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Summertime, Summertime, Summertime Reading

June 21, 2019
by Robin Wood

Every year the “beach reads” display goes up and we try to define the quintessential summertime read. Should it be light and fluffy or be dense and deep? Just like the choice of reading at the beach, dockside, by the pool or inside in the air conditioning, the choice is up to you.

Here’s what we’re reading and enjoying this summer:

Camila: Elizabeth Gilbert’s CITY OF GIRLS – It’s an easy story to get into and read anywhere… especially outside in the shade next to the pool (while keeping an eye on my boys, of course). CITY OF GIRLS is a sexy coming of age story, it’s well written, full of NYC 1940’s glamour, lots of sex.

Gianelle: I am listening to CITY OF GIRLS on Libro.fm. I’m not very far in, but It seems to fit the summer read vibe. It is a coming of age story, full of excitement & attraction of theater culture in 1940’s NYC. Vivian is not interested in conventional standards for young women of her time & as a consequence is kicked out of school & her parents send her away to live with Aunt Peg. There she encounters the freedom to explore life as it interests her.

This week I finished THE INVINCIBLE SUMMER by Alice Adams selected by the military spouse book club. It follows the lives of four friends over the period of twenty years beginning at university, detailing their struggles & successes of their personal & professional lives, and how friendship supports resilience.

Judy: I’ve listened to two very different, but very good books recently. Each is wonderfully read. Sally Rooney’s NORMAL PEOPLE is a contemporary Irish love story of two young people who meet in high school and go through college together. It’s beautifully and simply told.  But, oh, the details. And the families. The best part of listening is the narrator’s Irish accent, making you feel you’re in Dublin or the countryside with them.

The second book is a mystery. Laura Lippman’s LADY IN THE LAKE, (Coming July 23) the story of a lovely and intelligent Baltimore girl who does what’s expected of her, marries well, has a child, keeps a beautiful home. When it all falls apart she has to make a new life for herself. That’s when the story and our heroine heat up. Loved the details of the setting (husband is from Baltimore) but you don’t have to be to get lost in this story. Either book would be a pleasure to read but listening via Libro.fm was an excellent change for me. Happy Summer!

Emily: I’m tackling an epic read, THE OLD DRIFT by Namwali Serpell. It follows the curse down a Zambian family line for generations. Each section of the book follows a new member of the family, acting as novellas of their own. It makes it easy to take little “side trips” and pick up a different book before jumping right back in.

On one of these side trips, I read RABBITS FOR FOOD by Binnie Kirshenbaum. This book centers around Bunny, a middle-aged woman with clinical depression. Doesn’t sound like something for the beach? You’d be surprised at the humor packed in this one. It’s great for anyone who liked ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE but doesn’t mind going a little darker.

These first weeks of summer I’ve also spent some time paging through WAITING FOR THE PUNCH by Marc Maron and rereading favorite interviews. On Maron’s podcast, WTF, he interviews everyone,  writers, actors, comedians, musicians and even a politicians or two. I love listening to the podcast but the book is the perfect bring along for the boat or beach because you can open to any page and it’ll be thoroughly entertaining.

George: For the beach I can recommend Peter Heller’s THE RIVER, a thrilling adventure of two young men on a canoe trip in the trackless Canadian wilderness threatened by a raging forest fire and sinister men sharing the river.

For a long summer read, nothing beats the biography of FREDERICK DOUGLASS by David Blight. It’s both a mesmerizing story of a magnificent life and a history of America’s racial turmoil from the abolition struggles of the 1840s through the Civil War, and the ups and downs of reconstruction through the rest of the century.

Michael (Key West librarian and bookstore volunteer): For a super-fun summer beach read, I recommend THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: LIFE AFTER WARMING by David Wallace-Wells. It outlines how few enjoyable summers the planet may have left, sketching the probable horrors from food shortages, deadly heat, rising waters, the certain mayhem of mass migration and likely death of millions or billions of people around the globe. Kick back and grab a Margarita, and focus on the fragility of our planet and our little lives on it. Additional Margaritas may be required.

Robin: I guess I’m in a fantastic mood this summer. Recently finished is OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS by Justin A. Reynolds about a boy in a time loop trying to save the girl he loves. It’s a charming love story with a great voice. Even going over the same story elements several times, Reynolds keeps the story fresh.

And I’ve finally moved Sarah Gailey’s MAGIC FOR LIARS out of the TBR pile and next to my air-conditioned spot on the couch. I’m a fan of the audacity of her prior collection, AMERICAN HIPPO and looking for what her novel featuring a murder mystery at a magic school brings. Happy reading!

 

Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane

May 29, 2019
by Emily Berg

“A beautiful novel, bursting at the seams with empathy.” —Elle

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

How much can a family forgive? 

