In Politics of Disaster (Univ Press of Fl, $89.94), David Twigg uses newspaper stories, scholarly articles, and first person interviews to explore the impact of Hurricane Andrew on local and state political incumbents, revealing how elected officials adjusted their strategies and activities in the wake of the disaster. Not only did Andrew give politicians a legitimate and necessary opportunity to enhance their constituency service and associate themselves with the flow of external assistance, but it also allowed them to achieve significant personal visibility and media coverage while appearing to be non-political or above "normal" politics. This engrossing case study clearly demonstrates why natural disasters often privilege incumbents. Twigg not only sifts through the post-Andrew election results in Florida, but he also points out the possible effects of other past (and future) disaster events on political campaigns in this fascinating and prescient book. Presented in collaboration with Florida International University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). 

Julia Child would have been 100 this year, and to honor her culinary legacy and her birthday, 100 restaurants across America will feature special menus inspired by Julia, and The Café at Books & Books by Chef Allen Susser is one of them! Join us as we celebrate an amazing and inspiring woman with a 5-course meal she would love. For just $85 (plus tax and gratuity), you’ll dine on foods ranging from Wild Mushroom Cream Puffs to Beef Bourguignon to Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache. This is one dinner you don’t want to miss. Space is limited, so reserve your place today. RSVP: Irving@booksandbooks.com

Should this dinner sell-out, you can still get a taste of Julia as envisioned by Chef Allen! During the week of August 7-15, we will be featuring a daily, Julia-inspired menu item at the Café at Books & Books in Coral Gables. A two-course meal and glass of wine are just $19.95 plus tax and gratuity. Get 25% off all Julia Child-themed books at Books & Books in Coral Gables all month. Viva Julia!

Are you a young adult who loves to read? Do you have a blog or other form of social media to promote your love of reading? We need your help! This fall, we’re really ramping up our YA events and would like to invite you to help us get the word out. Join us tonight for “insider” information on all of our upcoming YA events. Join us to discuss some of the various opportunities in which you can help us, and in turn we’ll promote your own blogs, and give you access to meet and interview some amazing authors. We’ll be brainstorming ideas, discussing bestselling authors, and munching on some delicious snacks.

Please RSVP to becky@booksandbooks.com if you’re interested in attending. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

It is often difficult to describe beauty or even justify attempts to experience something beautiful. Yet if artists--whether painters or poets, actors or musicians, architects or sculptors--teach us anything, it is that the pursuit of beauty is a common feature among all humanity. As Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu contends, these varied experiences with artistic beauty are embedded with revelatory and prophetic power that not only affects a single individual but allows for communal formation. Named one of America magazine's most promising young theologians, Gonzalez-Andrieu seeks to engage art in order to reveal its religious significance. Bridge to Wonder (Baylor Univ, $35.94) proposes a method of theological aesthetics allowing readers to mine the depths of creative beauty to discover variegated theological truths that enable greater communion with each other and the One source of all that is beautiful. 

FAMILY DAY ON ARAGON: Aragon Avenue is the place to be with your family every second Saturday of every month. Together with the Coral Gables Art Cinema and the Coral Gables Museum we invite you to participate in some great, free offerings geared for the entire family to enjoy. This morning, at Books & Books, start with a 10am story time for kids ages 3-7, then follow with a film at 11am at the Coral Gables Cinema and activities at the Museum. Then, join us again at Books & Books for STAR WARS ORIGAMI at 1:30pm, for ages 7 and up. Come dressed up as your favorite character and have your photo taken for our FB page.

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Every Harry Potter movie, every Sunday in July and August, 6pm. Wear your capes, bring your wands. Don't forget something soft to sit on. Seating is limited, FREE tickets required, available at our Coral Gables location, only. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Note: This event is in Spanish.

Volver a nacer: Mudandose de casa del astrologo Ruben Jungbluth, es producto de un estudio de más de 20 años en consultas a miles de personas de todos los niveles socioeconómicos, sobre qué les ha sucedido en los más diversos campos de la vida a partir del momento en que se mudaron de casa, oficina, ciudad o país; y explica la gran importancia que tienen los astros en la vida de todos los seres vivos, revelándonos que cada cuerpo del universo tiene una energía que nos afecta, para bien o para mal. Esta investigación – única en el mundo -, analiza las posiciones de los planetas y demás astros, los ángulos y el lugar que ocupaban en el preciso momento en que las personas cruzaron el umbral de la puerta de su nuevo hogar llevando consigo sus pertenencias, lo que les permitió modificar e incluso cambiar el destino con el que nacieron. Nosotros tenemos también la misma oportunidad de cambiar nuestro destino, sólo debemos saber la orientación geográfica de nuestro domicilio, la numeración del mismo y cuándo mudarnos. ¡Tú puedes cambiar tu destino; sólo tienes que saber dónde y cuándo mudarte de casa! 8pm

In his no-holds-barred memoir, Sapp Attack! (Thomas Dunne, $25.99) Warren Sapp, one of the NFL’s most hilarious and candid personalities, reveals a side of football most fans have never before seen. Big Man. Big Talent. Big Star. Big Mouth. Big Heart. Big Personality. Big Smile. Big Headlines. Warren Sapp, one of pro football’s most dominating defensive players both on and off the field, has a reputation for being bold, brash, knowledgeable, and outspoken. During his All-American career at the University of Miami, 13 seasons as an NFL star, four years on the NFL Network and one very big season on Dancing with the Stars, Sapp has never held back. Now he brings that same fearless attitude to his memoir, a book that will create controversy and headlines; in other words, pure Warren Sapp. 8pm

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Note: This event is in Spanish. Juan Abreu es un escritor cubano residente en Barcelona. Entre sus obras publicadas en España destacan las novelas Garbageland (Mondadori, 2001); Gimnasio (Poliedro, 2002); Orlán Veinticinco (Mondadori, 2003); Accidente (Debolsillo, 2004); Cinco cervezas (Poliedro 2005) y Diosa (Tusquets 2007).

