OS Book Club Pt II

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Finished Invisible Man last night. I'd started listening to Joe Morton 5 narrate it on Kindle which made me realize I needed this book in print.

Identity is a difficult subject to face in life and the invisble man portrayed that quest brilliantly. The seesaw of a black mans journey that often finds him at odds with others no matter what he does.

What fascinated me is how relevant the issue still is today. I question myself often about my true motives when looking to help others and whether they are really good to others. Ellison captured this thought of mine in the epilogue when he said "I was never more hated than when I tried to be honest."

When I awoke from my slumber a few years ago I decided to live an honest life. In that time period disappeared many "friends", created were many lies and peculiar situations in the work place. And at the beginning I'd thought the honest life to be a noble idea, but the journey of identity has thrown all of that into question too..

All that to say Invisible Man is a must read. Especially if you aren't afraid of the tough answers you receive from the questions you ask of yourselves. What I think makes this book so wonderful is there is a piece of all of us within its pages.

Any suggestions for the next read?




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There's so many ways to take that quote. Honesty with others. Honesty with your environment. Most importantly, however, is honesty with yourself. To me, I interpreted that line as being honest with yourself as the pinnacle. If you can't be honest with yourself, looking at yourself and even the world around you, objectively then it's going to be hard to be honest with others. If you don't know who you are then how can you?

From that honesty opens up so many more channels and allows you to be honest with others. While Ellison's remark follows the honesty with others more closely the journey the protagonist takes is essentially finding that honesty with himself. Before he can see the world, his effect/non-effect on it, and those around him he has to wake himself to the truth of himself.

You mention relationships and shedding those based on peculiar circumstances. I've lost some "good" friends because I became honest with myself and the relationship by accepting I was the only one working and nurturing it. Without my effort it went by the wayside. Recently, I've have an awakening about my work. Once you open yourself up to the truth of things then you can actually start anew - accepting the circumstances of the current situation so you can plan and strategize for the future.

It is absolutely an amazing read. A simultaneous journey through a part of America that most people don't want to pull the curtain back on - a part that is with little change unfortunately - and a path to self-honesty.

If you want to stay in the same ballpark for recommendations I would recommend Coates, but you're probably way ahead of the game on him. We Should All Be Feminists is a great, short read that is adapted from a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Lovecraft Country was fantastic if you're looking for some fictional work.

Something lighter - perhaps the new Children of Blood and Bone? It's been an absolutely, amazingly entertaining read as I'm about 4/5 of the way through now.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

It is absolutely an amazing read. A simultaneous journey through a part of America that most people don't want to pull the curtain back on - a part that is with little change unfortunately - and a path to self-honesty.

What do you mean by this?

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

What do you mean by this?

The protagonist's experience, overall, felt similar to that of modern events. The second class treatment. The burden of legacy, leadership, and responsibility for your peers as well as yourself. The use of people as a tool and prop for a political party rather than actually wanting to help them and affect change. Some of these things may never change, but considering this was written in the early 40s and published in the 1950s I think part of the reason why the book still resonates because the experience still happens today.

Edit: Even outside of that you have people sleeping The American Dream (TM) and looking behind the curtain would wake them with a violent shaking that their faith in American may or may not be able to reconcile with.

[DJ]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I was in the bookstore the other day and this book smacked me in the face (not literally, but in the caught my attention):

When To Jump: If The Job You Have Isn't The Life You Want

I've been dealing with some difficulties at work (staffing and overall office culture) that have really distracted me from what I enjoy about what I do for a living (telling stories, creating content), and I am ready to make a change. I saw this book and I knew I had to purchase it and see what inspiration I can draw from others that have pursued what it is they want to do in life.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Any suggestions for the next read?





