BookTalk.org

A high school friend has been in prison for a very, very long time. (Yes he was a bad boy, I doubt he'll ever get out.) He is the librarian at the prison, so I've sent him a few books from time to time. I sent some fiction, a biography of Keith Richards, another of Carlos Santana, etc... He says the books I've sent have been circulating, getting interest and approval.

Here are the next two I'm considering.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. This book has been banned from some prisons, so I'm not sure if it will actually get through, but worth a try to find out...
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari. Sounds like interesting theories about the future of humanity.


Do you have any suggestions for a prison library? My friend is well educated, taught Latin in high school, however that is certainly not true for the average inmate. They already have enough John Grisham books. If anyone can find a crossword puzzle book in Latin, I would be in your debt. The books must ship from a business such as Amazon to preclude shennanigans.

INSIDE (available at Amazon.co.uk)

Thinking outside the cell (and related books)

Terry Pratchett (any)

Tony Hillerman (any)

Pastrix

Into the Wild

LanDroid, maybe we can send some books to the prison as a gift from BookTalk.org. I regularly donate brand new books to libraries and they turn around and sell them in their library stores. I'd sure love to know the books are getting into the hands of people that might appreciate them. If this sounds like a good idea let's discuss the logistics in the Mod Forum or via PM's or email. I might miss your response here. But I really love this idea.

Harry those look like very good suggestions. I'll send a list over and see what fits before shipping them. I'll let you know.

Chris, good idea but there's a big problem. To send stuff like books to a prison, it must ship from a business like Amazon. This prevents shennanigans such as "Have a taste of page 52 and enjoy a nice trip." Can't send things like spiral bound notebooks - wires pulled out and used for bad stuff. Not sure how to work with those restrictions.

OK I sent the above list to him along with a few of my own, we'll see what is of interest to that library. Will update later...