{"id":265729,"date":"2025-11-01T21:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/265729\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T21:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:56:09","slug":"when-the-bookshelves-are-full-of-breaking-news-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/265729\/","title":{"rendered":"When the bookshelves are full of breaking news \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things people appreciate about books, bookstores and libraries is that they provide a reprieve from the day\u2019s news.<\/p>\n

Mostly.<\/p>\n

Although I can barely recall the tense, five-week\u00a0election recount in 2000 as the country waited in limbo to find out whether George W. Bush or Al Gore would be the next president, I do distinctly remember this: In an effort to distract myself from staring at a screen \u2013 I was so ahead of my time \u2013 I went to Mitchell Books, a now-departed mystery bookstore in Pasadena, to paw through the boxes of vintage crime, detective fiction and thrillers.<\/p>\n

And while there, I found a copy of Edwin Lanham\u2019s \u201cPolitics Is Murder,\u201d which seemed, you know, totally appropriate to the moment.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

So imagine my surprise this week to again find books that were speaking\u00a0to our current newscycle, including Martin Page\u2019s Louvre-theft<\/a> novel\u00a0\u201cThe Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa\u201d and for all the L.A. sports fans, \u201cBleeding Dodger Blue,\u201d which is pretty much what most of what most of us are feeling as the Dodgers careened<\/a> from\u00a0an iconic 18-inning victory on Oct. 27<\/a>\u00a0to losing the next two games. (Read my colleagues Mirjam Swanson<\/a>, Jim Alexander<\/a>,\u00a0Jeff Fletcher<\/a> and Bill Plunkett<\/a>\u00a0for more Dodgers coverage<\/a>\u00a0and great photos.)<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a game tonight \u2013 will I watch or avoid the screen and read a book? I\u2019ll compromise: I\u2019ll read during the endlessly repeating pharmaceutical commercials that add an hour or two to each game. (Could TV ads have their own side effects? Probably not, but should\u00a0you find yourself bleeding\u00a0Dodger blue,\u00a0please consult a physician.)<\/p>\n

Finally, here\u2019s a bit of news I gleaned while writing this: Mitchell Books operates out of Hemet these days, and you can find it on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or abe.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

Red Hen Press celebrates its independence<\/p>\n

\"AA view from the Red Hen Press benefit on Oct. 26, 2025. (Photo by Emily C. Petrie \/ Courtesy of Red Hen Press)<\/p>\n

There was another kind of fundraiser<\/a> last weekend, as Red Hen Press<\/a> hosted its 31st anniversary benefit at Grand Venue in\u00a0Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the publisher mixed with authors and others for cocktails, appetizers and a five-course meal, and speakers included Lara Ehrlich, Adela Najarro and Elise Paschen. The auction sparked bidding on river rafting adventures, author retreats and a private Publishing Pie Party (with wine) hosted by Red Hen\u2019s founders Kate Gale and Mark E. Cull.<\/p>\n

I got to talk with Altadena Poet Laureate Lester Graves Lennon<\/a>, \u201cWeetzie Bat\u201d and \u201cHouse of Hearts\u201d novelist Francesca Lia Block<\/a> and West Hollywood\u2019s inaugural Poet Laureate Steven Reigns<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

And maybe my favorite part? There were so many books.<\/p>\n

To donate or find out more, go to the Red Hen Press website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the things people appreciate about books, bookstores and libraries is that they provide a reprieve from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[223,4,450,451,3,2992,2628,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-265729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-the-book-pages","14":"tag-things-to-do","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}