How the Dead Dream by Lydia Millet

What a very strange book. Again, I kept reading without really liking it. The language is beautiful and the picture painted is complete, but the story is so strange and doomed that I wanted to slap the protagonist upside the head. Or I wanted him dead.

This book has the most solitary character I have ever read. As a child he is alone, he briefly marries but she dies tragically, and his grief is monumental, to be followed by more loneliness.

T. is so isolated that he seeks comfort in other isolated beings: the last survivors of various soon-to-be-extinct animals. What can come of this? You can figure that out.

The Way the Crow Flies

Just finished reading this book by Ann Marie MacDonald. I picked this book out of the stacks at the Book House in Dinkytown having heard nothing about it. It packs a wallop.

I felt as if the author was almost cruel in her persistence of portraying an abuser who suffered no consequences. And then I looked up the book on the internets, and discovered this was based on a true story. Just like reality, the abusers of the 1960s get away with it. An innocent boy was convicted of murder, while the true culprits survived and kept their secrets.

MacDonald's story weaves this ugly reality of child abuse into the ugly reality of the Cold War and the brain drain of Nazi scientists to the west. There are moments of amazing beauty in her ability to portray the confusing view of the world that we have as children who have learned about evil long before we are capable of handling the consequences.

There is also a convincing portrayal of a reality most people miss. Children who suffer abuse spend a lot of effort protecting their parents from the facts of their own lives. This comes through loud and clear in this novel. Even when the heroine, Madeline, tries to tell the truth about her life to her beloved father, you can see the tremendous effort it takes. Our parents are taught that the tragedies we experience are their fault. How convenient for society at large to be pin the blame on parents rather than focus on the sickness among us

This book affected me. I honestly don't know whether I would recommend this book to other readers. It needs a trigger warning. I wish I had known when I began the book that this was based on a true story. I would have been able to forgive the author for putting me through such pain and heartache.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I have been a member of a women's reading group for over 20 years now. We are not the typical reading group. For one thing, we are diverse in our tastes and have NEVER found a book that we all agreed upon as good reading. We tried, at first, to all read the same book. But we also agreed that nobody should feel pressured to read a book she doesn't like. The result? You guessed it. We have never all read the same book.

However, one of our members was especially impressed by Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. So much so that she gave each of us a copy of the book for Xmas/Hannukah. So I finally got around to reading it this past month.

First, the writing is truly awesome. I felt immersed in the place and time of the book. I felt moved by the women who form the basis of this book.

Also, I was confused by the structure. The book begins telling the story of Miriam, a bastard child who lives alone in a secluded "kolba" with weekly visits from her father. Then, abruptly, the book shifts to concentrate on Laila, Miriam's neighbor. Which is weird and confusing.

I suppose authors must have to trust their readers to let them take these abrupt turns. If the characters are of interest, we will accept the change and trust that all will be resolved. But, dammit, it takes a really long time for that to happen. But, what a miracle, I was patient.

This book throttles you with the reality of war and abuse. It isn't pretty. There are no miraculous escapes. The choices are few and brutal. We have hope for these women, but we also know how foolish that hope is.

Aha! Found it!

I stumbled on this list while scrolling through all the Racefail09 comments and then could NOT find it again. Today, I have once again found it and copy it here. Plans are underway to get these into our bookstore. Links to follow when I have time.

Big List of Awesome Authors, Poets, Playwrights and Scholars

The latest edition of the POC Author list.

The Face of Another by Kobo Abé
The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abé
The Box Man by Kobo Abé
Secret Rendezvous by Kobo Abé
The Ruined Map by Kobo Abé
The Ark Sakura by Kobo Abé
Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abé
Live From Deathrow by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta
For Love of Biafra by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Changes: A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo

The Dilemma of a Ghost by Ama Ata Aidoo
Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo
No Sweetness Here and Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo
10 Little Indians by Sherman Alexie
Adventures of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Business of Fancydancing by Sherman Alexie

First Indian on the Moon by Sherman Alexie
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
Old Shirts and New Skins by Sherman Alexie
One Stick Song by Sherman Alexie
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

Smoke Signals by Sherman Alexie
Summer of Black Widows by Sherman Alexie

The Woman Who Owned the Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Tales of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
A Cafecito Story by Julia Alvarez
Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez

