Raised by her mother in exile, Xingyin must flee her home in the middle of the night. Separated from everything & everyone she’s ever known, Xingyin strikes out on her own. She quickly finds ways to improve her isolated situation, while also acquiring archery skills and prowess.
Xingyin is determined to pave her own path through life without being beholden to another; she acknowledges her complicated romantic emotions yet stays true to her ultimate goal of safely rescuing her mother. Battling epic monsters, both demonic and fellow Immortals, Xingyin grows into herself and her strength.
This is an enthralling tale that will sweep you off into the night.
Have you read GENDER QUEER, a graphic novel memoir by Maia Kobabe? It’s about a lot of things you might expect in a memoir, growing up and fitting in, and it’s about Kobabe’s experience of being nonbinary.
Some people think you or your kids and grandkids shouldn’t be able to read GENDER QUEER or the 1500 other books that were challenged or banned last year, according to stats collected by the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom.
But it’s not actually about GENDER QUEER or THE HATE YOU GIVE by Angie Thomas (which has been on the top banned list 4 out of the 5 years since its publication in 2017) or A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas, which a Virginia judge thinks might not be appropriate to sell unrestricted in bookstores. As librarian Alex Brown wrote recently for Tor.com:
Banning books is always bigger than just the ban or just the book. It’s a concerted effort to whitewash and sugarcoat history, to deny the truth of what happened and who we are as a nation, and to continue the dismantling of our public educational institutions.
And it’s getting worse – along with targeting school libraries at every level and public libraries, an active challenge right now is trying to restrict Barnes & Noble bookstores from selling certain books to kids, and maybe to anyone at all (in Virginia).
It’s not really about the books. It’s about the people. The kids who are hungry to see themselves and their experiences in the books they read. All of us who want to read widely, adventurously and freely. The authors who are writing their best stories with heart and hard-won wisdom, or maybe just for fun.
This Pride month, pick up a copy of GENDER QUEER, and see what you think. And, if it’s not for you, pick up something else – but champion everyone’s right to read freely.
In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life.
Windswept and Interesting is Billy’s story in his own words. It is joyfully funny – stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.
When I learned that Fowler, author of the witty and surprising We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves had a new novel, I jumped at the chance to preview it.
She’s still surprising, but in a completely different way. BOOTH is historical fiction, but it might better be described as a novelistic biography of a famous family, famous for its lifelong brilliant achievements on the Shakespearean stage, but even more for the single dastardly act of young John Wilkes.
The father, Junius Brutus Booth emigrated from England as a young man and went on to triumph on the American stage, and father a family of six children who survived into adulthood. Son Edwin became even more celebrated than his father as an actor, perhaps the most famous Hamlet ever; daughter Asia had some success as a writer; and son June (Junius, Jr.) became a theatrical producer.
But the novel is not limited to these foreground players. Equally important are daughter Rosalie, the stay-at-home ugly duckling of this luminous family, and long-suffering mother Mary Ann who held the family together through periods of poverty, as the often drunk, flamboyant father would disappear on road tours for months, often drinking his fees rather than sending them home.
The period covered goes from the arrival in America of Junius and Mary Ann in 1821, until 1865. A crushing gloom and infamy then settled on this northern, Lincoln loving family as it tried to reconcile love for its assassin son with revulsion at what he did. The book is a novel, but supported by a wealth of research: letters from and to the principle characters, journals and news stories, and the documented history of the United States during a period of passionate divisions that bears disturbing parallels to today.
It’s full of descriptive set pieces from this master novelist, like the burdens of a journey by citified Easterners to San Francisco by boat and a slog through the mountainous jungles of Panama – supposedly easier and safer than the direct overland route through Indian lands and the Rockies – that makes one marvel at the fortitude of ordinary men and women of the time.
“TASTE reminds me that whomever you are and wherever you come from the sharing of food connects us,” Gina writes. “It’s impossible to read this book and not be drawn back into your memories to the feel of a certain room, the sounds and smells of that ONE special dish (that of course only your family makes perfectly). And, then to sharing that dish with family or people who will become family.
Plus, I learned how to make the “perfect” martini! PRICELESS!”
Thanks to our wonderful volunteers! Volunteers supplement our booksellers’ work, and are a huge help in keeping things running smoothly. This extraordinarily well-read group also give us a much wider sense of what’s worth reading by sharing insights and recommendations.
