Anonymous Sex edited by Hilary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

A bold and playful collection of erotic storieswritten by some of the world’s finest writers. The twist? Each story is “anonymous,” allowing for tales as subtle or explicit, strange or familiar, tender or fierce as each writer wishes—leaving readers to guess who wrote what.

Welcome to the ultimate literary parlor game—a collection of unattributed erotic stories written by a stellar list of authors, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Awards, PEN Awards, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Edgar Awards, and more. Anthology editors Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan present an elegant, international collection of erotica, that explores the diverse spectrum of desire. There are stories of sexual obsession and sexual love, of domination and submission. There’s revenge sex, unrequited sex, funny sex, tortured sex, fairy tale sex, and even sex in the afterlife.

This seductive anthology is true to its name: while the authors are listed in alphabetical order at the beginning of the book, none of the stories are attributed, providing readers with a glimpse into the landscape of sexuality as explored by twenty-seven of today’s best-known authors.

Contributors include:Robert Olen Butler, Catherine Chung, Trent Dalton, Heidi Durrow, Tony Eprile, Louise Erdrich, Jamie Ford, Julia Glass, Peter Godwin, Hillary Jordan, Rebecca Makkai, Valerie Martin, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Téa Obreht, Helen Oyeyemi, Mary-Louise Parker, Victoria Redel, Jason Reynolds, S.J. Rozan, Meredith Talusan, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Souvankham Thammavongsa, Jeet Thayil, Paul Theroux, Luis Alberto Urrea, Edmund White

Feb Staff Pick of the Month: Yonder

Picked by Lori, bookseller

Now out in paperback!

Lori, who curates our Black History Month display, recommends Yonder by Jabari Asim (Simon & Schuster) for readers who enjoyed one of her previous picks, The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.

Of Yonder, Lori writes, “The slaves are The Stolen, their masters are The Thieves, and Yonder (Canada) is the promised land of freedom. The story of slavery and all of its horrors is not new, but this book focuses instead on the intimacy and love The Stolen feel for each other under the harshest conditions. Allegorical, poetic, and unflinchingly honest, it had me reading through tears of sadness and joy.”

In picking this book, Lori was looking for a good read to kick-off Black History month, and she thinks that it will appeal to readers who want complex stories of the challenges and joys of Black people in America.

“I would consider this a companion piece to The Prophets, which tells the story of a passionate affair between two enslaved young men, another book depicting slaves as loving people looking for intimate connections in the face of the most hopeless of times,” Lori writes. Read her review of The Prophets from last February.

Lori writes that she enjoyed and was intrigued enough by Yonder to add other books by Jabari Asim to her TBR. Maybe she’ll find something that works for next year’s Key West Literary Seminar, which has the theme I Sing, America: A Celebration of Black Literature, and for which she is the chairperson.

Celebrating Black History Month

Celebrate the range and richness of Black history this month through poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Reread the classics and meet exciting new authors during Black History Month.

Grid highlighting books for Black History Month. "Celebrate the range and richness of Black history this month" and the featured books: Palmares by Gayl Jones,
Yonder by Jabari Asim,
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron,
Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds, Danica Novgorodoff (Illustrator),
The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead,
This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris, and
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison (Illustrator)

Here are the books featured, but we have many more in store. Stop by or follow us on social media (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksandbookskw/) for recommendations.

Palmares by Gayl Jones

Yonder by Jabari Asim, read Lori’s full review of Yonder.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds, Danica Novgorodoff (Illustrator)

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris

Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, Vashti Harrison (Illustrator)

Key West Yoga Sanctuary

A Q&A with Erika Hawks

The newest place to find books from Books & Books is the Key West Yoga Sanctuary, which is run by Erika Hawks. We asked Erika, who is also a long time Books & Books volunteer, for some background on this partnership and to share a bit about the Yoga Sanctuary.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself, if you would?

A: Born and raised in Miami, I moved to Key West from Miami Beach in 2014. I’ve been practicing yoga for over 2 decades – yikes, acknowledging that makes me feel old. 

