etumukutenyak: (skull with nails)
[personal profile] etumukutenyak
I've seen some interesting books suggested on LJ, for reading books about/by PoC, and I think I'll start with some of the books I have read that are not pure white.

"The Short Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz
"Red Azalea" by Anchee Min
(which reminds me of "Life and Death in Shanghai" by Nien Cheng, one of my all-time favorites. I must find it and re-read it.)
"Devil in a Blue Dress" (and other Easy Rawlins books) by Walter Moseley. My dad picked them up from the bookstores in Grand Central, and infected me.
Octavia Butler, in a stack of books ordered all at once, so I can't recall which ones are about what.


Others to be added once I retrieve them from the dusty vaults of memory. I am looking forward to reading Barbara Neely's "Blanche White" series, the first one of which I've ordered.

ETA: On the way home I realized I'd read a fair number of writings by African authors in my advanced French classes during high school. That's probably one reason why some international authors aren't better known in the US: if it has to be translated, it somehow loses appeal. Anyway, that's when I first read of the trickery of Anansi, the poetry of Senghor, and the short stories of several authors whose names escape me. I shall track them down.

Date: 2009-01-28 01:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fledgist.livejournal.com
Oscar Wao got more comments by white people, oddly, than any other book I've read recently. Mostly, I think, because I started reading it on a plane.

Date: 2009-01-28 02:47 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] etumukutenyak.livejournal.com
It's an intense book, to be sure, and I enjoyed reading it even though my Spanish vocab is just about nonexistent. (I never complained about all the Russian words in those books, or the Chinese words in those books, so I certainly am not going to start now.)

What did you think of it?

Date: 2009-01-28 12:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fledgist.livejournal.com
I really enjoyed it, and was amused by it. I had no trouble with the Spanish words, por supuesto, and I know the history that underlies it. It's a superb novel of the Caribbean emigrant experience, Santo Domingo variety.

Profile

etumukutenyak: (Default)
etumukutenyak

January 2022

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 31     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 17th, 2025 04:30 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios