On Friday night, BookHampton hosted a standing room-only crowd of readers eager to hear New York Times best-selling author and actress Christina Haag read from her memoir, Come to the Edge.
For Haag, it was a homecoming. She lived in Sag Harbor while writing her story of life with John F. Kennedy, Jr. Noting the inspiration and comfort she gained from a diversity of local landmarks, Haag singled out BookHampton as a particular resource; she would often browse the books during breaks from writing, imagining her own among them.
Haag and Kennedy lived together for five years in the '80's. While they knew each other peripherally for many years, the romance began while in a play together in New York City. Haag read from a poignant chapter describing the blossoming of their relationship from friends to something more profound and lasting.
Come to the Edge (Spiegel & Grau, 25.00) is in stock on our website; signed copies are also available.
A jubilant gathering of dogs and their people circled around author and dog enthusiast Karen LeFrak as she read from her latest children's book, Best In Show. Seated beside LeFrak in Southampton on Saturday afternoon was her champion poodle and the story's main character, Gem. As LeFrak read to the audience of kids, parents, and friends we all learned what it takes to be awarded "Best in Show" at Westminster, the most prestigious dog show.
Best in Show (Walker, 16.99) is available on our website.
Local favorite and friend of BookHampton James Frey read from, discussed and signed his newest book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible on Saturday night in East Hampton. It was his first reading of the book, beautifully published by Gagosian, in the United States.
After an uncensored reading of the book, a lively question and answer session followed. Frey explained how he came to write The Final Testament, mirroring events and characters with the The Holy Bible, but with very modern sensibilities. There were only 10,000 copies of the slipcovered book published, and there will be no more printings.
Frey's inspirations are as varied as his books: he cited Richard Prince, Henry "F***kin'" Miller, and Auguste Rodin's monumental Gates of Hell as life-time inspirations. "I want to do to people what Rodin's Gates of Hell did to me." Frey told the crowd. Inspired more by artists than writes, Frey told the crowd that "Getting in trouble and being misunderstood" is a hallmark of an artists life, but has become less so for the modern writer.
The art world has influenced Frey beyond writing. He has a Andy Warhol-like factory of 50 writers working for him to create well-written best-sellers for the popular market. "I call 'em how I want 'em, and I do it how I want it," explained Frey. He noted that not only Warhol used a factory model for producing work, "Murakami, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst" work in a similar manner. "It's an old-school art world idea."
"The literary community f***kin' hates it!" Frey laughed.
There are a few remaining signed copies of The Final Testament of the Holy Bible available on our website.
