Looking for your next good read? Well you’re in luck…Busboys and Poets Books is full of busy little readers!

Ellie, Bookstore Supervisor at 5th and K: It’s been a rough month for my attention span, so out of all of the books I started, I finished only two – Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. The latter is an impressive grim-dark military fantasy debut written by a 22 year old Georgetown grad that pulls heavy inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese war. I’ve been chipping away at Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston but as a notorious speed reader, I want to make sure I take my time with it. I will also be continuing my cozy home re-read of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials (I got a hardcover omnibus of the trilogy that is wildly impractical to carry around). I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make more time for reading in August!

Dubian, Bookseller at Brookland: As Black As Resistance by Zoe Samudai and William Anderson. Just finished it a few days ago its an A+ analysis of Black oppression under white supremacy and Black resistance.

Laura, Literary Event Coordinator: I read Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman, Dare Me by Megan Abbott, The Waste Land (blah) by T.S. Elliot, The Rose Society by Marie Lu, Cape Verean Blues by Shauna Barbosa, Gutshot by Amelia Gray, and a history of Hieronymus Bosch by Stefan Fischer. I LOVED Convenience Store Woman it’s one of my new favorites.

Kenlynn, Bookstore Supervisor at Shirlington: I went on a mystery binge for July… The President is Missing by Clinton/Patterson, The Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne, Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer, The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (clever, clever!) and the 3rd book in a cozy series by Fran Stewart about a Scottish shop in Vermont – who doesn’t like a Scottish ghost and highland games? Last night I started The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

Ariel, Bookseller at Brookland: I read Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward; I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez; We Gon’ Be Alright by Jeff Chang; The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae; Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and I’m currently reading The Devil’s Highway by Luis A Urrea; The Gunslinger by Stephen King; The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

Armando, Literary Event Coordinator: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (highly recommend! first part of a trilogy), How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee (memoir meets manual- pretty cool). American Sonnets of my Past and Future Assassins by Terrance Hayes, Junk by Tommy Pico, Blue Notes by Yusef Komunyakaa, Afrofuturism by Ytasha Womack

Tsahai, Bookseller at Hyattsville: Finished reading the brilliant C.S. Lewis: The Screwtape Letters (Highly recommend)… in the middle of reading The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel and Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Jerry Kaplan

Kris, Book Event Manager: I read a LOT (but that’s mostly because I was lucky enough to spend a week in the woods with the Sundress Academy for the Arts!). My list includes: Bestiary by Donika Kelly, Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls (BANANAS), Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill, Virgin by Analicia Sotelo, Delicate, Edible Birds by Lauren Groff, Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin, Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, and Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Kate Harding.

 

That’s what we read…what about you?

 

PHOTO 2024 02 01 07 10 14

For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals.  He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.”  … Continued

PALESTINE WEEK 1920 x 1080 px 2

Palestine Week 2024

January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued

156899813 10157986634452555 3237541695435907174 o

The Nepal Chronicles #6

Friday March 5, 2021 early AM… It’s 1 am and I can hardly sleep. A combination of very strong coffee, jet lag and excitement keeps me tossing and turning all night. Try as I may, sleep is nowhere to be found. I am using every trick in the book. Changing sides. Hugging pillows. Relaxing my … Continued

CubaPic

1-2-3 ¡vamos! Busboys and Poets Trip To Havana 2024

Celebrating the 123rd Birthday of Langston Hughes REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS TRIP Join us for the Havana Jazz Festival and the unveiling of the Langston Hughes statue, sculpted by renowned Cuban artist Alberto Lescay and revealed by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Alice Walker. The program will be filled with cultural encounters, meetings, colloquiums, … Continued

A Girls Guide to Joining the Resistance Book Review

A Girls Guide to Joining the Resistance Book Review

Emma Gray’s tiny book of feminist resistance promises to be a guide to doing more and doing good in a world that seems to have turned against women all together. The book is extremely readable and well-put together, starring personal anecdotes, interviews with amazing activists, and step-by-step guides made to help us as readers do … Continued

Books We Recommend

Books We Recommend

If your New Years resolution is to read more, you may want to add these two to your list!