As I noted in my Week in Readings post on Monday, Ta-Nehisi Coates reads from his new book, Between the World and Me, tonight as part of the 2015-2016 Seattle Arts & Lectures season. The reading is long since sold out; if you don't have tickets already, you are out of luck.

But allow me to take this opportunity to tell you something: if you haven't yet read Coates's book Between the World and Me, you are missing out on the most important book of the year. I wrote a review of the book when it was released this summer. My review incorporated some then-current events, particularly the Black Lives Matter protesters who interrupted a Bernie Sanders rally in Westlake Park and in so doing kicked off a racist firestorm.

I was wrestling at the time — still am, really — with the hypocrisy of Seattle's progressive self-perception. This is a racist city, and it refuses to recognize that it is a racist city. Seattle really needs to listen to what Coates has to say tonight. And if you think you don't need to read Coates's book, you probably do. Please read my review, and then read the book.