Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion
Read And Recommended
I've been looking at that one. It's not availabne in ebook form though.
LOL, I know -- I guess Alexie has a strong hatred for ereaders. I am laughing, as some of his comments about ereaders have gone viral. He is also the screen writer for the movie Smoke Signals - which is a great indie movie and a good introduction into his sense of humor.I ended up checking the book out of the library, it was worth it. It has drawings on every page -- and then I bought the collectors' edition because I loved the book so much and convinced my husband to read it. My library has one of his books in audio format, but it is not that good Flight so if your library has that one, I don't recommend Flight being your intro to Alexie.
Yeah, my library has Flight.I found a website with Native American authors, and most of their books are not in ebook form yet. The problem I have with African-American sites, the ones I've browsed, is that it takes me a whole lot of time to sift through the romances and urban shoot-ups to find the kind of literature that I'm looking for, so I look for 10 or 15 minutes, and then get bored.
I'm trying to stay away from paper books, because I'm convinced the small fonts strain my eyes.
The font for Absolutely True Diary is not small, bc the book is biggish due to the pictures. Just a tiny encouragement. :)I just did a few searches, I see what you mean. This may not work for everything, but I have found some really good books by looking at what some of my favorite authors of mine read -- if they have a profile here on GR. Also, by googling syllabus for certain classes -- sometimes college courses feature books I would not have thought of have really good books listed on their syllabus. Another idea, is those book recommendation sites -- where you type in one name and the site churns out a recommendation like http://whatshouldireadnext.com/ (which has a silly recommendation for Song Yet Sung, so not useful here). Sorry, wish I could be of more help. I have quite a few suggestions for Mexican American literature though. :)
Does anyone have any recommendations on the subject of Divorce? This may be a bit off subject, but I'm looking for memoirs if possible. These could be either by African American author or non-African American author. Thanks!
christina, this group is really good at helping people find books based on a particular criterion. check it out.
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla NunnMystery
Takes place in 1952 South Africa, so due to the time period, difficult at times, actually through the book, but a good mystery. This book was written in 2008.
Gathering of Waters by Bernice L. McFaddenI would say it will be the best book I will have read in 2012 but I received an early copy from Bernice in December, 2011 and read the book in 2 days. Wonderful, and how she turned one of the worse times in history into a book that made me feel good. I am not sure! No spoilers here.
Very good news, Barbara!Maybe you would like to vote for it here:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15...
Wilhemina...just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the book suggestions. They have expanded my literary horizons and taken me to new places! :)
Gathering of Waters should be on everyone's list.
Thanks to everyone who makes suggestions!
Barbara wrote: "Gathering of Waters should be on everyone's list."I also have read Gathering of Waters, but am probably not as gung-ho as you are. :)
It is an easy read, actually finished it sooner than expected (1 day)
I have finished Makeda by Randall Robinson and really enjoyed. I have read three books with similar themes in Feb - Gathering of Waters, The Healing, and Makeda - and Makeda was the fav of the group.Overall:
• Overall I enjoyed this book and while early in the year and based on current and upcoming AA releases will probably be one of my top AA reads for the year
• To me this book read like a memoir
• I thought that Robinson took a theme/storyline that is common yet gave it a fresh perspective and made it his own
What I liked:
• Cover art design was great – it fit the book
• The different layers of the stories and the stories within stories
o The coming-of-age story of Gray
o Using Richmond as the town for telling of the times (do not often see Richmond in stories) and the effects of segregation of Black people
o The “memory” places were about African civilizations that are often overlooked in our stories and often missing in textbooks
o Reincarnation and the major religions
o The concept of Black Americans and often seen as “Americans” by others outside of the US
• At first I was not sure about Makeda being a blind laundress but in the end it worked for me as the story did not go into details how she did the laundry – so I liked how the concept was used
• The writing style drew me into the book – thought the writing was elegant and graceful
I just finished reading The Famished Road, by Ben Okri (Nigerian-British author). If you like magical realism, this is definitely a fantastic read.
