FOR TEENS: Teen sensation, Rachel Cohn (author of Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist & a Books & Books’ favorite, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares) brings us the first book in her new science fiction series: BETA (Disney, $17.99) . Elysia is created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to exist. If anyone discovers that Elysia isn’t the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happi­ness is ripped away with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she’s always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive. 7pm

How to Pack by Susan George will help you pack any time and any place. It teaches you that the suitcase is not your enemy but your friend. Perhaps you are already experienced at packing but if you find at least one helpful hint in these pages, the book will have paid its way. 8pm
Live Music in the Courtyard: Wendy Pederson — 7:30-11:30pm
Coral Gables Gallery Night Opening: Photographs from Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic Journey Into the World of Fashion by Sharon Socol, 7-10pm

SOLD OUT. A CONVERSATION WITH PRESIDENT DONNA SHALALA: In My Beloved World (Knopf, $27.95) , with startling candor and intimacy, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. She describes her resolve as a young girl to become a lawyer, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.’s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-discovery and self-invention, alongside Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father. TICKETS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT: Purchase a copy of the book at Books & Books, while supplies last, and you will receive two tickets to this event. 6pm

BOOKS & BOOKS PRESS LAUNCH EVENT: For more than a decade, photographer Sharon Socol accompanied her husband, retail visionary Howard Socol, then CEO of Barneys New York, to many of the fashion world’s most high-profile runway shows and VIP parties. An accomplished photographer of more than 30 years, she was never without her trusted Leica, capturing images everywhere she went, from backstage to front row. Socol’s debut photographic compilation, Plus One: An Outsider’s Photographic Journey Into the World of Fashion (Books & Books Press, $60) , features 100 candid images from seminal moments at famed fashion shows and parties in New York and Paris between 2001 and 2010. The book’s title and theme reflect Socol’s status as a self-proclaimed ‘plus one’ for husband Howard Socol. Using her unique Everyman perspective, Socol was able to capture stunningly intimate moments not only of industry icons including supermodels and designers including Diane von Furstenberg, Alber Elbaz, Narciso Rodriguez, Zac Posen, Tommy Hilfiger and Giorgio Armani, but also of those who toiled behind the curtain – the dressmakers, dressers, choreographers, makeup and hair artists, bouncers and waiters who provided the backbone for those glamorous, fleeting moments. 8pm
Live Music in the Courtyard: Nanami Morikawa — 7:30-11:30pm

Please join NEXT Families for a party to celebrate the release of the groundbreaking book, The Purim Superhero . Havdallah, dinner, book reading, live music and a mitzvah project – fun for all ages! The Purim Superhero is a children’s book about conviction, courage, space aliens, and a Jewish family with two dads. Published by Kar-Ben Publishing, an award-winning publisher of Jewish children’s books, the story is the winner of a Keshet writing competition that inspired manuscripts from around the world, and is the first ever LGBT-inclusive Jewish children’s book. Books available for sale at this event. Please RSVP to Roz@nextat19th.org or 305-542-7732. 6-8pm

SUPER BOWL PARTY EVENT WITH DAVE BARRY: Who better to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday with than Dave Barry as he regales us with stories that have shaped his first solo adult novel in more than a decade — Insane City (Putnam, $26.95) . This dark comic masterpiece is about – you guessed it – the City of Miami and the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author does not disappoint with a rollicking, outrageous, big-hearted comic suspense story that romps through Barry’s colorfully demented hometown. In it, we follow an underachieving groom-to-be as he contends with pimps, pythons, and pothead billionaires – just for a start – in his heroic and idiotic efforts to marry his true love and save a family of Haitian refugees. The New York Times has called Dave Barry “the funniest man in America.” But Carl Hiaasen disagrees, calling him “one of the funniest writers alive.” TICKETS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT: Purchase a copy of the book at Books & Books, or at the door today, and you will receive two tickets to this event. Doors open at 12:30pm. Event starts at 1:30pm

