| Author | Message | ||
     Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 508 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I’ve got some oldies and hopefully goodies on my list. I’m reading Fever in the Blood by Robert Fleming. An ugly story about a very sad young man. I like it though. An easy read with a character I feel for. I think some of the parents I hear cussing their kids like dogs in the street need to read it. That crap sticks! Up next are Steven Barnes The Sky Woman and Leonard Pitts Before I Forget. This was my first order with Amazon this year – where has the year gone? It’s cool though because I just don’t have room for any more books until I have the courage to do a purge. Thank goodness for libraries! I see Thumper’s boi EJD has a couple out that I hadn’t seen. Any thoughts? | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14155 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I just checked out "Jerico's Fall" from my local library. This is Stephen Carter's latest and I was encouraged to see that its page-count is a lot less than "The Emperor of Ocean Park" and Carter's other 2 tomes. This new novel is touted to be a page-turning spy-thriller! Chicago's weather has turned chilly and rainy, and I'm getting ready to curl up with a book. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 509 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Thanks Cynique. I'll look for Carter's latest. I've never read any of his books. Not sure why because I usually like BABs but then lately most of my reading has been on the bus and BABs are too heavy to cart around. | ||
| Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 870 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hey Everybody, Crystal: I'm about to finish Double Indemmity by James Cain, the book the movie was based on. I'm loving Cain. Next up for me is the new EJD book. I did not know that he had began an assassin series. My interest is up. The weather here in Indy is gray, chilly and wet. Which put me in the same mood as Cynique, to curl up with a good book. The only thing missing is a fireplace. | ||
| Soul_sister Veteran Poster Username: Soul_sister Post Number: 107 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hey Thumper, Good to hear from you. I have been able to peruse a few things - I am reading Justice Older than the Law: the Life of Dovey Johnson Roundtree by Katie McCabe and Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Playing by the Rules by Elaine Brown. Dovey Roundtree is 95 years old and started to write her biography about 15 years ago - unfortunately a set of medical issues set back this project until Katie McCabe arrived to help her. The biography is written like fiction from the real events of Dovey's life. I enjoy this because it makes history come "alive" she explores some emotions about the racism, sexism, poverty and such from a lived perspective. WOW is all I can say. On the lighter side I am reading Playing by the Rules by Elaine Brown. Not quite a Going South by Bonnie Glover - but a portrait of an African American community - full of personal and collective baggage. Yummy - these stories make me feel human - since we all have some inherent weakness/hubris. I finished Carter's Jericho's Fall - the first of any and was not impressed - equal to a Saturday afternoon movie - all hype and no real/complete story. I am jazzing on the Afro Canadian authors Afua Cooper's The Hanging of Angelique - we have had this discussion before - I love it when poets write full length works - the work them works - for real. Haven't finished it - but working through it. Another title I'm looking at pick up is The Book of Negroes (Canadian edition)/Someone Knows My Name: A Novel by Lawrence Hill - you might have talked about this one. Between the newspaper, magazines and EMAILS - I have to choose how much gray matter I have left to "get" a story in my mind. Peace Soul Sister | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3673 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
Reading "Sag Harbor" and "Kiss the Sky." I am enjoying the first one more than I thought when I first started it, and having a much harder time with the second than I thought I would. In the second case, I know it is just my issue and I know I should get over it. But reading a journalist I have respected for so many years curse and talk "nasty" is just a little too disconcerting to me--even if she is speaking through a character! LOL | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3674 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
Cynique and Thumper, this weather must be a midwest thing. I stay chilled to the bone with all this wet and cold... | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1246 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
I didnt care for Sag Harbor at all. Im about to read EDJ Resurrecting Midnight after I finish Black Coffee by Tracy Price-Thompson. I have no clue why I havent read this. I've had it since she wrote it LOL LiLi | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 8219 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
I am reading a book of Baseball quotations. The King of Ragtime a biography of Scott Joplin. A collection of the first two years of Superman in Action Comics. A book on the Supremes. | ||
| Emanuel Veteran Poster Username: Emanuel Post Number: 727 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'm almost done reading "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates. Loved the movie w/DiCaprio and Winslet and figured the book had to be better. It is. Up next is "A Natural Woman" by Lori Johnson, the author of "After the Dance." | ||
