(Editor’s Note: This issue marks the launch of a new column in the San Francisco Bay Times from Book Passage, an innovator in bringing the world’s finest authors to the Bay Area. Their Corte Madera and San Francisco stores are among our favorite bookshops not just for this region, but for any area as they are some of the best in the world and their team is exceptional. It is little wonder that presidents, prelates, network anchors, front-line journalists, Nobel Prize-winners, and first-time novelists have all been part of the thousands of authors who have spoken at Book Passage.
This pandemic time has also given us greater appreciation for books in all of their forms: hard copy, audio, and e-books. They can impart in-depth information, take us out of ourselves, open our minds to new ideas and perspectives, stimulate our imagination, and cause us to slow our often-racing minds down to savor the moment. In short, they can make life better and even help to improve both physical and mental health, as numerous studies have shown.
We value all of our local bookstores, and encourage you to support them whenever possible. Book Passage Corte Madera is at 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard and Book Passage San Francisco is at 1 Ferry Building.)
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Marvelously rich and endlessly insightful, the short stories collected in Afterparties explore the lives of a Cambodian-American community and all the complexities within, paying particular attention to the nuances of the immigrant and queer experiences. From a high school badminton coach attempting to relive his glory days to the scheming of two brothers at a wedding afterparty to a nine-year-old child’s discovery of an unknown chapter in their mother’s past, each vignette is a stunning meditation on race, sexuality, friendship, and family, underscored by the pain of generational trauma and the grit necessary to pave a path forward.
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
From the acclaimed author of Real Life, Filthy Animals dives deep into the messy, complicated nature of relationships—between friends, family, lovers, and others—and the interplay of love, pain, intimacy, and their absences that so often suffuse each one. Set in the American Midwest, tracing a path through a series of connected narratives—featuring among other things, an open relationship, cancer, and teenage violence—Filthy Animals is another remarkable set of observations from Brandon Taylor, both sharp and lingering, brutal and tender.
How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
From the monuments in Smith’s own hometown of New Orleans, to Jefferson’s home at the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, to a former plantation-turned-maximum-security-prison in Louisiana, How the Word is Passed takes the reader through an intergenerational exploration of slavery’s role in shaping our legacy and our present. As transporting as it is profound, How the Word is Passed considers how the history of slavery has been inherited and represented, from landmarks to holidays to entire neighborhoods.
Published on August 26, 2021
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