Many of our volunteers have been with the store for a number of years, like Karen Schultz, who we thought you’d enjoy meeting. We are always looking for new volunteers, so if you’re interested, introduce yourself next time you’re visiting the store and we’ll tell you how it works.
Q: Where is home when you’re not in Key West and how did you end up in Key West?
A: We lived for many years in State College, PA (home of Penn State), but after I retired, my husband and I moved into our beach cottage in Sea Isle City, NJ, where we now spend our summers. We fell in love with Key West during our first visit in the early 1990s and immediately knew it was where we wanted to live during the winter. After enduring so many cold, grey winters in central PA, we wanted to be as far south as possible! We bought a house in Old Town that had been sub-divided into 3 apartments, maintained it as a rental for 14 years, then renovated it into a single-family home.
Q: How long have you been volunteering at the store and how did you get into it? What do you like best about it?
Thank you to all of our volunteers! We appreciate your assistance and your commitment to helping the bookstore thrive. Have a great summer!
A: I’ve been volunteering at Books & Books for 6 years. I went into the store one day to buy one of Judy Blume’s books for my granddaughter and ran into a neighbor of mine who was a volunteer. She introduced me to the store manager and I started working a few weeks later. For an avid reader like me, it’s heaven to work in a bookstore. Judy and George are wonderful (I will always be grateful for George’s patience while I was learning the computer system), the staff and volunteers are so great, and customers really appreciate the store. And I love seeing the reactions of Judy’s fans when they meet her. I’ve seen women get teary-eyed when telling Judy how much her books meant to them when they were younger.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to take visiting family and friends to do in or around the Keys?
A: There are so many places in Key West that I love sharing with visitors. But our must-see spot is the Garden Club at West Martello. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful place on the island. And it’s free (donations appreciated) — you can’t beat that!
Q: What’s your favorite book to recommend to customers who are just looking for a good book?
A: That’s a difficult question to answer, since it depends on the genre the customer prefers. I’m a murder mystery fan, so I often recommend Louise Penny‘s books. I also recommend The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah — I haven’t met anyone who’s read that book that didn’t love it — and This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger.
Q: What are you reading currently that you’d recommend or what book are you looking forward to picking up?
A: I’m currently reading Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s the story of the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma, and OxyContin. The next book on my to-read list is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, which I’m very much looking forward to.
I like to be surprised – and BLACK CAKE by Charmaine Wilkerson (Ballantine Books), our staff pick of the month for March, begins on a literal cliffhanger.
“He stood at the water’s edge, now, watching the waves crash white against the rocks, waiting for his daughter’s body to wash ashore.
… He remembered a clattering of plates, the splintering of glass on the tile floor, someone crying out. When he looked toward his daughter, she was gone and her satin-covered shoes lay strewn on the lawn outside like tiny capsized boats.”
– Black Cake
In a family shaped by secrets, siblings Byron and Benny sit down with the family lawyer to hear about their mother’s past, revealed only after her death. She asks them the share a Black Cake, a recipe that has been an important part of their family traditions and gains significance as the story unfolds. Before the cake is shared, we learn there should be one more at the table.
These are people who have never heard Dr. Phil’s adage: Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy? But they are compelling characters and the plot is propulsive. This book is the whole package: beautiful cover, good writing, strong plotting, relatable characters.
Twisty, fun and moving, you’ll enjoy this book where everyone has (a lot of) secrets.
****
“Survival is not enough. Survival has never been enough.”
Black Cake
I love this quote, which comes late in the book, because in a story about Black characters it makes sense out of context, but in the larger context it pulls together the themes of the book. Love and inheritance and all the bigger problems of the world that we can’t ignore or escape.
Here’s a bit more of the quote, from page 372 of the hardcover,
“Etta is swimming for her children now, and for their children, too, not for the records. She uses every chance she can to talk about the health of the oceans. Seafloor damage, runoff, plastics, rising water temperatures, overfishing. She calls for the designation of additional protected zones. But she also take the time to show the audience old photos of herself as a girl in a swim cap, plus her favorite snapshots of Patsy and the boys when they were little, poking around a tide pool in Wales, their shoes clumped with wet sand. She never forgets to show the joy, to show the love. Because, otherwise, what would be the point of anything?
