20 Classics by writers of colour (Reading Challenge 2021-3)

20 Classics by writers of colour, chosen by writers of colour




A Broken People's Playlist(Chimeko Garricks) Chosen by Hari Kunzru
The Joys of Motherhood (Buchi Emeheta) Chosen by Bernadine Evarito ✓
A Visitation of Spirits (Randall Kenan) Chosen by Tarell Alvin McCraney
Redemption Ground Essays and Adventures (Lorna Goodison) Chosen by Margaret Busby ✓
When we Ruled (Robin Walker) Chosen by Akala
Night Haunts (Sukhdev Sandhu) Chosen by Johny Pitts ✓
Heart of the Race (Beverley Bryan et al) Chosen by Yomi Adegoke
Night Theatre (Vikram Paralkar) Chosen by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Storms of the Heart (ed Kwesi Owusu) Chosen byDiana Evans
Ark of Bones (Henry Dumas) Chosen by Musa Okwonga
Corregidora (Gayl Jones) Chosen by Caleb Azumal Nelson
The Silent Traveller (Ching Yee) Chosen byYiyun Li
Introduction to a Poetics Diversity (Edouard Glissant) Chosen by Guy Gunaratane
I wonder as I wander (Langston Hughes) Chosen by Anita Sethi
Search Sweet Country (Bernard Kojo Laing) Chosen by Michael Donker
Hellfire (Leesa Gazi) Chosen by Tahmima Anam
The Nakano Thrift Shop (Hiromi Kawakami) Chosen by Bryan Washington ✓
London Calling (Una Marson) Chosen by Winsome Pinnock
The Tunnels Below (Nadine Wild-Parmer) Chosen by Jasbinder Bilan
Labyrinths (Christopher Okigbo) Chosen by Ben Okri

Original Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/03/akala-bernardine-evaristo-ben-okri...

*****

Stasia (alcottacre), Paul (PaulCranswick) and I have set ourselves the challenge of reading this list at 1 per month).

Anyone is welcome to join us.

We will take it in turns to choose which one.

Next up

A Visitation of Spirits (Randall Kenan) Chosen by Tarell Alvin McCraney

The Nakano Thrift Shop (Hiromi Kawakami) (13/11/21) **1/2
(Read November 2021)



Bryan Washington says:

“This is one of my favourite novels; I read it in Allison Markin Powell’s English translation (published by Europa, 2017). Kawakami’s a genius – her 2013 book, Strange Weather in Tokyo, is one of the great love stories – but Thrift Shop is a book that’s so delightfully itself that it eludes comparison entirely. The story’s basically about a temporary shop worker and the folks she meets at her gig, but it touches on love, debt, what it means to want more, and what can happen when we find what we’re looking for. I reread the novel in quarantine, and it’s a rare week that I’m not thinking about its characters – where are they now, that kind of thing. The other day I was at Los Angeles airport for the first time in ages, and I saw the novel on sale there – Kawakami creates characters and worlds that really stick with you and it’s delightful to think that they follow us, too.”

****
I've not really done a shared read on LT before, I should probably have started this earlier. I'm just over half way now. But with this novel I don't think it really matters as in many respects it is a set of stories about a set of characters, rather than being especially plot driven.

Mr Nakano owns a thrift shop. A secondhand shop, not an antiques emporium. He is very particular about this.

Hitomi, the narrator, works in Mr Nakano's Thrift Shop, along with Takeo, who helps the owner with the pickups, collections from those wishing to disperse with items, generally after the death of a family member.

Mr Nakano is in his 50s, Hitomi and Takeo in their late 20s/30s. The other main character is Masayo, Mr Nakano's sister.

Most of the chapters dance round an object from the shop, though occasionally other things, as when Mr Nakano goes to another city and spends a lot of time on a bus. Or about a dog they know about.

As with some other Japanese novels I've read, the narration is very flat. Has quite a monotonous quality to it. Very matter of fact. And yet often the characters are speaking inexplicitly as well. They are not so much hiding things as talking through holes perhaps. They seem to want the people they are talking to, to know what they mean, which isn't always the case.

I perceive these characters as a group of people with interconnections, rather than relationships, although Hitomi and Takeo are trying to make an awkward fist of something more.

I look forward to your thoughts Stasia and Paul.
(12 Nov)

****

Not much more to add to the above. This novel just didn't do it for me. Not enough warmth I think.

There was an inordinate amount of food/eating, without much description of it or pleasure in it really, beyond a character putting on or losing weight.

So for me meh, though I know others loved it. It happens.(14 Nov)

***

Stasia: I am finding this book to be - odd, I guess is the word I want. It is very segmented with no clear narrative line. The jury is still out with me as to whether I like it or not. I am a little over halfway through with the book. (12 Nov)

Paul: Then the three of us are pretty much on the same page (figuratively and literally). I am also about half way and slightly bemused. I often find Japanese authors a bit obtuse and whilst I agree this is fairly direct in a language sense, its subject matter is in fact obtuse when you consider the normal content of the novel form.

Not an unpleasant reading experience but a quirky one. (12 Nov)

Stasia: I rated it slightly lower than you, Caroline, at 2 stars. I got very frustrated with the whole thing and the "I love him/I hate him" really grated on me by the end of the book. I do not mind quiet books, but this one seemed to have no point whatsoever. (14 Nov)

(Consolidated from my thread)

Moved to >14 Caroline_McElwee: below

I've added this thread to the group wiki - will carry it over to next year.

>4 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

Thanks for setting this up, Caroline. I have Redemption Ground on order.

>6 PaulCranswick: If it hasn't landed by the 6th Paul, happy to delay starting til it has.

>6 PaulCranswick: If your book hasn't arrived say by the 16th January Paul, shall we choose something else from the list, and bounce this to next month.

Stasia's choice next if that happens.

Count me in for Redemption Ground, Caroline. I just purchased the Kindle version of it, which is on sale for $3.99 in the US.

Excellent Darryl.

I noticed this thread last month and would love to join in, at least when I can.

>11 AnneDC: Anne we'd love to have you. We will be resuming reading next month, I will post an update.

Update

Paul is still waiting for his copy of Redemption Ground to land (it is taking the scenic route to his door). If it lands by the end of this month, we will read it in February, if not, we will read Night Haunts (Sukhdev Sandhu) in February, and hopefully Redemption Ground in March.

Redemption Ground Essays and Adventures (Lorna Goodison) Chosen by Margaret Busby
Reading - W/c 7 Feb



Margaret Busby says:

“The best creative artists are never content to stay obediently contained within anticipated bounds (as I know well from compiling New Daughters of Africa). So it is with Lorna Goodison, first female poet laureate of Jamaica, winner of the 2019 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry – and have you seen her beautiful artwork, gracing the cover of her new collection, Mother Muse? No better time than now to savour her evocative prose, captured in Redemption Ground – an ever-rewarding book in which personal intimacies connect effortlessly with global concerns, it is also crafted with a generosity that inevitably leads the reader on to other writers and stories. Redemption Ground resonates with compassion, humour and thoughtfulness, as Goodison shares unforgettable formative moments in her life and career, inviting us to accompany her on an ongoing journey of self-discovery.”

