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Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 11:03 am: | 
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Ran across this one almost by accident. It is brand new Mosley but seems to have come out with little fanfare.
Has anyone else read it? |
K
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 11:09 am: |
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I ordered it just the other day. I like Mosley's work and can't wait for it to arrive. You are right it came the hush hush arrival. What's up with that? |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 11:56 am: |
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The one review I read of this book gave it very high marks. I'm thinking about checking it out. I'm not a Mosely fan but this book, which is a digression from his usual fare, sounds very intriguing. It deals with, among other things, how the philosopy of capitalism impacts on the lives of its 2 main characters. |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 12:00 pm: |
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K: I don't know--if I had to guess I'd say it's because his publisher wants more Easy Rawlins (something I heard him say when he was pushing his first Sci Fi book, Blue Light) and wants this one to flop and get out of the way quick so he can get back to the meal ticket.
Cynique: I will hold my comments until you and others have read it. |
Bayou Lights
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 03:31 pm: |
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I heard Mosley speak about this book at BEA last year. Sounds interesting. Just ordered it. There was a very positive review in last week's issue of The New Yorker.
Will post once I've read.
Bayou |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 08:00 pm: |
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Hey Cynique
Hi Hun, I am curious, why did you call Walter's book a digression.
btw, I agree, I too enjoy our ..ahh..lets just say, flavor, of our most recent exchanges. I need all the friends I can get, that will put up with my ol'musty buns  .
Now about those digits. Soot, I may be old-er but my pores could also use a little.....ahh...cleaning every know and then, know what I mean . |
Yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 09:55 pm: |
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hey Chris, Carey, Cynique, K and Bayou...i saw it today....in barnes and nobles. I'll get it tomorrow, and we can talk about this in about....what? Two weeks? I'm still struggling with the warmest december, but i'm enjoying Drinking COffeee Elsewhere. |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:08 am: |
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Carey, I called the book a "digression" because it sounds like Mosley strayed from his usual format and genre. This is no "Easy Rawlins" type book, and I understand the book contains pages of diaglogue and debate between the 2 main characters. But just to be safe, I will refrain from saying anything else about this book until I actually read it. And, remember, babe, age ain't nothin but a number...
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Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:42 am: |
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Okay Cynique, I was thinking more on the line of "below" or "worst than"
Cynique,"ain't nothin' but a number".... true true....<<wink>>
btw, is that something like "The Blacker The Berry The Sweeter The Juice"? |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:44 am: |
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I always did like Gunsmoke. |
JustTheFacts
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 01:05 am: |
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Yukio, put The Warmest December down, for now anyways, and just continue to read and enjoy Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.
I've read quite a few reviews on Mosley's book. So I'm not sure how quiet it's been kept. If he does a book tour, then I am certain we'll be hearing more about this one.
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yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:12 pm: |
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JustTheFacts:
Naw, i'm almost finished and i've put it down enough... |
k
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 01:19 pm: |
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The Warmest December is worth the read. Stick with it and don't pressure yourself to finish. Often times I finish books in one sitting 2 tops so I know what it's like when you can't get through it. Oddly enough for all the ranting and raving about Drinking Coffee Elsewhere I can't finish it. I don't see what the big deal is. I know you guys have already dicussed this but clue me in please. Maybe I can start over and do better with this one. |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 12:27 am: |
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K:
There are nuances to ZZ Packer's writing. There is irony, the prose is crisp, cleverness, surprise, witty....her writing is delicate; she pays attension to the intricacies of mundanity....she is a storyteller also, ....Brownies is so very funny...hmmmmmm...maybe you're not impressed because you're caucasian....LMAO! |
K
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 12:28 pm: |
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You got jokes. Right? Intricate mundanity? Maybe. I will not be defeated. I'll regroup and go for it again this weekend. |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 03:48 pm: |
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K:
She is quite serious, I assure you. Welcome to the World of Yukio. |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 02:27 am: |
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Yukio, am usually right with you, walking in your flow, loving every intricate detail of your posts but I am with K, "Intricacies of Mundanity"??? how much more Intricate can Mundanity become. would you be so kind to give an example of this? And then, if you would, share with me your mindset while reading it. Really. |
ABM
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 04:46 am: |
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K & Carey,
If Yukio doesn't mind my contributing, I think what she means is ZZ Packer is an artist who "paints in corners". Packer endows her writing with a realistic quality and degree of detail that, when done right, can imbue a story with profound/indelible texture and depth.
Am I close, Yukio? |
Cyberscribe
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 11:21 am: |
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Hi Yukio,
Packer is an exceptionally talented writer. Obviously she is the future "big prize" winner of AA women's literature.
But I was floored to read the recent story collection that contained Z.Z. Packer and Kola Boof in the same book. They were the only 2 blacks in the book and I only purchased the book because I'm a collector of anything Packer writes. Packer's story was about 6 pages long, but it was amazing, about this little black kid that fell out of a window, and it was what I would call a technical marvel. She showed how gifted she is with the smallest of touches!
