Archive for the 'Books we love' Category

Moby Sighting in Sag Harbor!

Published May 25, 2025 Books we love , Community , Sag Harbor Leave a Comment
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We set sail on our village-wide Moby-Dick Marathon soon, and we hope to see you there: Thursday, May 29 through Sunday, June 1. (Check calendar page for details.)

What’s new this year? Our “home-base” is the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum where ecologist Carl Safina  reads the opening chapter. Artist Scott Bluedorn brought to life our vision for a logo (spoiler alert): Ishmael floating on Queequeg’s coffin, the Rachel sailing toward him on a navy sea. Get your T-shirt while they last! Designers Mary Woltz and Rob Calvert created a beautiful keepsake “Passport” illustrating each of our “watches”. Get your passport stamped at each location, and win a prize.

We conclude the marathon at the Breakwater Yacht Club with great readers, spectacular views of the harbor, and a fun after-party including silent auction. The Moby Marathon is our key fundraiser for Canio’s Cultural Café. Stop by the bidding table and consider a contribution.

We love sharing this untameable book with newcomers, as well as old salts. When storytelling happens in community, we create lasting friendships. And it’s just plain fun!  Come aboard and experience this great American book for yourself, with your own voice sounding Melville’s lyric prose. See you there!

Now is the time, dear reader …

Published August 27, 2024 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Creativity , Environment , Fiction , Literary history , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized , Writing Leave a Comment
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Now is the time, dear reader …

You’ve been wanting to come browse the shelves at Canio’s for a while. You’ve been telling yourself you’ve got to get over there. Soon. Gentle reader, now is the time!


We’ve got great sales and great books in need of a new home. As we enter the last month at our current location, we’re taking stock of all the wonderful experiences we’ve enjoyed here over the past 25 years. A quarter century of literary encounters, meeting writers on the page, and in person. And meeting great people such as yourself! It’s a bittersweet task to sort through our storied collection, and make plans for an unknown future.  Canio’s Cultural Cafe will continue with programing at partner locations. We look forward to sharing more news soon.

Stop by soon to find some great bargains, say hello, say goodbye. Tell us your favorite “Canio’s story.”  And, help us keep the celebration of Sag Harbor’s literary culture alive.

Maryann and Kathryn at the 1999 opening party.

Enjoy a literary Thanksgiving

Published November 23, 2021 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , cooking and food Leave a Comment
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Imagine you’re hosting a literary Thanksgiving. Who’d be at your table? We’d invite Herman Melville (natch), and sit him next to Rebecca Solnit. Her new book Orwell’s Roses would necessitate George himself be invited. Certainly we’d love to invite Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. Guests of honor would be Joy Harjo (Poet Warrior) and Louise Erdrich (The Sentence). Plus Colson Whitehead (Harlem Shuffle) and Nikole Hannah-Jones (The 1619 Project), making for lively conversation. Pass the cranberry sauce, please! With exciting new work by Richard Powers (Bewilderment) and Anthony Doer (Cloud Cuckoo Land) among many others, this fall’s literary harvest is bountiful, sure to keep us well fed for months to come. We can’t wait to share these titles, and more with you. Let us know who you’d like at your table!

Elena Ferrante Day! Sept. 1

Published August 26, 2020 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Fiction , Italian , Novelists , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Come Tuesday, September 1 all other books you’re reading must be put aside to make room for the new Ferrante novel. What is it about the propulsive pace of a Ferrante sentence that pulls us along? Before we realize it, we’ve fallen deep into the inner reaches of her narrator’s psyche. We’re breathless. Everything else must wait.

Since mid- spring we’ve been eager for the official release of Lying Life of Adults. Books are stacked waiting for their readers. September 1 is “Elena Ferrante Day” so stop by to get your copy then cancel all other appointments, except for our Zoom discussion with translator Ann Goldstein and author Mary Norris, Saturday, September 12. (Check our events calendar to register for this event.

