Inside Jacket

The whole world is celebrating National Coffee Day today — the whole world except me. I’m one of the few people who has never tried a cup of coffee.

It’s not the taste I object to. I like coffee ice cream and coffee-flavored candy. I’m a big fan of Starbucks’ Java Chip Frappuccino (only 440 calories!). And I’ve never been know to walk away from a slice of coffee cake.

But somehow, I’ve avoided the real thing. Instead, I drink tea — Earl Grey, especially — while enduring stares and jokes from my overly caffeinated friends. Maybe it’s my way of recalling childhood days when I was treated to tea lightened by a generous portion of milk. Maybe it’s a bit of rebellion against the masses. Or maybe it’s a way to avoid the horrendous Yom Kuppur headaches that coffee drinkers suffer if they fast.

Whatever the reason, it’s an acquired taste that I’ve never acquired. So while folks in Baltimore enjoy a cup at the places on this map, I’m missing out on today’s promotions, including the Dunkin Donuts contest that offers the winner a trip Costa Rica and five years of free coffee. I’ll just enjoy my tea.

For those of you who haven’t visited Charm City Current yet, we’ve got a couple of recent entries that should interest you book lovers.

First of all, please go over and welcome Celeste Sollod, author of Baltimore Books. So far, she’s covered One Maryland, One Book, both the National and Baltimore Book festivals and the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s ever-changing children’s programs.

As a former New York City publicist, she’s got a great perspective on books and literary culture, and I look forward to hearing more from her.

And photography blogger Danielle Scruggs will have her work presented at Busboys and Poets tonight in a show called "Hard Times Require Furious Dancing." The show’s title and art are inspired by Alice Walker’s latest release, a book of poetry.

Each piece in the show was based on a poem from Walker’s book, and if they’re all as impressive as Scruggs’ work, it’s going to be a great show. The reception will be held from 6-8 p.m., but the show will be on display till Jan. 9 for those of you who can’t make it out to D.C. tonight.

Read Street is ever-vigilant in exposing the vigilantes who try to ban or challenge library books, so we welcome another Banned Books Week.

The American Library Association sponsors the event each year to highlight the nagging issue. Publishers, authors and others are holding their own events. Random House, for example, has a Facebook page on the issue. The Harford County Library has developed a quiz to test your acceptance of these controversial books. And The Baltimore Sun has an interesting photo gallery of banned or challenged books, including "My Friend Flicka," which made the list because it used the word "bitch" in referring to a female dog.

So enjoy the week, and take this opportunity for a bit of literary subversiveness.

Baltimore readers get a treat tonight — a reading at MICA by Gary Shteyngart, the author of "Super Sad True Love Story" and one of the nation’s funniest writers. He recently was featured in The New Yorker’s 20 under 40 fiction issue.

Shteyngart’s latest book, a peek at America’s future, is ostensibly about an ill-fated romance between a shlumpy guy and a pretty young thing. But it’s really about an ill-fated romance between immigrants and America. It’s a cutting look our fascination with technology, personal grooming and high living.

I liked Shteyngart’s "Absurdistan," and enjoyed "Love Story" even more — I recently chose it for the next read of my book club. Both have echoes of one of my favorite books, "A Confederacy of Dunces." And, as my kids used to say when they were young, "Love Story" made me "happy/sad."

Shteyngart will appear at 7 p.m. in MICA’s Main Building, 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave.

There’s nothing like a juicy love story to boost book sales, so Terry McMillan’s confessional on Oprah is perfectly timed. How can you beat this story line: “Can she forgive her gay ex-husband?”

McMillan, the author of the popular “Waiting to Exhale,” recently released a new novel, “Getting to Happy.” Her appearance today on Oprah is sure to spark interest in the book.

Here, in a nutshell, is McMillan’s story: At age 43, she met 20-year-old Jonathan Plummer in Jamaica. They married in 1998 and six years later, he told her that he was gay. A bitter, bitter divorce followed, as well as a 2005 confrontation on Oprah and a lawsuit that was later dropped. Now McMillan says she has come to terms with her ex-husband and is “ducky.”

Good for her. I know artists are supposed to suffer, but I’m glad she has moved on with her life.