Category: Uncategorized

Reader Meet Writer – Virtual Event with MARY KAY ANDREWS

May 6, 2020
by Emily Berg

Let us deliver authors to your living room.

Mary Kay Andrews – HELLO, SUMMER [order here]
TUESDAY MAY 12th at 5PM EDT

The next author in the Reader Meet Writer series is Mary Kay Andrews.  You may have read Andrew’s earlier works: THE WEEKENDERS, BEACH TOWN, LADIES’ NIGHT, SUMMER RENTAL, DEEP DISH and others.

Mary Kay Andrew will be talking with us TUESDAY MAY 12th at 5PM EDT about her newest book HELLO, SUMMER and answering your questions.  Mary Kay is one of many authors we’ll be bringing into your living room.

Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she received a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia and was a newspaper reporter for 14 years. The last ten years of her career were spent as a features reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

She is married to her high school sweetheart, Tom Trocheck, with whom she has a 40-year (and counting) collaboration yielding two grown children, two adorable grandchildren and countless memorable kitchen experiences.

To attend please RSVP here

You can also RSVP by emailing booksandbooks@tskw.org with the subject line “RSVP for MARY KAY ANDREWS”

Attendance is limited.

If you elect to attend, we will email you on Tuesday morning (5/12) 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!

Make Mother’s Day (EVEN MORE) Special

April 28, 2020
by Emily Berg

Whether you can be with your mom on Mother’s Day or not it’s still the perfect time to let her know you love and appreciate her. Now through May 10th purchase a $25 dollar gift certificate for Mom and get 15% off all in-stock books in the same order. 

Purchase online or by calling the store any day, 10am to 3pm. (Qualifying online orders will be discounted during processing.)

Orders placed with free media mail shipping must be placed by 3pm on Friday 5/1 for guaranteed delivery before Mother’s Day, Sunday 5/10. 

 

Need some help picking out books for Mom? Fill out the form below and our booksellers will be happy to send you 2-3 suggestions as soon as possible.

What are some of her interests? (Check all that apply)(required)

What kind of books does she like? (Check all that apply)(required)

Reader Meet Writer – Virtual Event with LEE SMITH

April 20, 2020
by Emily Berg

Let us deliver authors to your living room.

LEE SMITH – BLUE MARLIN [order here]
TOMORROW – TUESDAY APRIL 21st at 4PM EDT

The next author in the Okra Picks series is Lee Smith.  You may have read Smith’s earlier works: Dimestore: A Writer’s Life, The Last Girls, Fair and Tender Ladies, among others.

Lee Smith will be talking with us TUESDAY APRIL 21st at 4PM EDT  about her newest book Blue Marlin and answering your questions.  Lee is one of many authors we’ll be bringing into your living room.

Store Founder Judy Blume calls Blue Marlin “absolutely enchanting.” The book follows Jenny, an adventurous thirteen-year-old, down to Key West for a patched-up family vacation following the discovery of her father’s illicit affair.

To attend please RSVP here

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

Attendance is limited.

If you elect to attend, we will email you on Tuesday (the day of the event) morning with the link to attend this virtual event, plus the link to purchase books.  If you have already purchased 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!

Stan Lee by Liel Leibovitz

April 14, 2020
by George Cooper

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created—Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four—occupy Hollywood’s imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology.

This illuminating biography focuses as much on Lee’s ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Was Spider-Man just a reincarnation of Cain? Is the Incredible Hulk simply Adam by another name? From close readings of Lee’s work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel’s history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper than one of his signature onscreen cameos.

An Update from Judy – 4/3/2020

April 2, 2020
by Emily Berg

Hello BookFriends,

It’s been a hard two weeks for me.  I miss being at the store SO much!  Store Manager Emily keeps us up to date, she drops off books for me to sign.  And Robin keeps us all informed via social media.  Here’s a confession — I’ve never been on Facebook! — I have a Facebook page for Judy the Writer but the real me has never used it personally.  I became a tweeter instead, though not so much these days.  But now I don’t want to miss any news of the store so George has set me up with a Facebook account so I can log on and see what the rest of you do.  How about those window displays!  Talk about turning the store inside-out.  It’s a new way to browse and find the books you may want to read.  I had a weird dream about those windows last night..