A volume of 25 short essays.

Maybe we post our thoughts after each essay, or simply favourite essays.

The Song of the Banana Man From Redemption Ground

1970s London: The author and her friend, two West Indian ladies chance on a tea room and thinking of their education in all things British, consume Bath Buns and share Colonial experience with three Irishmen at a neighbouring table.

This short essay gives a real sense of viewing things from different perspectives. How their education favoured history of the ‘mother country’, and how the writer burnishes it with the unspoken truths of where and how the sugar for the bath buns had come from. How both West Indian and Irish shared their otherness in this London Town they all found themselves in.

>15 Caroline_McElwee: I have only read this one so far. I wondered why the two making eyes at each other weren't allowed to wander off together. The difference between essay and fiction, perhaps?

>15 Caroline_McElwee: >16 charl08: Could someone explain the reference to golden daffodils to me (p 4)? I am not at all sure what this is in reference to.

BTW - Are we reading the essays at the rate of 1 per day? I am asking because I need to have the book finished by February 27 as I leave for Las Vegas on the 28th, so I am going to need to read them at slightly ahead of that pace.

>17 alcottacre: I believe the daffodil reference is to the Wordsworth poem, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, which comes up again in the Daffodil-Bashing essay a little bit later. Apparently students in Jamaica (and throughout the British empire) had to memorize the poem as part of the English curriculum, despite having never laid eyes on a daffodil.

I have a Kindle copy and am interested in reading it but haven't started yet. But will look on with interest and will chip in even if I end up reading months after everyone else.

Last year I read Andrea Levy's collection Six Stories and an Essay which contains more memoir than the title suggests, as most items have a sort of introduction about why and now they were written, and she wrote about her mum attending a writing class in the UK. Students were asked to write about memories of Christmas and the teacher's response to an account of a Jamaican beach Christmas was just "but that's not what Christmas is like".

>16 charl08: I think so Charlotte. That might have been different in fiction.

>17 alcottacre: I was planning to read 6-7 a week to make it last all month, but happier to read faster Stasia.

As Anne says in >18 AnneDC: It is reference to the Wordsworth poem which all British children would have been familiar with in that era and earlier, maybe less so now.

>18 AnneDC: Exactly Anne.

>19 elkiedee: Happy to have you on the journey whenever convenient Luci.

Yes I can believe that was the response of the teacher then. Hopefully less ignorant now!

Just read 'A Taste of Honey' and am reminded that I want to read the play.

How many books is reading Redemption Ground collection going to add to our lists of "books I need/want to read?" I also have a biography of Shelagh Delaney written by Selina Todd, a historian with an interest in working class history, and as a feminist and socialist, working class women's history.

Just looked up Shelagh Delaney on LT and am wondering how I didn't know that she wrote the screenplay for Dance with a Stranger, the 1980s film about Ruth Ellis who was the last woman hanged in Britain.

>22 elkiedee: Haha, well as we know, books breed books Luci.

I too have the Delany biog in the pile.

A Taste of Honey from Redemption Ground

The author reminisces about seeing the movie of Shelagh Delaney’s ‘A Taste of Honey’ in the cinema in Jamaica and how it moved her, sitting alone and watching the stories of a diverse group of characters in extremis.

Also seeing representations of people who were lower on the ladder than her own family, as she had only imagined that Lords snd Ladies lived in England.

>18 AnneDC: I have read about someone else having to read "Daffodils" while growing up in the Caribbean. Can’t think where - maybe it’ll pop into my head later on.

>18 AnneDC: Thank you, Anne, for the clarification. *sigh* Just when I think I am getting well-read, I prove once again that I am not.

>20 Caroline_McElwee: Making the book last all month is fine, Caroline, I just need to end my month on the 27th :)

A Taste of Honey from Redemption Ground:

I can tell already that this is one of those books that is going to make me feel stupid. I have never heard of Shelagh Delaney before, nor have I heard of the film A Taste of Honey, which evidently came out when I was about a year old. I am guessing that her "11-plus" is some kind of exam??

I love the last paragraph of this essay. I have had books do that to me.

>27 alcottacre: I think I had only come across her because of the reviews of the new biography that Caroline and Luci mention.

Reading "Some poems that made me". She comments on the poets she was taught at school: I think even when I was at school it was still the case that our literature reading list for exams was dominated by white men. In the case of plays and novels, it was *all* white men.

Her sister's library sounds amazing. I would love to see photos. How amazing to have the run of that at a young age.

>25 wandering_star: I love those flickers of memory, while also finding them frustrating.

>26 alcottacre: Because I loved theatre from early on I knew of the play, but only saw a tv dramatisation of it.

Ha, you are far from stupid Stasia, you are just dipping your toes into a new pool. Why are we made unconfident by what we don't know, rather than electrified by what we are learning. Humans!

>27 alcottacre: Can't wait to get to that Charlotte.

>26 alcottacre: and >29 Caroline_McElwee: What Caroline says.

Charlotte and I were saying we haven't read Shelagh Delaney's most famous work or other books by and about her, so not yet having read her doesn't make you ignorant. You are intelligent and well read and lovely and always keen to try new things,

I am thinking of a Shelagh Delaney mini reading project but I've no idea when I might try to do this or whether it will even be this year. This would be 5 books, or 4 and a bit books - 2 plays (available in libraries) and a story collection (my shelves) by her, and one and a bit books about her (my boxes, as there isn't available shelf space).

But I think this thread should go back to Lorna Goodison's book.

We are renaming a local street after the founder of a black bookshop and publishing company, John La Rose (New Beacon Books), New Beacon published some of the work of several writers featured in this list of 20 books, including Lorna Goodison I think, and of others coming back to public attention recently, eg Sam Selvon. I am very pleased and we need some good news here. This is happening very close to where I live.

This only tells part of the story - there is some hostility from racists, from people who don't like our previous council leader and or his views and from people who've been fed scare stories, but I won't go into detail.

https://www.itv.com/news/london/2022-02-02/haringey-council-votes-to-rename-blac...

I read the chapter taken from her Nadine Gordimer speech. I had Peter Abrahams on my radar already (thanks to my enthusiasm for ancient Heinemann African Writers editions) but I really should pick up Mine Boy rather than just admiring the cover. I like the way the author weaves herself into a community of writers with these pieces, but makes her own choices with the poetry. The one about the bedspread made me jump to Emin's bed - and the home's potential as a political act (or many acts!).