Sent from my SM-N950U using Operation Sports mobile app

If you haven't read it, Native Son is a great "other side of the coin" to Invisible Man, what happens when you can't overcome the environment you were cast into. I prefer Invisible Man, but just getting through Native Son will make you appreciate the story Ellison would tell not much later (Native Son came out in 1940, Black Boy in 1945, then Ellison started writing Invisible Man in summer 1945). If you've read that, or want something nonfiction, I'd recommend either Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin or Shadow and Act by Ellison.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This was a refreshing, highly entertaining, and wonderfully powerful read. Tomi creates a world of magic tethered to Gods who once reigned dominion over different aspects of life via maji - magic wielders in the service of their Gods. Following the murders of the King's royal family at the hands of a small sect of maji King Saran waged war on all Diviners killing all maji and any others who stood in their path during The Raids. Ten years later the remaining diviners are subjugated to suffering under the heel of the King and the non-magical ruling class of kosidans. Oppression is enforced through violence and force, segregated slum-dwellings, class based taxation and theft, and the constant fear.

The book weaves a story through the perspective of three main characters. Zelie, whose maji mother was killed during the Raids, is brash and defiant and ready to drop the yoke of fear and oppression that has plagued her life for the past decade. Amari is the daughter of King Saran and princess of Orisha who sets the events of the story in motion as she steals away from her father's reach and into the path of Zelie. Together they begin a journey to restore magic and the connection of the Gods with Amari's brother, Inan, on their tails. Inan is the son of the King and Commander of the Royal Guards. Unlike his sister his struggle with moral dilemmas rests in the approval of his father that looms like a cloud over him.

Exploring themes of state sanctioned violence, racism and segregation, dignity through one's identity, and the moral and trust dilemmas entailed with once one the story is spiritually and emotionally powerful. Zelie bears the burden and responsibility of her people with increasing anxiety while she forges an alliance with the unlikely Amari - a princess who has the heart of a warrior and an unwavering moral compass. Inan's complexity makes him a compelling character who subjects himself to the oppression of his father's acceptance. Unlike his sister, who manages to forge her own identity, Inan's identity is tied hand-to-hand to his father and the duty to Orisha Inan must put before himself no matter the consequence or moral direction.

Each character is compelling and their journey from beginning to end is amazing to witness. They each reckon with their own burdens either overpowering them to grow stronger or crumble beneath them. The relationships they forge between each other and other characters pushes the narrative forward driving a story that is very much character-driven while featuring action sequences that are mesmerizing and imaginative.

For me the characters, the development of the narrative, and the world really set the bar and I find myself drifting back to Orisha after finishing it several days ago. The prose itself is simplistic in nature and can read a bit paint by numbers at times, but everything else more than makes up for those shortcomings. Overall it is a moving experience and I can't wait for the next book of the series.

Spoiler

I teach you to be warriors in the garden so you will never be gardeners in the war.

He doesn't understand what it's like to be, to walk around in a diviner's skin. To jump every time a guard appears, never knowing how a confrontation will end.

In the face of magic we become ants.

I am a princess, not a prop. Do not treat me any differently.

Our lack of power and our oppression are one and the same, Inan. Without power we're maggots. Without power the monarchy treats us like scum!

They built this world for you, built it to love you. They never cursed at you in the streets, never broke down the doors of your home. They didn't drag your mother by her neck and hang her for the whole world to see.

I won't let your ignorance silence my pain.

Your people, your guards - they're nothing more than killers, rapists, and thieves. The only difference between them and criminals is the uniforms they wear.


How am I supposed to fix anything when I am inextricably linked to the problem?


"Do not worry," I whisper as he takes his last breath. "I will make a far better queen."


We are all children of blood and bone. All instruments of vengeance and virtue.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Just finished Children of Blood and Bone myself.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. Getting the negatives out of the way, I felt like it dragged at times, I could've dealt with some stuff being cut out. Not because it wasn't interesting but something about the style of writing made it a bit of a chore to read at times. There were times when I was thinking it was a better story than it was a book if that makes any sense. That's pretty much my only complaint. Big fan of the mythology she sets up, the characters were all fully realized and had trials and tribulations on their own to deal with as well as those inside the small group of main characters. It really is impressive how she showed two sets of teens that were so far apart and unknown to one another and how they were very much fighting the same battle. Not that any of the character arcs are particularly groundbreaking, but they are just really well done.

