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Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2003 - 10:14 pm: | 
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Hello All,
I've been battling a serious cold/flu for the past week and a half. So, I wasn't able to make it to the on-line discussion of Mule and Men or even post on the board. It was whopping me! This is my first day well enought to post on the board so, here I is. *smile*
I am still in my Winter wonderland reading vacation. Right now, I'm reading my boy, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night. I had to do a switch up. I was under the spell of Harry Potter. I LOVE THOSE BOOKS!! I read the first two, and I'm going to get to the last two before the new one comes out. I'm hooked!
Anyway, I was listening to a couple of blow hards on the TV talking about the essential films that any self-proclaimed film buff would have in his library. I thought about books again. Years ago, AALBC went through a whole big thing about the top 100 AA books of the century. It come to me that a number of the books that I would now put on the list, I had not read when I submitted my votes. Yep, even I was restricted to just one vote. *smile*
How about it. What books are essential? Give me a few titles. And don't give me the titles that sounds good and would make you look impressive. Hit me with the titles of books that you would read over and over again. |
yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2003 - 10:34 pm: |
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Hey Thumper and I MISSED you...was wondering where you were...hmm I guess you partied too much in Los Angeles at BEA...huh. But I feel you it must have been something in the air because I came back and proceeded to get sick as well...sigh.
Anyway, essential books...I love this question! Okay here's some books that I would include...beyond the ones that are probably already there:
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor (I can read this book over and over and over again and find something new everytime I read it).
Erasure by Percival Everette--his book is a parody on contemporary fiction but yet so pointed and on target.
Finding Makeba by Alex Pate--the brother can write and this book moved me tremendously when I read it. I felt for the AA father who couldn't reach out and touch his child because his ex-wife was pissed that he left her and wanted it to appear that he left his child!
View From Here by Brian Keith Jackson--told primarily in a narrative format from the voice of the unborn child. Very creative but also very well written. Excellent character development!
Discretion by Elizabeth Nunez--I don't believe in extramarital affairs but she wrote this story in such a manner that I actually had compassion for the husband! Excellent!
Tavis Smiley's first book...aw dayum the title escapes me now...geez...I need to go find it and read it again!
Redemption Song by Bertice Berry--I like how she weaves history, spirtuality and love of ancestory in all of her books.
Tumbling by Dianne McKinney Whetstone
I know there are some other books but these are the ones that are top of mine.
I would probably also add My Soul To Keep by Tananarive Due, Kindred by Octavia Butler and Thunderland by Brandon Massey. Primarily because each of these authors successfully write o/side of the usual genres. |
Snake Girl
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 12:41 am: |
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Thumper, I'm so sorry that you were sick. I hope you get better soon.
Books that I read over and over again throughout my life:
1) "Possessing the Secret of Joy" by Alice Walker
2) "Linden Hills" by Gloria Naylor
3) "Cane" by Jean Toomer
4) "Even the Stars Look Lonesome" by Maya Angelou
5) "The Collected Poems" by Sylvia Plath
6) "Secrets" by Nuruddin Farah
7) "So Long the Letter" by Mariama Ba
8) "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" by Alice Walker
9) "The Devil Finds Work" by James Baldwin
10) "The Outsider" by Richard Wright
11) "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
12) "Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
**My all time favorite book remains "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. There's also a White male author that I loved as a teenager--Sherwood Anderson. He wrote "perfect" short stories.
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lurkerette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 08:25 am: |
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The Good Negress by A J Verdelle is my all time favorite. The Socrates Fortlow books by Walter Mosley come a close second. Bailey's Cafe by Gloria Naylor. Solomon's Song by Toni Morrison. And, not a personal favorite, but due to its impact on the literary world and opening doors for other AA authors, The Color Purple. |
lurkerette
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 08:27 am: |
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Ooooh, and Their Eyes were watching God of course. |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 08:58 am: |
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Hello All,
Yasmin and Snake Girl, thanks for the sentiments. *smile*
You know, I forgot to put my own list of essentials up. I reserve the right to update it. *smile*
1.) Cane - Jean Toomer
2.) Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
3.) The Ways of White Folk - Langston Hughes
4.) A Gathering of Old Men - Ernest Gaines
5.) The Street - Ann Petry
6.) The Color Purple - Alice Walker
7.) Native Son - Richard Wright
8.) Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
9.) Yesterday Will Make You Cry - Chester Himes
10.) The Man Who Cried I Am - John A. Williams
11.) The Blacker The Berry - Wallace Thurman
12.) Passing - Nella Larsen
13.) A Different Drummer - William Melvin Kelley
14.) The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison
15.) Your Blues Ain't Like Mine - Bebe Moore Campbell
16.) Middle Passage - Charles Johnson
17.) The Oxherding Tale - Charles Johnson
18.) Jonah's Gourd Vine - Zora Neale Hurston
19.) Another Country - James Baldwin
20.) Mama Black Widow - Iceberg Slim
21.) The Third Life Of Grange Copeland - Alice Walker
22.) Train Whistle Guitar - Albert Murray
23.) So Long A Letter - Mariama Ba. I'm with you Snake Girl, the book is a pure literary marvel.
