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Crystal
Veteran Poster
Username: Crystal
Post Number: 389
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 05:45 pm: | 
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I started the year off right with The Last Dream Before Dawn by D.V. Bernard and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I highly recommend both. I slipped in Anna Karenina between those 2.
Right now I’m doing something I don’t usually do – two books at once. Bernard’s God in the Image of Woman [not as “easy” as Last Dream but it’s well written and I want to see what happens plus I like the chapter headings] and Walter Mosley’s Blond Faith [almost finished with that one].
After seeing James McBride on Tavis I’ve put his new one Song Yet Sung on my list.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11630
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 07:47 pm: |
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Couldn't resist, but at least I'm not buying Stephen King's latest in which he returns to form with a scary outing in his true tradition. I'm on the list at my local library for "Duma Kay" by him. And - since I was there - I also signed on for the latest James Patterson collaboration, "7th Heaven". (never been one to not indulge my guilty pleasures)Moseley's "Blond Faith" is my book club's next book selection, - sooo that, too.
What am I currently reading? My bank book which should soon reflect the income tax return that a few creative deductions pushed up the amount of. I'm such a charitable person and I acutally get a deduction for being old.  |
Canary
Regular Poster
Username: Canary
Post Number: 30
Registered: 07-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 09:59 pm: |
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Am re-reading 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' by Zora Neale Hurston and a writer friend's manuscript.
He sends chapters at a time as he edits.
Soooo good! So well..beautifully written.
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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2690
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 09:43 am: |
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Cynique, I just finished an audiobook of Duma Key. I think you will enjoy it. I think his accident a while back really put him in a different place, and it shows with this one. Much of the first half isn't even "scary" at all in the traditional horror sort of way, but is more a reflection on personality and memory and what happens when therre is a break in both...
My next audiobook is The Inner Circle, a fictionalized account of a research assistant working with Kinsey's sex research at IU.
BTW, Linda, if you're out there, how did your NaNoWriMo experience go? |
Urban_scribe
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 666
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 10:12 am: |
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Yvette, I've never listened to an audiobook for a novel. The only recordings I've listened to, besides music of course, were French cassettes. Do you find that you get the same experience from listening to the story as you would reading the book? Y'know how when we read a book then see a film based on the book, the book is always better? I'm thinking along those lines for hearing a book rather than reading it. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2693
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 10:20 am: |
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Urban_Scribe, it is a very different experience, I find. I have always enjoyed oral storytelling as much as I have enjoyed reading, so maybe that it why I take to that format so well. I have to say that not every book is well suited for that format. I prefer books with briefer chapters and strong narrative thread that you can follow easily by ear, for example. And a lot depends on the narrator and quality of the recording. (Both have gotten much better.)
Audiobooks cannot be beat for long plane rides, doing housework, walking on the treadmill, and work commutes. All in all, I still prefer actual books. There is just something about holding a physical thing in your hand, seeing the printed word, feeling the pages...even the "new book smell"! |
Urban_scribe
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 667
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 10:22 am: |
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To answer the OP, right now I'm evaluating two manuscripts for possible publication. I so appreciate these threads where people recommend good reads. Believe me, I keep a list. As someone who spends her days determining whether a ms should be published, it's nice being able to curl up with a good book where all I have to do is enjoy it rather than make a decision about it. |
Urban_scribe
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 668
Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 10:25 am: |
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Thx, Yvette. I'm going to try the Duma Key as my very first novel in audio format. I'll let you know how it goes. |
Ferociouskitty
Regular Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 58
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 11:29 am: |
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Thanks for the reminder about Duma Key.
I just started Incognegro by Mat Johnson, and am about to start Along the Way by TC's very own Connie Divers Bradley. I like to juggle more than one book at a time. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11631
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 01:11 pm: |
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I am a little disappointed to hear that King's latest book isn't real scary, Yvette. But from the way you describe Duma Kay, it sounds like something I could relate to because I spend a lot of time by myself and very often drift into a kind of limbo between memory and personality especially when I get sleepy. This is when I shift into an alternate reality. A first this was a little unsettling but now I'm really into this phenomenon which is a form of hallucination. The human mind is such a fascinating, mysterious entity. In my dreams, my husband is still alive, - just as real... woooooooooooooooooo I luv it! |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2694
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 05:19 pm: |
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Ooo, good, a Duma Key discussion w/U_S and Cynique. Hey, not to give anything away, but there is another Magical Black Person in this one. Has King ever discussed in an interview where this penchant for mystical Blacks comes from?
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11640
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 07:04 pm: |
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Spike Lee was the first one I know of to call attention to King's preoccupation with magical negroes, but I've never heard about King ever giving any explanation. I think King thinks he doing black folks a favor by making them token characters in his books, giving them super natural powers.
There just seems to be a thread beginning with slavery and running down through the years, perpetuating a suspicion that descendants of jungle witch doctors have special powers. I've always heard how white people thought rubbing black folks on the head was good luck, and that they could be seen doing this at race tracks. Then, in black neighborhoods, there was always an old woman known as the "root lady" who you could go to to get spells to put on people.
These old customs have probably faded with the younger generation but the mojo idea is still grounded in black culture and the magical Negro myth may persist in a place like Maine where King is from and where there are hardly any blacks around to dispel this idea.
Now, I can hardly wait to read Duma Kay, and I think I'm going to invesitgate audio books, too, because there's a large section of them at my library and it doesn't seem to be getting much traffic.
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A_womon
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 2152
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 - 07:07 pm: |
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Hi Crystal,
I just finished reading Casanegra, by Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due, and Steven Barnes. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the next installment of the Tennyson Hardwick series.