The Best Gift of All by Julia Alvarez

Finding Miracles by Julia Alvarez
The Gift of Gracias: The Legend of Altagracia by Julia Alvarez

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Once Upon A Quinceañera by Julia Alvarez

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
The Secret Footprints by Julia Alvarez
Something to Declare by Julia Alvarez

The Woman I Kept to Myself by Julia Alvarez

Bless Me Ultima by Rudolpho Anaya
Being on the Moon by Annharte

La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa
Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1879-2000 by Margaret L. Archuleta
The Conference of the Birds by Ibn Attar
Tahuri by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother's Wisdom by Marilou Awiakta

Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara
The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara
Those Bones Are Not My Child Toni Cade Bambara

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Prisoner's Wife by Asha Bandele
Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes
Not Far Away: The Real-life Adventures of Ima Pipiig by Lois Beardslee
The Women's Warrior Society Ima Pipiig by Lois Beardslee
From the Belly of My Beauty by Esther G. Belin
Full Moon on the Reservation by Gloria Bird

For Nights Like This One: Stories of Loving Women by Becky Birtha
Lover's Choice by Becky Birtha
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Revise the World by Brenda Clough
Elderberry Flute Song: Contemporary Coyote Tales by Peter Blue Cloud

What We All Long For by Dionne Brand
Food and Spirits by Beth Brant
I'll sing 'til the day I die: Conversations with Tyendinaga Elders by Beth Brant

Ryddim Ravings by Jean Binta Breeze
The Fifth Figure by Jean Binta Breeze
Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac
Wabi by Joseph Bruchac
The Sun Came Down: The History of the World as My Blackfeet Elders Told It by Percy Bullchild

The Threshing Floor by Barbara Burford
Chocolate Park by Chesya Burke

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
Blood Child by Octavia E. Butler
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
Popo and Fifina by Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
Native Creative Process: A Collaborative Discourse between Douglas Cardinal and Jeannette Armstrong by Douglas Cardinal and Jeannette Armstrong

Black Ice by Lorene Carey
Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier
So Far from God by Ana Castillo
The Mixquiahuala Letters by Ana Castillo
Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families 1900-1940 by Brenda J. Childs

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearle Cleage
Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
Free Enterprise: A novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant by Michelle Cliff
Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyng Cha
Chronique des sept misères (Chronicles of the Seven Sorrows) by Patrick Chamoiseau
School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau
Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
Devdas by Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay
The Marrow of Tradition by Charles W. Chesnutt
The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W. Chesnutt
The Conjure Women and The Conjure Tales by Charles W. Chesnutt
Donald Duk by Frank Chin
Chickencoop Chinaman and The Year of the Dragon by Frank Chin
Dream On by Chrystos

In Her I Am by Chrystos

Not Vanishing by Chrystos
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 by Lucille Clifton
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Segu by Maryse Condé
The Children of Segu by Maryse Condé
I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé
Desirada by Maryse Condé
The Hanging of Angelique by Afua Cooper
April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Breath Eyes Memory by Edwidge Danticat
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat
Eu Nasci Uma Mulher Negra (I Was Born a Black Woman) by Benedita da Silva
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Hogg by Samuel R. Delany
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany
Indians in Unexpected Places by Philip J. Deloria
Playing Indian

American Indians, American Justice by Vine Deloria Jr

Behind the Trail of Broken Treaties by Vine Deloria Jr

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr

Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths by Vine Deloria Jr

God is Red by Vine Deloria Jr
Power and Place by Vine Deloria Jr

Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact by Vine Deloria Jr

Spirit & Reason by Vine Deloria Jr

We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes, New Turf by Vine Deloria, Jr

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Drown by Junot Diaz

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris
Guests by Michael Dorris
Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
The Crown of Columbus by Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich
At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Philip Dray
Souls of Blackfolk by W.E.B Dubois
The Between by Tananarive Due
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
The Living Blood by Tananarive Due
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Tower of Nesle (La Tour de Nesle) by Alexandre Dumas

