I am not particularly good at routines. There, I said it. I admire people who appear to have their lives organized into neat little compartments: wake at a certain hour, exercise, meditate, take their vitamins, eat precisely what their bodies need and somehow arrive at the rest of the day looking composed. I have never quite been that person. My days have a tendency to take on lives of their own.

Getting ready for fall has made me realize something. A routine does not have to mean turning your life into a schedule. It means deciding that certain things matter enough that you are no longer going to negotiate with yourself about them every single day. There are vitamins I know I need to take, so I have decided they need to become part of my day rather than something I remember when I happen to see the bottle. After being on so many antibiotics, I want to eat yogurt every day to help replenish what those medications have disrupted. I have a trampoline, and I need to get on it. Not for an hour. Not because I suddenly intend to become an Olympic athlete. Five minutes counts. Fifteen minutes is terrific. What matters is that my body moves and that I do it again tomorrow.

None of these things is revolutionary. That is precisely the point.

We have made changing our lives far too dramatic. We announce enormous goals, buy equipment, download apps, create schedules we could never realistically maintain and then feel that we have failed when the elaborate new life collapses under the weight of the life we were already living.

A useful routine should fit your actual life. That means looking at yourself without fantasy. When do you really wake up? When do you have energy? What are you consistently forgetting? What makes you feel better when you actually do it? What have you been telling yourself for months that you need to start doing? Then make it smaller. If you cannot exercise for an hour, move for ten minutes. If ten feels impossible today, move for five. Five minutes done every day has more power than the perfect 45-minute workout you keep promising yourself you will begin next Monday.

The same principle applies far beyond exercise. It can mean taking your supplements with breakfast instead of relying on memory. Putting ten minutes aside each evening to put things back where they belong. Drinking water when you first get up. Reading instead of automatically reaching for the phone. Preparing tomorrow’s clothes tonight. Going outside every day. Calling someone you love. Writing one page. Doing one thing that consistently makes your life work better.

Routine becomes powerful when the argument disappears. You stop asking, Do I feel like doing this today? You simply do it because it has become part of the architecture of your life.

That is very different from discipline as punishment. A good routine is an act of respect toward your future self. The person you will be tomorrow benefits from what you quietly do today. The person you will be in October is being constructed by what you repeat in August. Repetition is where transformation actually happens. Fall itself understands this.

By January, you won’t need a resolution. You’ll already be living it.

If Part One of our look at the East Hampton Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night captured the sheer excitement of the evening, Part Two reveals why this particular summer tradition has become something far more interesting than a glamorous book signing.

Under one enormous tent on August 8, worlds that ordinarily have very little reason to collide suddenly did. Historians sat near novelists. Political insiders shared space with chefs. Architects, journalists, comedians, artists, grief writers and mystery authors met readers face-to-face, while conversations moved effortlessly from the White House to Montauk, from James Baldwin to Sid Caesar, from the Titanic to Tarot.

That eclecticism is the secret of Authors Night. You may arrive looking for one writer and leave carrying the work of someone you had never heard of two hours earlier.

At the center of any gathering devoted to American nonfiction stands Robert A. Caro, whose monumental The Power Broker changed the way generations understood not merely Robert Moses, but the machinery of political power itself. More than half a century after its publication, Caro’s study remains startlingly relevant because its real subject was never simply one man. It was what happens when ambition, government and unchecked authority converge.

Nicholas Boggs brought Baldwin, his major biography of James Baldwin, returning readers to one of America’s most essential literary and intellectual voices. Baldwin’s questions about race, sexuality, belonging and America’s ability—or refusal—to examine itself have hardly grown less urgent.

That examination of America continued with Gloria Browne-Marshall’s A Protest History of the United States, while Eddie S. Glaude Jr. brought America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, considering how America’s celebrations of itself inevitably collide with the parts of its history it would sometimes rather leave outside the ceremony.

