Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
Read And Recommended
I recommend Small Country. You can read it in a day. Deserves all the awards its won in France. And it's on the Tournament of Books long list, for those in thrall......
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Nadine, I wish more people would read this small gem. It was undeniably a 5 star read for me.
Columbus wrote: "Nadine wrote: "I recommend Small Country. You can read it in a day. Deserves all the awards its won in France. And it's on the Tournament of Books long list, for those in thrall......."I started Small Country last night and read past my bedtime I was so enjoying. (Thank goodness for coffee this morning).
I'm new to the group, and I only skimmed the last couple months worth of conversation, so please forgive me if I repeat things that have already been said.I second the recommendation for "When They Call You a Terrorist". It was one of my favorite memoirs of the year and I added it to my "5-star nonfiction" shelf on here.
Other books I enjoyed by POC this year were:
-The Book of Negroes - Lawrence Hill. This is about a part of American and Canadian history I didn't know that well, black folks who fought on the side of the British in the Revolution after being promised freedom and land.
-The Vegetarian - Han Kang. Powerful and eery, even in translation.
-Ordinary Light - Tracy K. Smith. A coming-of-age memoir and tells of how she developed as a poet.
-The Dew Breaker - Edwidge Danticat. A series of interlocking stories that all center on a man who was formerly with the brutal secret police force in Haiti and the effect he has on other people's lives even after he leaves Haiti.
-Black Lotus: A Woman's Search for Racial Identity - Sil Lai Abrams. A memoir by a woman who was told she was Chinese and "Hawaiian", only to find out later in life that her real father was black.
-Jam on the Vine - Barnett, LaShonda Katrice. A novel about a black woman in the Jim Crow South who becomes the publisher of a black newspaper. Inspired by (but not really "based on") the story of newspapermen and women of that era including Ida B. Wells.
-Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng. Possibly my favorite novel of the year.
-A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara. Incredible.
-Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison" - Shaka Senghor. Just finished this. It knocked me out.
Sarah wrote: "I'm new to the group, and I only skimmed the last couple months worth of conversation, so please forgive me if I repeat things that have already been said.I second the recommendation for "When Th..."
I also 5-starred both When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir and A Little Life. I'll check my libraries for your other recommendations now: thanks! :-D
Sarah wrote: "I'm new to the group, and I only skimmed the last couple months worth of conversation, so please forgive me if I repeat things that have already been said.I second the recommendation for "When Th..."
Great list!!
I have read all the books that you have mentioned except for Little Fires Everywhere and the Shaka Senghor book.
But as a lover of historical fiction I think that Jam on the Vine is one of the least under appreciated books that more people need to read - I have often wondered if it is the title.
Highly recommend Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Excellent read.
I'm going to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin for Black History Month. I'm looking forward to reading her work. Has anybody else read her?
Marion wrote: "I'm going to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin for Black History Month. I'm looking forward to reading her work. Has anybody else read her?"I adore her Broken Earth trilogy and plan to read How Long 'Til Black Future Month? soon. :-)
Joelle wrote: "Marion wrote: "I'm going to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin for Black History Month. I'm looking forward to reading her work. Has anybody else read her?"Good deal Joelle. I'm looking forward to reading this short story collection.
Marion wrote: "I'm going to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin for Black History Month. I'm looking forward to reading her work. Has anybody else read her?"I've read her Broken Earth Trilogy and will be reading the last book in her Thousand Kingdoms trilogy this month. I also plan, hopefully in early February, to read her collection of short stories, How Long 'til Black Future Month.
Lata wrote: "Marion wrote: "I'm going to read How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin for Black History Month. I'm looking forward to reading her work. Has anybody else read her?"Cool deal, Lata. I will post a review when I have read the short story collection.
Possibly I've posted this here before. If so, I've since added to it. If not, here you go for the first time. My #BlackBookReviews - https://lineaday.blogspot.com/2014/02...Plenty of gems to choose from.
Read Shaka’s book in a 24 hour span. Changed how I see prison. Highly recommended.
I recently listened to Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey.This was a Hoopla audio book.
It was the L.A. Theater Works production and it was exceptional.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording, starring: January LaVoy as The Poet, Thomas Neal Antwon Ghant as the Native Guard, and featuring Nicole Banks Long on vocals and Tyrone Jackson on piano.
It was a little over an hour long.
