On Halloween, as young ones paraded in costumes along Euclid in the Central West End of St. Louis, an intimate group of literature-lovers sat inside Left Bank Books, enthralled as Qiu Xiaolong read from his book “Evoking Tang: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry.” To make it all the more interesting, Qiu Xiaolong is the…

Left Bank Books is St. Louis’ full-service independent bookstore. “We offer friendly, experienced service and value our customers as part of our family. In May 1996, we launched the Friends of Left Bank Books Literary Society, a membership organization to which patrons subscribe. The Friends program provides booklovers with another way to support independent bookstores.”…

If you are in St. Louis on November 13th at 7:30 p.m. and want to know about Oscar, the newest victim of the Fuku, the curse that has haunted his family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and above all, ill-starred love…and (dare we hope?) how to avoid it…come over to Left…

My guest on Riehlife today is Junot Diaz whom I was lucky enough to hear speak at my local library branch in the Central West End in St. Louis before he went to Rome for a year to write. I found him funny, refreshing, and frank. Here are some of his thoughts on his work,…