Jonathan Mahler turned his attention toward another kind of American power in The Gods of New York, exploring the personalities and forces that shaped a city forever negotiating between money, ambition, politics and myth. Nearby,

Julian Zelizer

Julian Zelizer offered The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment, bringing together the kind of immediate historical examination that begins almost before an administration has disappeared from view.

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrived with Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines, while Don Lemon brought two books examining subjects that have defined much of his public career: race, religion, faith and America’s continuing argument with itself.

Then there was Bradford E. Billet, whose Chaos Reveals It contains enough history for several lives. Billet’s experiences encompass TWA Flight 800, September 11 and his tenure as New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs, dealing directly with the United Nations and State Department. It is precisely the kind of book Authors Night is made for: you pick it up because of the title and suddenly find yourself standing across from someone who witnessed history from inside the room.

Hassan Nemazee’s Persia, Politics and Prison offered another journey through power and consequence, while Aziz Abu Sarah’s The Future Is Peace turned toward one of humanity’s oldest and most elusive ambitions: finding a way through conflict rather than perpetuating it.

The evening was equally rich in cultural history. David Margolick’s When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy revisits the astonishing influence of the comic genius whose television work helped shape modern American comedy. Carol Leifer, herself part of comedy history and famously associated with the inspiration for Elaine on Seinfeld, took a considerably less solemn approach with How to Write a Funny Speech . . . for a Wedding, Bar Mitzvah, Graduation & Every Other Event You Didn’t Want to Go to in the First Place. Even the title knows exactly what room it has walked into.

Tom Junod brought In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man, while Jay McInerney, forever associated with the literary electricity of New York, offered See You on the Other Side. Amy DuBois Barnett’s If I Ruled the World joined Gayle Feldman’s Nothing Random, Jenna Blum’s wonderfully titled Murder Your Darling,

Amy Chozick

Amy Chozick’s With Friends Like You, Amy Ephron’s Unseasonably Cold

Adam Ross

Adam Ross’s Playworld, and Joanna Margaret’sThe Daughters among the fiction and literary works inviting readers into entirely different worlds.

Then there was one of the titles impossible to walk past without stopping: J. Brooke’s I Can Tell You the Version That Will Make You Take My Side. In an age when almost everyone seems to arrive with a version of events designed to secure allegiance before the facts have even entered the room, the title alone feels wickedly contemporary.

Mystery and suspense were everywhere. David Baerwald brought The Fire Agent, Rachel Ekstrom Courage Death on the Lanai

Tom Clavin

Tom Clavin Vengeance

Alex DeMille

Alex DeMille The Tin Man,

Steve Israel

Steve Israel The Einstein Conspiracy, Chris Pavone The Doorman, Bob Reiss The Impossible Detective

John Searles

John Searles Single Girls, Alyssa Sheinmel Such Sheltered Lives, and Charles Lachman They Shall Not See the Dawn. Aphrodite Jones, long known for examining notorious criminal cases, arrived with Michael Jackson Conspiracy, Jeffrey Sussman’s Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutionspromised exactly the wonderfully combustible history its title suggests.

The East End itself naturally had its chroniclers. Christy Scott Cashman brought What Happened in Beulah, while David Cataletto’s Kings of the Coast: Montauk kept the geography decidedly local. Jennifer Ash Rudick’s Inside the Hamptons turned the lens on the homes and aesthetic identity of the East End

Michael Gross

Michael Gross’s Treasured Island examined another enclave synonymous with extraordinary wealth.

Architecture and design were particularly well represented. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Paul Goldberger’s Why Architecture Matters asks us to look beyond buildings as objects and understand how the spaces surrounding us influence the way we live. David Netto’s Rosario Candela & The New York Apartment: 1927–1937 celebrates the architect whose elegant apartment houses helped define Manhattan luxury. Jeffrey Banks brought Storyteller, while

Steven Kasher

Steven Kasher’s Memoir of a Collection: Finding Meaning Through Art explored the deeply personal relationship between collector and object.