| Nom_de_plume Veteran Poster Username: Nom_de_plume Post Number: 203 Registered: 07-2006 Rating: N/A |
Emanuel, you have GOT to read The Collected Stories of Richard Yates. And his biography by Blake Bailey is AWESOME!!! That muhfucka was totally nuts. LOL Hey everyone! Happy Autumn! I'm reading New Stories from the South '09 and Baldwin essays again...plus a new collection of Dorothy West stories that was published last year called The Last Leaf of Harlem! A smattering of collections here and there as well. I have the BASS '09 but haven't started it yet. I got a bunch of great literary journals at the Brooklyn Book Festival last month so I'm reading those too. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 511 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hey Chris - is the name of the baseball book "GO DODGERS!"? | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1966 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'm in Nigeria at the moment and am reading How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney. The book was first published in "Great" Britain in 1972 and is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the continent's current predicament. I'm gonna follow that up with Rosalind Kilkenny McLymont's Africa Strickly Business: The Steady March to Prosperity (http://aalbc.com/authors/rosalind_mclymont.htm). I brought 5 books with me for a 1 month trip. I did not bring my kindle -- why you might ask. Well most of the books I wanted to read were not on the Kindle... I was not gonna carry a kindle around Africa for a month simply to 1 or 2 books. I also brought Booker T. Mattison's Unsigned Hype http://aalbc.com/authors/booker.htm For lighter reading I also carried Teri Woods' True to the Game -- recently reprinted by Hachette: http://aalbc.com/authors/teri_woods.htm Nikki is one of the sites top selling authors on AALBC.com (also a NY Times Bestselling author too) this will be the first Woods novel I've read. Finally I brought some book by Deepak Chopra's I don't recall the title now, but I had to do with living forever. Bascially the book caught my eye because some changes in my life have made me much happiers as a result I feel and even look younger - I figured I's read a little more about the subject. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14188 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
NIGERIA!? You checkin out your roots, Troy?? I just posted a long essay on the thread about black culture in America, and below is a paragraph from it? Do you relate to this or was I just emitting a lot of melodramatic BS??  "In further examining black culture, it behooves us to pay homage to that which courses through our blood-line manifesting itself in the resiliency passed down to us from the legacy of slavery, a resiliency which enables our notorious dual identity to kick in; behind the mask we present to the world is a painted game face; muffled in the calm of our demeanor throbs a pulse that is synchronized with the beat of distant drums; concealed in the sheath of our persona awaits an arrow of attitude ready to be hurled at any white mo t h e r f u c k e r who calls us a “n i g g e r”. Therein lies the common bond of black culture."  | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 846 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
I just got my review copy (for my co-parenting site) of "Divorce Sucks: What to Do When Irreconcilable Differences, Lawyer Fees, and Your Ex's Hollywood Wife Make You Miserable" by Mary Jo Eustace. Eustace is a mom of two. Her ex-husband, Dean McDermott, left her after starting an affair with Tori Spelling (whom he later married and with whom he now co-stars in a reality TV show). | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1970 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Yeah Cynique, Nigeria. I can't say that I relate to your lines. There are simply not very many white people here. The damage the Europeans caused here is quite evident; but on a day to day basis you really don't think about them. It is refreshing however to be in an environment where the who don't have to worry about race. But alas there is always tribalism, class, religion, and cultural differences to those arrows ready. ...therein lies the common blood of humanity. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14193 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I didn't mean whether or not you related to my metaphor as a visitor to Nigeria the country of our slave ancestors, Troy. I meant did you relate to it as a black descendant of Nigerians who lives in America. Should've been more specific. I agree that the "us-against-them" mind set pervades cultures all over the world. Right here in Chicago, it is what drove black children to kill one of their own. The back story of the vicious beating that was caught on tape had to do with neighborhood rivalry pitting kids from one high school against transfers from another area who, after their high school closed, had to pass through hostile turf to get to their new school. | ||
| Troy AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Troy Post Number: 1977 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hey Cynique, it might be the jet lag but I still think I'm not clear on your question. I'm not a decendent of anyone from the area currently known as Nigeria (far as I know). I heard about the video and have not watched it yet. I know what it is like to be threatened by and afraid of gang violence. But I don't recall ever being afraid that I would be actually murdered for NO reason. This is really sickening. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14197 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
