Books Are Tiny Time Machines

Michiko Kakutani (born 1955), the former chief book critic of the New York Times, has given what I think is the best description I've ever read of what books can do. In her 2020 book, Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread (Clarkson Potter), she calls books "[t]hese magical brick-sized objects--made of paper, ink, glue, thread, cardboard, fabric, or leather--[that] are actually tiny time machines that can transport us back to the past to learn the lessons of history, and forward to idealized or dystopian futures. Books can transport us to distant parts of the globe and even more distant  planets and universes. They give us the stories of men and women we will never meet in person, illuminate the discoveries made by great minds, and allow us access to the wisdom of earlier generations."

Spring Is Here!

Today is the first day of spring! Goodbye, winter. Hello, spring. Good to see you again. What took you so long?

Now that you are finally here, I can look forward to sitting on a bench in Central Park (my favorite New York park) or Morningside Park with a good book and something cool and refreshing to drink. Maybe I should put together a Spring Reading List. And a summer one, too.

Finding Free Books On The Streets Of Manhattan

Among the authors whose books I have found in free book kiosks, on street corners, and in front of apartment buildings are Harper Lee, Richard Wright, Dorothy L. Sayers, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, James McBride, Isabel Allende, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ed McBain,  Kurt Vonnegut, Sylvia Plath, Percival Everett, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, Clive Cussler, John Steinbeck, Renee Rosen, and Michael Eric Dyson.

That would also include a copy of In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology, published in 1986 and edited by Joseph Beam. I was one of its contributors. (New York's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture listed In the Life on its "100 Black Voices Schomburg Centennial Reading List." I know Joe would have been very pleased.) 

Finding free books on the street is one of the many perks of living in otherwise pricey Manhattan.

A Small African Boy's Creativity And Determination

Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Catherine Stock (HarperCollins, paperback, 1991, approx. 32 pp.,  suitable for ages 4-8).

Kondi is a small boy who lives in a village in the African country of Malawi where the national language is Chichewa.

"I shall make a galimoto," he tells his older brother, Ufulu. (Galimoto, the Chichewa word for "car," is what a small push toy is called. It can be made of wires or some other material.) Ufulu laughs and tells Kondi that he doesn't have enough wires to make his toy. That sets Kondi on a neighborhood search for wires. Along the way he encounters adults who at first don't understand what he is doing when he climbs over a fence or innocently cuts in front of  a long line of housewives patiently waiting to have their maize ground by the miller at the flour mill.

Undeterred, Kondi continues his search for more wires. When he achieves his goal, Kondi makes a toy car that he pushes with a long bamboo stick to the delight of the other children in the village. After succeeding in making his galimoto, he dreams that night of what he will make next. Perhaps "an ambulance or an airplane or a helicopter."

Galimoto is a riveting story that is told in simple language and is beautifully illustrated with watercolor drawings. The book is meant to be read aloud and is sure to please children in the four to eight age range.

The story took me back to my own childhood when I would make a bus or a train out of an empty quart size milk container or cardboard boxes. I had plenty of store-bought toys but I also enjoyed making things by hand.

Galimoto is a great way for parents to encourage small children to let their imaginations have free rein by using everyday items to create their own toys and not depend solely on those that are ready-made.

At a time when kids have their eyes glued to mobile devices, this book introduces them to the printed page, shows them the simple pleasure of creating something with their own hands, and allows them to see how a child in a far-away land uses his leisure time.

Little Free Libraries, A Sign Of Gentrification?

Being a book lover from childhood, I was pleased when Little Free Library kiosks, described in a recent Los Angeles Times article as "charming, birdhouse-like structures," began to pop up in different areas of Harlem, including two inside Marcus Garvey Park.

Not for one minute did I suspect they were a harbinger of gentrification, like a Starbucks or a Whole Foods store moving into a vacant commercial space or the construction of luxury housing.