>28 charl08: Charlotte, I agree about her sister's library. I would love to see some photos of it!

>29 Caroline_McElwee: Yes, I know I am dipping my toes into new pools - between this book and Edward Said - but I still feel stupid about it. Poetry is just not, and never has been, my thing.

In Some poems that made me, she refers to a lot of poetry and poets with whom I am unfamiliar. I have at least heard of William Wordsworth, Rupert Brooke, and Langston Hughes though!

>30 elkiedee: If you do the Shelagh Delaney project, Luci, could you give me some warning so that I can track down the books as well? I would love to do something like that, although in my case, it will probably be next year as I am reading all of Austen this one.

>34 alcottacre: Yes, and it will be several months away minimum.

I'm really enjoying this volume. And yes, wish there were photos of her sisters library, but then we all have our own. As kids, my sister not only had to share with me, but my growing library. She traipsed with me every Saturday to the local secondhand bookshop, and snitched books from my shelves to read. On a train one day when she was about 8 she was caught reading The Valley of the Dolls, my embarrassed mother to the smirking man opposite said 'she probably thought it was about dolls'. My indignant sister corrected her with 'No I didn't, I read the back and thought it looked interesting'. I am seven years older than my sister, and am blamed for her own love of books, and ever growing collection.

I really liked the opening poem in the Gordimer piece, as well as 'Bedspread'. I also got a sense of the whole person in her description of Gordimer. Anti-apatite was very much a part of my teens and 20s. You couldn't get to Charing Cross Road without passing the protests outside South Africa House.

>35 elkiedee: Thanks, Luci!

>36 Caroline_McElwee: My sister, who is almost 3 years my junior, has never been a reader. I started at age 3 when my mother, who is a reader, taught me and I have never looked back. Somehow, I managed to marry a man who does not read - 2 books in the 30+ years we have been married, so I have to make up for him :) LT has been a savior for me in that regard as I can discuss books with other readers.

There is a paragraph in the Nadine Gortimer Memorial Lecture that I love: "That condition of being at home with great contradiction - joy and sorrow, humour in the midst of massive despair - is one of the great gifts that the artists, writers, and thinkers of the continent of Africa and of the African diaspora have given to the world." What a gift it is!

Anti-apartheid was definitely part of my teenagehood too, Caroline, although I do not remember any active protests here. I do remember the discussions of how SA needed to end apartheid and the appearance of Nelson Mandela in the news.

>37 alcottacre: That is a wonderful quote Stasia.

Shame your sister and husband aren't readers. Ha, I think you are doing a good job reading for all of you.

I have read a few of the essays since my last post (I am appreciating them as short reads I can fit around other things.)

The essay on Wordsworth's Daffodils struck me: I also wish that I had known more about his politics when first introduced to his work. I think there's a missed opportunity there not to teach about how poetry can be political. Although maybe things have changed now?

>38 Caroline_McElwee: I try my best to make up for them!

>39 charl08: I read the essay on Wordsworth's Daffodils today too. I had to look the poem up because I was unfamiliar with it. I do not see anything of a political nature in it, Charlotte. Is there a line or lines in particular to which you are referring?

My understanding is that his views changed a lot as they got older. His earlier writing life was at the time of the French Revolution as well as the war with America.

I recently saw parts of a two part documentary in which Scottish crime writer Denise Mina and someone else (trying to remember who, a male writer) travel around places where Wordsworth lived and wrote, discussing his life, literary and other friendships and relationships (family, not just marriage, eg his sister Dorothy) and writing.

>40 alcottacre: Sorry, I should have explained myself better in my message. As a school student (17-18) we would do analysis of poems on their own by different poets (like Wordsworth). Usually this involved being told we were wrong (as I remember it) and given the "correct" reading of meaning as well as a deathly (at least to me then) analysis of the technical structure of the poem. Since then (more than twenty years ago) I've read a bit about Wordsworth's biography, and his political radicalism. Knowing myself as an 18 year old, I would have been far more interested in his politics (and the poems that linked to that) than the one about daffodils. I perhaps overinterpreted Goodison, but I thought she was making a similar point about the missed potential of teaching Wordsworth as someone with an engagement in politics (while noting >41 elkiedee:)

I'm now reading her chapter about listening to music from her bed (from the disco down the road).

I went looking to see if someone else had put together a playlist for this on Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0prhSH2vrIT0qVvdMLucFK?si=ceb3a216ce274f95

>43 charl08: Ooo, thanks Charlotte, I'll have a listen later.

Ah, OK. Thank you for the clarification, Charlotte!

Comments on Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise: I can relate to this essay on some level as I grew up with a mother who used to sing hymns when washing the dishes and doing other chores around our house. I catch myself doing the same thing - and I actually love the hymn that she mentions as being her favorite.

>45 alcottacre: No worries.

>46 alcottacre: I only know one line of this hymn, nonetheless it is now an earworm. Could be worse!

Reading the "Caribbean imaginary" chapter.
I want to read her memoir.
She lost her books! Oh no.

I thought this quote was a fascinating insight into her writing:

And that is because, in the Caribbean, the centre will not, does not, and looks like it might not ever, hold. A Caribbean writer therefore has to take what is available even if much has been lost, and give it a presence, a reality through their imagination.

All writers do this, but Caribbean writers face formidable or particular challenges because of the ways in which slavery, and then colonialism, erased or distorted so much of our lives that we have had to learn to write ourselves into the story in any way we can.

I want to read Lorna Goodison's memoir(s) too, some time....

>46 alcottacre: Despite not being a church goer, I've liked a lot of the hymns Stasia.

>47 charl08: Love the quote Charlotte. I'm going to read a few more f the essays today.

I too will be looking for her memoir/s down the line.

Comments on My painted skirt like a scenic 78: Other than Sarah Vaughan's "Lullaby of Birdland," I had not heard a single song given in this essay until today. I pulled them all up on YouTube to listen to them :)

I have heard of the majority of the artists that Goodison's mentions, but not the Jamaican musicians. I had a very conservative upbringing, so my familiarity with pop music (up until I hit about 16) is nonexistent. That goes for American artists, let alone Jamaican ones!

I was looking for a poem to answer the Valentine challenge, and found this lovely one by Derek Walcott - a poet I've not read (but one of the early essays mentions, if I've not misremembered).
It opens:

That sail which leans on light,
tired of islands,
a schooner beating up the Caribbean

for home, could be Odysseus,
home-bound on the Aegean;
that father and husband's

longing, under gnarled sour grapes, is
like the adulterer hearing Nausicaa's name
in every gull's outcry.

This brings nobody peace.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57111/sea-grapes

>51 charl08: I am not a poetry fan. One of the reasons is things like Nausicaa showing up and I have no idea who or what that is. I know that is just me, but I just cannot get into poetry and all of its symbolism. Maybe it is another one of those "this is going to make me feel stupid" things. I had no idea who Derek Walcott was even until someone told me the other day. I know I "should" read it - and there is some poetry that I like, but not a lot - I just cannot get inspired to do so.

