#amreading CONUNDRUM by Jan Morris. Only a writer of such style, wit, and singularity would write of her sex change: "It was inevitable and it was deeply satisfying - like a sentence which, defying its own subordinate clauses, reaches a classical conclusion in the end." #booksky

Rest in power, Assata Shakur. ASSATA: An #Autobiography is one of the most moving autobiographies I've ever read, with a canny structure of chapters moving back and forth between the present + past until the narrative meets in the middle. #booksky #Assata www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Congress can end Trump’s Epstein cover-up: act.indivisible.org/sign/epstein...

Most Holy Redeemer, an #EastVillage #Catholic church of surpassing beauty, is on the chopping block. It was built in 1851 to serve the #German immigrant community. Sign GVSHP's petition - p2a.co/k1lzcji - to keep it from the fate of Dorothy Day's Church of the Nativity. evgrieve.com/search/label...

I'm so sad to hear that Bluestockings is closing. This was a great bookstore as well as a community gathering place. They will be missed. #booksky bluestockings.com

It's a bit like shooting scungilli in a barrel - and so very mean of me! - but I write about #Netflix's #Nonnas on my blog, #forteegentile, with a wider aim of pondering the reductive and undying cliches around a certain kind of #ItalianAmerican #nostalgia. forte-e-gentile.com/2025/09/18/n...

Just lovely to see that Ben Ratliff's thoughtful, generous, sui generis RUN THE SONG: Writing About Running About Listening made the National Book Awards Long List for Nonfiction. Go Ben! @graywolfpress.bsky.social #nationalbookaward #booksky www.nationalbook.org/2025-nationa...

"Despite the myth of his novel’s sweat-soaked, 28-day birth, #Kerouac’s preparations indicate that he was a highly ordered and self-conscious literary artist. Contra Truman Capote’s vicious quip, this wasn’t typing, it was *writing*." Great piece re ON THE ROAD by @ghoward1950.bsky.social. #booksky

All out on October 18th for #NOKINGS: www.nokings.org #NoDictators #TiredOfMaliciousIdiots

"I try all things, I achieve what I can." The writing desk of #HermanMelville at Arrowhead outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he wrote MOBY DICK. In the distance is a view of Mt. Greylock. Totally lovely people at Arrowhead, real tenders of the flame. berkshirehistory.org #Berkshires #booksky

… somehow I wound up with *two* copies of LAFCADIO’S ADVENTURES and still never have been able to get into Gide’s writing. But Gorey's cover is a beaut, and I love how he re-drew the price to show the crucial ten-cent increase. #Booksky #EdwardGorey

For @ghoward1950.bsky.social, one of my favorite Edward Gorey covers, for NINETEENTH CENTURY GERMAN TALES (1959), edited by the tireless Angel Flores. #booksky

Seen at an estate sale in Pittsfield, MA, this weekend, a first edition of a novel that I love, DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD (1983) by the vastly underappreciated Lynne Sharon Schwartz. With the cool old Edvard Munch print on the front and a blurb from Max Apple on the back. #booksky

"Even though Brown’s agreement does not go as far as implementing a third-party monitor similar to that imposed on Columbia, Brown’s capitulation still marks a surrender of institutional independence." 2 for 2 as far as my almae matres cratering. #SPINELESS www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025...

Billie Holiday and her dog Mister, New York, NY, c. 1947, William P. Gottlieb, photographer. My grandmom Elsie Brandi Firmani Ciunci and her dog Herky, Elsmere, DE, c. early 1970s, taken by my Uncle Ray. I do love a lady and her #dog.

#amreading THE TARTAR STEPPE (1940) by Dino Buzzati, trans. Stuart C. Hood. Often called “Kafkaesque,” this novel seems to me less sinister and more melancholy, somehow deeply #Italian. Captures the slow drip of passing time, the surprise of aging, but is also lyrical, dreamlike, lovely. #booksky

The Republican-appointed justices have decided it is time to fully destroy the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Trump’s Epstein cover-up isn’t about ancient history. This is about a sitting president potentially being able to use his power (again) to protect himself and his elite friends from justice. But the story isn’t going away — because we’re not letting it: indivisible.org/epsteinfiles...

www.amnestyusa.org/toolkits/tak... @amnesty.org

"MSF staff and patients are wasting away as mass starvation spreads across Gaza." @doctorswithoutborders.org give.doctorswithoutborders.org/campaign/678...

#amreading WEEP NOT, CHILD (1964) by the great Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. So many moods and textures in this brilliant #novel: dreamy, clear-eyed, absurdist, heartbroken, enduring. The young protagonist Njoroge’s unyielding quest for learning is particularly moving. And the ending is beautiful. #booksky

Today we honor the life and legacy of 1st Lt. Ray Firmani—a decorated WWII hero, proud Delawarean, and cherished community leader. In recognition of his lifetime of service, flags will be lowered across the state until sunset on July 28.

Good morning! I'm in Uganda to visit family and friends. But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month. See you soon, NYC.

Rest in peace, Uncle Ray Firmani, who peacefully departed the planet early this morning. #WWII B-17 "Flying Fortress" pilot awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary heroism, longtime #Delaware resident, first-generation #ItalianAmerican. He was 103. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGFI...