HEALTH/WELLNESS: Chris Crowley, the memorable patient and coauthor of Younger Next Year, partners with Jen Sacheck, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist from Tufts University in Thinner This Year (Workman, $24.95) . The authors spell out a weight-loss plan that will have readers lose up to 25 pounds in the first six months–and keep it off for life. The message is straightforward and based on the most up-to-date nutritional science: Avoid “dead,” i.e., nutrient-poor, foods. Design your plate to be 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% whole grains, and 25% lean proteins. Skip the supplements. Never drink your calories. And exercise. Whereas Younger Next Year told you why to exercise six days a week — Thinner This Year tells you how to eat and how to exercise. Exercise will do more than anything else to put off 70% of “normal” aging until the very end and eliminate 50% of serious illness and injury. 7pm

Lee Marvin: Point Blank (Schaffner, $27.95) is the first full-length, authoritative, and detailed story of the iconic actor’s life to go beyond the Hollywood scandal-sheet reporting of earlier books. This account offers an appreciation for the man and his acting career and the classic films he starred in, painting a portrait of an individual who took great risks in his acting and career. Although Lee Marvin is best known for his icy tough guy roles–such as his chilling titular villain in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or the paternal yet brutally realistic platoon leader in The Big Red One–very little is known of his personal life; his family background; his experiences in WWII; his relationship with his father, family, friends, wives; and his ongoing battles with alcoholism, rage, and depression, occasioned by his postwar PTSD. Now, after years of researching and compiling interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues; rare photographs; and illustrative material, Hollywood writer Dwayne Epstein provides a full understanding and appreciation of this acting titan’s place in the Hollywood pantheon in spite of his very real and human struggles. 7pm
A symbolic embodiment of racial violence and hatred, “The Beast” openly prowled the nation between the Civil War and the civil rights movement. From the bombing of Harriette and Harry T. Moore’s home on Christmas Day to Willie James Howard’s murder, from the Rosewood massacre to the Newberry Six lynchings, Marvin Dunn offers an encyclopedic catalogue of The Beast’s rampages in Florida. Crucial insights from interviews with descendants of both perpetrators and victims shape this study of Florida’s grim racial history. Rather than pointing fingers and placing blame, The Beast in Florida (Univ Press of FL, $24.95) allows voices and facts to speak for themselves, facilitating a conversation on the ways in which racial violence changed both black and white lives forever. With this comprehensive and balanced look at racially motivated events, Dunn reveals the Sunshine State’s too-often forgotten–or intentionally hidden–past. 8pm

Brian Barton, a former major league baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, puts aside the bat and ball to debut his book, Mindset: Awareness and Action. The Los Angeles native was motivated to write this book through witnessing the perilous effects that everyday life has on the mindset, especially in impoverished communities. Mindset is written to be a thought provoking commentary that promotes awareness of these effects while promoting guidance and action for developing a healthy and enhanced mentality. His philosophy is that exposure eliminates mental enclosure. This book will bring insight to the effects of a social mentality being adopted as part of a personal mindset. 6:30pm
In late 2009, the South Florida community learned of the scandal that became the largest Ponzi scheme in Florida history. In this breathtakingly ambitious scam, one of Fort Lauderdale’s top philanthropists, attorney Scott Rothstein, stole $1.4 billion from investors and charitable organizations to finance his opulent lifestyle. In this story of greed, betrayal, corruption, sex, and murder, no one is innocent. Through exacting research, author Chuck Malkus has uncovered the truths behind the ultimate Ponzi scheme that deceived hundreds. From Rothstein’s humble beginnings to his sudden rise to become one of the most powerful men in Florida, the details of his deception are chronicled in The Ultimate Ponzi Scheme (Pelican Publishing, $26) . 8pm

Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. In this essential new book, Speck reveals the invisible workings of the city, how simple decisions have cascading effects, and how we can all make the right choices for our communities. Bursting with sharp observations and real-world examples, giving key insight into what urban planners actually do and how places can and do change, Walkable City (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, $27) lays out a practical, necessary, and eminently achievable vision of how to make our normal American cities great again. 6:30pm
Lovable serial killer Serge Storms is back and coming to the rescue of a Midwestern couple who aren’t finding Florida quite as charming as he does in The Riptide Ultra-Glide (William Morrow, $25.99) , the sixteenth installment in Tim Dorsey’s bestselling series. When newly unemployed Patrick and Barbara McDougal decide a vacation in Florida is just what they need to put life back on the right track, awful accommodations, a robbery, and a not-so-helpful police department make them rethink their decision to drown their troubles in paradise. Luckily, charismatic (and crazy) tour guide Serge Storms and his sidekick, Coleman, are up for another action-packed adventure in this outrageous crime thriller that Tim Dorsey fans won’t soon forget. 8pm

Live Music in the Courtyard: Jazzilla — 7:30-11:30pm

Eveline Pierre also known as the “Campaigner of Empowerment” is author of The Secret to Winning Big with Brain Tracy and a speaker that is highly sought after by the media for her expertise in the Cultural Arts and Entertainment. Ms. Pierre has been seen on NBC 6 South Florida, CNN affiliates Comcast Media Makers and on WLRN Caribbean Current. Notably, Ms. Pierre is on the advisory board of Art Basel Miami Beach Brickell Avenue Literary Society and Miami Dade County Commission for Women. In 2004 she founded the first Haitian Heritage Museum in the world outside of Haiti to create a legacy for future generations. The museum has been critically acclaimed as Miami Best Museum 2010 by Miami New Times. Ms. Pierre has also received a proclamation from Miami Dade County Public Schools for the children’s book collaboration with local Museum partners entitled “Through the eyes of my Haitian Friend.” Ms. Pierre uses cultural Arts and Entertainment to empower others and believes creativity is the doorway to success. 5pm

FOR TEENS: Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison–even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner. Discover what happens in Scarlet (Feiwel & Friends, $17.99) by Marissa Meyer. 7pm

FOCUS ON ISRAEL: The year 1978 marked Israel’s entry into Lebanon, which led to the long-term military occupation of non-sovereign territory and the long, costly war in Lebanon. In the years that followed, many Israelis found themselves alienated from the idea that their country used force only when there was no alternative, and Israeli society eventually underwent a dramatic change in attitude toward militarization and the infallibility of the Israel Defense Forces. In Narratives of Dissent: War in Contemporary Israeli Arts and Culture (Wayne State University Press, $39.95) editors Rachel S. Harris and Ranen Omer-Sherman collect nineteen essays that examine the impact of this cultural shift on Israeli visual art, music, literature, poetry, film, theatre, public broadcasting, and commemoration practices after 1978. These works address both incremental and radical changes in individual and collective consciousness that have spread through Israeli culture in response to the persistent affliction of war. No other such volume exists in Hebrew or English. Students and teachers of Israeli studies will appreciate Narratives of Dissent. 8pm
Live Music in the Courtyard: 3 Sheets to the Wind — 7:30-11:30pm

Black Jews in Africa and the Americas (Harvard Univ, $29.95) tells the fascinating story of how the Ashanti, Tutsi, Igbo, Zulu, Beta Israel, Maasai, and many other African peoples came to think of themselves as descendants of the ancient tribes of Israel. Tudor Parfitt reveals a complex history of the interaction between religious and racial labels and their political uses. For centuries, colonialists, travelers, and missionaries, labeled an astonishing array of African tribes, languages, and cultures as Hebrew, Jewish, or Israelite. Africans themselves came to adopt these identities as their own, invoking their shared histories of oppression, imagined bloodlines, and common traditional practices as proof of a racial relationship to Jews. A community whose claims are denied by many, black Jews have developed a strong sense of who they are as a unique people. In Parfitt’s telling, forces of prejudice and the desire for new racial, redemptive identities converge, illuminating Jewish and black history alike in novel and unexplored ways. 8pm