The Sun, The Sea, A Touch of Wind by Rosa Guy Dutton
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
The Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
Towelhead by Alicia Erian
Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Blonde Roots by Bernadine Evaristo
Mrs. Spring Fragrance by Sui Sin Far (Edith Maude Eaton)
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust
From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain by Minister Faust
The Colour of Resistance: A Contemporary Collection of Writing by Aboriginal Women ed by Connie Fife
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Saipan: Suicide Island by Guy Gabaldon
A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest Gaines
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest Gaines
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
Don't Take Your Love to Town by Ruby Langford Ginibi
Ego-Trippin' and Other Poems for Young People by Nikki Giovanni
Racism 101 by Nikki Giovanni
Pushing the Bear by Diane Glancy
Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Gorodischer
Introducing... Sister NoBlues by Hattie Gossett
Potiki by Patricia Grace
Nigger by Dick Gregory
Up from Nigger by Dick Gregory
Callus on My Soul by Dick Gregory
The Epic of Sundiata by Mandika Griots
Measuring Time by Helon Habila
Waiting for An Angel by Helon Habila

Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn
Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
Mama Flora's Family by Alex Haley
Born Black, Born Palestinian by Suheir Hammad
Justice and Her Brothers by Virginia Hamilton
First Indian on the Moon by Joy Harjo

In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo
Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writings of North America ed by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird

Palace of the Peacock by Wilson Harris
The Full Matilda by David Haynes
Dog Road Woman by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer: A Story of Survival by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

Who Am I?: The Diary of Mary Talance by Anita Heiss
Locas by Jaime Hernandez
The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
The Book of Medicines by Linda Hogan

Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
Power by Linda Hogan

Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks
Brown Girl in The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Miko Kings by LeAnne Howe
Shell Shaker by LeAnne Howe
The Best of Simple by Langston Hughes

The Ways of White Folk by Langston Hughes
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
A Zuni Artist Looks at Frank Hamilton Cushing by Phil Hughte

Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston
Seth and Samona by Joanne Hyppolite
Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Tangi by Witi Ihimaera
Woman Far Walking by Witi Ihimaera
Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Rain God by Arturo Islas
Behind Closed Doors: Stories from the Kamloops Indian Residential School by Agness Jack

The Black Jacobins by CLR James
A Free Life: A Novel by Ha Jin

In the Pond by Ha Jin

Waiting by Ha Jin
War Trash by Ha Jin

Mi Revalueshanary Fren by Linton Kwesi Johnson
Ojibway Tales by Basil Johnstone
All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones

Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones
The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Poem About My Rights by June Jordan
Dusk by F. Sionil Josè
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

The Cotillion by John Oliver Killens
Same Difference and Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Medicine River by Thomas King
Truth and Bright Water by Thomas King
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Medicine River by Thomas King
The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative by Thomas King

China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston
Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston
Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer by Dany Laferrière
Dining with The Dictator by Dany Laferrière and David Homel

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
When Fox Is a Thousand by Larissa Lai
The Tao Teh King by Lao-Tse
Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Quicksand by Nella Larsen
Passing by Nella Larsen
Native Speaker by Changrae Lee
A Gesture Life by Changrae Lee
Aloft by Changrae Lee
Natif-natal by Félix Morriseau-Leroy
Plénitudes by Félix Morriseau-Leroy
Do Not Go Gently by Judith Smith Levin
Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen by Lili'uokalani
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Zami by Audre Lorde
Twilight in Jakarta by Mochtar Lubis
The Color of Water by James McBride
The First Century after Beatrice by Amain Maalouf
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall
Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall
Mother Tongue by Demitria Martinez
Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez
Memories of My Meloncholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez
All I Asking for Is My Body by Milton Maruyama
Raj by Gita Mehta
The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi
Wild Ginger by Anchee Minn
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Monkey King by Timothy Mo
Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
The Ancient Child by N. Scott Momaday
The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday
In the Bear's House by N. Scott Momaday
The Man Made of Words by N. Scott Momaday
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color ed by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua

Loving in the War Years by Cherríe Moraga
Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos by Nancy Morejon
My Place by Sally Morgan
Love by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Easy Rawlings series (Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, Black Betty, White Butterfly) by Walter Mosley
Walkin' the Dog by Walter Mosley
Always Outnumbered by Walter Moseley
Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee

Turning Japanese by David Mura
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
Train Whistle Guitar by Albert Murray
The Conquest, by Yxta Maya Murray
Dis Poem by Mutabaruka
Child of Dandelions by Shenaaz Nanji
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
Arrows of Rain by Okey Ndibe

