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Tee C. Royal
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 09:41 pm: | 
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What were some of your favorite books of 2002 and why? Please be sure to share with us the name of the author too.
::::getting my ink pen and "to buy" list ready:::
-Tee |
Kola Boof
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2003 - 11:13 pm: |
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Hi Tee! I smiled big when I saw you were "in here". I read voraciously (although I'm re-writing a manuscript right now and haven't got time). I read some great stuff this year.
"The Lovely Bones" Alice Seebold--perilous!
A great book by Mumia Abu Jamal (forgot the name), but I love this Black man.
"Break Any Woman Down"--which was a short story collection ALMOST as innovative and adventurous as my own. But still not as enduring as my book.
"John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead. CLASSIC! I loved this book. I still read passages sometimes.
"The Good Negress" by A.J. Verdelle--it's kinda boring, but it's really special. This woman is truly gifted. TRULY.
"The Envy of the World" by Ellis Cose. I loved it. And him. Great read.
"So Long the Letter"--Mariama Ba--This is one of those books (written by a dead Senegalese woman) that you will keep and cherish ALL YOUR LIFE. You must get this and read it.
"Upper Room"--Mary Monroe. I loved this book and I LOOOVE this writer. This woman has the splendor of the spider's web and the echo of true memory in her tears. She writes splendidly. THUMPER turned me on to her.
"Corregidora"--Gayl Jones (this is the writer that influenced my own writing style the most--I write masculine, bitchy NUANCED prose with quite a lot of extras weaved in like this--in your face and memorable FA LIFE--this is good fiction and great poetry all at once.)
READ ANYTHING U CAN FIND...by Wanda Coleman. My new favorite poet. This woman is a gifted writer.
"Tales of a WoojieHead" by Gaylon Roberson...a wonderful book about a "lightskinned" bi-racial Black woman's coming to terms with her identity, her strength and her purpose. It's one of those funny books you read in a few hours on the plane--and then it's over. I LOVED IT! She's also become a good friend of mines.
I just started on Zadie Smith's new one. She's truly special and gifted, too. I adored "WHITE TEETH".
**One of the worst books I read this year was by Connie Briscoe. Her slavery book. I've never read anything else by her...but I was so shocked that such a medicore writer (apolitical, fluffy, nothing to say of any substance) finds it so easy getting published. She's as bad as this girl out with "THREESOME" right now (and they accuse me of seeking money and sales over substance!). I didn't like her book--and frankly, I found a lot of it insulting. She's one of those "imitation" psuedo-Black women that I find so nauseating ("a woman of color"). Sorry Connie Briscoe Fans. That's just my opinion--and I've always welcomed my own detractors and critics. Feel free to stone Kola, too. But Connie Briscoe just makes my stomach turn.
Love U TEE-C. Take care. |
Sandra
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 12:36 am: |
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Do you mean books that were released in 2002 or anything that we read in 2002? |
Tee C. Royal
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 10:57 am: |
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Anything you read in 2002 Sandra. :-) And Kola, hey, hey, heyyyyyyyyyyyy! You definitely are a voracious reader...wow! I have a lot of the books you've mentioned, but haven't read them. :-( And I haven't read Connie Briscoe's latest, though I have read other of her books and enjoyed them. I actually bought one book as gifts for all my bridemaids since I enjoyed it so much.
And oops...but I enjoyed Threesome as well. I think I rated it a 3.5 or 4, but I thought the premise was pretty cool. I don't remember much about it since I've read about 30 books since I read it. I can't wait to check out the ones you've listed that I don't have!!
:::counting pennies::::
I'll share my list later this week when I have more time.
-Tee |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 11:44 am: |
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I enjoyed a few books last year:
Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of Bones
Gloria Naylor's Bailey's Cafe
Percival Everett's Erasure and Frenzy
Toni Cade Bambara's The Sea Birds Are Still Alive (I haven't read them all of the stories, only a few. The Organizer's Wife, however, is probably one of the best African American or African Diasporic short stories i ever read.)
