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What not to bring to our book swap

Poster by Meghan Doherty.

Are you ready to get readerly? Right after the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday night, there’s a gathering of the Brokelyn Bookswapper’s Club to satisfy those all-aflame literary desires. What to bring? Some guidance partly based on our own current cravings: How about buzzy fall titles like D.T. Max’s David Foster Wallace bio, Every Love Story is a Ghost Story; Emma Straub’s Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures or Junot Diaz’s new short story collection? You finished with Michael Chabon’s latest yet? (If you already have any of these to swap, you get a banquette in the VIP section.) Non-trashy, still-relevant summer books also welcome; bring Wild or Gone Girl so we can all (spoiler alert!) complain about the ending at the next club, or Robert Caro’s Lyndon Johnson bio because you know you never even finished The Powerbroker.

The whole point is to share and talk about books you’re excited about, not just clear off space on your shelves. See these titles people brought to our “hot beach reads” swap? For the love of Czar Nicholas III, leave these in the sidewalk “free”  bin:

We don’t read Russian, but these wouldn’t even pass for sexy summer reads in the Gulag.

 

These are not buzzy fall reads: your college text books and ’70s knitting books in Finnish.

See you Sunday night, and don’t forget a tote bag. (PS Nobody brought 50 Shades of Grey last time, so it’s still on the acceptable list.)

Faye :Faye Penn is the founder of Brokelyn and publisher of the Brooklyn and Queens Beer Books, the Brooklyn Cocktail Book and other stuff you ain't seen yet. She lives in Ditmas Park. Get at her at brokelyn@gmail.com

View Comments (5)

  • "D.T. Max’s David Foster Wallace bio, Every Love Story is a Ghost Story; Emma Straub’s Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures or Junot Diaz’s new short story collection" -- we publish all three of these! They're pretty hard to get your hands on. Unless you buy them. I can attest that the DFW bio and the Diaz are well worth the $$$/swap, though.