To me, these book kiosks existed solely as a celebration and promotion of good literature by people like me, dyed-in-the-wool bookworms.

That was my thought until I read Jack Flemming's online Los Angeles Times real estate article, "Black-Trimmed Homes, Tiny Libraries, And Other Signs Your Neighborhood Is About To Be Gentrified" (December 7, 2023).

Flemming, a staff writer at the paper, assures the reader that the kiosks "don't cause gentrification." Instead they are "a product of gentrification" and that they "usually" appear "where home prices are rising and well-to-do residents are moving in."

And, he further notes, most of the books he has seen in these kiosks "generally seem to be stocked exclusively with James Patterson novels and unreadable how-to books."

Fortunately, the book kiosks in Harlem offer more diverse selections than the ones in the L.A. area. I have found children's books, black history books, reference books, travel guides, cookbooks, and novels by Octavia Butler, Michael Connelly, Amy Tan, Nadine Gordimer, Marlon James, to name a few. ( I have also donated many books, DVDs, and CDs.)

These kiosks may be a "product of gentrification," but I'm glad they're in my neighborhood, where there are no longer any bookstores. They, and the local branch libraries, are making literature available to everyone.

Like the community fridges that allow people to donate and take food, the Little Free Library kiosks have become community assets.

Book Discounts At Target

The super large Target store in East Harlem is scheduled to be closed permanently on October 21. It's one of nine stores across the country closing because of a high level of shoplifting that has eaten into Target's bottom line.

I'm saddened to see the store go because I enjoyed shopping there, mostly for groceries and the occasional book, which was always at a 20 or 30 percent discount, depending on whether it was a hardcover or paperback book.

To take advantage of the discounts while I'm able to, I recently bought two paperbacks during separate shopping trips--In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros (Montlake, 2023), a romance/adventure novel and Sparring Partners by John Grisham (Vintage, 2023), a collection of three legal thriller novellas.

I may decide to purchase one or two more books before the store shuts down for good.

Pushing Back Against Book Censorship

The banning of literature by civic and religious groups and government officials can have unintended consequences like arousing the public's interest in the banned books and potentially driving up their sales, thereby undermining the ban.

But despite that risk, there are still individuals and groups willing to remove books from classrooms and library shelves in an effort to control what others can read.

To push back against book censorship, the Columbia University Libraries, in conjunction with the New York Public Library, is conducting the 12th annual Morningside Lights The Open Book procession in the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan. The participants will carry 50 plus handmade lanterns honoring various "Great Books," including, no doubt, books that have been banned or challenged as being inappropriate like The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

The event, scheduled for Saturday, September 30, at 8 pm, is "a celebration of the free exchange of ideas," declares a flyer, "and an homage to the libraries that preserve access to knowledge and affirm our freedom to read."

The procession route begins inside Morningside Park at 116th Street and Morningside Avenue. The participants will proceed to the outside of the park, heading north and then west until it reaches its final destination, the campus of nearby Columbia University, probably gathering at the steps of Low Library.

Reminder: Banned Books Week is October 1-7, 2023.

An Omnivorous Reader

In his online New York Times obituary (June 14, 2023), Robert Gottlieb, the noted book and magazine editor (Simon & Schuster and Alfred A. Knopf; The New Yorker), was reported to have said that in his teens he read War and Peace by Tolstoy in one day and Proust's  Remembrance of Things Past, described in the obituary as a "monumental" work, in one week.

As a boy, Gottlieb told the Times in a 1980 article, "I would read three to four books a day after school, and could read for 16 hours at a time. Mind you, that's all I did. I belonged to three lending libraries and the public library."

The title of his 2016 memoir, Avid Reader: A Life, which I read and thoroughly enjoyed, is an apt description of his reading habits as a child and as an adult.

Pearl Buck Wanted Her Books To Be Affordable

A couple of days ago in a box of books that sat curbside on Amsterdam Avenue near 101st Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side, I found a paperback copy of Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth, set in China. (The book was published in 1931.)

