I haven’t read all of Ishmael Reed‘s books but Mumbo Jumbo is my favorite and I strongly recommend it. I also suggest Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down. I have seen him in person at a bookstore in Washington in the 1990s.
Category: Books
More on dangerous right-wing book banning
Book banning is terrible
It’s far beyond Maus.
Tennessee school board bans a book about the Holocaust
Anti-semitism and racism are leading to book banning. It’s a dangerous trend. Maus is outstanding.
Support Independent Bookstores
Baltimore Magazine had a fine article on local independent bookstores. The Barnes and Noble store at the Inner Harbor closed but I think there are more independent bookstores here than ever.
I especially recommend Charm City Books which is only a few blocks from my house. It’s a great store with a knowledgeable and helpful staff. They are a real asset to the neighborhood and the city. For example, they hold book drives for schools and other worthy causes, for example. I don’t see Amazon doing that. Charm City Books posts often on Instagram and I recommend following them.
Here’s a recent post about a Charm City Books book drive where they are collaborating with several other local independent bookstores:
Baltimore magazine articles on Baltimore writers
It also includes bookstores. I highly recommend Charm City Books which is in my neighborhood. I was glad to read that Madison Smartt Bell is fond of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “Babylon Revisited” which is one of my favorites.
Oklahoma’s proposed book ban
This is terrible.
Andrew Vachss
I was very sorry to read that author Andrew Vachss had passed away. He wrote excellent gritty crime novels and was always interested in protecting children. I saw him speak at the Barnes & Noble store at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore many years ago.
I haven’t read all of his books but certainly recommend him to readers who haven’t tried them. I would start with Strega (1987) which was his second novel featuring Burke, a private investigator.
Esquire’s list of 100 best baseball books
I’ve read some of these. I am especially fond of Jimmy Breslin’s Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game“? about the terrible 1962 Mets. I saw them win one of the 40 games they won that year.
Illustrated autographs from David Macaulay and Art Spiegelman
David Macaulay signed my copies of Motel of the Mysteries and Great Moments in Architecture and included drawings. I saw him at a bookstore in Washington in 1994.
I also have an autograph with a drawing from Art Speigelman for Maus II from 1991. I also saw him him in a bookstore in Washington.
Sad! 