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Emmy award-winning producer, Hedrick Smith’s 26 prime-time specials for PBS have won several awards for offering examinations of the systemic problems in modern America. In WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM? (Random House, $30) , Smith takes us across America and reveals the trail of political and corporate decisions that have, over the past four decades, dismantled the American Dream – the dream of a steady job with decent pay and health benefits, rising living standards, a home of your own, a secure retirement, and the hope that your children could enjoy a better future. Fitting together the pieces of a big puzzle in the way only a veteran reporter can, Smith shows how many recent news stories—from the mortgage mess and housing collapse to teetering banks, disappearing pensions, 401(k) disasters, assaults against unions and the gradual stripping away of middle class power and prosperity—are all outcomes of a step-by-step process of political and economic dismantling that began in 1971 and continue up to today. Neiman Watchdog notes, “Perhaps the most important thing Mr. Smith does is to put all the elements of the story in a chronological context. It is in this context that the guilt becomes clear.” 8pm
Friendship is a complicated experience, one filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, joy and sorrow. But true friendship, like true love, can withstand the tests of time – or can it? For three women, each accomplished in life and facing the challenges and rewards of midlife, friendship is everything. When secrets begin to mount and loyalties are betrayed, these friends struggle to find a balance between their loyalty to each other and their clients, as well as between their families and themselves. Behind each brave face lies a festering secret that the owner is understandably reluctant to share with anyone. As each struggles to face her past, the more troublesome skeletons in the closet begin rattling for attention. How will each woman survive the scandal if her secret is betrayed? Sometimes psychology is not enough to heal the wounds, and sometimes “physician, heal thyself ” is easier said than done. Discover what happens when secrets are revealed in What We Tell by Holly Schwartzwol. 8pm

FOR TEENS: BREATHLESS READS TOUR: Not one, not two, but FIVE incredible Y/A authors all at once in conversation at our Goral Gables store. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this event is guaranteed to leave you breathless.

• Beth Revis, a former teacher, lives in North Carolina with her husband and dog, and believes space is nowhere near the final frontier. Shades of Earth (Razorbill; $18.99) is the final book in the New York Times bestselling Across the Universe series.

• Fiona Paul makes her writing debut with Venom (Philomel; $17.99) . She is a writer, wanderer, and free spirit, with degrees in psychology and secondary education. She’s traveled all over the world, and many of the scenes in VENOM are inspired by real-life experiences (though she won’t tell you which ones). She now makes her home in St. Louis, Missouri.

• Morgan Rhodes lives in Ontario, Canada. Along with writing, Morgan enjoys photography, travel, and reality TV, and is an extremely picky yet voracious reader of all kinds of books. Under another pen name, she’s a national bestselling author of many paranormal novels. Falling Kingdoms (Razorbill; $18.99) is her first high fantasy.

• Elizabeth Richards is an award-winning journalist, who spent her early career reviewing videogames before making the bold (or crazy) move into travel writing. In her spare time, she ran a successful lifestyle website aimed at teenage girls, where she got to interview many of her favorite bands, go to gigs and basically blag loads of free swag all in the name of ‘research’. Elizabeth lives in Buckinghamshire, England, with her husband. Black City (Putnam; $17.99) is her debut novel.

• Jessica Spotswood grew up in a tiny one-stoplight town in Pennsylvania. Now she lives in a gentrifying hipster neighborhood in Washington, D.C. with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey. She’s never happier than when she’s immersed in a good story, and swoony kissing scenes are her favorite. Born Wicked (Putnam; $9.99) is her debut novel.

Books & Books is proud to partner with CENTRO CULTURAL BRASIL-USA DA FLORIDA (Brazil-USA Cultural Center/CCBU) in a yearlong cultural exploration of Brazil. Our series called CULTURAL CUP 2.0 will focus on the culture, traditions, arts, music and gastronomy of the twelve Host Cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the exciting worldwide soccer tournament that will happen in Brazil next year. Our first stop will be SALVADOR DA BAHIA. This culturally rich city was the country’s first capital and considered the Afro soul of Brazil. Taste the typical treats prepared by the native of Salvador, Carlinhos Encarnacao; learn about the history and the rich culture of this fascinating city as we dress a mannequin with the typical Bahia costume. Join Gene de Souza, host of the weekly radio program Café Brasil (WDNA 88.9 FM) in a casual talk and listening about the exciting music genres of Salvador. 8pm

