All posts by Emily Berg

Virtual Event with Valeria Luiselli

October 8, 2020
by Emily Berg

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

October 2, 2020
by Emily Berg

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

September 23, 2020
by Emily Berg

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, Chomp, Skink, and Squirm. His most recent work of fiction is Squeeze Me. 

An evening with JODI PICOULT and JUDY BLUME

September 18, 2020
by Emily Berg

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 Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, The Storyteller, Leaving 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

July 29, 2020
by Emily Berg

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/

A Virtual Event with Rosalind Brackenbury

July 20, 2020
by Emily Berg

Books & Books @ the Studios presents…
An Evening with Rosalind Brackenbury
and Katrin Schumann discussing Without Her.

Friday, August 7th, 6 PM

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE

Join us for an online event with Key West favorite Rosalind Brackenbury. Brackenbury will be speaking with author Katrin Schumann (This Terrible Beauty) [click here to purchase] about her newest book, Without Her, now out in paperback.

When her old friend Hannah doesn’t show up at her house in the south of France, everyone assumes that Claudia, who has known Hannah since their shared years at boarding school, will know where she is, and what has happened. But as Claudia travels from the USA to France to help Hannah’s husband and children conduct their search, she is forced to deal with her old jealousy of Hannah, as well as her own relationship in the present with her French lover, Alexandre. As events unfold, Claudia begins to wonder if Hannah and Alexandre may have had an affair and if that has had something to do with Hannah’s mysterious disappearance. In this exquisitely written, Ferrante-esque novel the question of whether or not Hannah will come back becomes urgent and bewildering. And if she doesn’t come back, what will the lives of her friends and family be without her?

About the Authors:

Born in London Brackenbury is a former writer-in-residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and has also served as poet laureate of Key West, teaching poetry workshops.

She is the author of Becoming George Sand, Paris Still Life, The Third Swimmer, and The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier. A former writer-in-residence at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, she has also served as poet laureate of Key West, teaching poetry workshops. She has attended the yearly Key West Literary Seminar as both panelist and moderator. Born in London, Rosalind lived in Scotland and France before moving to the United States. Her 2016 novel, The Third Swimmer was a 2016 INDIES Silver Winner in adult General Fiction. She now lives in Key West, Florida, with her American husband. 

Katrin Schumann enthralled readers with her debut novel, The Forgotten Hours, a Washington Post bestseller that critics praised as “an addictive and timely read” (Kirkus) with a “clear and resonant” voice (New York Journal of Books) and a style that “will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, and Jenna Blum” (Booklist).

 

 

A *VIRTUAL* Event with Meg Cabot

July 19, 2020
by Emily Berg

Books & Books presents…
An Evening with Meg Cabot
discussing No Offense

 

Tuesday, August 11, 7 PM

 

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE

New York Times-bestselling author Meg Cabot’s returns with a charming romance between a children’s librarian and the town sheriff in the second book in the Little Bridge Island series.

Click here to read our Q&A with Cabot last fall. 

Welcome to Little Bridge, one of the smallest, most beautiful islands in the Florida Keys, home to sandy white beaches, salt-rimmed margaritas, and stunning sunsets—a place where nothing goes under the radar and love has a way of sneaking up when least expected…

A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job from the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Keys. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate—in the form of a newborn left in the restroom—has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment”.  When John Hartwell folds all six-feet-three of himself into a tiny chair and insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave (if thefts of items from homes that have been left unlocked could be called that). Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. Almost…

Clever, hilarious, and fun, No Offense will tug at readers’ heartstrings and make them fall in love with Little Bridge Island and its unique characters once again.

About the Author:
Meg Cabot’s many books for both adults and tweens/teens have included multiple global and #1 New York Times bestsellers, selling over twenty-five million copies worldwide. Her Princess Diaries series has been published in more than 38 countries and was made into several hit films by Disney. Meg is still waiting for her real parents, the king and queen, to restore her to her rightful throne. She currently lives in Key West, FL, with her husband and various cats.

 

Reader Meet Writer – Virtual Event with Sarah Broom

July 18, 2020
by Emily Berg

Let us deliver authors to your living room.

Sarah M. Broom – The Yellow House [order here]
THURSDAY AUGUST 13th at 7PM EDT

The next author in the Reader Meet Writer series is Sarah M. Broom.  Broom is the 2019 National Book Award winner in Nonfiction for her memoir The Yellow House.

Broom will be talking with us THURSDAY AUGUST 13th at 7PM EDT about the memoir as well as answering your questions. Broom is one of many authors we’ll be bringing into your living room.

In 1961 Sarah M. Broom’s mother, Ivory Mae, bought a shotgun house in the then-promising neighborhood of New Orleans East and built her world inside of it. It was the height of the Space Race and the neighborhood was home to a major NASA plant—the postwar optimism seemed assured. Widowed, Ivory Mae remarried Sarah’s father Simon Broom; their combined family would eventually number twelve children. But after Simon died, six months after Sarah’s birth, the Yellow House would become Ivory Mae’s thirteenth and most unruly child.