Survival is not enough. Survival has never been enough.”
We are delighted to host Erika Robuck at 6:30pm on Wednesday, March 23, in-person, outdoors at Hugh’s View on the roof of The Studios of Key West (register here). Robuck will be discussing her newest historical novel, SISTERS OF NIGHT AND FOG (Berkley). She is the bestselling author of novels including THE INVISIBLE WOMAN, and store favorite HEMINGWAY’S GIRL.
We had the opportunity to ask a few questions in advance of her upcoming event.
Q: Is there a short excerpt that you think works well to introduce SISTERS OF NIGHT AND FOG?
A: I chose the following scene, at the start of the German occupation of France, because it felt relevant to the way the beginning of the pandemic felt. The start of rationing, the restriction of movement, and the disbelief were unsettlingly relatable.
“It takes many cuts before she comprehends the truth: France is bleeding out—sliced with a mortal blow—and with it, Virginia’s old life is dying.
Like the early days of grieving a loved one, Virginia awakens each morning not knowing, but rather having to remember. That remembering brings fresh pain with each wave, and the waves are drowning her. She thinks it will be better when she simply knows the world has turned upside down—to have the thing dead and buried and not have to recollect. Then maybe she can move on. But there’s no knowing, at least not now. There is no certainty and no timetables, and that’s the hardest part. Though she knows it’s not for her ultimate good, Virginia continues to grasp the ever-vanishing vapors of the memories of before, but they’re getting increasingly hard to grasp.”
SISTERS OF NIGHT AND FOG
Q: How do you do your research? Has the pandemic disrupted or changed how you work?
A: My research process usually begins with visits to sites important to my story. Because of the pandemic, and the difficulty of traveling overseas, I had to settle for books, YouTube videos, interviews, and Google Earth, all of which are surprisingly helpful (and economical). I tend to begin by reading nonfiction about the subjects, events, and locations. Then I moved to archival material and interviews of the subjects or their loved ones. If there is any first person or autobiographical writing, that is my last stop in getting to know the characters before I can inhabit them to write them.
Edit note: Erika Robuck made a great interactive map of key locations from SISTERS OF NIGHT AND FOG? Check it out at https://bit.ly/3vhS0k2
Q: I saw a fun teaser on your Facebook page, involving vinyl records. Can you tell us anything about your current work-in-progress? If it is indeed, a near-past historical, will this be the first time you have set a story post-WWII?
A: Yes, my new work in progress is a dual period, multigenerational family drama—moving between 1978 and the 1930s—tied together by one of the most studied and debated artifacts of all time. My first, self-published novel, was also a dual period, multigenerational family drama that took place partly in the present day and in the 1800s. I love working in this form because it ties the past to the present in interesting ways, and creates natural suspense as the reader moves back and forth in time.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do when visiting Key West? What’s one thing visitors should not miss?
It’s hard for me to answer this question, because I want to say so much. Key West is my home away from home. Aside from visiting Books & Books to find that perfect vacation read, my heart turns to The Hemingway House. You don’t have to like Hemingway to be enchanted by the home, gardens, and cats.
Q: What are you reading and recommending these days?
A: I recently rediscovered my love of Rosamunde Pilcher, the queen of multigenerational family dramas, and have been recommending WINTER SOLSTICE to everyone I meet. I also loved the re-released LOOKING FOR TROUBLE: THE CLASSIC MEMOIR OF A TRAILBLAZING WAR CORRESPONDENT, by Virginia Cowles (out in August). From the Spanish Civil war to the London Blitz, readers are travel companions on the most astonishing pre-WW2 itinerary imaginable. Finally, I loved THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. It tells the story of JP Morgan’s dazzling, brilliant librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, whose secret—that she is a Black woman who passes for white—could destroy both her personal and professional life. It was incredibly beautiful and eye opening.
Last March, we had the pleasure of introducing you to Michael Patrick F. Smith, when he was a Studios of Key West Artist-in-Residence. We are delighted to welcome him back to celebrate the release of the paperback edition of THE GOOD HAND Friday, Feb. 25 with an in-person, outdoors event. (Register here.)
Watch the 2021 author event:
Watch the replay of Michael Patrick F. Smith discussing his book with actor Shawn Hatosy.