The majority of slaves shipped to this country came from West Africa, - from among the Ibo and Yoruba tribes located in Nigeria. Since you are descended from slaves, pulsating in your flesh are the genes of these people, albeit mixed with the white ones of the slave masters. My similes were a "trite" attempt to convey the idea that we are not so far removed from our African roots as to not become bellicose when we are angered. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 515 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I’m about 1/2 the way through Jericho’s Fall and nothing has happened yet. Well, the handy man and a dog has died but nothing exciting. I certainly wouldn’t call it a ‘spy thriller’ cause it ain’t – yet. Anyway, I’m not much of an espionage story fan but I’ve gone this far so I guess I’ll finish but Beck is kinda getting on my nerves. She’s too naive for the kind of people she’s messing with and the circumstances and she’s putting up with too much. Folks keep treating her like she’s gotta pass some kind of test. I’d be like “if you got something to tell me then tell me or I’m outta here”. Please tell me there’s some kind of exciting twist to this story or at least some juicy drama coming. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14262 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I totally agree, Crystal. Giving dimension to his characters has never been a strong suit of Stephen Carter, especially his female ones. They just serve as paragons around which he builds a story, which in this case is top heavy with flashbacks and not very credible. Had I know this book was about a bunch of silly white folks, I wouldn't have picked it up. I'm not done with it either because, like you, I haven't found it compelling. I renewed it at the library and will eventually finish it. I guess. Thus far, the only outstanding thing I can say about "Jericho's Fall" is that, as opposed to his previous novels, the prose in this one is less encumbered. My critique of this book will probably be summed up in one word: "disappointing". | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 516 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Yeah Cynique, it’s a pretty easy read but that may be because I keep pushing it to see if anything happens and so far nothing has. This is the first book of Carter’s that I’ve read and I see what you mean about the characters. I don’t really care about any of them. There’s not much there to care about. They’re more shells than persons. And not much of a real story either - yet. I enjoyed reading Steven Barnes’ Great Sky Woman an ‘early man’ story that is suitable for younger teenagers but definitely kept this old[er] woman’s interest. It has all the usual stuff: kidnapping, rape, jealousy, pride, war, tragedy, heroism, adventure, and even a little sex. I’ll be getting the sequel Shadow Valley soon. I also read The Illustrious Dead - The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon’s Greatest Army by Stephan Talty. Very interesting and read almost like a novel. He’s also written a book on the Caribbean called Empire of Blue Water I might check out and one called Mulatto America: At the Crossroads of Black and White Culture. | ||
| Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 3704 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: N/A |
I finished Sag Harbor. Still struggling with Kiss the Sky. I ended up *really* enjoying the former. I am a little older that Whitehead, and of course female. But I could still remember and relate to so much of what he talked about. Ever since I finished reading it, I have re-instituted the word "dag" in my vocabulary, for example. I found a video of him talking about the book that if I find again I will post here. He talks about generally not liking "coming of age" stories. I am the same way. But what I like about this book is that it is not some necessarily *big* and traumatic event that changes you from childhood to adulthood. Just a gradual shifting into it. I wish there were a similar book about Black girls. But everyone I have come across has to have some huge drama: sexual assault or parental divorce or something. I have no extended comment on Chidea's book. I'll borrow your term, Cynique, and say "disappointing." I cannot stand the main character, finding her silly and stupid and not anyone I could ever root for. )-: | ||
| Ferociouskitty Veteran Poster Username: Ferociouskitty Post Number: 863 Registered: 02-2008 Rating: N/A |
A review copy of this book is en route to me: Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity (Paperback) Ytasha L. Womack Lawrence Hill Books, January 1 2010 "As a young journalist covering black life at large, author Ytasha L. Womack was caught unaware when she found herself straddling black culture’s rarely acknowledged generation gaps and cultural divides. Traditional images show blacks unified culturally, politically, and socially, united by race at venues such as churches and community meetings. But in the “post black” era, even though individuals define themselves first as black, they do not necessarily define themselves by tradition as much as by personal interests, points of view, and lifestyle. "In Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity, Womack takes a fresh look at dynamics shaping the lives of contemporary African Americans. Although grateful to generations that have paved the way, many cannot relate to the rhetoric of pundits who speak as ambassadors of black life any more than they see themselves in exaggerated hip-hop images. Combining interviews, opinions of experts, and extensive research, Post Black will open the eyes of some, validate the lives of others, and provide a realistic picture of the expanding community." ...and I'm hoping to interview the author. | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 2365 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: |