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next 40 years. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while haunted by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.

About the Author

Mary Beth Keane attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA. She has been named one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35,” and was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for fiction writing. She currently lives in Pearl River, New York with her husband and their two sons. She is also the author of The Walking People, Fever, and Ask Again, Yes.

Praise For…

“A beautiful novel, bursting at the seams with empathy.”
—Brianna Kovan, Elle

“A profound story… Keane’s gracefully restrained prose gives her characters dignity… shows how difficult forgiveness can be—and how it amounts to a kind of hard-won grace.” —Vogue

“Mary Beth Keane takes on one of the most difficult problems in fiction—how to write about human decency. In Ask Again, Yes, Keane creates a layered emotional truth that makes a compelling case for compassion over blame, understanding over grudge, and the resilience of hearts that can accept the contradictions of love.”
— Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House

“Ask Again, Yes is a powerful and moving novel of family, trauma, and the defining moments in people’s lives. Mary Beth Keane is a writer of extraordinary depth, feeling and wit. Readers will love this book, as I did.”
—Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion

“I devoured this astonishing tale of two families linked by chance, love, and tragedy. Mary Beth Keane gives us characters so complex and alive that I find myself still thinking of them days after turning the final page. A must-read.”
—J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Saints for All Occasions

“Remarkable.”
—Booklist

“Mary Beth Keane looks past the veneer that covers ordinary moments and into the very heart of real life. There’s a Tolstoyan gravity, insight, and moral heft in these pages, and Keane’s ability to plumb the depths of authentic feeling while avoiding sentimentality leaves one shaking one’s head in frank admiration. This wonderful book is so many things: a gripping family drama; a sensitive meditation on mental illness; a referendum on the power and cost of loyalty; a ripping yarn that takes us down into the depths and back up; in short, a triumph.”
—Matthew Thomas, author of We Are Not Ourselves

“Keane’s story embraces family lives in all their muted, ordinary, yet seismic shades… offers empathy and the long view… Tender and patient, the novel avoids excessive sweetness while planting itself deep in the soil of commitment and attachment. Graceful and mature. A solidly satisfying, immersive read.”
—Kirkus (starred review) 

“Thoughtful, compassionate… illustrates the mutability of memory and the softening effects of time… poignantly demonstrates how grace can emerge from forgiveness.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Mary Beth Keane is at the height of her powers in this novel about the sacrifices we make when we choose to build a life with someone. In Ask Again Yes, Keane tells a story about the fragility of happiness, the violence lurking beneath everyday life, and, ultimately, the power of love. If you’ve ever loved someone beyond reason, you will love this wise, tender, and beautiful book.”
—Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints

“Mary Beth Keane combines Joan Didion’s exacting eye for detail with the emotional wallop of Alice McDermott. From the ache of first love to the recognition that the people closest to us are flawed and human, Ask Again, Yes is a moving testament to the necessary act of forgiveness. It is heartbreaking, hopeful, and honest.”
—Brendan Mathews, author of The World of Tomorrow

“Beautifully observed. . . . Ask Again, Yes is a tale that will compel readers to think deeply about the ravages of unacknowledged mental illness, questions of family love and loyalty, and the arduous journey towards forgiveness.” —BookPage, starred review

News from The Studios of Key West

May 23, 2019
by Robin Wood

Big things are happening at The Studios of Key West, the arts organization that Books & Books @ The Studios is part of. We are moving our artists residences into the neighboring building on Eaton Street and construction is well underway for our new rooftop terrace, Hugh’s View.

Hugh’s View will take advantage of our building’s three-story height and offer fabulous views of Key West.

Additionally, The Studios has purchased the neighboring historic guesthouse at 529 Eaton Street, and will use the new space for its month-long artist residencies. The move from the artist residences on Ashe Street increases the residency space and puts the artists in the thick of everything happening at The Studios. Through the residency program, The Studios hosts writers, musicians, actors, painters, photographers and other artists, enhancing the Keys dynamic, creative community.

Interested in learning more about The Studios’ programs? Visit tskw.org.

 

 

Pre-Order Colson Whitehead’s New Novel, THE NICKEL BOYS

May 5, 2019
by Robin Wood

Pre-Order a Signed First Edition of the new novel THE NICKEL BOYS (out July 16th) by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Colson Whitehead.

Supplies of signed copies will be extremely limited. While supplies last, customers who pre-order will also receive an exclusive bookmark. Online orders ship free. First come, first served.

Order online at https://shop.booksandbookskw.com/book/9780385537070

 

Cheers to Our Volunteers!

May 5, 2019
by Robin Wood

Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers. We had a great high season and we are grateful for all of your help, at events, keeping the store looking beautiful and neat, helping customers find their #nextfavoriteread.