The world and mythology is the thing that really sets it apart for me. I can't wait to see it turned into a movie. Just the visual images brought into your mind during times like giant sea battle royale and all the different types of magic against the backdrop of a world still so segmented by castes. The author's note is great too, where she connects the events in the book to the real life events that inspired her to write it. Also really impressive that this is her first novel.

Spoiler

"They don’t hate you, my child. They hate what you were meant to become."

"How strange that she was born to rule a kingdom she’s never even seen."

"All this time I thought those of noble blood were safe. I never imagined what cruelty the monarchy could inflict on their own."

"If we don’t stop magic, all of Orïsha will burn. But the only fires I’ve seen have been by his hand. His and mine."

"Magic doesn’t give us peace. It only gives us a fighting chance."

On to Heart Berries.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Just finished Children of Blood and Bone myself.

There were times when I was thinking it was a better story than it was a book if that makes any sense. That's pretty much my only complaint.

I think this is probably the most apt way to describe the book. Amazing story, world, and characters, but the actual writing is average. The prose signals it is definitely a YA book.

I keep flip-flopping on how better or more adult prose would affect the story. The themes are very mature and adult-oriented so on one hand I feel like the simplistic style of the prose helps keep the book YA-friendly. Still, on the other hand, there's way to keep prose YA-friendly and simplistic, but also contend with mature themes. Rawling does it incredibly well in The Order of the Phoenix.

At the end of the day prose is important, but everything else about the book counterbalances and raises the quality of Adeyemi's work.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

At the end of the day prose is important, but everything else about the book counterbalances and raises the quality of Adeyemi's work.

I agree with this, and the more I think about it, the book is not poorly written or anything like that. I just think, as you say, the prose's simplicity kinda jumps out because everything else is so completely fleshed out. It's probably unfair to harp on in a debut novel that gets so much of what it's trying to do right.

[War Eagle!]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Just finished 1984. Wow. I didn't think I'd finish this book when I put it down a couple of months ago because of the slow start. I'm glad I finished it.

How in the heck did George Orwell predict so much of what's happening today back in 1944? I discuss with my peers how little it seems people think independently yet Orwell called it in his book.

Privacy is another subject Orwell nailed accurately. Often up for debate is the non existence of privacy these days. Let telescreen mean telephone, television, computers and tablets and Orwell should be considered a prophet.

Book was amazingly relevant. Definitely opens up more conspiracy theory questions of mine. Happy I read it though.

Think I'm going to go non fiction for my next read as I wait on Native son to arrive.

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[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I feel like the most prophetic parts of 1984 are Minitrue and Oceania was always at war with Eurasia, really stuck out to me. Just thinking about the way people get information, and how important it is for those places to not be tainted. Reading more about the way social media sites and others have been taken advantage of and disinformation campaigns in general just reinforces the need for trustworthy sources.

I finished Heart Berries by Teresa Marie Mailhot, a First Nation (Canadian Indian) woman. I found out about her in an article about the Institute of American Indian Arts. It's her debut book, a short, powerful memoir told in essays she started writing when in a mental institution after a breakdown. She suffers from both bipolar disorder and PTSD from sexual abuse inflicted on her as a child. The language is poetic and filled with emotion, but more than that, it's just a unique perspective. I'm finding reading about people coping with their mental illnesses just as fascinating as their battles with religion. She's brutally honest, holds nothing back, speaks on and from the lowest parts of herself. It's not the story of her whole life, and the writing is sometimes chaotically arranged but it really just adds to the impact of the stories she tells. The way her experiences in poverty, and mental illness, and in heartbreak are all tinged with the uniqueness of her upbringing is great. From foster care, to losing custody of her first son to a father who had impregnated her again and only wanted one baby, to a committing herself, she tells everything, and with a kind of morbid levity given the topics. I'll be looking forward to anything she puts out going forward.

