Spencer Robelen, visual merchandiser for the Strand Bookstore, arranges a display of Toni Morrison books in New York on August 6. (AP Photo)
The layers of rhythms and allusions in Morrison’s prose, from the Bible to black folklore, could make picking up a Morrison book the beginning of a lifelong education. Oprah Winfrey has told the story of complaining to the author that her books were difficult to get through. Morrison’s response: “That, my dear, is called reading.”