Skip to main content

Natural Awakenings Healthy Living Magazine

Outflank the Book Bans

Booksweet is a cozy community spot to browse and chat about books located near the University of Michigan north campus. They will donate 10 percent of the profits from Banned Book Club reads to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of their annual Banned Books Week celebrations in September. The August 5 selection from 8 to 9 p.m. is Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye. Masks are required and vaccination cards will be checked at the door.

            Their monthly Banned Book Club for teens and adults, hosted by Shaun Manning, local author and co-owner, explores the themes, characters, cultural context and personal resonance of books banned from public school libraries and curriculums in the United States.

            Morrison says, “The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being heard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists’ questions challenging authority never being posed, unstated plays, cancelled films ... that thought is a nightmare, as though a whole universe is being described in invisible ink.”

Location: 1729 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor. RSVP to ShopBooksweet.com/4-18-banned-book-club. For more information, call 734-929-4112 or visit ShopBooksweet.com.