Blanche Cleans UP by Barbara Nealy
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
Hiroshima Notes by Kenzaburo Oe
A Squatter's Tale by Ike Oguine
Zarah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

The Famished Road by Ben Okri
Incidents at the Shrine by Ben Okri
Stars of the New Curfew by Ben Okri
My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
Gulf Dreams by Emma Perez
Geographies of Home by Loida Maritza Pérez

Fresh Girl by Jaira Placide
Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington and Nugi Garimara
The Grass Dancer by Susan Power
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
The Negro of Peter the Great by Alexander Pushkin
The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall
Catechism of D Neoamerican HooDoo Church by Ishmael Reed

Conjure: Selected Poems

Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed
The Free-Lance Pallbearers by Ishmael Reed

Japanese by Spring by Ishmael Reed
Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed
Reckless Eyeballing by Ishmael Reed

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Defending the Spirit - Randall Robinson
The Debt - Randall Robinson

The Reckoning - Randall Robinson
The Sano Ichiro Mysteries series by Laura Joh Rowland
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Midnight’s Children by Sir Salman Rushdie
The Rose Garden by Saadi
The Revolutionary Imagination in the Americas and the Age of Development by Maria Josefina Saldana-Portillo's
Push by Sapphire
America's Dream by Esmeralda Santiago
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Almost A Woman by Esmeralda Santiago
The Turkish Lover by Esmeralda Santiago
Betsy Brown by Ntozake Shange
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
A Suitablle Boy by Vikram Seth
Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
If I Can Cook You Know God Can by Ntozake Shange

Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter by Ntozake Shange
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikobu
The Black and White of It by Ann Allen Shockley
Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley
Say Jesus and Come to Me by Ann Allen Shockley
Conquest by Andrea Smith
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore
The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
The Crescent Moon by Rabindranath Tagore
Gora by Rabindranath Tagore
Relationships by Rabindranth Tagore
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Let the Circle Be Unbroken Mildred D. Taylor
The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor
Faultline by Sheila Ortiz Taylor
Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong`o
Devil on a Cross by Ngugi Wa Thiong`o
The Buru Quartet (This Earth of Mankind, Child of all Nations, Footsteps, House of Glass) by Pramoedya Ananta Toe
Raise the Red Lantern by Su Tong
Rice by Su Tong

Living Pidgin by Lee Tonouchi
Swerve: Reckless Observation of a Post-Modern Girl by Aisha Tyler
Naked Ladies by Alma Luz Villanueva
Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Viramontes
Waiting for Saskatchewan by Fred Wah
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore
Midlife by Alice Walker
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker
The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker
The Third
Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker
We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness by Alice Walker
Up from Slavery by Booker T Washington
A Japanese Nightingale by Onoto Watanna (Winnifred Eaton)
Me, A Book of Remembrance by Onoto Watanna
Miss Numè of Japan by Onoto Watanna
Miss Spring Morning by Onoto Watanna

The Old Jinkrikisha by Onoto Watanna
Tama by Onoto Watanna (Winnifred Eaton)

The Kadaitcha Sung by Sam Watson
Sons for the Return Home by Al Wendt
The Wedding by Dorothy West
Blues Dancing by Diane McKinney Whetstone
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead

Poems of Phillis Wheatley by Phillis Wheatley
Religious and Moral Poems by Phillis Wheatley
Native Son by Richard Wright
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G Woodson
America, through the Spectacles of a Diplomat by Ting-fang Wu
Na Han (Battle Cry) by Lu Xun
Selected Stories of Lu Hsun by Lu Xun
Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Blu's Hanging by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Heads By Harry by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Name Me Nobody by Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Red Sorghum by Mo Yan
The Dahomean by Frank Yerby
The Girl From Storeyville by Frank Yerby
The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby
Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto

Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto


NP by Banana Yoshimoto
Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft, Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery by Zitkala-Sa

More about working class consciousness

This is just a filler post. I really need to find the time to talk about working class consciousness and why it's not just about the money.

If you are lucky enough to be a member of the twue wurkn klas, you need to sign on to a couple of ideas that are not the stuff of popular culture.

