Donna Bryson > Recent Status Updates

Reflections on Richard Wright

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

"Wilmington's Lie," by David Zucchino

"Wilmington's Lie," a book by journalist David Zucchino

"Wilmington's Lie," by David Zucchino

"Wilmington's Lie," a book by journalist David Zucchino

Colson Whitehead's "Crook Manifesto"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2023...

Colson Whitehead's "Crook Manifesto"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2023...

I love memoirs of intrepid women crossing boundaries and borders.

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2023...

Being inspired by Twain is an American tradition

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Cristina Rivera Garza's “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country”

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Cristina Rivera Garza's “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country”

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Cristina Rivera Garza's “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country”

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Cristina Rivera Garza's “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country”

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Teju Cole's "Every Day is for the Thief"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Teju Cole's "Every Day is for the Thief"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Teju Cole's "Every Day is for the Thief"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On Teju Cole's "Every Day is for the Thief"

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

On "Sometimes there is a void" -- and more! -- by Zakes Mda

https://www.donnabryson.com/blog/2024...

An honest, sometimes painful, always graceful book set in the Indiana town where Gupta-Carlson grew up and that, since the Lynd Middletown studies of 1920s and 1930s, has been seen as the most typical of American places. The Lynd studies left out Muncie’s racial, ethnic and religious diversity.
Himanee, daughter of Indian immigrants, hopes for dialogue to create a truly multireligious, multiracial America.

#5books @booktrustSA

No. 5
“Fynbos Fairies” by the poet Antjie Krog and artist Fiona Moodie. Both Krog and Moodie are justly renowned for their work for grownups. My husband and I loved reading the songlike poems in “Fynbos Fairies” to our daughter when she was little, and Moodie’s illustrations are glorious.

Learn more: https://www.booktrust.org.za/

#5books @booktrustSA

No. 4
“Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night” by Sindiwe Magona, a prolific South African short story writer and novelist. I couldn’t decide which Magona book is my favorite, so I 'm listing the first one I encountered in hopes that others will, like me, read it and then seek out everything she has written.

Learn more: https://www.booktrust.org.za/

#5books @booktrustSA

No. 3
“Hunger for Freedom” by Anna Trapido. Trapido interviewed Mandela’s friends and family about the foods he loved and included their reminiscences as well as recipes in a book that demonstrates that food brings cultures together. Every kitchen needs a book that includes the recipe instruction: “Use an axe to chop the skull in half.”

Learn more: https://www.booktrust.org.za/

#5books @booktrustSA

Recommendation No. 2:

“Laying Ghosts to Rest” by Mamphela Ramphele. She writes about the need to confront and overcome racism, ethnic chauvinism, sexism and authoritarianism. I gave a copy to an Iraqi friend, whose response was: “I wonder when my people will lay their ghosts to rest?” What more can I say about this book’s universal resonance?

Learn more: https://www.booktrust.org.za/

#5books @booktrustSA
My first recommendation for "five South African books everyone in South Africa should be able to read."
“A Human Being Died that Night” by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, who interviewed an apartheid-era death squad commander to produce this fascinating book that stands with Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.”
Learn more here: https://www.booktrust.org.za/