A book club celebrating all things grim, grotesque, unsettling, macabre, and weird in fiction.
Repulsive Reads is a book club celebrating all things grim, grotesque, unsettling, macabre, and weird in fiction. Every last Thursday of the month.
This month's book is The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. Limited free copies available for pickup at North Branch desk starting 1/29/25. Copies also available to borrow through Berkeley Public Library and Link+. We will also be reading the HP Lovecraft short story "The Horror at Red Hook" (CW: racism, xenophobia) to discuss in conversation with this month's book. The short story can be accessed here.
About The Ballad of Black Tom:
"A 2016 fantasy-horror novella by Victor LaValle, revisiting H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Horror at Red Hook" from the viewpoint of a black man.
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping. A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?"
This event is made possible by a generous gift from the Pace Trust in support of the Berkeley Public Library North Branch.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Authors, Books & Writing |