AND on this auspicious day, join us on FACEBOOK LIVE at 6 p.m. with beloved author Adriana Trigiani (Big Stone Gap, Tony’s Wife, Kiss Carlo & more) whose fascinating weekly book talks feature terrific authors and showcase an independent bookshop. On Tuesday, September 1, Canio’s Books’ co-owners Maryann & Kathryn will share the spotlight. Author guests include Dr. Eddie Glaude, Begin Again;  Nancy Pearl , Writers Library; and Lorenzo Carcaterra,  Payback. What better way to celebrate great contemporary novels than with Elena Ferrante & Adriana Trigiani. Fantastico!

Because We Don’t Live on Books Alone

Published October 5, 2019 Books we love , Community , cooking and food , Memoir , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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We occasionally have to eat! Fans of the Mediterrean diet well before it became fashionable, we’d been long time diners at the Hellenic Snack Bar on the North Fork.  So when we first read chef/owner George Giannaris’ hilarious memoir Ferry Tales, we knew we had to invite him to Canio’s one day.  The book is a delightful collection of stories about the pleasures, pains and pure absurdities of restaurant life, serving the public and living in a beautiful “nowhere” close to a major transportation hub that links Long Islanders to the world beyond. Fast forward some years, and in comes chef George, his wife Maria and fixings for a feast for 50 people. In our cramped bookshop, and in under 50 minutes, George created an appetizing and bountiful display of delectables to satisfy everyone lucky enough to squeeze in. With Herculean effort George and Maria served up a generous portion of Greek hospitality, because that’s what they do so well. If you missed that colossal event,   check out George’s YouTube series AwareHouseChef. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKjFhi0evAA It offers helpful tips any home cook can follow to eat well, organically, and affordably.

Lucette Lagnado , Brilliant Memoirist

Published July 27, 2019 Books we love , Bookstore Lore , Community , In Memoriam , Memoir , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized , Writing Leave a Comment
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To read Lucette Lagnado’s captivating memoir The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is to enter a world, a city, a family of exquisite beauty and complicated history. It illuminates a story of Jews in old Cairo, a family’s struggle with misfortune, banishment into exile in Europe, who eventually rebuild a home in New York. But even as the family manages to start a new life, how much have they lost along the way? To read this memoir is to encounter a paradigm of the genre. The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit won the 2008 Sami Rohr prize for best book of Jewish Literature, and garnered much critical acclaim.

To have befriended Lucette Lagnado and her devoted husband Douglas Feiden has been one of our greatest pleasures as proprietors of Canio’s Books.  So it is with deep sadness that we mark Lucette’s passing on July 10. A brilliant writer, tenacious reporter, deeply compassionate woman, she wrote passionately about health care issues and the elderly for The Wall Street Journal. Her first book, Children of the Flames describes heinous medical experiments perpetrated by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Her second memoir The Arrogant Years tells her mother’s story entwined with Lucette’s own development as a headstrong young woman just coming into her own. Lucette’s words and work will live on indefinitely. Her indomitable spirit and warm heart we will always cherish.

Got Moby?

Published April 24, 2019 Books we love , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , Fiction , Reading events , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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If you’ve groaned whenever someone mentioned Melville’s  Moby-Dick, if you’ve tried to read it but couldn’t, or if you’ve run screaming away from it,  we want you! One of the reasons we continue the marathon reading tradition, begin around 1983 at the bookshop, is to introduce this leviathan beauty to new readers. Sure we love the book. Sure we cheer when it mentions Sag Harbor (twice). But we really love the way it calls to new readers even in 2019. We want to give folks an easy way in to the language, the poetry, the vast sprawl of the book. Come listen for a bit. Hearing the great work read aloud makes quick converts. You can’t help get swept out to sea with Ishmael, Quequeg, Starbuck and Capt. Ahab. This year’s event will be our best-ever. It’s Melville’s Bicentennial! We’re honored actors Harris Yulin and Alec Baldwin will read. We want to be sure you’ve Got Moby, too. June 7 through 9.  See our 2019 MOBY-DICK MARATHON EVENTS SCHEDULE