I'm also getting ready to read My Soul To Keep, by Mrs. Barnes. |
Robynmarie
Veteran Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 712
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 11:20 am: |
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I am listening to (recorded books) Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros. She is a trip, very funny about growing up Mexican.
I always listen to books on CD. In fact, unless I am researching, I hardly ever get an opportunity to actually read a book cover to cover.
YvetteP-what did you think of "Blonde Faith" by Walter Mosley? It is an award-winning work, but not his best in my view. "A Man in My Basement" was far superior. One of my favorite books. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11664
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 03:33 pm: |
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I liked "A Man In My Basement", too, - mostly because it was off beat.
I've started "Duma Key". Picked it up yestereday, and am getting into it. It's vintage Stephen King. |
Ferociouskitty
Regular Poster
Username: Ferociouskitty
Post Number: 69
Registered: 02-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 06:55 pm: |
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I haven't read "Man in My Basement", but I couldn't get into "Fortunate Son" at all. Something about voice turned me off from the very beginning, and I put it down after a few chapters. But I did enjoy "Killing Johnny Fry." It was weighed down a bit at the end, but overall a good read. |
Crystal
Veteran Poster
Username: Crystal
Post Number: 390
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 - 12:01 pm: |
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Hey A-womon - I didn't get very far with Casanegra. I just didn't care about the characters or story line.
I finished Blond Faith this weekend. I liked it like I usually like the Easy stories but this is a different Easy. My son said it was his least favorite. But there's something about Mosley's characters that I just like. They seem real/regular folks to me. |
Mochascafe
Regular Poster
Username: Mochascafe
Post Number: 32
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 12:04 am: |
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Thats so funny A_woman, I just finished Casanegra last week, I thought I was the only one in the universe that had not read it. I enjoyed it, a little over the top sometimes but I got it... I wanted to read it because the next installment Night of the Heat comes out in September.... I wonder where Blair got the inspiration for the main character... Do you think its based on him in anyway? |
Mochascafe
Regular Poster
Username: Mochascafe
Post Number: 33
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 12:18 am: |
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Oh, and then I just finished The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Very good book, especially of the immigrant experience in Washington DC or I guess any major US City for that matter. |
A_womon
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 2161
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 12:47 am: |
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Crystal,
You know Casenegra did kind of drag a bit at first with the backstory, but once I got past that, I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
Mochascafe,
You know I did feel as I read that Tennyson Hardwick had a "Blair Underwood" feel to him. I don't know if my feeling about that was influenced by the fact that I knew that he was writing it, or that the cover shot of the lead character was a picture of Blair's back, or a combination of the two, but I do know that I pictured Blair as the main character as I read. (Which aint a bad picture to have in your head, especially on some of the steamier parts!) 
I agree that some scenes were a bit over the top. I'm thinking of some of the martial arts scenes, and some of the scenes with the young girl.
Which scenes did you think were over the top?
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Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2705
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 09:30 am: |
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Robynmarie, I think that was Cynique whao is/was reading "Blonde Faith." I do have that in my "wish list" basket as a possibility for this month's audiobook selection so I, too, would be interested in hearing more about it.
the next installment Night of the Heat comes out in September
Yay! |
Mochascafe
Regular Poster
Username: Mochascafe
Post Number: 34
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 08:22 am: |
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A_woman, yes the fight scenes were a little much (he goes into a club to fight the entire entourage, he goes to the rapper's house to confront him and overtake him in his own house) he was kind of like this vigilante which as my dad would say about the Bible, it makes for good story telling but realistic.... not so much. (Pray for him y'all
Also, he becomes so deeply protective toward the child prostitute... I am not sure I believe that. I guess it was because of the guilt of introducing his friend to the "lifestyle" and that she never pulled herself out of it?
In all though, it was a pretty good read, you can tell though, they were trying to make Tenny as every mans fantasy (with the exception of being broke), "Every woman wants me, I make them weep in ecstasy when they have sex with me, and I can fight like a heavy weight champion" Or perhaps it was a clever way of trying to engage male readers as well. In any case, I aint mad at him, if he is half the man he was in the steamier parts of the book, his wife must be very happy.
Oh, and I just finished "From Harvey River" by Lorna Goodison, very, very well done!
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11767
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 02:09 pm: |
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The one thing in Casanegra that didn't wash with me, Mochascafe, was why the charismatic, rich, and famous female rapper character had to hire male "escorts" for sex. |
Crystal
Veteran Poster
Username: Crystal
Post Number: 391
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 02:32 pm: |
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Yeah, that fight in the club was as far as I could get!
Finished God in the Image of Woman. I'm still trying to determine what I think of it. I may have to go back and read the ending again because right now I'm not liking it from a woman's standpoint.
From the library today: Walter Mosley's Diablerie; The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri [a woman's plight in India] and The Secrete Life of Josephine by Carolly Erickson [for my historical romance quilty pleasure].
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Mochascafe
Regular Poster
Username: Mochascafe
Post Number: 35
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 06:15 pm: |
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Cynique, exactly!!!!! I mean I was picturing Eve as he was describing her and thought, why in the world would Eve pay for sex. But then I thought maybe by saying that she was a former call girl/prostitute herself, maybe she got off on the tables being turned. I don't know, seems like I had to do a lot of creative work on possible psychological backgrounds of these characters to make it all seem believable to me |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11777
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 09:38 pm: |
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Yea, I guess Eve just wanted to get her freak on. But still - you'd think she could've found somebody among the rapper studs to accomodate her fetishes for free.  |
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