Lucy, thanks for the recommendation. Did you read/like any of his short stories? I have his Stars of the New Curfew on my pile.
Lucy wrote: "I just finished reading The Famished Road, by Ben Okri (Nigerian-British author). If you like magical realism, this is definitely a fantastic read."
Well, I have been so out of the loop, I have missed the last three book discussions! :( But, I am back on track and hope to participate in April's, once it is chosen.
Just finished Clotel: or, The President's Daughter. It was a bit underwhelming for me, but I am trying to appreciate what it does contribute to the overall genre.
Just started Serena. Hoping for a good, suspenseful read to keep my interest. I got bored for a while reading Clotel and was reading at a snails pace!
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But, I am back on track and hope to participate in April's, once it is chosen.
Just finished Clotel:..."</i>
I loved [book:Serena, Renee! Wonderful story and good writing. Not a writer of color of course, but really enjoyed this book.
Renee wrote: "Well, I have been so out of the loop, I have missed the last three book discussions! :( But, I am back on track and hope to participate in April's, once it is chosen.
Just finished [book:Clotel:..."
I also enjoyed Serena - loved the writing style, the setting, and storytelling. This was my first time reading Ron Rash.
Ron Rash is one of my favorites also. Great short stories.
Wilhelmina wrote: "Ron Rash is one of my favorites also. Great short stories."He has a new book being released beginning of April - The Cove
Here is a link to the Indies Choice Nominees.Several have been BOM reads for the group - 1Q84, Salvage the Bones, We the Animals
http://lunch.publishersmarketplace.co...
I would like to recommend Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I don't have the book nearby. Hope the author's name isn't misspelled. The father in this novel is very, very strict. His religion, Catholicism, is very important to him. He calls his father and the grandfather of his children a heathen. I guess the novel's theme is how religion not only unites people. Religion can also cause a deep divide in families.
I'm almost finished another book for a challenge. The name of the novel is CHANDA'S SECRETS by ALLAN STRATTON. It's fantastic. It's a YA novel. It's won The Printz Award for Excellence. The novel happens in Africa. AIDS is the subject of the novel. I think March 10th is World AIDS Day. This is why the moderator of the challenge chose AIDS as our book for March.
I haven't read any books by Audre Lorde.
Chelsea, I don't know. I'm just learning my way around here. If you want to guess the answer now, it's alright with me. If I go somewhere unfamiliar on the site, I'll get lost.(:
Mina, I loved Wench by Dolens-Valdez. Hope she writes and publishes another one soon.
That All or Nothing seems very interesting. I'm going to put it on my long list.
Mina, I received my copy of HALF-BLOOD Blues by ESI EDUCGYAN in the mail. Don't know when I'll start it.
I have just finished an excellent book - DRIFTING HOUSE by Krys Lee. This is a collection of nine short stories. The writing was elegant and poised. There is calmness in the tone (through the writing) that makes the stories more haunting than what they are.
I recently finished two novels by African American women that I enjoyed a lot - Act of Grace by Karen Simpson and More Than You Know by Rosalyn Story. Both were first novels; Story has since gone on to write Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans. I'm not sure that I would describe them as literary fiction (often a question for me!) and neither was a perfect book, but each book told a great story. For anyone looking for a good read, I would recommend both of these books. I plan to read Wading Home very soon, and I am looking forward to more books from both authors.
Wilhelmina wrote: "I plan to read Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans very soon, and I am looking forward to more books from both authors. "Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans was my favorite book for 2011. I read More Than You Know, after I read Wading Home, and I considered Wading Home more "literary."
Damali wrote: "Yeah, my library has Flight.I found a website with Native American authors, and most of their books are not in ebook form yet. The problem I have with African-American sites, the ones I've browsed..."
Damali,
Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, and Leslie Silko are all Native writers with books in ebook form.