I've seen the 1937 movie on TV many years ago but I've never had the chance to read the book on which it was based until now.

Turning to the page following the title page is a brief comment by Buck (1892-1973) about her novel being issued in paperback. (The edition I have was published in September 2004, so her comments were made sometime in the 1950s when paperbacks first appeared.)

Said she, "I am always glad when any of my books can be put into an inexpensive edition, because I like to think that any people who might wish to read them can do so. Surely books ought to be within the reach of everybody."

I've never seen another writer make that statement. It would be wonderful if from time to time authors included such a statement of concern about the affordability of their books. They will no doubt make less money, something their publishers won't like, but it might help attract new readers to their work.

Target Is NOT The Ideal Book Venue

I've bought several books (at a significant discount) at Target, a major retail chain. But, truth be told, Target, despite the discounts, is far from being the most ideal place to buy books.

First of all, the store tends to sell the ones on the bestseller list. And once they are off the list, good luck ever seeing them on sale again. Secondly, if I was looking for a specific title by, say, James Baldwin or Ernest Hemingway, I would be completely out of luck buying it there.

For hardcore book lovers like me, Target will never be a substitute for an independent bookstore where thousands of books are available for hours of browsing. Thirdly, there are no staffers who can recommend books or to ask about books or authors. (I've never seen a sign indicating that a particular book is a "Staff Pick.")

Paying full price for a book at an indie when I have to is no deterrent to going to one of them because they are sure to have the book I want, when I want it. And if they don't have it, they can order it. I don't think that's even a possibility at a Target store.

Plus, used books can be bought for a reasonable price at many independent bookstores like Book Culture and the Strand here in New York. That's another reason to spend money at an independent bookstore.

 

The Other Side Of Ralph Ellison

I own two review copies of Arnold Rampersad's Ralph Ellison: A Biography (Knopf, 2007). And strange as it may be, I never got around to reading either copy.

Then recently I got the urge to read the book when I learned of the not-so-nice side of Ellison (1913-1994), whose novel Invisible Man won the National Book Award for fiction in 1953. Two black writers--Eddie Glaude, Jr. and Victor LaValle--mentioned their reaction to Rampersad's depiction of Ellison in the New York Times Book Review's Q & A feature, "By the Book."

Glaude, a professor at Princeton, after reading how Ellison treated his own mother and his longtime friend Albert Murray, the African-American writer and social critic, went from admiring him to despising him. Glaude said Ellison was "monstrous." (New York Times Book Review, July 25, 2021.)

The novelist LaValle admits he "love[s] reading about artists and their terrible childish ways." And that "Rampersad's biography of Ralph Ellison, while much less salacious than Kitty Kelley's [biography of Frank Sinatra], scratched that itch, too."  (New York Times Book Review, March 26, 2023.)

So now reading the Ellison biography is a MUST so I can see what all the fuss is about.

Spring Is Back! Hooray!

Ah, spring is here, at last. I've survived another New York winter, my 55th winter, to be exact. But it's still March, so I have to temper my joy with some caution. As the old folks would say of a person, without warning, March may decide to show its ass, hitting us with multiple inches of snow.

So for now, on the first day of spring, I can look forward to sunny days, the return of greenery, the buzzing and crawling of insects, and sitting for hours in Central Park with a good book in one hand and a cold, refreshing drink in the other.

The Only Bookstore In The Bronx

I am always looking for new bookstores to visit. I recently learned of one via the Internet called The Lit.Bar. For now, it is the only bookstore in the Bronx, in New York City. The proprietor, a young Afro-Latina named Noelle Santos,  opened the bookstore in April 2019. It is located at 131 Alexander Avenue, near the Third Avenue Bridge, in the Mott Haven section.

I definitely want to support this bookstore and I hope to visit it very soon.