And that was a whole lot of nothing that has nothing to do with anything. . .

Speaking of explanations, can someone explain what "in the Caribbean, the centre will not, does not, and looks like it might not ever, hold" means? This quote is from essay 12 The Caribbean imaginary.

>53 alcottacre: I still haven't started the book but without looking at the essay, it's a reference to very frequently quoted lines from a poem by William Butler Yeats - I know some of the lines but had to google to tell you the name of the poem. The Second Coming. Yeats was an early 20th century Irish poet often claimed by the British - his life spans the period when the whole of Ireland was under British rule, monarchy etc and the post independence period from 1921 onwards when most of Ireland became an independent country but 6 counties remained part of "the United Kingdom"

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

See how many book titles you can spot there!

As I said, I don't even remember the title and had to look it up but these lines are often quoted to bemoan the state of the nation in relation to more than one country. I've also just looked up the date when it was written - 1919 - just after the First World War, during the Irish war of independence which ended in a treaty giving independence to 26 out of Ireland's 32 counties. This was also after the 1917 Russian Revolution, so it was seen as a comment on post war Europe when there was a lot of fear among political and literary classes about where "things" were going. YOu can read the poem on the Poetry Foundation webpage and there is lots of commentary online including a Wikipedia entry.

I must start reading this book.

>54 elkiedee: I had heard the phrase before, but never knew what it meant. Thank you for the explanation, Lucy.

I just finished reading essay 13 A meditation on friendships past and think that, to this point in the book, it is my favorite essay. I love where she says, "At this stage of my life (she was 71 when she wrote Redemption Ground, I do not now regret one day that I have spent working at any job, because somehow every job that I have ever had has always fed and nourished my writing."

I felt the same about my jobs in the days when I was working. One job would lead to another and with each I learned something that made me a better employee and in some cases, a better person due to what I learned. As far as I am concerned, learning never ends, whether you are a writer such as Goodison or a retired person like me.

Einstein supposedly once said, "Once you stop learning, you start dying.” I am not ready for that yet and I suspect that Goodison is not either.

I have just been reading the essay on hurricanes. After a big storm here last night (in UK terms) very glad we don't have to deal with such extreme weather conditions. And I can't believe she manages to make a positive out of losing her books after losing her roof.She is obviously very strong minded.

>56 charl08: I just finished that one as well, Charlotte. I can tell you from personal experience having lived through both hurricanes (when I lived in Florida) and tornadoes (Texas), neither is fun and I would not have been positive about the experiences at all if my books disappeared (let alone my roof!)

I have now read the next 4 essays, but really have no comment on them.

I just finished reading A party for Tarquin while listening to Miles Davis riff on "Someday My Prince Will Come." Awesome piano playing by Wynton Kelly behind the main man. Thank you, YouTube!

Anyway, Goodison makes the statement to which I can relate, "People always assume that I don't know anything. I guess I just look as if I don't know anything."

True story: When I was working in the bail bond office one night, I was sitting and reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (which reminds me that a re-read is in order soon), when a couple came in to bail their son out. The woman looked at my book and asked me if I understood what I was reading. I wanted to point out that I was not the idiot that Dostoevsky was writing about, but I restrained myself - customer service and all that. Pigeon holing and labeling people are pet peeves for me!

Thoughts on Femme de la Martinique: I do not understand the third (I think) person writing in this one, ie "the writer" did this, "the writer" did that.

I understand about the problem of getting someone to do your hair. I am not black, but I have naturally curly hair and a lot of hair dressers have told me through the years that they either would not touch it or did not know what to do with it.

No thoughts on the waterman, which has thus far been my least favorite essay in the book and I am not sure exactly why.

From the following essay, Parliament Street, I loved the quote, "Her saving grace was that no matter what was happening in her life she was always reading."

I can relate to that one. Books have been my shelter all my life. I grew up in an abusive home and always knew I could escape in books. When I am stressed, I will escape into books. I cannot imagine living without them.

>61 alcottacre: I think we can all relate to the refuge books can be Stasia. Occasionally I used to have a reading block, for some weird reason often in October, and that really frustrated me. Hasn't happened for years now though.

Will get back to the book today.

>59 alcottacre: I would not have been impressed by the question in the bail bond office.
I have had some nice shared enthusiasm about books I've been reading - someone looked really happy that I was enjoying Somerset Maugham once in a train station. Although that's just reminded me of the guy who thought he could tell me to put the book away because I should be looking at the views (!)

I found a couple of the end essays seemed to involve a lot of name dropping to me. I would have preferred something more detailed about the writers and publishers she knew well, rather than the brief mentions of many people who had played a key role in developing 'world' literature. I appreciate some of these were adapted from lectures, so perhaps that's why.

Ed to fix the spelling

>62 Caroline_McElwee: I hate when I am in a reading funk. After I finished school, I felt like I was in a reading block and it took me about 2 years to get my "reading mojo" back. I am glad to hear that it has not happened to you for years now, Caroline.

>63 charl08: I love Maugham. I am currently reading through a volume of his short stories.

I finished the book this evening and really have no comment on the last essays other than to say that I liked the last lines of the book: "After that meeting, I decided that I no longer want to keep a list of people I'd like to meet. I'll just see who comes along and stay open to being surprised by joy."

Are we reading Night Haunts for March? What are we reading in April? I am going to need to order April's book.

Hi Stasia, I think it is Paul's turn to choose, I'll leave a note on his thread.

>65 alcottacre: Ok guys since it is my turn I will revert to fiction and nominate Search Sweet Country by Koko Laing. If you have trouble picking that one up then the back up would be Night Theatre by Vikram Paralkar.

>67 PaulCranswick: That works for me as I already have it on the shelf. But happy to go with group decision, as I don't think I've read any of them.

>67 PaulCranswick: Happy to go with Search Sweet Country, thanks Paul.

March book: Night Haunts by Sukhdev Sandhu (Verso, 2007)



Chosen by Johny Pitts, who says:

“I discovered Night Haunts around the same time as Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things; both works leaking from between the cracks of Blair’s Britain, to reveal hidden lives of immigrants propping up a postcolonial metropole. It wouldn’t surprise me if Sandhu was inspired by Frears’s film; in a 2002 review he described Dirty Pretty Things as ‘a wake-up call to young writers and directors who for too long have averted their gazes from life in Britain’.

“Like Frears, Sandhu turns his gaze on a side of London many of us blithely pass through regularly; a dirty city with dirty secrets, after dark. The chapters are dedicated to the people who maintain the capital and keep its secrets, as security guards, minicab drivers and street sweepers, among others; those carrying out essential but invisible work. Like all of Sandhu’s writing, Night Haunts is layered and lyrical (with poetic photographic interludes) and is an essential though underappreciated contribution to the 2000s psychogeography revival.”