"In Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity, Womack takes a fresh look at dynamics shaping the lives of contemporary African Americans. Combining interviews, opinions of experts, and extensive research" Oh great, that's what we need, combined interviews and more opinions of experts. I thought Henry Gates and Cornell West had this covered. Oh, that's right, we need some of that post black flavor. We need to hear it through the writings of a young female journalist. "Here ye, here ye, Bobby Womack's daughter has something she'd like to say.... Tweeeeet" | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14269 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Just the summary of this book sounds compellling, FK, because it speaks to the ambiguous situation that is becoming recognized by observers of the hetereogenus breed of black folk in this country. Sounds like something I'd like to read since non-fiction has become my genre of choice these days. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 518 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Now I'm pissed! I finally read the rest of the stupid book to see how it all ends and . . . wait for it . . . IT DON'T! Are you kidding me??? Cynique - please finish this book so you can tell me what I'm missing. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14288 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'm on it! | ||
| Libralind2 AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Libralind2 Post Number: 1252 Registered: 09-2004 Rating: N/A |
Im about to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett then Mrs Black? by Angelia Veernon Menchan LiLi | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14290 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Welll, Crystal I finally finished "Jericho's Fall" and, like you, I was a little miffed with how it left readers to figure out things for themselves. Nevertheless, to me, this book was actually very well-written, a story that was more about the journey than the destination. With a plot that involved a maze of twists and turns and false leads, I'm assuming "Jericho's Fall" is a formulaic example of the spy-thriller genre. As far as I could deduce, Beck was just a pawn of a conspiracy that involved an elaborate scheme of the enigmatic Jericho who, with all of his inside knowledge, was about to expose a liaisan between the high finance echelon of the corporate world and the undercover activities of national security agencies. Apparently the tenacles of this complicated alliance stretched out to countries all over the world and the ubiquitous nebulous threat of "terrorism" came into play. Injecting "terrorism" into the story line allowed the author to attribute a lot of the inexplicable things that happened to this mysterious specter. In the end, as implicated by the librarian/assassin who, although ruthless, did have a soft side which contributed to Beck's life being spared: how things ended up was not so much a triumph of the good guys over the bad ones, but a victory for the lesser of 2 evils as the conflict continued sans the involvment of Beck who had served her purpose. ??????? The character of Beck, who did eventually come to life, was still a little incredulous in her adamant determination to save the lives of Pamela and Jericho, 2 people who had not hesitated to put her life at risk. I guess this was to show her humanity. How Beck was painted in her past, however, did not really jibe with the picture she personified in the present. She seemed too practical to have ever been a passionate wild child. I learned a little something from the reading this book, so I guess it wasn't an entirely wasted effort. I'd give it 2 and a half stars. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 519 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Thanks Cynique. I agree it’s well written and I see what you’re saying about the story line and it may be that like I said earlier, I just don’t like spy stories. I don’t find all the twists and turns and who’s the good guy/bad guy stuff relaxing and most of the time I skip over the 'running/shooting’ parts and get to the ‘what happened in the end’ part. But this one didn’t tell me what happened. As for Beck - are we to assume she just went back to her regular life? If Jericho was Mr. Ex Everything I don’t see how she could ever feel safe for herself and her family since now she knows that a lot of folks suspects she knows big secrets. Although how she didn’t already know that I don’t get. I don’t think I’d want to have anything to do with the ex head of the CIA, etc. Oh well, over and done. Now I’m reading Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min. Historical novels are my favorite. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 14294 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I'm thinkin, Crystal, that maybe the author of Jericho's Fall left things up in the air because he plans a sequel. Jericho said he had provided a million dollar nest egg for Beck, and so maybe we can assume that she'd get that along with the promotion on her job that was also promised, and that she and "their" daughter would just get on with their lives. | ||
| Crystal Veteran Poster Username: Crystal Post Number: 521 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Yeah, I was thinking sequel too with so much left up in the air. But I don't think I care enough for any of the characters to continue with it. We'll see. |
