All About Books discussion
Readalongs
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (with Heather L., Greg, Heather R.L., Jean, Gail and anyone else?)
Oops - had to edit this already for the two Heathers ;)
Yep, as I said in the other thread, I'll join a readalong for this.
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Not sure if anyone else managed to get part 2. I did :)
This was such an amazing book - glad to see people reading it so many years later.
You know, there's a sort of poignancy in discovering a writer after they have just died. It's happened for me with quite a few authors now, perhaps because for a short time they achieve more prominence generally. I knew of Maya Angelou's works of course, but had never got around to reading them. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings had been sitting on my bookshelf for 20 years unread :(I'm not sure exactly why it seems so sad. I mean, it's not as if I'm ever likely to meet them. And I don't feel this way about long-dead authors. So what am I feeling unhappy about?
Oh good :) Do you want me to add the initial of your surname to the title of this thread? (If so, what is it?) I thought it looked a bit confusing if I left it as "Heather and Heather" ...
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Jean - to add to the confusion even more I am also Heather L.... I dropped the L from my name a few months ago as that really did become confusing on posts! Maybe I need to come up with a new first name and reinvent myself! Lol
Oh no! If you think of something then please do say! It's not the sort of name that gets shortened though is it? Maybe a middle name? Do you have three initials?This isn't what I thought we'd be talking about! But it's a while 'til we start, so we're just playing the overture really ...
Lol... I never thought I'd be discussing this either!!! You can go with my initials if you like HRL!
Well at least it's clear there are two distinct Heathers now! And to think that a while ago Heather L. was bemoaning the fact that the name "Heather" couldn't be a very popular one, as there aren't many books with the word "Heather" in the title.
Ok book lovers... This week I have started 'I know why the caged bird sings'. Is anyone else reading?
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I had also forgotten but I have just bought a copy on kindle and will start this weekend hopefully
I started this and I'm finding the prose very beautiful. It reads more like fiction or even poetry at times.
It's quite shocking to read about the racial segregation in the early parts of the book. I can, understandably, sense a lot of anger in Angelou's writing. I think this comes across in her poetry as well.
(view spoiler)
It's quite shocking to read about the racial segregation in the early parts of the book. I can, understandably, sense a lot of anger in Angelou's writing. I think this comes across in her poetry as well.
(view spoiler)
Heather, I agree with you at times I forget I'm reading a memoir it's such an engrossing story. Maya Angelou's life is definitely more interesting than some authors imagination.
So I have finished now... I'm a little hmmmm! I first read this book when I was at college & loved it so much that I carried on reading the rest of the series while still studying.
Having revisited it now, I have had to downgrade my star rating slightly but I'm struggling to put my finger on why! While I still found it a fascinating read & still greatly admired Angelou, I didn't get quite so excited about it this time!
Is it because my reading tastes have changed over the last 20 years or is it because I'm revisiting a book I already know... I think I might have to ponder this some more!
That's a shame, heather.
I too have finished. I really enjoyed the book. I love how frank Angelou was when describing her experiences and I enjoyed the writing style. She has certainly had a fascinating early life and in looking forward to reading more of her poetry with greater understanding. I want to read the series as well
I too have finished. I really enjoyed the book. I love how frank Angelou was when describing her experiences and I enjoyed the writing style. She has certainly had a fascinating early life and in looking forward to reading more of her poetry with greater understanding. I want to read the series as well
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I just started today; so I'll begin commenting Heather and Heather. :)
Looking forward to hearing what you think Greg
Does anyone mind if I join in with the discussion? I know it's late in the month, but it's not a long read - although gruelling, as I remember.
Of course not, Megan. Jump in! We tend to keep the threads open for a while anyway and I would certainly still be interested in discussing the book further
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I like the first few chapters already. Her grandmother's store reminds me a bit of Janie's & Joe's store in Their Eyes Were Watching God, particularly the way it's a hub for the community.
I have read to the end of chapter 12 and it is as gruelling as I remember. Have been slightly distracted by the fact that I had not read Still Alice, and wanted to read it before I see the film, tomorrow.I have also downloaded Their Eyes Were Watching God as I have not read it.
Megan wrote: "I have read to the end of chapter 12 and it is as gruelling as I remember. Have been slightly distracted by the fact that I had not read Still Alice, and wanted to read it before I see the film, to..."I read Their Eyes Were Watching God last year - thought it was really good, a very moving story. Hope you like it.
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[spoilers removed]"
Heather, that part was difficult for me to read too! I also had to put the book aside for an interval to steel myself to read through that part - so terrible what happened and she really makes it come alive with her graphic descriptions, both biological and psychological.
I was impressed throughout by Angelou's candor and storytelling abilities. I think I liked this autobiography much better than her poetry. What a fascinating life she had! Some parts of the book were quite funny too.
I'll write more specific reactions when I get home, but overall I really loved the book. Someday, I will read more of her autobiographies. Does anyone know - which autobiography tells the next segment of her life (picking up after the end where she (view spoiler))? Is there a life chronology to the autobiographies or do they overlap in time frame? I saw five or six of them listed!
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I'll read this as soon as I can ...
I'm half way through now and am really feeling for little Marguerite. Such a brave strong little girl. I really admire the way the author manages to make the black perspective the reader's own, whoever you are, putting us all firmly in the mind of herself as a child. She conveys perfectly her various feelings of confusion, pride, hatred, guilt and rage.The two occasions you mention under spoilers Heather, were so affecting. Greg too - probably every reader feels this. And even little things haunt me. (view spoiler). It seems devastating, I think, because these two things were perpetrated by the good people - the ones with a sense of duty and responsibility - the ones whom the children trusted.
I think what really gets me about this book is that this appalling ignorance and prejudice is all within living memory.
