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!
Archive for the 'Bookselling in the 21st century' Category
Enjoy a literary Thanksgiving
Published November 23, 2021 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , cooking and food Leave a CommentTags: Colson Whitehead, Joy Harjo, literary Thanksgiving, Louise Erdrich
Connecting You with Books
Published April 3, 2020 Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: bookshoping during COVID, Simpson & Vail tea, Southampton Soaps
Browsers welcome! Masks are a must for in-store browsing. We’d love to see you and help you find just the right book. We’re now open all week. Sun & Mon: noon to five; Tues. through Sat. 11 to 5:30. Stop in soon!
If you’d prefer curbside service, we’re happy to assist. Contact us by phone or email. Send specific titles or requests for recommendations to: caniosbooks@verizon.net.
Or call 631-725-4926. Give us a few hints about what you like to read, and we’ll do the rest. Free shipping for orders over $50.; free local delivery (Sag Harbor area); and curb-side pick-up. Credit card pre-payment is preferred.
Beyond books, we have word games, puzzles, and notebooks to keep your household engaged. It’s a great time to try our Simpson & Vail literary teas for a cup of warm refreshment through the day of your stay-at-home. What better way to wash up than with Southampton Soap Company‘s lovely selection of gentle, all natural hand soaps. Add a literary T-shirt to your stay-at-home wardrobe for a comfortably bookish look.
Consider opening a house account via our Canio’s Community Supported Books program. Start with a $100. minimum balance and make purchasing easier. We appreciate our support of Canio’s Books. We’re working hard to keep you connected to the world of books you love. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
20 Years at Canio’s!
Published October 26, 2019 Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Creativity , Current Events , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: 20 Years at Canio's, literary celebrations, literary costume party
How did we get here? How did we get to be counting 20 wonderful miraculous years as owners of Canio’s Books? We got here because of so many dear loyal fascinating smart quirky customers who’ve taught us much over the years. Who’ve supported us as their neighborhood bookshop, or who’ve ordered books from afar; who came to events in all kinds of weather, who were speakers themselves; who made donations, baked cookies, autographed copies; who volunteered to help keep our doors open. Through twenty very full years as booksellers, we’ve been humbled, amazed, inspired by all those we’ve met here at Canio’s. The bookshop is indeed our University. Thank you for being part of our ongoing efforts to give back to this community so rich in creativity, in literary and artistic history, and precious natural beauty.
Read more about our anniversary here: https://easthamptonstar.com/20191017/20-years-literature-and-community-canios
Come celebrate with us at our Literary Costume Party, Saturday, November 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. Dress as your favorite writer, character or creative person. And that could be you!
Just One Book
Published December 20, 2018 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Environment , Poetry , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Action for Conservation, Jackie Morris, Robert Macfarlane, The Lost Words
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?
Keeping Sag Harbor Salty
Published July 16, 2017 Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: Conca D'Oro pizza, Sag Harbor Cinema, Sag Harbor literary history, Sag Harbor villlage
Sag Harbor without its cinema, is one thing. A very big thing. We hope the cinema will be rebuilt soon. But now the pizza place? Word is out that Conca D’Oro, recently sold to a well-known restaurateur who promises to keep the name and the general feel of this 1950s-style trattoria. We hope so.
All this change makes us only more committed to keeping Sag Harbor a little bit salty. To provide this village with quirky and interesting books worth reading. To bring engaging voices to the community. To be a place for people, passion, poetry, prose & yes, T-shirts. Literary ones. Our handsome midnight-blue Moby-Dick marathon 2017 issue, for example.
If you haven’t been by for a while, you’ll find not much has changed about the basic plan of the shop. The floor boards still creak and the shelves are still jammed. If you’re a frequent visitor, you know there’s always something new to discover in those stacks.
Sometimes things can get just a little too slick around here. But rest assured, we at Canio’s will do our part to keep Sag Harbor’s literary legacy going strong. Now, please pass the salt.