Read last year’s Q&A:
Photo credit: Zach Pontz
Michael Patrick F. Smith is a folksinger and playwright currently based in central Kentucky. His plays, including Woody Guthrie Dreams and Ain’t No Sin, have been staged in Baltimore and New York. As a musician, he has shared the stage with folk luminaries such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, as well as several prominent indie rock bands. Smith has also worked as a stage actor, a bartender, junk hauler, furniture mover, book store clerk, contractor, receptionist, event producer, driver, office temp, stage hand, waiter, security guard, set fabricator, legal assistant, grocer, oil field hand, and now writer. THE GOOD HAND is his first book.
Q: How did you come to work in an oil field? What were you looking for at that time in your life and did you find it?
A: I went to work in the oil field for the same reason most people go to boomtowns, I wanted to make money fast and I was out of options. You could say my demons were catching up to me. I was surprised by what I found, because it wasn’t much money. It was better than that: a crystallization of my world view. It probably sounds strange to say it, but I also found a lot of healing, although it took writing the book for me to really realize that.
Q: When did you know you would write about the period of your life depicted in THE GOOD HAND? How did writing about those experiences change your understanding of them and of yourself at that time?
A: I started writing emails to a small group of friends as soon as I arrived in North Dakota looking for work. I got encouragement from these friends and my emails to them grew longer and longer to the point where I was sending them twenty page word docs. I was alone a lot at first, and the correspondence became a lifeline for me. When I left I had something like 130,000 words, so that is the source material for the book. It took me six more years to turn it into what it is now, so I think time is an important ingredient in the finished product. I spent a lot of time really meditating on the experiences and investigating my own thought process and emotional state, figuring out how this particular point in time tied together other aspects of my life.
Q: The audiobook includes some of your music. What do you think that adds to the experience of reading the book?
A: For me, music and prose are just different tools to use when telling a story. Music gives an immediate visceral emotional reaction: it is joyful or sad or haunting. I also write a lot about music in the book, which is difficult! I like to tell stories when I perform as a musician so weaving music throughout the audiobook felt really natural to me.
Q: Which came first for you, writing or music? Please tell us a little about how your work as a writer, playwright and musician come together.
A: I went to a public high school and a state college and I had incredible teachers. My high school drama teacher wrote plays with music, he played guitar and he designed and built the sets, too. He showed me how it was all woven together just by doing it, and he also encouraged me.
Later, when I was pursuing theater as a way to make a living there were long fallow periods and I began playing guitar more seriously so that I could pick up a little money, and also to get the joy that comes from performing. My closest friends have always been musicians. Music is also a way to communicate to musicians. It works better than words in many circumstances.
I also used to draw pictures of the plays I wrote as part of my writing process. I think I’ve just always been compelled to tell stories and I’ll use whatever is at hand to do it. One reason I wrote a book, if I’m completely honest, is that I kept getting screwed over by record labels and I was having trouble getting my plays produced. I was frustrated by the business side of those pursuits. I knew very little about publishing, but I knew when I sat down by myself and wrote, I could tap into that sacred space without anybody else around to muck it up.
Q: What are you finding are the most interesting or useful things you’ll take away from your time as a TSKW Artist in Residence? Do you want to share anything about what you’re working on now?
A: I’m working on some articles to support THE GOOD HAND, and also beginning research for what I think will be my second book. I’m also reading a ton from writers associated with Key West. I’ve been reading Hemingway, Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane so far. For me, I get a lot of juice being in new places. The best writing looks through the world with a traveler’s eyes. This is my first time in Key West, so I’m just soaking in as much of the culture and the ecology and the experience of being here as I can. I fear it sounds a little lazy, but the truth is I know the more I dig into having a good time here, the more I’ll get out of this experience over the long run. I write every day because otherwise I feel insane, but I’m focused more on the experience.
Q: What are you reading and recommending these days?
A: Jim Harrison is blowing me away. Reading Legends of the Fall now. I’ve been living in Kentucky the past year and the writing of Wendell Berry, Thomas Merton and bell hooks have all become indispensable to me. The three of them, in their own different ways, write prose that calms the nervous system, and that is very valuable in these neurotic times. I always recommend Don Carpenter’s book Hard Rain Falling. It’s a criminally overlooked stone cold classic. Elizabeth Gilbert’s City of Girls is probably the best piece of newer fiction I’ve read all year.
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 Prophetsby 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.
