Reading the 20th Century discussion

Welcome to our October 2025 group read of...



Another Country

by

James Baldwin


From one of the most important American novelists of the twentieth century—a novel of sexual, racial, political, artistic passions, set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France.

Stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, this book depicts men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime.



Feel free to contribute at any time

All our welcome

Come one, come all



Here's to another wonderful group read discussion

Thanks for setting this up, Nigeyb.

I'm pretty new to James Baldwin but have been just blown away by his writing in everything I've read so far. His prose is electric, and I don't know how he combines rage, compassion and intellectual rigour so immaculately.

There's a new biography coming out in August that may be of interest: Baldwin: A Love Story, I can't wait to read it.

I'm a huge Baldwin fan, but fairly recently. This was my first of his fiction, and I loved it. I won't be able to fit in a re-read, but will follow the discussion. You're in for a treat. "Electric" is the perfect descriptor, RC.

Since reading [book:The Fire Next Time|464260 a few years ago, I havs have been wanting to return to reading Baldwin.

Good to know, Kathleen, that this work is electric!

I'm in!

I read both this and The Fire Next Time when I was in high school. May have been a couple of others that I read then, too. It was the mid-60s. Stuff was going on.

Jan C wrote: "I read both this and The Fire Next Time when I was in high school. May have been a couple of others that I read then, too. It was the mid-60s. Stuff was going on."

It must have been amazing to read these during the Civil Rights era.

I've read this one before but it was a while ago so will join in if I can fit it in.

I'm planning on making a start on this either tonight or tomorrow - and am reading Baldwin: A Love Story in parallel.

Who else will be reading this?

I am doing the same. I started already anticipating I would be slower in the long run since I am reading multiple books besides.

I will be. I'm waiting for it to come in at the library. I wish it were in audio format!

Out of interest, G, are you able to appreciate the (for want of a better term) 'literary qualities' of books in audio?

I ask because while I love audio for commuting, exercising etc, I feel that I'm not good with books where the language is as much a character as the... er... characters, as I feel is the case with Baldwin.

But maybe I'm just not as good a listener as you?

How's everyone getting on with this? I'm finding it harrowing but brilliant - like pretty much everything else I've read by Baldwin.

I'm really in awe of how he keeps his writing raw and alive without it feeling uncontrolled. It's rare to capture this sense of living people, flawed and troubled, sometimes doing terrible things.

I'm also interested in the way Baldwin writes about misogyny and male violence - he seems so knowing about it, at a time when it was largely invisible. This kind of self-awareness is extremely unusual, especially at the time this was written.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I'm also interested in the way Baldwin writes about misogyny and male violence - he seems so knowing about it, at a time when it was largely invisible. This kind of self-awareness is extremely unusual, especially at the time this was written."

Go Tell It on the Mountain, when you get to it, will shed light on maybe why he had this understanding.

Ooh thanks, Kathleen. Reading the biography is making me feel I must get to Mountain soon.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Out of interest, G, are you able to appreciate the (for want of a better term) 'literary qualities' of books in audio?

I ask because while I love audio for commuting, exercising etc, I feel that ..."

I can definitely appreciate the literary qualities of the writing. It wasn't always so. In fact, for a long time I was one of those people who thought that listening to an audiobook wasn't really reading. Then I had a health situation that made reading difficult, and finally listened to my librarian's suggestion that I try audiobooks. At first I'm not sure how much of the literary dimension I could pick up by ear, but to be honest, I'm not sure how much I'd have gotten by reading print at that point. I do find that not every book works well in audio. Also that, like reading in print, different circumstances call for different audiobooks. I listen in the car while driving a lot, and find that I'm more apt in that context to either focus entirely on the literary qualities at the expense of character and plot, or to follow the plot and miss many of the literary qualities. Same would be if I were trying to read a book in print in a situation where my attention was divided.

I also think that after a dozen or more years of using audio books, I've gotten better at listening for the full range of what I look for in print. I can read books in print more easlily than I could when I first turned to audio, but there are still obstacles that make them harder than they once were.

Here's a clip of Baldwin reading from this book. Since I've not started (am picking my copy up today at the library), I don't know where it falls in the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVK9...

Oh yay. There is an audiobook available to me. Glad I checked again--Libby (one of the digital platforms my library uses for audio & e-books) has a glitchy search engine. There's a short wait, so I'll start on the print version in the meantime.

G wrote: "I also think that after a dozen or more years of using audio books, I've gotten better at listening."

Yes, there's definitely a skill in listening which we probably lost since films/TV but are reclaiming with audiobooks and podcasts.

As you say, not all books work for all of us in audio. I love listening to non-fiction which holds my interest better than reading. Books with lots of dialogue like John le Carre work very well for me too as well as nineteenth century classics.

G wrote: "Here's a clip of Baldwin reading from this book. Since I've not started (am picking my copy up today at the library), I don't know where it falls in the book"

Thank you - it's amazing to hear Baldwin's voice. This clip is from the first part of the book, at a guess around p. 80.

There's an interesting structure to this book - when everyone's done and we can talk spoilers I'll be keen to hear how everyone felt about the end of section one.

At various points I've been reminded of Giovanni's Room and the wonderful short story Sonny's Blues, the latter in relation to Rufus.

I'll probably finish today and then will concentrate on the biography.

Roman Clodia wrote: "How's everyone getting on with this? I'm finding it harrowing but brilliant - like pretty much everything else I've read by Baldwin.

I'm really in awe of how he keeps his writing raw and alive wi..."

With another 20 % to go, I agree with what you say. It is much different than Giovanni's Room which is a five star read for me and exceptionally tight. Another Country is more rambling and loosely structured but I think is succeeds for this novel. Doing the side read of Baldwin is making both works more appreciated as the biography adds the documented evidence upon which the novel is based. I think I would have been less appreciative reading either book singularly.
roo has many memp
It struck me that Giovanni's Room had many memorable lines. Another Country has instead memorable short passages of several lines.

I agree about the looser structure here which means the rhythm can feel a bit stop and start.

It's certainly fascinating to see how Baldwin reworked elements of his life and people he knew in the books.