Dear Customers,
Much has transpired in the time since our last communication. While we've re-opened our doors to the public, our country continues to wrestle with extraordinarily important and essential work. We see hope in those who are speaking up and those who are opening their hearts and minds: to learn, to listen, to make change. We stand with you. Many titles you are asking for have sold out; while we replenish our shelves and get you the books you need, do remember that
Libro.fm
has a full selection of antiracist titles that you can access immediately. And consider there may be many ways into the work; our Friday Five focuses on a handful of fiction selections by black authors - critical stories from which we can all learn.
Read on for links to audio selections plus information about our upcoming events and Father's Day picks. As always, you can find us on
Instagram
,
Facebook
, and
Twitter
where we share our latest reads, thoughts, and news
.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
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Can't wait for the restock on books about race and racism? Visit our store on
Libro.fm
and download a wide range of titles immediately. Not sure where to begin? Libro.fm has audiobook playlists curated by booksellers, the Libro.fm team and more.
Libro.fm continues to offer a tremendous deal to all those who make the switch from Audible to
L
ibro.fm by gifting new customers with three audiobooks for the price of one.
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Dance on the DL and Valerie Bolling
Tuesday, June 16
10AM
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We're thrilled that our friends over at
Dance on the DL
will be bringing Valerie Bolling back to town (virtually!) for a reading and dance party. This rhythmic picture book showcases dances from all over the world and features children of diverse backgrounds and abilities tapping, spinning, and boogying away!
From the kuku of West Africa to the cha-cha of Cuba to the step dancing of Ireland, dancing is everywhere you go. Participants can expect to not only learn about dances from around the world, but try some of them out! Dance on the DL will feature an Irish Step Dancer from Harney Pender Keady, ballet dancers from Norwalk Youth Metropolitan Ballet and breakdancing from Dance on the DL's very own Bboy, Freddy “Frenzy” Munoz.
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Ladies of Summer 2020
Tuesday, June 30
7PM
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New York Times
-bestselling author Emma Straub returns with a new novel,
All Adults Here.
The narrative follows protagonist Astrid Strick as she wrestles with her past and how the decisions she made have impacted her family now comprised of three grown children.
Straub is the author of three other novels:
The Vacationer
s
,
Modern Lovers
,
Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
, and the short story collection
Other People We Married
. She and her husband own Books Are Magic, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.
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Friends and Strangers
is an insightful, hilarious, and compulsively readable novel about a complicated friendship between two women who are at two very different stages in life.
J. Courtney Sullivan is the
New York Times
best-selling author of the novels
Saints for All Occasions,
The Engagements
,
Maine,
and
Commencement
and has contributed to
The New York Times Book Review, The
Chicago Tribune
, and
New York Magazine
, among many other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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As many of you who have called and come into the store over the past couple of weeks know, we've sold out of many of the important titles on racism and antiracism. While we wait for reprints and our shelves to be restocked we encourage you to explore one of the below works of fiction. All offer insight into history and what has led us to this current moment.
The Nickel Boys
is the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. The story shares the experience of two boys enduring the brutal practices of the Jim Crow-era at a reform school fit for no one. Coates based his narrative on a real reform school that operated for 111 years and scarred thousands of children. Heartbreaking; a necessary book.
Ta-Nehisi Coates of
Between the World and Me
fame published his first work of fiction in 2019.
The Water Dancer
chronicles the life of Hiram Walker, born into slavery and left an orphan once his mother is sold. Hiram, gifted with a mystical power that allows him to transport from plantation life to a life of supposed freedom, serves as a vehicle through which the question of what it means to have true agency over one's life and follows the long, intertwined history of black and white people in our nation.
Washington Black
chronicles the life of 19th century slave Wash, born on a Barbados plantation and taken to be the manservant of Christopher Wilde, a naturalist and abolitionist. Edugyan explores the guilt Wash feels even as he builds a full life, and the never-ending fear fully realized when a bounty is placed on Wash's head and Christopher must decide how far he's willing to go to help Wash escape wrongful conviction.
And finally, if you missed Yaa Gyasi's powerful
Homegoing
when it was published in 2016, it's a must read. This multigenerational narrative follows two half-sisters forced into separate lives, one sold as a slave and the other a British slaver's wife. The novel shared in short-story-like segments spans three hundred years and takes the readers across two continents. While you're at it, pre-order a copy of
Transcendent Kingdom
on our website; we've gotten our hands on an advance copy and it's quickly become a new staff favorite.
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New on the Shelf: Fiction and Non-Fiction
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*Pro tip: You can click on any of the images below and be taken to our website where you can read synopses, reviews, and place an order for in-store pick up or delivery. Most books are in stock but if we don't have a copy on the shelf, we can easily order one for you!
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New on the Shelf: Non-Fiction and Memoir
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New on the Shelf: Father's Day Picks
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