Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
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LFPC classics: Anyone interested?
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Yes, I'm game! I love reading and re-reading the classics.
Great idea, Rona! Maybe once every 3 months?
Mod
Great! Once every three months sounds fine. I'll start a poll to decide the first book, then we can read it in January. since you all were the first to chime in, you get to suggest poll selections! The main criteria i was thinking of was that the book should have had major impact on literary fiction by POC and / or in the broader world of literature. Don't have to be 'old' books although I'm guessing many of the books we read will be on the older side. Some quick ideas:- Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
- Beloved, Toni Morrison
- Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
- Color Purple, Alice Walker
- One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquez
Looking forward to it!
I'm cool with it, count me in...
Could we try for February, Rona? January is almost here, so doing a poll, choosing a book, reading it - all in the next week is a little too fast. A discussion in February would work well.
I think doing one of these discussions every couple months would be great, and starting in February seems pretty appropriate.
The poll for the February book has already been posted. If we could post our first "classics" poll from January 25 until February 7 (the usual time period), we could read our first classic book and begin the discussion on March 1.
sure sounds good. thanks for the suggestion Mina!
I'm really pleased to see Baldwin's picture on our home page.
thanks hazel! i changed it the other day. james baldwin was the first writer i had put up there on our home page, and then changed it to morrison for awhile. they both epitiomize the kind of writers i wanted to read when i started this group, and to me represent the pinnacle of literary achievement among writers of color.
Hear! Hear! We can't all be 'high-brow' or prize winners, but I wish more of our writers would follow in their footsteps.
I am also interested.I really enjoy the classics.
What are we going to start with? I've just reread The Bluest Eye and was greatly moved. I'd love the opportunity think about it with all of you.
Mod
hello all-i will be posting a poll tomorrow (Friday) to kick off this new discussion on LFPC classics. I'll definitely put all the books / authors that folks have mentioned on my list to think about, but will likely only pick one book per author, at least for this first month. I am thinking maybe down the road we could have polls of books all by the same author (Morrison, Baldwin, etc.).
We will then read the book at the beginning of February and then start discussion about mid-way through the month.
Thanks,
Rona
The poll seems to be going through some mitosis-like process and replicating itself. It looks like everyone is voting on the first poll, but wanted to make sure folks were aware.
yeah that's my fault--i was trying to edit the poll but it just kept creating it over and over. i tried to figure out a way to delete the dupe polls but can't find a way.also, just wanted to note that i did not add james weldon's 'autobiography of an ex-colored man' to this poll mostly because it seemed like it might be harder to find than some of the other books and there is a tight timeline for folks to get their books (if they don't have them already). i will post that book (as well as sula) in a future poll.
vote away!
Oops - I think that we have a mix-up on the timing on the discussions! Go ahead and vote for the book you want, everybody - we'll get the dates worked out!
Message 12 - Wilhelmina wrote: "The poll for the February book has already been posted. If we could post our first "classics" poll from January 25 until February 7 (the usual time period), we could read our first classic book and begin the discussion on March 1."
oh ok, mina, sorry about that. i was a little confused and should have clarified with you. thanks for making things make sense! i'll change the poll.
Rona wrote: "...I'd love to read them and discuss them here--maybe not one per month so as not to compete with the general book discussion, but once every couple months?... "As I get ready for the discussion of our first classics book in March, I wanted to ask about our general discussion. Is this supplanting that discussion, and we'll return to regularly scheduled programming in April? Or will there be two discussions in March?
I believe that we'll be reading one book at a time. So the Classic book for March, and then back to the 'regular' general reading and discussion for April and May, and then another classic in June. Mina is that what you were thinking?
Rashida, do you have a suggestion / idea for another way to structure it?
For now, I was thinking one book a month, so we would have classic books in March. June, September, and December, and contemporary books in the other months. Of course, we can always change after we see how things go. Does that work for everyone?
I like that structure Mina and Rona. :) Good idea.
Yes, I agree. This sounds fantastic. A wonderful first selection!
Any interest?