Spoiler

"I need help, and I cannot stop thinking that every transgression has brought me closer to a light, a striking beacon that tells me death is absolution. I have never chosen light."

"In white culture, forgiveness is synonymous with letting go. In my culture, I believe we carry pain until we can reconcile with it through ceremony. Pain is not framed like a problem with a solution. I don’t even know that white people see transcendence the way we do. I’m not sure that their dichotomies apply to me."

"I don’t think that I am lonely. I think that I am starved and maybe ravenous for the very thing you withhold from me."

"I couldn’t distinguish the symptoms from my heart. It was polarizing to be told there was a diagnosis for the behaviors I felt justified in having. And then, I knew some part of my disease was spiritual or inherited."

"Were you really cold, or do I just imagine people don’t care about me?"

"You think weakness is a problem. I want to be torn apart by everything. My people cultivated pain. In the way that god cultivated his garden with the foresight that he could not contain or protect the life within it. Humanity was born out of pain."

"Violence happens through our bodies. Isn’t that how colonialism used to work? Their adversaries were simple. Our families (our genealogies, marriages, children, our sexual and domestic violence) and ourselves (our suicides, our recuperations) were simultaneously reduced and amplified as social facts rather than private matters. Our literature was not ours. It was theirs. So, where are we? Where we have always been. Where are you?"

On to Freshwater.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I don't have much of an update other than I've been in somewhat of a lull. I've been "reading" The Return of the King for two weeks. So far I've halfway through it and I'm hoping to finish it by Friday. I was 4 or 5 books ahead of my goal schedule, but that's been dwindling down to 2 or 3. The easy excuse is a lot has been going on (accepting a new job offer, tax season, etc) and I've been trying to split my time amongst getting caught up with The Americans while becoming vested in Yakuza Zero and Nioh.

Anyway, it's striking to me how easily it is to fall back into Middle Earth no matter how long you've been away from reading the books. I've said in here before how the best authors put their own voice in your head. With Tolkien it isn't so much a voice as dropping you into a world of rich landscapes and richer characters.

I have Circe pre-ordered and Fahrenheit 451 sitting on my nightstand to read next. After that I might try to tackle some major epic like IT or Musashi (which I would follow up with the trilogy of movies).

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

I don't even remember now what made this book jump out to me to put it on my list, but I'm glad I did. Freshwater follows a Nigerian girl named Ada, as she goes through certain parts of her life. At the beginning, it's mentioned that she's the offspring of a God, and has a bunch of ogbanje (evil spirits) within her that are also children of the God, that essentially take over her body at certain points. It all comes together to be, to me, a really creative and effective way in looking at how we deal with trauma and in how we construct our identities.

Plot spoilers

Spoiler

The first spirit really wakes up after she is raped by her college boyfriend. Later, like at the very end of the story, you find out she was assaulted in her childhood. The whole book you're wondering if there's truly some mythical mental takeover happening, but the way it's explained how all of this seemingly supernatural stuff is happening as a result of real life events was incredible. Maybe I'm just dumb and didn't see it coming, but it was a real Wee Bey gif moment when everything clicked and I was like wow that was awesome.

The prose covers a wide range of emotions, and tilts fairly effortlessly between describing physical and mental trauma, kind of moving in between the dimension where Ada exists and the other identities exist. Very well written, but it's just a book that is really unlike any I can remember which made me appreciate it more than anything.

Spoiler

"We were sent through carelessly, with a net of knowledge snarled around our ankles, not enough to tell us anything, just enough to trip us up."

"He was only a human - what else could I expect, realistically? He wanted to pretend he was somehow better than he knew he was; he wasn't ready to throw himself into sin. Humans find it easier to just lie and lie to themselves."

"The worst part of embodiment is being unseen."

"Let me tell you the truth about men like that - they want soft moons. They want women with just enough crescent to provide a sufficient edge, tender little slivers of light that they can bring home to their mothers."

