The train has left the station

[slideshow]One Island One Book, the Key West Library's program now in its third year, is well underway. This year we're reading "Last Train to Paradise," Les Standiford's book chronicling the construction of the Over-Sea Railroad, completed 100 years ago. The book also covers the railroad's destruction in the harrowing Labor Day hurricane of 1935. We're in the final week of the online readalong on the One Island One Book blog-- but you're welcome to jump in at any point; the beauty of this is it can stay up there forever for anyone reading the book and we can continue the conversation as long as we want.

Next week things really pick up when the author himself, Les Standiford, arrives in town. He'll be signing books at Key West Island Books, 513 Fleming St., at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26.

Then at 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, he'll be at the Key West Library, 700 Fleming St., to talk about Last Train to Paradise. Later that day, at 6 p.m., he'll be speaking at the Friends of the Library Lecture Series at The Studios of Key West, 600 White St. Both those events are free and open to all.

We've already had a couple great events -- a presentation about how the old bridges went from rail to trail (many of them are now part of the Overseas Heritage Trail) and a guided tour of the Speedway to Sunshine exhibit at the Custom House. There's another tour planned for 2 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 24 -- the tour is free but you need to sign up; just stop by the library or call 305-292-3595.  And if that weren't enough, the Art & Historical Society has generously offered free admission to the Custom House to anyone with a Monroe County Library card, until March 15.

Lots to do -- and still plenty of time to read the book. They have them on sale at Key West Island Books and we have many, many copies in the library collection (still a couple available on the special exhibit shelf last time I checked). So please stop by, in person or online, and help make this really One Island One Book.

Most of the action, thus far, as taken place online in our first online readalong but the live events have started, wtih a presentation on how the original railroad bridges went from rail to trail (many of them are now part of a state park called the Overseas Heritage Trail) and a special guided tour of the Speedway to Sunshine exhibit at the Custom House (there's another this Friday -- you can still sign up by coming into the library or calling there at 305-292-3595).

About those images: One of the most fun parts of this year's One Island One Book program, for me, has been spending time with our fabulous online archive of photographs. These are scanned, identified and uploaded by Monroe County Historian Tom Hambright and his team of dedicated volunteers. There are more than 11,000 images in the whole collection and 700 just related to the railroad. The slideshow above is a small sample of my favorites but I recommend checking this site out to anyone interested in Keys history. Another favorite from the same era I can't resist revisiting: the waterfront passes that were required of workers in that area during World War I. The photographs are haunting and beautiful and the information provides a time capsule of Key West life in that era.

The future of the book(store)

First of all, the important news: If you are a reader in the Key West area, get your butt down to Voltaire Books, at the corner of Simonton and Eaton streets -- they're going out of business and the stock is 50 percent off. Fabulous deals to be had, and you'll be helping out some very good guys in taking the books off their hands. This is happening at the same time as the national collapse of Borders, which is giving us a strange feeling in Key West, an allegedly literary little city if there ever was one. I'm sad that Voltaire is closing -- I loved to browse there, tried to buy books there when I was buying books and gave gift certificates as birthday presents for the last couple years. But even though the bibliogods are probably going to strike me down for thinking this, much less writing it, I don't feel like this is a sign of the book apocalypse.

For one thing, I just returned from a conference about the Future of the Book (more on that in future posts, I hope) and the future, it is clear, is largely digital. Not entirely and not for everyone. I expect to read print books for the rest of my life and after that .. well, that's not my problem.

I also think some part of me, having watched bookstores come and go over the years, knew not to invest too much emotionally into Voltaire. I supported them as best I could but I did not pin all my hopes on the future of the book on them. It was a wonderful little store for a time and now it's gone. Just like Blue Heron and lots of other bookstores I have loved and supported. Also: I work in a library. I have plentiful access to books -- new, old, donated, advanced review copies. Personally, selfishly, I don't feel a dearth of books. (When my husband sees me coming home with bags loaded with books I think he wishes I did.) You can buy books here, too -- we have donations and library discards for sale for as little as a quarter -- and paperbacks for free!

And there's this: We still have Key West Island Books on Fleming, just off Duval -- the venerable institution is now under new ownership and it's time to return and support them. It's a lot cleaner and less cluttered, too. They've always had a great selection of used books; now the challenge will be to see if they can pick up the new book market, beyond top 10 bestsellers and local interest titles. If not, that's OK -- there's always Amazon and it will give new justification to the occasional Books & Books binge on mainland trips. (A side note to fellow islanders: If you visit Miami and do not take the time to stop by Books & Books you are cheating yourself -- they have several locations but I recommend the Coral Gables flagship store -- amazing selection, dream atmosphere ... and a nice little cafe with terrific panninis.)