TNS had an idea a few weeks back to think about reading something together as a blog community. A book club of sorts. This post is for people to say what they're already reading this summer (related or not) and to suggest some books for a list TNS can put up in a week or so.
It'd be cool if we could volunteer some books that might be helpful in light of past debates on the blog: hair politics and beauty standards, hip-hop, Obama (and Af-Am representation in leadership), the n-word, and white liberalism. It's also a space for us to move towards some new territory that hasn't been covered yet. Let everyone know what's on your shelf in the comment thread.
Also, if you do not want to use your name in the comments, please choose a pseudonym so we can avoid having 2 or 3 different posters using the anonymous option.
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8 comments:
I'm reading Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism and so far it's a very good collection of essays by smart & exciting women. I haven't read much so I wouldn't be cheating if anyone else wanted to read also.
I think when's school up again we should also have movie nights. My first suggestion for that is Afro-Punk.
sounds hot camille! I'm def down for movie series!
i'm reading jeff chang's "can't stop won't stop" a text on hip hop as a cultural revolution. will let you know what i think of it.
i'm really looking forward to summer reading time so PLEASE send suggestions!
diasporic fiction ...
edwidge danticat - krik krak; farming of bones; breath eyes memory; the dew breaker
...naima is a big fan
dany laferriere - down among the dead men; how to make love to a negro; eroshima
salman rushdie - the satanic verses
and wole soyinka's works too.
I'm in the middle of a theological run.
Just read The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.
Currently reading Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. MLK Jr. kept this book in his pocket all throughout the Civil Rights Movement. It's changing my life. The way Thurman explains oppression is revolutionary. He talks about the response of victims (fear, deception, hate, love) and gives them theological critiques. Hopefully, I'll post about it soon.
Next up: more CS Lewis, Metaphors We Live By (ex: we use war metaphors for cancer; thus, it might psyche people out that otherwise could have recovered), Song of Solomon by Morison, Some of Us Did Not Die by June Jordan, and this Freedom Writers book if Naima says it's worth my time.
Later stuff for my fellowship: Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native American, The Many-Headed Hydra, Picturing Tropical Nature, Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell), Atlantic Sound (Caryl Phillips), Nature of Blood (Phillips), and Lose Your Mother (Saidiya Hartman).
Looking at postcolonial stuff and diff ways to contribute to that academic movement: historical, fiction, visual analysis, and literary analysis. Tryin' to see what I like best.
Hmm. I need to pick up the pace because these other suggestions sound great.
i really like this blog. i graduated in 03 from yale.
in terms of books, i really like the healers by ayi kwei armah. this summer i hope to read some of his other novels like "two thousand seasons" or "why are we so blest", if i can find them.
also i want to read "the lost promise of civil rights" its a legal history book by a law prof. and has anybody read anything by nadine gordimer? i'd really like to read one of her novels, but i'm not sure where to start, maybe "july's people?" and colonize this sounds really good too. hope the book club is successful.
New Black Man by Mark Anthony Neal. Get it, love it, live it.
One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana by Deborah Luster and by C.D Wright. It's a beautiful series of poems and powerful photographs addressing the inhumane racist and demoralizing prison system.
Right now I am re-reading Soledad Brother, which is a compilation of the prison letters written by George Jackson. It is quickly becoming one of my favorites - I suggest it to any and everyone. I also recently started Petals of Blood, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. So far so good on that front.
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