June 2012.
Amazon just announced their list of the most well read cities in America. Miami is number six. And for those with a need to know, Alexandria, VA is number one. Amazon determined the rankings, based on per capita of cities with more than 100,000 residents, after compiling sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in print and via Kindle.
However as Huffington Post noted, the list does not take into consideration sales made at brick and mortar locations. Stores like our very own Books & Books, South Florida’s pre-eminent independent book store and newsstand with locations around town, including Coral Gables, Bal Harbor, Miami Beach, Miami International Airport and downtown Miami.
For those who haven’t visited the very intimate Books & Books in the Gables, one realizes how ideal the space is for author readings, a space that affords a perfect opportunity for readers to meet, speak and ask questions of authors directly, as well as an optimal occasion to request a person inscription in one’s books.
Miami Art Guide wants to know what you’re reading, what’s on your nightstand. Share your reading list with us via FACEBOOK and win an opportunity to receive a copy of one of the books written by one of the authors visiting Books & Books in the Gables this June.
Mark your calendar for these upcoming June readings at Books & Books in the Gables, 265 Aragon, all of which are free & open to the community:
Thursday, June 7, 8:00 p.m.
North Miami Beach resident Rochelle Weinstein, author of What We Leave Behind asks the question, “What if we had the chance to go back and live what could have been.” The book chronicles the powerful grip of love- both young and mature- and one woman’s journey through her first romantic relationship, its betrayal and how a single choice instantly and profoundly alters the trajectory of her life. In What We Leave Behind, Jessica Parker, a clever mischievous 15 year old with a wit too quick for her own good, is torn between a desire for solitude and a deep need to be at the center of a perfect family. While volunteering at the local hospital Jessica meets medical student Jonas Levy and is introduced to a world she has unknowingly longed for- a loving family and the affection of a boy whom she thought was her true love. But all of that changes abruptly changes, and her newfound hope instantly disappears. Years later an unexpected phone call uncovers a secret from Jessica’s past. As the rippling effects of her betrayal emerge, she finds herself caught in the firestorm of long hidden emotional trauma. Thrust into a contemporary moral and ethical dilemma, Jessica must face the pain of her past or lose everything she holds dear.
Friday, June 8, 8:00 p.m.
Richard Ford, the only writer to win both the Pulitzer Prize and Pen/Faulkner Award for a single novel (independence Day). After a five-year hiatus, this undisputed American master delivers Cananda, a haunting and graceful novel about how a cataclysmic event affects a boy and his family. Richard Ford’s Canada will resonate long after the last page is turned, and for readers of stark and sweeping tales of American life, including the works of Cheever and Carver, Philip Roth, Charles Frazier, Richard Russo and Jonathan Franzen.
Saturday, June 9, 8:00 p.m.
Leonard Pitts, Miami’s own Pulitzer Prize columnist reads and discusses his novel Freeman, which takes place in the first few months after the Confederate surrender and Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The evocative novel follows the paths of three unforgettable characters as they grapple with the realities of a post-slavery Southern society. Upon hearing the news of Lee’s surrender, escaped slave Sam Freeman decides to leave his safe haven in Philadelphia and travel on foot through the war-torn South searching for his wife, the mother of his only child, whom he left behind 15 years earlier on the Mississippi farm to which they belonged. .
Tuesday, June 12, 8:00 p.m.
Robert Goolrick, author of very popular novel The Unreliable Wife, will be visiting Miami with his new book Heading Out to Wonderful.
Wednesday, June 13, 8:00 p.m.
Mark Shriver, son of Sargent Shriver (founder of the Peace Corps) and Eunice Kennedy (founder of Special Olympics and sister of the late president John F. Kennedy), has written a biography about his father: A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sarge Shriver. After a lifetime searching for the path to his father’s success in the public arena, Mark instead turns to a search for the secret of his father’s joy, his devotion to others, and his sense of purpose. Mark discovers notes and letters from Sarge; hears personal stories from friends and family that zero in on the three guiding principles of Sarge’s life – faith, hope, and love – and recounts moments with Sarge that now take on new value and poignancy.
Thursday, June 14, 8:00 p.m.
Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, sociologist, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and chair of the MacArthur Foundation, is visiting Miami to share her 10th book, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free. In Endings Ms. Lawrence Lightfoot interviews a variety of people- a 16 ear old boy forced to leave Iran in the midst of the violent civil war, a Catholic priest who leaves the Church and a gay man who finds peace after coming out- in the midst of change to explore the ways we leave one thing and move on to the next.
Sunday, June 24, 7:00 p.m.
Steven Raichlen, journalist, PBS TV host and multi-award winning author of 29 books, including the international blockbusters The Barbeque Bible, How to Grill, and the “New York Times “best-selling Planet Barbeque, and now novelist. In Island Apart, Claire Doheney, recovering from a serious illness, agrees to house-sit in an oceanfront mansion on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha’s Vineyard. The New York book editor hopes to find solace, strength, and calm to meet a commitment to finish her own book. The last thing she expects to find is love.
Books & Books has a packed schedule of readings this summer. Keep in touch by signing up for the store’s weekly newsletter or visit www.booksandbooks.com for additional information on the above authors, as well as who will be visiting South Florida this summer, and beyond. Parking available at municipal garage across the street.
Books & Books
265 Aragon Avenue
Coral Gables, FL 33134
305.442.4408
www.booksandbooks.com
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