I’ve been thinking a lot about David Byrne these days.  I’ve always loved his music, and American Utopia is one of the best live theater events I’ve seen.  More to the point, though, his music has been very present for me during these last two years.  I happened upon and wear, whenever I can, a secondhand t-shirt which has STOP MAKING SENSE blazoned across its front, and there’s nothing better than that album to illustrate the absurdity, sadness, and, yes, resilience of where our world finds itself these days.

Even more to the point, and, as many of you know, 2022 is the year of our 40th Anniversary and a line from his song Once in a Lifetime expresses the astonishment I feel knowing that in 1982 we opened our doors. Yes, you guessed it, I keep asking myself: Well, how did I get here?

Forty years is a long time, but all of us at Books & Books wouldn’t trade any of it for anything.  From those very early year of dangerous days to the tumult of the myriad assaults we find swirling around ourselves today, we take great pride in being an active participant in helping to bring our community to a much richer place:  one that values the diversity that is South Florida, a place where writers and readers come together to find equilibrium and wisdom in the face of so much, one that values the unfettered expression of ideas, and, most important, one that understands just how essential an independent bookstore is to the life of a community.

And that’s, of course, the answer. That’s how we got here.  It’s because of you, those who support us in everything we do, those who share our core values and those who appreciate the power of a great, good place.  And, in this, our fortieth year, we will be celebrating and thanking you along the way.

Tomorrow, January 1st, 2022, we begin. And then, all throughout the year, we will mount very special anniversary events, one-of-a-kind events. All of this done with a sense of optimism, a sense that we will have much to celebrate, that a page will be turned for us, for you, for our world.  And, that things will no longer be same as it ever was.

Into the blue again,
Mitchell