Kendell Cronstrom and Alejandro Saralegui

Kendell Cronstrom and Alejandro Saralegui each celebrated Madoo, preserving the extraordinary Sagaponack garden and creative world associated with artist Robert Dash, while Alice Harris and Christian John Wikane’s A Night at the Disco turned the cultural clock toward another dazzling New York institution: the dance floor.

Food, naturally, had its own irresistible corner. New York Times food authority Florence Fabricant brought Salty Not Sweet, while chef Michael Symon offered Symon’s Dinners Cooking Out.

Jenn Lueke, Sabrina Rudin, Ali Rosen

Jenn Lueke’s Don’t Think About Dinner, Ali Rosen’s The Slow Burn, and Sabrina Rudin’s Healthy With a Side of Happy approached the pleasures—and daily realities—of feeding ourselves from very different directions.

There were books about the body and the complicated business of taking care of it. Breast surgeon Dr. Elisa Port offered The Breast Advice

Michael J. Norton

Michael J. Norton’s deliciously irreverent The S** I Heard at Yoga* suggested that wellness culture deserves a raised eyebrow along with the downward dog.

Some of the evening’s most affecting books dealt with what happens when life refuses to follow the plan. Danielle Crittenden’s Dispatches from Grief and Kate Doerge’s Reimagining Grief confronted loss from different perspectives

Susan Klein and Cynthia Schaffner

while Susan Klein and Cynthia Schaffner brought Heart Art. David Biro’s The Unstoppables looked toward endurance, and April Reynolds’ The Shape of Dreams toward the landscapes we construct within ourselves.

Elsewhere beneath the tent were Lenny Ackerman with Moments Out of Time; Nelson Aspen with Kindred Spirits: A Titanic Talk; Andrew Blauner with On the Couch; Karen and Bill Brodsky with Beyond Honor; Judy Batalion with The Last Women of Warsaw; Harriet Newman Cohen with Passion and Power

Ken Davidoff

Ken Davidoff with 101 Lessons From the Dugout; Tom Freston with Unplugged; Luke Goebel with Kill Dick; Bianna Golodryga with Don’t Feed the Lion

Xochitl Gonzalez

 Xochitl Gonzalez with Last Night in Brooklyn; Harrison Hill with The Oracle’s Daughter; Madeleine Henry with The Last Celebrity

Andrew Lownie

Andrew Lownie with Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York

Conner Martin

Conner Martin with The Silver Fish

Lisa Raicek

Lisa Raicek with The Plunge; Deborah Goodrich Royce with Best Boy

Sydney Sadick

Sydney Sadick

 Sydney Sadick with Aim High; Allison Winn Scotch with The Insomniacs; John Seabrook with The Spinach King; Heather Ann Thompson with Fear and Fury; and Jessica Walker with The Secret Astronomers.

Monte Farber and Amy Zerner

Monte Farber and Amy Zerner

Monte Farber

Then there were Monte Farber and Amy Zerner whose books on Tarot are legendary. The longtime creative and spiritual partners arrived carrying a book they wrote 35 years ago, when Tarot existed considerably farther outside the mainstream than it does today. As they pointed out, they were writing about Tarot long before Tarot became a cultural trend. There is something rather wonderful about that. Authors Night is necessarily obsessed with what is new—the new novel, the new biography, the new investigation, the book everyone will be discussing tomorrow. But books have their own clocks. Some explode immediately. Others wait patiently for the culture to catch up with them. Thirty-five years later, Tarot is everywhere. What once occupied the esoteric edges now fills bookstores, social media feeds and conversations about spirituality and consciousness. Monte Farber and Amy Zerner were there before the fashion arrived.

That may be the perfect way to understand Authors Night itself. For all the famous names, beautiful homes, summer clothes and Hamptons glamour, the evening ultimately celebrates something considerably less fashionable and far more enduring. Ideas survive.

