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L.A. Public Library releases Kobe Bryant’s reading list

The Los Angeles Public Library has assembled a list of books once recommended by Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, shown in 2015,
The Los Angeles Public Library has assembled a list of books once recommended by Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, shown in 2015,
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
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In the wake of Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash last weekend, the Los Angeles Public Library has put together a list of books once recommended by the basketball legend.

Bryant was one of nine people, including his daughter Gianna, who died in the crash in Calabasas on Sunday morning.

“As one would expect from a passionate storyteller, Bryant also appreciated reading a good book,” librarian Keith Kesler wrote in a blog post on the library’s website. “I searched through old interviews and social media posts to find the books that inspired the Black Mamba.”

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The 15 titles include “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, “The Tipping Point” and “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell, and “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach.

In addition, the library listed four books that Bryant wrote or created, almost all of which were checked out or on hold. Of those books, just three copies of Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality” remained on the shelf late Saturday morning — one each at the Junipero Serra Branch in South Park, the Mark Twain Branch in Vermont Vista and the Venice Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch, according to the library’s website.

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