Q: When did you buy the Yoga Sanctuary? How did that come about?

A: I started teaching at KWYS about 7 years ago, and when my dear friend Gretchen Mills decided to relocate to upstate New York this Spring, it was a natural decision to keep this community alive and take on the business. After a long hiatus for Covid, we re-opened our doors this Fall. 

Q: How would you describe your philosophy for the Yoga Sanctuary? What makes it different?

A: The Key West Yoga Sanctuary is a school dedicated to offering the community a space to practice and experience the 8 limbs of yoga. So, we are much more than just a place to come and do poses (Asana) and move your body, although we do have lots of that on the daily schedule, we strive to bring world class instruction in yoga philosophy, meditation, pranayama and more to our tiny little island. 

Q: How is the business doing given Covid? How are you coping?

A: Covid has had a huge impact on our industry world wide, but we managed to pivot and thrive during this unprecedented time. We closed the doors of our space at 612 Fleming St. in March of 2020, but we continued to offer daily yoga online and have had the Zoom program running continuously and uninterrupted since then. In June of 2020 we began to offer outdoor classes in the park at Truman Waterfront 3 times a week, and we kept those going until we reopened our doors. Our biggest shift came this Summer when we built a yoga platform in our garden at 612 Fleming Street and now we can offer daily yoga outdoors in our very own garden. It’s been amazing to see this all unfold. We are so grateful for the community of students around us!!! 

Q: What will we find in your store besides books? Why did you decide to add books?

A: Our partnership with Books & Books is really exciting for me because I love books, but also because I love sharing books and yoga with my friends and students. The collection of books that we keep in stock at KWYS includes a selection of titles that represent the different styles of yoga that we offer here, as well as covering all aspects of yoga philosophy and Ayurveda (Yoga’s sister science for whole body wellness). You can also find all the tools that you might need to support your yoga practice in our shop, including yoga mats, blocks, bolsters etc…, as well as some handmade local products. 

Q: What are you reading and recommending these days?

A: I am preparing to lead our upcoming Teacher Training, so I am mostly immersed in yoga titles right now, but beyond yoga I am reading Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, she really inspires me. Her book Dare to Lead helped prepare me to take on my new role at KWYS and her newest book is informing the way I interact with the world every day. For a good, very accessible yoga read, pick-up Eddie Stern’s book One Simple Thing.

Watch George discuss the Key West Literary Pantheon

George Cooper, store co-founder, delivered a lecture at the Key West Library last month, discussing the Key West Literary Pantheon. The pantheon is a frieze on the walls above the shelves of the store, honoring forty-nine deceased local writers and artists whose work has gained national fame and built Key West’s reputation as a haven for the arts.

The lecture may be viewed on the library’s YouTube channel.

The Guide to the Key West Literary Pantheon, a fifty-page booklet offering capsule biographies of all the honorees is for sale exclusively in our store. George will sign copies of the Guide to the Key West Literary Pantheon upon request.

A Previous Life by Edmund White

A daring, category-confounding, and ruthlessly funny novel from National Book Award honored author Edmund White that explores polyamory and bisexuality, ageing and love.

Sicilian aristocrat and musician, Ruggero, and his younger American wife, Constance, agree to break their marital silence and write their Confessions. Until now they had a ban on speaking about the past, since transparency had wrecked their previous marriages. As the two alternate reading the memoirs they’ve written about their lives, Constance reveals her multiple marriages to older men, and Ruggero details the affairs he’s had with men and women across his lifetime-most importantly his passionate affair with the author Edmund White.

Sweeping outward from the isolated Swiss ski chalet where the couple reads to travel through Europe and the United States, White’s new novel pushes for a broader understanding of sexual orientation and pairs humor and truth to create his most fascinating and complex characters to date. As in all of White’s earlier novels, this is a searing, scintillating take on physical beauty and its inevitable decline. But in this experimental new mode-one where the author has laid himself bare as a secondary character-White explores the themes of love and age through numerous eyes, hearts and minds.
Delightful, irreverent, and experimental, A Previous Life proves once more why White is considered a master of American literature.