Snap, click, sizzle! Once the exclusive realm of the male, pin-up photography was invaded mid-century by a shapely young miss who could, and would, model for her own photographs. Bunny Yeager’s Darkroom (Rizzoli, $60) presents her story in her own words and, of course, her own photographs. The only female pin-up photographer of her day, Bunny Yeager was also a model in her own right. Bunny Yeager’s Darkroom gathers more than 250 lens-fogging photographs embodying the naughty girl-next-door eroticism of pin-up culture. Culled from Yeager’s extensive archive, the collection includes her most iconic shots of the legendary Bettie Page as well as many previously unpublished images, some of which have never even been scanned. Tonight, meet the 83-year-old legend as she answers questions about her work and signs copies of the book. Yeager currently lives and works in Miami. She recently signed a contract with Bruno Banani, a German lingerie and bikini line. 6:30pm

In this provocative book, Peter Edelman, a former top aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a lifelong antipoverty advocate, offers an informed analysis of how this country can be so wealthy yet have a steadily growing number of unemployed and working poor. According to Edelman, we have taken important positive steps without which 25 to 30 million more people would be poor, but poverty fluctuates with the business cycle. So Rich, So Poor (New Press, $ 24.95) delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and takes a particular look at the continuing crisis of young people of color, whose possibility of a productive life too often is lost on their way to adulthood. This is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the most critical American dilemma of the twenty-first century. 12:30pm

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net), and a contributor to The Guardian, the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Wired, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. He was formerly Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Open University (UK) and Scholar in Virtual Residence at the University of Waterloo (Canada); in 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. Fast-moving, passionate, and as current as next week, Homeland (Tor, $17.99) is every bit the equal of Little Brother—a paean to activism, to courage, to the drive to make the world a better place. Fast-moving, passionate, and as current as next week, Homeland is every bit the equal of Little Brother—a paean to activism, to courage, to the drive to make the world a better place.) is every bit the equal of Little Brother–a paean to activism, to courage, to the drive to make the world a better place. 7pm
Live Music in the Courtyard: Maria Alejandra — 7:30-11:30pm

María Marín es la principal líder de motivación para los latinos. Conduce el exitoso programa de radio El Show de María Marín que se transmite por Univisión Radio, y publica su columna en más de 100 periódicos de Estados Unidos y América Latina. Es autora de los bestsellers Mujer sin límite y ¡Pide más, espera más y obtendrás más! (Aguilar), y fue elegida por la revista People en Español como una de las 25 mujeres hispanas más poderosas del mundo. En su nuevo libro — Si soy tan buena, por que estoy soltera? — descubrirás el secreto de las mujeres que están felizmente emparejadas. Esta guía responde tus dudas y preguntas en el campo del amor. Aquí aprenderás cómo encontrar la relación que tanto anhelas. 2pm
From the author of the New York Times best seller Swamplandia! — a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — come a a magical new collection of stories — Vampires in the Lemon Grove (Knopf, $24.95) — that showcases Karen Russell’s gifts at their inimitable best. Karen Russell is one of today’s most celebrated and vital writers–honored in The New Yorker’s list of the twenty best writers under the age of forty, Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists, and the National Book Foundation’s five best writers under the age of thirty-five. Her wondrous new work displays a young writer of superlative originality and invention coming into the full range and scale of her powers. 8pm

When the devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Lynn University college student Britney Gengel was among the five lives from the university lost in the rubble of the Hotel Montana. Britney was in Haiti with an organization affiliated with the university, Journey of Hope, volunteering at an orphanage. Heartache and Hope in Haiti: The Britney Gengel Story (TriMark, $19.95) begins on the day Britney was killed and brings readers full circle as her parents, Len and Cherylann Gengel, navigate their way through bureaucratic red tape on their often frustrating and always painful journey to recover their daughter’s body and fulfill her last wish. The Gengels’ unimaginable loss transcends into a powerful story of love and resilience, allowing readers a rare window into the inner circle of the heartache and pain of parents who have lost their child and in turn choose to fulfill their lives with meaning and purpose. 4pm