They move from writer to reader, sometimes immediately and sometimes decades later. They are argued with, rediscovered, rejected, reconsidered and occasionally understood by an entirely different generation than the one for which they were originally written.

On Saturday night in East Hampton, nearly 100 writers arrived carrying those ideas between two covers and thousands of conversations began.

For one magical August evening, the East Hampton Library once again proved that in the Hamptons, literary stars shine just as brightly as Hollywood celebrities. The Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night gathered nearly 100 acclaimed writers beneath its signature tent, transforming an East End summer evening into one of America’s most celebrated literary gatherings.

More than a fundraiser, Authors Night has become a cultural institution where readers have the rare opportunity to meet the minds behind today’s most talked-about books. Between glasses of wine, beautifully prepared hors d’oeuvres, and stacks of freshly inked hardcovers, conversations flowed as freely as the evening itself before many of the featured authors departed for intimate private dinners hosted in their honor throughout the Hamptons.

The Library’s 22nd Annual Authors Night once again transformed the East End into the nation’s most sophisticated literary salon, bringing together nearly 100 authors spanning biography, science, politics, fiction, memoir, history, children’s books, and popular culture. Long regarded as the premier literary event of the Hamptons, the fundraiser has become one of the country’s largest and most successful author gatherings, where conversations matter as much as cocktails and where readers stand patiently in line—not for selfies, but for signatures.

Guests filled the grand reception tent, wine glasses in hand, weaving from table to table to meet the authors whose words have shaped conversations far beyond the East End. Books disappeared into tote bags almost as quickly as they could be signed before many of the featured writers departed for intimate private dinners hosted throughout the Hamptons in their honor.

Stewart F. Lane

Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comely. James F. Comley

Broadway producer Stewart F. Lane entertained theater lovers with Let’s Put On A Show, an insider’s look behind the curtain from one of Broadway’s most accomplished producers.

Bonnie Comley

Beside him was producer Bonnie Comley, proudly supporting her father, James F. Comley, whose memoir The Ups and Downs reflects on a remarkable personal journey marked by resilience and perseverance.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lenny Lane

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lenny Lane

Neil deGrasse Tyson

As always, one table seemed to have a gravitational pull all its own. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once again proved that science can rival any celebrity attraction. His table remained consistently packed throughout the evening as guests eagerly waited to meet the bestselling author of Take Me To Your Leader, reaffirming that curiosity about the universe remains one of humanity’s greatest attractions.

Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown

Beauty entrepreneur Bobbi Brown attracted a steady stream of admirers with Still Bobbi, an honest reflection on reinvention, entrepreneurship, and building a life that continues evolving long after becoming a household name.

Helen A. Harrison

East Hampton’s own Helen A. Harrison brought her signature blend of art history and mystery with A Far Corpse, once again demonstrating why she remains one of the East End’s most respected literary voices.

Patrick Markee

Architectural historian Patrick Markee explored forgotten spaces and overlooked histories in Place Less, inviting readers to reconsider the landscapes we often take for granted.

Valerie Greenberg

Beth Stern, Valerie Greenberg and Cindy Karen

Author Valerie Greenberg offered a timely look at modern relationships and emotional affirmation in You’ve Been Validated, examining our collective search for recognition in an increasingly digital world.

Brisa Carlton

Novelist Brisa Carlton captured old-world glamour and bittersweet nostalgia with Last Call at the Savoy, transporting readers to an era where elegance and heartbreak frequently shared the same table.

Beth Stern

Beth Stern

Animal advocate Beth Stern delighted families with CoCo and Stephen Together, another charming addition to her beloved collection celebrating compassion and friendship through the eyes of rescue animals.

Leslie Gelb

Leslie Gelb book Wake the Bear, is the true story of C.R. Liles, a man who survived more than 30 foster homes, extraordinary childhood abuse and a turbulent life, ultimately finding survival, identity and purpose through his art and his Lakota heritage.