Janet wrote: "Damali wrote: "Yeah, my library has Flight.I found a website with Native American authors, and most of their books are not in ebook form yet. The problem I have with African-American sites, the on..."
Also, Stephen Graham Jones and Eric Gansworth.
I'm reading The Street by Ann Petry. The man who owns the apartment bldg. is totally creepy. I wish someone would kill him off. He's gross.
It was announced that Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan is on the Orange Prize Longlist for 2012. I love the Orange Prize longlist as I usually "discover" a book or two that I enjoy.The shortlist will be announced on April 17th and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Half-Blood Blues makes the shortlist.
Here is a link to the longlist titles:
http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/prize.html
Julie Otsuka’s ‘The Buddha in the Attic’ wins 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.IMHO - well deserved
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The shortlist w..."
Thanks for sharing, Beverly! I've been wanting to read this book a long time. Awesome!
Beverly wrote: "Julie Otsuka’s ‘The Buddha in the Attic’ wins 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.IMHO - well deserved"
Thanks for letting us know, Beverly!
Leah, I haven't, but now it's on my list! Thanks!
I've just finished Hari Kunzru's GODS WITHOUT MEN. An excellent novel examining spirituality and the essential unknowability of the mysteries of life on earth. Recommend without reservation.
Thanks for letting us know, Rosie!
Here's a recommend: Myra Infante's Combustible Sinners and Other Stories, which is now available in trade paperback and for the Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Combustible-Sin...It's a powerful exploration of a little-discussed subset of Mexican-American society.
"Being and Homelessness: Notes from an Underground Artist" by John H. Sibley ranks highly on Goodreads' "President Obama's Summer Reading List" and "African American Memoirs" and reads like "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison or "Notes from Underground" by Dostoyevsky. John Sibley was a homeless artist living in winter on the streets of Chicago. This book is about the conviction of an artist in the value of his work even as he becomes destitute in the pursuit of it. After his dark night of the spirit Sibley writes about being homeless in the world, displaced and rootless: "I gazed down into the underbelly of the abyss. I am blessed that I escaped the Stygian darkness of the nether world of alleys, bridge viaducts, vacant cars and subways caverns. To escape that region of dread and despair teaches you that pain and suffering are central to the human condition," he writes. In his writing is a plea to maximize this nation’s resources, both public and private to help the wretched existence of the homeless. "I write to illuminate the plight of the homeless so that when you see them in libraries, on subways, city buses, local train stations or standing in front of missions like they had stepped out of painter Edward Hopper’s canvas, you won’t judge them, as Anatole Broyard noted, as 'creatures of the darkness, where sex, drugs, gambling and other crimes are directed against a bourgeois culture that despises them.'” This is a powerful, victorious and unsentimental work by a person of color whose star is rising.Here's a news story written in Chicago about him and his work:
http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/9...
Here's the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Being-Homelessn...
I have finished reading Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan. Lyrical and well-researched, Half-Blood Blues, tells the compelling story of a multi-ethnic jazz band in Germany and France on the brink of WWII. The story is narrated by Sid, a light-skinned bass player from Baltimore and we learn of the other characters and events through his eyes. The soft-spoken jazz-inspired language immediately pulls you into the story, showing a human side of WWII about ties that bind us together and the choices that rip us apart. The storyline moves smoothly between the last 1930s/early 1940s and the present day allowing readers to puzzle over the balance of objectively and loyalty as told by Sid. Esi Edugyan, a masterful writer, subtly shows how both the uniting power of jazz and the racial discrimination in everyday lives. This tale of music, race, love, betrayal, and the healing power of forgiveness will linger in the readers mind long after the last page.
If language draws you into a story - you will enjoy this book.
Literary Fiction by People of Color
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He isn't for everyone, but I really like Sherman Alexie, I enjoyed his The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian but it is not historical fiction like Song Yet Sung.