Johny Pitts is the author of Afropean: Notes from Black Europe

will I love the sound of Night Haunts but think I might find not be able to find a copy to borrow, or to buy for less than the £10.99 new price on Amazon. Am definitely adding to my wishlist and checking library catalogues in case though. The problem is that public libraries are under pressure to change their stock so a book published in 2007 ;ike this can be ridiculously hard to find.

>71 elkiedee: Luci, I expect to read this in the next fortnight, and am happy to loan it to you, if you want to send me your address my PM.

>70 Caroline_McElwee: I own that one and have ordered the two that Paul mentioned as well, so I should be good for a while. I will not start reading until I get home from my trip though.

>72 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline, I will sned you my address but I assume you will take part in discussion first etc because I will prioritise but can't guarantee a timescale - though if it's really as short as the Amazon listing suggests, it's not long at 160 pages. I will check library catalogues and the secondhand hardback Marketplace listings (and abebooks, just in case there is something not listed at similar total prices on Amazon) as well, as they start a bit lower than the paperback cover price.

Just started reading Nighthaunts

It's clear Sandhu's not a fan of modern London nightlife.

Cost-benefit analyses are drawn up to wring maximum revenue streams from this new gold dream of a 24/7-capital. Geographic Information System technology is deployed with a view to stoking local regeneration. Street lights are installed and a lot more CCTv cameras. In the end, 'night life' turns out to mean a clutch of surly bouncer-fronted clubs pumping out monotonous bpm, and from which puke-breathed likely lads emerge at 2 am to pick fights with girls who won't go home with them and Somali cabbies who, reluctant to have their back seats daubed in beer and kebabs, won't take them home.

I'm so behind...still need to finish last month's volume.

>76 Caroline_McElwee: Happy to defer a month if easier.

>77 charl08: No, I'll catch up Charlotte. The Plath biography has kept my attention elsewhere, but I'm 2/3rds through now.

I will likely be starting Night Haunts over the weekend - after I recover from traveling!

I took a bite out of Night Haunts this morning. Enjoying seeing things from a different perspective. The Avian Police chapter ran a gamut of sensations. The Samaritans chapter interested me as I was a Samaritan for two and a half years. He caught a lot of the kinds of people we spoke to, and some of the thoughts that Samaritans themselves cycled through. It sounds like the branch I worked at was far more diverse. Though my time there was 7 years ago and the book was written in 2010, so things may have become more diverse across the board in that time.

>75 charl08: So far I get a sense of both him disliking the night he sees now, or perceiving it to be more commercial than it was, less romantic perhaps, while still having some attachment to it Charlotte. I'm generally enjoying it so far.

>80 Caroline_McElwee: I have never heard of the Samaritans before. I take it that they are some kind of suicide prevention organization?

I also started Night Haunts today and hope to finish it tomorrow. I am finding it interesting reading since I have absolutely no familiarity with London whatsoever.

>81 alcottacre: Yes Stasia, they started out as a call centre for people who are suicidal, and that is your main training, but now they get a lot of other issues including, marriage, identity, sex, health, mental health.

There's more about the origins of the Samaritans here in case interesting. https://www.samaritans.org/about-samaritans/our-history/

I've just read the chapter on the police. I guess for me it shows its age: I was surprised he wasn't more critical of some of (what to me) are abuses of power by the police in helicopters. Can you imagine the complaints from a wealthy neighborhood if a police helicopter did pointless acrobatics overhead?

>83 charl08: We get a fair few helicopters here at night, though less during the pandemic. Ha, yeah, doubt they fly over Boris's house at 3am.

>82 Caroline_McElwee: >83 charl08: Thank you for the info, ladies. Charlotte, I appreciate the link!

I finished Night Haunts and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Since the book was published in 2006, I am guessing that things have changed in London, but I think this is a wonderful snapshot of the London that was at that time. Sandhu loves the city and in his acknowlegements states, ". . .they have brought me closer to people and places, and allowed me to gain insights about human goodness and resourcefulness even in the most straitened of circumstances that, far from diminishing my love for London, have served to amplify it."

I hate police helicopters - we got lots of them in Leeds as well, between 2 and 3 miles from the city centre. There must be other ways of doing most of the things they do, and they nyar A FORTUNE

Though the worst was having Trump's whole fleet of helicopters messing around over us during a big visit a fwe years ago. It was before he arrived.

T

I read the chapter about cleaners and found it a bit saccharine and over generalized. Maybe I'm not in the right mood for this book!

>88 charl08: I think that the entire book is over generalized, Charlotte, but that did not stop my enjoyment of it. I thought of the professions mentioned as a "type," rather than individuals.

>87 elkiedee: Ha. I was working at the House of Commons when Obama was due here, and the helicopters over the House shook it so that brick dust came down in a Committee room while we were taking evidence from witnesses. Normally it is a no fly zone (except for the harrier hawk who keeps the pigeons under control) so no one expected it.

>88 charl08: >89 alcottacre: I agree about that, but like you Stasia, still found much of it interesting. Two more chapters to go, should finish tonight.

Night Haunts

I think I was expecting something more like a night walkers journal, similar to the essays Will Self wrote some years back (not collected to my knowledge).

What Sandhu has done instead is to write about people who hold jobs that mean their lives are led mostly at night: fox hunters, avian police, sleep technicians, cleaners, nuns carrying out Night Adoration. All fascinating snippets about lives that go unseen. I enjoyed learning about them, but in the end felt he stayed outside, there weren't any really deep insightful interviews with any of those who undertook these roles. Short asides, but nothing that offered understanding about why you might choose those lives.

I'm behind (I didn't take the book on my trip: for once I only took 3 books with me!). Just read the chapter on the Samaritans. It reminded me of a friend who volunteered for a missing person's helpline. The volunteers' lives were plagued with prank calls, something that made no sense to me.

>91 Caroline_McElwee: I've also been thinking about other walking-the-city books I've read. Flaneuse came to mind, along with The Lonely City. Not a big fan of Self, so not that tempted to pick him up.

>92 charl08: Yes, one of the reasons I gave up volunteering for Samaritans was increasingly we could have whole shifts of sex pests, which is not what I gave up three hours a week for.

It didn't do much for my feelings about 'the male of the species' that they were prepared to deprive someone in desperate need of a volunteer's time. It had fleeting moments of humour. In my final year I also mentored new volunteers, one of whom was a young Polish woman, who spoke good English, but didn't of course know sexual slang or understand double entendre, so I had to enlighten her.

All that said, on the occasions when you felt you may have helped a caller, it was very satisfying. I used to use an energy habit to leave all the negative thoughts at the door of the unit, and gratefully, rarely was kept awake by the stories I heard.