I’m thinking of fun reads for kids. I just read an interview with Gene Luen Yang, very popular with middle graders and young teens, whose latest book is Dragon Hoops.  For any young person interested in basketball, or any sport, this could be the right book for this time. Something Yang said in that interview stuck with me:   “Reading fiction is a great way of building empathy.  Graphic novels should be part of every reader’s book diet.”  Not the whole diet, to be sure, but part of it.  The book also examines the history of basketball, including the role of Senda Berenson, who introduced the sport to women.  As a summer camper (and small) I enjoyed the game though in those days we played with Girls’ Rules. You were either a forward or a guard. Because of my height I was always a guard, never a forward.  The only time I got to shoot baskets was during practice. Yang admits he was terrible at sports and especially at basketball.  

I have a couple of ideas for the grownups too. Three novels I recently read and enjoyed – Dear Edward took me out of myself and away from my problems, Separation Anxiety was exactly what I needed for a change of pace, funny and charming, and I’m still thinking of Lily King’s Writers and Lovers.  I’d like to read that one again for the first time. I can’t stop thinking about it. There’s also a new book by Lee Smith coming soon. More on that next time.

These are my ideas for today.  Stay tuned for more. We’re always looking for ideas that might help you help us.  Any thoughts, please let us know.  Our loyal staff is at the store 10-3pm, 7 days a week, to help you shop by phone or online.    

Stay well
Love,

Terrence McNally — R.I.P.

March 25, 2020
by George Cooper

Books&Books @ The Studios is sad to acknowledge the death of Terrence McNally on March 24, 2020, a victim of the Covid-19 virus. McNally was a long-time seasonal resident and homeowner in Key West, who contributed mightily to the artistic life of the city. We will be including him as the newest member of our Key West Literary Pantheon honoring distinguished writers who have lived and worked in the city.

Many will recall the Waterfront Playhouse’s sold-out “An Evening With Terrrence McNally” in 2014. Most recently, a production of his play “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune” was scheduled to open at the Red Barn Theatre on the day of his death, like him a victim of the virus.

Described as “the bard of American theater” and “one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced,” McNally’s plays and books for musicals won four Tony Awards, and he was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, as well as numerous other awards.

Terrrence McNally. You will be missed.

 

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider by Stephen B. Heard

March 19, 2020
by George Cooper

An engaging history of the surprising, poignant, and occasionally scandalous stories behind scientific names and their cultural significance

Ever since Carl Linnaeus’s binomial system of scientific names was adopted in the eighteenth century, scientists have been eponymously naming organisms in ways that both honor and vilify their namesakes. This charming, informative, and accessible history examines the fascinating stories behind taxonomic nomenclature, from Linnaeus himself naming a small and unpleasant weed after a rival botanist to the recent influx of scientific names based on pop-culture icons—including David Bowie’s spider, Frank Zappa’s jellyfish, and Beyoncé’s fly. 

Exploring the naming process as an opportunity for scientists to express themselves in creative ways, Stephen B. Heard’s fresh approach shows how scientific names function as a window into both the passions and foibles of the scientific community and as a more general indicator of the ways in which humans relate to, and impose order on, the natural world.

Free Home Delivery

March 13, 2020
by George Cooper

What’s Faster Than …….?
Free delivery of books from
Books & Books @ The Studios of Key West.

Most books available for delivery within 24 hours of placing your order.
Island of Key West & Stock Island, Mon-Fri only.

Just go to our online store at shop.booksandbookskw.com,
select your books, and enter Home Delivery in the order comments.
Or call in your order to 305-320-0208
[Same day service applies only to books in store stock.]
There’s no better way to enjoy your time at home than relaxing with a book
from your favorite local bookstore.

Shop Local. Support Local.
Shop Faster!

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

February 25, 2020
by George Cooper

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz

“A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2020 BY The Washington Post • HuffPost • The Seattle Times • Lit Hub • The Week • PopSugar

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.

The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

Successful Aging by Daniel J. Levitin

January 7, 2020
by George Cooper

Author of the iconic bestsellers This Is Your Brain on Music and The Organized Mind, Daniel Levitin turns his keen insights to what happens in our brains as we age, why we should think about health span, not life span, and, based on a rigorous analysis of neuroscientific evidence, what you can do to make the most of your seventies, eighties, and nineties today no matter how old you are now.

Successful Aging uses research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences to show that sixty-plus years is a unique developmental stage that, like infancy or adolescence, has its own demands and distinct advantages. Levitin looks at the science behind what we all can learn from those who age joyously, as well as how to adapt our culture to take full advantage of older people’s wisdom and experience. Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age.

The book is packed with accessible and discussable takeaways, providing great material for reading groups and media coverage.

Successful Aging inspires a powerful new approach to how readers think about our final decades, and it will revolutionize the way we plan for old age as individuals, family members, and citizens within a society where the average life expectancy continues to rise.