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Shore Lit December Newsletter

11/26/2022

The Buzzed Word, Ocean City

Bookstores vs. Amazon:
Does it really matter where you buy your holiday gifts?

My proudest moment as an aunt—possibly as a human—is arriving at my mom’s house for a recent family weekend and overhearing my six-year-old nephew say to his little brother, “Aunt Kerry is here! That means it’s time for books.”

My nephews know I will always bring books when I come to visit. So do my friends. Books are my favorite gifts for my people.
If you’re reading this newsletter, books are probably your gifts for your people, too. And, therefore, you are well aware of how tricky this can get living in a rural community like ours, where book-buying options are limited. Especially with the holidays coming up, maybe you have been wondering, as I have: Can’t I just order from Amazon and call it a day?

I spent some time this month reading articles and talking to booksellers, trying to figure out if where we shop for books really matters. And I came away with a clear answer: Yes, it matters quite a lot. No, we shouldn’t shop for books at Amazon.

Here’s what I learned about why it’s worth it to spend your holiday dollars at local, independent bookstores today, on Indies First Saturday, and throughout the season (even when it takes a little extra effort):

Shore Lit Newsletter November 2022

11/2/2022

What We’re Up To This Month:

As I write this, I’m still buzzing from last week’s event with the brilliant Maud Casey. Maud’s writing challenges and rewards me, and I feel so lucky that we had the privilege of hosting her on the Shore. Afterwards, Maud commented on what a terrific audience we had, and I agree. Thanks to everyone who read City of Incurable Women with your book club, or on your own, or who didn’t read it but showed up at the Academy Art Museum with a curious mind and joined our conversation about mad women, mental health, Victorian-era photography, and feminism. You make me so grateful to be a part of this incredible community.

Speaking of, if you haven’t read last Sunday’s profile of the Academy Art Museum in the Washington Post Magazine, check it out. Shore Lit quite literally exists because of the support of AAM Director Sarah Jesse, who is reimagining what a community museum can do and be. It’s thrilling to see that work recognized on a national scale.

Coming up on November 14, I’ll be moderating a conversation with author Christopher Tilghman at the Talbot County Free Library as part of the Crossroads: Change in Rural America series.This event is TCFL’s baby, and I am so honored they asked me to be a part of it, as Chris’s writing is one of the reasons I moved from Brooklyn to the Shore. In 2012, I took a solo bike trip down the peninsula and brought a copy of The Right-Hand Shore along with me. I was traveling (very slowly; I’m a terrible cyclist) and camping in this landscape at the same time I was reading his descriptions of the Shore and its history. I fell in love.

Few writers have thought as deeply about this place over time as Chris Tilghman has. The Mason family, the subject of his last three novels, is modeled on his own, which arrived on the Shore in 1645, and he has spent decades researching local history. The final novel in the series, On the Tobacco Coast, will be published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in late 2023 or early 2024 and brings the story into the present. The action takes place mostly on a single day, July 4, 2019, with a look into a future of climate change and sea level rise. As Chris tells me, “It portrays the Masons’ attempt to confront their family history and the history of America from 1607 to the confusions and disagreements of the present day.” We’ll be diving into this and more in our talk. I hope to see many of you there!

Monthly Newsletter

Shore Lit December Newsletter

Bookstores vs. Amazon:
Does it really matter where you buy your holiday gifts?

Shore Lit Newsletter November 2022

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Monthly Newsletter

Shore Lit December Newsletter

Bookstores vs. Amazon: Does it really matter where you buy your holiday gifts?

Shore Lit Newsletter November 2022

Enter your email to receive our newsletter:

Archives

Stay in touch.

Bookstores vs. Amazon:
Does it really matter where you buy your holiday gifts?