>93 charl08: Will Self in person is pretty good value Charlotte. I've heard him twice and they were good evenings.

I am trying to get my reading together for April. What are we reading then? I have Night Theater and Search Sweet Country to hand as well as the Robin Walker textbook.

>95 alcottacre: I think we said Search Sweet Country Stasia. Just ordered it.

>OK, onto the April pile it goes. Thanks, Caroline!

April book: Search Sweet Country (Kojo Laing)



Chosen by Michael Donkor, who says:

“Bernard Kojo Laing’s Search Sweet Country is a thrillingly restive novel. It captures the kinetic character of Ghana’s capital, Accra. Set in the city in 1975, 18 years after independence, Laing’s narrative presents us with a motley ensemble of characters. They represent the complex social heterogeneity of a new nation trying to discover its sense of self. In an exuberantly freewheeling plot, we encounter, among others, a gnomic farmer, a taciturn academic, questionable policemen, a visionary witch and an aspiring photographer, all of whom give insights into the potential and potency of Accra. Laing’s style possesses an admirably rebellious energy. English and Ghanaian dialects are interwoven. Descriptions of Accra’s streetlife are lyrical. Portrayals of the clunking apparatus of the state are bitingly satirical. The narration sometimes tilts towards the fantastical too, in its contemplations of Ghana’s spiritual traditions. The African novel is so rarely praised for its formal innovation but this daring and unboundaried work certainly needs to be considered on those terms.”

I will probably start this >98 Caroline_McElwee: after Easter.

>99 Caroline_McElwee: That is when I am planning to start it too, Caroline.

I am starting Search Sweet Country today. Is anyone else reading it yet?

Will start it next, either tomorrow/Thurs, Stasia.

Well, I am bailing on the book. I have read the first 3 chapters - rereading chapter 1 even - which is almost 50 pages in, and I am not getting it. I feel really stupid and very bad that I am giving up on it, but life is too short.

>103 alcottacre: Sometimes that happens Stasia. The earliest I'll get to it is tomorrow evening. I'll give it a go, but unless that first chapter grabs me...

Stupidity will certainly have nothing to do with it either Stasia. I do wish you would stop thinking of yourself this way.

>104 Caroline_McElwee: You are right, Caroline, I should not think of myself that way. It comes from a lifetime of hearing it.

I hope you have better luck with the book than I did!

BTW - has anyone been able to track down a copy of the first book on the list, A Broken People's Playlist? I have checked the Book Depository and ABE Books as well as Amazon and have only been able to find it available for the Kindle, no hard copy.

>105 alcottacre: Just looked now Stasia, and like you, can only find a Kindle version.

>106 Caroline_McElwee: I guess the Kindle version it is then. I really hate reading on my Kindle, but needs must.

I'm hopelessly behind, but hoping to catch up this weekend.

I'm going to pause my reading on this project til June. i've got soo many books I really want to read in the next few weeks. But don't let me stop anyone else from carrying on, I will catch up.

Has any decision been made yet as to what we are reading in May?

Hi Stasia, happy for you to choose the May book.

>111 Caroline_McElwee: Then I am opting for Heart of the Race by Beverley Bryan et al. Thanks, Caroline!

Great Stasia, I have that somewhere too, though whether I can find it.

As I said up, will probably not read next book til June, but shall enjoy reading comments here.

>113 Caroline_McElwee: I understand about not being to locate a book, Caroline, believe me!

I will comment as I go along.

Recently arrived MY SOUL HAS GROWN DEEP features many early African American classics
and was reasonably priced on Abe.com.

>115 m.belljackson: That one sounds good, Marianne! Thanks for the mention.

I started The Heart of the Race today and must admit to being appalled at the status of black women in Britain in the 1980s. I am hoping that in the material added to my edition of the book there is clarification as to whether the conditions have improved at all.

I finished The Heart of the Race yesterday. What an awesome book! To be honest, I wish I had read it before Redemption Ground because I think it would have given Goodison's essays a bit more context for me.

I am very appreciative of this challenge, if for reading only this one book. Just that makes it worth the time, energy and expense.

>118 alcottacre: Wonderful news Stasia. i shall Enjoy it when I find my copy.

On hols at the moment, hence quiet online.

>119 Caroline_McElwee: A lot of the information in the book was new to me, Caroline, so it was an eye-opening read. YMMV.

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Are we reading anything for this challenge in June?

Sorry Stasia, I've run out of steam with challenges at the moment. Do you mind a pause?

That is fine with me, Caroline. I already have more than enough on my plate for June, especially with being out of town for so long. Just let me know when you would like to resume.

>123 alcottacre: Will do Stasia. Maybe August.

>124 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds good! Thank you.

I love the pause--it will give me a chance to catch up. I'm a few books behind.

>1 Caroline_McElwee: Good list and more to add to my must-reads.

The Heart of the Race is a book I already wanted to read. The cheapest way to buy it here is direct from the publisher, Verso - it was already 30% off but is now 40% off until 8 July in their summer sale - £7.17 - so I will get it out of birthday money/as a present to myself.

Any thoughts on doing some reading for August for this challenge?

I haven't participated at all in this challenge but im going to scan my shelves and the library to read at least one in August.

>129 alcottacre: I know that you've read The Heart of the Race already, Stasia - I bought a paperback copy out of birthday money, direct from the publisher, Verso, with two other books. I also now have the already discussed Redemption Ground on my Kindle. I need to research which of the other books I can borrow from the library - I think I can probably get hold of The Joys of Motherhood.

However, I have lots of really fabulous books on hand, including paper and digital library books, and I'm juggling library reservations - I've maxed out all my library cards and most of my library ebook accounts (several London boroughs), and that is a lot of books! I could read at least parts of The Heart of the Race in August. How about scheduling The Joys of Motherhood for September/October, as I am more confident of getting hold of this? I have a different BE book awaiting collection at the library which I might pick up today.

Buchi Emecheta lived for a lot of her life in the same London borough as me.

>131 elkiedee: The Joys of Motherhood in September/October works for me, Luci.

Any input from anyone else?

>131 elkiedee: >132 alcottacre: I'm happy with the choice for September/October.

Another list which might be of interest to people on this thread.

https://shop.penguin.co.uk/products/black-britain-writing-back-complete-collecti...

I don't have the money to buy this complete set (11 books) from Penguin in one go, even with a discount, but am creating an LT list. Have added 4 of the 11 so far but will do the rest too.

https://www.librarything.com/list/43708/all/Black-Britain-Writing-Back

I've read Hannah Pool's memoir and have 3 of the books already TBR - Jacqueline Roy in paperback in this edition, Mike Phillips - this edition in library ebook (and some of his other books in old paperback editions bought 18-20 years ago - but I don't know where they are) and Nicola Williams - bought new also nearly 20 years ago, and I know where it is.

