We’re big fans of the Triangle’s newest independent bookstore, Flyleaf Books, conveniently located a mere seven minutes from our office. On more than once lunch break, I’ve slipped out of the office to peruse their fantastically stocked shelves.

We were absolutely thrilled that Flyleaf recently hosted an Algonquin Book Club evening with special guest Heidi Durrow, author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, her debut novel now out in paperback.

The room was packed to the gills, with audience members noshing on cheese and sipping on winter beer. Algonquin’s Marketing Director Craig Popelars started off the night as only he could, with an inspiring ode to book clubs written to the tune of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice Baby.”

Heidi Durrow, winner of Barbara Kingsolver’s prestigious Bellwether Prize, dazzled the audience with her dramatic reading and then had a lively Q&A with the audience.

Afterward, Algonkians Chuck Adams, Kathy Pories, Ina Stern, and Michael Taeckens took to the stage and discussed various titles that are perfect for book clubs, including Hillary Jordan’s Mudbound, Lauren Grodstein’s A Friend of the Family, Robert Goolrick’s A Reliable Wife, Jonathan Evison’s West of Here, Caroline Leavitt’s Pictures of You, Joseph Skibell’s A Blessing on the Moon, Lewis Nordan’s Wolf Whistle, and Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. They also discussed the particulars of the Algonquin Book Club, a new program that will be launching later this month with beautifully designed catalogs and a brand new website (more details to come, so stay posted!).

The evening concluded with more partaking of wine and cheese, tons of audience members lining up to have Heidi sign their books (Flyleaf sold out of every copy!), and people loading up on Algonquin titles and other offerings, thinking about their future book club reads.

Thank you for a great evening, Heidi and Flyleaf!

–Megan Fishmann, Publicist