Fun Summer Reads

[Fabyahluss]

I read The Devil Wears Prada a couple of year ago, and it was okay. However, if I'm gonna read fiction, I love reading fiction books by black authors. The topics are often so much more intriguing for me, particularly because I can often relate to a lot of the stuff in there. I wish I hadn't read The Coldest Winter Ever so that I could read it again as if it was the first time. I was tempted to buy No Disrespect by Sister Souljah but I just couldn't get down with the way that the themes in her book seemed to be separated by the different people in her life-it just seemed to disconnected. It kinda reminded me of the movie Crash, if you've seen it.

Which of those books that you suggested are by Black authors?

i read allllll the time. and since i'm not in school, i've had a good excuse. my books aren't that fun though, but they are fiction.

the last book I read was Cane River. It was excellent, but not exactly fun since its about slavery. i recently read Gotham Diaries by Tonya Lewis Lee and that was good, but it is like a few months old now, so maybe you read it already. I was going to take out one of Pearl Cleage's novels, Babylon Sisters, i think that'll be a good book. also my friend loves the devil wears prada, she said its hilarious. Have you read any Edwidge Danticat? I love her novels and I look forward to re-reading them over the summer. I think Krik? Krak! is my favorite book of short stories after Toni Cade Bambara's. And I haven't read The Dew Breaker, so I am now pretty motivated to order it from half.com. SWB--WHY DID YOU CREATE THIS THREAD?? LOL! Can you tell I concentrated in literature?  Also, I think that if you haven't read Just Above my head, by James Baldwin (i don't think its as well-known as some of his others) then you should read it, esp. if you have siblings and are the oldest. that book is like 500 pages, but I think I stopped every 30 pages and took a break, it was that deep.

[Fabyahluss]

I wouldn't call any of the stuff I'm reading right now fun.  Maybe in a few weeks I'll have more to contribute...  Give it some time, I'm sure your thread will pick up a bit when everyone's done with finals 

That's the thing, most people on here ARE done with finals, if they're even in school at all. They're just bein lazy asses. . But the folks who have contributed so far have given me some good ideas, so off to amazon I go...

[Lexington]

I read The Devil Wears Prada a couple of year ago, and it was okay. However, if I'm gonna read fiction, I love reading fiction books by black authors. The topics are often so much more intriguing for me, particularly because I can often relate to a lot of the stuff in there. I wish I hadn't read The Coldest Winter Ever so that I could read it again as if it was the first time. I was tempted to buy No Disrespect by Sister Souljah but I just couldn't get down with the way that the themes in her book seemed to be separated by the different people in her life-it just seemed to disconnected. It kinda reminded me of the movie Crash, if you've seen it.

Which of those books that you suggested are by Black authors?

You thought Crash was disconnected?  I thought they did an excellent job of showing how the people's lives entertwined.  Coldest Winter Ever is actually one of my favorite books and I'm not one for black authors.  Also liked EJD's Between Lovers.  That one's strictly for the freak in you, though 

[Fabyahluss]

I read The Devil Wears Prada a couple of year ago, and it was okay. However, if I'm gonna read fiction, I love reading fiction books by black authors. The topics are often so much more intriguing for me, particularly because I can often relate to a lot of the stuff in there. I wish I hadn't read The Coldest Winter Ever so that I could read it again as if it was the first time. I was tempted to buy No Disrespect by Sister Souljah but I just couldn't get down with the way that the themes in her book seemed to be separated by the different people in her life-it just seemed to disconnected. It kinda reminded me of the movie Crash, if you've seen it.

Which of those books that you suggested are by Black authors?

You thought Crash was disconnected?  I thought they did an excellent job of showing how the people's lives entertwined.  Coldest Winter Ever is actually one of my favorite books and I'm not one for black authors.  Also liked EJD's Between Lovers.  That one's strictly for the freak in you, though 

LOL that's exactly what my BF said. But yeah, I thought it was disconnected because although the characters within the movie were related in one way or another, I didn't like the way that there were several overarching themes in the movie. And I understand the fact that the main point of the movie was to illustrate the prejudice that people from different backgrounds harbor, but I still wasn't feelin how the scenes jumped around from one major plot of the movie to another.

I was gettin my hair done the other day, and there was a lady next to me gettin some micro braids that take forever, so she was reading a book to pass the time. The girl doin her hair was like, "Damn girl, you've been readin that book for 8 hours straight. You sure can concentrate better than I can." I glanced to see what she was readin and the book was called somethin like Between Your Cheeks and had some ass shot of a girl in a g-string who was all caught up with some dude in bed. I wanted to bust out laughin and say "Yeah I bet she can concentrate..concentrate on gettin off." LMAO.

[faith2005]

My goodness, I should have been more specific, African American Studies with a concentration in literature. Everyone of those books, except for the devil wears prada is by a black author. I just started Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat and it already has me thinking.

