Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

Are there any new books that have been published recently or are being published this spring that you are looking forward to reading? Group member Carleen Brice listed several on her blog recently, including two that I'm looking forward to reading:

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

and

If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary.

Of course, our current poll shows that many group members are excited about Pym: A Novel by Mat Johnson. Are there any others that we should know about?

Carleen's list: http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com...

Looks like Percival Everett has a new one coming up in October!

Assumption: A Novel

Also, Nnedi Okoraforhas a new book being published this month: Akata Witch

Great! Akata Witch appears to be a YA novel, is that right, Rashida? After we read Who Fears Death here, I read The Shadow Speaker which is also YA and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to this new one!

This reminds me that the third book in N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance trilogy, The Kingdom of Gods, will be out in September or October. That gives me a chance to catch up with the first 2, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms, over the summer! Amazon chose "Hundred Thousand" as one of its 10 best SF & Fantasy books of 2010.

I can't wait to read the Percival Everett book. I loved both Wounded & Erasure by him.

I'm also looking forward to Juice! by Ishmael Reed & On Black Sisters Street by Chika Unigwe. Both receiving great reviews. Anyone heard anything
about zz packer's long-awaited novel?

Oh, and can't forget Danzy Senna's, You Are Free: Stories!

Akata Witch does look to be YA. I wonder if/when she will do another traditionally adult novel.

I have Jemisin's books on my to-read list as well. Big round of applause from this corner for getting a complete trilogy out in less than 2 years. Dramatically different from the most serial writers, and something that makes me hesitant to jump into series from the beginning. Want to do a read-along?

Yes! (To the read-along.)

Columbus wrote: "Anyone heard anything about zz packer's long-awaited novel? ..."

Nothing at all, Columbus. I really enjoyed her Drinking Coffee Elsewhere and would love to read more by her.

Thanks for the heads-up on Reed, Unigwe, and Senna!

Jewell Parker Rhodes has published the third book in her New Orleans-based trilogy about a descendant of Marie Leveau. This book, entitled Hurricane: A Novel, follows Voodoo Season and Yellow Moon: A Novel.

I am so excited that the wonderful author Martha Southgate has a new book coming out in September, 2011, entitled The Taste of Salt. Her earlier novels are The Fall of Rome and Third Girl from the Left.

Really want to thank Mina for starting this thread and listing If Sons, Then Heirs. While I was skimming the new releases section at the library, the title caught my attention and rang an unknown bell. I grabbed it. Fantastic book. Highly recommend it.

Glad to hear it, Rashida!

Bernice L. McFadden's next book, Gathering of Waters, will be released on February 14, 2012.

Tanarive Due has a new book coming in September, My Soul to Take.

Colson Whitehead has a new book, Zone One: A Novel coming in October.

Daniel Black is releasing his fourth book, Twelve Gates to the City in December.

book recommendations from the fierce and fabulous ernessa t. carter, author of 32 Candles

http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com...

Thanks, jo!

For those who enjoyed Orange Mint and Honey by author and LFPC group member Carleen Brice, Carleen is releasing the sequel, entitled "It Might As Well Be Spring", one chapter at a time on www.achapteramonth.com . There's more info and an excerpt on Carleen's website, http://pajamagardener.blogspot.com/20... .

Looking forward to The Kid by Sapphire

Kellogg reviews it in L.A. Times:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/...

Thanks, Columbus! I had heard that Sapphire had a new one, but I hadn't heard any details.

Michiko Kakutani also reviewed The Kid in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/boo...

For those who, like me, are looking forward to Martha Southgate's new book, The Taste of Salt, there is an excerpt on the Algonquin website:

http://www.algonquinbooksblog.com/blo...

Now I'm looking forward to it even more!

Here's a good review of If Sons, Then Heirs by Lorene Cary from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

http://blogs.ajc.com/arts-culture/201...

Wilhelmina wrote: "Looks like Percival Everett has a new one coming up in October!

Assumption: A Novel"

Thanks for putting this on my radar. Happy to see it's a follow up to I Am Not Sidney Poitier

Columbus wrote: "Looking forward to The Kid by Sapphire

Kellogg reviews it in L.A. Times:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/..."

I couldn't finish The Kid.

After Precious dies her son, Abdul gets caught up in the system. Experiencing much of the same abuse his mother did. Though Abdul also finds victims of his own.

My problem lies with believability. Precious had gotten her life together, she was going to school and taking care of her son. Abdul remembers doing a lot of fun things with his mom, like going to the museum.

It's difficult for me to believe that Precious who did so much right for her son, didn't make any plans for Abdul in case she dead of Aids.

I could even understand if the plan didn't work out and Adbul found himself in the system but no plan seems very unlikely.

I thought it was over the top graphic. Though if I would've believed in the character some of the scenes I might of considered realistic and honest but since I didn't it was too much.

Also the length (over 300 pages) seemed unnecessary.

A couple of books mentioned earlier in this thread, Zone One by Colson Whitehead and Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga, were included in a list of Fall books on NPR. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami was also on the list.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/20...

Author and group member Carleen Brice has listed a number of Fall book releases on her blog:

http://welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com...

For those who don't know, the title of Carleen's blog refers to her ongoing effort to broaden the readership of books by people of color. If you have never been to her blog before, be sure to watch the "Welcome White Folks" video - it is very funny!

Tananarive Due, Elizabeth Nunez, Jesymn Ward and Daniel Black will all be at the Decatur Book Festival.

I love Due. I haven't read Nunez or Ward. But I recently checked out Anna In Between from the library, and my review copy of Salvage the Bones arrived yesterday.

When I was working at Borders a lot of Black book clubs were reading Perfect Peace by Black. I heard a lot of excellent feedback but for some reason I don't have the urge to read it.