Just One Book

Published December 20, 2018 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Environment , Poetry , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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If we could recommend just one book for all on your gift giving list this holiday season, it’d be, with a doubt The Lost Words written by British nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illuminated with gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Jackie Morris. This oversized art book collects nature words, simple ones like “fern”, “ivy”, “magpie” and “starling” and spins poetry around them, splashes pages with greens and gold and rich earth tones in stunning displays. Collects these words and paints them on outsized pages, reweaving them into the language. Why? Because they were left out of the recent junior edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. In their place, words from the world of technology crept in. But careful readers noticed and objected and turned their concern into action, creating a charity dedicated to inspiring young people to become advocates for the natural world. A portion of book sales is donated to Action for Conservation. Just one book. But with so many important words to say. Copies available at Canio’s. How many should we reserve for you?

Remembering Barbara Wersba

Published February 21, 2018 Books we love , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , In Memoriam , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized , Writing Leave a Comment
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Remembering Writer, Teacher, Publisher Barbara Wersba

We remember fondly and with great admiration Barbara Wersba a longtime customer and friend of Canio’s Books.  Barbara’s keen intelligence, sharp wit and literary insight were a few of her qualities that distinguished her in a community of literary types.   Barbara Wersba wrote  Walter, The Story of a Rat, a charming story set in Safe Harbor about a friendship between a lonely writer, Miss Amanda Pomeroy and a rat with literary aspirations.  Other titles include Penny Parade: A Christmas Story; Let Me Fall Before I Fly among other titles. Her Bookman Press produced a series of chapbooks, designed by Jerry Kelly, noted for their physical beauty as well as their literary quality. Bookman Press published stories, essays and poems by such authors as George Sand, Kennedy Fraser,  Simon Van Booy, and Joe Pintauro among many others.

Barbara lived for many years in North Haven where she opened her home to writing students with whom she shared her exacting literary standards as well as her encouragement.

A graveside service will be held Friday, February 23 at 11 a.m. at Oakland Cemetery, Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor.

The Only Poll You Need to Know About

Published November 3, 2016 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , cooking and food , Current Events , Memoir , Politics Leave a Comment
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Undone by the relentless vacillations in this year’s presidential election polls, to say nothing of that nail-biting late-night extra-inning rain-delayed World Series Championship win by the come-from-behind Chicago Cubs (whew!), I just had to consult our Parisian pollster and restaurateur Craig Carlson.

Do you know his amazing memoir, Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France? This highly recommended read takes us on a wild ride from Craig’s “crazy” idea of opening an American-style dinner in Paris, to realizing that dream complete with pleasures, pitfalls and panic-attacks along the way. Sort of like those Cubs, rallying after near elimination! Craig is victorious with three popular Breakfast in America locations in the culinary capital of the world! Craig read at Canio’s in September, and yes, we even served pancakes with Vermont maple syrup.

So how is the Breakfast in America “presidential election” going in Paris? Back in 2012 his restaurant offered customers “an election” choice between two blue-plate specials:  the Romney Omlette and the Obama Burger. They kept count, and announced the overwhelming winner: the Obama Burger by a landslide!

This year he’s featuring a choice between the Hillary “Hot & Nasty” Hamburger served with hot sauce, a nod to Secretary Clinton’s penchant for Tabasco, and the Trump “Totally-Rigged” Wrap with a “wall” of tortilla chips.  The count right now: 34 hamburgers to 4 wraps. Voila! That settles it for me! Bon appetite and happy reading!

Canio’s Books is located at 290 Main Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963, 631.725.4926. Call or email us, caniosbooks@verizon.net. While we love you to SEE you, you can also order new titles at our online storefront or some of our second hand inventory HERE. Thanks for visiting!