Susan McGuirk

Susan McGuirk’s heartfelt Dear Missing Friend explored the enduring bonds of friendship, memory, and loss, resonating deeply with readers searching for connection in an increasingly fragmented world.

Heidi Evans

Heidi Evans, Josh Getlin

Entertainment journalists Josh Getlin and Heidi Evans drew considerable interest with their eagerly anticipated biography of Liza Minnelli, offering a richly researched portrait of one of entertainment’s most enduring and enigmatic icons.

Peter M. Wolf

Roselie Rachel

One of the evening’s lighter moments came when social media personality Roselie Rachel was spotted enthusiastically purchasing Peter M. Wolf’s fascinating historical work The Etruscans and the Jews, proving that curiosity crosses every generation and platform.

Denise Kiernan

Historian Denise Kiernan captivated readers with Obstinate Daughters, shining a light on remarkable women whose determination helped shape history despite formidable obstacles.

Norah Lawlor

Norah Lawlor

Norah Lawlor

Rounding out this first look was longtime publicist Norah Lawlor, whose heartfelt Mom’s Book of Wisdom celebrates the timeless advice mothers pass from one generation to the next. It was Nora’s first time here and she sold out!

Authors Night has never been simply about autograph lines or book sales. It is about conversations—between writers and readers, ideas and imagination, history and possibility. It remains one of the rare places where intellectual curiosity takes center stage, reminding us that stories still have the power to bring people together.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we continue our tour through one of the Hamptons’ most beloved literary traditions, introducing more of the remarkable authors and unforgettable moments that made this year’s Authors Night another chapter worth remembering.

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, perhaps one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is not simply how we celebrate our freedoms, but how we honor those who occupied this land long before the first European settlers arrived.

History is complicated. It rarely offers simple heroes and villains. Human beings are capable of extraordinary acts of courage, faith, innovation, and compassion. They are also capable of conquest, exploitation, violence, and profound blindness. America embodies both realities.

Many who came to these shores did so seeking religious freedom, escaping persecution and oppression in search of a place where they could worship freely, live according to their beliefs, and build lives rooted in possibility. The ideals that eventually found their way into the Declaration of Independence were revolutionary. The notion that individuals possess inherent rights and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed transformed the world.

Yet there is an uncomfortable contradiction at the center of our national story.

People who arrived seeking freedom often denied freedom to others. They settled lands already inhabited. They displaced communities, violated treaties, and participated in systems that devastated Indigenous nations. Entire cultures were fractured. Languages were lost. Traditions were interrupted. Generations of Native peoples endured suffering that cannot be undone.

Acknowledging that truth should not diminish our love of country. Patriotism is not amnesia, but neither should patriotism become perpetual shame. A mature nation should be capable of holding both realities simultaneously: pride in its aspirations and honesty about its failures.

The Declaration of Independence remains one of the most influential documents ever written. Its ideals continue to inspire people around the world. Yet many would argue that those ideals have been distorted, selectively applied, politicized, and weaponized against the very principles they were intended to protect. Equality, liberty, and self-determination are not static concepts. They require constant tending, examination, and renewal.

Perhaps America’s 250th anniversary offers us an opportunity to ask a deeper question. What would accountability look like for a nation? Not punishment. Not endless guilt. Not erasing history, but recognition.

How do we honor the Indigenous peoples who were the first stewards of this land? How do we move beyond symbolic gestures toward meaningful acknowledgment?

Perhaps it begins with education. Teaching Indigenous history not as a footnote, but as an essential chapter in the American story. Preserving languages, protecting sacred sites, supporting tribal sovereignty, investing in cultural programs, health initiatives, and economic opportunities identified by Native communities themselves.

Perhaps it means creating national commemorations that celebrate Indigenous resilience alongside America’s founding. Perhaps it means asking Indigenous leaders what recognition would genuinely look like rather than deciding for them. Perhaps it means understanding that healing is not achieved by pretending the past never happened, nor by remaining trapped within it.