A book of great ambition, Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House tells a hundred years of her family and their relationship to home in a neglected area of one of America’s most mythologized cities. This is the story of a mother’s struggle against a house’s entropy, and that of a prodigal daughter who left home only to reckon with the pull that home exerts, even after the Yellow House was wiped off the map after Hurricane Katrina. The Yellow House expands the map of New Orleans to include the stories of its lesser known natives, guided deftly by one of its native daughters, to demonstrate how enduring drives of clan, pride, and familial love resist and
defy erasure. Located in the gap between the “Big Easy” of tourist guides and the New Orleans in which Broom was raised, The Yellow House is a brilliant memoir
of place, class, race, the seeping rot of inequality, and the internalized shame that often follows. It is a transformative, deeply moving story from an unparalleled new voice of startling clarity, authority, and power.

To attend please RSVP here

You can also RSVP by emailing booksandbooks@tskw.org with the subject line “RSVP for SARAH M. BROOM”

Attendance is limited.

If you elect to attend, we will email you on Thursday morning (8/13) with the link to attend this virtual event, plus the link to purchase books.  If you purchase the book through our website we will automatically send you the login information you need to join the event. If you ordered by phone please RSVP above.  

Happy Reading!

A Virtual Event with Lucy Burdette

July 17, 2020
by Emily Berg

Books & Books @ the Studios presents…
An Evening with Lucy Burdette
and Deborah Crombie discussing The Key Lime Crime.

Tuesday, August 18th, 6 PM

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE

Join us for an online event with Lucy Burdette, author of the bestselling Key West Food Critic Mystery series. Burdette will be speak with author Deborah Crombie (A Bitter Feast) [click here to purchase] about her latest book in the series The Key Lime Crime, out 8/11.

With her intimidating new mother-in-law bearing down on the island and a fierce rivalry between Key lime pie bakers to referee, food critic Hayley Snow is feeling anything but festive…

It’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s and Key West is bursting at the seams with holiday events and hordes of tourists. Adding to the chaos, Key lime pie aficionado David Sloan has persuaded the city to host his Key Lime pie extravaganza and contest. Hayley Snow can’t escape the madness because her bosses at Key Zest magazine have assigned her to cover the event. Every pie purveyor in Key West is determined to claim the Key lime spotlight—and win the coveted Key Lime Key to the City.
Another recipe for disaster—Hayley’s hubby, police detective Nathan Bransford, announces that his mother will be making a surprise visit. Newlywed Hayley must play the dutiful daughter-in-law, so she and her pal Miss Gloria offer to escort his mom on the iconic Conch Train Tour of the island’s holiday lights. But it’s not all glittering palm trees and fantastic flamingos–the unlikely trio finds a real body stashed in one of the elaborate displays. And the victim is no stranger: Hayley recognizes the controversial new pastry chef from Au Citron Vert, a frontrunner in Sloan’s contest.

Hayley must not only decipher who’s removed the chef from the contest kitchen, she’s also got to handle a too-curious mother-in-law who seems to be cooking up trouble of her own.

About the Authors:
Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette (aka Roberta Isleib) is the author of 18 mysteries, including THE KEY LIME CRIME (Crooked Lane Books,) the latest in the Key West series featuring food critic Hayley Snow. Her books and stories have been short-listed for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She’s a past president of Sisters in Crime and the current president of the Friends of the Key West Library.

Deborah Crombie is a native Texan who has lived in both England and Scotland. She lives in McKinney, Texas, sharing a house that is more than one hundred years old with her husband, three cats, and two German shepherds.

 

Reader Meet Writer – Virtual Event with Daniel Nayeri

July 13, 2020
by Emily Berg

Let us deliver authors to your living room.

Daniel Nayeri – Everything Sad is True [order here]
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3rd at 7PM EDT

The next author in the Reader Meet Writer series is Daniel Nayeri. Nayeri is the author of several books for young readers, including Straw House, Wood House, Brick House Blow: Four Novellas.

Nayeri will be talking with us THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3rd at 7PM EDT about his new book as well as answering your questions.

At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls “Daniel”) stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much.

But Khosrou’s stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy.and further back to the fields near the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers bled red like the yolk of sunset burst over everything, and further back still to the Jasmine-scented city of Isfahan.

Like Scheherazade in a hostile classroom, Daniel weaves a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth. And it is (a true story). It is Daniel’s.

Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent a couple of years as a refugee before immigrating to Edmond, Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is a former professional pastry chef, and if he’s not writing or baking, he’s likely playing board games, or riding motorcycles. He lives with his family in New Jersey.

To attend please RSVP here

You can also RSVP by emailing booksandbooks@tskw.org with the subject line “RSVP for DANIEL NAYERI”

Attendance is limited.

If you elect to attend, we will email you on Thursday morning (9/3) with the link to attend this virtual event, plus the link to purchase books.  If you purchase the book through our website we will automatically send you the login information you need to join the event. If you ordered by phone please RSVP above.  

Happy Reading!