A straight version of our group?

Today's Washington Post has a story about a group of eight male neighbors in Silver Spring who have been meeting monthly to discuss books since 1996.

There are a number of similarities in the way both book groups operate, but a big difference is that they are so informal that they don't even have a name. (Sniff! :-).

Poem in Your Pocket Day: April 30

The Academy of American Poets has designated April 30 as Poem in Your Pocket Day—a celebration of poetry in motion, shared from one person to another as part of National Poetry Month.

Participating is simple: select a poem, carry it with you, and share it throughout the day—at school, at work, at home, or online.

Here are a few easy ways to celebrate the day:

Download and print our Poem in Your Pocket booklet to carry and share throughout the day.

Create and fold your own one-page poetry zine, developed by 826 National—ideal for younger readers and classroom use.

Go to Poets.org and find a short or resonant poem. Share it however you would like.

Post a poem or record a video of yourself reading one using #PocketPoem.

Email or text a poem to friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues.

Read a poem aloud.

Poetry is meant to travel. However you share it, the goal is simple: put a poem into someone else’s day.

You can also explore our FAQs and learn more about the history of Poem in Your Pocket Day on Poets.org.

April 25 is Indie Bookstore Day!

I'm not sure why Little District Books waited until almost literally the last minute to announce this, but tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day!

Little District is partnering with other local bookstores for their annual D.C. bookstore crawl--visit six or more stores to win a special prize (prize varies by store).

Spend $25 or more at Little District Books and get a spin of our prize wheel!

Find the golden ticket we have hidden in the store and win a year of free audiobooks from libro.fm!

Some bad news for book lovers...

The Associated Press reports that book bans and attempted bans remain at record highs, and efforts to have titles removed have never been more coordinated or politicized.

On April 20, the American Library Association issued its annual list of the books most challenged at the country’s libraries, part of the association’s State of America’s Libraries Report. Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a 2006 novel about sex trafficking in India, topped the list for 2025. Other targeted books include Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer, Stephen Chbosky’s high school novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Sarah J. Maas’ romantasy favorite Empire of Storms.

Objections include LGBTQ+ themes (Gender Queer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), sexual violence (Sold and A Clockwork Orange) and use of alcohol and cigarettes (Looking for Alaska). Overall, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom recorded challenges to 4,235 different works, topped only by 4,240 in 2023 since the association began keeping track more than 30 years ago.

...and some good news

The Guardian reports that 422 new indie bookshops opened in 2025, according to the American Booksellers Association, a 31% rise from 2024. Countless independent restaurants, coffee shops, fitness centers, movie theaters, clothing stores and other small businesses also continue to thrive even in this era of ever-bigger retailers, fast-casual restaurants and massive e-commerce platforms.

Reporter Gene Marks observes: "The Barnes & Noble outlet near me has to meet their numbers each month and is focused entirely on moving product to make the most of every square inch of space. It’s not as profitable as a location to inventory slower-selling titles, even if there’s an audience for them. Small businesses fill in that space. They sell more obscure books that only a small percentage of people will buy. Big companies optimize for scale. Small businesses win by ignoring it."

When Peter met Paul

Peter Hujar is much better known today than his fellow artist and former lover Paul Thek, thanks in no small part to the acclaimed 2025 film, "Peter Hujar's Day."

But a new joint biography by Andrew Durbin, The Wonderful World that Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek, sets out to do equal justice to both men. Here are an excerpt from Vulture and a book review in The New Republic.

By the way, if Hujar's name sounds vaguely familiar but you can't quite place him: One of his most famous photographs, "Orgasmic Man," graces the cover of Hanya Yanagihara's novel, A Little Life, which we read back in 2018.

Colm Toibin's latest

Over the years, we've discussed four books by Irish writer Colm Toibin: The Master (discussed in 2005), Love in a Dark Time (2006), The Empty Family (2012) and, most recently, The Magician (2023).

So far as I can tell from this laudatory review in The Guardian, Toibin's latest short story collection, The News from Dublin, only contains one LGBTQ character. But as with Lev Raphael, whose Secret Anniversaries of the Heart we'll be returning to next week, his writing is still powerful no matter what the subject matter is.

Speaking of which, here are two bonus tracks: an essay in The Guardian titled "I've Learned First-Hand How Evil Is Tolerated,"and a book review Toibin recently published in The New York Review of Books.