Toni Cade Bambara's Salteaters (Classic)
Gayl Jones' Eva's Man (excellent) and White Rat
Randall Kenan's A Visitation of Spirits
Ngugi Wa Thiongo's A Grain of Wheat
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yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 12:35 pm: |
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Hello Kola Boof, (and anyone interested)
Since you have already read Corregidora and i've read Eva's Man, would you be interested in you reading or rereading Eva's Man and i read Corregidora, so that we can have a dialogue on both works? I'm inviting anyone and everyone, of course. This is directed to Kola, because she has already read Gayl Jones' first book and probably her second as well. Also, these books are Jones' shorter books. The last few have been hefty...and i can't carry too much at one time..lol! |
Cynique
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 12:49 pm: |
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I overcame my being intimidated by Toni Morrison in 2002 and thoroughly enjoyed Sula, The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon. What a story teller Morrison is - what a word magician! |
Sandra
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 01:23 pm: |
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OK, lemme see (scanning book collection database)
Here are a few memorable titles in no particular order:
The Fall of Rome - Martha Southgate
Sunday, You Learn to Box - Bil Wright
Addicted - Zane
Child of God - Lolita Files
When Death Comes Stealing - Valerie Wilson Wesley (her other Tamara Halye series mysteries are good also)
Fearless Jones - Walter Mosely
Sympathy for the Devil:An Angela Bivens Thriller - Christopher Chambers (he has a new one coming out next month)
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Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 03:31 pm: |
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Hello Kola
Reference your dislike of Connie Briscoe, are you talking about "A Long Way Home"? Well if you are I don't think you are alone. This book was also a Thumper's Corner chat book and it took a few hits. I don't know why yukio is having such a hard time finding the Flowers chat transcripts (it's still there) but Briscoe's transcript is also available. like I said, you're not alone in your opinion of her slavery book but it was nominated for an NAACP Image award for best fiction......go figure. Check out the chat if you have time. |
Bayou Lights
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 05:05 pm: |
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Hey, Ya'll
Got some great titles here and quite a few I enjoyed as well. Here's my list for 2002 and I'll probably remember more when I jump off.
Erasure by Percival Everett (just the most amazing piece of writing I've seen in a long time)
John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead
Poachers by Tom Franklin (short story collection)
Breaking Clean by Judy Blunt (memoir)
Break Any Woman Down by Dana Johnson (short story collection)
Empire Falls by Richard Russo ( a new favorite writer)
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
I'll post more as I remember.
Happy New Year |
Linda
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 10:44 pm: |
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Well, let me think. I have read so many novels this year it is hard to remember all of them. But, as a start to my list, here goes:
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Fifth born by Zelda Lockhart
The Condemnation of Little B by Elaine Brown
Douglass'Women by Jewell Parker Rhoades
Lady Moses by Lucinda Roy
At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray
A Love of My Own by E.Lynn Harris
The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen Carter
Billy by Albert French
Holly by Albert French
A Different Drummer by William Melvin Kelly
Wew...let me stop for now. I don't want to take up to much space. |
Tee C. Royal
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 11:26 pm: |
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Okay, here are some of my favorites I read in 2002. I had some honorable mentions as well but will post them later.
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Rich Minds, Rich Rewards by Valerie Burton
Rhythms by Donna Hill
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow by Francis Ray
Pretenses by Keith Lee Johnson <<mss>>
I'm Telling by Karen E. Quinones Miller
Cubicles by Camika Spencer
Sittin' in the Front Pew by Parry Brown
This Side of the Sky by Elyse Singleton
A Man Most Worthy by Marcus Major
Four Blind Mice by James Patterson
Rising by Darnella Ford <<self-published>>
The Heart of a Girl is God's Business by Vanessa Salami
I'll start a separate post to discuss some of the ones that you guys have read that I'd like to comment on. :-)
-Tee
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Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 02:49 pm: |
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Hello All,
Oh, do I love this thread!!!
I don't have any favorites. I have read so many excellent novels this years that's its rough forming any kind of list.
Yukio: You listed some wonderful books!! Give Percival Everett's Glyph a read through. It's marvelous, as well as Toni Cade Bambara's Those Bones Are Not My Child. Tell me, how did you get a copy of Gayl Jones' White Rat? I can seem to get my hands on it. I'm a big fan of Gayl Jones!
Kola: I love your selections as well. I was just singing the praises of So Long A Letter to Linda! The novel is pure beauty. I'm glad you like The Upper Room. Mary Monroe is a gem. |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 06, 2003 - 10:17 am: |
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Thumper,
I got White Rat from a university library. I've started Suder and will real Glyph soon. His books are so short, but so powerfully poignant. I'm avoiding Bambara's Those Bones Are Not My Child. It's big and i need to be comfortable to read Bambara. I prefer her short stories. Although Salt Eaters was great, at some points, it was a bit dense, although at the end, the density made sense. Yes, i like GJ too, at least her earlier work. I haven't checked her recent literature.
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ME
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 09:59 am: |
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James Mcbride's Miracle At St. Anna was a really pleasant surprise for me. So much so that like Thumper I had to go back & check out his first book. Erasure & Glyph by Percival Everett were also quite good.Enjoyed all the books Walter Mosley published this past year. Finally got around to reading Clifford's Blues by John A. Williams, about a black, gay jazz musician imprisoned in Dachau from the early days of the Third Reich till its decline; powerful book. John Henry Days, The Fall of Rome, Emperor of Ocean Park, A Love Supreme, Chester Himes: A life by James Sallis, Thomas Sowell's memoir and Saving The Race by John McWhorter were just a few of the books I enjoyed this past year. Yukio you should read Those Bones.... it's a much better novel than Salt Eaters & even has the power & language of her best short stories. It's too sad that she is no longer with us. This book should be a classic. |
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