I'll be interested in seeing what you think of Salvage the Bones, Doret. Did you read her earlier book, Where the Line Bleeds?

Doret, I didn't care for Perfect Peace at all, myself. It just seemed like such a novelty to me. Other friends who I respect really enjoyed it, however. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed They Tell Me of a Home: A Novel

I haven't read Perfect Peace yet, but They Tell Me of a Home is a great novel.

Wilhelmina - I haven't read Where the Line Bleeds. Have you had a chance to read it?

Also if you haven't already I would recommend reading Joplin's Ghost before My Soul to Take

Columbus - What didn't you like about Perfect Peace?

Doret wrote: "Wilhelmina - I haven't read Where the Line Bleeds. Have you had a chance to read it?

Also if you haven't already I would recommend reading Joplin's Ghost before My Soul to Take

Columbus ..."

I have it sitting here in my "To-Read" pile, but I haven't read it yet. I have read Joplin's Ghost and I am eager to see how it fits into My Soul to Take.

Doret, I thought the novel was too convoluted for one. He introduced way too many characters (many more than necessary) and unsuccessfully tried to develop each of them equally. Totally unnecessary. The premise of the story was fine with me, albeit it's been done better with other books with this topic. Even more, the writing was just not that crisp. That being said, I totally enjoyed They Tell Me of a Home: A Novel so I would consider future works.

Side note: I invited him to our book group discussion at a cafe here in Atlanta and he attended (on very short notice I might add) and signed copies and spoke. He was very warm and engaging. Alas, because of that, I didn't have the nerve to tell him how I really felt about the book. (sigh)

I didn't know where else to post this, but I found a free Kindle version of our September selection The Marrow of Tradition here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000...

Sarah wrote: "I didn't know where else to post this, but I found a free Kindle version of our September selection The Marrow of Tradition here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000..."

Yep, I downloaded and started this last week. There are a few errors in the formatting and spelling, but still, the integrity of the book is there. Awesome to find it free!

Sarah wrote: "I didn't know where else to post this, but I found a free Kindle version of our September selection The Marrow of Tradition here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000..."

That is great, Sarah! Thank you for posting the link!

Yes, thanks Sarah. I have the paper copy and I just downloaded the e-book to my phone.

thank you, sarah. for anyone who doesn't have a kindle (like me), this can be downloaded onto one's mac as well! (you have to download the kindle app for macs first.)

Also, Barnes and Noble has a free Nook version I believe. I download during my lunch hour to my nook. When I get home I will check it out. So for now not sure because they had both free and and a pay copy.

Attending the Decatur (GA) Book Festival this weekend, I heard Elizabeth Nunez read from her new book Boundaries, the sequel to Anna In-Between, due to be published at the end of the month. Jesmyn Ward also discussed her new book Salvage the Bones: A Novel. just published last week. I got a copy of Tananarive Due's new book, My Soul to Take, the next in her African Immortals series that began with My Soul to Keep.

In addition, Persia Walker discussed her most recent novel, Black Orchid Blues, and I attended a reading (yes, again, jo!) of Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones. And I had the pleasure of attending a poetry reading by group member Chezon - excellent!

In addition, I attended a panel on new scholarship on the African slave trade and one with one of my favorite crime writers, George Pelecanos. Now I'll rest up until next Labor Day weekend. Love this festival!

That sounds like a fabulous Book Festival, Mina. If I lived closer to Georgia, I would certainly attend.

For those who have been looking forward to reading The Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate, there have been a number of good reviews and recommendations lately, including those in O Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Essence, and this one in the San Francisco Chronicle:

http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-09-11...

There is also a good interview of Southgate by Tayari Jones:

http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/tj...

Wilhelmina wrote: "Bernice L. McFadden's next book, Gathering of Waters, will be released on February 14, 2012."

Very excited to hear Bernice McFadden is releasing a new book.

Sherman Alexie, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan, Eric Jerome Dickey, Rita Dove, and many more at this weekends National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington D.C. Sept. 24-25.

http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

Really excited about Dagoberto Gilb's new short story collection Before the End, After the Beginning: Stories. We previously read his exquisite The Flowers. Coming in November!

Short description:

Before the End, After the Beginning is a personal and honest collection of ten exquisite stories from Dagoberto Gilb. The pieces come in the wake of a stroke Gilb suffered at his home in Austin, Texas, in 2009, and a majority of the stories were written over many months of recovery. The result is a powerful and triumphant collection that tackles common themes of mortality and identity and describes the American experience in a raw, authentic vernacular unique to Gilb.

These ten stories take readers throughout the American West and Southwest, from Los Angeles and Albuquerque to El Paso and Austin. Gilb covers territory familiar to some of his earlier work—a mother and son’s relationship in Southern California in the story ‘Uncle Rock’ or a character looking to shed his mixed up past in ‘The Last Time I Saw Junior’—while dealing with themes of mortality and limitation that have arisen during his own illness. Confronting issues of masculinity, sexuality, and mortality, Gilb has recovered and produced what may be his most extraordinary achievement to date.

Wonderful, Columbus!

oh, dagoberto gilb. how i love you.

Me too!

With Octavia E. Butler being in the spotlight this month with Wild Seed, another writer of sci-fi acclaim will release their long-awaited book this month. Samuel R. Delany will release Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders this month. Much different than what one would expect from him. Can't wait!

Columbus wrote: "With Octavia E. Butler being in the spotlight this month with Wild Seed, another writer of sci-fi acclaim will release their long-awaited book this month. [author:Samuel..."

I am so ashamed to say that I haven't read any Delany. This needs to be remedied. Do you have any suggested starting places?