“Democracy is not a state. It's an act.” Beautiful, spirited turnout for the #GoodTrouble rally in #NYC celebrating the life of fearless John Lewis - and standing up against the malicious, racist, fascist trump regime. #JohnLewisDay #FightBack

“Don’t they know evil when they see it?” #nowwatching Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE that tells the story of Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to swear an oath to Hitler and was murdered for it. Too lyrical for its own good, still this is a powerful #film about one person standing against #fascism.

Rest in peace, Fanny Howe. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/b...

NYC, save the date for our next nationwide day of protest. 📅 Thursday, July 17th 📍 Foley Square ⏰ 5:30pm Let’s make good trouble. Learn more at GoodTroubleNYC.com.

#amreading DANTE: A LIFE by RWB Lewis. An elegant gem of a biography, published when he was 84. Lewis had a wide-open mind. Discussing the Tuscan idiom “vo significando” (“I go signifying”) he talks of how the word is “so dexterously employed in current American black literary commentary.” #booksky

#amreading THE SECRET LIFE OF THE LONELY DOLL by Jean Nathan. A sympathetic and unexpectedly moving #biography of Dare Wright, #photographer and children’s book author, who was kept an eternal child by her toxic mother. Strangely gothic fractured fairy tale. #booksky

Mohammed El-Kurd’s guide to responding to the most ridiculous anti-Palestinian smears.

Disgusted. The trump administration's and GOP's contempt for the poor and the vulnerable knows no bounds. We have to fight this tooth and nail. Chip in, phone bank, do whatever you can. @indivisible.org #FightBack #KeepTheFaith

Fascinating piece by @harikunzru.bsky.social in @nybooks.com of FASCIST YOGA by @stewarthome.bsky.social and CONSPIRITUALITY: HOW NEW AGE CONSPIRACY THEORIES BECAME A HEALTH THREAT by @derekberes.bsky.social, @matthewremski.bsky.social + @julianwalker.bsky.social. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

#amreading FLOATING IN A MOST PECULIAR WAY by Louis Chude-Sokei, born in the short-lived nation of #Biafra in West Africa, raised in #Jamaica, reunited with his mother in the US. A complex #memoir of displacement and trauma, told slantwise with the insight of many years. Loved this #book. #booksky

We demand the US stop arming Israel NOW. Take action at jvpaction.org/blockthebombs

Tomorrow is ours if we want it. zohranfornyc.com/gotv

I'm attending “NO KINGS Great Barrington” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

#amreading Elyn R. Saks' harrowing THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD: MY JOURNEY THROUGH MADNESS. What a brave, relentless woman, who lived through hell but never gave up. Blasted to bits my clueless assumptions about mental illness. Her TED talk is also pretty amazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6CI... #booksky

RIP. highly recommend ?uestlove’s documentary on sly stone if you haven’t seen it www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

We will not cower, even in the face of Trump’s militarized escalation. On Saturday, we are going to rise up all across the country in defiance of this administration’s authoritarian agenda. Join the nationwide peaceful protests for No Kings Day: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i...

Remembering the #lovely, spunky, funny Jane Larkworthy. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/s...

"If I could find the correct and accurate #words to explain all this more clearly and succinctly .... I’d say something like, You have to stay longer, or It’s not time yet." Beautiful tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o by Thomas Glave. www.wasafiri.org/content/dear... #booksky @wasafirimag.bsky.social

Farewell to Edmund White, one of my favorite #writers. A great stylist and a real source of inspiration to me.

"But when entire Palestinian families are killed, or when Palestinian children die of malnutrition, it’s just another day in Gaza. Nor is it news that the U.S. government is indifferent to war crimes committed by its allies." @mashagessen.bsky.social‬ sums it all up. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/o...

Celebrating my brilliant & dear old professor from #Barnard, William Chapman Sharpe, retiring after many years of teaching. First took a class with him in '87, when I was a clueless youngster. Took an armload of books as he clears out his office...bittersweet. barnard.edu/profiles/wil... #booksky

“…it does not glorify war, but dignifies the wasteful sacrifice of young men by remembering them in a stupendous, breathtaking architectural gesture.” #amreading THE MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING OF THE SOMME, #architecture historian Gavin Stamp’s superb study of Edwin Lutyens’ Thiepval memorial. #booksky

I walked through the #Ukrainian Festival in Manhattan on E. 7th St. earlier today. So many young men, veterans, with missing limbs. My heart overflowed for them. Then I look at the president of the U.S., a draft dodger with no respect for vets, giving himself a military parade. I have no words.

As Trump defies courts, ignores the Constitution and punishes dissenters, all while he and his friends get even richer, June 14 needs to be our biggest and most widespread day of protest yet. There are over 700 events planned for No Kings Day. Please join us: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i...

#nowreading great theologian Howard Thurman’s JESUS AND THE DISINHERITED, an exploration of the “significance of the religion of Jesus to people who stand with their backs against the wall,” and of Jesus’ life as the basis for nonviolent resistance. A clear-eyed thinker who walked in grace. #booksky