24.) Clifford's Blues - John A. Williams
25.) Paradise - Toni Morrison
This is my list so far. I'll be back to update later.
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yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 12:27 pm: |
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Okay since we're going back before the 90s...hehe...my list would also include:
Native Son by Richard Wright
Go tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Roots by Alex Haley
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Black Betty by Walter Mosley
Spook Who Sat by the Door by Sam Greenlee
Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Woodson
Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
Color of Purple by Alice Walker
Their Eyes by Zora Neale Hurston
I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing by Maya Angelou
Before the Mayflower by Lerone Bennett Jr (this book was brutal when I read it but it was very informative and thought provoking...definitely need to read it again now that I'm older)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown
Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillian
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Terry McMillian
Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
Souls of Black Folk by WEB DuBois
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (maybe; let me think on this one...not sure if I want to re-read this one; but I think it should be required reading)
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Sally Hemings by Barbara Chase-Riboud
Our Nig, et al by Harriet E. Wilson
Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
If he Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Hims
The Street by Ann Petry
Faith and the Good Thing by Charles Johnson
Auto of Malcolm X by Malcolm X/Alex Haley
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Akaivyleaf
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 04:21 pm: |
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I should have just replied after reading Thumper's opening post instead of reading everything and replying.
Yasmin, I have to agree with you on Tannanarive Due and put her works on my list as well as Brandon Massey. Then I have to reach way back to some other books too. I too would like to reserve the right to edit my list...
1. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
2. Native Son - Richard Wright
3. Color Purple - Alice Walker
4. Temple of My Familiar - Alice Walker
5. I know why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
6. Life for Me Ain't no Crystal Stair (Poem)- Langston Hughes
7. Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing (Poem and song) - James Weldon Johnson
8. Souls of Black Folk - WEB DuBois
9. Billy - Albert French
10. My Soul to Keep, The Living Blood -Tananarive Due
11. Kindred, Wild Seed - Octavia Butler
12. Pimp - Iceberg Slim
13. Thunderland - Brandon Massey |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 05:15 pm: |
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Keep coming with the lists; I'm using your lists to make my "To Read List"...lol! |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 06:10 pm: |
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Hello All,
Oooo, you all have come up with some good ones that totally slipped my mind!
1.) Billy - Albert French!! Oh without a doubt!!
2.) Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe. Yes, yes, yes!
3.) Bird At My Window - Rosa Guy
4.) And Then We Heard Thunder - John Oliver Killens
5.) At The Hands of Persons Unknown - Phillip Dray
6.) The Chaneysville Incident - David Bradley
7.) Bessie - Chris Albertson
8.) Magic City - Jewell Parker Rhodes
9.) Trumpet - Jackie Kay
10.) Family - J. California Cooper
11.) The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales - Charles W. Chesnutt
12.) Up From Slavery - Booker T. Washington. Self serving like a mug, but still a fascinating read.
13.) Incomparable World - S. I. Martin. I'm not sure if I got the author's name correct, but the book is off-the-hook.
14.) I, Timbutka, Black Witch of Salem - Maryse Conde. Conde is one of my all-time favorite authors ever.
15.) Bailey's Cafe - Gloria Naylor
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Linda
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 16, 2003 - 06:24 pm: |
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Hey Thumper
Glad you are feeling better...Welcome Back. Hmm, now this is an interesting question. But here are few off the top of my head I would definitely re-read:
The Wig -Charles Wright
Solomon's Song-Toni Morrison
Cane-Jean Toomer
Native Son-Richard Wright
Billy-Albert French
Gathering of Old Men-Ernest Gaines
At the Hands of Persons Unknown-Philip Dray
Lady Moses-Lucinda Roy
Gabriel--I forgot the author (smile)
Street Players - Donald Goines
Leaving Atlanta- T. Jones
The Healing-Gayle Jones
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