A Black History Month Reminder

Today is the first day of Black History Month. Be sure to read a few black history books and learn of the contributions black people have made to world history, not just to American history.

Must-Read Books, 2023, Part 2

Here are a few more books I hope to read from cover to cover this year:

1. Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson (Plexus Publishing, 2002). (The basis for the television series.)

2. Langston's Salvation: American Religion and the Bard of Harlem by Wallace D. Best (New York University Press, 2017).

3. The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II, 1941-1967: I Dream a World by Arnold Rampersad (Oxford University Press, 1988).

4. Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie Glaude, Jr. (Crown, 2020).

5. The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Are Middle-Class Blacks Angry? Why Should America Care? by Ellis Cose (HarperCollins, 1993).

6. The Devil in a Blue Dress: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (Washington Square Press/Pocket Books, 2002, paperback; originally published by Norton, 1990).

7.The Woman in the Window: A Novel by A. J. Finn (Morrow, 2018).

8. The Cold Millions: A Novel by Jess Walter (HarperCollins, 2020).

Books That Are On My "Must-Read" List, 2023

These are the books I hope to read from cover to cover this year:

1. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly (Morrow, 2016).

2. Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem by Kevin McGruder (Columbia University Press, 2021).

3. Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions by Francesca T. Royster (University of Texas Press, 2022).

4. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham (Random House, 2022).

5. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight (Simon & Schuster, 2018).

6. The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women by Axel Madsen (Birch Lane Books, 1995).

7. The Coming Race War in America: A Wake-Up Call by Carl T. Rowan (Little, Brown, 1996).

8. Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime That Changed America by Kevin Cook (Norton, 2014).

9. Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann (HarperCollins, 2014).

10. Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York by Elon Green (Celadon Books, 2021).

11. Harlem Shuffle: A Novel by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday, 2021).

12. The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead (Anchor Books/Penguin Random House, 2021, paperback; originally published by Doubleday, 2016).

A Literary Cure For Insomnia

The novelist Percival Everett was asked in the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" column (December 19, 2021) what books were on his nightstand. He gave an interesting, and somewhat humorous, response:

"On the table are the memoirs of [the Russian composer and pianist Dmitri] Shostakovich. I am not usually interested in memoir and I have to say that I am using this one as a sleep-aid."

Instead of taking an over-the-counter sleep-inducing medication when I have trouble falling asleep, a better solution might be reading a very dull book.

Revisions, Revisions, And More Revisions

The science fiction writer Connie Willis, a recipient of several Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards, was asked by a reader on the website Science Fiction Weekly (June 16, 2005) about her writing process. Her response:

"I rewrite everything, long or short, over and over. And it's not a question of a rough draft. It's many, many notes and drafts and cross-outs and retries. When I was done with Doomsday Book [1992], I had three loose-leaf notebooks full of research and two 8 x 12 inch boxes full of rough drafts. I have never written anything in one draft, not even a grocery list, although I have heard from friends that this is actually possible."

A Cup Of Coffee And A Good Book

Tomorrow, October 1st, is International Coffee Day. (September 29th was National Coffee Day.) I can't think of a better way to spend a rainy, gloomy afternoon (tomorrow it's supposed to rain all day here in New York) than to curl up with a good book and a steaming hot cup or two of coffee.

Childhood Reading Habits

The fiction writer Andrea Barrett was asked in the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" column (September 18, 2022) about her childhood reading habits. Ms. Barrett, the author of a story collection called Natural History, replied, "Greedy! Also indiscriminate, and drawn to books supposedly for grown-ups. Luckily the kind librarian at the local Bookmobile let us take any books we could reach (I was ridiculously tall)."

That statement reminded me of my own reading habits as a child. I spent more time in the adult section of my local library in Los Angeles than I did in the children's section. And when I checked books out from that section (mostly mystery and detective novels), the librarian (and my mother) didn't say to me that those books were not age appropriate, as would probably happen today.