It's the sort of book which would be very hard to read without the author's strength and humour coming through, I think.
"If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult."
Wow!
I definitely agree, Jean. It feels far too recent to have been real. That definitely makes the whole thing feel much worse
Oh I want to throttle that dentist!
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Oh yes!
Incredible how compatatively recent for such apalling behavior!
I took a bunch of notes as I read, but I never had the chance to post them. I'll go back and do that when I can.
I feel a little awkward posting this, but for a short time as a child I lived in an area of the South (this was several years ago - the 1980's), and I distinctly remember getting in trouble once. We were moving away, and when the realtor came over to show the house to a couple, I was the only one home. I was junior high school age at the time. Later that day, my mom somehow found out that the couple was black, and I was scolded for "allowing" the realtor to show the house. It had not even occurred to me, and at first I couldn't understood what she was even talking about or why she was so angry. My mom would be very hurt if she know I'd posted this, but it wasn't her in particular - the attitudes were pervasive at the time in that particular town.
That was just another of those events that entered the general miasma of confusion I felt then - I was the "wrong" sort of person for other reasons, and everywhere I stepped I seemed to be running afoul of some inexplicable unspoken rule or another, from the books I read to the people I spoke with to the way I stood or spoke. Everything was "wrong."
It was like a children's game of don't-step-on-the-cracks that everyone was inexplicably playing, adults as well as kids. Crazy, right? Then I discovered that stepping on the cracks did have consequences but no worse than all the agony of trying to avoid them. And I stepped right off the path!
One thing I really appreciate in Angelou's account is the raw honesty, even down to the reverse prejudice that's born in reaction to what the characters endure. It's messy and for the most part, "real." It doesn't spare the author at all, though it would be impossible not to feel for her.
Wow Greg - as you say, in the 1980's too! In my Facebook photo albums I have one called 1981-1985 and another called 1986-1990. There aren't many in there yet except my class photos (I'm the teacher, and was working in London). Afterwards are lots of comments from various of the "children" now adult, and in touch with me and each other, arranging a meet-up ... and if you are interested enough to explore this, you'll see that we are every colour under the sun :)
This is why it's such a jolt to me to read Maya Angelou's appalling account. It's all so recent! Thank you for sharing your experience too. I can see why you would be hesitant. It is so different from mine.
I suppose I've always had a strong sense of injustice. It maybe stems from a time when I asked my Dad why a bus conductor had a funny black skin, and my Dad promptly ushered me off the bus to walk the rest of the way (with my little legs) giving me a lecture on how we may look different but were all the same underneath, and how I should never ever be so rude, and make someone feel bad like that ...
Of course I was tiny, and confused like you, but somehow it stuck :) I love the memory of my parents for their clear-sightedness and values :)
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I attended school in three different states in the US. In Illinois when I was in grade school it was very different, probably more like yours, much more integrated.
So it was a culture shock when we moved to that other town - in retrospect, it's kind of creepy how my parents "adapted" to the prevailing attitudes there. I never could, not only out of a sense of justice (though I definitely have always had a strong sense of it) - I couldn't have fit in there if I'd tried.
I'd hope that now in 2015 if I went back there things would be very different.
Thank you for sharing that, Greg. I can see why it was difficult but it is interesting to hear.
Jean- I think that many people I know have a similar account. My friend recalls being aged 2/3. Her mum was in hospital in labour with her brother and my friend asked her mum why the couple next door had black skin. She couldn't be ushered away but apparently the husband of the couple actually joined my friends mum in her explanation.
I am sure I have similar. I didn't grow up in a very multi-cultural area (it is now but 20 years ago was not really). I think kids are naturally curious and it is understandable for very young kids to question these things but it's so important for parents to educate from a young age
Jean- I think that many people I know have a similar account. My friend recalls being aged 2/3. Her mum was in hospital in labour with her brother and my friend asked her mum why the couple next door had black skin. She couldn't be ushered away but apparently the husband of the couple actually joined my friends mum in her explanation.
I am sure I have similar. I didn't grow up in a very multi-cultural area (it is now but 20 years ago was not really). I think kids are naturally curious and it is understandable for very young kids to question these things but it's so important for parents to educate from a young age
Oh that's a great story too Heather :) I love the way those of my Facebook friends - who were those children - often post indignantly supportive anti-racist captions, or fair and rational comments about items in the news. They all seem to have turned out with their eyes open and their heads screwed on, and it makes me so happy to see them with these much more egalitarian attitudes at large in the world.
Greg, aren't you partly Japanese? Was that a problem growing up in those areas too?
I know we seemed to have strayed from the book, but on the other hand I think Maya might have approved ... :)
I think it is entirely appropriate to talk about racism in the context of discussion the book. It is, after all, one of the overwhelming things discussed in the book and hugely significant in Maya Angelou's life
I sometimes forget racism exists because it isn't something that even crosses my mind on a daily basis. And then awful things happen, like the recent events in Ferguson and other parts of the States or the Chelsea football fans, and I am reminded it sadly does
I sometimes forget racism exists because it isn't something that even crosses my mind on a daily basis. And then awful things happen, like the recent events in Ferguson and other parts of the States or the Chelsea football fans, and I am reminded it sadly does
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Oh yes!
Incredible how compatatively recent for such apalling behavior!
I took a bunch of notes as I read, but I never had the chance to post t..."
Something like that I'm afraid could happen in Ialy in these days ... in the 80s we didn't have any blach people living with us; now they are much more commons - thanks God I'd say - but we are going through stages that elsewhere are gone by
All About Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Help (other topics)Gather Together in My Name (other topics)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (other topics)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (other topics)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Maya Angelou (other topics)Maya Angelou (other topics)
Hope you don't mind me stepping in here Heather - anyone else fancy reading this too? We're not starting it until the new year.