Has anyone read any good books ?

[WenD08]

i personally loved THE WAKE OF THE WIND by J. California Cooper. it was a wonderful page-turner. it's not in the E. Lynn/Omar/Eric mode, it's historical fiction.
my book club loved it. i'm sad that i have to wait a year or so for the next E. Lynn book... i have all of his books, i'm a huge fan. i'm looking for the Invisible Life/Just As I Am movie. i already started casting...

[Sugar_N_Spice]

MidwestDiva, I do reccomend that you read "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. I read that book years ago in high school and even back then it made me cry even though I can now say that I understand what was happeening with an even greater magnitude than I did back then. Unfortunately, b/c I am still in school and working and involved in numerous activities on campus I find it very hard to read a book/novel simply for my own enjoyment. However, every once in a while I get a chance to read a book for a class that I like, such as Octavia Butler's "Kindred".


BTW, can someone tell me what E. Lynn Harris' "Not a Day Goes by" is about, since you all seem to have enjoyed it? I thought about joining that book club on Blackplanet but haven't gotten around to it yet.

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"If there is no struggle, there is no progress"--Frederick Douglass

[exquizit]

Sugar_N_Spice, have you read any of E Lynn's books before? It's an on going story. If you haven't, Start with "Invisible Life" Then take it from there.

[Shelacious]

This is a bit off topic, but for those who like "literature" in addition to popular fiction, I would recommend...

1. Anything by J. California Cooper (as someone already pointed out)...Some Soul to Keep, Family, ... many others, all great reads.

2. Diane McKinney Whetstone (read Tumbling, Tempest Rising and Blues Dancing in that order, as Tumbling is the best).

3. Zora Neale Hurston (a shameless plug for my soror, but well deserved)...Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic.

4. Bebe Moore Cambell: her earlier works like Your Blues Aint Like Mine and Brothers and Sisters

Some interesting ones:
The Good Negress by A.J. Verdelle...hard to tell whether I liked it or not, but interesting

The Moaner's Bench by Mars Hill...good imagery...whether you like to book or not is a different story, but also interesting.

Other genres:
-Memoirs of a Geisha by David Golden
-Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood (can't recall the author)

I also will be subscribing to a book club, so I will be stocking up on some new works to read over the holidays. I'll let you all know what I select.

Best,
Shela



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Finer Womanhood: the "Cat's Meow" Since 1920

[MsAnn]

Speaking for myself, I like to read these books for entertainment. There are times when I feel like a good intellectual novel and times when I feel like something a little less sublime. When I want a liitle laugh, I read E. Lynn Harris (Kyle used to have me ROTFL), when I want to cry I read Nicholas Sparks, for courtroom drama I read John Grisham, for a good political drama I read Eric Segal and for a good scare, I read Stephen King. For that poetess in me I LOVE Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, and Maya Angelou and for that intellectual challenge, my favorites are Toni Morrison, Earnest Gaines, and a good classical novel (Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens,

[MsAnn]

Sorry my post got cut off when I hit the wrong button. Anyway, I also like to read Langston Hughes and John Clark's collections of black short stories. I agree with you SkeeBunny that some Black author's books seem to lack challenge and thought (I've read a few). It really just depends on the preferences and expectations of the reader.

[exquizit]

I've heard of some of those titles, I think I'll give a few of them a try. I think my SF POPLIFE Loves the "Geisha" book too. I've been asking for these suggestions so I too can make great selections from my book club. The prices are less than half the cost I'd been paying here in the book stores!

[Poplife]

*lol* Yes!!! "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden is my favorite book of all time. It's interesting to see what Romance and suffering is like in other countries. It taught me that no matter where we are from, we all still yearn for the love of that special someone.

I loved "The Bluest Eye" so much I wrote about it for my final paper in high school english class. I read "Their Eyes Were Watching God" too.

[nikki25]

Some of my favorites:

1) The Power of Feminity by Michelle McKinney Hammond
2) Get a Love Life by Michelle McKinney Hammond
3) Kindred by Octavia Butler
4) Your Blues Ain't Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell


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I will bless the Lord at ALL times His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (Psalms 34:1, KJV)

[SkeeBunny]

Ladies, don't get me wrong. I too enjoy a "no-brainer" book every once in a while for pure entertainment's sake. I have read some great fiction books. My point is that some of these books are just horrible and instead of truly examining the contents of the book, we jump on the E. Lynn, Omar Tyree, Eric Jerome Dickey, etc.. bandwagon and automatically say, "Ooooh girl, it was soooo good . Unfortunately, when I start a book, good or bad, I have a compulsive disorder that demands that I finish the entire book . Thus, I have read many a bad book.

What boils my blood the most is when someone recommends a book and swears it is the best thing they ever read and then when you read it, you have to seriously question the mental capacity of the recommender.

[exquizit]

I was really disappointed in Omar Tyree's "For The Love Of Money" I'm so glad I got it through that book club! There were so many flashbacks that it made it a bit hard to divide the two.(The flashbacks from the current)I'm glad I didn't pay the $24 at Books-a-million.

SkeeBunny, I'm sorry that your experiences have been so bad. Now I know first hand how you feel. We may not agree on the exact books that we've enjoyed, but we certainly agree about the frustrations reading a bad book (In our own opinions)can make us feel

I got the book club catalogue in the mail today so I'm gonna read into the novel a bit more before selecting.

[sphinxpoet]

I actually Liked for the Love of Money. It was not as good as A Do Right Man I admit. Get some books by Eric Jerome Dickey! I have read all his books and it was hot. I just picked up today 'Ain't Nobody's Business if I do' by Valerie Wilson Wesley. Novels by Black AUthors always have a good twist to them. My favorite book of all time is A Do Right Man. The best written book was "Milk in My Coffee" because it taught that you should not judge a book by it's cover. Most fun I had reading a book was Men Cry in the Dark and the most realistic one to me was their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Finally The Sphinxpoet
IS HERE!

[exquizit]

I've read a few of Dickey's books too. There's a black book fair on campus this week and I just wanted to spend all the little money I have! There were titles there that people are dying to find for $5!!! Can you believe that price?

Has anyone read Maya Angelou's "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"? I really enjoyed that.There were lots of kids reading it for the first time today because the price was so low. It did my heart good to see them reading though. So many college students don't read unless they have to for class. When they finally try a novel, they realize that reading can open new worlds for them.

[MIDWESTDIVA]

Maya Angelou? Now we're talking about literature. I am her biggest fan.

Have you read her other biographies?

Gather Together In My Name,
Singin' and Swingin' and Getting Merry Like Christmas,
Heart of a Woman,
All God's Children Need Traveilng Shoes

[Supermodel1908]

Yes, I just completed Black Like Me by John H. Griffin. It was very insightful.