Go Back to Where You Came From by Wajahat Ali

“Go back to where you came from, you terrorist!”

This is just one of the many warm, lovely, and helpful tips that Wajahat Ali and other children of immigrants receive on a daily basis. Go back where, exactly? Fremont, California, where he grew up, but is now an unaffordable place to live? Or Pakistan, the country his parents left behind a half-century ago?

Growing up living the suburban American dream, young Wajahat devoured comic books (devoid of brown superheroes) and fielded well-intentioned advice from uncles and aunties. (“Become a doctor!”) He had turmeric stains under his fingernails, was accident-prone, suffered from OCD, and wore Husky pants, but he was as American as his neighbors, with roots all over the world. Then, while Ali was studying at University of California, Berkeley, 9/11 happened. Muslims replaced communists as America’s enemy #1, and he became an accidental spokesman and ambassador of all ordinary, unthreatening things Muslim-y.

Now a middle-aged dad, Ali has become one of the foremost and funniest public intellectuals in America. In Go Back to Where You Came From, he tackles the dangers of Islamophobia, white supremacy, and chocolate hummus, peppering personal stories with astute insights into national security, immigration, and pop culture. In this refreshingly bold, hopeful, and uproarious memoir, Ali offers indispensable lessons for cultivating a more compassionate, inclusive, and delicious America.

Violeta by Isabel Allende

This sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century.

Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Business Insider, Marie Claire, Bustle, Ms. magazine, PopSugar, The Week, Electric Lit, The Millions, She Reads, Lit Hub, Book Riot

Through her father’s prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling.

She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, and ultimately not one, but two pandemics.

Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humor carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.

Jim Harrison: Complete Poems: Limited Edition Boxed Set

A companion to the single volume, this box set is limited to 750 copies.

Starred Review from BooklistA landmark collection.

Jim Harrison (1937-2016) is an American literary icon, famous for his novellas Legends of the Fall and Brown Dog, and his novels Dalva, Farmer, and Sundog. At the bedrock of Harrison’s success was his lifelong, enduring love of poetry. Over a fifty year writing career, in addition to his prolific work as a fiction writer, screenwriter, and beloved food critic, he published fourteen volumes of original poetry–now presented in this three-volume set.

Jim Harrison: Complete Poems: Limited Edition Box Set features the entirety of Harrison’s poetic oeuvre in handsome hardbacks, organized by distinct eras. Print run release limited to 750 copies.This tour de force also features a thoughtful and thought-provoking essay by a major literary figure for each volume:

  • Colum McCann, Vol. I
  • Joy Williams, Vol II
  • John Freeman, Vol III

Woven throughout these three volumes are Harrison’s legendary passions and appetites, his love songs and lamentations, and a clarion call to pay attention.

As Joy Williams notes in her essay to Volume II: “I’ve always loved Jim Harrison’s poetry–so full of itself, so direct and hungry and angered and awed. I think of him in many ways as a religious poet…he felt that only in poetry had he found ‘the right pen’ to write what he wanted to say.

Angela Davis: An Autobiography

“An activist. An author. A scholar. An abolitionist. A legend.”
–Ibram X. Kendi

This beautiful new edition of Angela Davis’s classic Autobiography features an expansive new introduction by the author.

“I am excited to be publishing this new edition of my autobiography with Haymarket Books at a time when so many are making collective demands for radical change and are seeking a deeper understanding of the social movements of the past.” –Angela Y. Davis

Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison abolitionist movements for more than 50 years. First published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, An Autobiography is a powerful and commanding account of her early years in struggle. Davis describes her journey from a childhood on Dynamite Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, to one of the most significant political trials of the century: from her political activity in a New York high school to her work with the U.S. Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the Philosophy Department at UCLA to the FBI’s list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Told with warmth, brilliance, humor and conviction, Angela Davis’s autobiography is a classic account of a life in struggle with echoes in our own time.