands of kids trying to cross the southwestern border into the United States but getting detained—or lost in the desert along the way.

A breath-taking feat of literary virtuosity, Lost Children Archive is timely, compassionate, subtly hilarious, and formally inventive—a powerful, urgent story about what it is to be human in an inhuman world.

Online Event with Michael Ian Black

Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair presents…
AN ONLINE EVENT WITH MICHAEL IAN BLACK
In Conversation with MERRILL MARKOE
discussing A BETTER MAN:
A (MOSTLY SERIOUS) LETTER TO MY SON.

Friday, October 23rd at 7PM

 

A poignant look at boyhood, in the form of a heartfelt letter from comedian Michael Ian Black to his teenage son before he leaves for college, and a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love.

Part memoir, part advice book, and written as a heartfelt letter to his college-bound son, A Better Man reveals Black’s own complicated relationship with his father, explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to “man up,” and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution, not the problem. “If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability,” he writes, “how are we supposed to experience wonder, fear, tenderness?”

Honest, funny, and hopeful, Black skillfully navigates the complex gender issues of our time and delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be, and raise, better men? 

MICHAEL IAN BLACK is an actor, comedian, and writer who started his career with the sketch comedy show The State, on MTV, and has created and starred in many other television shows. Movie appearances include Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, and Sextuplets. Black is the author of several books for children, including the award-winning I’m Bored, I’m Sad, and I’m Worried, and the parody A Child’s First Book of Trump. His books for adults include the memoirs You’re Not Doing It Right and Navel Gazing, and the essay collection My Custom Van. Black also co-authored with Meghan McCain America,You Sexy Bitch. As a stand-up comedian, Michael regularly tours the country, and he has released several comedy albums. His podcasts include Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, with Tom Cavanagh; Topics, with Michael Showalter; How to Be Amazing; and Obscure. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

MERRILL MARKOE was the head writer for the original The David Letterman Show; the live NBC morning show was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award. She shared in three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for her work on Late Night with David Letterman. She engineered most of the original concepts and architecture for the ground-breaking late-night talk show and created the segment “Stupid Pet Tricks”, as well as “Stupid Human Tricks” and “Viewer Mail.” Many of the ideas behind the remote segments outside the studio came from Markoe, who also won a Writer’s Guild award for her writing/performing work on HBO’s Not Necessarily the News. She has also written for television shows such as Newhart, Sex and the City, and Moonlighting.  Markoe has had a number of columns and written for many periodicals including Rolling Stone, Time, New York Woman, New Woman, US Newsand World Report, US, People, Esquire, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of four books of essays and four novels. Most recently, her cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker.

Online Event with NICK HORNBY and CARL HIAASEN

Books & Books and the Miami Book Fair  presents…
AN ONLINE EVENT WITH NICK HORNBY
discussing JUST LIKE YOU
Moderated by: CARL HIAASEN

Sunday, October 4 at 2PM

REGISTER HERE

 

This warm, wise, highly entertaining twenty-first century love story is about what happens when the person who makes you happiest is someone you never expected.

“Hornby lives up to his reputation as bard of the everyday in this thoughtful romance that crosses lines of race, age, and class…Hornby is good company on the page and offers insights on his characters with aplomb, demonstrating an investment in each of their voices and an interest in the forces that draw people to one another. This is great fun.” —Publishers Weekly

NICK HORNBY is the author of seven other bestselling novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down, as well as several works of nonfiction. Many of his books have been turned into successful films and TV series. He has been Oscar-nominated twice, for his screenplays of An Education and Brooklyn. His ten-part, short-form TV series, State of the Union, directed by Stephen Frears, has recently been broadcast by the Sundance Channel and the BBC, and has won three Emmys. He lives in London.

CARL HIAASEN was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of fourteen previous novels, including the best sellers Bad Monkey, Lucky You, Nature Girl, Razor Girl, Sick Puppy, Skinny Dip, and Star Island, as well as six best-selling children’s books, Hoot, Flush, Scat, ChompSkink, and Squirm. His most recent work of fiction is Squeeze Me. 

An evening with JODI PICOULT and JUDY BLUME

Books & Books and the Florida JCC Partnership present…

 

A Virtual Evening with
JODI PICOULT
in conversation with
JUDY BLUME

 

discussing
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS: A NOVEL
(Ballantine Books, $28.99) 

 

Wednesday, September 23, 8pm EST
LIVE on Zoom

 

PURCHASE TICKETS*
Each ticket includes a copy of the book. 