>134 elkiedee: Thank you for sharing the list, Luci. I wonder if I will be able to find them on this side of the pond.

Are we going to tackle The Joys of Motherhood in September or October?

>138 alcottacre: October would be better for me, as I'm away for a chunk of September, and I prefer not to take challenge reading on holiday, if that's ok.

>137 Caroline_McElwee: That is fine with me, Caroline. I was just checking.

Are we still planning on reading The Joys of Motherhood in October?

Hi Stasia, yes I should be ready for it mid month if thats OK. Happy if others want to start before. I'm just getting my reading mojo back after being stuck.

Sorry to hear you lost your reading mojo, Caroline, but glad it is back now! The middle of the month is fine with me. Let me know when you are ready to start.

>139 alcottacre: I will probably start this the middle of next week Stasia. I have three books I plan to finish by the end of the weekend (which for me includes Monday!), then I can give it my attention.

>142 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds good, Caroline. Thank you for letting me know. It is a slim volume so it should not take long to read.

>142 Caroline_McElwee: and >143 alcottacre: I've started reading it too. I supposedly have a copy but have no idea where it is so have borrowed another from the library. Although the copy I've borrowed is quite slim it's on quite nice quality paper and it's a little longer than appears.

If you participate in the TIOLI challenges, I have placed The Joys of Motherhood into Challenge #5 for October.

>145 alcottacre: Finally started this. Yay.

I think I am going to pause challenges for the rest of the year after this one though. Only just getting my reading mojo back after a brief dip, and very much needing to mood read.

I'm a little over half way through The Joys of Motherhood - I think it's very well done but am finding it too depressing. I am glad though that the author herself did eventually gain recognition for her work after some very unhappy times in her own life. I also have one of her London set novels out of the library and two of her books that I own are on the small set of shelves near the sofa. (I apparently have my own copy of Joys and of a book with Biafra in the title, but where they might be is anyone's guess.

I agree it is definitely a well written novel Luci. It is hard to imagine such a life (despite that there have been European and American versions of daughters used as chattels historically). Even in my lifetime women weren't allowed to have bank accounts in their own names (the law changed in 1975).

64. The Joys of Motherhood (Buchi Emecheta) (01/11/22) (Kindle) ****



A finely crafted novel set in the 1930s to 1950s following the life of a young woman Nnu-Ego in an evolving Nigeria. Moving from a rural village to Lagos where traditions slowly evolve.

In a tradition where women are seen as chattels and where the position she would hold in the rural village is lost in the hubbub of a buzzing, modernising city.

A novel not for the faint hearted as Nnu-Ego's life is hard and harsh.

I will certainly return to Emecheta's work.

Do we want to pause this challenge entirely until January 2023? I know holidays are coming up and for some, there are challenges just in dealing with them!

>150 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, that would be great. Maybe pick up again in February? I've even paused going to my RL reading group til next year. I need just to mood read at the moment.

>151 Caroline_McElwee: February it is then, Caroline!

>151 Caroline_McElwee: Are we still on for February? If so, what are we reading?

>153 alcottacre: I'm not doing great on Challenges at the moment. You choose something Stasia, and I'll aim to hobble along when I can.

>154 Caroline_McElwee: What if we did something like this, Caroline: When We Ruled by Robin Walker is 22 chapters long, so if we took 2 chapters a month for the rest of the year, we could complete it by December. That way, the challenge does not become overwhelming for either of us and if 2 chapters a month proves to be too little and we want to go faster, we could adjust from there.

If that does not work for you, I was thinking of reading A Visitation of Spirits instead, if that is acceptable.

>155 alcottacre: I can't find a copy of When We Ruled to purchase here for less than £65 Stasia, and the London Library copy is currently on loan, and may prove difficult to keep for a year, but willing to try that when it is returned.

I've just ordered A Visitation of Spirits. So will let you know when it lands.

>156 Caroline_McElwee: I am not sure what 65 pounds translates into American dollars, but it sounds a lot, so I do not blame you for not just rushing out and buying it.

A Visitation of Spirits it is then. If it does not land anytime soon, then that is just fine. It is not as if I have nothing to read in the meantime!

>157 alcottacre: It's about US $80 Stasia.

Will let you know when A Visitation of Spirits lands.

Err, hmm. Yup there are a book or two laying around that need reading.

>156 Caroline_McElwee: That's not affordable to buy! The description suggests that it's very heavily illustrated, which probably explains the price.

>158 Caroline_McElwee: I found it here in the States for about $84, which is a lot more than I paid for it back in 2021 (it was $32 back then). On ABEBooks.com, I only found 4 copies available. Maybe that is the issue - the book is hard to find these days?

A Visitation of Spirits landed. Expecting to get to it in the last couple of days of the month Stasia.

>161 Caroline_McElwee: Unfortunately, I did not get to A Visitation of Spirits at all in February, Caroline. Between the deaths in my family and the battle with CFS, it just did not happen. I am going to get to it in March though if it kills me!

Replied on message Stasia. March it is.

Currently reading

A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan
(Grove Press, 1989)



Chosen by Tarell Alvin McCraney

“Spring 2007: I was set to meet one of my heroes for coffee. The adage advises never to do this – I did it anyway. Almost a decade earlier, I had read a novel that changed my life: A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan, the story of a young Black boy growing up in the American south, who would rather become a bird (literally, and tries to) than come out as gay or queer. Kenan gave me pride in who I was, and what I am: a queer Black man wishing, still, to fly. When I met him in 2007, it felt like I knew him from before. He told me to continue to write, and encouraged me to dig deeper. Through this novel he advises us all to be curious with a ‘capital C’; tell the story that sparks more questions than answers. He passed away in August of 2020.”

Tarell Alvin McCraney is the author of the play In Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue

Half way through A Visitation of Spirits, there are elements I like, and others less so, I'm not a big fan of Magical Realism, but I can appreciate how it is being used in this novel as a metaphor for the pain of it's main character.

Should finish by end of tomorrow.

Kenan died too young in 2020 at 57.

Finished A Visitation of Spirits (Randall Kenan), and felt the same as I did at the halfway point >165 Caroline_McElwee:.

I recently picked up Langston Hughes' I Wonder as I Wander, would you be interested in reading this in May/June Stasia?

>167 Caroline_McElwee: Is that a reprint or secondhand, Caroline? I really enjoyed another volume of his memoirs, I think about his early life, a few years ago - I think it was something I came across in the public library.

ETA: Looked it up - it's The Big Sea and it's now available on Kindle at a reasonable price but not especially cheap - just over £8 (but a lot more reasonable than the secondhand paperback price which is upwards of £30). I resisted buying it but have bought a Dover Thrift Kindle edition of a novel, possibly autobiographical, and his first poetry collection - 49p and £1.89.