You need to decide that the real heroes of this world are not the Donald Trump type, but the people whose names you never know who go deep into the bowels of this planet and carve out the coal that makes this blog posssible. You need to look at the folks who build the furniture, mold the steel and pave the roads that make our day to day lives livable.

You need to decide that all this glorification of rich people and professionals and academics would be NOTHING if there weren't people who go down into the mines, who line up at the factories, who step up to the registers and do all the various and mundane things that make our lives possible.

Why does our literature fail to acknowledge the power that is created when everyday people clock into every jobs? Is there anything more glorious than this?

I have met one or two writers who truly tap into that reality and they are precious to me.

1,000 books?

You've got to be kidding me. 1,000 books? You MUST read?

OK. Confession time. Way back when I was a struggling English major at the University of Minnesota, I stumbled upon a book called something like "Books for the college bound" and I decided I had to collect them all. I haunted used bookstores and many of the local ones, most notably Biermaiers Books, made quite a lot of money off my efforts to collect all of the listed books. I read and I read and I tried to become a self-taught literature snob. I wrote long hand-written reviews in the college-ruled notebooks I favored at the time.

Rather than savoring the reading, I racked up the reading like points on a basketball scoreboard. So I missed quite a lot, of course.

And still, the lure of the "XXX best books" list still has its appeal. I want to be one of those cultured people who has read the books and understands the cultural references. Also, I want the pleasure of a damn good book.

But these lists, they are so arbitrary. This latest one by the Guardian newspaper in the UK is beyond ridiculous. How many of us have the time to read 1,000 books? Isn't that cheating? Shouldn't we demand the list be chopped down to 10 or thereabouts?

Because, seriously, just read Beloved a few hundred times and you will have learned more than you could possibly know about life and the power of words.

Great Book, Great Author Visit

Here's my flyer for David Roediger's visit to Mayday Books:

The idea of the bad girl

A Review of two new books that look interesting:

Emily Maguire, Princesses and Pornstars: Sex, Power, Identity, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2008 (256 pp). ISBN 9-78192135-131-0 (paperback) .

Meda Chesney-Lind and Katherine Irwin, Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence and Hype, Routledge, New York, 2007 (235 pp). ISBN 0-41594-828-2 (paperback).

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

by David Wroblewski is getting a lot of good press. I think I first read about it in this USA Today review. This part:

Wroblewski, whose parents ran a kennel in Wisconsin, lets the dogs in his novel share in the narration, to a small degree. Sounds hokey, but it works remarkably well.

grabbed my attention. A dog as narrator? Cool! The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski is indeed a great read.

I saw a copy in the Barnes & Noble store at Wayne State University when I visited Detroit. Decided against spending money at a chain store. So I jumped at the chance to buy the only copy available at Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative in Madison, WI on our way back from Cleveland. I spent this weekend reading it much too quickly. I needed to now what would happen. The language and location are fascinating, but the plot drove me to read as fast as possible. Which means not savoring and enjoying it as much as I like.

There are allusions to Hamlet in this story of a young man whose father dies and whose mother takes up with his uncle. So I guess we have to hate Trudy (Gertude) for her stupidity/vulnerability. Which is a shame because the mother was a fascinating character until she got forced into the plotline (at least in my opinion) of Hamlet. I don't buy her being so stupid. The uncle, Claude (Claudius), is a smooth-talking manipulator who is very, very good at getting other people to believe the lies he tells. So I'll give the author a pass, I guess, although grudgingly!

To read this book, you need to be willing to engage in fantasy. Ghosts provide some of the most important information. Dogs are conveyors of wisdom and provide training. Storms arise to answer questions. A crazy old witch predicts the future.

What comes through in this telling of the Hamlet story, is how much burden is placed on the young boy, who is, in this re-telling, barely a teenager. He is burdened with too much knowledge and too little practice in using it. In fact, he is overburdened in every way. He can hear but cannot speak and his disability is the cause of some of the most wrenching events told in the story.

In the world today, we do not expect children to be able to solve the problems of adults as well as all the flora and fauna of their environment. Edgar does not have the luxury and I'm not sure the author cuts him enough slack for his failures.

And still, it's an awesome read. And I will read it again. I think you should too.

Knocked my socks off

When was the last time a book knocked your socks off? For me: today.