The 10 Second Diet is the easiest, fastest, safest diet you will ever have and the last diet book you will ever need. This new approach to the age old problem of dieting works without special foods, pills, potions, elixirs or liquids. You can master this technique in less time than it takes to read the cover of the book! It is so easy to follow – the effects are felt instantly, the results are immediate! This is the book for anyone and everyone who would like to improve the quality of their lives, whether or not they want to lose weight. It is for successful dieting and successful living. MernaLyn’s, The 10 Second Diet is an enlightening, informative and innovative approach to dieting and healthy well- being while making the process of losing weight easier and happier. It’s the last diet book you will ever need. Start living the life you have always wanted – in just 10 Seconds! 6:30pm

FOR KIDS: Bad Kitty faces her toughest challenge yet…Kitty and Puppy are out of control! They’re screaming, fighting, hissing, and drooling all over the house, and all of the commotion is upsetting Baby. Time for school–obedience school, that is. Can Kitty learn to follow the rules and make friends with the other students or will she bring chaos to the classroom? Find out in Bad Kitty’s hilarious, new (mis)adventure – Bad Kitty School Daze by Nick Bruel! 6pm

Scent of Darkness (Pantheon, $25) is a magical, seductive story about the power of scent, and about what happens when a perfume renders a young woman irresistible. Evangeline grows up understanding the extraordinary effects of fragrance. Her grandmother Louise is a gifted aromata, a master of scent-making and perfume. When Eva is eighteen, Louise leaves her the ultimate gift–a scent created just for her. The small perfume vial is accompanied by a note in Louise’s slanted script: “Do not remove the stopper, Evangeline, unless you want everything in your life to change.” From the moment Eva places a drop on her neck, men dance closer to her, women bury their noses deep into her hair, even the cats outside her bedroom cry to be near her. Strangers follow her down the street; a young boy appears at her door asking for a favor; and two men, one kind and good, the other dark and seductive, fall deeply, madly in love with her. As her greatest gift becomes an unbearable curse, Eva must uncover the secret of her scent and the message her grandmother, the woman who loved her most, wanted to tell her. A bewitching tale of love, blood, power, and magic, Scent of Darkness by Margot Berwin is a wildly inventive novel that will seduce the reader’s every sense. 8pm

FOR TEENS: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test. In Out of the Easy (Philomel, $17.99) , Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny. 7pm

In See Now Then (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, $23) , the brilliant and evocative new novel from Jamaica Kincaid, a marriage is revealed in all its joys and agonies. This piercing examination of the manifold ways in which the passing of time operates on the human consciousness unfolds gracefully, and Kincaid inhabits each of her characters–a mother, a father, and their two children, living in a small village in New England–as they move, in their own minds, between the present, the past, and the future: for, as she writes, “the present will be now then and the past is now then and the future will be a now then.” Her characters, constrained by the world, despair in their domestic situations. But their minds wander, trying to make linear sense of what is, in fact, nonlinear. See Now Then is Kincaid’s attempt to make clear what is unclear, and to make unclear what we assumed was clear: that is, the beginning, the middle, and the end. Since the publication of her first short-story collection, At the Bottom of the River, which was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, Kincaid has demonstrated a unique talent for seeing beyond and through the surface of things. In See Now Then, she envelops the reader in a world that is both familiar and startling–creating her most emotionally and thematically daring work yet. 8pm

UM READING: Three brothers tear their way through childhood – smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another. From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful. Written in magical language with unforgettable images, We the Animals (Mariner, $12.95) is a stunning exploration of the viscerally charged landscape of growing up, how deeply we are formed by our earliest bonds, and how we are ultimately propelled at escape velocity toward our futures..” Justin Torres’ work has appeared in Granta, Tin House, and Glimmer Train. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he was the recipient of a Rolón Fellowship in Literature from United States Artists and is a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. Among many other things, he has worked as a farmhand, a dog walker, a creative writing teacher, and a bookseller. 8pm

