That crooked lawyer—he says in his book that it was his experience during the Richard Ramey trial that affected his outlook: he was inspired by Arthur Cieslik—and this ultimately led to him switching sides, and becoming an FBI informant, to take all those inside crooks down. So—our testimony in that case really made a difference!

[Paquito] was peeling off hundred-dollar bills from a big roll of cash while Arturo watched like a hungry lion.

Political leaders would naturally want books in the library to say what those political leaders want the books to say. (I guess if an opposing party comes to power, librarians would be told to throw out the books, and buy opposing ones.)

The author of this book entitled Shut Up and Read, is someone I’ve never met: Jeannine Cook. We’d corresponded by email in July of 2024, trying to coordinate schedules. Our plan was to set up a book launch at Jeannine’s store in Philadelphia, Harriett’s Bookshop, to celebrate Accidental Anchorwoman, the memoir written by Melba Tolliver, which Book & Puppet Company published last year. October 2024 was the target for the event at Harriett’s. But somehow it slipped; the event never materialized.

I felt angry. I’ve spent my career advocating ideas and business strategies around bookstores embracing roles as community centers offering profound, real-life experiences impossible to replicate online. Now, here’s AI—the mirror opposite of indie bookstores—parroting the language we indie booksellers have developed to fight this damned AI.

“In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. He who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result, and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him, is said to have renounced the fruits of his action. Again, let no one consider renunciation to mean lack of fruit for the renouncer…Renunciation means absence of hankering after fruit. As a matter of fact, he who renounces reaps a thousandfold…”—Mohandas K. Gandhi

What stood out most strikingly was the difference that possessing her books made for the children. They understood this person had personally created the book they owned. Olugbemisola took dozens of questions from each group, moving among the children with her microphone, and their questions demonstrated fascination for her background, and for her accomplishment of making their own book.

Barnes & Noble destroyed my Chicago business, The Children’s Bookstore, thirty years ago, and even though Barnes & Noble has changed hands (“Under New Ownership”), I have no reason to believe their corporate DNA has also changed.

“The majority of Americans are angry about this idiocy. There will come a tipping point.
The majority will fight back and win.”

I rang the other books up, and as the mother left, one of the younger children noticed that her older sister’s chosen book had not been purchased and asked about it. The mother said, “We’ll get something for her later.”  As the group left the store, the nine-year-old gave me a sidelong dirty look.

Because Greg Piper did not actually read my book, and did not reach out to me directly, perhaps I should take these two rebukes as exemplary of a tendency on his part to misrepresent opponents’ arguments? Or maybe he is simply a sloppy journalist?

I peeked into the pastry box. It held three very fancy donuts, a large triangular frosted scone, and four pieces of coffee cake coated in powdery sugar.

Well…what I didn’t tell her is that back in 2018 when I was first pitching the idea of launching a book festival in Easton, I didn’t expect we would end up the way we ended up, with a focus on community development. I thought we’d be a regular book festival, where authors who’ve been published by big national companies read and sign their books because they’re on national book tours. Big-name, bestselling writers provide most of the excitement. Readers wait in long lines to get autographs and buy tons of books. That’s how I assumed Easton Book Festival would be.

“Whiteness” is not inherent in any human. Every “white” person has an “ethnic” origin that precedes their “whiteness”. The same is true of “Blackness”. It is the processes of world history that have produced “white” and “Black” humans.

Book-banners give children credit for understanding worrisome stuff which hasn’t penetrated the kids’ comprehension. Lacking experience, a child glides over a mature passage, and enjoys the surrounding story.

Last Friday, June 27^th, the US Supreme Court decided that “books exert upon children a psychological ‘pressure to conform’ to their specific viewpoint.”

Wow.

Did the Supremes never read a book and think, “Gosh, I don’t agree”?

While Laties claims to reveal the perspectives of many people, all of them are connected to his own experiences.

I looked on Wikipedia. This tale of the Muslim burning of the Library has been attacked and debunked. For hundreds of years! I followed a link from the Wikipedia page and read a lengthy essay by the esteemed scholar of Islam, Bernard Lewis, attacking Luciano Canfora’s The Vanished Library on this specific point, in elaborate detail. Lewis says that the story is more than a myth—it is a libel against Islam.

My legal fate as the author is one thing. What I was thinking about while writing was, “Who’s gonna read this?” I hoped the answer was parents. The strong show of interest among librarians means the book may be acquired. What I can’t foresee is if the “trouble” my regular customer informs me is headed my way will instead be visited upon librarians who follow through and bring my book onto their shelves. Some of those parents who visit their libraries may enjoy my book; others will raise a ruckus about it, putting the librarians at risk.

My dad loved bookstores so much I took it for granted that much of the time we were together would involve hopping from bookstore to bookstore. The family joked that he was addicted to bookstores. This was way back in the twentieth century, before social media—even, mostly, before the 1991 invention of the World Wide Web. When I think back to those innumerable slow hours spent in bookstores with my dad, I realize there was a remarkable absence: no cellphone!