Reading Log: February 2024

Books acquired: “Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers,” Riverside Art Museum; “Shot in the Heart,” Mikal Gilmore; “Good-bye to All That,” Robert Graves

Books read: “Letters to My City,” Mike Sonksen; “Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers,” Riverside Art Museum; “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou

For 2024’s second month, I decided to chip away at the backlog of books given to me by friends, writers or publishers. This was a good plan. But although I read three, three more arrived (one of which I managed to read the same month). So the month was a little like running in place, but at least I didn’t fall further behind, right?

Here’s what I read:

“Letters to My City” (2019; revised 2023): A winning combination of L.A. neighborhood histories (Florence-Firestone, South Central, North Long Beach and others), tributes (to Huell Howser, a beloved teacher, the 562 area code) and poetry, some of which lists streets, writers or cities by name, a la Chuck Berry, to great effect. “Who’s rockin’ the populace in the postmodern metropolis? LA authors.” Third-generation Angeleno Sonksen loves LA’s present as much as he does its past, a rare and welcome thing. As a prose writer, he’s an enthusiastic amateur, but he’s earnest and he pays close attention. I like and admire this book. (Copy sent to me in December 2023 by the author.)

“Collidoscope” (2024): This is a museum catalog for one of the opening exhibits from the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture in Riverside in 2022, with overall and detail photos of the pieces as well as some text about Einar and Jamex de la Torre, who live and work on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Their glass sculptures and lenticular art (think of 3-D baseball cards) are often silly or scatological and sometimes evoke wonder with their panoramic sweep and myriad of details. (Copy sent to me by the museum.)

“Caged Bird” (1969): Angelou’s first memoir, this tells the story of her childhood, bouncing between locales and parents/grandparents, as seen through a child’s eyes and memory, with some pieces unknown or only guessed at. Generous, warm, well-observed and the funnier and more vivid for it, and sometimes shocking. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by Angelou, effectively, although I sped it up to 1.25 because she read so deliberately. (Copy bought in September 2023 at Pasadena’s Octavia’s Bookshelf with a gift card, but primarily read via a library borrow of the audiobook.)

I can’t really recommend “Collidoscope,” unless you saw the exhibit and want a memento, but the other two books might interest you, and surely I don’t need to tell you that “Caged Bird” is a modern classic. You may well have read it yourself.

Two other gift books were in progress during February, but I didn’t get them read in time. One was finished March 2, after I wrote the bulk of this post and had uploaded the photos. But there’s no rush; it can wait for my March Reading Log. Since I expect to only get to three or four books, I’m going to make that another gift-book month. And it’s my birthday month, which will mean — more gift books!

I’m looking forward to April and May, when I can get back to some pre-pandemic books. In the meantime, what did you all read during February? Let us know in the comments.

Next month: “Station Eleven” and more.

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Column: Impact of Emmett Till’s murder is focus of exhibit

“The Impact of Images” at Riverside’s California Museum of Photography is devoted to Emmett Till’s 1955 lynching, his mother’s decision to have an open casket so the world could see her son’s mutilated face and the trial of his killers, who were acquitted but later bragged about their deed. It’s a powerful exhibit, and free. It’s the subject of my grim Sunday column.

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Column: In lit talk, ‘Picard’ writer provides canon fodder

Writer Michael Chabon talked about “canon” in relation to writing for “Picard” during an appearance in Claremont; 500 people turned out for the church concert in Claremont by a Notre Dame Cathedral organist; plus three Culture Corner items and a 100th birthday wish to a reader in Menifee, all in my Friday column. Those first two events took place on different days a short walk from my home, one of the pleasures of living in Claremont.

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Column: For a top organ, this church pulled out all the stops

Claremont United Church of Christ’s organ has more than 4,000 pipes and was designed by the same people as the famed organ at Disney Hall. On Sunday, an organist from the Notre Dame Cathedral will give a recital. I take a tour of the organ’s inner workings. Also, three more items, all involving — why not? — classical music, all in my Friday column.

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Column: 3 presidents, future or past, called IE home

Three U.S. presidents, future or past, called the Inland Empire home: LBJ, Eisenhower and Ford. Also: news that former Kmart and Sears stores in Riverside may be turned into apartments has me wondering what’s next; more about late newspaper owner Mel Hodell; two public appearances by me take place this week; and Twentynine Palms makes Westways. All this fills up my Wednesday column.

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Column: A tip of the hat to Toby Keith’s bar and grill

Toby Keith’s death reminded me (eventually) that his name had been on a bar and restaurant at Victoria Gardens until 2015. I refresh everyone’s memory about this local tie-in to the singer who died earlier this month. Also, as the downtown Pomona Starbucks serves its last customers, I’m there to bear witness. And, finally, theater seats are there for the taking at Palm Springs’ Plaza Theatre before the space is renovated. All this is in my Sunday column.

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Column: Doing an end run around Super Bowl Sunday

Once again, I opted out of Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, I drove to L.A., read my newspapers, met a friend for lunch, did a Secret Stairs walk, returned home for some hassle-free shopping in Montclair, then walked around a nearly empty Claremont Village. Some of you told me what you did rather than watch the game. I share the results in my Wednesday column. (And mention that I’m taking Friday’s column off.)

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Column: Beach mural by Millard Sheets washes up at museum

Remember the enormous Millard Sheets mural, previously from a Home Savings branch in Santa Monica, that was undergoing repairs on the floor of the old Claremont High gym last summer? Whether you do or you don’t, the mural is now ensconced outside the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange, which is about to reopen after a renovation and expansion. I visit, take in the mural, get a walk-through of the museum and share the results in my Sunday column.

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