Location: Los Angeles, California
A couple of weekends ago, I visited a bookstore called “The Last Bookstore” in LA, California. It was hands down, the biggest independent bookstore I’ve ever been to. I think we spent an hour and a half in the bookstore, exploring the many levels and multitude of genres, but it honestly wasn’t enough time. This is the type bookstore that’s an all day event. My friends and I were saying that you should start your morning with a cup of coffee, explore a level of the bookstore, head out for lunch, and hit the other level of the bookstore and all the tiny shops it has hidden in its maze like layout. My one regret besides generally not having been able to explore every corner of the bookstore is not having enough time to explore the tiny shops. The tiny shops sold such pretty prints, ceramics, other kinds of arts, and totes in various different styles.
Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
In 1978 the community of Colorado Springs, Colorado experienced a growth of Ku Klux Klan (KKK) membership. One man dared to challenge their effort and thwart attempts to take over the city, Police Detective Ron Stallworth. He launched an undercover investigation into the Klan, gained membership into the organization, briefly served as Duke’s bodyguard, and was eventually asked to be the leader of the Colorado Springs chapter. The irony of this investigation was that Stallworth is… A Black man. In the process he battled internal departmental politics to successfully pull off this “sting.” Black Klansman explains how he overcame these obstacles and accomplished this almost unbelievable unique achievement.
I remember when this movie trailer came out and I learned of its story. It was absolutely mind blowing. Watching the movie trailer, I was laughing out loud at the irony of the situation as a whole. A black man going undercover as a white supremacist? The idea that the KKK’s greatest downfall in this situation was there desperateness to drape themselves in white is the best kind of irony and cosmic karma I’ve encountered in a long time. I had no idea that the movie was actually based on a memoir so I was pretty excited when I ran across this book. I’m curious to learn more about how Ron Stallworth infiltrated the KKK, the danger he encountered, and also how it affected his personal life. I’m sure that his memoir has a lot more brevity than the movie adaptation which I’ll watch after reading the book.
On Trails: An Exploration
Over the course of the next seven years, Moor traveled the globe, exploring trails of all kinds, from the miniscule to the massive. He learned the tricks of master trail-builders, hunted down long-lost Cherokee trails, and traced the origins of our road networks and the Internet. In each chapter, Moor interweaves his adventures with findings from science, history, philosophy, and nature writing—combining the nomadic joys of Peter Matthiessen with the eclectic wisdom of Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.
Since I was exploring a bookstore in another state, having just travelled, this book called out to me. Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. As a child, I didn’t really travel much to new places. We always hit the places right next to us. Growing up and having gone on my first vacation last year, I realized that I opened a door to a whole new world I desperately want to explore, and I mean that quite literally. I’m a huge fan of history and anthropology and I think that this book will satisfy both of those interests as the book summary suggest that the author will take us through the origins of different trails and various different definitions of what a trail can be. The idea of traveling has become such a modern phenomena that I’m quite excited to read about what it meant back in the past.
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.
I spent the last couple of weeks deep diving into the world of ACOTAR (A Court of Thrones and Roses). Some of my favorite elements of that series is the friend group, the escapist feel to it, and the world building. This book is vastly different from ACOTAR but I’m predicting that it’ll illicit the same cozy feeling I had while reading the ACOTAR series. I also personally feel like a Victorian setting is the most escapist setting ever. There’s this rich heavy feeling to a Victorian setting that sucks me in from page one and that’s what I’m looking forward to in my current reads. I’m not sure if this is a wrong assumption, but I’m curious to read this book and see if it has an Enola Holmes feel to it because I believe that the main character eventually bumps into some random and irrelevant literary figure named Sherlock Holmes.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
In this, one of the most famous of Doyle’s mysteries, the tale of an ancient curse and a savage ghostly hound comes frighteningly to life. The gray towers of Baskerville Hall and the wild open country of Dartmoor will haunt the reader as Holmes and Watson seek to unravel the many secrets of the misty English bogs.
I bet you’re surprised because I sure am, but this is the first book that I picked up from this bookstore. The cover grabbed me immediately and the size of the book made it seem a lot more readable than I assumed a Sherlock Holmes book would be. I’ve never read a Sherlock Holmes book and I’ve been feeling an itch for historical books that feel escapist and what’s more escapist than a murder mystery book? Besides the cover, the main thing that drove me to purchase this book is this quote on the back, “INSERT”.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.
Neil Gaiman is one of those authors I haven’t read anything from yet but know I’ll love. I’ve seen countless interviews of him talking about his writing experience and advice and the way he speaks and strings together his thoughts is mesmerizing. It’s got this weight and beauty to it and I’m sure his books will reflect that. I picked this book out because it’s one that I didn’t recognize from his more popular collection. I always reflect on the idea of the ocean or bodies of water as something powerful and magical. I don’t know why they make me feel the way they do but I’m excited to read about this story and how this pond will take readers back through time as we read of this boy come of age.