January 29, 2017, Sunday afternoon -- Reading Tyson Amir

At San Francisco International Airport during the protest against Trump's Executive Order, surrounded by chants such as "Let them Out" and "No Hate, No Fear, Refugees are Welcome Here."

He is reading Black Boy Poems, by Tyson Amir. He learned about this book at a poetry reading in Oakland. Right now, it's his favorite book. The poem he's reading today is "Between Huey and Malcom (2015)". The introduction to the poem says, "Dr. Huey P. Newton had an epiphany when he once said, 'I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images.'"

The notes for his sign are Remember: We are on stolen, Indigenous land, a nation-state built by enslaved African captives whose founding principles were white supremacy and settler colonial genocide. Resist with a sense of history.

January 3, 2017, Tuesday afternoon -- Reading Yuval Noah Harari

On Sunrise Beach at the Happy Vibe Beach Bar in Koh Lipe, Thailand

He is reading Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari. He heard about the book that comes before this one, Sapiens, from the BBC. Sapiens was about the history of people, from the Stone Age until now. Homo Deus is about the future of people. He has really enjoyed both books.

Something else good he's read lately is The Bone Clocks, a novel by David Mitchell that won the World Fantasy Award in 2015.

January 3, 2017, Tuesday afternoon -- Reading Henning Mankell

On the island Ko Lipe in southern Thailand

She is reading Villspor, by the Swedish crime writer, Henning Mankell. 

She is from Norway and is an engineering student. This is the first fiction she's read in a long time. Her mother gave it to her to read on vacation. I think the English translation of the book is titled Sidetracked. 

December 29, 2016, Thursday morning -- Reading Elizabeth Jane Howard

On Bronte Beach in Sydney, Australia

He is reading Falling, by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

A couple of his favorite authors are Ken Follett and John Grisham.

He is visiting Australia from England and says that if you go to a pub in London chances are it'll be an Australian who'll serve you a pint.

Other vacation reading he's brought along is The Search, by C.P. Snow, which is about the life of a scientist, written in the 1930s, and was a gift from his Mum. He'll also read a book about World War I, another Christmas gift.

December 29, 2016, Thursday morning -- Reading Hannah Kent

At Bronte Beach in Sydney, Australia

She is reading The Good People, by the Australian author, Hannah Kent. The book was a Christmas present from her Mum. It's set in Ireland in the first part of the 1800s and is about a woman who lost both her husband and her daughter and is now taking care of her disabled grandchild. The story is about her trying to overcome and is also about superstitions and fairies. The good people are the fairies of old Ireland.

One of her favorite authors is Geraldine Brooks, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006 for her book March. March is a re-telling of Little Women from the perspective of Mr. March, who is called away to participate in the American Civil War.