 

Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein when on a plane the flight attendant announces: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. Shockingly, the thoughts are not of her husband or daughter but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago at an archeological site in Egypt … Wyatt Armstrong. Miraculously, Dawn survives, but so do new doubts and questions.

 

About the Author
JODI PICOULT is the #1 bestselling author of 26 novels including My Sister’s KeeperNineteen MinutesThe StorytellerLeaving Time and A Spark of Light. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide, translated into 34 languages.

 

About the Moderator
JUDY BLUME spent her childhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey, making up stories inside her head. She has since published twenty-nine books, including Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. She has written four novels for adults, In the Unlikely Event, Summer Sisters, Smart Women, and Wifey, all of them New York Times bestsellers. She was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2004. She and her husband George Cooper are proud to be co-founders of the Books & Books @ the Studios of Key West.

 

*Ticket Info

  • Tickets: $36 and include a copy of the book.
  • All book sales benefit Books & Books in Miami and Key West, with a percentage of sales going back to the JCC Partnership.
  • Tickets must be purchased online and will not be sold at the Key West store.

Meet the Author: Meg Cabot

Photo courtesy of megcabot.com

Meg Cabot, author of the best-selling Princess Diary books kicked off our 2019 event season on November 4th with a reading and signing of her novel, No Judgments.

Cabot will now join us virtually on August 11th for the release of the second book in the Little Bridge Series, No Offense.

REGISTER HERE FOR THE 8/11 EVENT

We had a chance to catch up with the author before our event last fall and here’s what she shared with us.

Cabot didn’t have to go far to find inspiration for her new book. When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island—as well as its connection to the mainland—twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried . . . at first. She’s already escaped one storm—her emotionally abusive ex—so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake.

Q: What was the inspiration behind writing No Judgments?

A: The inspiration behind No Judgments was Hurricane Irma, as well as the island we all love, Key West – although in the book I’ve renamed it Little Bridge! That made it easier for readers who aren’t familiar with our unique geography to understand how we became so cut off from the rest of the world after the hurricane – the bridge washed away!

Q: What made you, your husband and friends decide to stay during Hurricane Irma?

A: As anyone who was here in the days leading up to the storm might remember, there was some skepticism as to whether it was really going to come to Key West. And then when we knew it was, there was no gas (thanks, Hurricane Harvey!) and nowhere to go since the entire state of Florida was “in the cone.” We decided to take our chances, in retrospect probably not the best choice. But hey, no judgments!

Q:  How did you handle the challenges in the weeks following Irma?

A: We were fortunate to have a propane generator, and even more fortunate that Suburban Propane didn’t evacuate either and was out immediately after the storm, giving refills. We were also fortunate to have a working landline – especially since all Internet and cell service was out for weeks! We had neighbors and friends and even total strangers making calls from our house to let loved ones know they were okay, since the media was insisting that Key West had been wiped off the map. This included local Key Wester Brittany Davis, who used my phone to launch a pet rescue effort – and helped inspire No Judgments!

Q: How do you deal with emotional impact of a book (on yourself) as you are writing the story?

A: Mostly, I take it out on my friends. I’m lucky to have so many, and that they’re such good listeners.

Q: You have written Middle Grade and Adult Fiction. Is the creative process different? If yes, how so?

A: Writing for adults and children isn’t that different. I try never to “write down” to kids, but I do keep the kissing to a minimum in my kids’ books.

Q:  When writing a series, how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also for yourself?

A: I won’t start a book until I have an idea for a plot that grabs me and won’t let go. Then I decide what kind of people would be the most upset at finding themselves in that situation, and stick them in it. Putting those characters into that twisty plot keeps things fresh and fun.

Q:  What particular food or desk items must you have near you, or with you when you are in the creative writing process?

A: I drink tea in the morning, then I move on to water. Writing is thirsty work! Obviously cocktails after 5, when the writing for the day is done.

Q:  What are you reading now or have read recently that you’d recommend to others?

A: Some good books I’ve read recently and enjoyed that are already in stores (or will be soon) are:

  • A great mystery The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld (be sure to check out the new sequel, The Butterfly Girl).
  • A great rom-com, but with deep emotions – Get A Life, Chloe Brown by debut author Talia Hibbert.
  • A great non-fiction book – Diagnosis by Lisa Sanders, MD

Those are great reading suggestions. All titles, including Meg’s latest book are available online and in our store. Stop by or just click on the title to purchase online.  https://shop.booksandbookskw.com/