I will check out library catalogues for I Wonder as I Wander and possibly ask Islington to buy it, as I can see that there is a rather nice looking paperback edition in print. My own local library service is joining the Libraries Consortium which includes quite a lot of north and east London boroughs such as Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which will make it easier to borrow books but the transition doesn't seem to be complete yet. There is another Langston Hughes ebook available that I hope to borrow at some point but I'm so spoiled for reading choices just now.

>168 elkiedee: I have and have dipped into his poetry over the years, but this is the first of his memoirs to be read Luci. Yes, it is a nice paperback. I suspect it is one that I'll want to reread. I have a two volume biography of him in the tbr mountain as well.

>167 Caroline_McElwee: Yes, I am very interested in reading it, Caroline. I still need to read A Visitation of Spirits yet and my current book funk is not helping at all, nor is my CFS. I still hope to finish it before the end of the month though.

I am hopeful of completing A Visitation of Spirits either today or tomorrow. I received I Wonder As I Wander today, so if you would like to read it in either May or June, I have it on hand.

>165 Caroline_McElwee: I agree with your assessment, Caroline. Not a big fan of the magical realism in this one, but understand its purpose.

As someone who grew up in a Baptist church, I can identify with all of the things that were preached to and at Horace.

>171 alcottacre: Yes Stasia, May for I Wonder as I Wander.

>172 alcottacre: It wasn't a keeper for me. Would maybe give his non-fiction a try sometime.

>173 Caroline_McElwee: If you're passing on your copy of A Visitation of Spirits, may I be cheeky and say I would be quite interested in reading it. If there are any meet ups over the summer, I can send you a list of some of the huge piles of books that need a new home (a lot are accidental duplicates or books I bought from charity shops or secondhand and have since acquired in Kindle format, and there are some good books here, but I currently have more books that need a new home hanging around than many people have in their entire library! I can't drive, but maybe over the summer I will see if someone can help me get some to a charity shop - maybe to an area like Crouch End where we can just give a box each to several charity shops (there are about 10 there, some next door to or immediately opposite each other).

>174 elkiedee: Really sorry Luci, as at the minute a small bag of books is going out the door each week to the local free little library, it has already been released. Not cheeky at all, I would have been happy for you to have had it.

Not to worry, Caroline. That's a good way to pass on the books you don't need. I might be able to find a library copy now Haringey has joined the Consortium, giving me access to books from Hackney/Waltham Forest and a number of other London boroughs and Home Counties library services without extra reservation charges or bus fares (where they're not available in-borough already). I apparently have my first free reservation from outside the borough waiting for me at the local library (I might try to collect it this afternoon. if not probably on Wednesday).

>167 Caroline_McElwee: Let me know when you are ready to start on I Wonder as I Wander, Caroline.

>177 alcottacre: Maybe in a week Stasia.

>178 Caroline_McElwee: I started on I Wonder As I Wander today, Caroline, so if you started it last week, I am well behind you. I hope to have the book completed by the weekend as I am heading to my mother's for her birthday next week.

>179 alcottacre: I have just finished the intro Stasia, so will take a bite out of it later. I probably won't have finished by the weekend, but steam ahead. I wondered if you'd get it in with all you have on your plate at the moment.

>180 Caroline_McElwee: I am getting in all the reading I can this week as I expect my reading for June is going to be pretty much nonexistent.

Are we declaring this challenge officially over? I am just curious. I am certainly willing to continue.

>182 alcottacre: Sorry Stasia, I'm struggling with all prescribed books, including my real book group right now. It's not that I don't want to read from a list, just that I want to read other things more in the moment. As I'm still working 30 hours a week, less reading time too.

Can we park for a while and revisit?

>183 Caroline_McElwee: Certainly, Caroline. I just wondered whether or not to continue purchasing the books on the list. I already have a couple of them here ready to read, but need to get the others. Thanks for letting me know. Please let me know when you are ready to go again.

I found this article today through an email that Penguin sent me and I thought it might be of interest:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/african-american-fiction-classi...

I need to read the ones that I have not already read. Is anyone interested in reading any of these?

>185 alcottacre: I've read six of the titles on the list, and works by several of the other authors. I'm certainly interested in reading more of these classic works, so I'll be watching this space!

>185 alcottacre: I've read 5 and have a couple of others. There are a few new to me writers too, but for the time being won't make a commitment Stasia, but will still watch this space.

I have yet to read any of Toni Morrison's books and I really need to rectify that. I am hoping to get to The Bluest Eye in September.

>188 alcottacre: That is the one of maybe 2 of Morrison's novels I have yet to read Stasia, and I have it to hand, so will join you in a read next month.

>189 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds great, Caroline!

>189 Caroline_McElwee: Just let me know when you would like to read The Bluest Eye in September, Caroline. I will need to pick up a copy from my local library. One of the TIOLI challenges for September is on racism. The book will fit in perfectly there (unfortunately).

2nd week of Sept Stasia? I start my A/L then and will have more reading time. And its only a novella really.

>192 Caroline_McElwee: That works just fine for me, Caroline. Thank you for letting me know. I will hold off on getting the book from the library until then.

I am going to be out of town for much of October so I would like to wait to pick this project back up again in November, if no one has any objections.

Any idea on what we would like to read together next?

Works fine for me Stasia. Will look at the list again and get back to you.

Sounds good, Caroline! Thank you.

Suggestions for reading in November? I still have Night Theater from the original list here to read, but I am open to anything!

I discovered this thread tonight. I'll return and add some books to my TBR library.

>197 alcottacre: Let me take a look at the list again Stasia.

ETA: How about Corregidora?

>198 Whisper1: I hope you find some treasure Linda.

>199 Caroline_McElwee: Corregidora works for me. It has been in the BlackHole for far too long. Just let me know when you would like to start!

How about mid month Stasia. I've got a few things on the go at the minute. Say 15th?

>202 Caroline_McElwee: No problem. Thanks for letting me know!

Per Caroline's request, my thoughts on Corregidora:

This was Jones' first novel and man, did I want to like it more than I did. However, for me, getting over the explicit sex and continual bad language was an issue. The story itself is a good one, if unrelenting in its intensity. We meet Ursa at the beginning of the novel just as she is recuperating from the effects of a devastating fall caused by her soon-to-be ex-husband, costing her the child she was carrying. In her family, being a mother is paramount as she must provide the next generation and sadly, her accident caused her to have a hysterectomy on top of everything else. We get glimpses into Ursa's family history throughout the book - her great grandmother and grandmother were slaves who were both impregnated by their owner, the Portuguese Corregidora, and he casts a long shadow over this book. I understand why this is an important book and a must read in some cases, but it was just not one for me; Not Recommended (3 stars) Mine

>204 alcottacre: Stasia had more stamina than I, I gave up just over half way. I agree with her thoughts.