Read, Connect, Act
Published November 15, 2016 Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , Creativity , Current Events , Environment , Politics , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: community discussion courses, Environmental activism, Northwest Earth Institute, Orion Magazine
What now? Friends are asking in the wake of the presidential election shocker last week. What we can offer to those questioning how we got here, is more of what we so believe in: the power of books to inform and inspire. The power of community to support and strengthen the insights gained. And action, a plan for creative sustaining ways forward, to apply what we’ve gained through reading, reflection, conversation.
To that end, Canio’s Cultural Cafe will again offer a series of community discussion courses focusing on environmental issues. This winter we’ll present inspiring, engaging material to read, discuss & act upon focused on environmental activism, living simply, sustainable energy, and more. Join us for an upcoming course. Now more than ever the planet requires your participation. Find out more by contacting the shop.
We’re grateful to organizations like Northwest Earth Institute for creating and promoting these courses, and to Orion Magazine for providing inspiring articles to engage the imagination, the heart and mind in our understanding of our responsibilities toward Earth.
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 CommentTags: Breakfast in America, Chicago Cubs World Series Championship, Craig Carlson, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Pancakes in Paris, presidential elections, Romney, Trump
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!
Just ask a bookseller!
Published August 16, 2016 Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: booksellers, impossible questions, Omnivore's Dilemma
We’re deep into tourist season, for which we’re grateful. Visitors from all points pass through our doors. We love hearing their impressions of this place, and are generally happy to answer the usual and not so usual questions we’re asked.
Need directions? Restaurant recommendations? A place to rent? A job, a husband, maybe? Well, just ask your local bookseller. While Yelp, Air bnb and GPS have satisfied most, some still prefer the personal touch. So in the course of a day, we get asked everything from where’s the Tomato Lady to what to read at the beach. It’s nice to be thought of as knowledgeable, but sometimes it’s just impossible to satisfy every inquiry.
“What do you do in here all day?” someone once asked.
Another wanted to know if a certain local author would make a suitable mate. No comment!
One admired a devotional candle we display near spirituality books. The candle’s not for sale, I explained, but could be found in the supermarket. “But which aisle would they be in?”
One sunny weekend, a woman burst in. “Hellooo?” she called. “Where’s the best place to buy steak?” That’s a new one, we thought …and we don’t even eat red meat. I wondered how to parlay this into a book sale. Recommend Omnivore’s Dilemma? Instead I suggested the butcher at Schiavoni’s Market. I gave directions to the shop. “But I don’t regularly buy steak,” I confessed. She seemed disappointed. “Then where’s the best place to buy fish?”
Has a bookseller helped you with a non-book-related question? Let us know.
Walt is coming!
Published May 19, 2016 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , Poetry , Reading events , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: Darryl Blaine Ford, Huntington, Leaves of Grass, marathon reading, Montauk, Walt Whitman, Whitman Birthplace, William Walter
“Starting from Paumanok”, and continuing all day in Sag Harbor, community readers will gather at Canio’s on Saturday, May 21 from 10 a.m. until around 6 p.m. to read from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Don’t miss a chance to meet “Mr. Whitman Long Island,” aka Darrel Blaine Ford, who in his eighties and with a long white beard bears a striking resemblance to America’s most well known poet. When he was only a child, Mr. Ford took a very long bicycle ride from his home near the South Shore to the Whitman birthplace in West Hills. Whitman himself trekked up and down Long Island from Brooklyn out to Montauk with regular visits to his sister in Greenport.
On Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. learn more about Whitman on Long Island with speaker William T. Walter, president of the Whitman Birthplace who will join us at Canio’s and set us on the right path for our all-day reading on Saturday.
Finally, pick up a copy of Leaves, a tin of Whitman’s green tea blend, or if you’re reading with us, you’ll receive a commemorative button. And don’t miss our after-party, Saturday evening….after all, we’re celebrating Whitman’s birthday!
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