Note: This event is in Spanish. Desde los primitivos habitantes de Cuba, los indios taínos, los cubanos han usado el canto y baile para preservar la historia y tradiciones de su pueblo. Toda la historia del país se puede seguir a través de los textos de sus canciones. Oh, Cuba Hermosa, obra en dos volúmenes, hace un recuento del uso de la canción en Cuba para criticar costumbres sociales y realidades políticas. Éstas sirvieron para protestar del dominio español, de la ocupación norteamericana, de los malos gobernantes que robaban o tiranizaban al pueblo; a veces en tono colérico, otras con humorismo, la canción en Cuba ha sido el vehículo de comunicación de los analfabetos, y el idioma casi secreto de los conspiradores. Temas como el discrimen racial, el abuso a la mujer, la creación del mito de la mulata cubana como ideal de belleza femenina, la exaltación de la belleza de la campiña cubana, o el estado pobre de la misma por su descuidada explotación, todo pasa diluido en el poderoso cocktail de su música. El libro también habla de compositores que arriesgaron su vida escribiendo canciones en contra de gobernantes despóticos, y cantantes que desde el escenario, o grabándolas, corrían también el peligro de sufrir persecución por cantarlas. Además, muchas canciones se hicieron depositarias de palabras y dichos que el pueblo inventaba y que no aparecen en los diccionarios. El autor, Cristóbal Díaz Ayala, escuchó durante años miles de canciones cubanas para escoger las idóneas a este libro que las conserva para la posteridad, a través de la letra de cientos de canciones que aparecen en la misma. Presented in collaboration with the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. 8pm
Live Music in the Courtyard: 7:30-11:30pm

Live Music in the Courtyard: Nanami Korikawa — 7:30-11:30pm

Valerie Harper is finally ready to tell her story. In I, Rhoda (Gallery Books, $26) , her first memoir, the beloved and award-winning television actress reflects on the role that made her famous–Rhoda Morgenstern on the groundbreaking series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and on the spin-off show Rhoda–and the pressures of helming her own sitcom, Valerie. From her childhood in New Jersey and upstate New York to the beginnings of her acting career as a dancer and chorus girl on Broadway–performing alongside stars like Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason–to her recent battle with lung cancer, Valerie shares the story of her life, both the highs and the lows, in this heartwarming memoir, filled with charming anecdotes about Betty, Lucy, and Mary, to name a few. 2pm

David T. Riley dreamt big. His desire to be a superstar recording artist led the adolescent hoodlum into the fringes of organized crime. When the CIA needed recruits to carry out dangerous spying missions to Cuba, they found Riley languishing in a light green jumpsuit in Miami Dade County Jail awaiting trial. Street-smart, confident to the point of being cocky and extremely intelligent, the Agency believed he’d be able to talk his way out of any situation. Trained by the Feds to operate in a complex world of international crime, David became one of the Agency’s top operatives. The CIA’s use for him eventually waned, and with skills learned through covert work, Riley afforded himself an extensive career in gunrunning, drug dealing, fraud and embezzlement. Smooth Criminal by William Deane exposes how the Government’s secret release of criminals to conduct dangerous overseas assignments backfires when they return home. 4pm
In the early 1950s, New York City’s teachers and professors became the targets of massive investigations into their political beliefs and associations. Those who refused to cooperate in the questioning were fired. Priests of Our Democracy (NYU Press, $42) by Marjorie Heins tells of the teachers and professors who resisted the witch hunt, those who collaborated, and those whose battles led to landmark Supreme Court decisions. Combining political and legal history with wrenching personal stories, the book details how the anti-communist excesses of the 1950s inspired the Supreme Court to recognize the vital role of teachers and professors in American democracy. The crushing of dissent in the 1950s impoverished political discourse in ways that are still being felt, and First Amendment academic freedom, a product of that period, is in peril today. 6pm