Sister Souljah is cool, I read both the coldest winter ever and no disrespect. i liked no disrespect, but I came away thinking, wow, she was really insecure. she had an affair witha married man, got taken for all of her $, stuff that I can't even imagine. the coldest winter ever was cool, but i didn't really enjoy it. it seemed like she was trying to hard to document this super ghetto girl's lifestyle. it didn't seem real to me. I liked Crash, but I thought the ending was a little too neat, liek everybody, except for Don Cheadle's character was able to redeem themselves and the white guy got away with murder! I feel like he should have committed suicide/quit his job or something to show remorse. Oh, and I have never read EJD's between lovers, is it like Zane? i have looked at the book covers and they always seemed a lil far-fetched. a person with a split personality, one a virgin and the other a super freak? thats a lil too weird.

Lexington--you're not one for black authors? what does that mean?

I read The Devil Wears Prada a couple of year ago, and it was okay. However, if I'm gonna read fiction, I love reading fiction books by black authors. The topics are often so much more intriguing for me, particularly because I can often relate to a lot of the stuff in there. I wish I hadn't read The Coldest Winter Ever so that I could read it again as if it was the first time. I was tempted to buy No Disrespect by Sister Souljah but I just couldn't get down with the way that the themes in her book seemed to be separated by the different people in her life-it just seemed to disconnected. It kinda reminded me of the movie Crash, if you've seen it.

Which of those books that you suggested are by Black authors?

i read allllll the time. and since i'm not in school, i've had a good excuse. my books aren't that fun though, but they are fiction.

the last book I read was Cane River. It was excellent, but not exactly fun since its about slavery. i recently read Gotham Diaries by Tonya Lewis Lee and that was good, but it is like a few months old now, so maybe you read it already. I was going to take out one of Pearl Cleage's novels, Babylon Sisters, i think that'll be a good book. also my friend loves the devil wears prada, she said its hilarious. Have you read any Edwidge Danticat? I love her novels and I look forward to re-reading them over the summer. I think Krik? Krak! is my favorite book of short stories after Toni Cade Bambara's. And I haven't read The Dew Breaker, so I am now pretty motivated to order it from half.com. SWB--WHY DID YOU CREATE THIS THREAD?? LOL! Can you tell I concentrated in literature?  Also, I think that if you haven't read Just Above my head, by James Baldwin (i don't think its as well-known as some of his others) then you should read it, esp. if you have siblings and are the oldest. that book is like 500 pages, but I think I stopped every 30 pages and took a break, it was that deep.

[blk_reign]

Our Nig : or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black
by Harriett E Wilson... (it's the first book to ever be published by a Black woman) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400031206/qid=1117031170/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-2198953-8417610?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni

Blues Dancing: A Novel
by Diane McKinney-Whetstone  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688149952/qid=1117031078/sr=2-2/002-2198953-8417610?v=glance&s=books


 
 

[Lexington]

Lexington--you're not one for black authors? what does that mean?

I was waiting for somebody to call my a$$ on that one... I'm generalizing and I'm wrong for that.

Basically it just means that I wrote the genre off for a long time because every black book i picked up seemed so stereotypical.  For awhile it seemed as though black authors were relegated to writing about one type of character. That was frustrating for me.  I think it has gotten better in recent years with there being a whole plethora of "black" experiences to choose from now.  Or maybe it was just me all along.  Who knows!  I'm still sort of reluctant, but I'm coming around. 

[faith2005]

awww blk, i love those love poems by nikki giovanni. my favorite is the poem thats like, "how do you write a poem about?" and I liked blues dancing too.

lexington--yeah, generalization is wrong, esp. since there isn't one genre of "black authors." black authors exist across every genre. i mean there are science fiction writers like octavia butler/hist. fiction writers like lalita tademy/literature like toni morrison and james baldwin/erotica like zane and the brown sugar series/chick lit like terri mcmillan and mystery like walter moseley and the tamara mchayle novels. i hope you continue to open your mind. have you read anything by any of the authors i mentioned in my last post? or this one? if you do, let me know what you think.

[blk_reign]

i think that the main problem is that most people read books by zane...erick jerome dickey...e lynn harris etc... not saying that they're bad authors or anything... but when those are the only black authors that you've read or been exposed to... you're limited in your view of black authors..

i guess it's the same as music u know? if u're only exposed to the likes of 50 cent..you'll get turned off real quick about what hip hop is and what it isn't

[faith2005]

yeah, thats why i wrote what i did. i actually avoid terri mcmillan. on the other hand i think e lynn harris is good. i just think its like if somebody said, i stay away from white authors. and all they had read was danielle steele, i think most people would say thats invalid b/c then its like, well, white authors write in other genres too, not just the romance/adventure genre. those books are on the reading level of like a 7th grader imo. i hope that lexington has read or will read other stuff as well.