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News & ArtsThursday, December 4, 2008
Books Step 1: Meet Some White People
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Did you know that December is National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month? Welcome White Folks says it is, and what the hell, I'll believe them.
Oh, one other thing, white people already know about Toni Morrison, so please choose something else besides A Mercy.The books I'm buying to give to white friends this year include:
Third Girl from the Left by Martha Southgate
Kinky Gazpacho by Lori Tharps
Going Down South by Bonnie Glover
No Place Safe by Kim Reid
Seen it All and Done the Rest by Pearl Cleage
A couple years ago, while at Book Expo America. I noted the segregation of black titles:
There are a number of panels, as well, that are not independent-bookseller centric—for instance, a discussion, sponsored by the stellar new magazine A Public Space, about the future of short fiction, and a seminar titled "Their Eyes Were Reading Smut: The Impact of Ghetto Fiction on African-American Literature." As the only white man in the room, I find the latter to be especially interesting: Literature is one of the most ghettoized art forms in America today, and current African-American lit, to hear the panelists tell it, is mostly about either gangs and violence or hot-sex romance, most notably written by an author named Zane. An author on the panel points out that it's possible to include sex without making your novel a porno; by way of example: "I'm sure lots of you have read Po Man's Child or Howard Street," and these two titles set nearly every head in the room to nodding. I've never heard of them, and I'm sure that 95 percent of other white bookstore employees haven't heard of them either. The panelist, whose name I never catch, goes on: "Books are the freest media we have—it's the only media where we're not advertising drivel." These wind up being perhaps the most honorable words I hear all weekend.
Even the most avid of white readers could probably stand to brush up on their African-American-written fiction. I'm not a fan of African-American Fiction sections in bookstores—besides the segregation aspect, I'm usually for less subcategories in bookstores to increase the chances of miraculous non sequitur finds while browsing—but I do think blogs like Welcome White People should keep recommending good books by black authors to non-black readers, because we're sure not finding them on our own.
(Via MOBYLIVES.)
1
Howard Street sounds interesting. Someone on Amazon compares it to Donald Goines, who wrote fantastic gritty Seventies streetlife -- dope, guns, and pimps. Shame SPL doesn't have it. They've got a couple of others by the same author, Nathan C. Heard. I think I'll check one out, seeing as how it's NBABBABAAGITSNB Month.
2
just my own pref - the Color Purple is historic and so damn good
send it to anyone anytime
used even, who cares, no book lover I know
send it to anyone anytime
used even, who cares, no book lover I know
6
@5
ick! zadie smith is the nadir of 'multi-cultural' fiction. truly, here rambling, derivative and just plain boring writing is affront to good AA writers as well as anyone who dislikes over-hyped pompous trash. read some octavia butler instead. butler had brains and writing style to spare.
ick! zadie smith is the nadir of 'multi-cultural' fiction. truly, here rambling, derivative and just plain boring writing is affront to good AA writers as well as anyone who dislikes over-hyped pompous trash. read some octavia butler instead. butler had brains and writing style to spare.
8
I've never paid attention to what race the author is when buying a book.
I do plan on reading a book by a woman soon (The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell). Does that count?
I do plan on reading a book by a woman soon (The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell). Does that count?
10
For those with designs on writing (especially on the heels of NaNoWriMo) I recommend This Year You Write Your Novel, by Walter Mosley.
Best book on writing I've ever read.
Best book on writing I've ever read.
12
Zora Neale Hurston has an amazing perspective, and her work has justly been resurrected by Alice Walker and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Nobody who loves literature should die without reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
13
The shipmates book is very good. But I don't know if it counts. There's a lot of stuff about the natives of America though.
14
It's really our own faults.
The specialty sections never should have started. We had "Black studies," "Asian studies," "GLBT studies," and others. Why not put them ALL into a generic sociology area? Bigger space. No artificially-created segregation. Everyone sees titles from everyone else's self-identified groups. Win-win.
But it's probably too late for that now. Shame.
The specialty sections never should have started. We had "Black studies," "Asian studies," "GLBT studies," and others. Why not put them ALL into a generic sociology area? Bigger space. No artificially-created segregation. Everyone sees titles from everyone else's self-identified groups. Win-win.
But it's probably too late for that now. Shame.
17
@15: Amen!
"If He Hollers Let Him Go" is fucking brilliant.
And I love some Coffin Ed and Gravedigger action.
"If He Hollers Let Him Go" is fucking brilliant.
And I love some Coffin Ed and Gravedigger action.
21
I don't quite have the budget for a brand new book, but here's a great article about CEO pay written by the Thomas Sowell, a card carrying black author:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=536…
Now all you white Stranger readers can expand your horizons a bit, step out of your white bubble.
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=536…
Now all you white Stranger readers can expand your horizons a bit, step out of your white bubble.
23
Sure, white people have heard about Toni Morrison. But do they get the Middle Passage references in Beloved?
25
@18: Male African American authors mentioned in this thread, leading up to you at 18:
1) Donald Goines
2) Nathan C. Heard
3) James Baldwin
4) Walter Mosley
5) Chester Himes
6) Richard Wright
7) Colson Whitehead
Female African American authors mentioned in this thread, leading up to you at 18:
1) Alice Walker
2) Zadie Smith
3) Zora Neale Hurston
4) Octavia Butler
You can count the five female authors mentioned in the original post, but that still doesn't give you a 3:1 female:male ratio.
1) Donald Goines
2) Nathan C. Heard
3) James Baldwin
4) Walter Mosley
5) Chester Himes
6) Richard Wright
7) Colson Whitehead
Female African American authors mentioned in this thread, leading up to you at 18:
1) Alice Walker
2) Zadie Smith
3) Zora Neale Hurston
4) Octavia Butler
You can count the five female authors mentioned in the original post, but that still doesn't give you a 3:1 female:male ratio.
26
Only people like naive white Seattle liberals who live in lily-white Seattle and who don't have to constantly be around blacks in significant numbers are so obsessed with trying to like blacks, and with trying to get blacks to like them.
27
I forgot I've read Walter Mosely too. I read Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison but thought it was badly written.
31
I'd go local with Nisi Shawl's short story collection Filter House.
And to keep the male:female ratio, Edward P. Jones's The Known World.
And to keep the male:female ratio, Edward P. Jones's The Known World.
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