Location
About
Exploring the best of the almost-best!
2026's Half Moon Rondout Cafe book club celebrates books that were shortlisted for prestigious literary prizes. While they didn't take home the top honor, these titles more than earn their spot on your reading list with their exceptional writing and unforgettable stories.
We meet 1st Saturdays at 2pm at Half Moon Rondout Cafe – 83 Broadway.
May's book is Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed.
It is the 1920s in New York City and an epidemic known as Jes Grew is sweeping the nation—a dancing plague, irresistible, joyful, and undeniably Black. Naturally, the powers-that-be are having none of it. A repressive conspiracy is operating in the shadows, and it is dead set on squelching Jes Grew and its Carriers—Black artists and musicians—by any means necessary.
Mumbo Jumbo is an ingenious deconstruction of Western civilization—a cinematic collage that mixes portraits of historical figures and incidents with sound bites on subjects ranging from ragtime to Greek philosophy. Now with a new introduction by the author, this timeless and crucial work of twentieth-century fiction is ready to be discovered by a new generation of readers.
- No registration required.
- Plus enjoy doughnuts 🍩 and coffee ☕.