Still, to many people's shock, Kola Boof's story was the superior one. It was 10 pages long and completely caught me off guard. By page 2 I was reading the story with my mouth wide open the whole time. Especially laughing at the white girl's character whose name was "Braid Bitch". The black mother was off the hook and Kola's portrayal of GOD and her explanation of what "beauty" is gave me goosebumps. The remark that Noelle and Braid Bitch made about President Clinton ("Girl,won't that nigga foine?") and the remarks about President Bush and Sadaam Hussein made me turn beet red! I couldn't believe they let Boof print that. The style, to me, seemed as though Boof was imitating Z.Z. Packer but with some heavy Toni Morrison languistic gymnastics thrown in. Kola's rendition of the World Trade Center being bombed and the grouchy old black man turning out to be "God", plus the girls finding the dead baby in the church behind the basketball court, followed up by some lesbian action between Braid Bitch and Noelle, was all served up with Morrison's histrionics. The ending was a little too simplistic, but I did see Noelle as a young Dionne Warwick. Panoramic music and all.
All this to say, I thought it was "prophetic" that Packer and Boof were featured in the same high brow political collection (why where they chosen?) and that the white media's most despised new writer (Kola) bested the white media's new literary darling (Packer).
I knew no one else had read the book here, so I didn't try to bring it up for discussion back then, because Packer and Boof were the only blacks in the collection.
**Final Note--I thought Kola's story was also superior to the one by National Book Award Winner Charles Baxter.
This is why I'm so proud that we all knew Kola and she started out in our club. That girl can really write.
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Cmack
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 11:34 am: |
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I'veeee got the Man In the Basement and OH BOY is this something great and different from Mosley.
Superb!!
Lets discuss when others have read it.
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Anonymous
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 11:54 am: |
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I'm digging Mosley's novel, too. Is it really different, though than his other works? Still race propaganda/issues to me, but I'm digg'n it.
BTW, Cyberscribe--Packer 'n Boof were not "chosen". Packer pulled out the project and Boof was tapped as her replacement. The book editor is a Prof. at Stanford where Packer teaches and word got out that Boof had written such a stunning story. Packer suddenly wanted her spot back and wrote a brand new story, but Boof turned into Joan Crawford and threatened to scream bloody murder if the publisher didn't publish them both. So they were forced to keep Boof, because she wsa being such a spoiled sport.
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Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 12:32 pm: |
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Getting read to go into my den with "the man in the basement." Oh, yeah, I might also check out Mosley's latest book. LOL |
Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 12:34 pm: |
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Anonymous:
Juicy! You are the Wendy Williams of Literature. I love these little back page stories, it humanizes these authors for me.
Yukio:
Well here's another fine mess you've gotten yourself into.
All:
I finished this book quickly and, on the whole enjoyed it though I thought the treatment of this subject/situation was unreal.
To me this protagonist was Easy Rawlins without Mouse and the gunplay--not that it took away from the story.
Moseley is Easy Rawlins, ain't he? |
Anonymous
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 03:36 pm: |
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Hey Chris Hayden, you want a real industry scoop.
It seems Z.Z. Packer and Steve Elliott (the white editor) both teach at Stanford, right?
Well when Elliott asked Boof to take over for Packer, and her story turned out to be good, Z.Z. Packer complained to the book publisher that the lead female character in Steve Elliott's first novel, "Life of Consequences" bore a striking resemblance to...Kola Boof. I kid you not, even though the book was written what--5 years ago?
Packer was hinting that Steve Elliott (who writes for NEWSWEEK and the New York NewsDay) had a thing for Boof and after meeting her was catering to her. Packer began writing her own short story even though she had pulled out.
You have to take Packer's concerns serious when you see the finished story collection and in the Author's Bios at the end of the book--Kola Boof is the one and ONLY author (out of 31 major names) to have two entire pages devoted to her. Packer got a single paragraph. No one else got a full page. Not even Stewart O'Nan, Baxter or Anthony Swofford.
I checked out Elliott's fiction novel and certainly did notice that the leading lady/romantic interest was a Kola Boof clone. Also the only black character in the book. She and the white boy walk off into the sunset by book's end.
Further rumor has it that Elliott is a known bisexual heavily into S&M.
Kola reportedly told Packer: "If you want to be in this book you'd better be nice to me. Steven's very sensitive about people mistreating me."
NOW YOU SEE WHY I POST AS "ANONYMOUS". LOL
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Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 03:50 pm: |
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Hello All,
This is for the Anonymous and all of the other alais you like to claim (yeah, I did the IP address thang): You know, I'm getting sick and tired of you constantly bringing up Kola. After that big whoopity-doo last year, everyone agreed that this would be a Kola-free zone. I ask that you respect that and let sleeping dogs lie. Now if anyone else who wants to hear what you have to say, please arrange to email them off line then you can converse and praise her from now to when times get better. Thanks. |
Anonymous
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 03:56 pm: |
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Sorry Thumper,
I will oblige. I got carried away and wasn't thinking.
