Nestled between the courthouse, bail bond agencies, and endless array of sleazy criminal defense firms is Broward County’s best bookstore: Bob’s News and Books.
Undeniably an “indie” bookstore, that adjective is nevertheless far too precious and fails to capture the air of subversion that the intellectually inclined restaurant worker would delight in: detailed guides on esoteric BDSM practices are displayed near copies of PIHKAL and TIHKAL, the Bhagavad Gita, and a healthy selection of JFK assassination conspiracy works. To quench your thirst for knowledge, you can crack open one of their finest male potency boosting energy drinks or a refreshing Natural Light. Truck stop Viagra is also in no short supply, but neither are texts by Freud, Jung, or Adler.
These are simply the material trappings of Bob’s. The real soul of the place is in its center row of “Banned Books,” literature which has all been banned somewhere at some point in time, a company that includes Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tropic of Cancer, The Satanic Verses, Last Exit to Brooklyn, and Justine, among others.
The curation and environs are an important reminder that the fight for our first amendment rights doesn’t always look like democracy activists educated at elite schools or staid, soft-spoken librarians but most often has the lowbrow gloss of “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”
Bob’s News and Books
Banned literature in Florida remains a hot topic, which Bob’s revels in, as each newly controverted piece of literature earns a place on its shelf there. For some works of literature, prizes such as the National Book Award, the Man Booker Prize, or the PEN are the highest possible honors. However, to earn a place on the center row shelves at Bob’s, one must have offended the sensibilities of the masses.
The Streisand Effect of banning literature has done more to increase literacy and education amongst the typically apathetic than any other campaign ever has. If you want average people to really get interested in reading any book, the best thing to do is ban it.
As a true indie bookstore in the best tradition, however, Bob’s has long been a friend to the working-class intellectual writer, and they sell many local writer’s works. Unlike most independent bookshops, Bob’s is a proud throwback to the era of the 1990s Times Square newsstand, with a back room to boot, where pornography and gore pull in a curious passerby, who may just walk away with a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
In a time when the concerns of real life, which are often unsightly, are cleaned up by online algorithms which scan for keywords rather than content and context, Bob’s remains a pillar of press freedom and an exemplar of what intellectual life looks like in local Broward County.
