White Girls | 
"For black people, being around white people is sometimes like taking care of babies you don't like, babies who throw up on you again and again, but whom you cannot punish, because they're babies."
-"A Pryor Love"
The author has convinced me to, reluctantly, take another stab at _Wise Blood_. The first time I tried to read it, it was assigned in AP English Literature at my parochial high school. Maybe I'm finally far enough from the nightmare of my southern catholic upbringing to give Flannery O'Connor a fair hearing this time.
"O'Connor greatly admired Faulkner....But there is no Faulknerian Snopes in O'Connor's fiction. What she describes is far more evil: the nice lady on the bus who calls you "n[*****]" by offering your child a penny; or the old woman who loves to regale her grandchildren with stories about the "p[**********]s" of her antebellum youth. These are women who wouldn't know grace if it slapped them in the face--which it often does."
-"This Lonesome Place"
"Race and faith and their attendant hierarchies and delusions are [Flannery] O'Connor's great themes. She was hailed for her artistic and social independence, but readings of this American master often overlook the originality and honesty of her portrayal of Southern whiteness. Or, rather, Southern whiteness as it chafed under its biggest cultural influence--Southern blackness."
-"This Lonesome Place"
pickHilton Als is a Pulitzer Prize winning critic and an Associate Professor of Writing at Colombia University. In this collection of 13 smart and provocative essays (9 of which were first published in 2013) he tackles such subjects as race, homosexuality, AIDS, memory, Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson and André Leon Talley and although some of it went over my head (mainly due to unfamiliarity with the subject) I enjoyed his insight and passion.
#LiteralBookends from my Unread/Random Nonfiction Bookshelf.
I‘ve got less than 2 hours left on my #24in48 and I‘m in a weird spot. I‘m tired of the books I‘m reading and not ready to start another. 🤷🏼♀️ I‘ll push through somehow!
Christmas day booty! #christmasday #Jingleshelves #bookishgifts #ReindeerReads
Hope everyone's having a fun, festive day!
My (tentative) reading list for the Dumbledore's Army ReadAThon (+ Homegoing on Kindle)! January 1-15, focusing on #diversereads and #ownvoices. If you want to get a jumpstart on Book Riot Read Harder 2017 or the Litsy Reading Challenge, this is a great way to do it! I just posted about it on my blog if you want more information about it: www.tinyurl.com/jyg8s3s #DAReadAThon #readharder2017 #litsyreadingchallenge2017
"There's the bizarre fact that queerness reads, even to some black gay men themselves, as a kind of whiteness." Hmmm....... #amreading #takingnotes #excusemyhandwriting
Everytime I open this book I discover a new writer, or movie director, or musician that sounds interesting to me. Anybody know anything about Bruce Nugent?
I've listened to the first four sections of this on audiobook, and my reactions have been all over the place. I'm confused, I'm intrigued, I'm alienated, I'm ready to stop listening, I can't stop listening. I think it'll probably take a while, and I might not be able to tell you what I thought of it when I'm done, but I'll definitely finish it. (Wonderfully apt graphic by Kevin Thomas, TheRumpus.com.)
Tonight's edition of Reading Outside My Daughter's Door Until She Falls Asleep
I took off its cover.
Today Herbert is only reading brilliant commentary on the intersection of race and culture that matches his outfit.
