Books & Books in Miami

I love the independent bookstore Books & Books. I’ve been to the flagship store in Coral Gables, Florida (in fact, I did a book talk there a few years ago) and it’s a fabulous place, with room after room of books, a courtyard with a full restaurant, more books, a coffee shop, more books, and a calendar of great author talks and signings. (And more books!) There are three stores in South Florida and several other affiliated stores, most of them in Florida. Today I happened to be on my way to an event in Miami and came across the Cafe at Books & Books at the Adrienne Arsht Center. I had a delicious cup of coffee and bought two books, including a birthday gift for a friend. So glad I happened to be driving by that corner.

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Beside Myself with This Book

I had never read anything by Karen Joy Fowler before reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and I’m not even sure how I came across it, but I ended up downloading it onto my iPad and I’m so glad I did. (By the way, I’m about half and half when it comes to paper books and e-books. I like e-books for travel and prefer them for night reading, but I still really love the good old feel of paper.) Anyway, I loved this book. I think Fowler is an amazing writer. I was hooked from the beginning – the characters (dysfunctional family, but with reason), the plot, the writing style, which is beautiful, and the way the book made me take a different view of the world around me. There’s a big reveal fairly early on – a moment when I uttered an audible, “Oh!” And from that point on, I couldn’t help asking myself (every few pages), how did she do this? It’s a Pen/Faulkner Award winner. No surprise to me.

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