Desde hace cinco años, publica un blog, emanaciones (www.emanaciones.com). Su obra ha sido traducida al alemán, francés, italiano y catalán. La conversación de esta noche será una charla sobre su trabajo mas reciente, sus dos últimos libros publicados, Una educación sexual y El gen de Dios.

You may recognize the name Syd Hoff. He is the creative genius behind the childhood classics, Danny & the Dinosaur and Sammy the Seal. But did you know that Syd used to call Miami Beach home? In honor of his 2012 centennial, local journalist Dina Weinstein has curated an exhibit of Hoff’s life work at the Miami Beach Regional Library. This exhibit is not to be missed.

This morning, we’ll celebrate Syd Hoff in true Books & Books’ fashion with a birthday party featuring storytelling, treats, games, and much more. 

Have you ever wondered how it all came about, the skyscrapers, the boxes and cans and jars with labels of some special brand or someone's name? It came about, so often, out of the holds of big ships, where men and their families, or men and women alone, or here and there a courageous youngster, wide-eyed and frightened were discarded like refuse on the docks of this country. And how did they produce the boxes, build the hospitals, the colleges, the churches, make the cars, envision supermarkets and department stores, produce the technology that reaches out to others all over the world and even walk the moon? One Last Child, by Antonia Phillips Rabb, show how they did it and here's what sometimes becomes of those who followed.

 CANCELLED: Due to the tropical storm we have had to cancel Martin Amis' event. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Lionel Asbo: State of England (Knopf, $26.95) is a savage, funny, and mysteriously poignant saga by a renowned author – Martin Amis -- at the height of his powers. Lionel Asbo, a terrifying yet weirdly loyal thug, has always looked out for his ward and nephew, the orphaned Desmond Pepperdine.  He provides him with fatherly career advice (always carry a knife, for example) and is determined they should share the joys of pit bulls (fed with lots of Tabasco sauce), Internet porn, and all manner of more serious criminality.  Des, on the other hand, desires nothing more than books to read and a girl to love (and to protect a family secret that could be the death of him).  But just as he begins to lead a gentler, healthier life, his uncle—once again in a London prison—wins £140 million in the lottery and upon his release hires a public relations firm and begins dating a cannily ambitious topless model and “poet.”  Strangely, however, Lionel's true nature remains uncompromised while his problems, and therefore also Desmond's, seem only to multiply. FREE tickets available at Coral Gables, Miami Beach and Bal Harbour Shops locations, while supplies last. 6pm

Rodrigo is lying on the dirty floor of a police prison cell with a terrible hangover. As he awakens, he hears that the attempt to assassinate President Hugo Chavez has failed. Fearful and repentant, he recalls the events that led him and his friends to plan the attack. This passionate novel mixes the recent history of Venezuela with powerful fiction to tell the tales of Rodrigo, Manuel, Alfredo, Carmen and Maikel. In addition to representing different social classes, these characters are mobilized by the expectations, disappointments and terrible losses they experience. The result is an intimate image of the emotions felt by Venezuelan society in response to the radical changes the country has seen.

The Guava Rugelach Festival kicks off Saturday night, September 1 at 9pm with the premiere of "Of Essence & Time/De la esencia & El tiempo" a collaborative performance by Sephardic singerSusana Behar, Flamenco guitarist Jose Luis Rodriguez and Nu Flamenco dancer Niurca Marquez. The piece explores the mutual Andalusian roots of Sephardic tradition and Flamenco music and how each has influenced the other in origins as well as in the artists' collaborative fusions. Tonight, Susana Behar joins us to discuss the artistic process of the three collaborators and give you a taste of what you will experience at the Festival. Join us! Ole! 

Join us for live music in the courtyard. 

Join us for a welcome back poetry celebration hosted by Maureen Seaton (University of Miami) and Denise Duhamel (Florida International University), who will introduce MFA alums, Jen Bartman, Neil de la Flor, Jason McCall, and Jesse Millner. The four poets will read both old and new work, including poems from their original creative theses as well as recently published collections. 

Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan began writing a weekly column, “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” for King Features Syndicate in 2006. This timely new sequel to Goodman's New York Times bestseller of the same name gives voice to the many ordinary people standing up to corporate and government power--and refusing to be silent. The Silenced Majority (Haymarket, $16) pulls back the veil of corporate media reporting to dig deep into the politics of "climate apartheid," the implications of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the movement to halt the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, and the globalization of dissent "From Tahrir Square to Liberty Plaza." Throughout Goodman and Moynihan show the power of ordinary people to change their media--and change the world. FREE tickets available, while supplies last, at our Coral Gables, Miami Beach, and Bal Harbour Shops stores.

Join us for live music in the courtyard.