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Katrina Merriwether
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 08:32 pm: |
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LOL
One thing I will give this board and its members. You have introduced me to some fascinating, exilarating black people that I never knew existed--Percival Elliott, Thumper the Critic, Rawsistaz Reviews and Kola Boof, the diva warrior. I'm enchanted.
I will definitely be buying Mosley's new opus and joining in the "discussion" of it.
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yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 03:11 am: |
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ABM: Right!
K& Carey: Intricacies of Mundanity
I’ll not comment on them, much. But these quotes are simple, but intricate in that they say much about intimacy and relationships. The first between two young women, of course reading the story helps, but I think this quote gives you an idea. And the second, intimacy among children, their creativity, playfulness, joy, and innocence all displayed in a few short lines.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere:
"We guiltily read mysteries and Clan of the Cave Bear, they immediately threw them away. Once we looked up from our books at exactly the same moment, as though trapped at a dinner table with nothing to say. A pleasant trap of silence."
Brownies:
"One day at school, about a month before the Brownie camping trip, Arnetta turned to a boy wearing impossibly high-ankled floodwater jeans and said, "What are you? Caucasian?" The word took off from there, and soon everything was Caucasian. If you ate too fast you ate like a Caucasian, if you ate too slow you ate like a Caucasian.....They'd look at each other with the silence of passengers who'd narrowly escaped an accident, then nod their heads, whispering with solemn horror, "Caucasian."
While other writers spend much time on unnecessary action, Packer was able to make these characters very much alive through “showing” rather than telling.
ABM: Never heard of Painting in a COrner? Is that what it is called? I'm not a writer, ya know, so i don't know about these things...Where can i read about this method? |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 04:17 am: |
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Okay Yukio, I can relate, I agree, those Qoutes speak a great tell about intimacy & relationship. However I see where you are coming from.
Yukio, are you serious about your question of ABM?
I think ABM was using a figure of speech as an analogy. A corner is a very small space. This would seem to fit perfectly with your interpretation of Packer's style. Most would not have much to "say" in/about "a small corner". Or better yet, most would not have much to say if they were restricted by limited "material" to write about. As with you view of Packer, she can find/write something from whichh others would find no motavation or subject matter. |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 06:27 pm: |
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Carey:
Never heard of "painting in a corner." I was taught to ask questions when you I didn't understand, required more information, or just didn't know, so i asked. |
Carey
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 07:58 pm: |
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Yukio
That's exactly why I asked if you were kidding. Because one would think by having "listened" to your varied posts, that you would have been familiar with the phrase.
You know I've actually done that, painted or mopped myself in a corner. One time I was laying a bathroom floor and low and behold I couldn't figure out an exit without going over my work. Just thought I'd share that with you.....don't know why but ...hey. |
ABM
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 08:19 pm: |
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Yukio,
Sorry for any confusion I may have caused with the "painting in corners" comment. Originally, art aficionados used that phrase to describe a caliber of visual artist who thoroughly uses all of her canvas, including it farthest CORNERS, to make more fully manifest her esthetic message.
Now, art critics of all types (e.g., literature, music, movies/TV, etc.) might apply that phrase to describe any writer/performer/director/impresario who is similarly detail-oriented.
Boy! It is interesting how such a benign thing can take on a life of its own around here. HAHAHA! |
yukio
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 01:31 am: |
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ABM: No problem, here. Like i said, if i don't know i'll ask....thank you for the clarification; i like the phrase, btw.
Carey: Ha, Ha...You give me, and i'm sure others, too much credit; we are all learning here! |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 06:57 pm: |
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I'm finishing up this book. I'll be ready for the discussion of it if anybody else is. |
Yukio
Newbie Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 07:22 pm: |
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u too, too fast for me.....i've yet to purchase the book! |
Tee
First Time Poster
Username: Tee
Post Number: 1
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2004 - 08:18 pm: |
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Cynique, I started this and had to put it down to get some other tasks done. I enjoyed what I've read so far and hope to get back to it in a week or two. I'm a wee bit behind on reading, but I want to get back to it.
Please let me know when you're done.
-Tee |
Cynique
Newbie Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 16
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 - 06:53 pm: |
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I recently finished Walter Mosley's "The Man in My Basement" and found it to be a very compelling little novel. It was certainly a multi-facteted book, and the first thing that struck me about it was its Toni Morrison vibe. I found Mosley's approach somewhat reminscent of her work; the bazaar situations, the quirky characters at odds with the world, the strange names. I'd also categorize it as parable, what with how it used its characters to illustrate its lesson, a lesson that contained not only Existenialistic overtones, but a sinister hint of Nietzche. But to me, the best thing about the book was that it prodded the reader to discard old notions about the concepts of good and evil, and to become aware of what's expedient in a world that rotates on an axis of power, while traveling in an orbit of high finance. The only real problem I had with "The Man In My Basement" was that the characters weren't fleshed out enough. I was never able to get a good fix on the male protagonist and this kept me from understanding why he would attract the opposite sex. But, all in all, I would recommend the book. |
Yukio
Newbie Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 12
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 03, 2004 - 08:55 pm: |
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toni morrison is going to be on tavis smiley this evening on pbs. |
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