The first half of February at RiverRun Bookstore is TOO GOOD to miss!

February brings to mind Valentine's Day. A day we celebrate the ones we love. But what about celebrating the things we love, like books? Our valentine to YOU is a month that is chock-full of live author readings. See what's in store for the first half of the month below.

Here's a rundown of what the first half of February has in store for you:

Monday, February 2nd at noon: David Watters, director of the Center for New England Culture at UNH, leads a Brown Bag Lunch Discussion at SecondRun Bookstore of Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s The Story of a Bad Boy, as part of The Big Read.

Monday, February 2nd at 7pm: RiverRun Bookstore’s Socrates Café discusses “How does the media shape perception?” During the café, members from the community explore one social, political, or scientific question using the Socratic Method.

Tuesday, February 3rd at 7pm: Science journalist and Maine writer Hannah Holmes reads from her latest book: The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself. With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on...herself. And not just on herself, but on our whole species-what Shakespeare called “the paragon of animals.”

Thursday, February 5th at 7pm: Maine fiction writer Lewis Robinson, acclaimed author of Officer Friendly, reads from his debut novel, Water Dogs. The book is a suspenseful, disquieting, and compulsively readable first novel that takes an unforgettable look at the delicate patchwork of a family. Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of American Wife and Prep, says that Robinson “evokes the moods and landscapes of Maine as deftly as he examines the
conflicts and alliances within a family.”

Friday, February 6th at 7pm: Travel writer Lawrence Millman reads from his latest book, Going Home: A Horror Story, at the York Public Library in York, Maine. Millman is an award-winning writer of eleven previous books, and a
Fellow of the prestigious Explorers Club. He has made over forty trips and expeditions to the Arctic and Subarctic.

Monday, February 9th at 7pm: Award-winning writer Leslie Walker Williams reads from her novel, The Prudent Mariner. Williams offers a searing exploration of the legacies of complicity and violence, silence and regret, and the unforeseeable ways the past shapes and impinges upon the present.

Wednesday, February 11th at 7pm: Dan Snow, master craftsman and one of America’s best artisans, reads from his newest book, Listening to Stone. He is the nation’s premier drystone wall builder.

Saturday, February 14th from 10am-noon: Kids Heart Authors Day, with local authors and illustrators, face-painting, games, and snacks! Meet Mark Karlins, Calef Brown, Carrie Yakola, Denise Ortakales, Kirsten Merinda, Terry Farish, Ryan Higgins, Maren Tirabassi, & Brandie Kramer.

Sunday, February 15th from 1 to 3pm at SecondRun Bookstore: As part of The Big Read in Portsmouth sponsored by Strawbery Banke and the Portsmouth Middle School Library, SecondRun Bookstore will host an event with local author Harold Whitehouse on Sunday, February 15th from 1-3pm. Whitehouse will share his personal stories of growing up in Portsmouth, complete with a slideshow of scenes from Portsmouth past. Audience members are then encouraged to share their own stories of youthful adventures on a digital video recording facilitated by John Herman, multimedia artist and producer. The recordings will be added to The Big Read Portsmouth's archive of tales from real boyhoods and girlhoods of local people.