July 7, 2022

AT THE BEACH, IN THE PARK, ON THE STREETS

Some lines from the great Morgan Parker have been bouncing around my head lately — you will no doubt figure out why:

Summertime and the living is/ extraordinarily difficult.

You don't need this bookstore's newsletter to tell you that bad things are happening out there. We've made a display of books on reproductive justice, and we're donating the proceeds to the New York Abortion Access Fund; I hope those books can give you some hope. (Donate to an abortion fund if you can.) We've built our annual summer reading matrix, to help you decide what to read at the beach, at the park, on the streets; I hope those books can bring you some relief.

— Sam, Williamsburg Store Manager

 

 

WE RECOMMEND READING....

 

On a summer’s night a traveller goes on a wild sheep chase through Italy’s invisible cities and grand hotels (did I mention he’s from Budapest?) Never has a nostalgia trip been this thrilling, never has death been this sexy, never has a honeymoon gone this poorly! 

— Jimmy, Bookseller

 

 

This is peak Australian Gothic, as though Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had sat down to write a Victorian-era murder mystery, where school girls go missing and never return, where violence permeates a world of white gloves and lace dresses, where the very landscape itself seems filled with malevolent agency.

— Madeleine Watts, author of The Inland Sea and former McNally bookslinger

 

You will love this if you're a sucker for historical fiction like me, or are a lover of decadent, thoughtful prose and characters, whatever the topic may be. But the topic is yet another point in favor of this wonderful book: it's about Palestine and its people during the British mandate era, and this Palestinian perspective on history is sorely underrepresented in English. Hammad is a ridiculously talented writer, and this is definitely a debut not to be missed.

— Jacob R., Bookseller

 

If the idea of Girls set in the 1930s appeals to you, you will love this book. McCarthy perfectly captures the vast complexity of friendships between young women, the ways they evolve, grow apart, and change in the years after college. McCarthy is empathetic but unflinching and unafraid to expose the absurd ways we behave. She fuses endlessly fascinating interpersonal relationships with biting political commentary and is compulsively readable.

— Mikaela, Events Coordinator

 

WE ALSO RECOMMEND....

 

A deep dive into the publishing industry from the New York Times: "This is an excellent piece of publishing reporting, on Pantheon publisher and beloved McWilly regular, Lisa Lucas" — Sam

Getting in touch with nature: "I love the Katmai National Park live bear feed, and it's good to start watching early in the season to get eyes on who might win Fat Bear Week in the fall." — kathryn

Dancing: "I’m a huge Beyonce fan…her single Break My Soul is amazing. It’s different than what you’d expect from her but being in the music game since the 90’s grants her to do anything she wishes! It’s a nod to 80s/90s Bounce and House music and her adding Big Freedia is a huge win. Also…it’s a fun summer song and no one does layered harmonies and bridges and choirs like her!! I can’t wait for her album later this month" — Asia

 

EVENTS

★ Charles Marsh Presents Evangelical Anxiety, in conversation with Alex Morris ★  Virtual and In-Person! International Book Club: Death and the Penguin Andrey Kurkov  ★  Virtual! Jean Thompson Presents The Poet's House, in conversation with Dan Chaon ★ Ru Freeman Presents Sleeping Alone  ★ Danielle Blau Presents Peep, in conversation with Vijay Seshadri  ★ Matt Ortile Presents Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves, with Destiny O. Birdsong, Forsyth Harmon, and Andrea Ruggirello  ★ Elvia Wilk Presents Death by Landscape, in conversation with Sarah Resnick★ Hugh Eakin Presents Picasso's War, in conversation with Blake Gopnik★ Trivia is back! Literary Trivia Night with Celebrity Book Club ★ 

 

Decadent young woman. After the Dance, Ramon Cassas, 1899