If your library does not subscribe to Hoopla, here is a link to the Audible page where you can hear a sample. The Audible cost for this audio book is $5.00 (or lower if you are a member).
https://www.audible.com/pd/Native-Gua...
Native Guard won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2007.
Renee wrote: "Read Shaka’s book in a 24 hour span. Changed how I see prison. Highly recommended." Yes, it's a compelling read, isn't it? I didn't read it in one day, but it was hard to put down.
Recently finished Magical Negro by Morgan Parker⭐⭐⭐⭐. It's being released next week -- February 5th. My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Sarah wrote: "I'm new to the group, and I only skimmed the last couple months worth of conversation, so please forgive me if I repeat things that have already been said.I second the recommendation for "When Th..."
I am reading Ordinary Light now. The prose is so beautiful!!
Courtney wrote: "I am reading Ordinary Light now. The prose is so beautiful!!"Awesome! I agree. It made me want to seek out some of her poetry.
Michelle wrote: "Recently finished Magical Negro by Morgan Parker⭐⭐⭐⭐. It's being released next week -- February 5th. My review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/..."Thanks - this book is on my tbr list
2019 is starting out to be a very strong reading year for me.While I am not relishing the colder than normal weather for my area and when it does warm all of the dreary rainy days - this weather does have me staying indoor with my nose in a book.
House of Stone: A Novel by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma was a 5 star read for me.
Powerful, exquisitely affecting, blisteringly honest
This is a perfect example of how to write history into fiction.
Here is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Wonderful review! I, too, enjoyed this also - was immediately pulled into the story and enjoyed the history "lesson."
I loved The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I recently read Black no more by George Schuyler. Written in the early 1930s, it’s topic of racism and race relations is still relevant today. I highly recommend it.
Faith wrote: "I loved The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Very nice review!
I am looking forward to reading this book shortly.
Barbikat60 wrote: "I recently read Black no more by George Schuyler. Written in the early 1930s, it’s topic of racism and race relations is still relevant today. I highly recommend it."Yes, still a timely read.
In fact, this book came to mind several times when I was reading We Cast a Shadow.
Another stunning read for me.We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
I found this worthy page-turning debut to be:
• Brilliantly unsettling
• Could feel this near future creeping into reality
• Vibrant and rich tale
• Well-executed plot where every plot point is shown to be well-thought out
• Timely and thought-provoking
And I think the cover is original and fits the storyline
Here is a link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hello everyone! very excited to join the group - i'm already jotting down your book suggestions! I was hoping to add another one to the mix?An Ode To The Black Woman - very short read (and hopefully a good one!)
Would love to get your thoughts on it!
Beverly wrote: "Another stunning read for me.We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
I found this worthy page-turning debut to be:
• Brilliantly unsettling
• Could feel this n..."
I just got the audiobook for this! Trying to decide between starting it or On the Come Up first...
I am about to finish Black Like Me so I think We Cast a Shadow will be an interesting parallel read!
I finally got around to Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat. It was excellent!! A fast, intense and engaging read.
Beverly wrote: "Another stunning read for me.We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
I found this worthy page-turning debut to be:
• Brilliantly unsettling
• Could feel this n..."
We Cast a Shadow is simply amazing. can't believe it's a first novel. i listened to the audiobook and loved the performance.
Just finished reading The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray ~ 4 starshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
jo that's wonderful! And in a weird coincidence I was just coming to this thread to post how much I love this same novel! 5 stars for me too!https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lark wrote: "jo that's wonderful! And in a weird coincidence I was just coming to this thread to post how much I love this same novel! 5 stars for me too!https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"
i plagiarized your Invisible Man connection, which i was suspicious of but not sure. you have textual evidence! for me it was the first showdown, which strongly echoes the battle royal(e?) in the opening scene if IM, yes?
jo, I didn't get a flashback to Invisible Man in any of the scenes per se but that's interesting to me that you did. I hope to get the chance to read this novel carefully with others--maybe in this group (?). The reference to Invisible Man here in We Cast a Shadow gripped me in the first sentences. These seemed to be so completely written in response to Invisible Man. The writer seems to be saying here, "hey, reader, Black men are in worse shape than when Invisible Man was written, because now we really ARE ghosts." Whereas the narrator in Invisible Man makes a declarative statement that he isn't a ghost at all--even if white people treat him as if he were.