Healing happens through truth, through recognition, through respect, through listening and ultimately, through relationship.

The question before us is not whether we can change history. We cannot, nor can we rewrite it. The question is whether we can become a nation mature enough to acknowledge it honestly while continuing to strive toward the ideals that inspired our founding.

America’s story has always been unfinished. Perhaps that is its greatest strength. We are still writing it.

At 250 years old, perhaps the most patriotic thing we can do is recognize that love of country does not require blindness. It requires courage. The courage to celebrate freedom. The courage to confront injustice. The courage to honor those who came seeking a better life and the courage to remember those who lost so much when that better life arrived.

Nations, like people, do not heal by denying their wounds. They heal by acknowledging them, learning from them, and choosing—again and again—to become better than they once were.

Perhaps that is the real promise of America at 250. Not perfection, but the willingness to keep trying.

For years, the beauty industry has promised younger-looking skin through better ingredients, stronger serums, and more advanced technology. BONJIL believes everyone has been starting in the wrong place.

At an elegant celebration introducing its newest Madison Avenue boutique at 790 Madison Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets, guests stepped into a beauty experience that wasn’t centered on skincare alone. It was centered on something far more elusive: stress. music, prosecco, delicate sweets, and thoughtfully curated sensory experiences welcomed visitors into BONJIL‘s world, where the company is challenging one of skincare’s biggest assumptions—that treating the skin alone is enough.

Suzanna Bowling, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe

Their philosophy is refreshingly different. Stress changes how skin behaves. BONJIL was created to respond to that shift. Rather than immediately reaching for creams and serums, every treatment begins by calming the nervous system itself. At the center of the experience is BONJIL‘s signature Music Box, a carefully designed neurosensory ritual that uses sound before anything ever touches the skin. The concept is simple but compelling.

When stress becomes chronic, the body releases elevated levels of cortisol. While cortisol serves an important purpose in short bursts, prolonged elevation weakens the skin barrier, accelerates collagen breakdown, increases inflammation, and contributes to dullness, dehydration, and premature aging.

Michael Glowoski, Kellie Chen, Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe

BONJIL believes skincare should begin where the stress response begins. The Music Box opens. The melody starts. The nervous system begins to settle. Only then does the skincare ritual unfold through touch, scent, sight, and texture, each element intentionally designed to complement the body’s return to calm. The ritual concludes just as the final notes of the melody fade away with BONJIL‘s YouthGlow Collagen Jelly, creating a surprisingly emotional ending that feels less like the completion of a facial and more like emerging from a brief meditation. It is skincare choreographed with remarkable precision.

Guests also received a preview of BONJIL‘s La Signature Au Caviar collection, powered by French caviar, firming peptides, chicory root, Alpine plant stem cells, and Coenzyme Q10. The three-step ritual—Lotion, Serum, and Cream—is designed to visibly firm, smooth, hydrate, and restore radiance while supporting the skin’s natural resilience against everyday stress. Coverage of the complete La Signature Au Caviar ritual will follow in a future feature after experiencing the treatment firsthand.

Adding another memorable dimension to the evening was a beautiful musical performance by fourteen-year-old Iolanta Mamatkazina, affectionately known as Lana. The blind singer, songwriter, and disability advocate captivated guests with remarkable poise and an extraordinary voice. Named after the blind princess in Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta, Lana lost her sight at just nine months old following retinal cancer. Her performance transformed the boutique into something more intimate than a retail launch, reminding guests that beauty often begins with resilience.

A gifted violinist further enhanced the evening, filling the boutique with elegant melodies that perfectly reflected BONJIL‘s emphasis on slowing down, breathing deeply, and reconnecting with the senses.

In a city that rarely stops moving, BONJIL offers something increasingly rare. Permission to pause, perhaps that is the most beautiful treatment of all.