I picked up a new book from Seven Stories Press called Live Through This; On Creativity and Self-Destruction edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev and the first two essays kicked major butt.

"Long, Long Thoughts" by Carol Queen is an awesome account of the amazing disappointment that comes from the loss of virginity after all the build up. But includes this awesome response:

"...Good thing I got back on the horse. Every time I had sex after that I learned something new, not just about myself but about other people."

This is my first time reading Queen. I wish I had been as smart as she was. She totally rocks.

The second essay is by Daphne Gottlieb and it deals with the question: should I treat my depression if it might affect my creativity? She talks about how we choose our compromises. I really like this:

As therapeutic as it may be, barfing raw feelings onto the page doesn't make for great art either. Usually, when we're depressed, we're not at our best. ... These aren't great conditions to drive a car in, much less create art."

Cool book. I bought it at Mayday Books. I'm savoring it.

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

I caught part of a talk on C-SPAN Book TV by Peniel Johnson, who has a book out about the Black Power Movement. It was pretty awesome. Turns out I can watch the whole thing on the web here.

Here's the blurb from C-SPAN's website:

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

About the Program
Peniel Joseph chronicles the history of the black power movement in America. Mr. Joseph follows a group of activists that built their movement upon the work of Malcolm X. The author relays the rise of the Black Panthers and profiles leaders of the black power movement such as Huey P. Newton, Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis. Peniel Joseph discusses his book at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

About the Author
Peniel Joseph is the editor of "The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights - Black Power Era." He currently teaches in the Africana Studies department at Brandeis University.

And here Joseph’s website about the book.

I'm gonna have to order me a copy of this book!

The Eagle Catcher

This book is the January selection for the reading group at Once Upon a Crime Books, a wonderful independent mystery bookstore in Minneapolis.

This is the first in a series of novels by Margaret Coel. This is not a novel I would have chosen for myself. It starts very slowly and it took quite a while for me to care very much about the characters. But the last few chapters are filled with suspense and action that kept me flipping pages until the end.

Coel documents the history of lies and manipulation by white people toward native populations in interesting ways. For instance, when looking for a motive for murder, the white people keep focusing on money. The answer is revealed not in a bid for money, but in respect for the land and the Arapaho ancestors.

Coel has a couple of interesting, flawed but likeable characters to build a series upon. The main character, Father John is a Catholic priest who runs a mission, and a softball team, on the reservation. His character development lags until halfway through the book, a fatal flaw if I hadn't wanted to finish the book for the group meeting.

A young Native lawyer, Vicki Holden, is torn between living on the reservation and moving with her Lakota boyfriend to a big law firm in Los Angeles.

My checks around the internet indicate the following novels in the series are improvements over this beginning, but I'm not sure I'm interested enough to follow through.

A book proposal and its consequences

VISITORS FROM FEMINISTING, PLEASE REQUEST THAT THESE LINKS BE POSTED DIRECTLY ON THE FEMNINISTING SITE. I REFUSE TO BE THE "NICE WHITE LADY" (SEE VIDEO ABOVE) THROUGH WHICH THESE AWESOME WOMEN GET FILTERED. THANK YOU.

Over at Feministing.com, there is a Call for submissions for a new book to be published by Seal Press.

Imagine a world where women enjoy sex on their own terms and aren't shamed for it. Imagine a world where men treat their sexual partners as collaborators, not conquests. Imagine a world where rape is rare and swiftly punished.

Welcome to the world of Yes Means Yes.

Yes Means Yes! will fly in the face of the conventional feminist wisdom that rape has nothing to do with sex. We are looking to collect sharp and insightful essays, from voices both established and new, that demonstrate how empowering female sexual pleasure is the key to dismantling rape culture.....

What follows is a series of bullet points suggesting topics to write about.

Make of it what you will. This could turn it to be a decent book. But what a narrow concept of rape!