Lark wrote: "jo, I didn't get a flashback to Invisible Man in any of the scenes per se but that's interesting to me that you did. I hope to get the chance to read this novel carefully with others--maybe in this..."so well said. and that title, right?
jo wrote: "and that title, right? ..."See i hadn't even thought of that! This is a very complicated book.
Lark wrote: "jo wrote: "and that title, right? ..."See i hadn't even thought of that! This is a very complicated book."
feel like discussing it now? gathering a small group? cuz if like a week passes, it's all gone from my leaky mind.
We could start a buddy read here. I would be interested and I know others in the group have read it too. Or alternatively it would be a great monthly group read. It's nominated for the April read in 'newest literary fiction,' where some of us also belong. The two groups have read the same books frequently and the discussions are always really different.
Lark wrote: "We could start a buddy read here. I would be interested and I know others in the group have read it too. Or alternatively it would be a great monthly group read. It's nominated for the April read i..."I am reading it now and would LOVE a buddy read!
I also really wish I had read Invisible Man before We Cast a Shadow...
Carly wrote: "I also really wish I had read Invisible Man before We Cast a Shadow... ..."Sometimes though the new book enlightens the older one. That's what happened to me with The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway. I envy anyone who still has Invisible Man to read for the first time!
Lark wrote: "We could start a buddy read here. I would be interested and I know others in the group have read it too. Or alternatively it would be a great monthly group read. It's nominated for the April read i..."It was decided a while ago that because of the difficulty that some members have procuring just published and very popular titles from the library that I would wait for six months after publication before posting a book to the group poll. This one was published just last month. Soooo..look for it in June. Buddy read in the meantime.
William wrote: "Lark wrote: "We could start a buddy read here. I would be interested and I know others in the group have read it too. Or alternatively it would be a great monthly group read. It's nominated for the..."yeah this is right.
ok, this sounds like a perfect buddy read then. I ended up buying We Cast a Shadow, probably my first new-hardcover purchase in three years, after I read Michelle's wonderful review--
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
so I'm ready for anything, anytime!
jo wrote: "William wrote: "Lark wrote: "We could start a buddy read here. I would be interested and I know others in the group have read it too. Or alternatively it would be a great monthly group read. It's n..."I just saw a copy in the new arrivals at my library...the will power it took to leave it there! I'll wait till June. It better win the poll!
I recently read two book that relates to the Black History Month theme. One was a recently published book and the other was a book that sat on my shelf unread for too many years.
The recently published book was The Book of Training by Colonel Hap Thompson of Roanoke, VA, 1843: Annotated From the Library of John C. Calhoun by Percival Everett.
This 48 page poetry collection is a gut-punch to the soul.
"Percival Everett’s The Book of Training by Colonel Hap Thompson of Roanoke, VA, 1843, Annotated From the Library of John C. Calhoun, is poetry within the harsh confines of a mock historical document―a guidebook for the American slave owner. The collection features lists of instructions for buying, training, and punishing, equations for calculating present and future profits, and handwritten annotations affirming the brutal contents. The Book of Training lays bare the mechanics of the peculiar institution of slavery and challenges readers to place themselves in the uncomfortable vantage point of those who have bought and enslaved human beings."
Sometimes poetry is the better than prose to illustrate the inhumanity of slavery. Even the presentation of the book – cover, coloring, style added to the harrowing reality of this collection.
The second book is George And Rue by George Elliott Clarke.
,"The Canadian province of Nova Scotia, in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, represents an unfamiliar setting for American readers; adding to the unfamiliarity will be the specific milieu first-novelist Clarke writes about: the community of black Nova Scotians, descendants of blacks emigrating northward from the U.S. in the late--eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. The author's involvement with the major characters in his novel is more than what is usual between creator and creations; brothers George and Rufus Hamilton, the protagonists here, were executed for a 1949 murder and were Clarke's first cousins."
While I knew about the black slaves who were "migrated" by the British to Eastern Canada for their support of the British in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and I knew these ex-slaves who became Afro-Canadians led a hard scrabble life but this fictionalized biography of the two cousins of the author's family brings to life just how difficult their lives were and how these two cousins ended up committing a heinous crime in 1949 and were hanged for their actions.
Mod
One was a recently published book and the other was a book that sat on my shelf unread for too many years.
The recently pub..."
Beverly, the Percival Everett book is on its way to me now. So glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I had the impression this was a backlist title from him. Really excited to get my hands on it now.
Literary Fiction by People of Color
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I didn't ..."
I agree.
And I so love the cover!!!