I've had this idea for a short story for quite some time now but just recently I decided to sit down and actually relocate it to a space more permanent and less likely to be trumped by thoughts of sweet spicy chili doritos or beautiful Ethiopian women. So for the past few days every night before my eyelids shut, I jot down a few paragraphs in my new story (old school style; pen and a pad, shout out to muze!). It's coming along fairly well and I expect to share an excerpt soon. But, the more I write the more it becomes obvious that I need to read more. I have a very short attention span so reading books are more like a chore for me. The truth is, in order for me to become a more creative and effective writer, I HAVE to read more often. My mama gave me Obama's Audacity of Hope for my birthday, but I never got any further than the first chapter. So I've decided to pick it up once again and this time actually finish it. I know alot of you guys out in blog land are avid readers, so I'm looking to you for suggestions.
Anything in the fiction genre you recommend??
I am really into the Alex Cross novels. they are really easy to get into and they are fast paced. the stories will not have you bored and you will be WANTING to read the next page.
ReplyDeletemy recommendation will forever and always be for any writer and reader a book by james baldwin. i personally am reading at the moment "if beale street could talk". his ability to be so raw, and honest and utterly heart-wrenching is truly an art. he painted the black experience with such strong and powerful hues that one can not help but want to drown in the african-american diaspora.
ReplyDeletehaha. loves the shout out! *smiles*
ReplyDeletethat really is the only way to write. lol.
now, hmmm. i read so many authors that it is hard to pick.
i too recommend james baldwin. and i too am reading 'if beale street could talk' per soulful negro's recommendation.
i'm also reading 'the partner' by john grisham per don's recommendation, and it's pretty good.
so those too are great books.
a few other books that i LOVE are
-anything by eric jerome dickey, but his most recent stuff especially. like, 'chasing destiny' and 'genevieve'.
-raising fences by michael datcher. this is one of my fav books of all time. ever. ever. very poetically written and the story is just... just read it. you won't be bored. lol.
-too beautiful for words by monique morris.
-the professor's daughter by emily raboteau.
those are just a few, but if you still need more i have an arsenal just waiting. lol.
there is also a site called shelfari.com, where you can find great recommendations from other readers around the world. it's pretty darn cool if you like to read. and if you don't, at least you can see reviews on the books.
alright, this is way too long, but ah well. lol.
and, lmao at your thoughts being clouded with sweet spicy chilly doritos and beautiful ethiopian women. lol.
Oh yeah... As far as fiction goes, Read " The Screw Tape Letters" By, C.S. Lewis... now that's some old skool ish for you!
ReplyDeleteAnything by michael Eric Dyson is a great read. Trust me, he will open your eyes about alot of issue that go on in the black community.
ReplyDeleteI'm really into our black authors like Eric Jerome Dickey, and Mary Monroe. Sister Soldier has two of the illest books I've ever read, "The Coldest Winter Ever" & "No Disrespect"... "No Disrespect" actually isn't fictional... but its ill nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI feel so bad. I havent read anything decent in ages lol. um pick up any book by Bebe moore campbell. I think i love almost everything she writes.
ReplyDeletei don't mind john grisham's crime/mystery/suspense novels. glad you're gonna bring your story to fruition. i know you didn't ask, but in the nonfiction genre, you have to read black like me, the color of water and i know why the caged bird sings. that's a start. and let me know how audacity is. been meaning to pick that one up myself
ReplyDeleteNon-Fiction
ReplyDelete"Assata: The Autobiography of Assata Shakur" by Assata Shakur
"Taste of Power" by Elaine Brown
"Random Family" by Nicole Adrian-Leblanc
The two from Brown and Shakur are about their experiences in the Black Panther Party... a good read if you plan on reading both because the delivery of each starkly contrasts the other. The book by Leblanc is like a sociological study about this family in the Bronx, it reads like one of those hood-lit books, but is actually the notes of the sociologist that studied that family for years. I've read it numerous times.
Fiction
"Bling" by Erica Kennedy
Bling is a fictional account of the music industry, with characters that are obviously based on real people, a tad classier than other black lit (sad to say). It isn't self published and it distributed by a major publisher, so it has to appeal to a mainstream demographic
"The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
A story about an Indian (not Native American) family with family secrets, generally told in retrospect
"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck
CLASSIC!! My favorite novel ever, about a family of farmer struggling during the Depression. Nice change of pace compared to different Depression era stories considering theyre not from a city. Documents their travel to California...has blatent and overwhelming biblical references...such as characters initials being J.C, or them traveling to the "promised land".
"On Beauty" by Zadie Smith
British author...NY TIMES best seller... story about an interracial family. Dad's a Brit and a professor at a fictional prestigious East Coast College, his wife is black. Three kids. He has a rival in his field. Through a course of events the families become move involved with each other than they'd like to be.
"For Colored Girls Who Considered Sucide When The Rainbow Wasn't Enough" by Ntozake Shange
A choreo-poem... relatively short...but still touching. Tells to the struggles of women, specifically black women, but are generally issues that apply to all women... Losing virginity...unwanted pregnancy...relationships
"The Piano Lesson" and "Gem of the Ocean" by August Wilson
One of the greatest playwrights ever... his entire collection of plays documents the African American experience for a hundred years (1900-2000), characters generally overlap, and most times there is a supernatural element. And in most cases in order for their to be a resolution they have to confront their past. I think there are like 12 plays in his collection. I named these two because they were my favorites out of the ones I read. "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" by the same playwright is also good.
Those are my faves... I'm pretty sure I could name others but I think those are the best.
everyone - wow!! thanks for the suggestions, i got alot of catching up to do!
ReplyDeletecurrently reading The Places In Between
ReplyDeletegood luck on that book man
Michael Eric Dyson books for sure! He wrote a book about 'Pac thats real deep.
ReplyDeleteAnything by Iceberg Slim especially Pimp.
Walter Mosley novels. Especially Devil in A Blue Dress and Bad Boy Brawly Brown.
Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver.
City of God by Paulo Lins.
Donald Goines novels(Gangster!)
yeah iceberg slim is the shit! and anything by Stuart Woods, it's mystery fiction. He's my favorite!
ReplyDelete