One good thing, is the quality of the responses to this badly written cfp. Read and enjoy:


Tekanji

Magniloquence

Sylvia

Sudy

Fire fly

Black Amazon

Veronica

Therimorph

I'm falling up

Elaine Vigneault

Responses from at least one of the editors, Jacklyn Friedman, have been exceptional in the lack of defensive I normally see when valid criticism arises:

Jacklyn's response to Tekanji

Jacklyn's respose to Firefly

Help select the word of the year

Go to the Merriam-Webster site to help select the "Word of the Year". Here's the gems you get to vote on:

apathetic
babymoon
blamestorm
charlatan
conundrum
cruft
eleemosynary
facebook
hypocrite
linkability
melancholy
Pecksniffian
pretentious
pugnacious
quixotic
sardoodledom
sputum
subpoena
vanity sizing
w00t

I went for blamestorm, since it's a word I might actually use some day!

The Book

I haven't blogged about this yet, but today seems like a good time. I took the day off from work to travel to the town where my mother lives. We participated in a book release party for the book that she researched and wrote and that I typeset and illustrated. The book is about our ancestors and the decisions they made as they moved from New England to the midwest in the 1800s. This book is based on letters and diaries that my mother discovered in the attic of the home where we both grew up. The letters describe the "frontier" experience for white settlers in the U.S.

My mother's academic specialty is the migration of people. What is it that motivates people to move from one part of the world to another? What decisions do they make in that process? Is the move gradual or sudden? What political, geographic and societal forces are most influential in those decisions?

What we discovered in this process is that, not surprisingly, the settlement of the "western" territories did not follow the plotlines we learned in school. Our ancestors bought midwestern land in the early 1800s but did not move there until years later. They hired other, less affluent, people to clear the land and establish the agriculture that became the basis of future wealth for our family. The family that cleared the land, built the barn, established the livestock and produced the crops was not our own. Once all the hard work was finished, my ancestors moved in and reaped the profits. The family that did the work is not longer mentioned. That's colonialism 101.

The release party was held at the retirement village in which my mother currently resides. 40 people attended, most of whom were residents of the building or friends of my mother.

This book is important because it dispels some myths and clarifies some truths. Colonialism is a messy, complicated affair. Families are affected in unpredictable ways by capitalism's need to expand and consolidate territory. The ground troops of colonialism are privileged in many ways, but they are subject also to unforgiving circumstances. Colonialism is bloody and messy and difficult. Even the so-called beneficiaries of capitalism often get a raw deal.

Come and sit a spell



Yesterday it was announced that Doris Lessing had won the Nobel Prize for literature. She was on her way home from shopping and was met by a hoard of journalists on her front porch. So she sat down and answered questions. What an awesome 87-year-old!

I've spent time this year re-reading her books, this time in order. I've read the first two books of the "Children of Violence" series: Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage. Many times I found myself quoting passages out loud to Ravenhub because she does such a wonderful job of popping the overinflated egos of the colonists in Africa.

Here's some quotes form her encounter with the press yesterday:

"I was coming back from the hospital with my son Peter who was sick. I stepped out of a taxi and there were all these cameras, a whole posse of photographers. As this street is very good for that kind of thing, I thought they were shooting a soap or an episode of Morse or something. But it was me. So I first heard that I had won the Nobel prize for literature from the reporters."

"It is the most glamorous prize, and naturally it has got a lot of prestige, which none of the other prizes have, so it's the icing on the cake. At one point, sometime in the 70s, they [the Nobel academy] didn't like me - they said they didn't - but they seem to have changed their minds. Committees are like that. Of course I didn't expect to get it. I've been on the shortlist for 40 years. It is good to be the 11th woman on the list, I'm only sorry that one of the first or fourth or the fifth wasn't Virginia Woolf. But I don't think it is helpful to talk about writers in terms of male and female. A lot of British writers have won it, which is good. We produce a lot of good writers. I've been talking non-stop all day. I've spoken to my publisher and agent and old friends who rang me up, which was very good. There were lots of people who have wanted me to have it for a long time, so it is very nice that I have. I'm exhausted. To celebrate I'd have to go and buy champagne. I'm going to bed."

Poison pen

Every once in a while, a critic gets the chance to really blast something they don't like. Here's one from the Guardian on the new Paris Hilton CD:

Lest one carp, Hilton has been quick to point out that singing is a vocation for which she is eminently skilled. "I know music," she reassured the Sunday Times children's section. "I hear it every single day."

While this obviously gives Hilton a massive advantage over those who have never heard any music and thus believe it to be a variety of cheese, there remains the nagging suspicion that this might not represent sufficient qualification for a career as a singer...