Valerie Harper is finally ready to tell her story. In I, Rhoda (Gallery Books, $26) , her first memoir, the beloved and award-winning television actress reflects on the role that made her famous–Rhoda Morgenstern on the groundbreaking series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and on the spin-off show Rhoda–and the pressures of helming her own sitcom, Valerie. From her childhood in New Jersey and upstate New York to the beginnings of her acting career as a dancer and chorus girl on Broadway–performing alongside stars like Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason–to her recent battle with lung cancer, Valerie shares the story of her life, both the highs and the lows, in this heartwarming memoir, filled with charming anecdotes about Betty, Lucy, and Mary, to name a few. 8pm

Events wholly beyond our control can sometimes abruptly and profoundly interrupt our life journeys and the journeys of those we love. Several years ago, one of those events drove Don Blackwell’s daughter to death’s doorstep. In the midst of her suffering, however, and largely as a result of her courage, Don came to realize that such events can also serve as critical points of reflection and opportunities for growth. He also realized that if we are willing to take a step back from the heartbreak of the moment and reflect on the matters of the heart that surround those events, they can lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves, of those we love and of the human condition. Dear Ashley is a collection of those reflections and the intimate father/daughter letters used to convey them—shared in the hope that the unique perspective they offer will provide guidance, understanding and healing when life’s challenges come knocking on your door. 6:30pm
An essential read for fans of literary biography, Seeds of Fiction (Peter Owen, $29.95) finally and fully illuminates a pivotal episode in Graham Greene’s life and career in the kind of detail that will sate any fans of his work, but which also provides a fascinating glimpse into a writer’s life. In 1965, Greene joined journalist Bernard Diederich in the Dominican Republic to embark on a tour of its border with Haiti, then ruled by “Papa Doc” Duvalier. They were accompanied by activist priest Jean-Claude Bajeux. The famous novelist was 61 and depressed, having struggled to finish A Burnt-Out Case, and was being plagued by religious doubt; Bajeux, meanwhile, had been informed that his family had been “disappeared” by Duvalier’s henchmen. As this trio traveled along the border they met a number of rebels and other characters later fictionalized in Greene’s most politically charged novel, The Comedians, published the following year. This book tells the story of how a series of extraordinary and often hair-raising journeys gave one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century new inspiration in his writing. 8pm

“We’re hungry for more than food,” writes the author. “We’re hungry for connection, joy, meaning, completion, truth.” The foods every culture uses to mark milestones and seasons honor this multifaceted hunger and feed the “hungry ghost,” a Tao concept about restless souls still “hungry” beyond the grave. In Feeding the Hungry Ghost (New World Library, $15.95) , Ellen Kanner serves up recipes that satisfy these cravings, including DIY Matzo, When All Else Fails Pasta, and Caribbean Christmas Pepper Pot. In a voice as appealing as her recipes, Kanner seasons her text with warm, wise stories (helping kids plant a garden, hanging out at farmers markets, meeting Marcel, a Haitian who marks loss with soup) that show why “Often, the best way to exercise your faith and serve the world comes in choosing what you eat for dinner.” 8pm

“We’re hungry for more than food,” writes the author. “We’re hungry for connection, joy, meaning, completion, truth.” The foods every culture uses to mark milestones and seasons honor this multifaceted hunger and feed the “hungry ghost,” a Tao concept about restless souls still “hungry” beyond the grave. In Feeding the Hungry Ghost (New World Library, $15.95) , Ellen Kanner serves up recipes that satisfy these cravings, including DIY Matzo, When All Else Fails Pasta, and Caribbean Christmas Pepper Pot. In a voice as appealing as her recipes, Kanner seasons her text with warm, wise stories (helping kids plant a garden, hanging out at farmers markets, meeting Marcel, a Haitian who marks loss with soup) that show why “Often, the best way to exercise your faith and serve the world comes in choosing what you eat for dinner.” 6pm

Could that glass of milk affect your memory? Is that aluminum can increasing your risk for Alzheimer’s disease? Can a banana be a brain booster? Everyone knows that good nutrition supports your overall health, but did you know that certain foods can protect your brain and optimize its function? In Power Foods for the Brain (Grand Central, $25.99) , Dr. Neal Barnard has gathered the most important research and studies to deliver a program that can boost brain health, reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and other less serious malfunctions, including low energy, poor sleep patterns, irritability, and lack of focus. 7:30pm