K. was asked, as part of Black History Month, to name his favorite author; he chose Frank Yerby, probably a surprise choice. I don't know that I have a favorite author. I have favorite books. "Not Without Laughter is one (Langston Hughes). I put it right up there with "String Too Short to be Saved for being a truthful account, and very American, of a kind of life probably already gone. Another favorite for BHM would be "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" by James Weldon Johnson, who also wrote the words to "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Also a favorite is almost anything by Zora Neale Hurston. The two narratives of the life of Frederick Douglass were fascinating. Maya Angelou working at the chicken-processing plant and the early life of Malcolm X as recounted in the Autobiography remain memorable.