Thanks to Bonnie for sending me this book for the Cannonball holiday book exchange! Their Eyes Were Watching God is a love story and an odyssey. It is a feminist story about a woman named Janie who struggles to live the life that she desires, to fulfill her own dreams instead of being trapped in others’ dreams. In telling this story Zora Neale Hurston employed a language new to African American literature — the vernacular, the genuine language of African American communities, particularly of women. […]
Simple Lessons are the Hardest to Learn
Way back when I was a kid in the 1970s, I remember seeing part of a TV production of Great Expectations starring Michael York as Pip. While I had forgotten most of the story, I do have a vivid recollection of Miss Havisham, who cannot help but leave an impression on a viewer or reader. I don’t think I ever read the novel before now, or if I tried, I never finished. And so with this review, I give a nod to “the canon,” which […]
Book Exchange! Thanks, Bonnie!!
I received some lovely books today from Bonnie! I’ve been wanting to read Woodson, Hurston and Adichie for a long time. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity! I can hardly wait to get started!
Yours, Mine & Ours: Confronting American Racism
Reviewed with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me I started reading The Fire Next Time in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, reeling from the choice that my fellow Americans made and wondering where it all went wrong. Given my liberal/progressive bent, I was personally devastated and still am, and as the data came rolling in about Trump supporters, I was absolutely disgusted and enraged. Whites, including white women, went for Trump. Christians, including Catholics, went for Trump. And despite the initial assumption […]