"We're the buffer between you and the madness, we're not the madness."

"Stull, I am very lonely. They help me forget this, but sometimes it shows up like a continent shifting onto my chest. I'm so tired of being empty. I turned it inside out and wore it like a glove, smeared it on the walls until my house shouted empty, empty, empty. I didn't know what to do with it afterward. All I know is that it hurts to be in the spaces between freedom."

On to This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins.

Slate for the next few weeks or so after that:

Spoiler

The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wollitzer
A Well Regulated Militia, by Saul Cornell
Heads of the Colored People, by Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker
Circe, by Madeline Miller

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

There's a new Tolkien book coming out this Summer: The Fall of Gondolin.

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-fall-of-gondolin/

And then of course we have Amazon gearing up for a massive LOTR "prequel" series.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: OS Book Club Pt II

I'm really interested to see what comes of that show, but it seems like it's years away. I wish they kept stuff like this more under wraps, but I guess with such a large financial commitment you want to get the word out early. I'll be interested to see the reception of the new book, I can probably get through the 3 books by the time it comes out.

Finished This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins. The subtitle is "Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America" and is apt, that's what it's about. It's a collection of essays on her experience as a Black woman in America. She went to Princeton, knows 6 languages, clearly very smart.

There was a really weird part early on when she's talking about people that "bullied" (eye of the beholder I guess) her when she was young and, the girl being darker than her, she describes basically wanting to call the cops on her and enjoying the outcome. Just odd. She addresses self hate in the race many times, it was just a very striking memory. I guess that's the point: she didn't realize the impact or legacy of the thing she was asking for.

Jerkins can't be too much older than me, so I wasn't surprised when I came up on the essay about Beyonce and Lemonade. My girlfriend loved it. She articulates pretty well why Beyonce means what she does to little girls and even older women: to them, she's like a feminist icon who doesn't have to cleanse her image or bow to anyone, she really is the queen. She touches on some other things, like how when she was at Princeton the need to appear stable was overwhelming and she had to seek therapy. She gets into the issue of women, Black women especially, have to worry about intimidating potential suitors if they're too successful. And on whether the way movements that instill pride focus on characteristics that still leave certain segments out (disabled people in this instance).

One issue is the writing is disjointed to me, there's not a lot of flow. Even within the essays the tone and detail being put in is not always even. The major complaint is I think for an essay collection and story that is so personal, there are probably too many generalizations made as if her experience is THE experience of Black women, which obviously would not be the case. That could be off-putting for some. There's also just some stuff some may not want to read, there's a chapter on her labiaplasty. Overall, I'd say a strong 2 or light 3 out of 5, very decent. Not remotely a must read, but it's not completely without merit.

Spoiler

"When your Black girl child exits and womb and you hear her loud wailing, savor and remember it for as long as you can. That's the loudest the world will ever allow her to be in a room where multiple people are present."

"Black girls and White girls want the same white doll. Only problem is, White girls stare at Barbies and see potential. Black girls stare at White dolls and see impossibility."

"We may be accepted out there in the world with a good paying job, but that world will never give us love because it wasn't designed to. But when we return to the folds of our community and find that we are denigrated for the skills we used to survive, what else can we do but suppress ourselves just so we'll have somebody?"

"I am living in a time when I ache for the son I have yet to conceive."

"I realized simply from the criticism of Lemonade that as a Black woman, if you are not always fighting for something larger than yourself, then you are somehow the enemy, not performing the correct dorm of Black womanhood in contemporary America. We should not have to choose between being black, being a woman, and being human in our own story."

"This is what I want to tell my future children: slaves knew what was up."

I've already ****ed up the slate, I was supposed to go into Meg Wollitzer next but my girlfriend is reading something else and I have to wait for her so... Going into Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Could've gone right into Circe, but this was available at my library plus the audio book so I went ahead and checked those out. Hopefully after another fiction/nonfiction duo, she'll be ready.