For those of you headed up north, have a wonderful summer, we’ll see you in the fall.

Volunteers supplement our booksellers’ work, aiding in both retail and back office activities. This extraordinarily well-read group also give us a much wider sense of what’s worth reading by sharing insights and recommendations.

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.

Get your copy of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid

October 22, 2018
by Robin Wood

Dylan Thuras, co-author of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, will be on hand for a presentation and book signing at Horace O’Bryant School on Nov. 15. A New York Times bestseller, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid by Dylan Thuras, with co-author Rosemary Mosco and illustrator Joy Ang is a fun, educational book showcasing the world’s wonders. Order your student’s copy online and we’ll deliver it the day of the event.

“This unique atlas impresses the interconnectedness of the world upon readers,
stoking their sense of respect, wonder, and opportunity.” — Booklist, Starred Review

A follow-up to the runaway success of Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders, this new middle-grade book is a stunning, full-color illustrated journey to 100 real destinations in 47 countries on every continent. Fun extras like a handy packing list, a world map, obscure facts, GPS coordinates, and useful travel advice are also sprinkled throughout the text. With each turn of the page, readers embark on a worldwide daisy chain voyage between common points of interest.

Order The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid for your HOB student and get 20% off. To order online, follow this link: Buy the book and in the order comments, include “HOB event purchase for [student’s name].” We will apply the 20% discount before charging your card.

Choose “in-store pickup” for your method of delivery, but books ordered online for this event will be delivered to the school on the day of the event.

Books can also be purchased the day of the event by cash or check (local checks only), while supplies last. Cash price $17.00. Please write checks for the exact amount of $17.16 and make them out to Books & Books @ The Studios. Please include a phone number on the check.

Fill out this form to reserve a copy of the book for pick-up and payment on the day of the event.

Number of copies(required)

Dylan Thuras will also be featured at the bookstore in an all-ages presentation, Nov. 15 at 6pm. Bring the whole family and join us for a fun journey through the world’s hidden treasures. Event details at: Atlas Obscura, Nov. 15.

Please contact robin@tskw.org with any questions.

The Only Story – Julian Barnes

April 17, 2018
by George Cooper

From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending, a novel about a young man on the cusp of adulthood and a woman who has long been there, a love story shot through with sheer beauty, profound sadness, and deep truth.

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don’t mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.

One summer in the sixties, in a staid suburb south of London, Paul comes home from university, aged nineteen, and is urged by his mother to join the tennis club. In the mixed-doubles tournament he’s partnered with Susan Macleod, a fine player who’s forty-eight, confident, ironic, and married, with two nearly adult daughters. She is also a warm companion, their bond immediate. And they soon, inevitably, are lovers. Clinging to each other as though their lives depend on it, they then set up house in London to escape his parents and the abusive Mr. Mcleod.

Decades later, Paul looks back at how they fell in love, how he freed Susan from a sterile marriage, and how–gradually, relentlessly–everything fell apart, and he found himself struggling to understand the intricacy and depth of the human heart. It’s a piercing account of helpless devotion, and of how memory can confound us and fail us and surprise us (sometimes all at once), of how, as Paul puts it, “first love fixes a life forever.

Art Book Extravaganza!

February 10, 2018
by George Cooper

Wait until you see this!

The Liman Gallery and Bookshop in Palm Beach, Florida recently closed the doors of its book department and donated tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of large format art books to Books & Books @ The Studios.On February 25, for one day only, the Sanger Gallery will be transformed into a bookstore, and hundreds of titles originally selected and curated by a professional art historian will be available for purchase, including many first editions and collectibles, all deeply discounted.

(*If you’d like to get exclusive early access to the collection at 11am, click here  to pre-purchase a $25 voucher.)
Early bird admission for voucher buyers at 11:00am. General admission at 1:00pm.

It’s a feast for the eyes…and a bonanza for buyers! Louise Bourgeois, Picasso, Beardsley. Beautifully illustrated collections about visual artists — Bonnard, Lautrec, Chagall, O’Keefe and many others. Profusely illustrated catalogs from major auctions, all available at a small fraction of the Liman Gallery prices. Some as low as $5. These are new books, but in some cases less than mint because of customer handling.

Want to be sure you get first access to the collection? Pre-buy a $25 voucher applicable to your purchases, and you’ll be allowed in to the sale at 11am – two full hours before the doors open to the general public. All proceeds go directly to support Books & Books @ The Studios.

Voucher holders will be limited to 100 and be admitted in order of their time/date of purchase.
Dealer purchases limited until 1pm.

11am – *Doors open to voucher holders.
1pm – Doors open to the general public.(*If you’d like to get exclusive early access to the collection at 11am, click here  to pre-purchase a $25 voucher.)